Swanwick Colliery shot-firing explosion, 1868

An explosion of blasting powder while shot-firing in hard ground at Swanwick Colliery on 3 March 1868 killed two young colliers.

Cause

An explosion of blasting powder while the men were working in hard ground.

What happened

On 3 March 1868 George Legge, 26, and George Stephenson, 22, colliers at Swanwick Colliery near Alfreton, were killed by an explosion of blasting powder while working in hard ground.

Recorded claims

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

• George Legge, 26, and George Stephenson, 22, colliers, were killed on 3 March 1868 by an explosion of blasting powder in hard ground. ¹
• Legge and Stephenson are listed as killed by an explosion of powder at Swanwick on 3 March 1868. ²
• A list of the colliery's accidents records George Legge (26) and George Stephenson (22) killed by an explosion of powder on 3 March 1868. 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 summary: “…of blasting powder while shot-firing in hard ground at Swanwick Colliery on 3 March 1868 killed two young colliers.”
• Shot-firing (contextual relationship)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the summary: “An explosion of blasting powder while shot-firing in hard ground at Swanwick Colliery on 3…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Swanwick Colliery (UK) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Derbyshire Coalfield fatalities (4) - Healey Hero — Healey Hero
3. (secondary) Swanwick Colliery (North Derbyshire) was closed after 102 years - Bob Bradley, Healey Hero — Healey Hero

Record created: 1 October 2026 · Last researched: 2 October 2026