*Please note- This site search does not include the Vic. & Tas. BMD's, Lots o' Links & Worth a Look Books
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JOHN BUDDLE
Part 2
MINING, LOCOMOTIVES
1773-1843
9. Wallsend & Heaton
10 Unions
11 Children in Mines
12 Education
13. Mining Disasters
14 Locomotives
15 The Davy Lamp
10 Unions
11 Children in Mines
12 Education
13. Mining Disasters
14 Locomotives
15 The Davy Lamp
Wallsend & Heaton
WALLSEND COLLIERY
Wallsend Colliery: 4 miles [6 km] ENE of Newcastle
Opened: bef. 1782 |
The winning of the colliery at Wallsend, about 60 years ago, was attended with great expense and difficulty, owing to the then imperfect state of machinery as applied to such purposes. So discouraging, indeed, did the prospect appear, that the ancestor of the present proprietor, William Russell, Esq., after embarking in it, took measures for abandoning an enterprize which was destined afterwards to constitute one of the chief sources of his princely fortunes. The high main seam, however, was found throughout the property nearly six feet thick, of the most unexceptionable quality, and under the most favourable circumstances as to mining. Owing to the far-famed prosperity of the colliery, the designation of "Wallsend coal" has continued for many years a passport to the quickest sale and the highest prices; and though the above-mentioned high main seam, which originally obtained this celebrity, has long been worked out, the appellation is still considered advantageous in the recommendation of coal. Indeed, this favourite and important cognomen has been assumed with respect to the coals shipped from the Wear, the Tees, and other districts both in England and Scotland. To distinguish the coal sent from the colliery now under consideration, it was for some time called "Russell's Wallsend". " It is now, however, termed in the coal certificates, "Bensham Wallsend," and "Bensham Main." (Views of the Collieries 1844)
Includes Names of Dead
http://www.dmm.org.uk/colliery/w022.htm
Includes Names of Dead
http://www.dmm.org.uk/colliery/w022.htm
Wallsend town North Tyneside metropolitan borough, metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, historic county of
Northumberland, north-eastern England. Engineering has long been an important activity; the 19th-century engineer George Stephenson, principal inventor of the railway locomotive, and his son Robert lived there for some time. Shipbuilding, mining, and the manufacture of glass all once played a major part in the town’s economy. |
WALLSEND. Gateshead, Northumberland. 1767
There were several Pits. The Church Pit was near the parish church with a railway line which carried waggons of coal down an incline ‘by the hand of a single individual.’ A railway from another colliery crossed this line on a wooden bridge. The shaft frame that supported the pulleys was made of wood and on the wheels were ropes that lowered men and materials. There was tall brick funnel on top of the upcast shaft and a railed platform near the top to facilitate repairs. |
There was an engine house which contained the machinery for working the ropes and close to it were the boilers which raised the steam which powered the pit. Close by was the ‘C’ Pit at which ‘was seen a practical display of that fearful agent which has so often hurled the miner into the presence of his Maker.’ There was four inch metal pipe by which firedamp was conducted from the bottom of the pit and burned off at the top of the pipe. The gas came from small fissures in the coal and chinks in the roof. It was recorded that they excite little apprehension among the pitmen who had been known to collect the gas in clay bottles and burn them at home by making a small hole in the clay. Commenting on the frequency of explosions in the area the Newcastle Journal of 21st. March 1767 made the following observations- “As so many deplorable accidents had lately happened in collieries, it certainly claims attention of coal owners to make a provision for the distressed widows and fatherless children occasioned by these mines, as the catastrophe from foul air becomes more common than ever yet, as we have been requested to take no particular notice of these things, which, in fact, could have very little good tendency, we drop a further mentioning of it but before we dismiss the subject, as a laudable example of their innovation, we recommended the provision made in the Trinity House for distressed, seamen, seamen's widows, etc., which in every respect, is praiseworthy and confers honour on that brotherhood.
http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/cms/document/1707_99.pdf
http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/cms/document/1707_99.pdf
WALLSEND. Gateshead, Durham. 25th. September, 1799.
There was an explosion at the pit which claimed thirteen lives. Those who died were:- John Ward aged 37 years. Thomas Morrow aged 30. Thomas Holmes aged 18 years. Joseph Wilson aged 13 years. Christopher Barras aged 20 yearrs Thomas Birbeck aged 20 years. John Lee aged 14 years.
There was an explosion at the pit which claimed thirteen lives. Those who died were:- John Ward aged 37 years. Thomas Morrow aged 30. Thomas Holmes aged 18 years. Joseph Wilson aged 13 years. Christopher Barras aged 20 yearrs Thomas Birbeck aged 20 years. John Lee aged 14 years.
Wallsend Genealogical Records
http://forebears.io/england/northumberland/wallsend |
HISTORICAL NOTES ON WALLSEND COLLIERY
http://www.aditnow.co.uk/documents/Rising-Sun |
Heaton, Northumberland
On the morning of Wednesday 3rd May 1815, the worst disaster in the history of Newcastle took place in Heaton near the site of St. Teresa’s Church on Heaton Road, when men working in Heaton Main Colliery broke into the abandoned workings of Heaton Banks Colliery. The influx of water cut off their escape route and the pumping technology of the day was unable to drain the mine before their air supply ran out. An Inundation of Heaton Colliery
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/library/services/education-out Heaton History Group
https://heatonhistorygroup.org/tag/high-heaton/ |
One of those who escaped, was Johnny Thew, but his father & two older brothers, William & George, were to die in the pit. When seventeen year old William's body was recovered, in his pocket was his candle-box on which he, with the certain knowledge that death was hovering close by, had used a nail to engrave a message to his mother.
200 years- Remembering the Heaton Colliery Miners
https://underthefieldsofheaton.com/press-coverage/ |
Unions
Coal mining, major industrial disputes, and the coal miner himself, are iconic representations of the industrial age. Demand for coal came from expanding urban centres as a result of the Industrial Revolution, and new coal-fired factories, mills and furnaces. Miners were among the first workers to organise into trade unions from the middle of the 1700s, battling a lack of legal recognition and resistance from the mine owners.
