Snydale Colliery powder-fume deaths

On 25 August 1869 two colliers were suffocated by powder smoke after firing a shot at Snydale Colliery, near Pontefract in the West Riding, in a heading where the brattice had been left far short of the face.

Cause

Suffocation by powder smoke after a shot was fired in a narrow heading where the ventilation brattice, which should have been within 10 feet of the face, was 36 feet back.

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.

What happened

Henry Noble, aged 29, and John Barratt, aged 35, both colliers, were driving a narrow bord to hole into standing water. The Inspector, Charles Morton, found the brattice 36 feet from the face instead of the required 10 feet, and had been so for days. On the afternoon of the accident the manager, Thresh, had expressly ordered the men not to use gunpowder, in the hearing of the deputy, Hargreaves; but when the men sent for powder Hargreaves supplied it. The two were suffocated by the smoke of the shot in the badly ventilated heading. Morton laid the blame on the men's imprudence, the deputy's flagrant breach of the rules, and a general laxity of discipline in the mine.

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…”
• Deputy (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the narrative: “…ordered the men not to use gunpowder, in the hearing of the deputy, Hargreaves; but when the men sent for powder Hargreaves supplied…”
• 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. (primary) Snydale Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Featherstone's Three Collieries: Snydale — Featherstone's Three Collieries (Irvin Saxton)
3. (primary) Snydale Colliery suffocation, 25 August 1869 (from the 1869 Mines Inspector's Report, Charles Morton) — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 11 September 2026 · Last researched: 22 September 2026