Open questions: Disasters

Where sources disagree, MineArchive keeps both accounts rather than picking one; where a fact could not be settled, the record says so. 732 such claims on 463 records. All regions.

Aberaman Colliery explosion, 1858

• NMRS gives Benjamin Stephens's cause of death as a fall of roof rather than the explosion. (disputed)

Abercynon Colliery Haulage Accident, 1906

• The mechanism of the runaway is not settled. The Northern Mine Research Society's account attributes it to the breaking of the big link of the chain attaching the haulage rope to the journey. (uncertain)

Abercynon Colliery roof fall, 1913

• The second man's first name is given as Edmund (NMRS) and as Edward (Welsh Coal Mines). (disputed)

Abercynon Colliery Sinking Accident, 1893

• David Jones, aged 46, died on 22 February 1893 of injuries received in the same fall; the sources nonetheless give the accident's toll as eight. (uncertain)

Abram Colliery explosion, 1881

• A. Young, attending for the Treasury, held that the gas had most probably been ignited against the air current on the gauze of a securely locked Davy lamp - the body of a boy named Baines with such a lamp was found at the very spot the engineers and the inspector fixed as the seat of ignition. (uncertain)

Albion Colliery explosion, 1906

• The NMRS account lists eight dead, including Henry Hill, overman, and Thomas Prosser, master haulier. (disputed)

Albion Colliery shaft collapse, November 1886

• NMRS's account of the collapse gives 5 November 1886. (disputed)

Alexandra Colliery overwinding accident, 1879

• The underlooker gave the shaft at the inquest as 325 yards deep, where the Liverpool Mercury gave 400 yards. (disputed)

Allanshaw Colliery explosion, 1904

• The son was Edward Harrison, aged 20. (disputed)
• The son was named Thomas. (disputed)

Alps Quarry Fall of Stone, 1889

• The three men killed were Charles Harding, George Richards and James Wills; Harding was brought out of the fall alive but died about an hour later of a fractured skull and complications, shortly before arriving at hospital. (disputed)
• The inquest at Cardiff was held on the bodies of George Richardson, Charles Cavill and James Wills, killed by a fall of stone at Alps Quarry. (disputed)

Annesley Colliery fire and afterdamp

• Seven men died: William Waplington, Thomas Ward, Samuel Abbott, Joseph Pickard, Thomas Webster, George Rye and Bradbury. The Durham Mining Museum record dates the deaths to 27 June 1877 and the inquest transcriptions agree; accounts drawn from the Inspector’s report place the incident on 26 June. (disputed)
• The two surviving lists of the dead disagree on their ages. The memorial record gives Waplington 37, Bradbury 16, Ward 55, Abbott 19, Webster 45, Pickard 45 and Rye 26; the Nottinghamshire inquest transcriptions give Ward 36, Abbott 24, Pickard 29, Webster 50, Rye 27 and Bradbury 17, and name the last as Joseph rather than James. (disputed)
• The Inspector of Mines reported that six lives were lost, but seven men are listed in the appendix to the same report, and seven are named on the memorial. (disputed)

Astley Deep Pit explosion, 1870

• The explosion happened on 4 March 1870. (disputed)
• The explosion happened on 8 March 1870. (disputed)

Auldhouseburn Colliery inundation, 1898

• Three men drowned: John Hazel, William Gemmell and James Shaw. The Durham Mining Museum's list, taken from the Inspector's report, gives the names as John Hazel, aged 33, William Gennell, aged 47, and James Straw, aged 20, so the surnames of two of the three are spelt differently in the official list and the newspaper reports. (disputed)
• The Scotsman gives James Shaw as seventeen and the mainstay of a widowed mother; the Durham Mining Museum's list gives his age as twenty. (disputed)
• Nineteen men were cut off in the rise workings; sixteen were brought out alive after roughly twenty-four hours underground, and the newspaper compilation describes them as entombed for twelve hours. (disputed)

Avonbraes mine explosion, 1841

• A 1951 account of the Quarter workings gives thirteen killed in the 1841 explosion. (disputed)

Backworth Colliery shaft accident, 1857

• Newspaper reports printed on 6 June 1857 place the accident on a Wednesday morning, with the three funerals at New Backworth the following Friday afternoon. (disputed)

Balbardie Colliery runaway carriage, 1866

• The girls were each about sixteen. (disputed)
• Baxter was eighteen and Leitch seventeen. (disputed)

Bardsley Colliery explosion, 1858

• The ignition was caused by shot firing. (uncertain)

Bargoed Colliery roof fall, 1903

• The man killed outright was Thomas Caple, of Treharris, a week at the pits after returning from South Africa. (uncertain)
• The man killed outright was Thomas Charles Price. (uncertain)

Barrow Colliery shaft accident, 1874

• Welsh Coal Mines names the fifth victim as John Lewis (36); NMRS names him as J. Rook (23), a sinker. The other four names and the cause agree between the two accounts. (disputed)

Barrow Colliery shaft accident, 1881

• The shaft was at Tynywaun Colliery, Tondu. (uncertain)

Bartonholm Colliery explosion, 1871

• The Scotsman of 1 November 1871 reported four men killed by the explosion — William Graham, Charles McDonald, Thomas McQuade and Samuel Holmes — while the Hamilton Advertiser of 4 November reported five, adding William Gilmour, with three others so seriously injured that their recovery was doubtful. (disputed)
• The Durham Mining Museum dates the deaths to 30 October 1871, and both newspaper reports place the explosion at about three o'clock on the Monday morning, which was 30 October. (disputed)
• The Scottish Mining Website heads its account 31 October 1871. (disputed)
• The Durham Mining Museum gives different ages, Graham 38, Holmes 36, McDonald 40 and McQuade 35, and records the first three as brushers and McQuade as fireman. (disputed)

Basset and Grylls Mine inrush, 1858

• Six men and one boy died. (disputed)

Bedwas Navigation Colliery Explosion, 1912

• Welsh Coal Mines records twelve men badly injured, three of whom later died; Wikipedia gives three killed and nine seriously injured. (disputed)

Bedwellty Pits Explosion, 1865

• The Welsh Coal Mines death roll and the Museum Wales record of the Illustrated London News prints both give 16 June 1865; the Welsh Coal Mines list of disasters gives 21 June. 16 June is followed. (disputed)
• The explosion at the No. 1 pit killed twenty-seven miners, six of them boys under the age of sixteen. (uncertain)

Bedwellty Pits explosion, 1879

• An explosion of firedamp at Bedwellty Pits in April 1879 killed three men and severely burned three more. (disputed)
• Six men died of the April 1879 explosion, the last of them, the fireman John Evans, three weeks later. (disputed)
• The explosion happened on Wednesday night, 2 April 1879. (disputed)
• NMRS dates the explosion 4 April 1879. (disputed)

Bedwellty Pits explosion, 1880

• An explosion at Bedwellty Pits in March 1880 killed four men. (disputed)
• Six men died of the explosion of 10 March 1880. (disputed)

Bedwellty Pits roof fall, 1881

• NMRS gives Kinsey's age as 15; Welsh Coal Mines gives 14. (disputed)

Bent Grange Colliery explosion, 1850

• Seventeen lost their lives. (disputed)
• The explosion was on 9 October 1850. (disputed)
• The explosion was on 10 October 1850. (disputed)

Bent Grange Colliery explosion, 1853

• One man was said to have taken the top off his lamp and placed it on a wagon. (uncertain)

Bersham Colliery explosion

• Nine men died. The Northern Mine Research Society names them as William Pattison, 57, manager; Joseph Mathias, 34, fireman; Edward Owen, 49, fireman; John Johns, 42, fireman; James Roberts, 36, fireman; Henry Valentine, 44, pitman; Thomas Evans, 32, collier; Edward Parry, 36, collier; and Robert Lloyd, 39, hooker-on. Welsh Coal Mines gives several of the ages differently — Pattison 56, Mathias 36, Owen 45, Evans 23 — and the fireman the society calls John Johns it calls John Jones. (disputed)

Bigge Pit explosion, 1829

• The explosion took place on 31 December 1829. (disputed)
• The accident is entered under 3 December 1829. (disputed)

Birley Vale Colliery Explosion, 1876

• The press roll gives Ellis Cooper, James Woodward, Thomas Marples senior, Thomas Marples junior, Edward Saville and Joseph Kelley; the inspector's report names three of the bodies taken into Yorkshire as Ellis Cooper, Thomas Marples and George Kelly. (disputed)

Black Vein Colliery explosion, 1846

• The dayshift fireman was sick and his brother was sent to check the mine; he was said to be beating out the gas with his coat when it exploded. (uncertain)

Black Vein Colliery explosion, 1860

• Welsh Coal Mines gives 146 men and boys killed on 1 December 1860; Wikipedia says more than 140, and other accounts give 142. The exact figure is not settled. (disputed)
• A chronology compiled on the Welsh Coal Mines page gives 142 killed. (disputed)

Blackrod Colliery explosion, 1836

• Official records gave eleven lives lost, but local press reports of inquests held under three coroners, at Adlington, New Springs and the Cock Inn at Blackrod, listed twelve; the Durham Mining Museum names the same twelve. (disputed)
• The fireman Thomas Challender is 38 in the CMHRC account and 36 on the Durham Mining Museum page. (disputed)

Blaenclydach Colliery spake runaway, 1941

• The Welsh Coal Mines colliery page gives twenty-five injured. (disputed)
• The Welsh Coal Mines 1941 fatality list gives 27 seriously injured and 26 with minor injuries. (disputed)

Blaengwawr Colliery Explosion, 1861

• The Welsh Coal Mines colliery page dates the explosion 6 March 1861, against its own death roll and the contemporary newspapers. (disputed)

Blaenhirwaun Colliery explosion, 1955

• Four men were killed in the explosion and two of the injured died later in September, making six. (disputed)
• The Welsh Coal Mines colliery page gives five: four killed and David Pennington, who died some weeks later. (disputed)

Blairadam Colliery roof fall, 1908

• Joseph M'Callum, the machineman, was 50. (disputed)
• Joseph McCallum, the machineman, was 30. (disputed)

Blaydon Main Colliery boiler explosion, 1860

• The explosion took place on 21 March 1860. (disputed)
• The explosion took place on 27 March 1860. (disputed)

Boosbeck subsidence, 1883

• East Cleveland's Industrial Heartland dates the mine's closure to 1887 (water continuing to fill the workings after a 1886 feeder was struck); Durham Mining Museum's own colliery record gives 1886. (disputed)

Bothwell Castle Colliery shaft accident, 1889

• NMRS dates the accident to 28 June 1889; the Durham Mining Museum's colliery summary instead gives 28 June 1899, though its own named-victims list does not overlap with NMRS's five names. (disputed)

Brandon Colliery explosion, 1899

• NMRS gives William Carr's death as 14 August, the day before the explosion, and George Robson's as 17th. (disputed)
• Enoch Griffiths is 32 in NMRS and 22 in DMM. (disputed)

Britannia Colliery compressed-air main explosion, 1938

• The NMRS gives the younger victim as Roland Bertram Bond, 23, of William Street, Tir-y-berth. (disputed)
• Welsh Coal Mines lists him as Roland John Bond, 23, welder. (disputed)

Britannic Colliery Llewellyn Pit shaft accident, 1913

• The accident was in the Trane Pit, during its deepening. (disputed)

Broadoak Colliery explosion, 1897

• Welsh Coal Mines gives Morgan Sanders's age as 23; NMRS gives 32. The other four names and ages, and the cause, agree between the two accounts. (disputed)

Brookhouse Colliery Overwind, 1958

• The official Ministry of Power inspector's report records no fatalities. A family member's testimony submitted to HealeyHero states that Derrick Smith ('Carrots') was killed in the incident, leaving a pregnant wife and two young sons. No official record names him, and this is kept as a family account rather than an established fact. (uncertain)

Bryn Hall Colliery explosion, 1873

• The inspector's report names two of the dead as James Oldham and Peter Hartley, where the local papers have Holden and Hankey. (disputed)

Brynamman Colliery Inrush, 1933

• The water broke into the Brass Vein Slant. (disputed)
• The inrush was in the Trigloyn Slant, Brynamman Colliery. (disputed)

Bryncoch Colliery inundation, 1859

• Welsh Coal Mines names Fox, Redwood and Co., who had drained and reopened the pit in 1854, as the owners; the account on Healey Hero gives the Neath Abbey Coal Company. (disputed)
• Welsh Coal Mines says the water had risen 80 feet up the shaft by late afternoon; the account on Healey Hero says 7 feet at 11 a.m. and 96 feet by 4 p.m. (disputed)
• The overman ran round the pit to get the men out but was washed away when the water reached the roof; the Inspector, Mr Evans, praised his courage in sacrificing his life for his men. He is John Dorman on Healey Hero's first list and Robert Dorman, 45, in the Cambrian's list and on Welsh Coal Mines. (disputed)

Bryndu Colliery explosion, 1852

• Welsh Coal Mines dates the explosion Thursday morning, 11 November 1852, on its colliery page and fatality list. (disputed)
• The NMRS dates it 18 November 1852. (disputed)

Bryndu Colliery explosion, 1853

• William Johns is 27 on the Welsh Coal Mines colliery page and in the NMRS account, and 37 in Welsh Coal Mines' 1853 list. (disputed)

Bryndu Colliery explosion, 1858

• Welsh Coal Mines dates the explosion 28 May 1858 and names twelve dead. (disputed)
• The NMRS dates it about 5 p.m. on 27 May 1858 and gives eleven killed, again by a naked light. (disputed)

Bryngwiog Lead Mine Inundation, 1862

• Sixteen men perished when water from old workings flooded the mine. (uncertain)
• Water from old workings broke into the mine. (uncertain)
• The dead were named as Edward Jones of Moel-y-Crio, Bennet Roberts of Lixwm, William Pierce of Rhewl, Edward Jones of Rhesycae, John Jones of Foel, Richard Blackwell of Llaneurgain, William Hooson of Cilcen, Job Jones and others — villages spread right across Halkyn Mountain. (uncertain)
• The villages around the mine have a lead-mining history going back centuries, several buildings in the Wern-y-Gaer area of Rhosesmor being more than three hundred years old. (uncertain)