The Great Strike of 1765 in Durham on 25th August 1765, when some 4000 men between the Tyne and Wear left work, in resistance to what they believed to be a concerted attempt by the coalowners to alter the conditions of hiring.
The Durham Miners' Association
The union was founded in 1869 and its membership quickly rose to 4,000, but within a year had fallen back to 2,000. In December 1870, William Crawford became the union's President, and was able to rebuild its membership, the DMU soon becoming the largest miners' union in the UK. The union saw rapid success, with the abolition of the unpopular Yearly Bond in 1872, while a short strike in 1874 began a process of agreeing wages across the county. A longer strike in 1879 was unsuccessful in preventing cuts to wages, but action in 1890 ensured that the district was the first in the county to adopt a standard seven-hour day. The prolonged strike of 1892 against a proposed 15% cut in wages ended with an agreement to accept a 10% cut. Although the union affiliated to the Miners' Federation of Great Britain in 1892, it was expelled the following year after refusing to join the national strike. It again attempted to join in 1897, but asked to be bound only on questions of wages, which was not permitted. In particular, the Durham union opposed the Eight Hours Bill, which was strongly promoted by the MFGB. The union finally joined the MFGB in 1908, following the passage of the Eight Hours Bill. In addition, by 1900, membership had risen to 80,000. (wiki)
The union was founded in 1869 and its membership quickly rose to 4,000, but within a year had fallen back to 2,000. In December 1870, William Crawford became the union's President, and was able to rebuild its membership, the DMU soon becoming the largest miners' union in the UK. The union saw rapid success, with the abolition of the unpopular Yearly Bond in 1872, while a short strike in 1874 began a process of agreeing wages across the county. A longer strike in 1879 was unsuccessful in preventing cuts to wages, but action in 1890 ensured that the district was the first in the county to adopt a standard seven-hour day. The prolonged strike of 1892 against a proposed 15% cut in wages ended with an agreement to accept a 10% cut. Although the union affiliated to the Miners' Federation of Great Britain in 1892, it was expelled the following year after refusing to join the national strike. It again attempted to join in 1897, but asked to be bound only on questions of wages, which was not permitted. In particular, the Durham union opposed the Eight Hours Bill, which was strongly promoted by the MFGB. The union finally joined the MFGB in 1908, following the passage of the Eight Hours Bill. In addition, by 1900, membership had risen to 80,000. (wiki)
The typical miner was habitually cheated out of part of his earnings, against which he had no protection.
Lest we Forget - The Miners' Bond
(from Durham Records Online) For those with 'Northeasterners' mining ancestors there is a little-known tool available to pinpoint their movements - the Miners Bond. To use this tool you need not visit any distant record repository or consult any learned tome or index. All you need is a basic knowledge of the history of local mining and the application of four important dates. Main source for the following notes was 'The Miners of Northumberland & Durham'
by Richard Fynes, 1873 |
Until 1872 all of the miners of Northumberland, Cumberland and Durham were employed under the hated Bond system whereby they contracted their lives away each year (or each month from 1844 to 1864) to a 'Master' in return for a 'bounty' and little else of substance.
If anyone broke the bond he was liable to arrest, trial and imprisonment.
Every year the annual bonding triggered a gigantic game of 'Musical Houses' and even 'Musical Villages' across the Great Northern Coalfield. The old bond expired, the music began and anything up to a quarter of the mining population of the three counties went on the march to a new start, a new life, elsewhere.
Before 1809 the time of binding was in October. From 1809 to 1844 the binding took place on/about April 5. After 1809 the time when the contract should be renewed was made changeable and uncertain - sometimes a month or 6 weeks before the old contract ceased.
The 'Great Strike of 1844'- Once more the miners were crushed and their union destroyed. As part of the punishment a monthly bond was introduced which remained in place for the next 18 years.
http://www.durhamrecordsonline.com/literature/miners_lives.php
If anyone broke the bond he was liable to arrest, trial and imprisonment.
Every year the annual bonding triggered a gigantic game of 'Musical Houses' and even 'Musical Villages' across the Great Northern Coalfield. The old bond expired, the music began and anything up to a quarter of the mining population of the three counties went on the march to a new start, a new life, elsewhere.
Before 1809 the time of binding was in October. From 1809 to 1844 the binding took place on/about April 5. After 1809 the time when the contract should be renewed was made changeable and uncertain - sometimes a month or 6 weeks before the old contract ceased.
The 'Great Strike of 1844'- Once more the miners were crushed and their union destroyed. As part of the punishment a monthly bond was introduced which remained in place for the next 18 years.
http://www.durhamrecordsonline.com/literature/miners_lives.php
History of Mine Safety and Health Legislation (U.S.)
http://arlweb.msha.gov/MSH |
Miners Lodge Banners
Each colliery’s Miners Lodge had their own banner, which was carried proudly at miner’s celebrations, protests and other events, the largest of these being the Durham Miners Gala, or as it was known in the Durham Coalfield ‘The Big Meeting' http://www.eastdurhamheritagegroup The Yearly Bond was for many years legally, allowed the employer at any moment, without cause, to discharge and evict a worker from the wretched hovels that were then provided for themselves and their families. On the other hand, if during their whole year of binding they attempted to get work elsewhere, even if they were made to stand idle, they could be summarily convicted and sent to prison
The roots of the Silksworth evictions date to an argument in 1890 – when pit deputies were allowed to decide whether or not to join Durham Miners’ Association.
