Thorne Colliery Shaft Accident, 1926

Six sinkers were killed at Thorne Colliery on 15 March 1926 when the capstan engine holding their six-ton sinking scaffold failed and dropped it, with its ropes, to the bottom of the No. 2 shaft. It was the largest loss of life in a British mine that year, and it came three weeks after sinking proper had been completed.

Cause

The breaking of the capstan engine, which let the sinking scaffold and its supporting ropes fall to the shaft bottom. The Divisional Inspector concluded that the engine driver had accidentally put his lever into the lowering position while the capstan drums were being held by their restraining pawls.

Contributing factors

The scaffold weighed six tons and hung on two lock-coiled ropes from a double-drum capstan engine fixed 74 ft 6 in from the shaft, the ropes leaving the drum tops at 38 degrees over pulleys 60 ft 6 in above ground. Pawls or ratchets on each drum were meant to stop the capstan slipping. The inspected machinery was found to be in order and there was no evidence of mechanical failure — the pawls themselves were central to the Inspector's explanation of how the accident happened.

What happened

Sinking proper at the No. 2 shaft had been completed on 22 February 1926. The shaft was 21 ft finished diameter and 964 yards deep to the Barnsley seam, with about 11 ft of water standing in the bottom. The cement lining was finished, and the scaffold had last been used at 919 yards to strip out temporary sheet steel lining. When the engineer Knox and the foreman sinker Carter last saw it at 10 a.m. on the day of the accident it was at 919 yards; Thorley had been directed to work next some 15 yards below the High Hazel inset, and the scaffold was moving towards that point when, at 12.20 p.m., it fell. By the capstan engine-driver Ingram's estimate of the distances moved, it was some 74 yards above the shaft bottom when it went.

Rescue & recovery

The agent, Mr Hoyle, went down immediately to the water level about 11 ft deep, where nothing could be seen. There were only slight markings on the shaft walls below the scaffold's position and little damage apart from girders dislodged at the High Hazel, presumably by the falling ropes. The water was pumped out and some of the wreckage at the bottom had to be cut away with oxyacetylene burners before the bodies could be reached. The first was recovered on Wednesday 17 March and the last on Friday 19 March; the shaft bottom was clear by Thursday 25 March.

Investigation & inquiry

Major H. M. Hudspeth, H.M. Divisional Inspector of Mines for the Yorkshire Division, made a special report on the accident. The coroner's jury, largely influenced by it, returned a verdict of accidental death. Local newspapers had run the story under headlines such as 'Mysterious Mishap', the cause being unclear at the time.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

Hudspeth recommended that pawls should not be used on worm-driven capstan engines — the arrangement that, on his reading, allowed the driver's lever movement to release the load.

Recorded claims

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

• Six sinkers were killed: Edmund Thorley (33), John Hansbury (34), John William Barley (51), Charles H. Walton (33), Ernest Clark (26) and John A. Reed (21). ^1,2
• The capstan engine broke, precipitating the sinking scaffold and its supporting ropes to the shaft bottom; the Inspector concluded the driver had accidentally moved his lever to the lowering position while the drums were held by their restraining pawls. ²
• The scaffold weighed six tons and hung on two lock-coiled ropes from a double-drum capstan engine fixed 74 ft 6 in from the shaft; by the engine-driver's estimate it was some 74 yards above the shaft bottom when it fell. ²
• Sinking proper at No. 2 shaft had been completed on 22 February 1926; the accident occurred at 12.20 p.m. on Monday 15 March. ²
• The wreckage at the shaft bottom had to be cut away with oxyacetylene burners; the first body was recovered on 17 March and the last on 19 March, the shaft bottom being clear by 25 March. ^3,2
• The Divisional Inspector recommended that pawls should not be used on worm-driven capstan engines. ^3,2
• The accident was the largest loss of life in a mine in the United Kingdom in 1926. ³

Related terminology

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

• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s summary: “Six sinkers were killed at Thorne Colliery on 15 March 1926 when the capstan engine holding their six-ton…”
• Shaft (contextual relationship)
  Named 8 times in this record, first in the summary: “…failed and dropped it, with its ropes, to the bottom of the No. 2 shaft. It was the largest loss of life in a British mine that year, and it…”
• Shaft Sinking (contextual relationship)
  Named 5 times in this record, first in the summary: “…on 15 March 1926 when the capstan engine holding their six-ton sinking scaffold failed and dropped it, with its ropes, to the bottom of the…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Thorne Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (primary) Major H. M. Hudspeth, Report on the Shaft Accident at No. 2 Shaft, Thorne Colliery, 15th March 1926 (H.M. Divisional Inspector of Mines) — Durham Mining Museum
3. (secondary) Thorne Colliery — Wikipedia

Record created: 3 September 2026 · Last researched: 3 September 2026