Cymmer Colliery explosion

The Cymmer Colliery explosion occurred in the early morning of 15 July 1856 at the Old Pit mine of the Cymmer Colliery near Porth (lower Rhondda Valley), Wales, operated by George Insole & Son. The underground gas explosion resulted in a "sacrifice of human life to an extent unparalleled in the history of coal mining of this country"[1]:141 in which 114 men and boys were killed. Thirty-five widows, ninety-two children, and other dependent relatives were left with no immediate means of support.

Cymmer Colliery explosion
Cymmer Colliery c. 1905
Cymmer Old Pit mine
Date15 July 1856 (1856-07-15)
LocationCymmer Colliery near Porth, Wales
Coordinates51.6107°N 3.408°W / 51.6107; -3.408
TypeUnderground gas explosion
CauseDefective mine ventilation and the use of naked flames underground
Deaths114 men and boys
InquiriesCoroner's inquest: July 1856
CoronerGeorge Overton
AccusedJabez Thomas (mine manager), Rowland Rowlands (overman), Morgan Rowlands (fireman), David Jones (fireman), William Thomas (fireman)
ChargesManslaughter
TrialGlamorgan Assizes: March 1857, judge Baron Watson
VerdictAll defendants were acquitted

The immediate cause of the explosion was defective mine ventilation and the use of naked flames underground. Factors contributing to the explosion included the rapid development of the mine to meet increased demand for coal, poor mine safety practices allowed by management despite official warnings, and deteriorating working relationships between miners and management.

After the explosion, mine owner James Harvey Insole and his officials were accused of "neglecting the commonest precautions for the safety of the men and the safe working of the colliery".[2]:2 At the coroner's inquest into the deaths, Insole deflected responsibility onto his mine manager Jabez Thomas and the jury brought a charge of manslaughter against Thomas and the four other mine officials. To the outrage of the local mining communities, the subsequent criminal proceedings resulted in the exoneration of the mine officials from any blame for the disaster.

The Cymmer Colliery disaster influenced the introduction of mine safety improvements including legislation for improved mine ventilation and the use of safety lamps, employment of children, and qualifications of mine officials. The tragedy highlighted the need for a workable compensation scheme for miners and their dependents to reduce their reliance on public charity after such disasters.

Background

George Insole and his son James Harvey Insole purchased the Cymmer Colliery in 1844. In 1847 they sank the No. 1 Pit which, after 1853, became known as the Cymmer Old Pit. James Insole took control of the business on his father's death in 1851.[3][4]

Between 1852 and 1855, HM Inspector of Mines Herbert Francis Mackworth inspected the colliery twice and sent letters to Insole recommending safety improvements, in particular to the mine's underground ventilation system and the use of safety lamps underground.[3][5]

Colliers (miners) relied on the colliery firemen's daily reports of gas hazards before entering the mine. In 1854, mine manager Jabez Thomas summarily dismissed two experienced firemen and appointed two others from outside the colliery. The workmen complained to Insole they had no confidence in these replacements. The men's refusal to work under the new firemen, and Insole's insistence on exercising his "authority to dismiss or employ those whom I please, without consulting any body of men",[3]:133 led to a twenty-two week miners' strike. Financial loss and threat of legal action eventually compelled the men to return to work under the new firemen.[lower-alpha 1][3]

By the mid-1800s, the Rhondda variety of coal was in high demand as a coking coal.[6]:48 The Crimean War created additional demand for coal, and in 1855 Insole intensified his mining operations at the Old Pit, doubling the number of colliers and increasing the mine area by over a third.[3] Welsh historian E. D. Lewis concluded that,

It was the success of [the Cymmer Old Pit mine] when developed with such inordinate speed and recklessness by [George Insole's] son, James Harvey Insole, that led directly to the terrible mining disaster of 1856.[3]:123

Explosion

Two thrusters and a trapper (who worked the ventilation doors, usually boys) in a UK coal mine about 1853

On Tuesday, 15 July 1856, 160 men and boys descended the Old Pit mine shaft to commence their 6:00 a.m. shift. As they made their way to their workplaces underground, there was an explosion of gas near the mine entrance which trapped the colliers already deeper in the mine. It was three hours before rescuers could reach the site. They found that many of the colliers had congregated in groups to die together as they ran out of air. By that evening, 112 bodies had been recovered, another was brought up the next day, and a severely burnt collier died the following day.[3][7][8] In his report to the Secretary of State for the year 1856, Mines Inspector Mackworth described the disaster as "the most lamentable and destructive explosion which had ever occurred in any colliery either in this country or abroad".[5]:118

