New Tredegar Colliery Explosion, 1875

A minor gas explosion at New Tredegar Colliery on 2 December 1875 injured two men. The workings were inspected, found free of gas, and the manager nonetheless ordered that nobody should go down for twenty-four hours. His order was disregarded, the men descended the next morning under the overman's instructions, and at eight o'clock a second explosion killed twenty outright. Two more died later, making twenty-two.

Cause

A gas explosion in workings that had been inspected and declared free of gas the day before.

Contributing factors

The manager's instruction that no one should enter the pit for at least twenty-four hours after the first explosion was not carried out. The men went down on the overman's instructions instead.

What happened

On 2 December 1875 a minor gas explosion near the coalface badly injured two men. The workings were inspected afterwards and found free of gas — but the manager was not satisfied, and decided as a precaution that nobody should enter the pit for at least twenty-four hours. For some reason never established, his orders were disregarded. The following morning the men descended as usual, on the instructions of the overman William Evans. At eight o'clock there was a second explosion. Twenty were killed instantaneously and two more died later of their injuries. It was suggested at the inquest that Evans — a father of twelve, whose family had suffered through a recent long strike — had been desperate not to lose any more time from work. Whether that was why he sent the men down cannot now be known, because William Evans was one of the men killed.

Investigation & inquiry

An inquest was held, at which the overman's motive for disregarding the manager's order was canvassed. No verdict has been read for this record.

Recorded claims

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

• Twenty men were killed instantaneously and another two died later of their injuries — twenty-two in all. (high) ^1,2
• A minor gas explosion near the coalface on 2 December 1875 badly injured two men. The workings were then inspected and found to be free of gas. (high) ¹
• The manager decided as a precaution that no men should enter the pit for at least twenty-four hours. For some unknown reason his orders were disregarded, and the next morning the men descended as usual on the instructions of the overman William Evans. (high) ¹
• At the inquest it was suggested that William Evans, a father of twelve children who had watched his family suffer through a recent long strike, was desperate not to lose any more time from work because of his financial difficulties. He was himself among the dead, so the matter could not be put to him. (medium) 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: “A minor gas explosion at New Tredegar Colliery on 2 December 1875 injured two men. The workings were inspected,…”
• Overman (contextual relationship)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the summary: “…order was disregarded, the men descended the next morning under the overman's instructions, and at eight o'clock a second explosion killed…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Old pit, New Tredegar — Welsh Coal Mines
2. (secondary) New Tredegar Colliery disaster: death roll, 3 December 1875 — Welsh Coal Mines
3. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum: New Tredegar Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 3 September 2026 · Last researched: 3 September 2026