Bryngwiog Mine inrush, 1862

• The Northern Mine Research Society dates the inrush to 12 February 1862; welshcoalmines.co.uk's death roll instead gives Saturday 22 February 1862. (disputed)

Brynlliw Colliery roof fall, 1963

• Hansard for Monday 13 May 1963 refers to the accident at Brynlliw on Friday 10 May, and the Welsh Coal Mines 1963 fatality list dates the deaths to the 10th. (disputed)
• The Welsh Coal Mines colliery page gives 17 May 1963. (disputed)

Brynmally Colliery inrush, 1856

• An inundation of water, supposed to have come from old workings, killed twelve men and one of the rescuers. (disputed)

Bug and Wink Colliery roof fall and rescue attempt, 1910

• Local accounts date the fall to 11 December, and to the night shift of 16 December 1910. (disputed)

Bunker's Hill Colliery Explosion, 1875

• The inspector's report, Healey Hero and the Northern Mine Research Society index all give forty-three killed; the North Staffordshire gazetteer gives forty-two. (disputed)

Burgh Colliery explosion, 1846

• Eight lost their lives, three of them female, and five were injured. (disputed)
• Three female workers died, one of them eleven years old. (disputed)

Burnhope Colliery winding rope break, 1893

• The Western Mail, from the Central News Consett correspondent, gave the four as George Holt (60), Robert Haycock (41), John Hall (31) and George Shaw (29). (disputed)
• The press report put the fall at 90 fathoms. (disputed)

Bute Colliery shaft accident, 1872

• The accident happened on 11 January 1872. (uncertain)
• The accident happened at about three in the morning of Wednesday 10 January 1872. (uncertain)

Bwllfa Colliery Fire (1867)

• A second source (welshcoalmines.co.uk) names the five victims slightly differently -- Benjamin Lloyd (46), Thomas Wood (35), Benjamin Thomas (57), Thomas Owen (24) and John Daniel (50) -- against the NMRS record's Richard Lloyd (44), Thomas Wood (28), Thomas Howell (28), Benjamin Thomas (55) and John Daniel (50); both are kept on record rather than silently reconciled. (disputed)
• The exact ignition source was never conclusively established, though friction from a wire rope being lowered past the burning air tube was suspected. (uncertain)

Bycars Colliery explosion, 1859

• Four were found dead and two, badly burned, probably died of their injuries. (disputed)

Byers Green Colliery shaft accident, 1873

• The second sinker is recorded both as John Pirt and as John Peart, aged 36. (disputed)

Cadean Slant manrider accident

• Ten men were killed. The Northern Mine Research Society's account of J. M. Carey's report and Welsh Coal Mines both give ten and name the same men; the Durham Mining Museum also gives ten. The Daily Mail of 27 April 1923 reported nine, seven killed outright and two who died on the way to hospital, a count taken before every death was known. (disputed)
• Carey's report gives the main slant as 1,350 yards on the date of the accident. Welsh Coal Mines, following the contemporary newspaper account, gives 1,400 yards. (disputed)

Cadeby Main Colliery steam tank explosion, 1943

• The tank burst on the Saturday afternoon, 27 March 1943. (disputed)
• The Durham Mining Museum dates the accident 29 March 1943. (disputed)

Caedean Slant explosion, 1909

• Welsh Coal Mines gives Owen Thomas's age as 30; at the opening of the inquest the witness identifying him gave it as 38. (disputed)

Caedefaid Colliery roof fall, 1875

• The fall happened in the first week of September 1875. (disputed)

Caerau Colliery roof fall, 1925

• NMRS records Davies as a repairer; Welsh Coal Mines calls him a fireman. (disputed)

Callands Pit explosion, 1816

• The explosion happened on 9 January 1816. (disputed)

Cambrian Colliery roof fall, 1902

• The accident happened on 5 September 1902. (uncertain)
• The accident happened on 3 September 1902. (uncertain)

Cannock Chase Colliery shaft accident, 1868

• Eight lost their lives. (disputed)

Cannock Old Coppice Colliery cage accident, 1900

• William Buck, one of the injured, died of his injuries on 5 April 1901. (disputed)
• William Buck's death is also dated 6 April 1902. (disputed)

Caprington Colliery Inrush

• The jury's verdict records the deaths as occurring on the 9th or 10th of December 1909, while the inspector's report dates the inrush firmly to 11.45 p.m. on the 10th. (uncertain)

Caprington Colliery inrush, 1855

• One of the dead is also recorded as Robert Cunningham. (disputed)

Carbarns Colliery explosion, 1900

• Three were killed and another man injured. (disputed)

Carberry Colliery fall of coal, 1924

• The Durham Mining Museum gives John Morrison, William Purvis and James Urquart; the Scottish Mining Website gives James Morrison, William Purves and James Urquhart. (disputed)

Cardowan Colliery explosion, 1982

• 25 casualties (7 stretcher cases) per the same-day Commons statement. (disputed)
• 40 casualties in total (36 burns, 18 of them over 15% TBSA; 6 mechanical injuries, 1 life-threatening; 19 with mild respiratory upset) per the clinicians' published account, the fuller and later-established figure. (disputed)

Carr House Colliery inrush, 1913

• The inrush happened at about 8 p.m. on 16 June 1913. (disputed)
• DMM dates all eight deaths 17 June 1913, 'drowned by an inrush of water'. (disputed)

Castle Eden Colliery roof fall, 1879

• The colliery was worked by Johnson and Reay. (uncertain)

Castle Pit explosion, 1895

• The explosion happened at 12.30 am on 10 July 1895. (disputed)

Celynen Colliery roof fall (1909)

• Joseph Absalom's age at death is given as 35 by Welsh Coal Mines' compiled fatality record and as 36 by the Durham Mining Museum. (disputed)

Charles Pit explosion, Llansamlet, 1870

• The explosion was at about 5 p.m. on Saturday 23 July 1870. (disputed)
• Welsh Coal Mines gives 5 a.m. on Saturday 23 July 1870, and elsewhere 25 July. (disputed)

Chartershaugh Colliery Explosion, 1778

• 24 men were killed per contemporary and secondary accounts; Durham Mining Museum's own burial records confirm 17 individuals by name and note the collection is incomplete. (disputed)

Chatterley Whitfield (Whitfield) Colliery explosion

• The Northern Mine Research Society's account gives 26 men killed underground, rising to at least 28 once deaths from injuries at the surface are included. (disputed)
• Other secondary accounts give the toll as 21 or 24 men and boys. (disputed)
• The Durham Mining Museum names twenty-four men and boys killed on 7 February 1881, and the colliery's own published history gives twenty-four. Contemporary accounts give twenty-one killed with about six bodies unrecovered, and totals as high as twenty-eight have been published. (disputed)

Clifton Hall Colliery explosion

• Morley's official report tabulates 177 deaths and lists 177 names, and the plan of the mine showing where the bodies were found marks only 157 positions. (disputed)
• The title of the minutes of proceedings in the same official report says 178 men and boys were killed; the memorial at St Augustine's records 178, and the Durham Mining Museum and modern accounts follow that figure. (disputed)

Cobbinshaw South mine explosion, 1912

• The accident happened on 20 January 1912. (disputed)
• The injured were admitted to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on 25 January 1912. (disputed)

Collingwood Main Colliery explosion, 1813

• Hair dates the explosion to 1815. (disputed)

Commonhead Colliery explosion, 1850

• Seventeen men were killed. (disputed)
• Eighteen were killed instantly. (disputed)

Cortonwood Colliery explosion, 1932

• NMRS's county index gives 8 died and 2 injured. (disputed)

Cowpen Colliery roof fall, 1866

• The colliery was worked by Straker, Cookson and Co. of Blyth. (disputed)
• The colliery belonged to the Cowpen and North Seaton Coal Company in the 1860s. (disputed)

Coxlodge Colliery explosion, 1863

• The number killed differs between the sources: the Durham Mining Museum gives 22 lives lost and Wikipedia's account of Coxlodge gives 19 deaths in the explosion at the Bower pit. (disputed)

Cramlington Colliery fall of stone, 1886

• The colliery was worked by the Cramlington Coal Company. (disputed)
• The colliery belonged to Joseph Lamb and Partners in the 1880s. (disputed)

Cribbwr Fawr Colliery electrocution, 1909

• Welsh Coal Mines names the younger man Owen Davies, 24, a single man; the Durham Mining Museum, from the Inspector's report, names him Owen David, 28. (disputed)

Cribbwr Fawr Colliery roof fall, 1918

• Williams was 14. (uncertain)
• Williams was 15. (uncertain)

Crigglestone Colliery explosion, 1941

• The Secretary for Mines told the House of Commons that the explosion took place at about 6.30 p.m., while the inquiry report puts it at 7.20 p.m. (disputed)

Crimea Colliery explosion, 1858

• The explosion was on Wednesday 18 August 1858. (disputed)
• The explosion was on 11 August 1858. (disputed)

Croft Pit explosion, 1828

• Five men were killed and two others badly burnt. (disputed)

Croft Pit explosion, 1831

• Twenty-three lives were lost. (disputed)

Crown Colliery sinking accident, 1911

• Four men were injured. (uncertain)
• Two men, Thomas Phillip and William Owen, were injured. (uncertain)

Cwmbach Colliery explosion, 1845

• The Northern Mine Research Society dates the explosion to 1 August 1845. (disputed)
• The Northern Mine Research Society places the explosion at Cwmbach Colliery. (disputed)
• Contemporary newspapers place it at Thomas Powell's Duffryn Colliery at Cwmbach, later called the Old or Upper Duffryn. (disputed)
• Gas was supposed to have been driven out of an old stall by a fall of roof and fired by the candles of men working further up the heading. (uncertain)

Cwmbach Colliery explosion, 1855

• The explosion was at a Cwmbach Colliery at Cockett, Swansea. (disputed)
• The explosion happened on 8 February 1855. (uncertain)
• The explosion happened on 17 February 1855. (uncertain)

Cwmbach Colliery shaft accident, 1853

• The accident was at Thomas Powell's Old Duffryn pit. (disputed)

Cwmbran Colliery scalding, 1866

• Welsh Coal Mines gives John Morgan as the stoker and Robert Allen as the haulier; the Durham Mining Museum gives Allen as the stoker and Morgan as the haulier, recording all three deaths as 'boiler explosion'. (disputed)

Cwmnantddu Colliery Explosion, 1849

• Five were killed: William Cooke, William Jeffries, Samuel Ball, and James Crumbs with his son William, aged about fourteen. (uncertain)
• The New Pit at Cwmnantddu was at this date the property of the Pentwyn and Golynos Company. (uncertain)

Cwmneol Colliery overwind, 1855

• Spellings differ: WCM Davies, Hopper, Kelley; NMRS Davis, Hooper, Kelly; WCM's Daniel/David Thomas. (disputed)

Cwmneol Colliery shaft accident, 1883

• The accident was on the morning of Tuesday 6 March 1883. (disputed)
• The accident was on 5 March 1883. (disputed)

Cwmtillery Colliery explosion, 1873

• The explosion claimed six men; five were found dead and three just alive who died shortly; seven are named, including William and John Corbett. (disputed)

Cwmtillery Colliery Explosion, 1876

• The Welsh Coal Mines list of disasters gives 23 killed. The Wikipedia article on the village says the 1876 explosion killed 16 men and boys. The two have not been reconciled. (disputed)
• It was the last and worst of four underground explosions recorded at the colliery between 1857 and 1876. (uncertain)

Cwrt Herbert Colliery roof fall, 1892

• Shaddick's first name is given as Samuel, James and David in different accounts. (disputed)

Darley Main Colliery fire, 1847

• The deaths were recorded as caused by an explosion. (disputed)

Darran Colliery Explosion, 1909

• Twenty-seven men were killed, five of them members of a rescue party. (uncertain)
• Until the explosion the mine was considered safe, and throughout its history it had been worked with naked lights. (uncertain)
• With the winding shaft rendered inoperable by blast damage, a carpenter named William Evans descended the ventilation pit by a ladder fixed to the side of the shaft, found two injured men at the bottom, climbed back to the surface for help and returned with two others to get them up. (uncertain)
• A rescue party descended the connected Gilfach shaft equipped with breathing apparatus, but the capacity of their oxygen tanks proved inadequate and five of them were overcome by the toxic gases. (uncertain)

Dearham Colliery shaft accident, 1844

• One report placed the accident on the Sunday morning. (disputed)

Deep Navigation Colliery shaft accident, 1884

• Welsh Coal Mines places the accident in the North upcast shaft; Wikipedia and the first press reports in the No. 2 shaft. (disputed)

Deep Pit, Nantyglo explosion, 1847

• An explosion at Bailey's mine about 7 December 1837 claimed seven lives, with eight burials at St Peter's including John Parkes and his sons. (disputed)

Delabole Slate Quarry fall, 1869

• Sixteen lives were lost and several people injured. (disputed)
• Fifteen people were killed. (disputed)

Derwent Colliery explosion, 1947

• The fire was thought to have been caused by an electric cable fault that set a canvas trapping door alight. (uncertain)

Derwent Crook Colliery boiler explosion, 1841

• Ten workmen were severely scalded, and three of them afterwards died. (disputed)
• Nine others were injured; a young man named Young died the following Monday, and two more, Morpeth and Ford, were not expected to recover. (disputed)

Digby Colliery Explosion, 1928

• The survivor said the coal-cutter men had worked for months without a flame safety lamp because the lamp cabin would not issue them; the lampman and manager said lamps were plentiful and had never been asked for. (disputed)

Diglake Colliery Inrush, 1895

• Staffordshire Past Track and the Bignall End memorial give 78. (disputed)

Dinas Colliery cage accident, 1884

• The cage was believed to have been overcrowded. (uncertain)

Dinas Colliery explosion, 1879

• An early count in the immediate aftermath put the toll at fifty-nine men and forty-four horses. (disputed)