Inquest

The coroner's inquest into the deaths began on 16 July 1856 in Porth before the North Glamorgan coroner George Overton and a jury of eighteen. It was adjourned to allow the jurors to view the bodies and reconvened eleven days later in Pontypridd. Twenty-nine witnesses were called. The evidence indicated that the explosion resulted from defective mine ventilation and the use of naked flames underground, despite warnings having been sent to the mine owner by Mackworth.[2][5] He told the inquest that "the explosion arose from the persons in charge of the pit neglecting the commonest precautions for the safety of the men and the safe working of the colliery".[2]:2

The inquest determined that, apart from the collier who died later of burns, all the deaths were the result of "suffocation, caused by the post-explosion effects of afterdamp or methane poisoning".[3]:138–139 Among the 114 victims, thirty-four were boys under the age of sixteen and another fifteen were under the age of twelve. Insole, the mine owner, walked free from the inquest after claiming he took "no part in management"[9] of the mine. The mine manager, Jabez Thomas, and the mine's officials, Rowland Rowlands (overman), Morgan Rowlands (fireman), David Jones (fireman), and William Thomas (fireman), were charged with manslaughter for negligence causing the deaths of 114 men.[2][3][10]

Cymmer Colliery explosion victims as reported on 26 July 1856[8]
#SurnameForenameAgeCondition                Reported description                    
1EvansMatthew66suffocatedmarried
2EvansPhilip22burnt
3DavidJenkin32suffocated
4DanielDavid25suffocatedmarried
5LewisThomas30burntmarried
6HughEvan24suffocatedbrother of John (18) and William (14), the three brothers and Thomas Lewis (30) lodged in the house of Lewis Powell who was unable to go to work that morning from having a day or two before accidentally hurt his arm
7HughJohn18suffocated
8HughWilliam14suffocated
9GriffithsPeter15suffocated
10GriffithsHenry13burntthis poor little fellow was literally charred
11PowellDavid13suffocated
12LlewellynWilliam33suffocatedwife and three children
13JenkinsReessuffocated and bruisedbrother of John (18) and David (10)
14JenkinsJohn18suffocated
15JenkinsDavid10suffocated
16ThomasDavid29suffocated and bruised
17IsaacJohn17suffocated
18MartinWilliam23suffocated and bruised
19JonesThomas10suffocated and bruised
20ReesBenjamin42burnt badlyleaving a wife and five children
21LlewellynThomas28burnt slightlyleaving a wife and four small children
22ThomasDavid17burnt badly he supported his widowed mother
23SalathielJaconia18suffocated and bruised brother of John (14)
24SalathielJohn14suffocated and bruised
25LewisThomas36suffocatedwife and five children
26LewisDavid22burnt badly
27DaviesDavid15burntthe mother of this lad depended upon his labour for her support
28ThomasJohn18burnt very badly
29CallacottWilliam12suffocated
30HowellsEdward22suffocatedbrother of David (17), they kept their mother, a widow at Dinas
31HowellsDavid17burnt
32HopkinsThomas26burnt badly wife and infant
33JohnJoseph64burntleaving a widow and several children all grown up
34MorganJohn15suffocated
35ReesThomas36suffocatedmarried
36EvansW17suffocated and bruised
37MorganDavid14suffocated
38WilliamsThomas38suffocatedwife and four children
39ReesRichard27suffocatedwife and one child
40DaviesThomas45suffocatedwife and four children depending upon him for support, his son William (12) died with him
41DaviesWilliam12suffocated
42DaviesThomas46burnt badly leaving a widow and one child, his three sons William (16) Thos (13) David (10) also killed
43DaviesWilliam16burnt badly
44DaviesThos13burnt badly
45DaviesDavid10burnt badly
46JohnIsaac18suffocated
47GriffithsGeorge18burnt slightly
48ReesAaron23suffocatedwife and one young child
49DaviesWilliam28burntleaving a wife and one child
50RobertsJohn11burnt
51MatthewsThomas40burntwife and six children
52WilliamsThomas40burnt
53JonesBillyburnta young orphan lad, inmate of the same house as Thomas Matthews (40) and Thomas Williams (40)
54ThomasGomer11suffocatedkept his mother who is a widow, her husband having been killed at these works a short time ago
55JervisHenry18burnt badly
56EvansJohn16burnt
57EvansJohn12suffocated
