Garth Merthyr Colliery overwinding, 1897

At about five o'clock on the evening of Friday 11 June 1897 a cage bringing the day shift up the Garth shaft at Maesteg was wound past the landing into the headgear; the rope pulled out of its socket and the cage fell to the bottom, killing all nine men and boys in it. Three of the nine were fourteen. The winding engine had no automatic apparatus to prevent overwinding, and the Inspector declined to recommend that detaching hooks be made compulsory.

Cause

The engineman wound the ascending cage past the surface landing and into the cross beams below the pulleys. The rope was then pulled out of its socket and the cage fell the depth of the shaft. The Inspector attributed the overwind to a momentary loss of concentration by the engineman, who blamed nobody but himself.

Contributing factors

The winding engine had no automatic apparatus to prevent overwinding; compliance with the General Rule rested instead on a special rule requiring the engineman to check the engine so that the lift did not exceed three miles an hour ten feet below the surface, a distance fixed by arbitration in 1895. The banksman was holding the fangs by hand; when the cage struck the gate he left his post for fear of falling material, and the fangs, which were not arranged to fall on their own, were not in position to catch the cage. Everything about the engine was found to be in perfect working order.

What happened

The Garth shaft was the downcast and winding shaft of the colliery, then the property of the Garth Merthyr Colliery Company, with James Barrow as general manager. Thomas Thomas, who had been an engineman at the colliery for thirty-two years, took over from the day-shift engineman William Lewis at five o'clock and wound two or three cages, some of coal and some of men. Thomas Hopkins, the colliery's mechanical engineer, had just come up safely and had walked twenty yards across the pit bank and sat down on some timber; he was looking back at the pit head when it happened. What those at the surface saw was that the cage, which the signals told them was carrying men, did not stop at the landing but went up against the cross beams, where it hung for a moment before the rope pulled out of its socket. The cage, weighing about a ton and a half, fell down the shaft. Hopkins went straight to the engine house and found Thomas standing alone two or three yards from the handles; asked what had happened, he said, 'I do not know.' The dead were George Ackerman, 14; John Davies, 29, married with two children; Lewis Guest, 28, married with one child; Edgar Howells, 14; John Hughes Howells, 31, single; David Lewis, 26, single; John Rees, 16, who was brought out alive and died afterwards; Thomas Rees, his father, married with nine children; and John G. Thomas, 14. Lewis Guest, married only twelve months, was the first body recovered and John Howells the last, at a quarter past nine that night. The dead were then delivered to the wrong houses, and the police moved them to the right ones in the early hours of Saturday morning. There should have been ten in the cage. The hitcher counted eleven, ordered one man out, and the others pushed a collier named Rees through the gate; recounting, he found nine, and told Rees he could get back in. Rees was so offended by the handling that he refused, and stayed at the pit bottom.

Rescue & recovery

The bodies were recovered from the sump the same evening, the first that of Lewis Guest and the last that of John Howells at 9.15 p.m. John Rees, 16, was brought out alive but died of his injuries.

Investigation & inquiry

The inquest was held before the coroner H. Cuthbertson and a jury on 14 June. Thomas Thomas told the court that he had been an engineman at the colliery for thirty-two years, that he had wound a tram of coal and then cages of men safely, that he thought it was the fourth cage that the accident happened to, and that the first thing he remembered was seeing Thomas Hopkins in the engine house afterwards. He blamed nothing and nobody but himself, and the Inspector, thinking him a man of good character, put the accident down to a momentary loss of concentration. The jury returned accidental death and recommended that self-acting keps or fangs be used.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

No prosecution is recorded. The jury's recommendation for self-acting keps was the practical outcome.

Changes to practice & legislation

The Inspector, Mr Robson, used the accident to argue against making detaching hooks compulsory: the hooks were not entirely reliable, brought their own anxiety about detaching or breaking in the shaft, needed to be kept in perfect order, and had in one case broken while a cage was running; even where keps had been added as a further precaution, he said, both had failed and a cage and its men had gone to the bottom. Accidents of this kind were very rare, he thought, thanks to improved machinery and to the careful, steady class of engineman employed, and for that reason he did not advise compulsion.

