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Hugh Davies
| Age: | 13 |
| Died: | 20th Mar 1878 |
| Accident: | 20th Mar 1878 |
| Year Born: | abt. 1865 |
| Colliery: | Clinmil, No. 2 |
| Company: | Aberdare and Plymouth Coal Co. |
| Occupation: | Collier |
| Notes: | Killed by an explosion of gas |
| Buried: | [not known] |
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| Description | |
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Explosions of Gas.
The first (No. 24 in the list) occurred on the 20th of March in the Clynmil Colliery belonging to the Plymouth and Aberdare Coal and Iron Co., Merthyr Tydfil, resulting in the deaths of Thomas and Hugh Davies, brothers, aged respectively 19 and 13. This colliery was worked with open lights and not safety lamps, and in that portion of the colliery where the explosion occurred there were two doors placed on the heading to direct the air into the place where the two deceased were intended to work. Two or three labourers were engaged in this heading during the previous night and up to 3 or 4 o'clock on the following morning; the fireman also made his examination about the same time. About 7 o'clock a.m. one of the workmen named Gomer Thomas, who was an old and experienced collier, went to his work and found one of the two doors open ; this, doubtless, had been so for a sufficient length of time to allow gas to accumulate. Gomer Thomas closed this door, and when the collier with whom the two deceased were working arrived Gomer Thomas told him that he had found the door open and had closed it. The effect of closing the door was to carry off the gas which had collected in the road along which the two deceased and the other collier were proceeding to their work, and all three having open lights immediately on coming into contact with the gas it was exploded with the sad result already stated. When I made my examination of the district, a day or two after the explosion, I had one of the two doors left open and the result was such as to leave no doubt whatever, in my mind, that the explosion was caused by the door being neglected, either by the fireman or one of the labourers ; and although the inquest was of a most searching kind the evidence was so conflicting that the jury could not arrive at any satisfactory conclusion as to who had neglected the door. I recommended that locked safety lamps should be used and open lights discontinued. The following verdict was returned by the jury — "Death from suffocation consequent upon an explosion of gas caused by a door being left open, the evidence not being sufficiently conclusive as to who left the door open."
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- 1878 Mines Inspectors Report (C 2321), South Wales District by Thomas E. Wales, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 230 Where to find this report
- 1878 Mines Inspectors Report (C 2321), South Wales District by Thomas E. Wales, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 254, Accident Number: 24 Where to find this report
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