Fatal Mine Accidents 1830 - 1900 © M. Roe 2001
LOCATION DATE NAME AGE DESCRIPTION OCCUPATION
Shibden 13/11/1830 N/A 16 Explosion of firedamp N/A
Highfield ? 18/12/1830 N/A 32 Fall in Shaft N/A
Storth End 12/01/1832 Henry Whiteley N/A Fall down shaft onsetter ?
Brow Bottom 07/01/1832 Jonas Wilson N/A Fall in Shaft N/A
Swan Bank Colliery 14/07/1832 George Pitchforth N/A Drowned whilst cleaning water gate N/A
Ainley Pit 01/06/1833 Jonas Wilson N/A Explosion of fire damp N/A
Ainley Pit 01/06/1833 Thomas Crossley N/A Explosion of fire damp N/A
Ainley Pit 01/06/1833 George Batley N/A Explosion of fire damp N/A
Ainley Pit 01/06/1833 John Tiffany N/A Explosion of fire damp N/A
Ainley Pit 01/06/1833 Edward Booth N/A Explosion of fire damp N/A
Stoor Hill 29/12/1833 John Holroyd N/A Explosion of fire damp N/A
Swan Bank Colliery 29/08/1835 Abraham Crabtree N/A Fall down shaft collier
Swan Bank Colliery 29/08/1835 John Priestley N/A Fall down shaft collier
N/A 05/07/1838 John Crossley 16 Fall of stone in shaft N/A
N/A 10/07/1838 Abraham Crossley 30 Fall of stone in shaft N/A
N/A 14/10/1838 James Jennings 11 fall down shaft hurrier
N/A 17/04/1838 James Lumley 9 Explosion of fire damp hurrier
Swan Bank Colliery 31/08/1838 Francis Taylor 11 Explosion of fire damp hurrier
Swan Bank Colliery 01/03/1839 Joseph Gray 11 Fall of roof hurrier
N/A 09/10/1839 Thomas Oldfield 48 Fall down shaft (machinery out of gear) N/A
N/A 02/11/1840 John Woodhead 29 Fall down shaft N/A
Swan Bank Colliery 11/06/1840 William Sheard 30 Explosion of firedamp collier
Swan Bank Colliery 15/06/1840 Joseph Sheard 15 Explosion of firedamp hurrier
Highfield 18/05/1840 Charles Cheatham 10 Explosion of firedamp hurrier
N/A 10/04/1841 Matthew Smith 10 Fall down shaft hurrier
Swan Bank Colliery 26/02/1841 Jonathan (James) Sutcliffe 40 Explosion of firedamp collier
Wilsons pit/Quarry Ho 14/07/1842 Jabez Parker N/A Fall of roof collier
Shibden Hall Colliery 14/09/1842 Robertshaw 13 Fall of roof hurrier ?
N/A 07/01/1843 Joseph Ellis 16 Fall down shaft N/A
N/A 14/01/1843 Henry Brearley 14 N/A hurrier
Quarry House 30/03/1844 N/A 13 Fall of roof hurrier
N/A 19/07/1845 William Shore 19 Fall of roof collier
N/A 23/10/1847 Benj Croft 19 Fall down shaft collier
Swan Bank Colliery 23/12/1848 William Crawthra 24 Fall down shaft collier
N/A 25/08/1849 Samuel Wilson 40 N/A N/A
Highfield 11/12/1854 Patrick Burke N/A Fall down shaft N/A
Harp Bottom 15/02/1855 John Cawthra N/A Fall of roof in mine N/A
Dam Head 15/05/1855 Kershaw Barker 10 Fall of roof in mine hurrier
Bradshaw Lane 19/01/1855 John Sharpe N/A Fall of roof in mine N/A
Binns Bottom 21/04/1855 Thomas Holgate N/A Suffocated by powder smoke in mine N/A
Hollin Heys 03/12/1856 Thomas Wilson N/A Fall of roof in mine N/A
Limed House Colliery 21/02/1856 George Harwood 14 Fall down shaft hurrier
Bradshaw Lane 22/04/1856 Joseph Sutcliffe N/A Fall of roof in mine N/A
Shugden Colliery 07/08/1859 James Crawthrey N/A Suffocated by Choke Damp N/A
Shugden 09/09/1859 Esau Crowther N/A Fall of roof in mine N/A
Shaw Lane 25/04/1861 Roger Brandwood N/A Fall of roof in mine N/A
Four Lane Ends 13/05/1870 Thomas Crawthera 26 Fall down shaft (rope broke) N/A
Four Lane Ends 13/05/1870 Alfred Crawthera 15 Fall down shaft (rope broke) hurrier
Swan Bank Colliery 09/05/1872 Geo Woodhead 10 Run over by corves hurrier
Quarry House 20/12/1878 John Bastow 46 Explosion of fire damp collier
Dam Head 22/04/1879 Job Atkinson 26 Fall of roof N/A
New Hall 02/07/1880 Abraham Firth 23 Fall down shaft (black damp) collier
Sunny Bank 15/03/1882 T. Conway N/A Explosion of fire damp N/A
Calder Clay Mine 24/10/1889 R. Holroyd 40 Fall of roof miner
Quarry House 13/02/1891 J. Baxendale 40 Fall of roof collier
Shibden Hall 22/06/1892 G. Sharpe 33 Fall of roof collier
Sunnybank 30/09/1893 A. Collins 20 Fall of roof collier
Sunnybank 31/12/1895 F. Mitchell 32 Fall of roof collier

