Kenmuirhill Colliery shaft accident, 1896

Early on 3 February 1896 the steam pump and pipes hung in a shaft that Dunn Brothers were sinking at Kenmuirhill Colliery, near Mount Vernon, gave way. Two men standing on the platform in the shaft fell about 300 feet and were killed. A third, at the bottom, was rescued alive after three hours.

Cause

The chains carrying the steam pump and its pipes in the shaft gave way about 60 feet from the surface.

Contributing factors

The shaft, between sixty and seventy fathoms deep, was making a great deal of water, and two pumps were kept constantly at work: one fixed at the surface and one hung in the shaft from it by rods, so that it could be set at any depth.

What happened

About twenty men were employed on the sinking, and the night shift of eight was due on at midnight. John Martin, the foreman sinker, and Alexander Gray, the young man in charge of the pump, had gone on ahead to make ready, and were standing together on the platform in the shaft to start the engine when the hanging rods parted. Both were carried to the bottom, a fall of about three hundred feet.

Rescue & recovery

Robert Miller, the foreman engineer, was at the bottom of the shaft and was struck by a shower of stones. A rescue party found him three hours later holding on to a pipe to keep his head above the water, which was rising fast, and he was little the worse. Dunn Brothers' general manager, Henry King, put on four shifts of six hours to search for Martin and Gray, but by the following forenoon the water had risen ten feet and the bodies had not been recovered.

What's uncertain

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

• John Martin, sinker, was aged 45. (disputed) ²
• John Martin was about twenty-five years of age. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• On 3 February 1896 two men were killed in a shaft accident at Kenmuirhill No. 2, a pit being sunk by Dunn Brothers. ^1,2
• The steam pump and pipes hung in the shaft fell when the chains gave way. ²
• The hanging rods gave way about 60 feet from the surface and the two men fell about three hundred feet. ¹
• The foreman engineer, at the bottom of the shaft, was found three hours later clinging to a pipe above the rising water. ¹
• John Martin, sinker, was aged 45. (disputed) ²
• John Martin was about twenty-five years of age. (disputed) ¹

Related terminology

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

• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s summary: “…pipes hung in a shaft that Dunn Brothers were sinking at Kenmuirhill Colliery, near Mount Vernon, gave way. Two men standing on the platform in…”
• Fathom (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s contributing factors: “The shaft, between sixty and seventy fathoms deep, was making a great deal of water, and two pumps were kept…”
• Shaft (contextual relationship)
  Named 7 times in this record, first in the summary: “Early on 3 February 1896 the steam pump and pipes hung in a shaft that Dunn Brothers were sinking at Kenmuirhill Colliery, near Mount…”
• Shaft Sinking (contextual relationship)
  The accident happened in a shaft still being sunk, where the pump was hung from the surface and lowered as the sinking went down.

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Accidents 1891-1900 (newspaper reports) — Scottish Mining Website
2. (primary) Kenmuirhill No. 2, 3 February 1896 (shaft accident) — Durham Mining Museum
3. (primary) Kenmuir Hill Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

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