Adelaide Colliery haulage accident, 1874

On 16 July 1874 two young drivers at Adelaide Colliery, near Bishop Auckland, James Fowler, 12, and Thomas Vickers, 13, were run over and killed by a full tub that came off the way.

Cause

A full tub left the rails and ran over the two drivers.

What happened

A full tub came off the way, the rails of the underground roadway, and the two boy drivers fell in front of it and were run over.

Recorded claims

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

• Two drivers, James Fowler and Thomas Vickers, were killed at Adelaide Colliery on 16 July 1874. ^1,2
• A full tub came off the way and ran over them. ^1,2
• The colliery belonged to Joseph Pease and Partners. ²

Related terminology

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

• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s summary: “On 16 July 1874 two young drivers at Adelaide Colliery, near Bishop Auckland, James Fowler, 12, and Thomas Vickers, 13,…”
• Tub (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “…12, and Thomas Vickers, 13, were run over and killed by a full tub that came off the way.”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (primary) Adelaide Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Ian Winstanley, alphabetical list of mining victims: 1870-79, U-W (Vickers) — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley collection)

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