Mells Colliery

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Cary, John, 13 Apr 1868, (accident: 03 Apr 1868), aged 18, Hitcher, Hurt by cage commencing to descend instead of going up, whereby he was caught as he was well in. This happened, no doubt, in consequence of the onsetter at the extreme bottom having misunderstood the signals. The injured man died on the 13th [More information ...]

Coombs, T., 15 May 1867, aged 15, Putter, His work was to tip the hudges at the bottom of an incline and it is supposed that after eating his victuals he went asleep right across the crease and most likely when the sled came down the shoe of it went over his neck

Dowling, Frederick, 16 Jul 1920, aged 19, Killed by a fall of stone

Dowling, Joseph, 16 Jul 1920, aged 33, Killed by a fall of stone

Flower, Thomas, 31 Jan 1871, aged 33, Sinker, The pit was in process of deepening by sinking 50 yards beneath the bottom, and Flower was the last of three men to come up, which he did after firing a shot, and the "jack roll" brought him up those 50 yards, when he suddenly fell backwards and was killed. He should have had his leg in the loop, and he would have been safe

Hamblin, John, 12 May 1866, aged 20, Collier, Killed by the fall of about a cwt. of the stuff that lies immediately on the top of the coal

Hamblin, John, 25 Jan 1869, aged 26, Collier, Fall of piece of roof from between "slips"

James, John, 17 Jun 1866, (accident: 15 Jun 1866), aged 45, Miner, Blasting in a hard heading the reed ignited but the shot did not go off. He went back to look and it fired. He was dreadfully injured. Died 17th

Moore, Harry, 29 Sep 1911, aged 38, Chargeman, Deceased, who was a man weighing 16 stones, was descending the shaft in a kibble, when presumably, the bottom of the kibble struck a bunton causing the kibble to oscillate and to strike other buntons, finally throwing deceased into the shaft. The fact of the man being so heavy and unbalanced in the kibble probably accounted for its swaying in the first instance and so catching the bunton

Mormon, A. Charles, 04 Jul 1911, aged 56, Chargeman sinker, Deceased was descending the shaft standing on the edge of a kibble which was loaded with air tubes. The banksman objected to his going down in such manner, but deceased, being chargeman, overruled the objection. From subsequent inspection it would appear that the kibble had struck the buntons, and that deceased had been thrown off and precipitated to the bottom of the shaft, where he was picked up dead

Perkins, William, 16 May 1874, (accident: 17 Mar 1874), aged 30, Collier, Explosion of charge while ramming. Died 16th May

Silk, Arthur George, 08 Oct 1913, aged 24, Shunter, During shunting operations he attempted to pass between an uncoupled wagon which was moving towards several other wagons at rest, and others, which were coupled to and being pushed by a locomotive. The first-named wagon ran into the stationary wagons and rebounded, and he was caught between it and the wagons following on. His desire to cross the road was no doubt due to the fact that the brake lever was on the side opposite to that on which he was standing ; there was, however, no need for him to have raised the brake at all, as he could have coupled the moving wagons to the stationary wagons as had previously been his practice in like circumstances

Steeds, Albert William, 21 Oct 1912, aged 24, Bailiff and Examiner, He was making an examination of the working faces in the Firestone seam during the foreshift, and when at the end of one face and about to go up the windroad into another, a heavy fall of roof occurred and pinned him to the floor. There were men working within 10 yards and they hastened to extricate him, but before they were able to do so, he was suffocated

Talbott, John, 16 Mar 1865, aged 50, Sinker, Unexpected explosion of a shot in the sinking pit. These premature and otherwise unexpected discharges of gunpowder are far more frequent than they ought to be

Warr, Arthur James, 14 Jun 1913, aged 22, Screen and truckman, Deceased was employed on the screens and in addition attended to the filling of the trucks — about 20 per day. Six full trucks had been taken out of the siding where they had been filled, and 24 empty trucks were being pushed up into this siding by a locomotive. When the six full trucks were taken out of the siding, deceased went down air iron ladder, leading from the screens on to the siding below, to clean up the small coal that had fallen on to the road whilst the trucks were being filled. He was assisted in this work by a boy. The screen foreman preceded the 24 empty trucks, which were being moved at a walking pace, and when they were some 37 yards from deceased he shouted to him and the boy to get out of the way. The boy climbed the ladder on to the screens — some 10 feet — and deceased followed him up the ladder, carrying his shovel on his left shoulder. Near the top of the ladder it was necessary to step a foot to the right on to a girder and then get over a fence, composed of a 1-inch diameter pipe, some 2 feet 4 inches above the girder. This was quite simple in the ordinary course, but being hampered by the shovel on his left shoulder, when deceased put out his right handed to take hold of the fence he lost his balance and fell in between the rails below. He tried to get clear but was caught and knocked down by the oncoming trucks, and run over and killed

Young, Henry, 07 Jun 1871, (accident: 02 Jun 1871), aged 15, Labourer, Fell on a pick on the 2nd of June, and recieved such injuries that he died on the 7th. He had been to the smiths to get his tools sharpened, and on returning to work he slipped on the rails, and the point of the pick entered his neck