Dinas Main Colliery roof fall, 1890

• William Hughes, 31, and William Lewis, 52, repairers, were killed by a heavy fall of roof and side at Dinas Colliery. (disputed)
• The pit was the Dinas Main Colliery Company's Dinas Steam. (uncertain)

Disappearance of Thomas Severn, Mapperley Colliery, 1918

• Hector Tyler's 2007 book concluded Severn was most likely accidentally entombed in old workings after a hurriedly built stopping; Dr Robert Bradley's 2024 account suggested he had gone to examine an old gate road for gas. Neither is confirmed; the 1918 Inspector's report itself could not rule accident out or in. (uncertain)

Drakewalls Mine Entombment and Rescue, 1889

• Cornwall Calling has the men trapped for two nights before the second rescue began, which then took more than a day; a contemporary account quoted by bunn says 'several days'. The mine's earlier record said two days. (uncertain)

Drumley Pit explosion, 1898

• The inspector's list names a second Thomas Martin, aged 13, among the dead where the local death list and the newspapers name the boy Thomas Burns, aged 13; the two lists also differ on several men's ages. (disputed)

Drumpellier Colliery explosion, 1898

• The inspectors placed the explosion in Nos. 3 and 4 pits. (disputed)
• Contemporary newspaper reports placed it in No. 11 pit, Drumpellier. (disputed)

Duffryn Main Colliery explosion, 1896

• Welsh Coal Mines says about 185 went underground that morning and 175 were raised between 10.45 and 11.05; the CMHRC account says 176 were out, leaving 20 still down. (disputed)

Duffryn Rhondda Colliery roof fall, 1924

• The fall happened on 28 November 1924. (uncertain)
• The fall happened on 29 November 1924. (uncertain)
• Three others were injured. (uncertain)
• Four others, also officials, were injured. (uncertain)

Dulais Colliery explosion, 1907

• The men were caught by a flash while opening a way for gas to escape. (uncertain)

Dumbreck Colliery road-enlarging fall, 1903

• The newspaper reported several hundredweights falling from the roof above them; the inspector's list records a fall from the side of the road. (disputed)

Dundonald Colliery electrocution, 1924

• Something went wrong with the machine's electric supply, causing an electrical explosion at the machine end; a stone was supposed to have fallen on the cable and fused it. (uncertain)

Duxbury Park Colliery shaft accident, 1919

• The accident is also listed under the Duxbury Park Colliery Co. Ltd., the owners until 1917. (disputed)

Dyffryn Main Colliery railway collision, 1906

• Four other men were slightly injured. (uncertain)
• Seven other men were injured. (uncertain)

Dyffryn Main Colliery roof fall, 1919

• Abel Jones was 65. (uncertain)
• Abel Jones was 64. (uncertain)

Dyllas Isaf Drift inrush, 1911

• The deaths are listed under Dyllas Colliery, Aberdare. (disputed)

Easton Colliery explosion, 1886

• The BBC describes the eight as men aged between 22 and 45; the Coal Mining History Resource Centre list gives Charles Bryant as 21. (disputed)

Edmunds Main Colliery explosion, 1862

• The disaster killed 54 and injured 16. (disputed)
• Three explosions killed 59 men and boys. (disputed)

Elba Colliery explosion

• Welsh Coal Mines says a defective lamp was held responsible for the explosion. The Durham Mining Museum gives the cause as an explosion of firedamp with the ignition caused by contraband. The two are not the same thing: a defective lamp is a failure of equipment, contraband is a man taking below what he should not have. (disputed)
• Welsh Coal Mines names eleven: Alec Ogilvie 20, William Bowen 17, William Davis 59, Tom Pratt 19, Edward Rees 26, David Davis 26, George Williams 14, David Rees 21, George Rees 23, W. H. Morgan 18 and John Long 45. The Durham Mining Museum lists ten of the eleven, giving Bowen as 18, Davies as 60, Pratt as 18 and Morgan as 20, and has no entry for John Long. Both agree the youngest was George Williams, a door boy of fourteen. (disputed)

Elliot Colliery Cage Fall

• A second account gives a different immediate mechanism: a large spanner being carried in the cage caught a 'bawk' (a supporting beam) as the cage approached the top, which pulled the winding rope out of its cap and sent the cage falling to the bottom of the shaft. Ages are also given slightly differently in this account — Davies 53 and Roberts 33, against 54 and 36 in the other source. (disputed)

Elliot Colliery roof fall, 1915

• Some reports, and NMRS, give five dead. (disputed)

Enterkine Colliery explosion, 1930

• The official view was an ignition of gas, though it was also said that a shot had been fired. (disputed)

Exhall Colliery fire

• The Durham Mining Museum lists all fourteen with their ages and gives the youngest as Sidney John James Beasley, fourteen, of Oak's Yard, Longford Road, Foleshill, and the oldest as William Henry Smith, fifty-seven, of Windmill Lane, Foleshill, with an average of thirty-four. Our Warwickshire says the dead were aged twenty-one to forty-seven. The museum's list is itemised and the Our Warwickshire figure is not. (disputed)

Fairbottom Colliery rope accident, 1861

• The men were descending the Wood Park pit when the rope broke. (disputed)
• The men were ascending the Wood Park pit when the rope broke. (disputed)

Falla Hill Colliery fire, 1902

• The Durham Mining Museum names the fireman killed in the 1902 fire as Robert Kilpatrick, aged 57. The Scottish Mining Website's index of 1902 deaths, compiled from the Inspector of Mines returns, gives the same man's age and occupation but names him James Patrick. The other three — John Russell, 32, brusher; Adam Cook, 16, drawer; and James Pettigrew, 42, brusher — agree between the two. (disputed)

Farnacres Colliery inundation, 1840

• The pit was twenty-one fathoms deep. (disputed)
• The shaft was twenty fathoms deep. (disputed)

Fatfield Colliery explosion, 1763

• An explosion at Fatfield colliery in 1763 killed fifteen. (disputed)
• The explosion of gas killed seventeen. (disputed)

Fatfield Colliery explosion, 1767

• The explosion was on 17 March 1767. (disputed)
• The explosion was on 27 March 1767. (disputed)

Fatfield Colliery Hall Pit explosion, 1813

• The explosion at the Hall Pit on 28 September 1813 killed thirty men and boys. (disputed)
• Thirty-two men and boys were killed. (disputed)

Featherstone Main Colliery explosion, 1872

• Spellings differ: DMM Livesley and W. Phoenix; the Featherstone blog Phœnox. (disputed)

Felling Colliery explosion, 1812

• The Durham Mining Museum and the Tyne and Wear HER both give 92 dead. The contemporary account the museum reproduces says ninety-one perished, and the obelisk at Heworth carries ninety-one names; the difference is most likely the three men who were brought out alive and died afterwards. (disputed)
• The explosion is dated 25 May 1812 by the contemporary account and by the museum's own record; the Tyne and Wear HER gives 24 May. (disputed)
• No cause was ever established with certainty. Firedamp ignited by a naked light is the probable one, there being no evidence of large quantities of coal dust in the air before the blast. (uncertain)

Felling Colliery explosion, 1847

• Wikipedia, citing the Newcastle Guardian of 26 June and 3 July 1847, dates the explosion to shortly after 9 p.m. on Tuesday 22 June 1847. (disputed)
• The Tyne and Wear Historic Environment Record gives 22 January 1847. (disputed)

Ferndale No. 5 Pit cage accident, 1910

• The accident was at the No. 5 Pit. (disputed)
• The accident was in the shaft of the No. 1 Pit. (disputed)

Ferniegair Colliery explosion, 1909

• The inspector's list dates all three deaths to 27 June 1909. (disputed)

Fforchaman Colliery explosion

• Welsh Coal Mines names the dead as William Williams, 30, collier; Lewis Griffiths, 48, collier; and David Evans, 45, roadman. The Bristol Mercury's report, quoted by the Northern Mine Research Society, gives the surnames as Griffiths, Evans and Lewis, which is the same three men with Lewis Griffiths's forename read as a surname. (disputed)
• Welsh Coal Mines dates the explosion to 5 January 1869. The Bristol Mercury report the Northern Mine Research Society quotes is dated 13 February 1869 and describes the explosion as having happened on 'Tuesday morning', which does not fit a 5 January date and suggests the newspaper was reprinting an earlier account. (disputed)

Fforchaman Colliery runaway drams

• Both accounts name Gwilym Williams, 15. Welsh Coal Mines gives the second boy as John Jones, 15, and so does the Northern Mine Research Society's own list of fatalities at the pit, which records Gwilym Williams crushed by trams and John Jones run over by trams on the same day. The Liverpool Mercury report the society quotes calls him John Thomas. (disputed)

Fochriw Colliery explosion, 1865

• The explosion badly burned fourteen men, a number of whom died later of their injuries. (disputed)

Fochriw Colliery explosion, 1870

• J. Edwards, 51, and Thomas Jones, 30, ostlers at a Dowlais Iron Company colliery, were killed by an explosion of gas on 2 May 1870. (disputed)
• D. Hughes, 51, R. Jones, 58, and T. Jones, 30, died in an explosion at Penydarren Colliery on 2 May 1870. (disputed)

Foggs Colliery cage accident, 1907

• Nine men died in the 1907 accident. (disputed)

Fordell Colliery boiler explosion, 1876

• A specialist secondary source records a fifth fatality under the name 'May Cook', not named in the contemporary newspaper account, though consistent with that account's report of a badly scalded survivor not expected to recover. (uncertain)

Gadlys Colliery explosion, 1871

• An explosion of gas killed five, William Isaac, packer, dying later of his injuries. (disputed)

Garden Pit Inundation, Landshipping, 1844

• Welsh Coal Mines records that the usual seepage suddenly increased in volume, that the miners were concerned enough to leave the mine, and that they were sent back after being reassured all was well, the sea breaking in an hour later. The Coflein account does not mention this and gives the time as about half past three. (disputed)
• The water is reported to have risen at seven fathoms — forty-two feet — a minute. (uncertain)
• The memorial erected by villagers in 2002 lists seven names where the first is given only as 'Miner'. These are believed to be women and children, although an Act of Parliament of 1842 had prohibited women and boys under ten from working underground. (uncertain)

Garesfield Colliery roof fall, 1929

• The accident was at the colliery's Bute Pit. (uncertain)

Garnant Colliery Disaster, 1884

• The Welsh Coal Mines colliery page states that ten men met their death and names ten, and the local history site devoted to the disaster is dedicated to the memory of the ten. The Welsh Coal Mines list of disasters gives 18 for the same date; that figure is not followed here. (disputed)
• The men had arranged to start their shift before time so that they could attend a funeral after an early finish. (uncertain)
• An official was prosecuted for negligence over the accident; the mine owners themselves went unpunished. The colliery was at the time owned by David Pugh, MP for Cardiganshire. (uncertain)

Garngoch Colliery explosion, 1880

• Welsh Coal Mines' 1880 list gives the third man as Thomas Hugh Walters, noting that some give his surname as Hugh, and says he died of his injuries on the 15th; the Durham Mining Museum lists Thomas Hugh, killed on 7 July. (disputed)

Garscube Colliery accident, 1853

• The deaths were caused by an explosion of firedamp. (disputed)
• The five, working close to the shaft bottom, were suffocated by smoke from an underground engine: with no ventilating power and much cooling water falling down the shaft, the air reversed and the smoke went into the workings instead of up the upcast. (disputed)

Garswood Hall No. 9 sinking explosion, 1902

• The names listed by the two sources number nine or ten, and the NMRS narrative counts eight of twelve at the bottom plus the banksman. (disputed)

Garswood Park Colliery explosion, 1866

• The Liverpool Mercury, reporting the second explosion in August 1867, recalled the first as having occurred on 13 May 1866 with thirteen dead. (disputed)

Garth Merthyr Colliery overwinding, 1897

• The NMRS account gives the Garth shaft as 260 yards deep; the Daily News of 12 June 1897, which it quotes, has the cage falling 360 yards into the sump, and Welsh Coal Mines gives 350 yards. (disputed)
• Thomas Rees was in the cage with his fourteen-year-old son John; his wife was expecting their tenth child and his daughter was to be married the next day. The NMRS list gives the son's age as sixteen and records him as rescued but dying later. (disputed)

Gavieside No. 11 Pit cage accident, 1885

• The youngest of the dead was 14. (disputed)
• The youngest of the dead, Alexander Bulloch, was 13. (disputed)

Gelli Colliery shaft accident, 1878

• A full bucket fell on them when its handle broke. (disputed)
• NMRS records that the two sinkers fell down the shaft. (disputed)

Gellyceidrim Colliery runaway journey, 1897

• The Durham Mining Museum gives John Lloyd as a haulier; Welsh Coal Mines' 1897 list gives him as a collier. (disputed)

Genwen Colliery explosion, 1907

• NMRS's list names David Thomas among the dead; its quoted verdict and WCM name Thomas Davies. (disputed)

Gethin Colliery explosion, 1865

• An explosion in the Upper pit on 20 December 1865 killed 34 men and boys. (disputed)
• The 1865 toll is given as 36 elsewhere. (disputed)

Gethin Colliery railway accident, 1879

• James Thomas is given as 13 by the Merlin and 17 by Welsh Coal Mines. (disputed)

Gill Head Colliery fall of stone, 1872

• The company at the colliery at the time of the accident is recorded as M. Laycock. The colliery’s own owner list gives Lucock & Carlton for the 1860s; whether these are the same name differently written is not known. (uncertain)

Gin Pit explosion, 1863

• Welsh Coal Mines names the dead as William Elias (27, married); Dafydd Williams (44, wife, three children and a widow); Dafydd Williams (his 14-year-old son); Denis Mahany (14); William Gower (11); Benjamin Rees (17); Dafydd John (31, widow); John Bevan (53, of Ty'ncornel, wife and three children); William Davies (23, widow); William Isaac (38, carpenter, wife and seven children); David Jones (21, widow); Morgan Thomas (22, widow); Daniel Edwards (29, wife and two children); and Dafydd Rhys (38, married). (disputed)
• NMRS names the dead as William Isaac (40, married); Morgan Thomas (21); Benjamin Rees (17); David Williams (44, married); David Williams (14, his son); David Rees (36, married); Dennis Mahoney (14); David Jones (21); William Davies (23); David John (30); Daniel Edwards (25, married); John Bevan (41, married); and William Elias (27, married) — thirteen named against Welsh Coal Mines' fourteen, with several ages differing (Isaac 38/40, Edwards 29/25) and 'Dafydd Rhys' against 'David Rees', most likely the same men under anglicised or differently rendered names. (disputed)

