Glanmwrwg Colliery inrush, 1899

On the morning of Saturday 9 December 1899 a collier at Glanmwrwg Colliery, Llangennech, holed into old flooded workings. One of the two men caught at the deepest level was drowned; the other hung by one arm from a roof timber for nearly eleven hours until three of his fellow workmen swam in and pulled him out.

Cause

Old flooded workings were holed into at the face, releasing a large volume of water into the pit.

Contributing factors

The water standing in the old workings was not known of, and no plans of them were held at the colliery.

What happened

At about eight o'clock on the morning of Saturday 9 December 1899, David Thomas, a collier at Glanmwrwg Colliery near Llanelli, tapped an old working and a large volume of water rushed into the pit. He gave the alarm at once and every man got away except the two working at the deepest level, Thomas Williams and David Lloyd, both of Llangennech. Their lamps went out; Williams was carried away by the water and drowned. Lloyd found an opening in the wooden cross-collar supporting the roof, put his arm through it and hung there for nearly eleven hours with some nine feet of water beneath him, his faint cries for help audible all day at the pit's mouth. He said afterwards that he had tried several times to swim towards the shaft but struck his head on the roof, and that it took him some time to find the timber again.

Rescue & recovery

Thomas Francis made the first attempts to swim to the trapped man and was driven back each time by the water rushing against the collars of the roof, which stood within a few inches of it. When pumping had brought the level down about four inches, Francis, John Harris and David Jones swam in, found Lloyd still clinging to the roof and benumbed, put a rope round him and drew him through the water to the shaft; he took some nourishment and was able to walk home. The Royal Humane Society made its awards on 22 January 1900: silver medals to David Thomas, who had holed into the water and warned the others, and to Thomas Francis, bronze to David Jones and W. John Hunns. The Society recorded that as an instance of pluck and devotion the case had rarely been equalled in its annals.

What's uncertain

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

• Thomas Williams was 54 years old. (disputed) ^1,3
• Thomas Williams was 47 years old. (disputed) ²

Recorded claims

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

• The inrush happened on the morning of Saturday 9 December 1899 and one man, the collier Thomas Williams of Llangennech, was drowned. ^1,2,3
• David Thomas holed into an old working and a large volume of water rushed into the pit; he raised the alarm and all but the two men at the deepest level got clear. ^1,3
• David Lloyd, aged 68, hung by his arm in an opening in a roof collar for nearly eleven hours above about nine feet of water, and was reached by three workmen who swam to him once pumping had lowered the water, roped him and drew him out alive. ^1,3
• The Royal Humane Society awarded two silver and two bronze medals on 22 January 1900 for the rescue. ¹
• Thomas Williams was 54 years old. (disputed) ^1,3
• Thomas Williams was 47 years old. (disputed) ²

Related terminology

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

• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “On the morning of Saturday 9 December 1899 a collier at Glanmwrwg Colliery, Llangennech, holed into old flooded workings. One of the two men…”
• Level (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “…into old flooded workings. One of the two men caught at the deepest level was drowned; the other hung by one arm from a roof timber for nearly…”
• Shaft (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the narrative: “…said afterwards that he had tried several times to swim towards the shaft but struck his head on the roof, and that it took him some time to…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Medals — Welsh Coal Mines — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1899 — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (primary) Collier escapes death: eleven hours in a flooded mine (The Cambrian, 15 December 1899) — The Cambrian, via Welsh Newspapers Online (National Library of Wales)

Record created: 23 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026