Bamfurlong Colliery fire, 1892

Between 7.15 and 7.30 a.m. on 14 December 1892 a paraffin torch set fire to a timber-floored compressed-air engine house on the main intake of Bamfurlong Colliery, near Wigan, and the ventilating current carried the smoke into the workings. Seventy-three men escaped by the return airway, but sixteen men and boys tried to get out through the smoke and suffocated. The regular engine boy was ill and a boy of thirteen had been sent in his place.

Cause

A paraffin torch kept beside the cylinder of a compressed-air haulage engine, to stop its exhaust freezing, caught fire, most likely while the boy in charge was changing the wick, and set the wooden engine house alight.

Contributing factors

The engine stood on timber baulks and a boarded floor 500 yards from the shaft on the intake airway. The boys who tended it habitually poured paraffin on the cylinder and lit it to thaw the engine, a practice the Inspector believed was hidden from the officials. John James Rowley, not yet fourteen and only months underground, had asked to take the sick engine tenter's place for the better pay. The fireman left his post at the air doors to guide men, and a hanging chain lamp obstructed the staple pit on the return.

What happened

The engine worked an endless rope hauling full tubs up to a landing. John Ashcroft, the usual 16-year-old engine tenter, was ill, and the under-manager Foster let Rowley take his place; Peter Winstanley lit the torch at 6.15. Accounts of what followed conflicted, but oil was burning on the cylinder, a new wick was put in, and about 7 a.m. the torch blazed up. Rowley tried to beat out the fire with his jacket; Fairclough, Sixsmith and Pennington threw dust on it, but the timber caught and the heat and fumes drove them back. A warning was sent into the workings.

Rescue & recovery

Seventy-three men reached the return airway through the doors from the intake and got out. Sixteen tried to go up the south tunnel against the smoke and fell in twos and threes along the intake road. The fireman James Winstanley, who had left the doors to direct 30 or 40 men, tried to get back, collapsed after 40 yards and was dragged out.

Investigation & inquiry

The inquest before Mr Brighouse, the county coroner, sat for two days, with H.M. Inspector Henry Hall and the barrister J. Roskill; Mr Woods MP and Mr Aspinwall represented the miners. The jury found the deaths accidental, the boy incompetent to have charge of an open paraffin torch, such torches unsafe near wooden bedding, and no negligence by any official. Roskill advised against prosecuting Hutchinson, Foster, Winstanley or Rowley.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

Hall proposed a special rule under section 52 (2) of the Coal Mines Regulation Act requiring every underground oil lamp to have a proper safety burner, and suggested that batches of men be made to leave by the return airways so they knew them.

Recorded claims

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

• A fire in the engine house caused smoke to enter the workings; many escaped through the air doors into the clean return airway but sixteen did not and suffocated. The fire was caused by an accident with a paraffin lamp, the lad in charge of the engine being ill that day and a thirteen- and a fifteen-year-old sent to take his place. ¹
• The fire was on 14 December 1892, between 7.15 and 7.30 a.m.: the Durham Mining Museum, the NMRS narrative and Inspector Henry Hall's letter agree, and the '14th January' in the NMRS page heading is an error. ^2,3
• Seventy-three men escaped by the return airway; sixteen who tried to pass through the smoke on the intake road were suffocated, some within 30 yards of safety. ³
• The jury found the deaths accidental, that the boy Rowley was not competent to take charge of the engine with an open paraffin torch, that open paraffin torches were unsafe where engines were bedded on wood, and that a ladder should replace the chain in the staple pit. ³
• Henry Hall proposed a special rule that every petroleum, paraffin or mineral oil lamp used underground or in a shaft be fitted with a proper safety burner. ³
• Counsel J. Roskill advised on 20 January 1893 that no prosecution should be brought. ³

Related terminology

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

• Endless Rope Haulage (relevant method/equipment)
  The burning engine worked an endless rope.
• Engine House (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “…1892 a paraffin torch set fire to a timber-floored compressed-air engine house on the main intake of Bamfurlong Colliery, near Wigan, and the…”
• Fireman (contextual relationship)
  The fireman left the air doors to guide men out.
• Naked Light (direct cause)
  An open paraffin torch started the fire.
• Return Airway (rescue/recovery concept)
  Seventy-three escaped by the return airway.

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Bamfurlong Colliery — Northern Mine Research Society, G. Hayes Collection (read via a 2023 Wayback Machine capture)
2. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Bamfurlong Colliery — Durham Mining Museum, from the Mines Inspectors Reports and the Lists of Mines
3. (secondary) Bamfurlong Colliery Engine House Fire - Ashton-in-Makerfield - 1892 — Northern Mine Research Society (information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre)

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 13 September 2026