Great Boys Colliery Explosion, 1877

A blown-out shot at Great Boys Colliery killed eight men, despite the shot-lighter believing he had cleared the area first — the inquest jury strongly censured the mine's management.

Cause

A blown-out shot in the north panel of the Six Feet seam, around 240 yards from the pit eye. Robert Prendergrast, one of the most seriously injured survivors, had charged the shot that caused the explosion.

What happened

On 6 March 1877, an explosion tore through the north panel of Great Boys Colliery's Six Feet seam workings, around 240 yards from the pit eye. The shot-lighter, Thomas Robinson, had cleared the area before firing his own shot, and the subsequent investigation found no trace of gas below ground — but a separate, blown-out shot, charged by Robert Prendergrast, is understood to have caused the explosion that killed eight men and left two more, including Prendergrast himself, seriously injured and not expected to recover.

Investigation & inquiry

The inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death, but strongly censured the colliery's management, finding that safety protocols — including the requirement for the shot-lighter to examine the area immediately before firing — had not been properly enforced.

Memorials & commemoration

No dedicated memorial to this specific disaster has been identified.

Recorded claims

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

• Eight men died, including Matthew Hampson (32), Abraham Grundy (36), David Grundy (20), John Mason (42) and John Williams (28); two more men, William Worthington and Robert Prendergrast, were seriously injured and not expected to recover. ¹
• A blown-out shot, charged by Robert Prendergrast, caused the explosion in the north panel of the Six Feet seam; the shot-lighter responsible for the area, Thomas Robinson, had cleared it beforehand and no gas was found in the investigation. ¹
• The inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death but strongly censured the colliery's management for failing to properly enforce safety protocols, including the requirement that shot-lighters examine their area immediately before firing. ¹
• The colliery had been owned by John Fletcher of Bolton and Samuel Scowcroft since 1855, and closed before 1885. ²

Related terminology

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

• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “A blown-out shot at Great Boys Colliery killed eight men, despite the shot-lighter believing he had cleared…”
• Shot-firing (direct cause)
  The disaster was caused directly by a blown-out shot during blasting work.

Sources

1. (primary) Great Boys Colliery Explosion — Tyldesley — 1877 — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Great Boys Colliery — Wikipedia — Wikipedia

Record created: 2 September 2026 · Last researched: 2 September 2026