Haig Colliery explosion, 1922

A firedamp explosion at Haig Colliery on 5 September 1922 killed 39 men, the worst of three major explosions to strike the mine over its working life.

Date	5 September 1922
Mine	Haig Colliery
Region	Cumbria
Type	Explosion
Fatalities	39
Context	During active mining

Four panels: the colliery above its deep undersea workings, a methane pocket at the roof, the gas igniting from an unrecorded source, and the explosion running through the workings. — The Haig Colliery explosion, 1922 © MineArchive

Preserved winding headgear at the Haig Coal Mining Museum, Whitehaven. — Preserved headgear at the Haig Colliery Mining Museum Mick Garratt, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons / Geograph

Cause

A firedamp (methane) explosion underground.

What happened

On 5 September 1922, a firedamp explosion tore through workings at Haig Colliery in Whitehaven, killing 39 men. It remains the single worst disaster in the colliery's history, in a mine that would go on to suffer two further major explosions in 1928 and 1931.

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 firedamp explosion at Haig Colliery on 5 September 1922 killed 39 men, the worst of three major…”
Firedamp (contextual relationship)
Firedamp killed 39 men here in 1922, the worst of three major explosions at Haig over the colliery's working life — the same hazard returning to the same pit.

Sources

(secondary) Haig Colliery — Wikipedia
(secondary) Haig Colliery Explosion - Whitehaven - 1922 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 21 August 2026 · Last researched: 21 August 2026