Morley Main Colliery explosion, 1872

Cause

An explosion of firedamp, the ignition caused by a naked light.

Contributing factors

Unventilated goafs, naked lights where gas was present, men firing their own shots with gunpowder, and smoking underground, which the underground steward had noticed and not reported.

What happened

Morley, a coal-mining town as well as a woollen one, lost thirty-four people on 7 October 1872 when Morley Main Colliery exploded. The Durham Mining Museum, which lists the dead, records the cause as firedamp ignited by a naked light.

The colliery belonged to William Ackroyd and Brothers, whose manager was Jonathan Simpkin. The explosion was in the Deep Pit, where about 150 men and boys had gone down that day, in the Middleton Main or Deep Coal seam at 156 yards, worked by pillar and stall. The seam was fiery and broken by faults that gave off gas; the pit was ventilated by furnaces, and the men were allowed to fire their own shots. That morning one of the night men had reported a little gas on the north side. In the afternoon, between half past three and four, the workings to the north, under the town, fired in the district called Andrew's Road. Volunteers went down at once but the afterdamp held them back; one explorer said he stepped over thirteen bodies in one place. Most of the dead had fallen on their faces. Thirty-two died in the pit and two more later in Leeds Infirmary.

At the inquest, held by the coroner Thomas Taylor at the Royal Hotel, the police said they had found matches, fusees, tobacco, pipes and a key for opening the safety lamps in the dead men's pockets, and the underground steward, Ralph Berry, admitted he had smelt tobacco two hours before the explosion and had thought nothing of it. The inspector, Frank Wardell, found that the goaf was unventilated and that a shot or a fall of roof had driven gas into the intake, where it fired at a naked light; he urged an end to gunpowder in pits that needed safety lamps, an end to naked lights, and a fan in place of the furnace. The jury found that gas from the goaf at the top of the second pair of north endings had reached the naked light in Hardy's jig, and that there had been carelessness on the part of some person or persons in charge of the workings.

Rescue & recovery

Volunteers went down at once but were held back by afterdamp; the brattices and other ventilation in the district had been destroyed and temporary ventilation had to be put in before the bodies could be reached.

Investigation & inquiry

Inquest at the Royal Hotel, Morley, before the coroner Thomas Taylor, with the inspector Frank N. Wardell, who reported that gas from an unventilated goaf had been ignited at a naked light. Verdict: an explosion of gas accumulated in the goaf, with carelessness on the part of some person or persons in charge of the workings.

Recorded claims

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

• Thirty-four people were killed by an explosion at Morley Main Colliery on 7 October 1872. ^1,2
• The Durham Mining Museum records the cause as firedamp, the ignition caused by a naked light. ¹
• The colliery belonged to William Ackroyd and Brothers; the explosion was in their Deep Pit. ^3,4
• The explosion was in the Middleton Main or Deep Coal seam, 156 yards down, in the district called Andrew's Road. ³
• Matches, fusees, tobacco, pipes and a safety-lamp key were found in the dead men's clothing. ^3,5,6
• The jury found that gas from the goaf had reached a naked light, and that there had been carelessness by some person or persons in charge. ³
• Thirty-two died in the pit and two later in Leeds Infirmary. ³

Related terminology

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

• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “An explosion of firedamp at Morley Main Colliery, between Dewsbury and Leeds, on 7 October 1872 killed thirty-four…”
• Firedamp (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “An explosion of firedamp at Morley Main Colliery, between Dewsbury and Leeds, on 7 October…”
• Naked Light (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “…people. The Durham Mining Museum records the ignition as caused by a naked light and names the dead; Morley's own histories note that the town's…”

Sources

1. (primary) Morley Main Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Morley, West Yorkshire — Wikipedia
3. (secondary) Morley Main Colleriey Explosion – Leeds – 1872 — Northern Mine Research Society
4. (primary) Annual Register for 1872: Terrible Colliery Explosion (Morley), transcribed by the Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
5. (primary) 19 October 1872: Home News (Morley inquest evidence), transcribed by the Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
6. (primary) The Morley Colliery Explosion (adjourned inquest), Cardiff Times, 19 October 1872 — The Cardiff Times (Welsh Newspapers Online, National Library of Wales)
7. (primary) Morley Main: explosion of firedamp, 7 October 1872 — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 17 September 2026 · Last researched: 2 November 2026