Snydale Colliery powder-fume deaths

Two drifters, Henry Peel Noble and John Barratt, were suffocated by powder fumes at Snydale Colliery after a shot was fired in August 1869, with ventilation brattice not carried far enough forward to clear the fumes from the face.

Cause

Henry Peel Noble, 29, and John Barratt, 35, both drifters (Noble described by the Durham Mining Museum as a collier), were suffocated by powder smoke after a shot was fired, both on 25 August 1869. The brattice had not been carried up to the specified distance from the face, so the smoke was not cleared before the men returned to it.

Contributing factors

The brattice cloth -- a temporary canvas or timber ventilation screen used to direct air to a working face -- had not been extended to the distance required, leaving the powder fumes to accumulate rather than clear.

Recorded claims

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

• Henry Peel Noble, 29, and John Barratt, 35, drifters, were suffocated by powder fumes after shotfiring at Snydale Colliery; Barratt's death is dated 25 August 1869. ^1,2

Related terminology

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

• Brattice (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the summary: “…Colliery after a shot was fired in August 1869, with ventilation brattice not carried far enough forward to clear the fumes from the face.”
• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s summary: “…Noble and John Barratt, were suffocated by powder fumes at Snydale Colliery after a shot was fired in August 1869, with ventilation brattice not…”
• Screens (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s contributing factors: “The brattice cloth -- a temporary canvas or timber ventilation screen used to direct air to a working face -- had not been extended to the…”
• Stoneman (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “Two drifters, Henry Peel Noble and John Barratt, were suffocated by powder fumes…”

Sources

1. (secondary) Snydale Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Featherstone's Three Collieries: Snydale — Featherstone's Three Collieries (Irvin Saxton)

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 15 September 2026