Memorials & commemoration

None recorded.

What's uncertain

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

• The NMRS account gives the Garth shaft as 260 yards deep; the Daily News of 12 June 1897, which it quotes, has the cage falling 360 yards into the sump, and Welsh Coal Mines gives 350 yards. (disputed) ^1,2
• Thomas Rees was in the cage with his fourteen-year-old son John; his wife was expecting their tenth child and his daughter was to be married the next day. The NMRS list gives the son's age as sixteen and records him as rescued but dying later. (disputed) ^1,2

Recorded claims

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

• At about five o'clock on the afternoon of Friday 11 June 1897 an overwinding accident at Garth Merthyr Colliery killed nine people. ^1,2
• The nine were George Ackerman, 14; John Davies, 29; Lewis Guest, 28; Edgar Howells, 14; John Hughes Howells, 31; David Lewis, 26; John Rees, 16, rescued but died later; Thomas Rees, his father; and John G. Thomas, 14. ²
• The cage was wound past the landing into the cross beams below the pulleys, where it stayed for a moment before the rope was pulled out of its socket and the cage fell down the shaft. ²
• The NMRS account gives the Garth shaft as 260 yards deep; the Daily News of 12 June 1897, which it quotes, has the cage falling 360 yards into the sump, and Welsh Coal Mines gives 350 yards. (disputed) ^1,2
• The winding engine was not provided with any automatic apparatus to prevent overwinding; compliance rested on a special rule fixing the speed of the lift ten feet below the surface, a distance settled by arbitration in 1895. ²
• The banksman was holding the fangs when the cage struck the gate and left his post for fear something would fall on him; because the fangs were not arranged to fall of their own accord they were not in a position to hold the cage, though the Inspector thought they would have held it in any case. ²
• Thomas Thomas had been an engineman at the colliery for thirty-two years and had taken over from William Lewis at five o'clock; he could not say what had happened, blamed nobody but himself, and the Inspector attributed the overwind to a momentary loss of concentration. ²
• The inquest before the coroner H. Cuthbertson on 14 June returned accidental death and the jury recommended that self-acting keps or fangs should be used. ²
• The Inspector declined to advise that detaching hooks be made compulsory, holding that they were not entirely reliable, that one had broken while a cage was running in a shaft, and that in another case both hook and keps had failed and the cage and men had gone to the bottom. ²
• The limit was ten men to a cage; the hitcher counted eleven, ordered one out and the others pushed a man named Rees from the cage, then recounted, found nine and told him he could get back in. He refused, and stayed at the pit bottom. ¹
• The first body recovered was that of Lewis Guest, married only twelve months, and the last that of John Howells at a quarter past nine that night; the dead were then delivered to the wrong houses and the police moved them in the early hours of Saturday morning. ¹
• Thomas Rees was in the cage with his fourteen-year-old son John; his wife was expecting their tenth child and his daughter was to be married the next day. The NMRS list gives the son's age as sixteen and records him as rescued but dying later. (disputed) ^1,2

Related terminology

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

• Banksman (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s contributing factors: “…feet below the surface, a distance fixed by arbitration in 1895. The banksman was holding the fangs by hand; when the cage struck the gate he left…”
• Detaching Hook (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “…to prevent overwinding, and the Inspector declined to recommend that detaching hooks be made compulsory.”
• Keps (contextual relationship)
  Named 6 times in this record, first in the contributing factors: “…distance fixed by arbitration in 1895. The banksman was holding the fangs by hand; when the cage struck the gate he left his post for fear of…”
• Onsetter (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…of Saturday morning. There should have been ten in the cage. The hitcher counted eleven, ordered one man out, and the others pushed a collier…”
• Overwind (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s cause: “…the cage fell the depth of the shaft. The Inspector attributed the overwind to a momentary loss of concentration by the engineman, who blamed…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Garth Colliery — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Garth Merthyr Colliery Shaft Accident - Maesteg - 1897 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 24 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026