Glanddu Colliery roof fall, 1875

• The manager of the colliery was convicted of manslaughter because of lack of inspection. (disputed)

Glanmwrwg Colliery inrush, 1899

• Thomas Williams was 54 years old. (disputed)
• Thomas Williams was 47 years old. (disputed)

Gleision Colliery Flooding, 2011

• The Written Ministerial Statement of 10 October 2011 describes the immediate cause as the failure of a retaining wall at the drift mine, releasing water into the workings -- a slightly different framing from other accounts describing a controlled blast breaching into flooded workings; both describe the same event, that a barrier separating the workings from a large body of water gave way. Sources also disagree narrowly on Philip Hill's age: 44 (Wikipedia) versus 45 (the Written Ministerial Statement). (disputed)

Glencraig Colliery explosion, 1902

• The Scotsman report reproduced by the Benarty Heritage group calls Marshall a widower of twenty; the Inspector's returns give him as 25 and Adamson as 26. (disputed)

Glyn Pits cage accident, 1892

• The South Wales Echo dates it Friday morning, 26 February; Welsh Coal Mines gives 25 February. (disputed)

Glyn Pits explosion, 1864

• Welsh Coal Mines: a length of timber left propping open an air door by the young door-boy caused the loss of ventilation. (disputed)
• Durham Mining Museum: both doors on the heading were left open by the haulier William Hill, himself among the dead, cutting the fresh air off the face entirely. (disputed)

Glyncorrwg Colliery Explosion

• The Welsh Coal Mines account states that after this explosion 'the use of aluminium at the coalface was prohibited'. The Inspector's actual recommendation was narrower: that light-alloy bars be prohibited on longwall faces with open wastes unless inflammable gas was known to be unlikely there. (disputed)

Glynea Colliery explosion, 1913

• NMRS lists seven names; WCM adds David Jones as the eighth. (disputed)

Glynhebog Colliery explosion, 1900

• David Rees died on 3 June 1900. (disputed)
• David Rees died on 9 June 1900. (disputed)

Golynos Colliery roof fall, 1878

• The fall was on 4 February 1878. (disputed)
• The fall was on 28 January 1878. (disputed)

Govan Colliery powder explosion, 1862

• Winstanley's list has Campbell going into the magazine with an unprotected light. (disputed)
• The inspector concluded that Newton, going to the cabin to fetch powder himself instead of waiting for the man who gave it out, let the flame of his lamp get too near the powder. (uncertain)

Graig Colliery explosion, 1846

• The Merlin names John Evans, 23, among the seven; Welsh Coal Mines has John Davies, 50, in his place. (disputed)

Graig Merthyr Colliery explosion, 1909

• The second man is Edward Mandry on the Welsh Coal Mines colliery page, Edward Mandray in the NMRS account, and Edward Mainwaring, a married man of Felindre, in Welsh Coal Mines' 1909 list. (disputed)

Grassmoor Colliery Explosion, 1933

• A local history of the colliery gives eight men injured rather than the four reported to the Commons. (disputed)
• The cause of ignition was uncertain, the Durham Mining Museum recording it as possibly an electric cap-lamp headpiece. (uncertain)

Great Bridge Colliery explosion, 1849

• Accounts of the dead range from thirteen (Birmingham Journal) and fifteen (Report for 1853) to twenty-five (Mining Almanac for 1850). (disputed)
• The explosion happened on Tuesday 26 June 1849. (disputed)
• The explosion happened on 28 June 1849. (disputed)
• The doggy, Pritchard, was said to have caused the explosion by unscrewing his lamp while colliers were brushing out a place. (uncertain)

Great Fenton Colliery explosion, 1885

• NMRS's heading and county index give seven dead and five injured. (disputed)

Great Western Colliery explosion, 1913

• The explosion happened on 28 December 1913. (uncertain)
• The explosion happened on 29 December 1913. (uncertain)

Great Western Colliery roof fall, 1875

• Welsh Coal Mines dates the deaths 5 July. (disputed)

Greenrigg Colliery pithead fire

• Canmore's inventory entry (Oglethorpe 2006) records a pithead fire in 1925 that destroyed all the surface buildings. (disputed)
• The Wikishire account of Harthill, drawing on Lightbody's Harthill Through the Years (1997), dates the fire to 1924 and says it destroyed most of the surface buildings and the headframes. (disputed)

Grove Pit Disaster, 1930

• The explosion is believed to have been triggered by a naked light; five of the dead were found carrying contraband matches or cigarettes, though the inquiry could not establish with certainty who or what ignited the gas. (disputed)

Gwaun Cae Gurwen Colliery shaft accident, 1847

• The Cambrian of Friday 3 September 1847 describes the accident as happening at three on the Wednesday morning, 1 September; Welsh Coal Mines dates it September 1847. (disputed)
• The Durham Mining Museum lists a shaft accident with six lives lost on 31 August 1847. (disputed)
• Welsh Coal Mines' own summary says a flat winding rope broke; the Cambrian report it reproduces says a link of the chain, with a small flaw, broke. (disputed)

Gwendraeth Colliery Inundation

• Twenty-six men and boys died. Contemporary reporting records 27 on the night shift with one survivor, David Evans; some later summaries give 27 dead. (disputed)
• The two surviving name-lists disagree: Welsh Coal Mines gives Stephen Jones and Joseph Williams where the London Times of 18 May 1852 gives Stephen Phillips and Thomas Morris, and the two differ on several of the ages. (disputed)
• The inquest recorded an inundation of unknown cause. Contemporary press denied that the water came from the canal and attributed it to an old working being holed. (uncertain)

Harraton Colliery explosion, 1808

• DMM records '4+ lives lost'; NMRS's account names the overman Thomas Defty and three others as killed, with fourteen more burnt, some of whom may not have survived -- the eventual toll was likely higher than four but is not precisely established. (uncertain)

Harraton Nova Scotia Pit Chokedamp Deaths, 1817

• Eight lives were lost. Six bodies were recovered dead on the following day and two men were still alive, with little hope of recovery; all eight were recorded as buried on 5 July. (uncertain)
• Chokedamp, understood to have entered the Nova Scotia workings from the Row Pit after the explosion of two days earlier. (uncertain)
• Another party of men went down to look for them but were obliged to return without effecting their object, unable to proceed on account of the great quantity of chokedamp. (uncertain)

Harraton Row Pit Explosion, 1817

• Richardson's contemporary account says the accident was caused entirely by the perverse obstinacy of a hewer named John Moody, who in defiance of the overman's orders refused to use Davy's lamp and lit a candle, which was twice put out by the workmen he was relieving, and which he re-lit by unscrewing the lamp. A later account has Moody ordered to extinguish the candle and doing so, being found with a candle again and reprimanded, then extinguishing it and lighting his lamp — with the overman having just left him when the explosion occurred. (disputed)
• Thirty-eight men and boys were killed; the Wikipedia account gives them as 38 of the 41 men underground. (uncertain)
• Among the dead were ten belonging to one family, of the name of Hills — the grandfather, his two sons and seven grandsons. (uncertain)
• Corves, trams and several utensils used at the bottom of the shaft, 82 fathoms deep, were blown into the air, together with the bodies of two of the workmen — one with the head off, the other cut in two. (uncertain)
• All the dead except one from Fatfield belonged to New Painsher and were buried there on Wednesday 2 July. (uncertain)

Haswell Colliery boiler explosion, 1865

• Three lives were lost. (disputed)
• Four men died: Thomas Armstrong, fireman, William Davison, engineman, George Tate, boiler minder, and T. Whittingham, a fifteen-year-old hooker-on. (disputed)

Haydock Colliery explosion, 1850

• NMRS gives No. 13 Pit, 8 November 1850; the Liverpool Mercury of 12 November gives No. 18 Pit and an explosion 'on Thursday'. (disputed)

Haydock explosion, 1831

• The archive's colliery record places the 1831 and 1832 explosions at Edge Green; other accounts say only 'a coal pit' at Haydock. (uncertain)

Haydock explosion, 1832

• NMRS dates it September 1832, with burials on 25 September; Wikipedia puts it in May 1832, the year after the 1831 explosion. (disputed)

Hayeswood Colliery inrush, 1845

• The first report gave fourteen in that part of the mine, four escaping and ten lost. (disputed)

Heaton Main Colliery inrush, 1815

• Galloway gives seventy-five victims; Mathias Dunn, who examined the mine after the disaster, wrote in 1848 of about ninety. (disputed)
• Thirty-nine bodies were interred in trenches at Wallsend church on 29 February 1816; the HER gives the remains of 59 laid to rest at St Peter's, Wallsend. (disputed)

Hebburn Colliery Explosion, 1805

• Between 32 and 35 men and boys were killed, leaving 5 widows and 81 orphaned children. (disputed)
• Durham Mining Museum's own colliery page independently lists this explosion, giving 35 lives lost but dating it to 6 October 1805 rather than the 21 October 1805 given by NMRS's dedicated disaster page — both figures are kept rather than one being silently preferred. (disputed)

Hebburn Colliery Explosion, 1836

• Fairs, Lamb (7) and Short (30) are named as killed by explosion on 19 July 1836; the museum's disaster index gives 5 lives lost. (disputed)

Henwain Colliery explosion, 1882

• Five men were killed: James Hoskins, 65, fireman; James Jones, 48; John James, 42; Thomas Miles, 25; William Bennett, 20. (disputed)
• Six died, including Edmund Harris, 66, labourer; the fireman is spelled Hawkins. (disputed)
• Ages differ: James Jones 48 (press) or 42 (NMRS, WCM); John James 42 (press), 48 (WCM) or 49 (NMRS); Thomas Miles 25 or 26; William Bennett 20 or 18. (disputed)

Henwaun Colliery explosion, 1882

• The NMRS account names six dead, adding Edmund Harris, 66, labourer. (disputed)

Henwaun Colliery locomotive accident, 1872

• The dead were Ann Parker, 30, and her daughter Elizabeth. (disputed)
• The dead were Ann and Elizabeth Barclay, aged about 35 and 13. (disputed)

Hetton Downs Pit Explosion, 1836

• Twenty were killed and another so dreadfully scorched as to afford but faint hopes of his recovery. (uncertain)
• Upwards of a hundred persons were employed in the pit at the time, but because the accident was confined to the Downs pit the number of victims was less than might have been expected. (uncertain)
• From the evidence at the coroner's inquest it appeared that the explosion was caused by the negligence or inattention of a boy who had charge of a trap door, whose duty was to keep it shut as much as possible so that the part of the pit where the men were working might be purified by a current of air. (uncertain)
• Several witnesses experienced in the management of mines, including George Hunter of Painsher, viewer to the Marquess of Londonderry, left no doubt that the general ventilation of the pit was excellent. (uncertain)
• The whole of the evidence tended to show that had the men been working with the Davy lamp instead of candles no explosion would have occurred; but it was stated that the men, even where danger existed, had an antipathy to the lamp because candles gave a better light. (uncertain)

Heworth Colliery shaft accident, 1834

• The four were ascending the shaft when the corf slipped off the hook. (disputed)
• The four were travelling down the shaft when the corf became unhooked. (disputed)

Heys Colliery explosion, 1857

• An open lamp found at the top of the brow, contrary to the rules, may have been the source of ignition. (uncertain)

Holbrook Colliery explosion, 1913

• The NMRS database dates the accident to 27 March 1913. (disputed)

Home Farm Colliery inundation, 1877

• The Falkirk Herald reported an eight-acre subsidence forty feet deep; The Times reported about a hundred feet over about a mile and 400,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel. (disputed)

Hook Colliery boat disaster, 1850

• The timber was loaded at Pwlldu, about four miles away. (disputed)

Houghton Colliery explosion, 1850

• The Durham Mining Museum records the cause as an explosion of firedamp and coal dust ignited by a safety lamp, while the inquest jury found that the men had died through negligence in the exposure of a naked light, by either John Watchman or Thomas Hunter, the overman. (disputed)

Houghton Main Colliery explosion, 1930

• NMRS names seven dead: Albert Holden, James Lackey, Jacob Newberry, Norman Nicholson, John Pearson, William Richards and Charles Watson. A local-history account of the same explosion instead gives five dead and a date a week later. (disputed)

Ince Hall Arley Pit explosion, 1853

• The 1854 inspector's report gives 58 killed in the explosion of 24 March 1853; the Southport Visiter gives upwards of 50 on 23 March. (disputed)
• The NMRS account and the inspector's report give 24 March; the Illustrated London News says Wednesday and the Southport Visiter 23 March. (disputed)

Ince Hall Deep Pit explosion, 1851

• Props were being drawn from old workings, and a roof fall there was thought to have released gas onto the men's candles. (uncertain)

Ingham Colliery explosion, 1947

• The roll of the dead names eleven men, with the shotfirer Jesse Clarke surviving. (disputed)
• The narrative of the report as reproduced gives twelve killed and one injured. (disputed)

Isabella Pit explosion, Workington, 1833

• The explosion took place on 21 September 1833. (disputed)
• The explosion took place on 20 September 1833. (disputed)
• Fifteen were killed, out of thirty-eight in the pit; twenty-five were rescued, two of them, John Deacon and John Hayes, badly injured. (disputed)
• The Brennan boys' mother carried out the bodies of two of her sons, and their father survived with severe injuries. (uncertain)

Isabella Pit inundation, Workington, 1833

• The museum dates the inundation 20 November 1833. (disputed)
• The Cumberland Pacquet and Whitehaven Herald reported the four deaths on 12 November 1833. (disputed)

Jamage Colliery explosion, 1876

• The fireman is John Sharples in the Coal Mining History Resource Centre account and William Sharples in the newspaper account on Healey Hero. (disputed)
• One of the dead is Patrick Cogan or Cadam in the Coal Mining History Resource Centre account and Patrick Oadam, 37, in the newspaper account and the Durham Mining Museum list. (disputed)

