Pretoria Pit Mine Disaster
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During the Christmas week of 1910, the task of most families in the Westhoughton and Atherton area was to prepare for the upcoming holidays. However, the local coal mining families were completely unaware that in a brief instant their lives were about to be tragically, and irrevocably changed. |
The Pretoria Pit Disaster is the worst coal mining accident to have occurred in Lancashire, and the third worst mining disaster in British history. The Pretoria Pit was a complex of coal mines owned by the Hulton Colliery Company, and situated on the boarder of Westhoughton and Atherton. Pretoria Pit was the largest coal mine in the Westhoughton area, working five coal seams in the region. Each seam had its own mine: Trencherbone, Plodder, Yard, Three-Quarter, and Arley mine.
The Hulton Colliery Co. employed approximately 2,500 people locally. On the morning of December 21, 1910, a total of 898 men and boys clocked in for the day shift at the Hulton Colliery, and most had descended the shafts below ground before 8 AM. One of those arriving for work early that morning was a 16 year old boy, Joseph Shearer Staveley of Westhoughton, on his very first day of employment in the Yard mine workshops. A total of 347 men, including Joseph, had descended down the No. 3 pit shaft to work in the Yard mine that morning, when suddenly, at 7:50 AM there was a tremendous underground explosion, about 300 yards deep below the earth's surface, at the level of the Yard mine.
Mr Alfred Tonge was the General Manager of Hulton Colliery at the time, and he lived almost two miles away from the pit head. He was home at the time of the blast, and heard the explosion. He immediately left his home and arrived at the mine within about twenty minutes, leading a team of rescuers into the mine. He wrote an account of what he found on upon his arrival, which was turned in to the enquiry as evidence during the investigation:
“I was in my house and heard the report about ten minutes to eight and was informed shortly after that there had been an explosion. When I got to the pit, I found smoke coming from the upcast shaft. I saw that a portion of the casing of the upcast shaft had been wrecked. I went forward to the downcast shaft and was informed by the mechanical engineer that one of the cages was fast in the shaft as a result of the explosion. There was no damage to the engine and as the No. 3 shaft was out of the purpose for travelling purposes, we set to work to liberate the cage in the downcast. Fortunately one of the cages appeared to be free, but it could not be brought up because the other cage was fast. We had to disconnect the rope from the cage that was fast from the drum and after that the free cage was brought to the surface. I got to the pit about ten minutes past eight and the cage was free about nine o’clock.
When we got the cage working took five men in the signal cage and went quietly down calling at the Trencherbone mine. Llewllyn Williams the undermanager of the Trencherbone mine was at the mouthing and I asked if all the men were all right there. He said, ‘Yes’. They had suffered from fumes but everything was clear. I took him with me in the cage and we went further down. On our way down we encountered obstacles in the shaft, broken signal wires and bearers, and we were in considerable alarm as to whether the cage was going to stick or not. But it kept freeing itself and broke through all the obstacles. We got to the Yard mouthing and, on going in, saw the underground fan blown inwards towards the downcast pit. Going forward through the electric haulage house, which was the main route to the upcast shaft bottom, we found great wreckage and got through into the No.3 pit bottom shunts where we found a boy. There was afterdamp and it was hot but we went forward. We picked up the boy and sent him back up the pit.
Going forward we found Byres struggling, and we carried him to the cage. I looked about and found more dead bodies lying about, and then we decided to go down and see how the men in the Arley were. We first took the injured men up to the top ad then set out immediately to go to the Arley mine. Having passed the Yard mine, I heard a shout, ‘Send the cage to the Yard mouthing’ which was repeated mechanically over and over again. We had been at the Yard mouthing and I could not understand it, but I remembered that it would be the other Yard mouthing and we found the source of the noise. It was a lad from the workshops, Staveley. We got him out and lifted him up and asked him what he had been doing and were there any more. He said that here was a lad close to him, dead. We took him to the top and then went down into the Arley mine again having difficulty as the cage kept sticking and freeing itself. We called to the Three-Quarters mouthing in the shaft, which was not used, instead of going down the tunnel and getting to the Arley mouthing. We asked if they were all right and they replied that they were and wanted to go up. I said there were others in a worse position than they, and they must be patient..."
-- Alfred Tonge
Only 4 men working the Yard mine that morning were fortunate enough to survive the initial blast. However, it is likely that if Mr. Tonge had not acted as swiftly as he did, that these young men may not have been as fortunate. The initial survivors of the blast were Fountain Byers, John Sharples, Joseph Staveley, and William Davenport. We know from the diary entries of Fountain's brother, Ben Byers, that Fountain would survive less than 24 hours. He left behind a wife, and child, just three days before Christmas, and was laid to rest at Wingates Parish Church on Christmas Day.
