Westleigh Colliery cage accident, 1896

A few minutes before six on 20 February 1896 the engineman at Westleigh Colliery, Leigh, started the engine the wrong way with eight men in the cage. The cage was drawn into the headgear, released by its safety hook, and fell 370 yards when the catches failed to hold it. All eight died.

Cause

The engineman started the winding engine the wrong way; the detaching hook released the cage, but the headgear safety catches failed to hold it.

Contributing factors

Catches set more than a foot below the cage and working by gravity alone; their axle clogged with soot from the upcast furnace; the banksman did not throw the keps.

What happened

The engineman had been on duty since five the previous evening, with little to do through the night, and had just lowered two cage-loads of men. When he started the third the wrong way, the cage, double-decked and fitted with a Bryham's detaching hook, rose into the headgear until the hook released it. Four catches on the headgear were meant to hold it there, but they did not, and the cage fell 370 yards to the bottom of the shaft.

The dead were John Seddon, 51, Edward Clough, 41, and Edward Farrington, 35, colliers; Henry Dootson, 41, bricklayer; Walter Cunliffe, 25, and Joseph Parkinson, 22, drawers; James Hope, 23, hooker-on; and Peter Croft, 14, jig tenter. The banksman, at the lever of the keps that might have caught the cage after a fall of about eight feet, did not have the presence of mind to push it.

Testing the gear the same day, the inspector, Mr Gerrard, found the catches more than a foot below the bottom of the cage when the hook disengaged, so that the cage dropped two feet before it reached the first opening and seven before the second. The shaft was the furnace upcast, and soot coated the catches' axle; the banksman had oiled the bearings the day before but not cleaned them.

Investigation & inquiry

H.M. Inspector Gerrard tested the catches the same day. He called the engineman's error 'a pure mistake', made rashly, since the indicator, the lights in the cage and the men's cries should have warned him.

Legal & regulatory aftermath

John Seddon's widow sued under the new Workmen's Compensation Act; a Leigh County Court jury awarded £324, and the company's appeal before Judge Wynne Ffoulkes was dismissed with costs.

Changes to practice & legislation

The Bryham's hook was replaced with an Ormrod's hook. Gerrard urged that detaching hooks be required at all pits, backed by properly placed catches or by gear to shut off steam and apply the brakes.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• The Durham Mining Museum records the disaster as seven lives lost, though it names eight. (disputed) ¹

Recorded claims

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

• Before six in the morning of 20 February 1896 a cage carrying eight men at Westleigh Colliery fell 370 yards to the bottom of the shaft, killing all eight. ^1,2
• The Durham Mining Museum records the disaster as seven lives lost, though it names eight. (disputed) ¹
• The engineman started the engine the wrong way; the detaching hook released the cage in the headgear, but the safety catches failed to hold it. ^1,2
• The catches were fixed more than a foot below the bottom of the cage and their axle was clogged with soot from the furnace upcast. ²
• A Leigh County Court jury awarded John Seddon's widow £324 under the new Workmen's Compensation Act, upheld on appeal. ²

Related terminology

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

• Banksman (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the contributing factors: “…alone; their axle clogged with soot from the upcast furnace; the banksman did not throw the keps.”
• Detaching Hook (contextual relationship)
  Named 3 times in this record, first in the cause: “The engineman started the winding engine the wrong way; the detaching hook released the cage, but the headgear safety catches failed to hold it.”
• Headgear (contextual relationship)
  Named 4 times in this record, first in the summary: “…wrong way with eight men in the cage. The cage was drawn into the headgear, released by its safety hook, and fell 370 yards when the catches…”
• Keps (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…and Peter Croft, 14, jig tenter. The banksman, at the lever of the keps that might have caught the cage after a fall of about eight feet,…”
• Onsetter (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…Cunliffe, 25, and Joseph Parkinson, 22, drawers; James Hope, 23, hooker-on; and Peter Croft, 14, jig tenter. The banksman, at the lever 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. (primary) West Leigh Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Westleigh Colliery Shaft Accident - Leigh - 1896 — Northern Mine Research Society

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 4 October 2026