Jamage Pit explosion

• Accounts differ on what warning there was. One has the manager discovering a trace of gob stink on the Friday, although no fire was seen. Amos Daniels, the manager, told the inquest that he examined the whole of the goaf and found no heating and no gob stink, and that he and the overman concluded any heating was due to pressure. (disputed)

Jarrow Colliery explosion, 1826

• Forty-two were killed. (disputed)
• A sample of gas collected from the Bensham seam ten years later came from the blower that caused the accident. (uncertain)

Jarrow Colliery explosion, 1828

• Six men were killed in the explosion and two badly burnt, one of whom later died. (disputed)

Jarrow Colliery explosion, 1830

• The workings where the gas fired were lit by naked lights. (disputed)
• The gas was ignited by some negligence in the use of the Davy lamp, the mine having been well ventilated just before. (disputed)

Jarrow Colliery explosion, 1845

• The subscription for the sufferers raised nearly £1,700. (disputed)
• The subscription for the sufferers raised about £7,000. (disputed)

Kells Pit explosion, 1819

• A survey of the Whitehaven pits gives the 1819 explosion at Kells five dead. (disputed)

Kenmuirhill Colliery shaft accident, 1896

• John Martin, sinker, was aged 45. (disputed)
• John Martin was about twenty-five years of age. (disputed)

Kepier Grange Colliery boiler explosion, 1864

• The newspapers name the fireman Robson and give the boys as Granger, five, and Miller, fifteen. (disputed)

Keppel Cove dam burst, 1927

• The Patterdale Parish Council account dates the dam burst to the night of 28–29 October 1927; the Patterdale PAST account instead gives 4 November 1927. (disputed)
• Compensation claims against the mining company were later put at over £4,500 by one account and over £25,000 by another. (disputed)

Kersley Colliery explosion, 1879

• The colliery was the property of Samuel Sowcroft and Sons and sometimes known as 'Sowcrofts'. (disputed)

Killingworth Colliery explosion, 1809

• The dead were buried at Longbenton on 15 and 16 September 1809. (disputed)
• The Longbenton parish records give the burials as 15 and 16 August 1809. (disputed)

Kingswood Colliery boiler explosion, 1851

• A Kingswood Town Council history of the coalfield lists 'Starveall Engine Pit (later Speedwell Pit)' among the pits of the Kingswood collieries. (uncertain)

Kirkford Colliery roof fall, 1925

• So far as was known, the accident was due to the fall of a girder, the beams it supported becoming loose and the roof caving in. (uncertain)

Kirkless Hall Colliery explosion, 1847

• The first newspaper report gave two dead and eight or ten very seriously injured. (disputed)

Kiveton Park Colliery explosion, 1941

• The ignition of gas was believed to be due to the fracture of a deputy's flame lamp. (uncertain)

Lady Windsor Colliery roof fall, 1918

• The accident happened on 10 March 1918. (uncertain)
• The accident happened on the morning of Saturday 9 March 1918. (uncertain)

Ladysmith Pit shaft collapse, 1901

• Bernard Gibbon was 39 in the museum's list and 30 in Winstanley's. (disputed)

Laffack Colliery explosion, 1849

• A broadside ballad of the time says seven lost their lives. (disputed)

Lakes Pit explosion, Dukinfield, 1866

• The explosion was on 14 June 1866. (disputed)
• The explosion was on 4 June 1867. (disputed)

Lambton Colliery explosion, 1766

• NMRS adds that it was thought caused by the 'firedamp', meaning the ventilating furnace, after a steam engine had been erected. (uncertain)

Lea Green Colliery explosion, 1888

• NMRS records five injured in the explosion and the Sutton history three, including William Lunt's father Thomas and brother John. (disputed)

Lea Green Colliery shaft sinking explosion, 1893

• The Mines Inspectors' report gives Evan Jones's age as 23 and the local history as 37. (disputed)

Leadhills (Minehill) suffocation, 1817

• One local account records that after the disaster “work never went on with spirit” at the Minehill workings. (uncertain)
• The pumping engine involved was a Watt-type engine originally reassembled at Minehill in 1788 by Robert Muir for the Leadhills Mining Company, a job judged poor enough that William Symington was later engaged to correct it. (uncertain)

Leasingthorne Colliery explosion, 1853

• The colliery was worked by the Black Boy Coal Company. (uncertain)

Leeswood Main (Flue Pit) Inundation, 1864

• The colliery list and the Pontblyddyn burial register differ on four of the eight — John Smith at 22 or 23, John Jones at 19 or 23, Thomas Ellis at 15 or 16, and Lewis Lloyd at 47 or 48. (disputed)

Lewis Merthyr (Coedcae) Colliery explosions, 1882

• NMRS's separate Coedcae page dates the same incident 13 February and attributes the first explosion to a blower at naked lights; the inquest report it quotes says 17 February. (disputed)

Leycett Colliery explosion, 1871

• NMRS names nine dead: John Johnson, Samuel Mason, George Longmore, George Powers, Thomas Roberts, George Allman, Andrew Jones, Andrew Wilkinson and John Hailwood. (disputed)
• Wynne's report as quoted describes it as 'the explosion in which eight men lost their lives', and the contemporary press account gives four killed outright with fifteen injured. (disputed)
• NMRS dates the explosion 3 January 1871; the contemporary newspaper report transcribed by John Lumsdon dates it Thursday 12 January 1871. (disputed)

Leycett Colliery explosion, 1879

• The explosion claimed the lives of eight men. (disputed)
• Four men and a lad were killed and three men were seriously injured. (disputed)

Lindsay Colliery explosion, 1957

• The memorial at Kelty gives the colliery's dates as 1873 to 1965, where the inquiry report and the NMRS account both say it had been in production since 1875. (disputed)

Little Raith Colliery rope failure, 1897

• The rope broke about 75 fathoms from the bottom by one account, and 20 fathoms from the cage by another. (disputed)

Llanbradach Colliery Explosion, 1901

• The inquest evidence records all forty-one horses in the stables found dead, the heaviest trace of firing nearest the stable door. Welsh Coal Mines gives forty-three. (uncertain)
• A tradition recorded locally holds that a robin had nested in the underground pump room some weeks before the explosion, a wild bird underground being taken in the South Wales coalfield as a warning of disaster. Recorded as tradition, not as fact. (uncertain)

Llanerch Colliery Explosion, 1869

• Seven men were killed: William Cook, bottom cutter; Alfred Davies, collier, 30; John Jones, collier, 53; David Rees, collier, 30; Evan Rees, collier's helper, 15; Hananiah Williams, collier, 31; and Thomas Williams, bottom cutter, 27. (uncertain)
• The explosion took place at the Middle sinking pit, in the No. 1 deep heading of the Meadow Vein seam. (uncertain)
• The Monmouthshire Merlin describes Evan Rees as a lad of about fourteen working with John Jones; Welsh Coal Mines gives his age as fifteen. (uncertain)

Llanhilleth Colliery fall of coal, 1907

• Welsh Coal Mines says a 'bumper' shook the place where they were working, filling a dram, and brought down the coal. (disputed)
• The Inspector's report, as given by the Durham Mining Museum, says the coal in the Black Vein, about 7½ feet thick, was worked on the face slip and overhung about a yard; the lump that fell, seven feet across and loose at both ends, was held by only one sprag, which was totally insufficient. (disputed)
• William is William George Morgan, 25, in Welsh Coal Mines and William Morgan, 28, in the Durham Mining Museum; Walter is 20 in both. (disputed)

Llantrisant Colliery explosion, 1941

• The colliery closed in 1942 following an underground explosion. (disputed)

Lletty Shenkin Colliery Explosion, 1849

• The Durham Mining Museum dates the explosion 11 August 1849 — the day the inquest opened — and the Welsh Coal Mines colliery page gives 14 August. (disputed)

Lletty Shenkin Colliery explosion, 1853

• The explosion was on Thursday 15 September 1853. (disputed)
• The explosion was on 15 November 1853. (disputed)

Lletty Shenkin Colliery explosion, 1862

• Welsh Coal Mines describes Griffiths, Morgan and Thomas as colliers; the Durham Mining Museum gives Griffith as a haulier and Morgan and Thomas as labourers. (disputed)

Lluest Colliery Explosion, 1899

• Nineteen men and boys were killed. (uncertain)
• One of the victims, William Thomas of Tydu, was overcome by afterdamp after leaving another part of the mine to attempt a rescue of the stricken men. (uncertain)

Lofthouse Colliery disaster, 1973

• The Mines (Precautions Against Inrushes) Regulations that followed are dated 1979. (disputed)
• The same regulations are dated 1978 elsewhere. (disputed)

Lower Duffryn Colliery explosion, 1858

• The NMRS disaster account dates the explosion 24 February 1858; the colliery accounts give 25 February, at two in the morning. (disputed)
• A fall of roof liberated gas which exploded at the naked or defective lamp of men having their dinner. (disputed)
• The blast occurred while the furnace, allowed to burn low for cleaning, was regaining its heat; the jury recommended a second furnace. (disputed)

Lower Duffryn Colliery explosion, 1860

• The Glasgow Herald of 10 November 1860 reported the death of at least nine persons and a large number injured. (uncertain)

Lower Duffryn Colliery explosion, 1867

• A third man, Henry Watkin, 19, also died of his injuries. (disputed)

Lower Duffryn Colliery fall of coal, 1862

• One list dates the deaths to 16 December, another to 20 December 1862. (disputed)

Ludworth Colliery cage accident, 1852

• One list of mining victims dates the accident 23 April 1852. (disputed)

Lumley Colliery explosion, 1799

• It was reported that the bodies of the victims were never found. (uncertain)

Lumley George Pit explosion, 1819

• The death toll was eleven men and boys. (disputed)

Lumley Park Colliery explosion, 1727

• Defoe's account may refer instead to the Flatfield Colliery explosion of 1708. (uncertain)

Lundhill Colliery explosion, 1854

• The NMRS names James Batty, 32, banksman; William Davis, 50; Matthew Thompson, 50; Thomas Jackson, 48; and Noah Ely, 52. (disputed)
• The Durham Mining Museum names six: James Batty, 23, banksman; William Davey, 50; Noah Heeley, 52; Thomas Jackson; William Mosely, 24; and Matthew Pollard, 50. (disputed)

Lyme Pit explosion, 1930

• The Lancashire list gives five dead in the underground explosion of 26 February 1930. (disputed)

Maerdy Colliery explosion, 1885

• NMRS's dedicated accident page gives 76 deaths; Wikipedia separately gives 81. Both figures are recorded rather than reconciled. (disputed)

Marine Colliery explosion, 1927

• Reported predominantly as 52 men killed (NMRS disaster page, welshcoalmines.co.uk); an NMRS overview page separately gives 51 — kept as an unresolved minor discrepancy rather than silently rounded. (uncertain)

Markham Colliery roof fall, 1920

• The fall happened on 12 May 1920. (disputed)
• The fall happened on 13 May 1920. (disputed)

Markham Colliery shaft explosion, 1912

• The explosion happened at about 1.40 p.m. (uncertain)
• The explosion happened at 1.50 p.m. (uncertain)

McLaren Colliery Explosion, 1902

• Seventeen men were killed in the explosion of 3 September 1902. (uncertain)
• The death roll records addresses in the new village of Abertysswg — McLaren Cottages and Arthur Street — and in Tredegar and Cwmsifiog down the valley. (uncertain)
• The youngest of the dead was William J. Jones of 30 East Street, Tredegar, aged seventeen. (uncertain)

McLaren Colliery roof fall, 1900

• Evans is given as 15 by Welsh Coal Mines and 18 by the Western Mail. (disputed)

Medomsley Colliery cage accident, 1923

• A search snippet from the Coal Mining History Resource Centre gives nine deaths; not read. (uncertain)

Meiros Colliery explosion, 1891

• Parsons was 30, Davies 40 and Lewis 15. (disputed)
• Parsons was 25, Davies 41 and Lewis 14. (disputed)

Meiros Colliery explosion, 1896

• Eight others were seriously burnt. (disputed)
• Nine others were seriously burnt. (disputed)

Merthyr Vale Colliery roof fall, 1902

• The accident happened on 7 January 1902. (uncertain)
• The accident happened on 8 January 1902. (uncertain)

Merthyr Vale Colliery runaway journey, 1900

• The two sources date the accident 29 March (NMRS) and 24 March 1900 (Welsh Coal Mines). (disputed)

Merthyr Vale Colliery runaway journey, 1903

• NMRS dates the incident 31 January 1903 and Welsh Coal Mines 24 January 1903. (disputed)

Middle Duffryn Colliery explosion, 1850

• On 12 December 1850 a roof fall released gas which was fired at a naked candle; eight died at once, including a man on the surface killed when the blast smashed the staging he stood on, and five more died later of their injuries. (disputed)
• The contemporary report reproduced in the Cynon Valley compilation lists eight dead, four killed on the day and four who died of burns by the 19th, and eight named survivors badly burned; the same eight names head the Welsh Coal Mines death roll. (disputed)

Middle Duffryn Colliery Explosion, 1852

• The Welsh Coal Mines colliery page dates the explosion 15 May 1852, against its own death roll and the contemporary newspapers. (disputed)
• Welsh Coal Mines describes the nine as killed when a wooden platform they had gathered on in the pumping shaft collapsed to the pit bottom; the Monmouthshire Merlin's account has the bottom ladder of the descending shaft broken away, with three or four dead found at its foot. (disputed)

Milfraen Colliery cage accident, 1902

• On 4 March 1902 a cage in which men were ascending the 250-yard shaft touched some ironwork and tipped five of them out to their deaths, among them a father and son, David and Edward Stollard, who had begun work at the colliery that same morning. (disputed)
• The Durham Mining Museum, from the 1902 Inspector's report, names the five as Elias James Griffiths, 13, and Elias T. Griffiths, 48; David Phillips, 37; and Edward Stallard, 53, and William A. Stallard, 15. (disputed)

