Lindsay Colliery explosion, 1957

Shortly before four o'clock on the morning of 14 December 1957 firedamp was ignited on the No. 3 Unit of the Glassee seam at Lindsay Colliery, Kelty, and the explosion was carried along the intake gate by coal dust. Nine men were killed and eleven injured. Sir Harold Roberts's public inquiry found that the gas had been lit by a match struck to smoke a cigarette in a locked safety-lamp mine, that it had gathered in the waste because the air was too slow to clear it, and that smoking underground was common knowledge.

Cause

The ignition of firedamp on the No. 3 Unit by a match struck for the purpose of smoking. The primary explosion of firedamp was then extended along the intake gate by an explosion of coal dust derived mainly from the transfer point and the conveyor.

Contributing factors

The firedamp came from the waste near the No. 3 pack over a relatively short period, probably through strata movement after waste drawing. Because of the layout, the inclination of the face and the system of ventilation, the air was not moving fast enough to prevent a dangerous quantity of gas from gathering even at a moderate rate of emission. Not a single firedamp detector was in use in the No. 3 Unit at the time. The inquiry found it was common knowledge that smoking was widely practised in the pit, although searches for contraband were made and the manager had raised the matter with the pit consultative committee in 1956 and again in 1957.

What happened

Lindsay Colliery stood at Kelty, about two miles north of Cowdenbeath, and had been in production since 1875. It had one vertical shaft and two surface mines, raised about 1,100 tons a day, of which 400 came from the Glassee seam, and employed 790 men below ground and 170 above. It was worked with locked safety lamps. The Glassee workings were two advancing longwall faces, the No. 3 and No. 4 Units, 1,260 feet down and reached through Hodge's Mine, a stone drift 1,650 yards long, and then a cross-measure drift. Until the end of October 1957 the two Units had been ventilated in series; after an overcast was finished each was given its own split. The No. 3 face was 120 yards long, on a gradient of one in 3.3, with the abandoned No. 2 Unit on its rise side and its waste contacted from time to time. On the night of 13th/14th December 174 men were underground, thirteen of them in the No. 3 Unit under the deputy Robert Cook and the overman William Masterson, both of whom were killed. The shift's work was to cut the face, brush the bottom gate and draw the supports from the waste. The belt would not run at first and the cutter was held up, but by two o'clock the machine had cut the bottom corner and passed the gate, and Cook fired three brushing shots. Waste drawing was finished by three, and at about half past three Cook asked Samuel Fitzsimmons to help tighten the face belt ready for the day shift. At four o'clock, in Fitzsimmons's words, 'the next thing I knew was a man lying on top of me.' Others were blown over by hot air and dirt and the air went thick with black smoke; two men were knocked down but saw no flame, and another said there was no terrific heat, just warm air. Men from the Mynheer development below had heard nothing, but word reached them shortly after four and five of them, with a man from the No. 4 Unit, set off at once to look for survivors. They could not get in by the intake for dust and fumes. David O'Donnell and Alex Moyes reached the face by the return airway, saw the bodies of three men and had to turn back; on the way down the face they met Davy Scott and Robert Muirhead and went back up with them, followed by R. McCartney and Edward Tungate. O'Donnell and Moyes were overcome and had to be helped out by Muirhead and Tungate. Then Scott was overcome; Muirhead tried to get him out, found it physically impossible and had to save himself. Scott's body was recovered later. He is one of the nine.

Rescue & recovery

William Fleetham telephoned the surface on his way to the Mynheer development and the deputy there, A. M. Sneddon, also rang to tell the manager and call the rescue brigades. The manager, W. Reid, could not reach the Cowdenbeath rescue station through the area office and telephoned the group manager at home at 4.10 a.m.; the message went on at 4.35. Reid reached the pit at about 4.25 and the rescue superintendent and two assistants arrived with equipment at 4.40. The station kept no permanent brigade of its own, so a team had to be made up from the colliery's own trained rescue men; it was ready at 5.30 and went down at 5.40. A fresh-air base was set up about a mile and a half inbye, the team left it at about 6.40, made a complete circuit of the district and found all nine missing men dead. About ten yards beyond the coal cutter they found a whole unsmoked cigarette lying at the foot of a prop. Ventilation was restored enough for the district to be entered without breathing apparatus by 9.20 a.m. Six men had gone in long before the brigades, from the Mynheer development below the Glassee and from the No. 4 Unit. David O'Donnell and Alex Moyes got to the face by the return airway, saw three bodies and turned back; coming down the face they met Davy Scott and Robert Muirhead and went back up with them, followed by R. McCartney and Edward Tungate. O'Donnell and Moyes were overcome and had to be helped out by Muirhead and Tungate. Then Scott was overcome. Muirhead tried to bring him out, found it physically impossible and had to save himself. Scott's body was recovered later. When the Commons was told of the disaster on the Monday, the member for Fife West singled him out as the man who sacrificed his own life in an attempt to save others.

