MINNIE PIT. Podmore Hall, Halmerend, North Staffordshire, 17th. January, 1915.

The colliery was the property of the Midland Coal, Coke and Iron Company. There was an explosion at the colliery which appeared to have originated in a section of the Bullhurst coal workings about 2,600 yards from the shaft and in which there was no one working at the time but nine lives were lost among men who were working in the Seven Foot Banbury seam. As the Bullhurst section of the workings was not recovered after the explosion, it was impossible to ascertain the cause of the explosion, but there was little doubt that it was caused by a gob fire.

Thirty men in all were in the pit at the time, twenty-six of whom were employed at and in the neighbourhood of an underground haulage engine room about 1,800 yards inbye. They were repairing the haulage engine that had broken down. The explosion was accompanied with considerable violence but no actual flame appeared to have reached the men. Three of the deceased appeared to have been killed instantly or severely injured by the explosion, and several of the bodies showed slight signs of singeing, but not more than might result from a blast of hot air. The others died of carbon monoxide poisoning. The Bullhurst seam in this district was known to give off firedamp freely, and also very liable to spontaneous combustion in the goaf, but there had been no previous indications of heating in the section in which the explosion is believed to have originated.

Rescue teams were organised immediately after the explosion under the direction of Mr. W. Barker, the colliery manager who descended with Joseph Smith and C.H. Weaver, under managers and, Ralph Lawton of Brierly Pit. They succeeded in penetrating the workings without the help of rescue apparatus. On arrival at the seat of the accident, it was found that nine men had lost their lives. Later rescue brigades arrived from Apedale and Podmore Hall collieries and the bodies were recovered and brought to the surface. Although the damage to the workings was slight and there was little interruption of work anticipated.

Those who lost their lives were:

  • John White aged 49 years, married, colliery engineer,
  • Alfred Bostock aged 43 years, married assistant engineer,
  • Frederick Cheadle aged 53 years, married, ropesman,
  • James Nevitt aged 36 years, married,
  • Ralph Proctor aged 55 years, married,
  • Joseph Bates aged 23 years,
  • John Daniels aged 40 years, married, pumpman,
  • Frank Brindley aged 55 years, assistant pumpsman
  • Arthur Shufflebottom aged 16 years.

At the inquest into the men’s deaths, it was heard that a collier named James noticed a slight stoppage in the air about 5.30 and he thought that a fall had taken place on the haulage road. He worked on for about 20 minutes when some men came out and told him that there was something wrong. He and a man named Sutton went down the haulage road and came across two sets of men who told them that there were others further along. When they arrived at the bottom of the Banbury haulage they found Bostock unconscious and his leg injured. They then went to the engine room where they found the nine men dead. They got all the men out with the exception of Daniels.

The corner commented that Genders, the fireman had not carried out his inspection thoroughly but an inspection had been made by others and everything found to be in goods order. The verdict was that the men died as the statement of the doctors and there was no evidence to show how the explosion occurred.

 

REFERENCES
Mines Inspectors Report. Mr. Hugh Johnstone.
The Colliery Guardian, 22nd January 1915, p.194, 5th February, p.286.

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

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