Combs Colliery Explosion, 1893

A few minutes after noon on 4 July 1893, during the men's dinner hour, an explosion of firedamp ignited by a naked light tore through the Wheatley seam at Combs Pit, Thornhill. Of the 146 people underground, 139 died — forty-six of them under sixteen, and seven of those aged twelve. Most died not of the blast but of the afterdamp.

Cause

An explosion of firedamp, the ignition caused by a naked light. The men used safety lamps at the face, but five or six paraffin lamps burned in the porches leading to the Wheatley workings each shift and naked lamps stood at lamp stations in the pit.

Contributing factors

Gas came from a fault in the Wheatley workings, and on the evidence the manager, William Scott, did not know the fault existed or that gas came from it. He had been in post two months, having taken over from Jesse Taylor on 4 May. The pit's records showed minor escapes of firedamp in the past, and an escape reported from the Blocking Bed on 16 June had been inspected and no gas found, so Scott had seen no cause for concern in the ventilation and had made no changes.

What happened

The explosion came a few minutes after midday, in the dinner hour. Those near the Combs Pit heard an unusual sound below, and then smoke and flame came out of the pit mouth. James Scargill had just gone down in the cage to work; the signal was rung to the pit bottom and no answer came. The manager was sent for. Before he arrived a fresh burst of smoke and foul air settled the question. Scott and three others went down in the cage and were drawn back up almost at once, driven out by afterdamp; a second attempt reached a lower depth before they had to signal to be pulled up, and an immense cloud of smoke came up with them. The onlookers, by now a crowd, shrieked in terror. The party went round by the pumping shaft and got into the pit that way, to find that a fire was burning not far off. In the inspector's view all the lives were lost by suffocation rather than by the blast. One of the survivors, Joseph Mallinson, was working with ten or eleven others in Smith's ending for about two hours afterwards without knowing anything had happened; making for the pit he met a white mist which put out all their lights. The men went back to Smith's ending, and six were brought out alive thirty hours after the explosion. Mallinson said he never lost consciousness and passed the time riding backwards and forwards on a tram until he was rescued. Ten bodies were found in the same place.

Rescue & recovery

The first two attempts to descend the drawing shaft were driven back by afterdamp and smoke. The rescuers went round by the pumping shaft and reached the workings, where a fire was burning. Nine men came out alive on the evening of the day after the explosion, six of them from Smith's ending some thirty hours after the blast; three of the nine afterwards died.

Investigation & inquiry

The inquiry found that the pit should not have been worked with naked lights at the bottom of the shaft, and that open lights at the mouthing of the Wheatley seam caused the explosion. Mr Wardell, the inspector, gave it as his opinion that all the lives were lost by suffocation. Joseph Mallinson, one of the survivors, was well enough to be called as a witness.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

No proceedings are recorded in the sources read.

Changes to practice & legislation

Nothing recorded in the sources read beyond the inquiry's finding on naked lights.

Memorials & commemoration

The dead were buried in a mass interment, in unmarked graves mostly in Thornhill parish churchyard and other places nearby. A memorial wheel and an information plaque bearing names from mining incidents between 1870 and 1972 stand in Rectory Park at Thornhill, organised by the Thornhill Community Mining Memorial Group.

Recorded claims

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

• The explosion was on 4 July 1893 at Thornhill, Combs Pit, the company given as Mr Edward Ingham; the cause is recorded as an explosion of firedamp, the ignition caused by a naked light, and 139 lives were lost. ¹
• There were 146 people in the mine at the time, including the under-manager, two deputies and fifty-seven boys; the men worked a single shift from six in the morning until two. ²
• Forty-six of the 139 dead were under sixteen, and seven of those were twelve years old. ³
• Most of the men died not from the explosion itself but from inhaling the afterdamp; the inspector, Mr Wardell, gave it as his opinion that all the lives were lost by suffocation. ^3,2
• William Scott had taken over as manager on 4 May 1893, two months before the explosion, and on the evidence did not know of the existence of the fault from which the gas came. ²

Sources

1. (primary) Colliery Disaster: Thornhill, Combs Pit, 4th July 1893 — Durham Mining Museum, from the mines inspectors' records
2. (secondary) Thornhill Disaster, Dewsbury, Yorkshire, 4th July 1893 — Healey Hero
3. (secondary) The Combs Colliery Disaster, 4th July 1893 — Kirklees Cousins

Record created: 9 September 2026 · Last researched: 9 September 2026