Kendrew; or, The Coal Mine (1818)

A play by the Rev. James Plumptre, vicar of Great Gransden, published in his Original Dramas of 1818 and based on the four miners who survived three days and nights in the flooded East Ardsley pits in 1809, among them Robert Kendrew, who shared his bread with the others.

The mining history in this record

On Friday 30 June 1809 colliers in the two pits of Lee, Watson and Company at East Ardsley, near Wakefield, were driving through a throw when they broke into exhausted old workings and the water rushed in. Three lads at the shaft were drawn up in the bucket, but eleven men and three boys were shut in. Two engines were set to pump the pit out, and colliers from the neighbouring works joined the rescue. On the Monday voices were heard, and two men and two boys, John Hudson, Robert Kendrew, William Broad and Joseph Goodyear, were drawn up alive. They had been three days and nights without food except a little bread that Kendrew had in his pocket and shared among them, keeping only a quid of tobacco for himself. Ten others died.

The story was taken up far beyond Yorkshire, with Kendrew as its hero. James Plumptre (1771-1832), a Cambridge clergyman and playwright who campaigned for the moral reform of the stage, made it the subject of Kendrew; or, The Coal Mine, one of six plays in his Original Dramas, published at Cambridge in 1818 with a dedication to Hannah More. The play follows the four men's struggle to survive; a modern reader finds it religious in tone, softening the realities of pit work, with a romanticised woman miner and a love story woven in.

People

James Plumptre (1771-1832), vicar of Great Gransden, the author; Robert Kendrew, John Hudson, William Broad and Joseph Goodyear, the survivors on whom it is based.

Legacy today

Copies of Original Dramas survive in libraries, among them Cambridge University Library, which also holds Plumptre's papers and drafts of his plays. At East Ardsley the miners' cottages at Spring Bottom are said to have been called Who Could Have Thought It after the disaster, a name that stayed on Ordnance Survey maps until about 1930.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each tagged with how solidly it's grounded and attached to the source(s) that support it. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• On the Monday after the East Ardsley inundation of 30 June 1809, John Hudson, Robert Kendrew, William Broad and Joseph Goodyear were drawn up alive after three days and nights underground. (contemporary account) ¹
• Kendrew shared a little bread from his pocket with the others, keeping only a quid of tobacco for himself. (contemporary account) ¹
• In 1818 James Plumptre, vicar of Great Gransden, wrote a play based on the four survivors, Kendrew; or, The Coal Mine. (documented fact) ^1,2
• Kendrew, or, The Coal Mine is one of six plays in Plumptre's Original Dramas, published at Cambridge in 1818 with a dedication to Hannah More. (documented fact) ^2,3,4
• The play follows the four men's struggle for survival, with religious overtones, a romanticised woman miner and a love story. (documented fact) ¹

Mines

• Lee, Watson and Company's East Ardsley Pits — West Yorkshire
  The play is based on the four miners rescued alive after three days in Lee, Watson and Company's flooded East Ardsley pits in 1809.

Real-world mining concepts used here

Colliery, Old Workings, Shaft

Sources

1. (secondary) Who Could Have Thought It: an unexpected lead to my 5x great grandfather? (Past To Present Genealogy, 2021) — Past To Present Genealogy
2. (secondary) Original Dramas: containing Royal Beneficence ... Kendrew, or, The Coal Mine ... (bookseller's description, The Odd Book) — The Odd Book
3. (primary) Original Dramas (1818), detailed entry (Jackson Bibliography of Romantic Era Verse Drama, University of Toronto) — University of Toronto Libraries
4. (secondary) James Plumptre (Wikipedia) — Wikipedia

Record created: 23 October 2026 · Last researched: 25 October 2026