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/lifestyl Durham Aged Mineworker's Homes Association
Grew from the vision of Joseph Hopper, a miner and lay preacher, who believed that a man who had served in the coal mines all his life deserved better than to be evicted from his tied colliery home when he retired. A small weekly levy voluntarily donated from miners’ wages, plus donations of land and materials from mine owners and others, allowed the homes to be constructed and let free of charge. Although the Durham coal-field is no more, the Association has survived & prospered & continues to offer quality homes for older people. http://www.durhamhomes.org.uk/about |
HISTORY OF COAL MINING (Australia)
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstat |
Children in the Mines
The Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals was created in 1824, 67 years before the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which was created in 1891
Victorian Childhood: Themes and Variations By Thomas Edward Jordan
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=xptgUkJxJQ |
Coal Mines & Children
Children as young as 5 or 6 would work long hours in the coal mines, in dark, cold & extremely uncomfortable conditions. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhist |
Victorian Coal Mines- Children
Young children would work down in the mines, some for up to 12 hours a day with few breaks and no fresh air: http://history.parkfieldict.co.uk/victorians |
A Breaker Boy was a coal-mining worker in the U.S. and U.K. whose job it was to separate impurities from coal by hand in a coal breaker. Although breaker boys were primarily children, elderly coal miners who could no longer work in the mines because of age, disease, or accident were also sometimes employed as breaker boys. The use of breaker boys began in the mid-1860s. Although public disapproval of the employment of children as breaker boys existed by the mid-1880's, the practice did not end until the 1920's
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The Breaker Boy by Charles Green
Children's feet dragged the coal dust through the house & women waged the war on dirt & dust, just as the men waged the war on coalface
Hurriers would be harnessed with a belt & heavy chain
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Breaker Boy
Work in the coal breakers is exceedingly hard and dangerous. Crouched over the chutes, the boys sit hour after hour, picking out the pieces of slate and other refuse from the coal as it rushes past to the washers. From the cramped position they have to assume, most of them become more or less deformed and bent-backed like old men. The coal is hard, and accidents to the hands, such as cuts, broken, or crushed fingers, are common among the boys. Sometimes there is a worse accident: a terrified shriek is heard, and a boy is mangled and torn in the machinery, or disappears in the chute to be picked out later smothered and dead. Clouds of dust fill the breakers and are inhaled by the boys, laying the foundations for asthma and miners' consumption. From- John Spargo’s The Bitter Cry of the Children (1906). http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5571/ The Hurrier (sometimes called Drawer), were older children and women, pulling and pushing tubs full of coal along roadways from the coal face to the pit-bottom. Hurriers would be harnessed to the tub. Younger children worked in pairs, one as a hurrier, the other as a thruster, but the older children and women worked alone.
http://www.mylearning.org/coal-mining |
REPORTS FROM COMMISSIONERS: Children employed in Mines 1842
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=WnFbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=belt+%26+chain+used
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=WnFbAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=belt+%26+chain+used
From- Alice in Wonderland,
by Lewis Carroll Trappers, Hurriers, and Hewers: Working in a Coal Mine
https://thoroglove.wordpr |
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Some refer to a 'Getter', as having a similar job to a 'Hewer', but Getters are mentioned elsewhere, as working along side the Hewer and loading the carts.
Trapper boy
A trapper boy can be as young as 5 or 6 years of age.
A trapper boy can be as young as 5 or 6 years of age.
Also known as 'Door Boy' or 'Nipper'
A Pit Brow Lass was a female employed at the mine. Pit brow lasses were female surface labourers at British collieries. They worked at the coal screens on the pit bank (or brow) at the shaft top until the 1960s. Their job was to pick stones from the coal after it was hauled to the surface. More women were employed in this capacity on the Lancashire Coalfield than in any other area (wiki)
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Coal-bearers in some regions are older children, mainly girls, and women, who were often employed to carry loads of coal on their backs in big baskets. They often worked for eleven to twelve hours a day.
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Buddleboy
Although not used in coal mining, a Buddleboy, cleaned and maintained ore-washing vats (Buddle pits) in lead and tin mining. Mineralogia Cornubiensis: A Treatise on Minerals, Mines, and Mining By William Pryce 1778 https://archive.org/stream/mineralogiacorn00prycgo |
A Buddle pit or pond is circular, the purpose of which was to separate by sedimentation minerals from lighter rock dust in crushed ore & used in the mineral mining industry (extracting tin, lead & zinc). Many relics date from Victorian times. Early examples of buddle pits were often natural hollows in the ground, lined with stone or clay to make them waterproof, containing water and a set of brushes. Often powered by a water wheel, rotating in the water to agitate the mixture. The heavier, denser material (ore etc.) tended to collect in the centre, from where it could be retrieved. (wiki)
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The Physical and Moral Condition of Children and Young Persons Employed in Mines & Collieries
https://books.google.com.au/ How Pit Ponies Replaced Children in the Coal Mines
http://mentalfloss.com/article |
Education
Read more- The Sunday School Teachers' Magazine and Journal of Education 1861 https://books.google.com.au/books?id=xxYFAAAA |
For those children who were able to go to school, there were many Colliery schools built for them in the Coal mining Villages, some starting as 'Sunday' schools, which were well attended and did much good.
The following excerpts are taken from-
Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science 1871
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=BfVJAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA346&dq=marchioness++londonderry
Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science 1871
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=BfVJAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA346&dq=marchioness++londonderry
With a view to increase the efficiency of day schools and to utilise to the utmost, the short school-time of the future pit boys, it was recommended that infant schools be established in all collieries.
The female teacher: ideas suggestive of her qualifi-cations & duties 1853
https://books.google.com.au |
A hand-book of school manage-ment and methods of teaching By Patrick Weston Joyce 1863
https://books.google.com.au/book |
Labour and the Poor in England and Wales 1849-1851: Vol.2.