Investigation & inquiry

The Paymaster-General told the Commons on 16 December that H.M. Inspectors of Mines were investigating and that the Chief Inspector had been directed to hold a public inquiry. It was held under section 122 of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 by Sir Harold Roberts, whose report went to the Minister of Power in August 1958. The district was examined afterwards by H.M. Senior District Inspector F. S. Pollard, who found the only trace of firedamp in a roof cavity at the extreme left-hand corner of the face, little visible violence, and fifteen four-ounce cartridges of explosive about the place, some cut in half and concealed under stones. The next morning H.M. District Inspector C. Sharpe and the overman W. Linton searched specifically for a source of ignition: they found a spent match at the third refuge hole in the intake road and more along it, cigarette butts on the roadway, a spent match at the foot of the No. 4 pack near where the rescue brigade had found the whole cigarette, butts in abundance and an empty cigarette packet in the return road. When the bodies were brought up the police examined the men's clothing and found contraband in three cases: an empty packet, a packet with a partly smoked cigarette, another part-smoked cigarette and seven matches; a packet with one cigarette, a loose cigarette and three matches; and a small tin with a partly smoked cigarette. Sir Harold concluded that a match struck for smoking had lit firedamp from the waste near the No. 3 pack, that the ventilation could not clear it, that coal dust from the transfer point and conveyor had carried the explosion along the intake gate, and that it was common knowledge that smoking was widely practised. Two questions put in the Commons on the Monday went unanswered. The member for Fife West asked whether any complaints had been received during the previous twelve months about the ventilation of the pit and what remedial action the management had taken; another member asked whether any mine gas detectors were available. The Paymaster-General declined both, saying it would be wrong to say anything with a public inquiry to come, and undertook to see that the inquiry took note of both points. It found, eight months later, that the air was too slow for the layout and inclination of the face, and that not a single firedamp detector was in use in the No. 3 Unit.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

No prosecution is recorded. The Glasgow Herald of 20 November 1958 carried a report of bravery awards arising from the disaster.

Changes to practice & legislation

Sir Harold recommended that a careful analysis of the particular circumstances be made before deciding the system of ventilation for a steeply inclined face, that the National Coal Board issue instructions and advice to that effect, and that conditions on such faces already working be reviewed on the same basis. He noted that about two and a half hours had passed between the explosion and the first rescue brigade leaving the fresh-air base — a cumulative effect of short delays which had cost nothing here but could in other circumstances be serious — and referred back to the recommendations he had made on rescue organisation in his report on the Kames explosion. He ended by joining the appeals about contraband: the practice of smoking in safety lamp mines was not confined to Lindsay, and those who indulged in it were not being brave or clever but showing an utterly irresponsible, callous and selfish disregard for the lives of their fellows.

Memorials & commemoration

A memorial stands on the colliery site at Kelty. Its inscription reads: 'On this site from 1873 to 1965 stood the Lindsay Colliery where on the 14th December 1957 nine men lost their lives in an underground explosion.'

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 memorial at Kelty gives the colliery's dates as 1873 to 1965, where the inquiry report and the NMRS account both say it had been in production since 1875. (disputed) ^1,2

