North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers reports that mining has always been a dangerous occupation, with 85,000 deaths between 1873 and 1953 and as many as 1800 in a single year. Thus much was done to learn from accidents and to develop safer processes and methods of working.
This guide considers the information sources in the Mining Institute Library and on some websites that can aid researchers, whether concerned with a particular accident or disaster or with safety developments in general. Some resources deal with all types of mine; some just with coal mines.
Other libraries and archives will have further material, including journals on economic, social and technological history with useful articles. There is no list of all accidents, but there are various lists of accidents - none complete; some are limited to coal mining or particular regions.
Disasters – Durham Mining Museum website http://www.dmm.org.uk/names/index_17.htm
Browse a list of disasters - mainly in Cumberland, Westmorland, Northumberland, Durham, North Yorkshire - by decade.
Coal-mining accidents and deaths – Coal-mining History Resource Centre: http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/site/disasters/index.html
Browsable Lists of Disasters
Accidents and disasters – Scottish Mining website http://www.scottishmining.co.uk/5.html
Welsh mining disasters – Welsh Coal Mines website http://welshcoalmines.co.uk/Photo.htm
Description and Names
The book by Boyd noted in the next section has a list of accidents before 1850.
Galloway, R.L. Annals of coal mining and the coal trade has brief details of explosions. v1 for c1800-1834 spread throughout the book; v2 for 1836-50 in chapters by region. Some general accounts of accidents/disasters and their prevention Some are recent histories – others are more contemporary accounts .
Abel, F.A. Mining accidents and their prevention. 1889.
Not in the Institute Library. Available online at Open Library: http://tinyurl.com/Abel 1889
Bagot, A . Accidents in mines: their causes and prevention. 1878.
Boyd, R.N. Coal pits and pitmen: a short history of the coal trade and legislation affecting it. 1895.
Bryan, A.M. The evolution of health and safety in mines. 1975. (Coal mines only)
Duckham, H and Duckham, B Great pit disasters. 1973. (Barnsley, Blantyre, Hartley, Senghenydd)
Dunn, M. How to prevent accidents in collieries. 1862.
Higson, J. Explosions in coal mines. 1860.
Hoyle, G. The coal mine explosion hazard – the past and the future Proceedings – National Association of Colliery Managers 63 1966, 49-74
Jevons, H.S. The British coal trade. 1920.
Oughton, F. Pitfall. 1958.
Richardson, J. On the prevention of accidents in mines. 1848.
Not in the Institute Library. Available online at Google Books: http://tinyurl.com/Richardson 1848
Stuart, D.M.D. Origin and rationale of colliery explosions. 1895.
Thompson, R. Thunder underground: Northumberland mine disasters 1815-1865. 2004.
Specific disasters
For some major disasters there is more extensive published material, for example:
Forster, E. The death pit : the untold story of mass death in a mine. 1969. (West Stanley 1909)
Forster, T. E. Memoir of the Hartley colliery accident and relief fund. 1912.
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