Milfraen Colliery explosion, 1929

• The Durham Mining Museum dates Ernest Southcott's death to 29 July 1929; the eyewitness account on Welsh Coal Mines says he died eight days after the explosion. (disputed)

Minto Colliery firedamp explosion, 1920

• The Fatal Accidents Inquiry gives William Galloway's death as 30 May 1920, while the Scotsman of 1 June and the Dunfermline Journal give it as Monday 31 May. (disputed)

Montagu View Pit disaster, 1925

• Accounts of the recovery differ: the Tyne and Wear HER says the first body took seven weeks and all of them five months; Cultured North East says about half had been recovered by the funeral of 24 May 1925, with eight more funerals and the last five months later; the Chronicle says the last body was not recovered until January 1926. (disputed)
• Cultured North East says three of the dead were awarded places on the Carnegie Roll of Honour for heroism: the overman Sam Evans, who could have escaped but went back to warn others, and the deputies William Johnson and William Thompson. NMRS's list of the dead includes a William Thompson but no William Johnson. (disputed)

Montgomeryfield Colliery cage accident, 1898

• A telegraphed report said the rope suddenly broke and the cage fell about thirty fathoms. (disputed)

Moorsley Colliery explosion, 1833

• The explosion took place on 22 November 1833. (disputed)
• The explosion of fire-damp took place on 23 November 1833 at the Low Moorsley pit, near Houghton-le-Spring. (disputed)

Moreton Colliery explosion, 1870

• The explosion happened on 18 October 1870. (disputed)

Morfa Colliery explosion, 1858

• Welsh Coal Mines dates the explosion 26 November 1858. (disputed)
• The Durham Mining Museum dates the four deaths 25 November 1858. (disputed)
• The Welsh Coal Mines colliery page names the fourth man John Williams; its death roll and the Durham Mining Museum name him William Williams, 24, single. (disputed)

Morfa Colliery explosion, 1863

• The NMRS account gives thirty-eight dead of the forty-three in the heading. (disputed)
• Welsh Coal Mines names forty dead in its death roll. (disputed)
• A page on the 1890 disaster says 30 were killed in 1863. (disputed)
• The NMRS account has the manager William Grey knocked down, leading a search party and giving evidence afterwards; the Welsh Coal Mines roll lists William Grey, 46, the manager, as having died later. (disputed)

Morfa Colliery explosion, 1870

• The manager, Mr Gray, believed the store of blasting powder near the shaft bottom had exploded. (disputed)
• The inquest jury, fifteen to two, found an explosion of firedamp in the west stables, with no one to blame. (disputed)
• Inspector Wales concluded that gas dammed in a 40-acre goaf since the previous August forced its way through the stowing and down a staple to a naked light or the gas light at the shaft bottom. (disputed)

Morfa Colliery explosion, 1890

• The official reports and the General Register Office index record 87 dead, including the explorer Daniel Brownsell. (disputed)
• Welsh Coal Mines' account gives 89 dead including one of the rescuers. (disputed)

Mosley Common Colliery winding accident, 1869

• The accident happened on 26 September 1869. (disputed)
• The accident happened on 25 September 1869. (disputed)

Mossfield Colliery explosion, 1889

• NMRS, the Lumsdon account and the Healey Hero roll all date the explosion to the early hours of 16 October 1889; the Commons question of February 1890 refers to it as having happened 'on the 17th of October last'. (disputed)
• The inspector, Mr Atkinson, set out four possible sources of ignition — the gob fire, an open lamp, a match, and a pick striking pyrites in the coal — and did not choose between them. (uncertain)

Mostyn Colliery explosion, 1840

• The explosion took place in July 1840. (disputed)
• The Durham Mining Museum's disaster page dates the explosion 4 August 1840, and lists a Monmouthshire Merlin report of 8 August 1840 headed 'Loss of Eight Lives at Mostyn Colliery'. (disputed)

Mostyn Colliery explosions, 1806

• The first of the two 1806 explosions killed thirty-six men and the second about thirty. (disputed)

Mostyn Colliery Fire, 1807

• Wikipedia's account of the colliery describes the April 1807 disaster as a fire; the Durham Mining Museum's disaster record gives the cause as an explosion. (disputed)

Mostyn Colliery Inundation, 1884

• Accounts differ on the day: Heritage Hunter gives the evening of 22 July 1884, while another account gives 19 July. The Flintshire Observer reported the event on 24 July 1884. (disputed)

Motherwell Colliery stables explosion, 1866

• The local paper reported that the fireman had examined the workings with a naked lamp and found no firedamp; the inspector's record says the stables being cleaned had not been examined. (disputed)

Mount Osborne Colliery explosion, 1841

• Four miners and eleven hurriers were killed, with Edward Walton, riding up the shaft in a corve, and the foreman Mitchell, suffocated in the rescue: seventeen in all. (disputed)

Muirkirk Colliery fall of coal, 1855

• Death certificates and newspaper reports date the accident to 31 May 1855. (disputed)

Murton Colliery Polka Pit explosion, 1848

• An explosion in the Polka Pit of Murton Colliery at about 12.30 p.m. on 15 August 1848 killed fifteen men and boys, sixteen by another count. (disputed)

Mynydd Newydd Colliery explosion, 1845

• Welsh Coal Mines dates it May 1846 and Amgueddfa Cymru 1844, both with five dead. (disputed)
• After the explosion the workmen held prayer meetings underground and built a chapel; the first meeting was on 18 August 1845. (disputed)
• A boy named Davies was conjectured to have gone for a shovel into a heading pointed out as unsafe, with an uncovered light. (uncertain)

Nantmelyn Colliery roof fall, 1893

• A third collier, John Jones, is also listed as killed by the fall. (uncertain)

Nantymwyn dynamite explosion, 1892

• A local-history account describes the dynamite box slipping and exploding while being lowered down the shaft, with the men dying of shock-induced heart failure. (disputed)
• A contemporary newspaper account instead describes the box being opened at the 24-fathom level, with only part of its contents detonating and the rest burning to release toxic fumes, which is given as the actual cause of death. (disputed)

National Colliery explosion, 1887

• Welsh Coal Mines attributes the explosion to shotfiring igniting a pocket of firedamp; the jury could not find the cause or where it started. (disputed)

Naval (Pen-y-Craig) Colliery explosion, 1880

• The explosion killed 101 men and boys per most sources; one contemporary inspector's report gives 110, a genuine period discrepancy. (disputed)

Naval Colliery Ely Pit cage accident, 1909

• Four were killed in the initial impact and three more died of their injuries. (disputed)

Naval Colliery roof fall, 1903

• The accident happened on 13 October 1903. (uncertain)
• The accident happened on 20 October 1903. (uncertain)

Naval Colliery shaft accident, 1893

• Three were killed: William Rogers, a shoer, and Bertie Horton and Henry Avery, strikers. (disputed)
• Four were killed, the night overman John Way among them. (disputed)

New Cottam Colliery shaft accident, 1853

• Eight people were being lowered when the link snapped. (disputed)

New Tredegar Colliery Explosion, 1875

• At the inquest it was suggested that William Evans, a father of twelve children who had watched his family suffer through a recent long strike, was desperate not to lose any more time from work because of his financial difficulties. He was himself among the dead, so the matter could not be put to him. (uncertain)

Newbottle Colliery boiler explosion, 1815

• The Durham Mining Museum and the HER date the boiler burst 7 August 1815; the NMRS account dates it 31 July 1815. (disputed)
• William Sharp, William Nesbitt and John Holmes were killed and five others were reported to have died of their injuries. (disputed)
• The boiler was being used for the first time; the engineer is believed to have overcharged it with steam. (uncertain)

Newbottle Colliery boiler explosion, 1832

• An explosion at Newbottle, Fencehouses, on 15 June 1832 was reported to the Select Committee on Accidents in Coal Mines (1852-3) as having cost seventy lives. (disputed)
• Twelve lives were lost in the boiler explosion at Newbottle on 15 June 1832. (uncertain)

Newbottle Colliery Elizabeth Pit gas disaster, 1821

• The Durham Mining Museum and the HER record it as an explosion, 6 killed, on 19 October 1821. (disputed)

Newbottle Colliery Margaret Pit inrush, 1885

• The Northern Mine Research Society names twelve dead; the Durham Mining Museum records fourteen. (disputed)

Newbottle Colliery Success Pit explosion, 1815

• It was supposed to have been caused by breaking into old workings. (uncertain)

Newbury Colliery explosion, 1869

• The explosion claimed seven lives. (disputed)

Newton Colliery electrical accident, 1938

• The dead were named as Miles McCue and D. Jones in The Times, and as Miles M'Hugh, fireman, and Richard James, machineman, in another report. (disputed)

Newton Colliery shaft collapse, 1884

• Riddell's death is dated 11 August 1884 in one record and 12 August in another. (disputed)

North Biddick Colliery explosion, 1743

• The explosion was at five in the morning on 28 January 1743. (disputed)
• The explosion was on 18 January 1743. (disputed)

North Biddick Colliery explosion, 1773

• Galloway gives the toll as twenty. (disputed)
• Sykes says the blast threw material 200 yards into the air; the NMRS account gives 200 feet. (disputed)

North Gawber Colliery explosion, 1935

• NMRS's list names Amos Dransfield among the dead, though its own account has him giving evidence; the Durham Mining Museum lists George Betton Whewall instead. (disputed)

Norton Hill Colliery explosion, 1908

• The owners attributed the explosion to gas; the inspector concluded it was coal dust. (disputed)

Oakwood Colliery explosion, 1872

• Welsh Coal Mines dates the explosion just before midnight on Wednesday 10 January 1872; NMRS dates it 11 January. (disputed)

Old Castle Colliery inrush, 1862

• The shaft was 90 fathoms deep (NMRS) or some 95 fathoms (WCM). (disputed)
• NMRS names the owners Simms, Williams, Neville and Company; WCM Willyams, Nevill and Co. (disputed)

Old Coal Pit Explosion, Coalbrookdale (1856)

• The Durham Mining Museum's own transcription of the original 1856 report states 10 men were killed, one fewer than NMRS's list of 11 named victims, and gives the operating partnership as 'Cruttwell and Levick' rather than 'Couttwell and Lewis' -- most likely the same names garbled differently by transcription in each source, since DMM's individual record for George Morgan (28, roadman) matches NMRS's named victim exactly. (disputed)

Orbiston Colliery fire, 1893

• The Glasgow Herald placed the fire in No. 1 pit, belonging to the Summerlee and Mossend Iron and Steel Company. (disputed)
• The Press Association reports placed it in No. 2 pit, belonging to Messrs Addie. (disputed)

Oxclose Colliery explosion, 1805

• The explosion took place on 29 November 1805. (disputed)
• The explosion is entered under 28 November 1805. (disputed)

Pantyffynnon Colliery explosion, 1908

• The colliery page describes William Roberts as a collier of Hopkinstown; the 1908 fatality list gives him as 52, a collier of Ammanford. (disputed)

Park Slip Colliery roof fall, 1899

• The son is named Thomas in one list and Israel in another. (disputed)

Parys Mountain boiler explosion, 1870

• One page of the Parys Underground Group's own site gives one confirmed death with 8–10 injured (three critically); a separate page on the same site instead states the explosion killed seven men. (disputed)

Peckfield Colliery explosion, 1896

• The churchyard memorial is described as commemorating 65 men and boys who died at Peckfield Colliery on 30 April 1896. (disputed)

Pelsall Hall Colliery inundation, 1872

• Charles Starkey told the inquest he helped rescue nine men, including two of his sons, from water already seven to eight feet deep in the shaft. (disputed)

Pelton Colliery tubs accident, 1866

• NMRS spells Rodger Grey, DMM Roger Gray. (disputed)

Pemberton Colliery explosion, 1877

• A Liverpool paper put the dead at 37. (disputed)

Penallta Colliery crane accident, 1908

• The plank had only been put across the gantry that day. (disputed)
• The plank had been kept up at the crane for some months and had carried two men a few days before. (disputed)

Pendleton Colliery explosion, 1870

• The NMRS account dates the explosion to 6 February 1870. (disputed)
• The Durham Mining Museum dates the explosion to 4 February 1870, with Joseph Ashton dying of his injuries on 11 February. (disputed)

Pendleton Colliery Floor Heave, 1925

• Six men died: Samuel Corbett, Stephen Morris, Edward Ditchfield, Frank Bramwell, Robert Hanrahan and Radcliffe Holden. A separate 2024 news source states eight deaths for the same incident. (disputed)

Pentre Colliery Explosion, 1871

• Thirty-eight men and boys were killed. The source notes that some accounts claimed 41, but that 38 appears to be correct, and lists 38 names. (uncertain)
• The force of the blast caused extensive damage to the headgear, allowing only one side of the pit to operate. (uncertain)
• A rescue party of five men descended the shaft, but as soon as the cage reached the pit bottom they were overcome by the effects of afterdamp. Two of them succumbed and are numbered among the dead. (uncertain)

Penydarren Colliery explosion, 1879

• The explosion was at the Dowlais Company's No. 1 Penydarren Pit. (disputed)
• The explosion was in the No. 1 Vochriw pit of the Dowlais Iron Company. (disputed)
• The explosion was at No. 2 Penydarren Colliery; the inquiry found an error of judgment by the night overman. (disputed)

Penydarren Colliery sinking accident, 1870

• The accident happened at Cwmbargoed Colliery, near Fochriw. (disputed)
• T. Jenkins and C. Williams, sinkers, died at Penydarren Colliery on 29 May 1870 when the 'grab ran wild'. (disputed)

Point of Ayr Colliery shaft-sinking accident, 1952

• The six men killed were Patrick Joseph McPartland (28, leading miner, of Dyserth), Samuel Dempster (37, miner's labourer, of Prestatyn), James Nicholson Copson (43, labourer, of Prestatyn), Percy Perry (33, labourer, of Gwelfor), Goronwy Jones (30, labourer, of Holywell) and Edward James Hill (31, of Deptford, London), who was working at the surface. Two of the names appear differently on Welsh Coal Mines' colliery page, which gives them as James Nicholas Thompson and Percy Maisey. (disputed)

