On 11 April 1891 an underground boiler exploded at Usworth C

On 11 April 1891 an underground boiler exploded at Usworth Colliery, in County Durham, killing three men outright and a fourth later, after years of known corrosion had been left unmeasured.

Cause

The centre of three Lancashire boilers in the Low Main Seam, corroded at the waterline over years of leaking and patching, burst under ordinary working pressure; the thickness of its wasted plates had never been properly checked.

What happened

The boiler had raised steam for underground haulage for about six years. It had leaked and been patched repeatedly, the Galloway tubes were pitted, and six months before the explosion the engineer, George Elwen, found serious corrosion at the waterline but did not measure the plates. Leaking grew incessant until, on the morning of the 11th, the boilers had had a bad night; Elwen sent the fireman William Bell down to draw the fires if they had worsened, but did not examine them himself. Soon after noon the boiler exploded. Joseph Armstrong and William Bell, firemen, and Thomas Mitchison, mason, were killed at once, and two other masons, Joseph Greener and Thomas Tait, were seriously hurt; Tait later died. The colliery belonged to John Bowes and Partners.

Sources

1. (primary) Usworth Colliery boiler explosion, 11 April 1891 (from the 1891 Mines Inspector's Report) — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Durham Mining Museum: Usworth Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

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