58ThomasRees16burnt
59MilesWalter17suffocatedbrother of Richard (10), the two brothers kept their mother. Their father was formerly a fireman at the colliery, but he and the other fireman apprehended danger. They were discharged and the whole of the colliers turned out in consequence. He left to seek a home for his family in Australia leaving strict injunctions during his absence for neither of the boys to work in this colliery or he should not find them alive when he came back or send for them to come out to him.
60MilesRichard10suffocated
61DaviesHezekiah37burntleaving a widow and two children
62DaviesThomas11burnt
63DaviesEli10suffocated
64DavidMorgan18suffocated
65MilesMatthew11suffocated
66MorganIsaac18burnthe supported his mother a widow
67MorganDavid23suffocated
68LewisEvan26burnt badlyleaving a widow and one child
69EvansMorgan15suffocated
70EvansNathaniel57suffocatedwife and five children
71ThomasDaniel21burnt badly
72DaviesThomas20suffocated
73SolowayGeorge65suffocatedwife and four children two of whom are grown up, his son Henry (13) also killed
74SolowayHenry13burnt
75PhillipsEvan45suffocatedwife and 4 children
76ThomasW19burnt
77AndrewsThos26suffocatedwife and one child
78JamesRichard15suffocated
79MorganMorgan18suffocatedbrother of Enoch (15) and Thomas (12)
80MorganEnoch15suffocated
81MorganThomas12burnt
82JonesEnoch22suffocatedbrother of Henry (18)
83JonesHenry18suffocated
84LewisDaniel30suffocatedleaving a widow and three children
85RichardsDavid34burntwife and one child
86RichardsZacheniah24burnt slightlywife and three children
87MorganDavid17suffocated
88JenkinsWilliam40suffocatedleaving a widow and three children, his son William (12) also killed
89JenkinsWilliam12suffocated
90WilliamsWilliam28burntwife and three small children
91ReesJohn11burnt badly
92MorganMorgan42suffocatedwife and six children
93EvansBenjamin14suffocated
94WilliamsJohn48suffocated
95WilliamsDaniel17suffocated
96DaviesEdward10suffocated
97EdwardsThomas12suffocated
98MorganWilliam11suffocated
99JohnDavid37suffocatedleaving a widow and three small children, his two sons John (11) and Lazarus (10) also killed
100JohnJohn11suffocated
101JohnLazarus10suffocated
102WilliamsThomas15burnt
103DaviesThomas17suffocated
104HarrisDavid15suffocated
105ReesWilliam41suffocatedleaving a widow and four children
106EdmundsSamuel37suffocatedleaving a widow and seven children, his son William (11) was clasped fast in his father's arms
107EdmundsWilliam11suffocated
108HaynesWilliam12suffocated
109LewisEdward37burntwife and one child, his son Thomas (12) also killed
110LewisThomas12suffocated
111EvansWilliam46suffocatedwife and one child, his son John (18) also killed
112EvansJohn18suffocated
113ThomasLlewellyn13burnt badly
114EvansMorgan16burnt badly died the day after he was removed from the pit

Trial

At the Glamorgan Spring Assizes held in Swansea in March 1857, the judge, His Lordship Baron Watson, made his own position clear in his pre-trial address to the grand jury. Noting that the mine manager did not go underground, and that "no direct case of omission" had been brought against the other mine officials, he indicated that they could not be guilty of manslaughter.[1]:142 Nevertheless, the grand jury returned a "true bill" (indictment) against Jabez Thomas, Rowland Rowlands, and Morgan Rowlands, who were then tried on the charge of "having feloniously and wilfully killed and slain one William Thomas,[lower-alpha 2] on the 15th July, 1856".[11] At the trial, it was reported that the judge made clear he sided with the defendants and thought the matter should not have come to court.[12]

At the conclusion of the trial, the jury complied with the judge's directions to acquit the defendants.[1] To the deep distress and anger of the local mining communities, the final result of the legal proceedings was that the mine owner and his officials were exonerated from all blame.[3] However, E. D. Lewis' analysis of the disaster concluded that:

Possibly the legal processes of the time were insufficient to punish those who were culpable, but of the moral responsibility of owner and officials, even when judged against the background of their own time and place, there can be no question.[3]:153

