Ingham Colliery explosion, 1947

At a quarter past eleven on the night of 9 September 1947 firedamp exploded in the No. 2 South district of the Wheatley Lime seam at Ingham Colliery, Thornhill, near Dewsbury. The flame ran some three thousand yards. Eleven men are named among the dead and one, the shotfirer Jesse Clarke, was found alive three hours later. The chief inspector found that a flame safety lamp had been deliberately opened by cutting its lead rivet, and that a spark from its relighter had fired gas forced out of abandoned workings by a door put in half an hour earlier.

Cause

A spark from the relighting device of a flame safety lamp whose spirit vessel had been removed by cutting the lead rivet, igniting firedamp in the general body of air at the deputies' meeting station.

Contributing factors

Firedamp driven out of the abandoned Old North 1 District by the fixing and closing of a door in the intake airway about half an hour before the explosion. Heavy leakage in the district — of the 15,500 cubic feet a minute entering, only 5,950 reached the No. 2 South face. Coal conveyed in the return airway. A lead-rivet lock that a pocket knife could cut, and a relighter that did not work properly.

What happened

Ingham had been producing coal since about 1860 and was connected underground to Combs Colliery, though the two were worked as separate mines under Section 25 of the Coal Mines Act 1911. Two shafts went to the Black Bed at 277 yards, with an inset at 188 yards in the Beeston. The Wheatley Lime, where the explosion happened, had been worked for eighty-five years, so its character was well known; the seam was two feet eleven inches thick, and the intake to the No. 2 South came all the way from the Combs shaft. Work at the face had been interrupted since the Friday by a wage dispute. The night-shift deputy F. W. Pearson went down at ten with two shotfirers, Bernard Hewitt and Jesse Clarke, and two beltmen, Arthur Wilson and Clifford Howarth. At about ten to eleven Pearson telephoned the onsetter Herbert Collomosse at the shaft bottom to ask how many were coming down; the talk ran on to general topics until five past eleven, and Collomosse said afterwards that Pearson sounded cheerful and not a man expecting danger. 'Well, at 11.15 p.m., there was a thud,' Collomosse told the inquiry. 'I went out of the office and looked around the pit bottom, and I could see there was something unusual had happened. There were clouds of smoke and things coming into the pit bottom which should not have been.' Four night-shift men in the South Ending saw a flash and were thrown several yards; they got through the doors into the intake and out. The eight men of the night shift proper, still walking up the 1 in 7 drift, met the full violence of the blast and were killed instantly.

Rescue & recovery

The undermanager B. Aston reached the colliery at a quarter to midnight, found the Evison Bord impassable and went back up to report. It was decided to come at the district the other way, and at twenty to two in the morning Aston, I. Keeton of the Wakefield Rescue Station and a rescue brigade went down the Combs shaft. Beyond the intake drift they thought they heard a moan, and found Jesse Clarke lying in the return haulage road with his head resting on the rope, about three hours after the explosion. He was carried into the intake, given first aid and kept warm. Pearson and Hewitt were found within a few yards. Another party coming down the Ingham downcast at a quarter to ten that morning found five bodies near the bottom of the heavily fallen 1 in 7 drift and the last three later in the day under falls near its top. Carbon monoxide forced several men of one exploring party to retire even though their canary was unaffected.

Investigation & inquiry

The inquiry was held in the council chamber of Dewsbury town hall from 11 to 14 November 1947 and conducted by A. M. Bryan, H.M. Chief Inspector of Mines; his report went to Hugh Gaitskell, Minister of Fuel and Power, on 10 May 1948. The one possible source of ignition put before it was a Prestwich type 6 flame safety lamp, No. 9, issued to Hewitt: after the explosion the oil vessel, an opened pocket knife and two pieces of lead rivet lay together near the telephone where Hewitt's body was found, and the top of the lamp lay on the haulage road by Pearson's. Clarke, the one survivor, was discharged from hospital on 5 November apparently unharmed but with no memory of the night. The coroner's jury found that the firedamp came from the Old North 1 District and was ignited by a spark from a lamp opened contrary to regulations, and said tests should have been made deeper into the old district than the fenced entrances — better still, that it should have been permanently sealed off.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

No prosecution is recorded. The inquiry could not say which of the five men in the district had fixed the door in the intake airway that forced the gas out of the old workings.

Changes to practice & legislation

Bryan recommended that the lead rivet be replaced by the more effective magnetic lock, and that the Pyrophor relighter be replaced by a more positive and efficient type. His report also took up the part played by coal dust in extending a firedamp explosion and the practice of conveying coal in return airways.

Memorials & commemoration

Unknown.

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 roll of the dead names eleven men, with the shotfirer Jesse Clarke surviving. (disputed) ^1,3
• The narrative of the report as reproduced gives twelve killed and one injured. (disputed) ^1,4

Recorded claims

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

• The inquiry concluded that the source of ignition was a spark from the relighting device of a flame safety lamp opened by cutting its lead rivet, and that the flame travelled about three thousand yards. ^1,2
• The main source of the firedamp was the abandoned Old North 1 District, the gas forced out by a door fixed and closed in the intake airway about half an hour before the explosion. ¹
• The roll of the dead names eleven men, with the shotfirer Jesse Clarke surviving. (disputed) ^1,3
• The narrative of the report as reproduced gives twelve killed and one injured. (disputed) ^1,4

Related terminology

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

• Canary (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s rescue and recovery: “…several men of one exploring party to retire even though their canary was unaffected.”
• Coal Mines Act 1911 (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…though the two were worked as separate mines under Section 25 of the Coal Mines Act 1911. Two shafts went to the Black Bed at 277 yards, with an inset at 188…”
• Deputy (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the cause: “…the lead rivet, igniting firedamp in the general body of air at the deputies' meeting station.”
• Onsetter (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…and Clifford Howarth. At about ten to eleven Pearson telephoned the onsetter Herbert Collomosse at the shaft bottom to ask how many were coming…”
• Return Airway (contextual relationship)
  Named 5 times in this record, first in the contributing factors: “…only 5,950 reached the No. 2 South face. Coal conveyed in the return airway. A lead-rivet lock that a pocket knife could cut, and a relighter…”

Sources

1. (secondary) Ingham Colliery Explosion, Dewsbury, 1947 — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (primary) Explosion at Ingham Colliery, Thornhill, Yorkshire: report on the causes of, and circumstances attending, the explosion of 9th September 1947, by A. M. Bryan, H.M. Chief Inspector of Mines (Ministry of Fuel and Power, June 1948) — Edinburgh Research Archive / Ministry of Fuel and Power
3. (secondary) Thornhill Colliery Explosion – Dewsbury – 1947 (roll of the dead) — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (secondary) P1 - Thornhill Colliery 1947 — healeyhero.co.uk

Record created: 17 September 2026 · Last researched: 20 September 2026