Ponthenry Colliery outburst, 1924

• An older list in NMRS's source (Samuel Pascoe, Isaac James, Timothy Jones, William David, Peter Williams) has been corrected by a researcher. (disputed)
• Newspapers called George Buck single; he had married Emily Green in August 1913. (disputed)

Preston Colliery shaft accident, 1859

• The engine builders' foreman is named Thomas Wilson in the newspaper and Robert Wilson by the Durham Mining Museum. (disputed)

Preston Island Colliery explosion, 1811

• Local tradition held that the explosion killed all the men at work. (uncertain)

Prestongrange Colliery explosion, 1887

• Some Welsh papers reported the explosion as happening on the Tuesday, 30 August. (disputed)

Prestongrange Colliery roof fall, 1914

• The fall was on a Saturday in October 1914, reported to the Lothian Miners' Federation and in the Dundee Courier of 26 October. (disputed)
• The fall was on 23 December 1914. (disputed)

Pretoria Pit Disaster

• The NMRS account, following the inspectors’ recovery figures, gives approximately 345 deaths once a man killed in the Arley mine and one who died fighting a surface fire are included. (disputed)
• Wikipedia’s account places the explosion in the Plodder mine and attributes it to an accumulation of gas released by a roof collapse the previous day. (disputed)

Pwllfaron Colliery runaway tram, 1901

• The two killed are listed at Aberpergwm Colliery, worked with Pwllfaron by the same owner. (disputed)

Quarrelton Colliery bucket accident, 1805

• The accident is dated 5 January 1805, the first recorded at Quarrelton in which miners lost their lives. (disputed)

Quarter Colliery shaft accident, 1906

• The accident happened in No. 8 pit, Quarter Colliery, sunk about twenty years before to win the Simpsonland coalfield. (disputed)
• The accident happened in Simpsonland No. 2 pit. (disputed)
• A mass of stones and dirt came away from the shaft side above the men as they went up the shaft to examine it, broke the rope and dropped the cage to the bottom. (disputed)
• As they were descending after repairing a defect, the barring gave way 12 fathoms above them and some 50 tons of debris fell on the cage. (disputed)

Queen Pit Explosion, 1868

• Of around 26 men working in the affected area, only two escaped unhurt; sources give the confirmed death toll as either 26 or 23-24, with a small number of survivors later dying of their injuries. (disputed)

Raglan Colliery roof fall, 1903

• The older man was John Britten. (disputed)
• The older man was George Britten. (disputed)

Rainford Colliery shaft fire, 1869

• The fire is dated 16 January 1869. (disputed)

Rainton Plain Pit explosion, 1823

• Fifty-seven died, according to the York Courant; Sykes gives fifty-nine. (disputed)
• An overman was supposed to have gone through a door into an explosive mixture and either dropped his heated lamp on hay or blown the flame through the gauze. (uncertain)

Rawmarsh Colliery explosion, 1874

• The colliery engineer George Johnson Kell thought the explosion was the result of an outburst of gas in the No. 1 bank, lit by the naked candles of the men working nearby. (disputed)
• The mining engineer John Fretwell Thompson believed the cause was a fall of roof in the goaf which drove out the gas. (disputed)

Renishaw Park Colliery explosion, 1871

• The inspector's report speaks of twenty-six lives but lists twenty-seven names. (disputed)
• The explosion killed twenty-five men and two boys, with twelve others injured. (disputed)

Rhigos Colliery Explosion

• The two accounts disagree on the age of Dan Jones junior: the colliery page gives 38, the 1941 fatality list gives 16 and records him as the son of Dan Jones senior, aged 65. (disputed)

Rhos Amman Colliery explosion, 1924

• There were 10 lb of gunpowder in the cabin, thought to have been thawed on the fire in the open grate. (disputed)
• Gelignite in the shed, apparently being thawed at an open fire. (disputed)
• Ages differ: George Hughes 42 (colliery page) or 54 (1924 list); James T. Davies 33 or 32; Thomas Jones 45 or 44; Glyn Thomas 29 or 30. (disputed)

Rhymney Merthyr Colliery roof fall, 1907

• The accident happened on 14 February 1907. (uncertain)
• The accident happened on 21 February 1907. (uncertain)

Risca New Pit Explosion, 1880

• A change to three shifts and to extraction methods had worried the miners, who believed the face was moving forward too fast and that gas was not being dispersed sufficiently. (uncertain)
• Deputies used the Davy lamp for their inspections, but the colliers preferred the older Clanny because it gave a better light. Davy himself had doubted the Clanny's safety because its gauze was unprotected against strong air currents; his view was later borne out and the lamp was banned from mines. (uncertain)

River Level Colliery inrush, 1896

• NMRS gives Thomas Jenkins's age as 14; Welsh Coal Mines gives 18. All other names and ages agree between the two accounts. (disputed)

Rosehall Colliery roof fall, 1940

• The Durham Mining Museum records Rosehall Colliery as closed in September 1940, a month before the fall. (uncertain)

Rothwell Haigh Colliery accident, 1797

• The disaster is recorded as an explosion. (uncertain)

Sacriston Colliery inrush, 1903

• The Durham Mining Museum's record gives John Whittaker's age as 30; the Wikipedia account of the disaster gives it as 25. (disputed)
• McCormick family tradition, from Harry McCormick, is that Thomas McCormick's son Gregory had to be restrained from rushing into the flood. (uncertain)

Scott's Pit explosion, 1788

• Welsh Coal Mines attributes the explosion to Scott's Pit; the Durham Mining Museum records it under the colliery name Llansamlet, without naming a pit. (disputed)
• Coflein dates the sinking of the surviving Scott's Pit to 1817-19, so whether the pit that exploded in 1788 was the one later known by that name is unresolved. Welsh Coal Mines dates the beginning of Scott's workings to the 1770s, with a break for water before the Cornish engine was installed. (uncertain)

Seaham Colliery Explosion

• The NMRS account, itemising the dead by occupation, gives 161 killed of 231 underground. (disputed)
• Several accounts, including the local commemoration, give the toll as 164 men and boys; Wikipedia says "upwards of 160", including surface workers and rescuers. (disputed)
• The inquest heard three competing explanations — gunpowder shots fired by the Venner brothers, paraffin lamps at the main coal staple bottom, and an origin at the staple bottom itself — and did not decide between them. (uncertain)

Seaham Colliery explosion, 1860

• The Times names the older man John Golightly. (disputed)

Seaham Colliery Explosion, 1871

• Durham Mining Museum's own record gives the date as 25 October 1871 (with a matching 11:30pm timestamp on individual victims' entries) and attributes ignition to a naked light, while NMRS's account gives 21 October and attributes ignition to a blasting shot fired by stoneman Thomas Hutchinson; the underlying outburst-of-gas event and 26-death toll are consistent across both. (disputed)

Seaton Burn Colliery roof fall, 1882

• Christopher Appleby is recorded as 45 by one list and 48 by another. (disputed)

Seghill Colliery explosion, 1864

• NMRS files the explosion under 1854 but its account dates it 9 September 1864 and cites the 1864 Inspector's report and the Colliery Guardian of 10 September 1864. (disputed)

Seven Sisters Colliery Explosion, 1907

• The explosion was caused by a defective safety lamp. (uncertain)
• The Wikipedia account describes the incident as a blow-out, the sudden outburst of gas to which anthracite coalfields are prone. (uncertain)

Shankhouse Colliery inrush, 1867

• Reports of the inundation and inquest appeared in November 1867. (disputed)
• The NMRS dates the inrush to November 1866. (disputed)

Six Bells Colliery explosion, 1960

• A National Union of Mineworkers inspector, A. Davies, argued that a shot fired in the ripping ignited the gas; the inquiry rejected this because the direction of flame did not support it. (disputed)
• The inquiry report gives 1,213 men employed below ground and 239 on the surface, and about 1,800 tons of saleable coal a day; Wikipedia gives 1,291 men and 338,000 tonnes for 1960. (disputed)

Snaefell Mine disaster

• The Northern Mine Research Society gives a death toll of 23; other secondary accounts give 19-20. (disputed)

Sneyd Colliery Explosion

• Fifty-five were killed outright and two died in hospital, a total of 57; the Durham Mining Museum's colliery page records 55. (disputed)
• The inquiry under Sir Henry Walker found that derailed tubs damaged an electric cable and the sparks ignited coal dust; the Durham Mining Museum records friction between the ascending rope and a descending tub, and later writers have blamed a snapped steel rope or the empties striking the compressed-air pipe. (disputed)

Snydale Colliery goaf ignition

• In a separate incident on 1 June 1870, blacksmith Ambrose Webster, 35, died of an explosion of gas in a borehole in stone drift (DMM); Featherstone's Collieries instead describes him taking a flame lamp underground instead of a safety lamp and igniting firedamp -- the two accounts are not reconciled. (disputed)
• A second man, William Leuty, 28, also a collier, died alongside Poole in the same incident; both had taken naked candles into the goaf and ignited gas there, dying some days later of their burns. Leuty does not appear on DMM's own (self-described incomplete) fatality list for the colliery, so this detail rests on Featherstone's Collieries alone. (uncertain)

South Hetton Colliery explosion, 1843

• The Durham Mining Museum dates the deaths to 29 April 1843; the newspaper report places the explosion on a Friday. (disputed)
• The explosion was put down to a trapper leaving a door open, so that gas gathered and was fired by the hewers' candles. (uncertain)

Springwell Colliery Explosion, 1833

• Forty-seven were deprived of life instantly, besides many who received severe fractures and contusions. Only nine or ten of the dead were adults; the remainder were boys. (uncertain)
• By seven o'clock on the night of the following day only eight bodies had been recovered; thirty-nine remained in the mine. (uncertain)
• The mine had been examined by the under viewer and overmen that morning and declared quite safe. About eight a.m. an overman saw that a collier had pricked a blower and ordered him out of that part of the mine; returning two hours later with the under viewer he saw no danger, but as a precaution ordered safety lamps to be used instead of the candles the mine had been worked with, owing to the extreme purity of the air. (uncertain)
• A garbled account printed and hawked about Newcastle charged an unfortunate stranger, said to be a Welshman, with having caused the explosion by taking the top off his safety lamp. The coroner had Thomas Turner of Staffordshire examined for his exculpation; Turner said he had used a Davy lamp, had never taken the top off one in his life, and that the report was unfounded. (uncertain)
• The jury returned a verdict of accidental death. (uncertain)
• The accident occurred in the Hetton seam, at a depth of 120 fathoms. (uncertain)

Springwell Colliery Explosion, 1837

• Of twenty-nine men and boys at work in that part of the Hutton seam, twenty-seven perished — fifteen men and twelve boys. Three horses were also killed. (uncertain)
• The depth of the pit to the Hutton seam was 128 fathoms, the seam dipping east at a decline of one foot in sixteen. (uncertain)
• Every available means had been adopted to improve the ventilation after the earlier accident, the most expensive being a communication driven from the Springwell pit to another shaft on the Black Fell, the former the downcast and the latter the upcast. The pitmen did not consider the pit at all fiery. (uncertain)
• The workings ran both the whole coal and the broken. The broken — where the supporting pillars are removed and the roof held temporarily on props — was always reckoned the most dangerous, and safety lamps were used exclusively there, the men being supplied with locked lamps as they went down. When working the unbroken seam the custom was to blast it with gunpowder, and for that the men used candles. (uncertain)
• The safety lamp of Edward Price was found near traces of fire in the broken workings, positioned as though it had fallen across the rolley way and been accidentally run over. Its gauze and glass were broken and much bulged in, and Price's body lay not far off. The lamp was identified by its number, and the witnesses' opinion was that its breaking caused the fire. (uncertain)
• The jury, after a few minutes' consultation, returned a verdict of accidental death. (uncertain)

St David's Colliery explosion, 1840

• Welsh Coal Mines dates the explosion 27 June 1840, and the Glamorgan, Monmouth and Brecon Gazette of Saturday 11 July 1840 reports it as 'on Saturday week'. (disputed)
• The Durham Mining Museum lists the explosion under July 1840 and gives 6 July 1840 as the date of death of five of the dead, David Samuel dying on 15 July. (disputed)

St Helen's Colliery explosion, 1922

• The Durham Mining Museum's disaster table records the ignition as caused by shot firing, while its entries for the dead describe an explosion of firedamp propagated by coal dust and caused by the opening of a flame safety lamp. (disputed)

Stargate Colliery explosion, 1826

• The explosion is thought to have followed a roof fall blocking an airway, letting firedamp reach naked candles. (uncertain)

Stoneclough Colliery shot accident, 1863

• The colliery is given as Knowles and Stott's. (uncertain)
• The colliery is given as Andrew Knowles and Sons'. (uncertain)

Stormont Main Colliery explosion, 1831

• A boy was also killed. (uncertain)

Stormont Main Colliery explosion, 1843

• The explosion claimed twenty-eight lives, sixteen men and twelve boys. (disputed)

Swaithe Main Colliery explosion, 1875

• The inspector's report lists the cause as firedamp ignited by shotfiring. (uncertain)

Swanwick Colliery gob-fire suffocation, 1902

• Severn and Hatherley are listed as suffocated by methane at Swanwick Deep on 23 January 1902. (disputed)

Swanwick Colliery inundation, 1863

• A list of Swanwick Colliery's accidents gives Samuel Calladine's age as 24. (disputed)

Thomas Chapel Colliery inrush, 1838

• Welsh Coal Mines records Brace's appearance on a manslaughter charge with the outcome unknown. (uncertain)

Thornley Colliery explosion, 1865

• The colliery's owner at the time is given as the Thornley Coal Company. (disputed)
• The colliery passed to the London Steam Colliery and Coal Company in 1865. (disputed)

Tillicoultry Colliery roof fall, 1862

• The fall is dated 7 March 1862 in the inspector's list, while the local newspaper report places it on a Tuesday afternoon early that month. (disputed)

Tinsley Park Colliery fire, 1869

• The owner is given as B. Huntsman. (uncertain)

Tinsley Park Colliery roof fall, 1880

• The owner is given as B. Huntsman. (uncertain)

