Foxes Bridge Colliery shaft accident

Three shaftmen repairing a pump 150 yards down the Foxes Bridge shaft were killed when the bridle chains of the cage they were riding snapped and it fell; a fourth man saved himself by clutching the shaft guides.

Cause

The cage had been taken out of the rake so that the men could reach the pump, and was not properly steadied before they signalled to be drawn up. Two wire rope guides, somewhat slack, let it oscillate; it caught under the end of the spindle working the top kep clack of the pump, and the bridle chains snapped under the load.

Contributing factors

Only two guide ropes, and those slack enough to permit oscillation; a pump spindle projecting into the path of a cage that had been swung out of its normal run; and a repair method that put men on an unsteadied cage in a working shaft.

What happened

On 28 May 1893 four shaftmen were at work repairing a pump in the Foxes Bridge shaft, about 150 yards below the surface. To get at the pump they had taken the cage out of the rake — out of its normal run in the shaft guides — and when the job was done they signalled to be drawn up without first steadying it. The two wire rope guides in the shaft were slack enough to let the cage swing. As it rose it caught under the projecting end of the spindle that worked the top kep clack of the pump, the bridle chains carrying it snapped, and the cage fell. Henry Milling, Thomas Mountjoy and Edwin Bowkett went with it. The fourth man grabbed the guides as the floor left him and held on.

Investigation & inquiry

The mine inspector’s report sets out the mechanism in detail and treats the slack guides and the projecting spindle as the physical causes, with the failure to steady the cage before signalling as the immediate one.

Changes to practice & legislation

Four wire rope guides were fitted in the shaft in place of two, and the pump spindle was shortened so that it no longer projected into the cage’s path.

Recorded claims

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

• Three shaftmen — Henry Milling, aged 56, Thomas Mountjoy, aged 41, and Edwin Bowkett, aged 45 — were killed on 28 May 1893 when the bridle chains of their cage broke about 150 yards down the shaft. ¹
• Following the accident four wire rope guides were applied in place of the two slack guides that had allowed the cage to oscillate, and the pump spindle the cage caught under was shortened. ¹
• Cages had not always been used at Foxes Bridge: an accident report of August 1873 records ten men at a time being raised and lowered in carts free to swing in the shaft, and cages were required to be provided as a result. ²

Related terminology

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

• Cage (contextual relationship)
  Named 9 times in this record, first in the summary: “…the Foxes Bridge shaft were killed when the bridle chains of the cage they were riding snapped and it fell; a fourth man saved himself by…”
• Shaft (contextual relationship)
  Named 7 times in this record, first in the summary: “Three shaftmen repairing a pump 150 yards down the Foxes Bridge shaft were killed when the bridle chains of the cage they were riding…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (primary) Miners Memorial Project: Fatalities in Coal Mines — Forest of Dean Local History Society
2. (secondary) Foxes Bridge — Forest of Dean Coal Mining — Lightmoor Press

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