Stafford Colliery

Current Status - Page under construction! and is far, far from complete!

Adams, John Patrick, 25 Mar 1930, (accident: 07 Mar 1930), aged 17, Engine driver, Struck by runaway waggons. Died 25th Mar

Autonius, Wasyl, 14 Mar 1960, Chargehand, Broken neck

Bailey, Eric, 21 May 1932, aged 24, Cleaner out, Injuries to spine

Bailey, Gordon Reginald, 25 Apr 1958, aged 42, Ripper, Killed by a fall of dirt [date of inquest]

Barker, J., 28 Feb 1900, aged 36, Ripper, Fall of roof

Bogdanovis, Valdenars, 06 Jan 1956, aged 34, Face worker, Killed by a fall of dirt

Brennan, Michael, 06 Oct 1913, (accident: 04 Oct 1913), aged 45, Collier, He was about to draw a prop from a partially built pack and was proceeding to fasten his sylvester chain to the prop when a quantity of coal and dirt fell from the roof and injured him so severely that he died from his injuries in the infirmary two days later. A slip was revealed in the roof after the fall occurred. A temporary prop would have prevented the accident. Risks of a similar character are taken too frequently

Cinders, Samuel, 17 Apr 1909, aged 47, Timberer, Fall of Roof. Deceased and another were shifting back some props to widen a haulage road made many years previously, and which, it was stated, had not required repairs during the last sixteen years. A foreset was driven up under one of the bars, the foot of the original prop driven back, and the foreset taken out, and the two men were filling a tub with dirt, when the roof suddenly came down without warning, reeling out the timber. A stone weighing about 10 cwts. fell upon deceased killing him instantly. He was an expert timberer, and the fireman was looking on when the accident took place. It is probable, that the widening of the road had exposed a break formed since the road was originally driven, that the alteration of the timber had disturbed the broken roof, and thus the driving up and withdrawing the foreset and shifting back the foot of the original prop he unkeyed stand let it down

Cotton, Samuel, 05 Nov 1924, 8.45 a.m., 2nd hour of shift, aged 39, Contract Collier, Deceased, who was in charge of the working place, was instructed to build a chock under some low roof at the face, which had "weighted" overnight. Either while he was examining the roof or was in some other way engaged in connection with the work, the roof fell and killed him. The fall revealed a hidden slip. No one witnessed the accident

Critchlow, Philip, 29 Feb 1912, aged 61, Timber drawer, Deceased was found under a fall in a waste in the Ash seam. He had drawn two posts near the front of the waste, and it was a fall from the roof which these two posts had supported that killed him. It was conjectured that he had rashly ventured under this roof to get to a post further down the waste

Czerwinski, Franciszk, 19 Oct 1955, Face worker, Killed by a fall of dirt

Davies, Enoch, 14 May 1912, aged 58, Collier, The accident happened in the Ash seam. A piece of coal 6 feet by 6 feet by 1 foot fell from an unseen slip at the face and displaced a prop which struck deceased on the chest. Death was due to shock from concussion of the chest from the blow, and heart failure

Eaton, Arthur, 20 May 1914, aged 16, Haulage boy, Deceased was found lying unconscious between the empty and full roads of an endless rope haulage. Apparently he had been in the act of coupling two full tubs together, when they closed and crushed his head, which was severely injured. He died very shortly afterwards. It was no part of his duty to couple the tubs, and 10 minutes previously he had been warned that he must not attempt to do so

Fox, Ernest, 05 Sep 1912, (accident: 03 Sep 1912), aged 51, Roadman, The haulage contractor and an assistant were taking three timber waggons, coupled together, down the main dip in the Ash seam. The wheels of the middle waggon were "lockered." After travelling about 100 yards the middle waggon left the rails, and the leading one became uncoupled and ran amain down the dip. It struck the deceased and injured him so severely that he died on the 5th September. The contractor had been instructed by the under-manager to take the three waggons down by means of the haulage rope. He was prosecuted by the owners, convicted, and fined for disobedience of orders

Glover, John Thomas, 16 Dec 1914, aged 44, Timberer, Deceased was engaged enlarging a jig road in the Great Row seam. He and his mate had tried to pull a heavy stone from the roof, but failed. Having set a post under it, they used a crowbar in a break to lever down the next stone behind it, when the whole collapsed, reeling out the newly set post, and the large stone struck deceased against the side of the pack wall, killing him instantly

