Bedwas Navigation Colliery Explosion, 1912

An underground explosion at Bedwas Navigation Colliery on 27 March 1912, within weeks of the pit raising its first coal, badly injured twelve men, three of whom died. The cause was attributed to a spark from the colliery's electric signalling system.

Date	27 March 1912
Mine	Bedwas Navigation Colliery
Region	Caerphilly
Type	Explosion
Fatalities	3 (Thomas Wilts, aged 24; Henry Wilts, aged 22; John Edmunds, aged 36. Twelve men in all were badly injured, three of whom later died.)
Injuries	Twelve men badly injured, of whom three died; other accounts give nine seriously injured besides the three killed.
Context	During active mining

The pithead winding towers of Bedwas Navigation Colliery, where three men died in an underground explosion in 1912 — Bedwas Colliery pithead towers, 1975 Colin Park, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cause

Attributed to a spark from the colliery's electric signalling system igniting gas underground.

What happened

The colliery had raised its first coal only weeks earlier, in early 1912. On 27 March an explosion underground caught twelve men, all badly injured; three of them — the brothers Thomas and Henry Wilts, aged 24 and 22, and John Edmunds, aged 36 — later died of their injuries. The blast was put down to a spark from an electric bell in the signalling system.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

Welsh Coal Mines records twelve men badly injured, three of whom later died; Wikipedia gives three killed and nine seriously injured. (disputed) ^2,1

Recorded claims

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

Three men died: Thomas Wilts (24), Henry Wilts (22) and John Edmunds (36). ¹
Welsh Coal Mines records twelve men badly injured, three of whom later died; Wikipedia gives three killed and nine seriously injured. (disputed) ^2,1
The explosion was attributed to a spark from the colliery's electric signalling system. ^2,1
The explosion came within weeks of the colliery raising its first coal in early 1912. ^2,1

Related terminology

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

Coal (contextual relationship)
Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “…Colliery on 27 March 1912, within weeks of the pit raising its first coal, badly injured twelve men, three of whom died. The cause was…”
Colliery (contextual relationship)
Named 4 times in this record, first in the summary: “An underground explosion at Bedwas Navigation Colliery on 27 March 1912, within weeks of the pit raising its first coal,…”

Sources

(secondary) Bedwas Colliery, Trethomas — Welsh Coal Mines
(secondary) Bedwas Navigation Colliery — Wikipedia

Record created: 3 September 2026 · Last researched: 3 September 2026