Northumberland and Durham, Staffordshire- The Midlands. Editor- Jules Ginswick https://books.google.com.au/books? |
Old East Rainton School
A school was built in 1822, probably a ’Sunday School’ provided by an arrangement with the chapel, as education was virtually unknown at this time except in Sunday Schools. The North Hetton Coal Company would have taken an interest in the school around 1828 when the Hazard Pit became the principal work-place in the village. 136 children were in attendance due to the employment level at the pit.
http://www.limestonelandscapes.info/SiteCollection The Schools were mostly built by the Colliery proprietors, without Government aid
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Old West Rainton School
The Tudhoe School building, shortly before demolition around 1913
Before 1876 when government-funded schools were built in the areas of Tudhoe Grange and Tudhoe Colliery, there was a day school in the village itself (above), known as Tudhoe School and located across the village green from the old Academy; the building was demolished in 1913. https://community.dur.ac.uk/j.m.hutson/tudhoe/ |
SEAHAM SCHOOLS
http://www.east-durham.co.uk/seaham/sea |
The eldest daughter was often kept at home with Mother & referred to as 'The drudge'
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Abandoned Easington Colliery School
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Easington Children playing in the street ca.1890
http://ppparchive.durham.gov.uk/photos/picviewer.asp?previous=36 Easington Colliery Primary School
Built in the early 1900’s the now abandoned Easington Colliery Primary School was constructed in a Baroque style under the hand of architects J Morrison of Durham. The school which had room for almost 1300 pupils served the mining community until the late 1990’s. With the closure of the pits jobs were lost, people moved from the area and the school was growing old. A new smaller school was built and this old historical building was left abandoned. http://www.proj3ctm4yh3m.com/urbex/2015/01/25/urbex-easington |
John Buddle was an amateur violinist in his early days
Extracts from Log Book of St John's Infant SchoolSeaham Harbour. Book from Jan. 1868
http://www.east-durham.co.uk/seaham |
Colliery School, Beamish. Appropriately situated in 'Pitfield' street
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In 1851 the colliery owner Aaron Goold opened a British school at Cinderford in connexion with Wesley, his chapel in Belle Vue Road. The school, which from 1853 occupied a new building north-east of St. John's church, in the later Church Road, had boys' & girls' departments and was intended by Goold for his employees' children. Its income came from subscriptions paid by the workmen. Goold's sons ran the school after his death in 1862 and it had an average attendance of 170 in 1863.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp405-413 Easington Colliery (Girls)
Durham Records online
We now have Pittington baptisms from 1574 to the end of 1905, except for a gap of 1651-1700, and we have burials for 1593-1905 and marriages 1574-1905. Pittington was a sprawling parish, just east of the city of Durham, with two arms reaching east to pinch around part of Easington parish. Residences mentioned besides Pittington include Arthur’s Hill (Newcastle), Bees Bank, Bells Villa (St. Giles), Belmont, Belmont Colliery, Bird in Bush, Broomside, Broomside Farm, Broomside Pit, Byers Green, Carrville, Cookshold Farm, Dragon Villa, Durham city.......(more) http://durhamrecordsonline.com/updates/2013/ |
Closure of Whitwell Colliery in 1874 & Kepier some time after, contributed to the decline of New Durham. Despite colliery closure and an uncertain market for coal, funds were raised amongst the miners for two chapels to be built, one in Ernest Place and the other in Dragon Villa. By this time the Marquess of London-derry's School had opened in Dragon Villa.
http://www.porthistory.talktalk.net/gilesgatem Pittington & Ulster Miners
The eastern end of the village, just before the steep ascent up Pittington Hill, is the High St. On the north side of the street, the Marquis of Londonderry endowed a school in 1853, on average attendance about 180 children. After 1844, many school pupils in the Pittingtons may have originated from Ulster, as in that year a 19-week coal strike caused the Marquis to bring in many workers from Northern Ireland to work in his Pittington collieries. They were replacements for local striking miners and many stayed in the village with some of their descendants still living in the area today. http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/448681 History and antiquities of the county palatine of Durham, Volume 1 By William Fordyce
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=kDdNAA When searching for local history, some Council & (current) School websites can included the history of the area
Industrial past that forged a modern village- Sherburn
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/428172 Women at Work, 1860-1939: How Different Industries Shaped Women's Experiences By Valerie G. Hall
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=ZYs7iG9 |
Mining Disasters
Fire at Percy Main Colliery
The Collier's Rant
http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/CoalMiningandRailways.html |
Stony Flatt coal-pitt 1705 The explosion which caused the deaths of over thirty people, is the first that is recorded. It occurred on the 3rd. of 4th. October, 1705. The names of the victims appeared in ‘The Newcastle Daily Chronicle’ of 1880 which quoted the Burial Register at St. Mary’s' Church. “These were slain in a coal-pitt in the Stony Flatt which did fire. October 4 - Cuthbert Richinson, Michael Richinson, Ralph Richinson (brothers) William Robinson, John Liddel, John Broune, Clemment Broune, William Broune (brothers) Robert Broune, son to Clemment Broune. Gateshead |
In the first thirty-six years of the nineteenth century no fewer than 985 pitmen were known to have been killed in one coalfield alone
Explosive gas commonly known as fire damp which was more prominent the deeper the mines. It only took something as simple as a spark from a miners pick axe, to cause a blast.
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William Pit, where 32 men & boys lost their lives in 1823
North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers Nicholas Wood Memorial Library Family history a resource guide
https://mininginstitute.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/ |
Approximately one hundred children died annually in mining accidents, in the early part of the 19th century
Mining Accidents
Name: BIRTLEY Joseph Age: 7 Date: 17/09/1889 Year: 1889 Occupation: School boy Colliery: Eppleton Owner: Hetton Coal Co Ltd Town: Fence Houses County: Durham Notes: Run over by waggons while taking his father's dinner to the works. Coal Mining Accidents & Deaths Index, 1700-1950
http://search.ancestry.com.au/search/db.aspx?db |
Ventilation was a big problem in the early days. Gas in mines included: methane, carbon monoxide & carbon dioxide, so good ventilation could be a matter of life or death. Some early solutions were: taking canaries into the mine. If the canary died, the mine contained gas, so the miners needed to leave the pit. -cutting two shafts and lighting a fire at the base of one of them, to draw fresh air down the other. This could exploded the methane.
The Beginning of the Miners' Death Roll By 1621, as we learn from a Gateshead burial record, miners were being " burnt in the pit " and the long and terrible tale of mining accidents had already begun, by which, in Great Britain alone, possibly as many as one hundred thousand miners' lives have since been sacrificed.
http://forebears.io/england/durham/gateshead |
Accidents in mines were very common from a variety of reasons like- Falls, Run over by Wagons, Blasts, Drowning, Bad air, Buried alive, the list goes on.
