Colliery accidents and consequences

[Ayashi]

In 1851, my 3x great grand uncle William died aged 18 in a mining explosion in Seghill Colliery, Northumberland, and was subsequently blamed for it by "going where he had no business with a naked light". I accept that that is quite possible, however my mother automatically started yelling about a fix and a cover up. It got me wondering though; if the colliery accepted liability or was found to be liable, how much would they pay or what would be the consequence of that? Was it common for a colliery to avoid liability? I also heard that apparently Seghill was a rather stingy colliery, with one story I read of someone being paid by the bucket for coal and at the end of the day, being told he wasn't going to get paid for seven of his eight coal buckets because the nuggets were too small or something.

Thanks.

[Bilge]

Would that be William BRADY d. 10/03/1851?

If so it just says killed in explosion.

There is a Coroners report published in the local paper "The Newcastle Courant" Dated 21/03/1851.

At the adjourned inquest before S. Reed Esq on William Brady at Seghill last Monday, after a patient investigation of the case, at which the government mines inspector was present, the jury returned a verdict of accidental death, and that it was occasioned by the deceased's wilful disobedience of orders in going into a forbidden part of the workings, where he had no business, with a naked light.

The owners of the pit between 1850 - 1860 were - Carr & Co.

[Ayashi]

Yes, that would be the one. My mum took exception to that article, like all my rellies are complete angels. The whole thing was a sad affair but worse, his only sibling had just given birth to her first child and had registered the birth only days before- her and her husband subsequently returned to the registry office to change the baby's name. Made me nearly cry when I put that all together.

I know the official story, I'm just wondering what the odds were of a colliery pinning it all on the dead guy like my mum thinks. Just a bit of speculation, really.

[Viktoria]

Well ,in a fatal accident in  1875  at a Shropshire lead mine a relly of mine and another miner were being lowered down the shaft in a basket, when the rope broke and they both plunged to their deaths.  I don`t have all the details to hand but the blame was put on the two men as far as I can remember. It seems it was decided they were responsible for examining the rope prior to use!
Twenty years later another accident claimed the lives of seven men who were killed when the steel rope lowering the cage down the shaft snapped at the wheel  on the headgear and they too were plunged to their deaths.
The same length of cable was always left in the sump at night and weekends and although it looked well oiled and in good condition extenally, internally it was completely rusted. The Metalliferous Mines Regulations Act  as it stood at the time meant that this did not constitute a breach of safety.
 The weight of the broken cable falling on the already imploded cage  ( which had been seven feet high and was reduced to only eighteen inches high )added to the horror. The man controlling the winding gear was almost killed by the length of cable which recoiled after the main part followed the cage down the shaft. The company were not held to blame and not one penny was paid out to the dead miners`families. 
A section of the cable is in the British Museum and some more is displayed on site at the information centre  in a mine building just by the  pithead .                                                    Viktoria.                                    

[Ayashi]

Thanks. That's sad but interesting to read

[sstarr2008]

My 3xgt grandfather and one of his sons were killed in a very similar gas explosion in a Barnsley iron stone mine in 1854. The newspaper report blamed the men for using candles instead of Davey lamps which had been provided.
It strikes me as odd that they would have done this if the lamps were provided, I can only assume that there must have been some reason why they didn't use lamps which wasn't mentioned.

I also have my gt grandfather (same family) killed by getting hit by the conrod on a steam engine which he was oiling. The inquest again blamed him for oiling the machinery whilst it was running but having worked in factories and mills I know only too well the pressures to keep machinery running.

Stu

[GrahamSimons]

I've been reading up a bit in the records - an ancestor was one of HM INspectors of Mines. His annual reports repeatedly complain that magistrates wouldn't take safety and breaches of regulations seriously, and that penalties were small on masters and on men. Some of the Press reports when miners were prosecuted for safety breaches are quite scary, too, with people saying that they had always done it this way....although I do have an 1899 report, headline: Reckless colliers in the mines.  Opening a lamp in the Albion Colliery. Defendant sent to prison for three months. 

As for compensation, the answer is, not much. My grandfather who had to do with colliery fatalities as part of his work as Procurator Fiscal used to say it was better to be killed with many others, as the collection for widows and children would raise more money than if just one man died.

[Cell]

My 3xgt grandfather and one of his sons were killed in a very similar gas explosion in a Barnsley iron stone mine in 1854. The newspaper report blamed the men for using candles instead of Davey lamps which had been provided.
It strikes me as odd that they would have done this if the lamps were provided, I can only assume that there must have been some reason why they didn't use lamps which wasn't mentioned.
.
Stu

Hi,

I remember being told years ago, when I was a child by my grandfather ( who was a miner  ) that many miners had to pay for the lamps themselves, so many miners did not have them. I also seem to recall an episode of "who do you think you are" Griff Rhys Jones was told the same thing by a mining historian.
The mining companies always used to try to blame the miners themselves for any major breaches of safety.
I have recently found a surviving corners report for one of mine in the local archives online catalogue, I haven't ordered it yet, but I know how he died ( run over by the cart above ground)- the inquest was held over two days - which I find unusual, as most of mine are just held over a day

"Accident rateIronically, the introduction of the Davy Lamp led to an increase in mine accidents, as the lamp encouraged the working of mines and parts of mines that had previously been closed for safety reasons.[3]

Men continued to work in conditions which were unsafe due to the presence of methane gas. Although extractor ventilation fans should have been installed to reduce the concentration of methane in the air, this would have been expensive for mine owners, and thus such fans were not installed. A legal requirement[when?] for minimum air quality standards eventually led to the introduction of more ventilation. The lamps also had to be provided by the miners themselves, not the owners, as traditionally the miners bought their own candles from the company store. quote http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_lamp

[sstarr2008]

I wonder if the oil for the the new lamps would have been more expensive (being new) than candles which were already used so therefore cheap and plentiful?

I should have mentioned the ventilation problem since it was in the inquest. Although the mine was described as "well ventilated by an exhaustive fan", the accident occurred at 6am on a Monday morning as the pit workings were being inspected but the ventilation did not run on Sundays or at night so it had probably only just started working.
It is mentioned that even just before the explosion one of the men in charge had told his men that the pit was too full of gas to proceed.

So much for the "well ventilated" mine!!

Stu