Rainford Colliery roof fall, 1864

On 22 April 1864 a fall of roof or top coal at Rainford Colliery, near St Helens, killed a collier, Henry Cottam, and a drawer, Peter Cottam.

Date	22 April 1864
Mine	Rainford Colliery
Region	Merseyside
Type	Collapse / Roof Fall
Fatalities	2 (Henry Cottam, collier, and Peter Cottam, drawer.)
Context	During active mining

Cause

A fall of roof or top coal.

What happened

Rainford Colliery, north of St Helens in Lancashire, was worked by the Rainford Coal Company. On 22 April 1864 a fall of roof or top coal killed Henry Cottam, a collier, and Peter Cottam, a drawer, at their work.

Recorded claims

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

On 22 April 1864 a fall of roof or top coal at Rainford Colliery killed Henry Cottam, a collier, and Peter Cottam, a drawer. ^1,2
The colliery was worked by the Rainford Coal Company of St Helens. ^1,2
The two were killed by a fall of roof or top coal. ^1,2

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: “On 22 April 1864 a fall of roof or top coal at Rainford Colliery, near St Helens, killed a collier, Henry…”
Colliery (contextual relationship)
Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “On 22 April 1864 a fall of roof or top coal at Rainford Colliery, near St Helens, killed a collier, Henry Cottam, and a drawer, Peter…”
Putter (contextual relationship)
Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “…Colliery, near St Helens, killed a collier, Henry Cottam, and a drawer, Peter Cottam.”
Roof Fall (contextual relationship)
Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “On 22 April 1864 a fall of roof or top coal at Rainford Colliery, near St Helens, killed a collier,…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Mining victims, 1860s, C (Healey Hero) (reference)

Ian Winstanley's entries for the two Cottams.

View source

Sources

(primary) Rainford Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) Mining victims, 1860s, C (Cottam) — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's list of mining victims)

Record created: 2 October 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026