Lower Duffryn Colliery fall of coal, 1862

Two brothers, James and John Perkins, were crushed by a twenty-ton fall of coal in their stall at the Lower Duffryn (Cwmpennar) Colliery, near Aberdare, in December 1862.

Cause

A fall of about twenty tons of coal in the stall.

What happened

In December 1862 the brothers James and John Perkins were working their stall in the Nine Feet seam at Thomas Powell and Sons' Lower Duffryn Colliery, also called Cwmpennar, near Aberdare, when about twenty tons of coal came down on them and killed them both.

What's uncertain

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

• One list dates the deaths to 16 December, another to 20 December 1862. (disputed) ^1,2

Recorded claims

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

• In December 1862 the brothers James and John Perkins, colliers, were killed by a fall of coal in their stall at the Lower Duffryn, or Cwmpennar, Colliery near Aberdare. ^1,2
• About twenty tons of coal came down in the stall, in the Nine Feet seam. ^1,2
• One list dates the deaths to 16 December, another to 20 December 1862. (disputed) ^1,2
• The colliery belonged to Thomas Powell and Sons. ²

Related terminology

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

• Coal (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “…James and John Perkins, were crushed by a twenty-ton fall of coal in their stall at the Lower Duffryn (Cwmpennar) Colliery, near…”
• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “…fall of coal in their stall at the Lower Duffryn (Cwmpennar) Colliery, near Aberdare, in December 1862.”
• Stall (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “…and John Perkins, were crushed by a twenty-ton fall of coal in their stall at the Lower Duffryn (Cwmpennar) Colliery, near Aberdare, in…”

Sources

1. (secondary) Welsh mining fatalities, 1862 — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) Mining deaths 1860-1869, surnames P, part 1 (Ian Winstanley) — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's mining deaths lists)

Record created: 8 October 2026 · Last researched: 8 October 2026