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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
Black and white photograph of a colliery with tall chimney stacks, railway lines and coal wagons
Cymmer Colliery c. 1905
Cymmer Old Pit mine is located in Rhondda Cynon Taf
Cymmer Old Pit mine
Cymmer Old Pit mine
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Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales
Date15 July 1856 (1856-07-15)
LocationCymmer Colliery near Porth, Wales
Coordinates51°36′39″N 3°24′29″W / 51.6107°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

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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.[a][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

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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

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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, (Note: both the Davy lamp and Geordie lamp safety lamps had been invented in 1815, and widely used in mines at the time) 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]
# Surname Forename Age Condition Reported description
1 Evans Matthew 66 suffocated married
2 Evans Philip 22 burnt
3 David Jenkin 32 suffocated
4 Daniel David 25 suffocated married
5 Lewis Thomas 30 burnt married
6 Hugh Evan 24 suffocated brother 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
7 Hugh John 18 suffocated
8 Hugh William 14 suffocated
9 Griffiths Peter 15 suffocated
10 Griffiths Henry 13 burnt this poor little fellow was literally charred
11 Powell David 13 suffocated
12 Llewellyn William 33 suffocated wife and three children
13 Jenkins Rees suffocated and bruised brother of John (18) and David (10)
14 Jenkins John 18 suffocated
15 Jenkins David 10 suffocated
16 Thomas David 29 suffocated and bruised
17 Isaac John 17 suffocated
18 Martin William 23 suffocated and bruised
19 Jones Thomas 10 suffocated and bruised
20 Rees Benjamin 42 burnt badly leaving a wife and five children
21 Llewellyn Thomas 28 burnt slightly leaving a wife and four small children
22 Thomas David 17 burnt badly he supported his widowed mother
23 Salathiel Jaconia 18 suffocated and bruised brother of John (14)
24 Salathiel John 14 suffocated and bruised
25 Lewis Thomas 36 suffocated wife and five children
26 Lewis David 22 burnt badly
27 Davies David 15 burnt the mother of this lad depended upon his labour for her support
28 Thomas John 18 burnt very badly
29 Callacott William 12 suffocated
30 Howells Edward 22 suffocated brother of David (17), they kept their mother, a widow at Dinas
31 Howells David 17 burnt
32 Hopkins Thomas 26 burnt badly wife and infant
33 John Joseph 64 burnt leaving a widow and several children all grown up
34 Morgan John 15 suffocated
35 Rees Thomas 36 suffocated married
36 Evans W 17 suffocated and bruised
37 Morgan David 14 suffocated
38 Williams Thomas 38 suffocated wife and four children
39 Rees Richard 27 suffocated wife and one child
40 Davies Thomas 45 suffocated wife and four children depending upon him for support, his son William (12) died with him
41 Davies William 12 suffocated
42 Davies Thomas 46 burnt badly leaving a widow and one child, his three sons William (16) Thos (13) David (10) also killed
43 Davies William 16 burnt badly
44 Davies Thos 13 burnt badly
45 Davies David 10 burnt badly
46 John Isaac 18 suffocated
47 Griffiths George 18 burnt slightly
48 Rees Aaron 23 suffocated wife and one young child
49 Davies William 28 burnt leaving a wife and one child
50 Roberts John 11 burnt
51 Matthews Thomas 40 burnt wife and six children
52 Williams Thomas 40 burnt
53 Jones Billy burnt a young orphan lad, inmate of the same house as Thomas Matthews (40) and Thomas Williams (40)
54 Thomas Gomer 11 suffocated kept his mother who is a widow, her husband having been killed at these works a short time ago
55 Jervis Henry 18 burnt badly
56 Evans John 16 burnt
57 Evans John 12 suffocated
58 Thomas Rees 16 burnt
59 Miles Walter 17 suffocated brother 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.
60 Miles Richard 10 suffocated
61 Davies Hezekiah 37 burnt leaving a widow and two children
62 Davies Thomas 11 burnt
63 Davies Eli 10 suffocated
64 David Morgan 18 suffocated
65 Miles Matthew 11 suffocated
66 Morgan Isaac 18 burnt he supported his mother a widow
67 Morgan David 23 suffocated
68 Lewis Evan 26 burnt badly leaving a widow and one child
69 Evans Morgan 15 suffocated
70 Evans Nathaniel 57 suffocated wife and five children
71 Thomas Daniel 21 burnt badly
72 Davies Thomas 20 suffocated
73 Soloway George 65 suffocated wife and four children two of whom are grown up, his son Henry (13) also killed
74 Soloway Henry 13 burnt
75 Phillips Evan 45 suffocated wife and 4 children
76 Thomas W 19 burnt
77 Andrews Thos 26 suffocated wife and one child
78 James Richard 15 suffocated
79 Morgan Morgan 18 suffocated brother of Enoch (15) and Thomas (12)
80 Morgan Enoch 15 suffocated
81 Morgan Thomas 12 burnt
82 Jones Enoch 22 suffocated brother of Henry (18)
83 Jones Henry 18 suffocated
84 Lewis Daniel 30 suffocated leaving a widow and three children
85 Richards David 34 burnt wife and one child
86 Richards Zacheniah 24 burnt slightly wife and three children
87 Morgan David 17 suffocated
88 Jenkins William 40 suffocated leaving a widow and three children, his son William (12) also killed
89 Jenkins William 12 suffocated
90 Williams William 28 burnt wife and three small children
91 Rees John 11 burnt badly
92 Morgan Morgan 42 suffocated wife and six children
93 Evans Benjamin 14 suffocated
94 Williams John 48 suffocated
95 Williams Daniel 17 suffocated
96 Davies Edward 10 suffocated
97 Edwards Thomas 12 suffocated
98 Morgan William 11 suffocated
99 John David 37 suffocated leaving a widow and three small children, his two sons John (11) and Lazarus (10) also killed
100 John John 11 suffocated
101 John Lazarus 10 suffocated
102 Williams Thomas 15 burnt
103 Davies Thomas 17 suffocated
104 Harris David 15 suffocated
105 Rees William 41 suffocated leaving a widow and four children
106 Edmunds Samuel 37 suffocated leaving a widow and seven children, his son William (11) was clasped fast in his father's arms
107 Edmunds William 11 suffocated
108 Haynes William 12 suffocated
109 Lewis Edward 37 burnt wife and one child, his son Thomas (12) also killed
110 Lewis Thomas 12 suffocated
111 Evans William 46 suffocated wife and one child, his son John (18) also killed
112 Evans John 18 suffocated
113 Thomas Llewellyn 13 burnt badly
114 Evans Morgan 16 burnt badly died the day after he was removed from the pit

Trial

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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,[b] 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

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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 £59,000 in 2023) 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

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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 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 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

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Notes

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  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

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  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d "Cymmer Colliery Explosion". The Merthyr Telegraph. 23 August 1856. pp. 2 (quoted text at end of 'Wednesday' section), 4.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ a b Lewis, E. D. (1959). The Rhondda Valleys. London: Phoenix House.
  7. ^ a b "[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. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b "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

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