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Report on the Causes of and Circumstances attending the Inrush of Water which occurred at the View Pit of the Montagu Colliery, Scotswood, Northumberland on 30th March, 1925, by The Rt. Hon. Hugh Pattinson Macmillan, K.C., Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty 1926
http://www.dmm.org.uk/reports/2607-01.htm History's Most Dangerous Jobs: Miners By Anthony Burton
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=35Y7AwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1&dq |
Proper records were not kept in the early period, but in the U.K., for example, at least 90,000 miners died between 1850 and 1914 & from 1900 to 1947, more than 90,000 US miners died at work. Disasters were common in the industry. Their collective impact and lasting grief created a long tradition of anger over working conditions. The prevalence of occupational diseases – especially respiratory ailments – further encouraged union formation, and was a rallying call for organisation and political change. In the US, there were violent and deadly clashes between miners and state and federal militia including the infamous 1914 Ludlow massacre in Colorado, where more than 60 strikers were killed. http://theconversation.com/coal |
The following excerpts are from- Northumberland and Cumberland Mining Disasters By Maureen Anderson
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=AnFCPDbnybMC&pg=PA2&dq=Northumberland+and+Cumberland
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=AnFCPDbnybMC&pg=PA2&dq=Northumberland+and+Cumberland
One of the Most Touching Accounts, is from the
Heaton Disaster- |
The Men & Boys who lost their lives in the Wallsend Colliery explosion of 1835
http://www.healeyhero.co.uk/ |
'Fret not dear Mother, for we were singing while we had time and praising God.
Mother, follow God more than ever I did.' |
William's mother recognised his body, by his auburn hair and inside his pocket was a candle box that he had scratched a message on for his mother
The youngest boy Johnny, was not with them, so the father & two brothers must have had hope that young Johnny had made it out alive.
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Durham Records Online - http://www.durhamrecordsonline.com/
Haswell - the 1844 Pit Disaster
Of the 99 men underground at that moment only four escaped. In the Long Row every house but one had its dead. In one house four coffins stood. Haswell became a village of mourning. Because the village did not have its own Church and graveyard the victims were buried in different places, some at Easington, some at Gateshead, but many were buried in a communal grave at South Hetton. The October 5th 1844 edition of the Illustrated London News reported on the funeral commenting: "The funerals were decently conducted and the spectacle was a most touching and melancholy scene." http://www.haswell-history.co.uk/disaster.html |
Universal Colliery, located on the South Wales Coalfield, produced steam coal which was much in demand. Some of the region's coal seams contained high quantities of firedamp, a highly explosive gas consisting of methane and hydrogen and were prone to explosions. In an earlier disaster in May 1901, three underground explosions killed 81 miners. The inquest
established that the colliery had high levels of airborne coal dust, which would have exacerbated the explosion and carried it further into the mine workings. The cause of the 1913 explosion is unknown, but the subsequent inquiry thought the most likely cause was a spark from under-ground signalling equipment that could have ignited any firedamp present. The miners in the east side of the workings were evacuated, but men in the western section bore the brunt of the explosion, fire & afterdamp, a poisonous mixture of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide & nitrogen left after an explosion. |
Just a few of the many other Mining Disasters-
Above- Easington, Durham. 83 lives lost in 1851
https://easingtonmemories.wordpress.com/1951-easington-coll 150th Anniversary of Oaks Disaster https://hemingfieldcolliery.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/150th-anni Mining Disasters- 19th, 20th & 21st Century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_accident Benxihu (China) Worst in the World. 1,549 lives lost in 1942 http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/worst-mining-disasters-in-hu Below- Oaks, Barnsley, Yorkshire. 361 lives lost in 1866 https://sites.google.com/site/minesrescuehistory/disasters-1800 |
West Stanley, 168 lives lost in 1909
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.an Names http://www.sunnisidelocalhistorysociety Edwardian POSTCARDS- disasters http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article |
Monongah (U.S.) 361 lives 1907
http://freepages.history.rootsweb. Bulli Mine, N.S.W. (Aust.) 81 lives lost in 1887
http://www.mineaccidents.com Warner Gothard Postcard Index
http://www.warnergothard.com/ |
Courrieres (France) 1,099 lives lost in 1906
http://content.safetyculture.com.au/news/index.php/ |
Brunner (N.Z.) 65 lives lost 1896
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry |
In remembrance of ‘Men of Steel’
Montagu View Pit [Scotswood Village Residents Association] http://northeasthistorytour.blogspot |
PAST PIT PONIES
http://pitponies.com.au/past-pit-ponie Tragic pit ponies http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/his |
If it's not one thing, it's another, that killed the Miners Miners' Lung: A History of Dust Disease in British Coal Mining By Mr Arthur McIvor, Mr Ronald Johnston
https://books.google.com |
The Physical and Moral Condition of the Children and Young Persons Employed in Mines 1843
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=irdjAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=muscles
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=irdjAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=muscles
Locomotives
Locomotive at Wylam Colliery
Lambton & Hetton Staithes (wharves) 1890
Hetton Local and Natural History Society - photo gallery http://www.hettonlocalhistory.org.uk/photo.html |
The Hetton was the first railway to be designed from the start to be operated without animal power
This was George Stephenson's first entirely new line. Running from Hetton Colliery, about two miles south of Houghton-le-Spring, to a staithe (wharf) on the River Wear. From 1831, the Marquis of London-derry had developed the Rainton and Seaham Railway, a similar rope-worked incline railway which ran from West Rainton to his newly developed docks at Seaham. However, after the line closed in 1896, the Hetton Railway bought the section which ran from its Moorsley Pit to the top of the Copt Hill engine, and integrated it into its workings. After Lambton Collieries merged with Hetton Collieries in 1911, the companies merged their railway operations, and the still rope incline-worked Hetton system was merged with the locomotive-operated Lambton Railway. The company additionally connected Lambton staithes to Hetton staithes at the Port of Sunderland. (wiki) |
Colliery Railways: Rainton & Seaham 1831-1988
The coal was pulled by horses from the Rainton pits on a wagonway to the staiths at Penshaw, from which point the Wear was navigable. A port at nearby Seaham, linked to Rainton by a wagon way. If Charles Stewart (Lord Londonderry) had been able to build his railway and harbour in the first years of the 1820's, he would have gained an immense advantage over his competitors. The savings made on cutting out the Wear middlemen would have enabled him to deliver his coal to the export market at a price that ensured a fat profit. In 1820 another option had been available. His chief ‘viewer’ John Buddle recommended that a connection was built from the Rainton & Penshaw wagonway to link up with another wagonway from Newbottle Colliery to staiths near to Wearmouth.