Tirpentwys Colliery shaft accident, 1902

• The NMRS account says five men were killed but lists eight; its colliery page says eight. (disputed)

Tower Colliery explosion, 1962

• The Hirwaun Historical Society gives the date as 13 April 1962. (disputed)

Trimdon Grange Colliery Explosion, 1882

• Lower figures are also in circulation: a contemporary description of the colliery reproduced by the Durham Mining Museum gives 71 killed, and 69 appears in other accounts. No source explains how the smaller totals were arrived at; the disaster killed men on both sides of the underground connection with East Hetton, which may account for some of the variation. (disputed)

Tylecoch Colliery shaft accident, 1857

• The accident happened on 5 February 1857. (uncertain)
• The accident happened on Friday 6 February 1857, between five and six in the evening. (uncertain)

Tylorstown No.8 Pit roof fall, 1913

• A massive fall of around 500 tons of stone. (disputed)
• A roof fall buried five men under 150 tons of stone. (disputed)

Tynewydd Colliery inundation, 1877

• Welsh Coal Mines names the two drowned in the first inrush as John Hughes, 50, and his son William, 18; the police list put to the inquest names John Hughes, found on 30 April, and William Jones, found on 1 May. (disputed)

Ubberley Colliery explosion, 1851

• The museum and the Newcastle Guardian of 23 August place it on Monday 18 August 1851; the Healey Hero transcription is headed 25 August. (disputed)

Udston Colliery explosion, 1887

• A watch on the body of the fireman Alexander Torley had stopped at 9.07 a.m., and Wikipedia gives the explosion as about 9.07. (disputed)
• The NMRS account gives the time as about 9.15 a.m. (disputed)
• H.M. Inspector Ralph Moore concluded it was a coal dust explosion started when a shot fired surreptitiously ignited a little gas, probably in the Rise section at Dennison's place. (disputed)
• The inquiry by J. Dickinson and C. C. Maconochie found it most likely began in the stooping of the West or Blantyre section, or at Harkness's shot in the east, from firedamp ignited at an open light, a match or through a Scotch lamp gauze, reinforced by gas and dust. (disputed)

Underwood Colliery fire

• George Ball, a stallman, and John Smith, a hanger-on, both of Cordon Lane, Brinsley. The Nottingham and Counties Daily Express of 21 April 1874 gives their ages as 37 and 22; the Durham Mining Museum gives 38 and 24. One family account on Healey Hero dates John Smith's death to 12 September 1874, which the newspapers and the museum both contradict. (disputed)

Upton Colliery Explosion, 1940

• The Derby Evening Telegraph of 5 June 1940 names six dead and eight burned. Hansard, reporting to the Commons the same day while the toll was still rising, gave two killed and one since died. A later secondary account states ten died; that figure appears to be a misreading of the Telegraph report and is not followed here. (uncertain)
• It was believed that a stopping which had sealed off an area where a fire occurred some months earlier had blown out. (uncertain)

Victoria Colliery 'Deep Drop' explosion, 1879

• Early reports gave twenty lives lost: nineteen of the twenty in the west board and a boy in No. 1 Drift. (disputed)

Victoria Colliery explosion, Ebbw Vale, 1871

• The inquest put it down to a blower of gas released by atmospheric conditions. (disputed)

Victoria Colliery shaft accident, Ebbw Vale, 1848

• The rope on the counterbalancing cage at the pit bottom became detached, and the loaded cage fell. (disputed)
• The Principality of 23 June 1848 reported that the chain snapped. (disputed)

Victoria Pit explosion, Nitshill, 1851

• The Nitshill memorial gives the date as 25 March 1851. (disputed)

Walker Colliery explosion, 1765

• Sykes's account places the eight deaths on the day after the first explosion, which the Durham Mining Museum dates 2 April 1765. (uncertain)

Walker Colliery explosion, 1887

• Ages differ between sources: NMRS gives Anthony Hogg 26, John Hylton 37 and William Richardson 35; DMM gives 25, 27 and 36. (disputed)

Wallsend Colliery 'Dark Wall' explosion, 1786

• NMRS dates the explosion 3 November 1786; the Durham Mining Museum lists the same six names under 9 April 1786. (disputed)

Wallsend Colliery C Pit explosion, 1803

• NMRS dates the explosion 25 September 1803 and notes another list giving 3 September; the Durham Mining Museum gives 20 September. (disputed)

Wallsend Colliery explosion, 1838

• NMRS has the alarm raised at about 6.30; the Durham Mining Museum gives the time as 9 p.m. (disputed)

Warren Vale Colliery explosion, 1851

• The Durham Mining Museum records 52 lives lost in the explosion of 20 December 1851; Wikipedia's account gives 51 killed in total, twenty-four of them aged sixteen or under, in some cases fathers and sons working together. (disputed)

Washington Colliery explosion, 1736

• The Washington History Society's list dates the five deaths 14 June 1776. (disputed)

Washington Colliery explosion, 1851

• The explosion claimed twenty-eight lives. (disputed)
• The jury found the gas was ignited at a naked light and that safety lamps should have been used instead of candles. (disputed)
• The explosion was believed to have followed a man removing the top from his Davy lamp. (disputed)

Washington Colliery I Pit explosion, 1828

• Fifteen lives were lost. (disputed)

Waunhir Slant runaway

• The two accounts name the same six men but differ on their details. Welsh Coal Mines gives Benjamin Davies, 32; Albert Henry Liley, 19; John Rees, 18; David Lodwig, 24; David Davies, 23; and Arthur Llewellyn Price, a collier's boy of 16. The Northern Mine Research Society gives Benjamin Davies, 30, of Waenyglyn; Albert Lilley, 18, of Kidwelly; John Rees, 16, of Capel; David Lodwick, 28, of Waenyglyn; David Davies of Pwll; and David Price of Trimsharan. (disputed)

Wearmouth Colliery shaft accident, 1837

• The three boys are recorded as having fallen down the shaft. (disputed)

Wearmouth Colliery shaft accident, 1862

• James Hall was 44 and Robert Dryden 35. (disputed)
• James Hall was 34 and Robert Dryden 38. (disputed)

Weigfach Colliery Explosion, 1877

• The Welsh Coal Mines colliery page says eighteen were killed and names eighteen; the same site's list of Welsh mining disasters gives 19. (disputed)
• Those named include Abraham Bevan, the overman, forty-eight, who left a wife and five children; the colliers Isaac Williams and David Williams, both with wives and young families; the trammers John Davies, sixteen, and William Williams, twenty; and Thomas Thomas, a widower of forty-six with two children. (uncertain)

Wellington Pit explosion, 1910

• The death toll is given elsewhere as 147, of whom 35 men and boys in the No. 5 and No. 6 Districts died without direct injury from the explosion. (disputed)

Wellington Pit explosion, Shakerley, 1895

• NMRS spells the manager both Kaye and Kay; DMM Kay; DMM spells the dataller Pollit. (disputed)

Werfa Colliery explosion, 1856

• The NMRS lists John Williams and Morgan Williams, colliers, killed by an explosion of gas on 17 March 1856, and says the explosion was due to naked lights. (disputed)
• Welsh Coal Mines' 1856 list gives John Williams, 10, and his father Morgan Williams killed by an explosion of gas on 2 April, two killed; the same list also has a John Williams, collier, killed by an explosion of gas at Werfa on the 17th of the preceding month. (disputed)

Werfa Colliery explosion, 1886

• Welsh Coal Mines' 1886 list dates the explosion Friday 26 March 1886, about 2.30 p.m., and the Pall Mall Gazette of Saturday 27 March reported it as having just occurred. (disputed)
• The Welsh Coal Mines colliery page dates the explosion 23 March 1886. (disputed)
• Four died: David Jones, 38, fireman; William Marshall, 45, labourer; John Green, 46, airway man; and William Edwards, 39, haulier, who died of injuries on 3 April. (disputed)
• The Pall Mall Gazette, quoted by the NMRS, reported three killed 600 yards from the shaft bottom, David Jones, foreman, William Marshall and John Green, with George Green severely burned. (disputed)
• The Pall Mall Gazette says the explosion was in the Seven Feet vein of the new pit and blew away the covering of the upcast shaft; Welsh Coal Mines' list places it in the downcast shaft (Seven Feet vein). (disputed)

Werfa Colliery roof fall, 1876

• NMRS gives their ages as 17 and 18 and both as hauliers; Welsh Coal Mines gives 15 and 16. (disputed)

Werfa Colliery shaft accident, 1851

• Welsh Coal Mines gives fourteen killed and names fourteen, though its colliery page also says eleven miners including three boys and puts three in the ascending cage while its 1851 list says two; NMRS says sixteen. (disputed)

Wernbwll Colliery explosion, 1929

• The owners' expert witnesses, mining engineers J. Dyer Lewis and John Kane, maintained the explosion was caused solely by coal dust ignited at an acetylene lamp flame in the No.1 tophole, with no firedamp involved; the Miners' Agent, D.L. Davies, thought coal dust the main agent but could not rule out firedamp; H.M. Inspectors of Mines Lea, Waldin and Finney, and the reporting Inspector, F.H. Wynne, concluded firedamp accumulated in the level was the primary ignition source, subsequently extended by coal dust. (disputed)

Wernffraith Colliery explosion, 1758

• An explosion of firedamp at Wernffraith Colliery on Wednesday 24 May 1758 killed seventeen, buried at Cadoxton the following Saturday. (disputed)
• The explosion killed ten. (disputed)

West Cannock No. 5 Colliery Explosion (1933)

• A House of Commons statement (17 May 1933) gave three dead and three seriously injured; other records of the same disaster give six dead. (disputed)
• The inquest's own final list names five dead (Gwilt, Cornwall, Turncock, John Henry Williams, Higgins), superseding the Commons' next-day preliminary count of three; the same source's own inquest-verdict paragraph separately implies a sixth victim (a second Williams brother, Joseph) not in its own headline list -- an internal inconsistency in the source. (disputed)

West Moor Colliery explosion, 1844

• The Durham Mining Museum lists six killed in the 1844 explosion at 9 a.m. on 18 January. (disputed)

West Moor Colliery explosion, 1845

• The gas was believed to have been ignited by a boy with a naked light who was sent down before the men, who carried Davy lamps. (uncertain)

West Moor Colliery explosion, 1851

• Explosions killed 9 on 31 October 1851. (disputed)
• Nine named as killed in the 1851 explosion, including George Ellison. (disputed)

West Stanley Colliery explosion, 1909

• The dead numbered 167 by the per-seam count — 18 in the Tilley, 63 in the Towneley, 38 in the Busty and 48 in the Brockwell. (disputed)
• The death toll is given as 168 elsewhere, with 29 survivors. (disputed)

Westernmoor Colliery inundation, 1878

• Welsh Coal Mines gives the date as 15 April 1878. (disputed)

Westleigh Colliery cage accident, 1896

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

Wharncliffe Carlton Colliery explosion, 1883

• The colliery list gives the ignition as from a safety lamp. (uncertain)

Wheatley Hill Colliery inrush, 1871

• NMRS dates the inrush 22 January 1871 and names seven dead. (disputed)
• DMM dates the deaths 19 January 1871 ('influx of water, caused by unexpectedly holing into workings known to contain water') and names five. (disputed)

Whinney Hill Colliery explosion, Cleator Moor, 1848

• The Durham Mining Museum's roll gives thirty-one lives lost. (disputed)

Whitley Colliery shaft accident, 1835

• The accident happened at three o'clock in the morning of 1 May 1835, as they were descending the pit. (disputed)
• The accident is entered under 4 May 1835. (disputed)

Whitworth Colliery (Tredegar) suffocation, 1914

• The three men died on 21 December 1914. (disputed)

William Pit Explosion, 1839

• NMRS names 22 individuals and states the toll as nine men and twelve boys (21); CATMHS's separate colliery history gives 23. Both figures are preserved rather than one being silently chosen. (disputed)

Willington Colliery Bensham seam explosion, 1831

• The explosion killed three men and eight horses outright; fourteen men were burnt, four of whom later died. (disputed)

Wingate Grange Colliery explosion, 1906

• Evidence at the inquest pointed to the explosion having been caused by the shot-firer Maddison firing a shot to clear stone, which one witness called a mad thing to do where the fall was; the coroner raised the question whether naked lights should be allowed at all in the pits of east Durham. (uncertain)

Winstanley Colliery explosion, 1860

• The explosion happened on 3 August 1860. (disputed)
• The explosion happened on 2 August 1860. (disputed)

Woodhorn Colliery explosion

• The Ashington Coal Company afterwards pressed the bereaved families to leave their company houses, threatening to withhold compensation. (uncertain)

Workington Colliery Inundation, 1837

• The Durham Mining Museum records 27 lives lost. Galloway notes the toll was 'variously stated at from twenty-seven to forty human beings, and an almost equal number of horses'. (disputed)

Yniscedwyn Colliery runaway, 1892

• The Northern Mine Research Society names six men killed in the 1892 runaway and three injured; the Durham Mining Museum's disaster listing gives seven lives lost. (disputed)
• The Durham Mining Museum lists seven dead, including Thomas Jeffreys, 18, whose name also appears in its list for a fall of roof on 5 November 1892. (disputed)
• The ages given differ: Thomas Sims 70 (NMRS, DMM) or 60 (Welsh Coal Mines), William Jones 30 or 40, Thomas Phillips 42 or 40. (disputed)

Ynysfeio Colliery gas explosion, 1875

• The Durham Mining Museum lists both men as labourers with no ages; Welsh Coal Mines lists them as colliers, Thomas aged 45 and Lodwig 37. (disputed)

Ynyshir Colliery roof fall, 1897

• One list dates the deaths to 4 August 1897. (disputed)

Ynyshir House Colliery explosion, 1857

• The colliery's owner in 1857 is recorded as the Rev. D. W. Williams. (uncertain)

Ystrad Colliery Explosion, Glanamman, 1978

• One forum account dates the explosion to 1 May 1973; a former worker in the same thread put it at about 1978. (disputed)
• It was said locally at the time that the explosion was caused by men smoking in the return airway, though Dai Fish did not smoke. (uncertain)