MineArchive
Gresford (Robert Saint's Miners' Hymn)
| Category | Music |
|---|---|
| Dates | Saint born 1905; putter at Hebburn 1919-1932; Gresford explosion 22 September 1934; hymn first performed publicly at the 1938 Durham Miners' Gala; Saint died 1950. |
'Gresford', known as the Miners' Hymn, is a brass-band tune by Robert Saint of Hebburn, a former putter at the Hebburn pit, written in response to the Gresford disaster of September 1934, when 266 men died in an explosion near Wrexham. It was composed as a hymn without words, first played in public at the Durham Miners' Gala in 1938, and Saint gave all its royalties to the National Union of Mineworkers. It remains a favourite of colliery brass bands.
The mining history in this record
Bob Saint was born in Hebburn, South Tyneside, in 1905 into a family of miners and went down the pit there with his father at 14, in 1919, working as a putter moving the tubs and handling the pit ponies until the colliery closed in 1932. At the pit he campaigned for shorter hours and better treatment of the ponies. Out of work in the Depression, he gave music lessons and led his own dance band, the Kensington Dance Orchestra, on saxophone.
The Gresford explosion of 22 September 1934 made a lasting impression on him, and he wrote 'Gresford' for brass band. It was deliberately a hymn tune without words, since, as one account puts it, the miners who died could not sing along with the band. Its biographer Robert Colls wrote that it gave 'mining communities something to say at the end'. Saint joined the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers as a bandsman the next year, and the hymn was first performed publicly at the Durham Miners' Gala in 1938. He later became an inspector for an animal-welfare charity, known locally as 'the poor people's vet', and died in 1950 aged 45 of heart failure and chronic industrial lung disease.
People
Robert 'Bob' Saint (1905-1950), putter at Hebburn Colliery 1919-1932, composer of 'Gresford'.
Legacy today
'Gresford' is popular with colliery brass bands and is published in several brass-band arrangements, including one by Sandy Smith (2011). Words based on Psalm 130, 'Out of the depths', have since been set to it, and another set of verses appeared in a Durham Miners' Gala programme. It is distinct from the older folk song 'The Gresford Disaster', which has its own record here.
Mining language in this record
Words and phrases in this record that are genuine mining terminology, occupations, methods or economic practice — not scenery or ordinary regional language that merely appears in a mining-adjacent work.
| Expression | Meaning | MineArchive connection |
|---|---|---|
| putter | Saint's job at Hebburn, moving the tubs of coal from the face, with the pit ponies. (North East England) | Putter — (A) Same concept. |
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.
- Robert Saint of Hebburn worked from 14 as a putter at a Hebburn pit until it closed in 1932. (documented fact) 1,2
- Saint wrote 'Gresford' in response to the 1934 Gresford disaster; it was first performed publicly at the 1938 Durham Miners' Gala. (documented fact) 1
- It was deliberately composed as a hymn tune without words: the miners who died could not sing along with the band. (documented fact) 3
- All of Saint's royalties from 'Gresford' were donated to the National Union of Mineworkers. (documented fact) 1
- Words based on Psalm 130 have since been set to the tune. (documented fact) 3
Mines
- Gresford Colliery — Wrexham
'Gresford' was written in response to the 1934 explosion at Gresford Colliery. - Hebburn Colliery — Tyne and Wear
Robert Saint worked as a putter at the Hebburn pit from 1919 until its closure in 1932.
Disasters
- Gresford Colliery explosion, 1934 — 22 September 1934
The disaster that inspired Saint's hymn.
People
- Robert Saint (1905–1950) · author, 1934–1938 — Composer of 'Gresford', the Miners' Hymn.
Regions
Real-world mining concepts used here
Related Culture records
- The Gresford Disaster
Both commemorate the 1934 Gresford explosion: Saint's wordless hymn and the older folk song.
Sources
- (secondary) Robert Saint — Wikipedia
- (secondary) Gresford, 'The Miners' Hymn' — A & M Records (blog, 2020)
- (secondary) The Miners' Hymn - The Gresford disaster (Hymns 78) — Bollington Parish Archives
- (secondary) Robert Saint - pieces — Brass Band Results
Record created: 18 September 2026 · Last researched: 18 September 2026