Bog Colliery Explosion – Wakefield – 1836

BOG. Wakefield, Yorkshire. 13th. December, 1836.

The colliery was the property of Mr. Fenton and an explosion was reported the claimed several lives. The colliery was worked in shifts and it was thought the ventilation was so good that it was worked with candles and the use of lamps had been discontinued.

The men who worked the last shift on Monday night left a trap door open in a roadway and gas collected. On Tuesday morning Richard Auty aged 40 years one of the bottom stewards accompanied twelve men and six boys into the pit. He saw the door was open and instead of ordering the men and their candles out of the pit, he went to close the door without any light so that the air could circulate. He then went to try it with a candle and a tremendous explosion took place. The report was heard a distance away and all below ground were injured.

Thomas Bedford, another steward led a party into the pit and found Auty dreadfully burnt but alive. He was reported to have said, “Oh, Thomas! Pray for me!”.

The inquest was held at the Shovel Inn, Carr Gate before Mr. Thomas Lee and a verdict of “Accidental Death” was returned.

REFERENCES
An old Mining Almanack.
West Riding Herald.

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