http://www.durhamrecordsonline.com/literature/ Charles Stewart/Charles Vane/Lord Londonderry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Vane,_3rd_Ma The driving force of the colliery was the 'viewer' — part manager — part mechanical engineer, mining engineer, surveyor — responsible both for the pit and the waggonway arrangements.
On July 25 1831 the first coals ran down the new railway line from the Rainton pits to be loaded onto the new brig the ‘Lord Seaham’. The Rainton & Seaham railway was initially 5 miles long, but later additions made a network of over 18 miles of track.
http://durhamrecordsonline.com/library/rainton |
Blog on the map of the ‘Newbottle Waggon Rail Way’. Built to transport coal in horse drawn wagons from Newbottle Colliery to the River Wear at Galley’s Gill. The map dates to 1817.......The Wagonway was built on the ‘wayleave’ system, paying landowners for crossing their property.
http://blog.twmuseums.org.uk/the-newbottle-waggo Waggonways in North East England
Maps of Northumberland, County Durham and Cleveland, UK, showing each waggonway, tramway, mineral railway, railroad, colliery, coal pit, lead mine etc. https://sites.google.com/site/waggonways/ Browse the Railways Archive
Accidents, Documents, Reports, Developments etc. http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/browse.php |
Stephenson's Rocket
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George Stephenson 1781-1848 Was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use steam locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. George was born in Wylam, Northumberland & at the age of 17, he entered a coal mine, working as an engineer in Water Row pit, Newburn. He later got a job as a brakesman in pits around Newcastle. He had the ability to fix a pumping engine at High Pit, Killingworth in 1811 & became an expert in steam-driven engineering. In 1814, he developed his first engine – Blucher. |
In 1829, with the line nearing completion, the L & MR (Liverpool and Manchester Railway) had a competition for the best design of a train. George’s entry – The Rocket easily won – reaching up to 30mph.
Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830)
http://www.mywarrington.me.uk/making_tracks_1.htm#Liverpool and Manchester
Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830)
http://www.mywarrington.me.uk/making_tracks_1.htm#Liverpool and Manchester
Long before Stephenson there were waggonways with wooden tracks |
What the Railway Did for Us? By Stuart Hylton
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=PGXGCQAAQBAJ&pg |
Philosophical Transactions, Oct.-Dec., 1729
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=b4l |
Dating from around 1790, it is one of the oldest and best preserved waggonways in the world.
The waggonway was a timber track for horse-drawn carts (chaldrons) transporting coal from Willington and Bigges Main collieries in Wallsend to the banks of the River Tyne, where the coal would be tipped directly into collier brigs bound for London. The Kenton and Coxlodge waggonway was built over this stretch of the Willington waggonway between 1808 and 1813, and the coal unloaded onto boats at the Coxlodge staithes. Wooden rails were eventually replaced with the much more efficient iron rails used by flanged iron wheels on the coal waggons.
http://heddonhistory.weebly.com/blog/exc |
Archaeologists looking for
Roman remains have stumbled across an even more historic find - a wooden railway which was instrumental in the development of the Industrial Revolution. An excavation on the banks of the Tyne unearthed a stretch of waggonway which is more than 200 years old, making it the earliest surviving example of the standard-gauge railway. The discovery was originally part of a network which linked the ports of the North East with collieries in Tyneside and Northumberland in the late 18th century. |
An ACT 1758- for Establishing Agreements made between Charles Brandling, Esquire, and other Persons, Proprietors of Lands, for laying down a Waggon-Way, in order for the better supplying the Town and Neighbourhood of Leeds, in the County of York, with Coals
http://www.railwaysarchive John Blenkinsop (1783-1831) was an English mining engineer and an inventor of steam locomotives, who designed the first practical railway locomotive.
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Blenkinsop's Engine
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It is generally considered that the first practical, everyday locomotive was that built in 1812 for the Middleton Colliery near Leeds under John Blenkinsop's Patent. Articles in the Tyneside press were followed that August, just weeks after the opening, by a talk on the engine given by the Rev William Turner to the influential Literary & Philosophical Society of Newcastle.
Early railways: papers from the International Railway Conferences
http://www.steamindex.com/library/earlyrly.htm
Early railways: papers from the International Railway Conferences
http://www.steamindex.com/library/earlyrly.htm
The first steam locomotive to run in Canada was called the John Buddle.
Trevithick's Engine
From 1815 George Stephenson's reputation grew apace, bolstered by his success of the Killingworth engines. Improved by Stephenson and Nicholas Wood, they became known as 'The Tyneside' engines. By 1820, he is a consulting authority on railways. At this stage he was not locomotive fixated, stating- "they are recommended for straight and level lines with heavy traffic" otherwise he suggests inclined planes, stationary engines and/or horses. In 1813, when manager of the Vane Tempest collieries, Arthur Mowbray had unsuccessfully promoted plans for a railway from the Rainton pits to Sunder-land trying again in 1815, suggesting a line on the Newbottle/Brunton scheme. Edward Steel's proposals, implys the use of locomotives. They were rejected. In 1819 Mowbray, employed George Stephenson, 'a Man of great reputation and much experience in the making of Rail Roads. Plans, which did not include locomotives, were again turned down. Stephenson then made a bold offer to supply the machinery, run the railway for a year at the old rates, then hand the line back for no payment, on the basis that the savings would exceed his entire costs in that time.
