Glyn Pits cage accident, 1892

A cage carrying eight men down the Glyn Colliery shaft at Pontypool came down on a broken pump rod near the top in February 1892 and tipped, killing a collier and a boy.

Cause

A pump rod broke and fell across the shaft for want of byatts to confine it, and the descending cage struck it.

What happened

Early on the morning of Friday 26 February 1892 eight men and boys were being lowered down the shaft of Wood Brothers' Glyn Colliery at Pontypool. In the few minutes since the cage had last come up, a pump rod had broken and fallen across the shaft, there being too few cross-pieces to keep it in the pump compartment. About thirty yards down the cage came onto it, stopped and tilted, and two men and a boy were thrown out. William Henry Jones, about 25, fell nearly 180 yards to the bottom; the boy William Henry Brent was found caught in the shaft framework. Thomas Davies saved himself by clinging to the framework a few yards below where he had been thrown out.

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 South Wales Echo dates it Friday morning, 26 February; Welsh Coal Mines gives 25 February. (disputed) ^1,2

Recorded claims

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

• Two men were thrown from a descending cage and killed at the Glyn Colliery, Pontypool, in February 1892. ^1,2
• A broken pump rod had fallen across the shaft, and the cage carrying eight men came down on it about thirty yards from the surface and tipped. ^1,2
• W. H. Jones, about 25, fell to the bottom; the boy W. H. Brent was found caught in the shaft framework; Thomas Davies saved himself by clinging to the framework. ^1,2
• The South Wales Echo dates it Friday morning, 26 February; Welsh Coal Mines gives 25 February. (disputed) ^1,2

Related terminology

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

• Cage (contextual relationship)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the summary: “A cage carrying eight men down the Glyn Colliery shaft at Pontypool came…”
• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “A cage carrying eight men down the Glyn Colliery shaft at Pontypool came down on a broken pump rod near the top in…”
• Shaft (contextual relationship)
  Named 5 times in this record, first in the summary: “A cage carrying eight men down the Glyn Colliery shaft at Pontypool came down on a broken pump rod near the top in February…”

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh Coal Mines: Fatalities 1892 — welshcoalmines.co.uk
2. (primary) Colliery accident at Pontypool: two men killed (South Wales Echo, 27 February 1892) — Welsh Newspapers (National Library of Wales)

Record created: 8 October 2026 · Last researched: 8 October 2026