Percy Main Colliery shaft accident, 1847

On 17 September 1847 two men examining the pumps at Percy Main Colliery, near North Shields, fell to their deaths when the horse-gin rope drawing them up the pump shaft caught in the scaffolding and broke.

Cause

The gin rope drawing the two men up the pump shaft caught in the scaffolding and broke under the pull of the horses.

What happened

Percy Main Colliery, also called Howdon Pans, worked the coal under the Tyne near North Shields, and its water was drawn by pumps in a pump shaft. Men examining the pumping gear were lowered down the pump shaft on a rope worked by a horse gin, with a string running up the shaft to a bell so that they could signal to the surface.

On 17 September 1847 Thomas Dobinson and Walter Murray went down to examine the pumps. When they had finished they rang to be drawn up. The horses started, and the rope rose until something checked it; the horses strained against it, and the rope came up broken and without the men. It had caught in the scaffolding in the shaft, and both men fell and were killed on the spot.

Recorded claims

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

• On 17 September 1847 Thomas Dobinson and Walter Murray were killed in the pump shaft of Percy Main Colliery, near North Shields. ^1,2
• They had been lowered down the pump shaft on a gin rope worked by horses to examine the pumping gear that drew the water from the mine, with a string up the shaft to a bell for signalling. ¹
• When they signalled to be drawn up the rope caught in the scaffolding in the shaft; the horses pulled against it, the rope broke, and the two men fell and were killed on the spot. ^1,2

Related terminology

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

• Coal (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “Percy Main Colliery, also called Howdon Pans, worked the coal under the Tyne near North Shields, and its water was drawn by pumps…”
• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “On 17 September 1847 two men examining the pumps at Percy Main Colliery, near North Shields, fell to their deaths when the horse-gin rope…”
• Shaft (contextual relationship)
  Named 6 times in this record, first in the summary: “…to their deaths when the horse-gin rope drawing them up the pump shaft caught in the scaffolding and broke.”
• Whim (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the cause: “The gin rope drawing the two men up the pump shaft caught in the scaffolding…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (primary) Local Records; or, Historical Register of Remarkable Events, vol. 3 (T. Fordyce, 1867) — Internet Archive
2. (primary) Percy Main Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 5 October 2026 · Last researched: 6 October 2026