Survivors

Gravestone of "three sons of Thomas and Catherine Morgan, namely Morgan aged 18 Yrs Enock 14 and Thomas 11 who died by the Great Explosion in the Cymmer Colliery July 15th 1856". They were buried in the Cymmer Independent Chapel graveyard.[13]

Among the small local communities no household was left untouched, almost all the working-age men and boys having perished. Thirty graves were opened at the Cymmer Independent Chapel graveyard and the bodies of forty-eight victims were interred on 17 July 1856 in the presence of huge crowds (estimated at 15,000 people). Smaller numbers of burials occurred in other local communities, with "11 at Tonyrefail, nine at Ffrwd Amos, eight at the Dinas Methodist Chapel, and the rest at Pontypridd, Treforest, Coed Cymmer, Llantrissant, Llanharry, Bedwas, Trelanos, Brynmenyn, Wauntrodau, Llanwonno".[8][3][7] Thirty-five widows, ninety-two children, and other dependent relatives were left with no immediate means of support.[14] The court's verdict meant the Fatal Accidents Act 1846, which required compensation to be paid only when a mine manager or proprietor was held to have been at fault, did not apply.[3]

However gross may have been the neglect which caused the husband's death, all interests are arrayed against the survivors. The colliers, the jury, the means of legal redress, are subject to the influence ... [of] the proprietor of the colliery. The cost of an administration, before an action can be commenced, and the difficulty of obtaining a solicitor who will undertake the odium and the risk, unite in forming an insuperable bar to the claim due to the widow and the fatherless, who, by the neglect or cupidity of others, have been plunged in one moment into the deepest affliction and most abject poverty.

Mines Inspector Mackworth's report to the Secretary of State, 1855[15]:118–119

The dependents of the victims of the disaster had to rely on public charity and "the final humiliation" of seeking poor relief.[3]:160[14] Insole contributed £500 (approximately equivalent to £47,100 in 2019) to the Cymer Widows' and Orphans' Fund, set up shortly after the disaster, and undertook to meet the cost of the thirty graves.[3][16] However, local coal owners also combined to deny work to those colliers who had given evidence against the mine officials at the inquest and trial.[3][5] Laments were published and, marking the first anniversary of the disaster, a song was published under the patronage of Mrs Insole of Ely Court (Insole's wife) in aid of the relief fund.[17][18][19]

Legacy

Described by Mines Inspector Thomas Evans as a "sacrifice of human life to an extent unparalleled in the history of coal mining of this country",[1]:141 the Cymmer Colliery disaster of 1856 influenced future coal-mining practices, locally and nationally. After another gas explosion at the colliery in December 1856,[20] the single-shaft Cymmer Old Pit and New Pit mines were linked to create a safer and better ventilated two-shaft arrangement. Although mechanical mine ventilators had been used in the Lower Rhondda from 1851, they were installed at the Cymmer Colliery in the mid-1870s. Also by the mid-1870s, the colliery management realised it was safer and cheaper to provide colliers with safety lamps. The Cymmer Old Pit was worked by the Insole company until the mine closed in 1939.[3][6]:149–160

More broadly, influenced by the number of children killed in the disaster, the Mines Regulation Act of 1860 prohibited employment of boys under twelve years of age, unless they could read and write and were attending school for at least three hours a day on two days a week.[3] Two-shaft mines were made compulsory by 1865. Mackworth's safety recommendations, sent to Insole in 1854 and including "that a qualified mining engineer and a sufficient number of competent subordinate officers and deputies should take complete charge of the machinery, ventilation, ways and works and watch over and provide for the safety of the workmen during the hours of labour",[3]:159 were passed in the Mines Act of 1872. Following the Cymmer Colliery explosion, steps were taken to reduce the reliance on public charity in the case of fatal disasters by introducing comprehensive compensation schemes, but the first successful scheme did not emerge until 1881.[3][5][21][22]

See also

Notes

  1. The two fireman at the centre of the 1854 strike were replaced in 1855.[3]
  2. Evidence given at the inquest indicates William Thomas (19) and his brother (13) were probably closest to the source of the explosion.[3]

