HEBBURN. Hebburn, Durham. 5th. June, 1849.

The pit was the property of Messrs. Easton and Company had not been working from Saturday to Tuesday when the explosion occurred about 6.30 a.m. The pit was well ventilated with roads from five and a half feet to 12 feet high but it was known that firedamp lodged in the cavities in the roof.

There were about 100 men at work at the time and the accident was confined to the North-West part of the mine where all were killed with the exception of one man. The explosion, which occurred in the Bensham seam, claimed thirty-three lives and many of the bodies were mutilated. William Bell was brought out alive but injured and he recovered.

There was little indication on the surface of the events below, just smoke and dust from the upcast shaft which was noticed by the banksman who gave the alarm. George Scott, the overman to make enquires but no one underground could tell him anything and he went into the workings where he met another overman, Thomas Clark who told him than an explosion had taken place. The two went further into the workings but they had to retire when the encountered chokedamp.

They waited a short time and tried again when they managed to get into the workings and found that all had perished with the exception of William Bell who was found unconscious and sent to the pit bank. Throughout the day the corpses were recovered and removed to the surface where a crowd had gathered around the shaft where they remained in silence as the bodies arrived at the surface. By nine o’clock at night, thirty bodies had been recovered and only one Abraham Taylor remained below.

Those who lost their lives were:

  • George Turnbull aged 41 years, left a wife and six children.
  • E. Wilson aged 12 years.
  • G. Longstaffe aged 33 years, left a wife and 4 children.
  • S. Longstaffe, aged 12 years, his son.
  • George Watson aged 35 years, wife and four children.
  • Thomas Laverick aged 33 years, left a wife and four children.
  • William Richardson aged 45 years, wife and six children.
  • John Wilson aged 33 years. wife and four children.
  • Thomas Young aged 12 years.
  • Richard Lowes, a widower aged 37 years.
  • George Laverick aged 22 years.
  • Robert Smith aged 18 years.
  • James Wardle aged 17 years.
  • William Youll aged 51 years, wife and seven children.
  • Thomas Richardson aged 20 years.
  • John Lashley aged 16 years.
  • Thomas Cassady aged 23 years.
  • Christopher Charlton aged 28 years.
  • Joseph Davison aged 26 years, wife and child.
  • Tristam Richardson, aged 45 years, wife and two children.
  • John Hay aged 14 years.
  • Robert Dinnison aged 42 years, wife and three children.
  • Robert Dinnison, aged 11 years, his son.
  • James Lawcock aged 68 years, wife.
  • Joseph Nixon aged 19 years.
  • John Windlow aged 60 years, widower and five children.
  • Robert Hooper aged 12 years.
  • John Dawson aged 53 years.
  • Hailes Richardson aged 19 years.
  • William Shillaw aged 22 years.
  • John Willis aged 12 years.
  • Nicholas Barnfather aged 13 years.
  • Abraham Taylor, married with six children.

The inquest took place before J.M. Favell, the coroner at the Ellison Arms on the bodies of Thomas Young and John Hay. William Maxwell, surgeon to the colliery said that he was sent for about 7 a.m. when he went to the colliery and found the victims at the surface. He found many were burnt and others had succumbed to the effects of afterdamp.

William Bell, a pitman, said that he was working in the pit on the morning of the disaster. He was knocked down and rendered deaf and while he was making his way to the shaft he fell and knew nothing until he found himself at home. There had been no complaint about the ventilation in the pit previous to the accident and he had not been cautioned on that morning. The air was good where he was working with his candle.

James Easton, the owner of the colliery gave the jury a detailed account of the colliery. The Bersham seam at the “A” Pit was at a depth of 161 fathoms. The “A” pit was the downcast shaft and was 12 feet in diameter and the “C” pit was the upcast and 12 feet in diameter and sunk to a depth of 145 fathoms and the air travelled 840 yards from the upcast to the downcast shaft but the air had travelled 1,232 yards from the downcast to where the explosion took place. The mine was worked by candles.

The district that fire was under the charge of Richard Lowes who had gone to work before the men and inspected the air but he had no lamp and Mr. Easton thought the explosion had been caused by gas accumulating at the face.

The proceedings went on for two days and the coroner summed up for two hours when a verdict of “Accidental Death” was returned together with the recommendation from the jury that the deputies should go down the pit for at least an hour before the men to examine the mine.

 

REFERENCES
Mining Journal. Vol. xix, p.274.
Latimer’s Local Records. p.262.
The 1849 Report. p.691.
Durham Advertiser.

Information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.

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