Two days after the accident, Joseph Shearer Staveley was interviewed by the Times, and gave the following account of his ordeal in the Yard mine:
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It is now known that Joseph was not the sole survivor from the Yard Mine explosion. However, it is to date, the only known article where Joseph Shearer Staveley's account of the day's events were published in his own words. Two days after the disaster in the pit, Joseph's father gave an account of Joseph's ordeal to the Guardian as follows:
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An article published in the Guardian the first week of January suggests that Joseph Staveley did not suffer any long lasting effects from his ordeal, and returned to work just after the New Year:
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In January 1911 Joseph testified during the inquest about his experience in the mine:
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James Berry Jr., who died in the mine next to Joseph Staveley, was 21 years of age. Mr. Rushton, the under-manager, also perished, aged 32 years.
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Richard Redmayne, the Chief Inspector of Mines, was responsible for leading the investigation into the accident. During the inquest, William Davenport was called to testify. Clearly he suffered long lasting effects as a result of his injuries during the blast, and two months after the explosion, he still could not recall the events of that day:
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Redmayne ultimately concluded that a 20 yard section of roof along the North face of the Plodder district mine had collapsed the day prior to the explosion, and ultimately ruled that this collapse had resulted in fire-damp gasses accumulating in the cavity left behind after the collapse, which was then ignited, likely by a faulty miner's lamp.
The blast had been reportedly heard and felt up to four miles away, and initially claimed the lives of 343 of the 347 men working in the Yard mine that fateful morning. Some close to the source of the blast died instantly, others suffocated due to the ensuing high levels of trapped carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide gasses or 'after damp' as the miners called it. There were a few minor injuries reported from the neighboring Trencherbone and Arley mines, and some working those seams were also sickened by the gas, but there were no fatalities at these other mines as they were separately ventilated via the No. 4 shaft. All 343 men that perished that day were working in the Yard mine.
Christmas day 1910 was a day of mourning and remembrance. So many funerals were held that day at the surrounding churches, including the one for Fountain Byers, that his brother Ben noted in his diary that "...funeral processions were criss crossing each other enroute to their denominations....". Westhoughton was particularly hard hit by the tragedy as more than 200 men and boys from Westhoughton died in the blast, some were as young as 13 years old. The remainder were primarily from Daubhill and Chequerbent, others from Bolton, Atherton, and Tyldesley. Some families were almost completely destroyed. Mrs. Tyldesley of Chorley Road, Westhoughton lost not just her husband, but the explosion also claimed the lives of four of her sons. The blast was so severe, that the remains of thirteen of those killed were unable to be visibly identified, and were buried in a tomb in Westhoughton Cemetery.
The remaining three survivors of the accident were pictured on postcards produced locally for sale to raise money for the Mayor's Relief Fund in an effort to aid the widows, orphans and children of the deceased. Joseph Staveley is shown in the center of this postcard:
Image courtesy of Bolton Revisited
The Mayor's Relief Fund ultimately succeeded in raising ₤145,000 (the equivalent value of £9,046,485.61 in 2002) to help support the widows and children of those that died. |
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Of the three remaining survivors, another would soon be lost. John Sharples, although he had survived the initial explosion, and by all accounts had been initially recouperating well, ultimately succumbed to pneumonia, secondary to after-damp exposure, and died a week later. Of the 347 men that went to work in the Yard mine on the morning of December 21, 1910, now only Joseph Staveley, and William Davenport remained.
Many commemorative serviettes were produced locally as a tribute to those that had died, and listed the names of all 344 deceased men and boys. Next to these names the following poem was printed:
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The serviettes varied on border designs, but the center panels were typically the same, and a number of these are currently preserved on display at the Westhoughton Library. Local families would traditionally display these serviettes each year around the time of the anniversary of the disaster in remembrance of those they had lost.
One can only assume that the initial relief that Staveley and Davenport must have felt after surviving the Yard Mine explosion, quickly turned to grief, and later guilt. Why had they survived, when so many of their friends, neighbors, and collegues had perished? Although it seems in some regards that Staveley and Davenport were hailed as miraculous survivors, one has to assume that their survival was equally resented by others who had lost so much.
Joseph did physically recover from his injuries, quite quickly, but his life was forever altered by the events of that day. He later served in the Royal Engineers during World War 1. After the war he returned home to Westhoughton to settle down, and married Ethel BARRETT in 1926. They had a son James in 1927, a daughter Mary in 1929, and a son Alan in 1936.
Joseph Shearer Staveley died in 1954.
Author: Clare M. Staveley
Acknowledgements: Special thanks to Ian Winstanley, Alan Davies and Jackie Taylor for their assistance in researching the Pretoria Pit Disaster, and to John C. Staveley for his assistance in tracing the living relatives of this Staveley family.