This data has been collected from two main sources. From 1851 to 1900 it comes from the returns of the Mines Inspectors, and can be considered as secure data, because after 1850 there was a statutory requirement to declare all fatalities to the inspector. Local newspapers were examined to enhance the details in the inspectors reports, and it became clear that not all the accidents were reported by the press. Before 1851 the data was collected from reports of accidents and inquests in local newspapers. Given the inconsistent reporting in the post 1850 newspapers it is very likely that some accidents will be missing from the pre 1850 data which means that it should be considered to be a minimum number of fatalities for that period.

A list of fatal accidents between 1838 and 1841 is contained in the 1842 Children's Employment Commission minutes of evidence. This was examined in conjunction with the contemporary newspapers and it was indeed found that several of the incidents were not reported. It was also noted that the details of at least one of the accidents differed considerably to the newspaper reports, which again shows that caution must be applied to the pre 1850 data.

Before 1830 because there are fewer local newspapers and it became necessary to look at regional papers such as the Leeds Mercury which only occasionally contained coroners inquests in the Halifax area, any data pre 1830 was therefore so unreliable that it has not been used.

Left: A breakdown of the causes of death.

National figures were collected from 1850 and are divided into four simple categories.Firedamp, falls of roof, falls in shafts and miscellaneous. Most of the accidents fall into the first three categories. In addition a category for 'unknown' causes of death has been added, which is only necessary for two deaths in the 1840's.

If the number of fatal accidents over the whole period is examined it will be seen that accidents in shafts and falls of roof account in almost equal amounts for over 64% of all deaths. This immediately dismisses the popular held belief that firedamp explosions caused the biggest loss of life, but is this merely a regional trend? The national figures from 1850 - 1900 show 40% of fatalities caused by roof falls increasing to 45% after 1880. Thus it would appear that roof falls were less common in the Halifax area. However when the figures are broken down by decade a different picture emerges. Deaths from roof falls only represent 5% of the total in the 1830s up to 100% in the 1860s, back down to 20% in the 1870s, and finally back up to 100% in the 1890s.

Examining the data in this way can be misleading. The total number of deaths reduces steadily from the 1830s and the apparently high figure for deaths in roof fall in the 1860s, in reality only represents one death. Therefore comparison with the national figures is difficult. What can be said is that miners were more at risk from roof falls in both the 1860s and 1890s but the risk of fatal injuries from other causes has reduced

Fire damp deaths which peak in the 1830s and 40 are not as might be thought due to the presence of gassy seams. In Samuel Scriven's report on the working conditions in the area in 1842 states that with care there is no need to use safety lamps. Almost all the deaths involve naked candles and this suggests that Scriven may have been wrong, however two of the accidents; the first at Ainley Pit in 1833 and the second at Swan Bank Colliery in 1840 involve multiple fatalities, which skew the figures. The first accident was the greatest recorded loss of life in one incident found in the study period and occurred when an unexpected pocket of firedamp was ignited when blasting.
If the accidents are broken down by age group it is possible to suggest who was more at risk from each class of accident, however in just over one third of cases the age of the deceased is unknown which means that any analysis will be incomplete. If the known ages and causes of death are plotted on a graph several interesting trends do occur. Deaths from roof fall are spread evenly across the age range as are deaths from firedamp. It is only deaths in shafts that display any increase for a specific age range. Here the groups 13 - 20 and 21 - 30 account for two thirds of all the deaths. This could easily be dismissed as an indication of the foolhardy nature of these age groups but may equally just be a reflection of the demographic spread of the miner