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Before Blenkinsop, Richard Trevithick in 1804
was credited with developing a steam engine at Penydarren, which was the site where the World's first Steam Engine ran on rails http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/PenydarrenLocomotiv George Stephenson disassembles and repairs a steam engine, Newcastle.
Scala Archives- Search for historical pics http://www.scalarchives.com/web/ricerca_risultati.a |
Lord Stewart (later Marquess of Londonderry) had taken violently against Mowbray & within weeks he had been replaced by John BuddIe
with all proposals put aside. Mowbray quickly renewed his interest in the proposed Hetton Colliery nearby & with Stephenson's help,
the railway over the hills to Sunderland began.
http://www.steamindex.com/library/earlyrly.htm
with all proposals put aside. Mowbray quickly renewed his interest in the proposed Hetton Colliery nearby & with Stephenson's help,
the railway over the hills to Sunderland began.
http://www.steamindex.com/library/earlyrly.htm
In 1882 Killingworth colliery had the deepest coal mine in the world.
Drawing showing the gear drive of George Stephenson's first locomotive. The locomotive was tried on the Killingworth Colliery Railway on 27th July 1814 where it was placed on a section of edge rail and ascended a slope of 1 in 450 pulling eight loaded wagons weighing around 30 tons at a speed of four miles an hour.
http://www.locos-in-profile.co.uk/ |
Drawing from Wood's Treatise on Rail Roads 1825.
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"Steam Elephant" on the Pockerley Waggonway 1:00
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In collaboration with William Chapman, John Buddle is also considered to have designed the pioneering locomotive 'Steam Elephant' for Wallsend Colliery and an eight-wheeled geared engine for the Lambton Waggonway http://www.liquisearch.com/ |
The Marquess of Londonderry cutting the first sod on Febuary 8, 1853, of the Londonderry Seaham and Sunderland railway, which would connect Seaham Harbour with the Port of Sunderland as well as with Durham and Hartlepool.
http://www.east-durham.co.uk/seaham/london |
PRE 1825 BRITISH LOCOMOTIVES
http://himedo.net/TheHopkinThomasProject/TimeLine/Wales/Locomoti The Modern Records Centre holds an unrivalled collection of British trade union archives & includes a list of trades and occupations commonly searched for in the Centre's archives with a definition.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/explorefurther/subject
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Buddle's Steam Elephant
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Subsequent generations of locomotives and steamships improved transport productivity enormously, and gradually forced owners of stagecoaches, canal boats and sailing ships out of business. Then locomotives, rails, steamships and coal themselves joined the growing range of British exports as other countries sought to mimic the nation’s success. Ironically, many ageing sailing ships were deployed to carry coal to refuel the growing network of coal bunkering stations around the world, a trade that required low cost & no urgency.
https://theconversation.com/coal-was-king-of-the-industrial |
1832 Institution of Civil Engineers
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Institution_of_Civil_E 1832 Institution of Civil Engineers: New Members http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1832_Institution_of_Ci Grace's Guide to Industrial History
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/View_by_Archives |
Locating Railroad Employee Records U.S.
http://www.genealogytoday.com/guide/railroad Information on Chinese Railroad Workers U.S.
http://web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi Railway workers- Cora Web
http://www.coraweb.com.au/categories/occupations Government Employment N.Z.
http://archives.govt.nz/research/guides/government Historic Victorian government gazettes
http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/ |
THE DAVY LAMP
Sir Humphry Davy 1778 – 1829 Cornish chemist and inventor
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THE DAVY LAMP
The Davy Lamp invented in 1815 by Sir Humphrey Davy, was for use in coal mines & first used by John Buddle in 1835 at the Wallsend Colliery. The lamp consists of a wick lamp with the flame enclosed inside a mesh screen. The screen acts as a flame arrestor; air (and any firedamp present) can pass through the mesh freely enough to support combustion, but the holes are too fine to allow a flame to propagate through them and ignite any firedamp outside the mesh. It originally burned a heavy vegetable oil. The lamp also provided a test for the presence of gases. If flammable gas mixtures were present, the flame of the Davy lamp burned higher with a blue tinge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_lamp The Lamp was created for use in coal mines, to reduce the danger of explosions due to the presence of methane and other flammable gases, called firedamp or minedamp
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Before the development of the safety lamp for use in coal mines, dried fish skins (in buckets) were used in Britain and Europe as a weak source of light. This experimental form of illumination avoided the necessity of using candles which risked sparking explosions of firedamp. Another safe source of illumination in mines was bottles containing fireflies (wiki) The Miners most likely used Herrings or Mackerels, as they glow after they are dead. This is most likely where the saying 'Dead as a Mackerel' (or Herring) comes from, because when they glow, you're sure that they are most certainly dead! |
Sir Humphry Davy- Safety Lamp for Miners
http://www.lookandlearn.com/blog/20251/sir-hump |
Above- Herrings
The same is also said of Pilchards. This phenomenon is known as bioluminescence
Below- Mackerels
Bottom- Pilchards Lighting and Lamps in the Mines
http://www.welshgifts.co.uk/welsh It is well known that when the dead bodies of certain fish, more especially mackerels and herrings, are exposed to the air for a short time, they soon become luminous in the dark. When they are in this state, if we merely rub the finger over the luminous surface of the dead fish, we recognize the presence of an oily substance, which renders the finger luminous, as if it had been rubbed upon phosphorus. This grease, when separated from the body of the fish by means of a knife, and placed upon a plate of glass, continues to shine in the dark.
Phosphorescence by Phipson, T. L. (Thomas Lamb), 1833-1908 https://archive.org/stream/phospho John Canton FRS (1718 – 1772) was an English physicist. He was the first in England to verify Benjamin Franklin's hypothesis of the identity of lightning and electricity, and he made several important electrical discoveries. In 1768 he described the preparation, by calcining oyster-shell with sulphur, of the phosphorescent material known as Canton's phosphorus. There were also other mixtures of phosphorescent, by Kunkel & Barlow, all tried by Humphry Davy, when trying to create light.