Hall, Edward, 01 Dec 1908, aged 30, Packer, Deceased and another were building a pack at a longwall fall in the Ash Coal. A small downthrow fault extended along the face, nearly parallel to and about 3 ft. from it, and the band above the coal, which has a keen glassy parting on top, had parted away from the fault and was apparently resting upon the props, the break being visible all along the face. The men stopped for supper and, for no obvious reason, deceased seated himself upon a tub underneath the broken roof but apparently protected by props. A fall of roof took place and fastened him by the legs, and as his mate approached to relieve him a further fall took place killing him instantly. The place was well propped but the props were reeled out by the falling roof. Deceased would have been perfectly safe had he seated himself beside his mate

Hall, Ernest, 17 Jun 1910, aged 32, Marl getter, He was struck by a skip of an aerial ropeway and pinned against the face of the quarry. His left collar bone and several ribs were broken, in addition to his skull being fractured

Hancock, Arthur, 15 Jun 1910, aged 15, Waggoner, No one witnessed this accident so that the precise details are unknown. It was surmised that Hancock was walking alongside loads in motion, and was attempting to detach a coupling from between them, when they collided with loads at rest and his head was crushed. The practice of coupling and uncoupling either loads or empties while in motion is a fruitful source of accident, and managers and others would do well to take strong measures to supress it

Hancock, James, 15 Mar 1910, aged 58, Timberer, Deceased was engaged in taking down about 18 ins. of top coal in a level in the Great Row and timbering up to the clod with 10 ft. bars lagged on the headside and cut into the coal on the deep side. He was covering over three bars recently set at the bottom of a crosscut 4 yards wide, the bars being 6 ft. apart, when a fall of roof clod occurred, reeling out two of the bars, and burying him. It appeared to have been probable that there was a break in the roof on the headside along the bottom of the crosscut and that the clod was disturbed by the operations of ripping and setting the timber beneath

Holbrook, Alfred, 18 Mar 1909, aged 36, Assistant Timberer, Fall of Roof. Deceased was killed by a fall of "clod" in a jig in the Great Row Seam while assisting a timberer to do repairs. A low bar had to be removed. To carry out the operation a middle set was first fixed beneath the bar and two runners were then removed and roof got down half way across the jig. A runner supported on a punch prop set off the low bar was then fastened up to the new roof. Deceased and his mate were clearing dirt away when a large piece of "clod," 9 ft. long, 2 ft. wide, and 1 ft. thick fell, reeling out the bar, the runner, the middle set and the leg at one end of the bar. The bar caught deceased in the back causing instant death

Holmes, George, 10 Sep 1947, aged 51, Ripper, Killed by a fall of roof

Hubbard, Frederick John, 20 Sep 1909, (accident: 18 Sep 1909), aged 18, Wagoner, Deceased, who was a taker-off at the bottom of a jig 60 yds. long having an inclination of 1 in 5½, was pushing forward an empty tub to attach it to the chain when, on turning the curve, a full tub ran into him causing injuries from which he died two days later. The jig was provided with proper signalling apparatus and a code of signals was hung at both top and bottom, in accordance with which code the jigger ought to have signalled "two" to the taker-off and the latter returned "two" before the jigging commenced. The practice actually followed, however, unknown to the management, appeared to have been that when the taker-off was ready first he signalled to the top, and in that case the jigger gave no signal before jigging. The jigger admitted that before jigging the tub he had given no signal down, but said he had received the up signal. The deceased denied this to several people before his death, and as the empty tub had not been attached it did not appear likely that the up signal was given. The jigger was prosecuted under Special Rule 95, and on conviction was fined 40s. and costs

James, William, 22 Aug 1912, aged 38, Timberer, Deceased and two others were engaged in ripping a haulage road in the Ash seam. A piece of side which was overhanging had been spraggod before commencing to rip. After a part of the ripping was completed, this piece was examined and considered so safe that arrangements were made for boring in it to blast it down. As deceased was walking past, it suddenly fell without the slightest warning and struck him on the head, causing instant death

Pritchard, T., 19 Jun 1883, Collier, Fall of coal while holing

Roe, Charles, 15 Mar 1907, 7.45 a.m., aged 49, Collier, Deceased was walking along the face where the buttock had been taken off and props set in accordance with the timbering rules. A piece of roof-bass 9 inches thick and triangular in shape, measuring 8 feet by 8 feet at extremes, fell from a face joint or slip, breaking off at the corner of a chock, and along the edges of lids on three props set approximately at the angles of the triangle. One prop at the centre of the triangle was reeled by the fall. The bass gave little or no warning, and the edge of it caught deceased just as he was passing beneath it

