William Pit underground fire, 1826

On 3 January 1826 fire broke out in an underground engine room at William Pit, Whitehaven, and its smoke spread through the workings, suffocating nine. The dead ranged from a boy of thirteen to a man of seventy-eight, and three were in their sixties. It was the third disaster at the pit in five years.

Date	3 Jan 1826
Mine	William Pit
Region	Cumbria
Type	Fire
Fatalities	9 (Thomas Flood, 13; John Hanlon, 69; Alexander Harras, 40; John Lewthwaite, 64; James Moore, 78; Edward Murray, 18; Thomas Richardson, 29; Annas Robinson, 24; John Thompson, 64.)
Context	During active mining (William Pit on the shore at Whitehaven, three years after its explosion of 1823, with steam engines at work underground.)

Thomas Hastings's drawing of William Pit near Whitehaven, dated 23 March 1834, showing the colliery on its ledge above the sea. — William Pit Coal Mine near Whitehaven, 1834 William Pit Coal Mine near Whitehaven, 23 March 1834, by Thomas Hastings — Yale Center for British Art, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Cause

Smoke from a fire that began in an underground engine room.

What happened

The fire started in an engine room underground, and it was the smoke rather than the flames that killed: nine people in the workings were suffocated. The engine had been running for several hours when the men attending it found the space round it suddenly in flames, which caught the coal and the woodwork. The air passing through the fire had to travel at least two miles to the upcast shaft, where the two men keeping the ventilating furnaces were suffocated; the other seven went to look for them and died too. The road to the upcast had its own ventilation, but with the furnaces there put out the air reversed and filled it with the bad air from William Pit. No one in the main workings was hurt: doors kept ready for such a fire cut the district off.

Investigation & inquiry

The Cumberland Pacquet reported that no blame attached to anyone and that the first cause of the fire was not known.

Recorded claims

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

In 1826 nine men were suffocated in William Pit by the smoke from a fire that had started in an underground engine room. ¹
The Durham Mining Museum lists nine killed by an underground fire on 3 January 1826: Thomas Flood, 13; John Hanlon, 69; Alexander Harras, 40; John Lewthwaite, 64; James Moore, 78; Edward Murray, 18; Thomas Richardson, 29; Annas Robinson, 24; and John Thompson, 64. ²
The first two to die were the men tending the ventilating furnaces at the upcast shaft; the seven others died going to find them. ^3,4
With the upcast furnaces out, the air reversed and the bad air from William Pit filled the road to the upcast. ^3,4
Doors kept ready for such an emergency cut off the affected district, and no one in the main workings was hurt. ³

Sources

(primary) William Pit Whitehaven — a history of the Whitehaven Collieries — Cumbria Amenity Trust Mining History Society (CATMHS)
(primary) William Colliery, Whitehaven — Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
(primary) News (Cumberland Pacquet, 3 January 1826), transcribed by the Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
(primary) Whitehaven (Annual Register for 1826), transcribed by the Durham Mining Museum — Durham Mining Museum
(primary) William Pit, 3 January 1826 (underground fire, 9 lives lost) — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 2 September 2026 · Last researched: 31 October 2026