References

  1. Evans, Thomas (1857). "X. Report of the Working of the Coal Mines Inspection Act (18 & 19 Vict. c. 108.) in the South Wales District". House of Commons Papers (Reports of the Inspectors of Coal Mines, to Her Majesty's Secretary of State to December 1856). XVI: 132–144.
  2. "Cymmer Colliery Explosion". The Merthyr Telegraph. 23 August 1856. pp. 2 (quoted text at end of 'Wednesday' section), 4.
  3. Lewis, E. D. (1976). "The Cymer (Rhondda) Explosion". Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion: 118–161. hdl:10107/1419644.
  4. Lewis, E. D. (1976). "Pioneers of the Cardiff Coal Trade". Glamorgan Historian. 11: 22–52. Archived from the original on 11 November 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  5. Mackworth, Herbert (1857). "IX. Report of the Inspection of Coal Mines in the Southern District, during the Year ended 31st December 1856". House of Commons Papers (Reports of the Inspectors of Coal Mines, to Her Majesty's Secretary of State to December 1856). XVI: 109–131.
  6. Lewis, E. D. (1959). The Rhondda Valleys. London: Phoenix House.
  7. "[July] 15. Accident at the Cymmer Colliery near Ponypridd  114 Lives Lost". The Annual Register, or a View of the History and Politics of the Year 1856. London: F. & J. Rivington. 1857. pp. 138–139.
  8. "Further Particulars of the Dreadful Explosion in the Rhondda Valley". The Merthyr Telegraph. 26 July 1856. p. 4. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  9. "[Not stated]". The Cambrian. 1 August 1856. Cited in Lewis (1976). p. 139.
  10. "Insole, James Harvey (1821–1901), colliery proprietor". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  11. "The Cymmer Colliery Case". The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian. 7 March 1857. p. 6.
  12. "The Cymmer Colliery Explosion". The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian. 25 April 1857. p. 8. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  13. "Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council. Notice of Intended Application to the Home Secretary for a Licence for the Removal of Human Remains from the Burial Ground at Cymmer Chapel, Cymmer, Porth". The Western Mail. 28 July 2004. Classified Advertising: Legal Notices.
  14. "The Terrible Accident at Cymmer". The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian. 26 July 1856. p. 5. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  15. Mackworth, Herbert (1855). "VI. Report of the Working of the Coal Mines Inspection Act (13 & 14 Vict. c.100) in the Southern District, during the Half Year ended 31st December 1854". The Sessional Papers Printed by Order of the House of Lords, or Printed by Royal Command, in the Session 1854–5 (18 & 19 Victoriae) Arranged in Volumes. (Reports of Messrs. Dunn, Dickson, Morton, Williams, Wynne, and Mackworth, Inspectors of Coal Mines, to Her Majesty's Secretary of State). XXVI: 112–126.
  16. "Public Meeting at Newbridge, in Aid of the Widows and Orphans, and Dependent Relatives of the Deceased". The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian. 26 July 1856. p. 5. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019.
  17. Meirion, Ywain (1856). Galargerdd am y ddamwain ofnadwy, yr hon a fu ar y 15fed o Orphenaf, 1856, yn Ngwaith Glo Insole & Co., yn y Cymer, gerllaw Pontypridd, Sir Forganwg [A Lament for the Terrible Disaster, that Occurred on the 15th of July, 1856, at the Colliery of Insole & Co., in Cymmer, near Pontypridd, Glamorganshire] (in Welsh). Llanidloes: J. Mendus Jones. hdl:10107/1104044.
  18. Hughes, Richard (1856). Galarus goffadwriaeth am y ddamwain arswydus a gymerodd le yng ngwaith Mr Insole, yn y Cymer, ar fore dydd Mawrth, Gorffennaf 15, 1856, pryd y taniodd y damp, a chollodd 114 o goliers eu bywydau [A Sad Memorial to the Terrible Accident that took place in the Works of Mr. Insole, in Cymmer, on the morning of Tuesday, 15 July 1856, when the Firedamp Ignited, and 114 Colliers Lost their Lives] (in Welsh). Merthyr: T. Howells. (National Library of Wales catalogue).
  19. "For the Benefit of the Cymmer Colliery Accident Fund. The New Song, "There's No Dearth of Kindness"". The Monmouthshire Merlin. 18 July 1857. p. 1. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020. Retrieved 27 January 2020. (Located in lower half of column 1).
  20. "Colliery Explosions". The Times. 12 December 1856. p. 7.
  21. "The South-Wales Colliers' Provident Society". South Wales Daily News. 19 January 1881. p. 3.
  22. "Monmouthshire and South Wales Provident Society of Miners". The Monmouthshire Merlin. 18 February 1881. p. 5.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.