Sherry, John, 22 Oct 1914, aged 14, Lasher-on, Deceased was employed on the flat at the lower end of the main endless rope haulage road in the Ash seam, Sutherland Pit. He was found in a stooping position with his head jammed between two full tubs, other tubs being in front and behind. There was no witness of the accident. Apparently he put in slow motion 15 tubs, and was engaged removing a coupling from between two tubs to make up a set of three preparatory to lashing them to the overhead haulage rope when the tubs closed together and his head was crushed. He died from the effects of a fractured skull shortly after being released

Shingler, William, 04 Nov 1911, aged 19, Jigger, A journey of empty tubs had failed to land at the top of a jig in the Ash seam. To pull them to the top a chain was hitched to the jig rope, the other end being taken round two pulleys and attached to an endless rope in a level going off the top of the jig. The brake wheel was above the level, and the landing inclined slightly towards it, so that when the tubs landed the chain was drawn across to the headside and up towards the brake. Deceased was coming out along the level just at this moment, and was caught by the chain and crushed against the corner at the headside formed by the level and the continuation of the dip. Sufficient care was not taken to prevent persons coming along the level whilst the operation was being carried out

Swann, John Thomas, 18 Feb 1909, aged 17, Dip-Handler, This accident was brought about by a foolhardy attempt to pull out a "bunting peg" from between moving wagons. Two loads had been drawn nearly to the top of an incline of 1 in 5. The front load, in fact, was on the landing when the back load left the rails. While it was being dealt with, the "bunting peg," which was an iron bar 2 ft. long and 1½ ins. in diameter, was fixed in position to hold the first load. Deceased then went alongside the wagons to withdraw the peg while another youth signalled to the motorman to go on. Deceased, succeeded in getting the peg out, but the road being low and with little clearance between tubs and the side he was caught and drawn along and his head was crushed against a low projecting portion of the roof. There was plenty of help near at hand and it would have been quite possible for the derailed load to be put on again and pushed up the few feet of incline to the landing without danger to anyone

Tarbuck, Arthur, 21 Aug 1913, aged 31, Stone miner, He was at work with his mate in a place which was stripping a fault, and was at the time of the accident drawing his back timber from the waste in the usual way with a sylvester. He had drawn one prop and was about to draw another when the roof collapsed and buried him. The fall was very heavy and knocked about 12 props out. The fault and waste evidently gave the roof two loose ends

Tudor, Herbert, 11 Feb 1913, (accident: 05 Feb 1913), aged 18, Loader, Deceased was cleaning dirt out of the holing after a coal-cutting machine in the Basseymine Ironstone. He was close up to the face wielding a long-handled shovel. A piece of coal fell off and was followed by a piece of stone and a stretcher. The fall struck him on the head fracturing the base of the skull. Meningitis supervened and he died on the 11th February

Venables, Arthur, 27 Jan 1912, aged 17, Waggoner, Venables was run over and fatally injured by two runaway empty tubs on an inclined endless-rope haulage road. He was one of a party of 20 or 30 persons who rushed outbye shortly before "loose it," and contrary to the orders of the person in charge of the signals, who had told them that no signal for travelling on the road had been given

Vitta, F. F., 18 Aug 1949, aged 46, SoT City Councillor, Crushed between wall and tub

Wardle, Charles, 10 Jan 1913, aged 30, Dataller, At the beginning of the night shift some empty tubs were required inbye. Deceased clipped a journey of seven on to the endless rope at the bottom of a slight incline of 1 in 24 in a level. At a point about 30 yards further inbye two loaded tubs were standing unattached against a loaded tub which was clipped on behind them. When the rope started the two loaded tubs were pushed forward and gravitated down the incline. Deceased got into the way of them and was badly crushed. Pneumonia supervened and he died 15 days later. Before starting, the rope and tubs should have been examined to see that all was safe

Whitehurst, Septimus, 07 Jun 1906, 7 a.m., aged 39, Collier, Deceased was pulling down some roof stone in a road alongside a fault at the longwall face in the Bassey Mine. To do this he stood in a tub about three yards from the face. A fall occurred from a slip running along by the packside and sloping up to the fault on the other side of the roadway. Two posts near the face were reeled out by the fall, which extended back a distance of 5 yards from the face, to the last bond of timber. Had the existence of the slip been known, more bars would have been set nearer the face

Wilson, Owen Victor, 30 May 1948, aged 48, Face worker, Killed by a fall of roof

Wisniakowski, Syczepan, 08 Apr 1949, aged 34, Haulage, Crushed by runaway tub

Wood, George, 22 Dec 1962, aged 57, Collier, Fell from pit-head ramp