Croft Pit explosion, 1831

At about three o'clock on the morning of Saturday 12 November 1831 firedamp exploded in the Croft Pit at Whitehaven, killing 22 men and boys outright; another brought up alive died soon after. No one in the district where it began survived to say how it happened.

Cause

A sudden, large discharge of firedamp; how it was ignited is unknown.

What happened

All the dead were found within two hundred yards of one another. The deputy overlooker Joseph Bates had seen the place at six the evening before, after being told of a small fall from the roof, and found it safe; two overseers were elsewhere in the pit when it fired, and one of them had just examined the working. The discharge of gas must therefore have been sudden as well as large.

The bodies were raised that afternoon and carried into the town on carts, one waiting to take a young man's brother. The Whitehaven Herald's reporter found few onlookers and life in the streets going on as usual. Twelve of the dead were buried at Trinity chapel.

Investigation & inquiry

The coroner's inquest heard that the pit was well ventilated and that the place had been examined the evening before and again shortly before the explosion.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death, finding no blame on any viewer or deputy.

What's uncertain

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

• Twenty-three lives were lost. (disputed) ^2,3

Recorded claims

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

• About three o'clock on the Saturday morning an explosion in Croft Pit killed twenty-two men and boys. ¹
• Twenty-three lives were lost. (disputed) ^2,3
• A deputy overlooker had examined the place the evening before and found it safe; all the men were killed within two hundred yards. ¹
• The jury returned accidental death, with no blame attaching to the viewers or deputies. ¹

Related terminology

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

• Deputy (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the narrative: “All the dead were found within two hundred yards of one another. The deputy overlooker Joseph Bates had seen the place at six the evening…”
• Firedamp (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “At about three o'clock on the morning of Saturday 12 November 1831 firedamp exploded in the Croft Pit at Whitehaven, killing 22 men and boys…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Croft Pit Explosion - Whitehaven - 1831 — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Whitehaven Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Colliery Disaster: Whitehaven, Croft Pit, 12 November 1831 — Durham Mining Museum

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