Silverdale Colliery explosion, 1878

A shot fired in the Eight Feet seam of Silverdale's No. 6 pit on 7 June 1878 brought an explosion that killed a man of 40 and two boys of 16 and 14.

Date	7 June 1878
Mine	Silverdale Colliery
Region	Staffordshire
Type	Explosion
Fatalities	3 (Three killed: Ezra Clarke and two boys, George Mansell and George Bowers.)
Context	During active mining

Colliery surface buildings and conveyor gantries beyond a tarmac yard, with a yellow tanker lorry, a flatbed truck and parked cars in the foreground. — Silverdale Colliery at work, 1996 Malcolm Street, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cause

An explosion following a shot in the Eight Feet seam.

What happened

On the afternoon of 7 June 1878 Ezra Clarke, 40, George Mansell, 16, and George Bowers, 14, were killed in the Eight Feet seam of No. 6 pit at Stanier and Company's Silverdale Colliery, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, by the effects of a shot. The inspector, Thomas Wynne, recording it as another explosion at the colliery, printed the company's brief notice to him in full and said his own inquiries had confirmed it.

Investigation & inquiry

Reported by the inspector of mines, Thomas Wynne, in his report for 1878.

Recorded claims

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

On the afternoon of 7 June 1878 an explosion in the Eight Feet seam of No. 6 pit at Silverdale Colliery killed Ezra Clarke, 40, George Mansell, 16, and George Bowers, 14. ^1,2,3
The owners reported the deaths as the effects of a shot, and the inspector's inquiries bore that out; the deaths are recorded as an explosion of firedamp. ³
The colliery belonged to Stanier and Co. ^2,3

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 narrative: “…the Eight Feet seam of No. 6 pit at Stanier and Company's Silverdale Colliery, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, by the effects of a shot. The inspector,…”
HM Chief Inspector of Mines (contextual relationship)
Named in this record’s investigation: “Reported by the inspector of mines, Thomas Wynne, in his report for 1878.”

Sources

(primary) Durham Mining Museum - Silverdale Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) 1870s C2: Ian Winstanley's alphabetical list of mining victims — Healey Hero
(primary) Colliery accident, Silverdale No. 6, 7 June 1878 — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 8 October 2026 · Last researched: 8 October 2026