Reservoir Colliery explosion, 1886

An explosion of gas at Reservoir Colliery, the Moira Colliery Company's pit at Overseal, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, on 8 December 1886 burned two stallmen, William Hart and Thomas Patrick, who both died of their injuries eight days later.

Cause

An explosion of gas.

What happened

Reservoir Colliery stood beside the Ashby Canal at Overseal and was worked by the Moira Colliery Company. On 8 December 1886 gas exploded in the workings, injuring two stallmen, William Hart, 48, and Thomas Patrick, 60. Both died of their injuries on 16 December.

Recorded claims

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

• An explosion of gas at the Moira Colliery Company's Reservoir Colliery on 8 December 1886 fatally injured two stallmen, William Hart (48) and Thomas Patrick (60). ^1,2,3
• Both men died of their injuries on 16 December 1886, eight days after the explosion. ^1,2,3,4
• Reservoir Colliery, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, belonged to the Moira Colliery Company. ^1,2

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 gas at Reservoir Colliery, the Moira Colliery Company's pit at Overseal, near…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) 1880s H (3): Ian Winstanley's alphabetical list of mining victims — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's list of mining victims)
2. (primary) Colliery Disaster: Reservoir Moira, 8 December 1886 — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Mining victims, 1880s, P (Patrick) — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's list of mining victims)
4. (primary) William Hart, Reservoir Moira, 1886 — Durham Mining Museum

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