Bewicke Main Colliery boiler explosion, 1869

A colliery boiler at Bewicke Main burst on 29 December 1869 where it had lately been repaired, killing the weighman George Irwin and the engineman George Ranson; the inquest jury blamed bad workmanship and asked for boilers to be inspected more carefully.

Cause

The boiler burst where new plates had been put in over the fire. The repairs had been badly done, with excessive caulking, and had opened a rent at the rivets joining the old plates to the new.

Contributing factors

The fireman had switched the feed from this boiler to the next only minutes before, while watching a locomotive on the branch line.

What happened

On 29 December 1869 the No. 2 boiler at Bewicke Main Colliery exploded, killing George Irwin, 36, the weighman, and George Ranson, 18, an engineman.

A few minutes before, Frederick Green, the fireman in charge of the boilers, had turned the feed off No. 2, judging it full enough, and on to No. 3 beside it. His attention was then on a locomotive on the branch railway about 100 yards away, and the inspector allowed that he might have made a mistake in what he was doing.

The boiler was nearly new. Built at the Birtley Iron Works, it had been at work at the colliery since 1 March 1867. John Swinney, engine wright for this and the other collieries of Hunt, Perkins and Co., described it as a longitudinal boiler 47 feet long over its egg ends and 6 feet across, fitted with safety valves and floats and tested at 31 lb to the square inch. It had recently been repaired over the fire, with new plates joined to the old.

Investigation & inquiry

Several scientific witnesses gave evidence at the inquest. The jury found that Irwin and Ranson were killed by the explosion of a boiler that burst where the new repairs had been made over the fire, through bad workmanship, and recommended a more careful inspection of boilers in future. George William Southern, the inspector for Northumberland, North Durham and Cumberland, reported it as one of three fatal boiler explosions in his district that year.

Recorded claims

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

• On 29 December 1869 a boiler explosion at Bewicke Main Colliery killed two men. ^1,2
• George Irwin, 36, was killed at Bewicke Main on 29 December 1869. ^2,3
• The No. 2 boiler burst where recent repairs over the fire had been badly made, with excessive caulking that opened a rent at the rivets. ²
• The inquest jury found the explosion due to bad workmanship and recommended more careful inspection of boilers. ²
• The boiler was built at the Birtley Iron Works and set to work at the colliery on 1 March 1867. ²

Related terminology

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

• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the summary: “A colliery boiler at Bewicke Main burst on 29 December 1869 where it had lately…”
• Fireman (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the contributing factors: “The fireman had switched the feed from this boiler to the next only minutes…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (primary) Bewicke Main Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Durham Mining Museum: Colliery Accident 1869 (Bewicke Main) — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) 1860s I: Ian Winstanley's alphabetical list of mining victims — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's list of mining victims)

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