Adelaide Colliery cage accident, 1889

At about ten in the morning of 24 April 1889 the small man-riding cage in the back shaft at Pease and Partners' Adelaide Colliery caught on a newly fitted 'beating bunton' at the Busty seam; a shifter, William Kell, was thrown out and fell about 40 yards, and the joiner with him, William Carnegie, died of shock.

Cause

The large cages resting on the new beating bunton had worked it about 2 inches out through the brattice; the back-shaft cage, guided only by two wire-rope conductors and swinging perhaps 6 inches in a 4-inch clearance, caught its end.

What happened

The downcast shaft at Adelaide was divided by a brick brattice down to the Brockwell seam, 172 fathoms: the main side carried the coal cage and the back shaft a small cage for men. The Brockwell had been worked out, and a few days earlier a metal girder and a stout baulk of timber, a 'beating bunton', had been put across the shaft for the large cages to rest on at the Busty seam. William Carnegie, a joiner going to the Brockwell to take particulars of some machinery, and William Kell, who hewed coal for the boilers there, rode down together in the back shaft cage. At the Busty the engineman felt the rope jerk and stopped. The cage had struck the bunton, then fell away and was caught again by the rope, and the jerk threw Kell out to the bottom. Carnegie held on, signalled to be lowered, and was brought up and sent home, but died of the shock about two hours later.

Investigation & inquiry

The inspector, Thomas Bell, suggested doing away with the back shaft and sending men for the Brockwell to the Busty hanging-on to travel on by an existing stone drift.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• William Kell and William Carnegie were killed at Adelaide Colliery on 24 April 1889 when their cage struck a bunton at the Busty seam. ^1,2,3
• The beating bunton had worked out through the brattice and was caught by the back-shaft cage, which hung on wire-rope conductors. ²
• Kell was thrown out and fell about 40 yards; Carnegie stayed in the cage and died of shock about two hours later. ^1,2,3
• The colliery belonged to Pease and Partners Ltd. ^2,3

Related terminology

Mining terms this disaster is structurally linked to, with the nature of the relationship.

• Brattice (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the cause: “…the new beating bunton had worked it about 2 inches out through the brattice; the back-shaft cage, guided only by two wire-rope conductors and…”
• Bunton (contextual relationship)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the summary: “…and Partners' Adelaide Colliery caught on a newly fitted 'beating bunton' at the Busty seam; a shifter, William Kell, was thrown out and fell…”
• Cage (contextual relationship)
  Named 8 times in this record, first in the summary: “At about ten in the morning of 24 April 1889 the small man-riding cage in the back shaft at Pease and Partners' Adelaide Colliery caught on…”
• Man-riding (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s summary: “At about ten in the morning of 24 April 1889 the small man-riding cage in the back shaft at Pease and Partners' Adelaide Colliery…”
• Stone Drift (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s investigation: “…the Brockwell to the Busty hanging-on to travel on by an existing stone drift.”

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this disaster.

Sources

1. (secondary) 1880s C: Ian Winstanley's alphabetical list of mining victims — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's list of mining victims)
2. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Adelaide, 24 April 1889, shaft accident — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Ian Winstanley, alphabetical list of mining victims: 1880-89, K (Kell) — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley collection)

Record created: 6 October 2026 · Last researched: 10 October 2026