Recorded claims

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

• An explosion in the No. 3 Unit of the Glassee seam at Lindsay Colliery, Kelty, on 14 December 1957 killed nine men and injured eleven. ^1,2
• The nine killed were Daniel Anderson, 42, machineman; Robert Cook, 64, deputy; John Hughes, 37, machineman; Thomas Johnstone, 39, packer; William Masterson, 55, overman; William McCulloch, 55, packer; Hugh McPherson, 43, machineman; Bernard Pietrik, 32, beltman; and David Scott, 53, developer. ¹
• Lindsay Colliery was at Kelty, about two miles north of Cowdenbeath, had been in production since 1875, comprised one vertical shaft and two surface mines, raised about 1,100 tons a day of which 400 came from the Glassee seam, and employed 790 men below ground and 170 on the surface. It was worked with locked safety lamps. ^1,2
• The memorial at Kelty gives the colliery's dates as 1873 to 1965, where the inquiry report and the NMRS account both say it had been in production since 1875. (disputed) ^1,2
• Sir Harold Roberts found that the initial cause was the ignition of firedamp on the No. 3 Unit by a match struck for the purpose of smoking. ^1,2
• The firedamp came from the waste in the vicinity of the No. 3 pack over a relatively short period, probably as a result of strata movement following waste-drawing operations. ^1,2
• Owing to the layout, the inclination of the face and the system of ventilation, the velocity of the air was not high enough to prevent a dangerous quantity of gas accumulating even if the rate of emission was only moderate. ^1,2
• The primary explosion of firedamp was extended along the intake gate by an explosion of coal dust derived mainly from the transfer point and from the conveyor. ^1,2
• Seventy-three workmen had been trained in November 1955 to recognise gas caps on flame lamps, and men in development sections carried flame lamps for the purpose, but not a single firedamp detector was in use in the No. 3 Unit at the time of the explosion. ¹
• The rescue team found a whole unsmoked cigarette about ten yards beyond the coal cutter; inspectors afterwards found spent matches in the intake road and at the foot of the No. 4 pack, cigarette butts in abundance and an empty packet in the return road; and the police found cigarettes and matches in the clothing of three of the dead. ^1,2
• Sir Harold Roberts concluded that it was common knowledge that smoking was widely practised in the mine, and ended his report by joining the appeals about contraband, saying the practice was not confined to Lindsay and that those who indulged in it showed an utterly irresponsible, callous and selfish disregard for the lives of their fellows. ^1,2
• About two and a half hours elapsed between the explosion and the first rescue brigade leaving the fresh-air base, the cumulative effect of a number of short delays; the Cowdenbeath station kept no permanent brigade of its own and a team had to be made up from the colliery's trained rescue men. ^1,2
• Six men from the Mynheer development and the No. 4 Unit went to look for survivors before the brigades arrived; David O'Donnell and Alex Moyes reached the face by the return airway and were overcome and helped out by Robert Muirhead and Edward Tungate, and Muirhead tried and failed to bring out Davy Scott, whose body was recovered later. ¹
• A memorial on the colliery site at Kelty records that the Lindsay Colliery stood there and that nine men lost their lives in an underground explosion on 14 December 1957. ²
• On Monday 16 December 1957 the member for Fife West, Mr Hamilton, asked the Paymaster-General by private notice for a statement on the disaster at Kelty two days before. Reginald Maudling replied that nine men had lost their lives and eleven more been injured in the explosion in the early hours of Saturday morning, that H.M. Inspectors of Mines were investigating the circumstances, and that the Chief Inspector had been directed to hold a public inquiry. ³
• Speaking in the Commons two days after the explosion, the member for Fife West praised the valiant rescue work, 'work too often taken for granted in these cases', and referred particularly to David Scott, 'who sacrificed his own life in an attempt to save others'. Scott was one of the men who went in from the Mynheer development before the rescue brigades arrived, and was overcome on the face after helping bring two other rescuers out. ³
• Asked in the Commons whether any complaints had been received during the previous twelve months about the ventilation of the pit and what the management had done about them, and whether any mine gas detectors were available, the Paymaster-General declined to answer either with a public inquiry pending and undertook that the inquiry would take note of both points. ³

Related terminology

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

• Contraband (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the contributing factors: “…that smoking was widely practised in the pit, although searches for contraband were made and the manager had raised the matter with the pit…”
• Fresh Air Base (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the rescue and recovery: “…trained rescue men; it was ready at 5.30 and went down at 5.40. A fresh-air base was set up about a mile and a half inbye, the team left it at about…”
• Return Airway (contextual relationship)
  Named 5 times in this record, first in the summary: “…at Lindsay Colliery, Kelty, and the explosion was carried along the intake gate by coal dust. Nine men were killed and eleven injured. Sir…”
• Ripping (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…had cut the bottom corner and passed the gate, and Cook fired three brushing shots. Waste drawing was finished by three, and at about half past…”
• Stone Drift (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the narrative: “…and No. 4 Units, 1,260 feet down and reached through Hodge's Mine, a stone drift 1,650 yards long, and then a cross-measure drift. Until the end of…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Lindsay Colliery Explosion - Cowdenbeath - 1957 — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Lindsay Colliery 14 December 1957 — Scottish Mining Website
3. (primary) Lindsay Colliery, Fifeshire (Accident), HC Deb 16 December 1957, vol 580 c31 — Hansard (UK Parliament)

Record created: 24 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026