[list-cumbria] Carlisle Patriot, 18 Oct 1823 - Local News (1)

[Nev Ramsden]

From: Petra Mitchinson via list-cumbria 
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2024 9:48 AM
To: CUL Google Group 
Cc: Petra Mitchinson ; Cumbria Mailing List (CFHS) 
Subject: [list-cumbria] Carlisle Patriot, 18 Oct 1823 - Local News (1)


The names of 28 of the 32 mineworkers that were killed that day can be found on the Website of the Durham Mining museum, and these names were provided by the West Cumbria Mining Research Group.



I can add the names of three of the missing mine workers, all children, who were buried on the 15th October at Whitehaven, as were all the other deceased. They were :-

John McClennen age 13yrs, James McClennen age 18yrs and Matthew Blaylock age 16yrs.



There is a mysterious entry on that same day in the Holy Trinity register - which appears to be that of an un-named 20 year old, who could be the fourth missing person.

Hopefully more later.



Nev.Ramsden





Saturday 18 Oct 1823   (p. 2, col. 3-5)

 

CATASTROPHE AT WHITEHAVEN. 

 

A most melancholy accident happened last Monday evening in the William Pit (Colliery,) near Whitehaven, occasioned by an explosion of fire-damp; in consequence of which thirty-two persons were unfortunately killed; viz. fourteen men, sixteen boys, and two girls. Seventeen horses were also killed. 

 

It is impossible to ascertain the particulars of this terrible catastrophe. That the explosion was occasioned by an accumulation of fire-damp, is almost all that is certainly known. The sufferers were employed in a division of the workings where the pillars are to be taken out; around these the ventilation was excellent, and regularly kept up, and there was not even an appearance of fire-damp, except in the fractured parts of the workings in those places where the pillars had been removed, and into which there was no necessity for any of the workmen to enter. Every precaution on the part of the overmen was regularly taken. The colliers were strictly enjoined to use the Davy safety-lamp; but alas! familiarity with danger commonly engenders a contempt for it; and it now appears that some individual had disregarded the injunctions which were repeatedly issued for the general benefit. 

 

The unfortunate sufferers had nearly completed their day's work, and in less than half an hour would have left the pit! In what manner, or by whose means the damp was ignited, must forever remain a secret; not a single individual of those who were employed in that part of the workings is left to tell the mournful tidings; nor can any one say whether the misfortune was the result of accident, or of negligence, though the latter is the more probable of the two; for it is one of the peculiarities of the nature of man, that he becomes by daily habit so familiar with even the most imminent danger, that he frequently neglects the necessary precautions to avoid it: and it is by no means unlikely that some one of the sufferers, for his own convenience or indulgence, removed the safety cylinder of his lamp, or otherwise subjected it to improper treatment, and, by so doing, ignited the noxious vapour. It is already observed that a number of horses are killed, and it may here be added that some of their drivers escaped in a manner almost miraculous. 

 

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