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The Elements of Physiology By Johann Friedrich Blumenbach 1828
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=d2dJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA171 Search U.S. Newspapers
Pacific Rural Press, Volume 4, Number 25, 21 December 1872 http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=PRP18721221.2.19.1 Encyclopaedia perthensis or Universal dict. of the arts Vol.16. 1816
https://archive.org/stream/encyclopaediape09unkngoog#page/n8/ |
A statue of Davy stands in Penzance, Cornwall; he holds his safety lamp in his right hand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hum |
In 1838, M. Julia de Fontenelle related in his ' Journal des Sciences Physiques et Chimiques' a curious case of phosphorescent light observed upon the dead body of a man.
Such cases of phosphorescence are not unfrequent in dissecting rooms, but often escape observation, as neither students nor professors visit these rooms at night, and when a person does happen to enter them after dark, the light he carries in his hand is too powerful to allow him to perceive the phosphoric radiations which often emanate from fragments of dead bodies lying about. Phosphorescence by Phipson, T. L. (Thomas Lamb), 1833-1908 As said of Copper Miners in 1746
The 'Firr-brand' mentioned is most likely a 'fire-brand' which is a piece of burning wood. From- The Museum: or, The literary and historical register
edited by Robert Dodsley Vol. 2 https://books.google.com.au/books?id=gMAPAAAAQAAJ&printsec |
Humphry Davy did a great deal of experiments early in his life, with Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas).
He declared the following, nearing the end of the 1700's-
The first electric light was made in 1802
by Humphry Davy He experimented with electricity and invented an electric battery. When he connected wires to his battery and a piece of carbon, the carbon glowed, producing light. It was called an electric arc, but the effects weren't long lasting. Later, in 1860, English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan found that a carbon paper filament worked well, but burned up quickly, he demonstrated his new electric lamps in Newcastle, England, in 1878. A year prior in 1877, American Charles Francis Brush manufactured some carbon arcs to light a public square in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, then eventually, Thomas Alva Edison experimented with thousands of different filaments to find just the right materials to glow well & be long-lasting. In 1879, Edison discovered that a carbon filament in an oxygen-free bulb, did not burn up for 40 hours. Edison eventually produced a bulb that could glow for over 1500 hours. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/ediso |
Davy experimented in a variety of different areas & had many new chemical discoveries
The Quarterly Review, Volume 11 edited by Wm Gifford, Sir Jhn Taylor Coleridge, Jhn Gibson Lockhart, Whitwell Elwin, Wm Macpherson, Wm Smith, Sir Jhn Murray (IV), Rowland Edmund Prothero (Baron Ernle)
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=IzoMAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Memoirs+of+the+Life+of
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=IzoMAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Memoirs+of+the+Life+of
The Following Extracts, are from 'Memoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy
Volumes 1 & 2' By his brother- Dr. John Davy in 1836
Volumes 1 & 2' By his brother- Dr. John Davy in 1836
These Memoirs demonstrate, not only the love that Humphry Davy had for his Mother & the huge support she was to him, but also, the great love, respect & admiration that his brother John had for him as well.
Allesandro Volta 1745-1827 an Italian physicist & chemist, performed experiments on charges induced by bimetallic contact, which led to the momentous invention of Volta's Pile (or Voltaic battery). The effect was, for the first time in history, a method for obtaining a continuous electric current. William Nicholson 1753-1815 founded a new journal and discovered electrolysis, together with Anthony Carlisle 1768-1840 a London surgeon.
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2003/Aug Although there continued to be mining accidents, not one of them could be attributed to any defect in the
'Davy Safety Lamp' "I maintained that ' The Davy' approximated perfection as nearly as any instrument of human invention could be expected to do"
-John Buddle Memoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy
Volume 1 By John Davy 1836 https://books.google.com.au/books?id=9tcDAAAAQA Memoirs of the Life of Sir Humphry Davy
Volume 2 By John Davy 1836 https://books.google.com.au/books?id=JOQ5AAAAc Further reading-
The Life of Sir Humphry Davy, Volume 1
By John Ayrton Paris 1831 https://books.google.com.au/books?id=H0-4AAAAIA The Life of Sir Humphry Davy, Volume 2
By John Ayrton Paris 1831 https://books.google.com.au/books?id=vTu4A Researches, Chemical and Philosophical: Chiefly Concerning Nitrous Oxide- Sir Humphry Davy 1800
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=jhUAAAAA The Philosophical Magazine and Journal: Comprehending the Various Branches of Science 1817, Vol.49
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=AKQ-AAAAY Fragmentary Remains, Literary and Scientific,
of Sir Humphry Davy, by Humphry Davy 1858 https://archive.org/stream/fragmentaryrema00davyg |
John Buddle, almost twenty years later-
Through the Reverend John Hodgson's persistence, the Sunderland Society was formed with some noble supporters on the committee and had within its ranks the varied experience of local clergymen, doctors, mine owners and viewers. Among these also was Dr W.R. Clanny (1776-1850) who had been conducting experiments since late 1811 or early 1812 in his attempt to produce a safety lamp, and George Stephenson the father of Britain’s railways. The main achievements of the society founded in the gloomy shadow of the 'Felling' mining disaster in 1812, were threefold. The point to be established here is that a safety lamp of some kind was destined to make its appearance. In this focus of both practical and theoretical science on the need for such a lamp, the great disasters, culminating in Felling, undoubtedly played a part. Davy's, Clanny's and Stephenson's 'Geordie' lamps, all now fitted with gauze, were the fruits of the requirements of growing industrialism and of scientific inquiry
‘Narrative of a Dreadful Occurrence at Felling Colliery (Nr. Durham) 25th May 1812.’ includes names of the dead http://mineaccidents.com.au/uploads/felling-colliery |
43 Pictures That Show The Dust and Sweat Of Britain’s Coal Mines
https://www.buzzfeed.com/laura |