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	Individual Details		Individual Details

Age:	36
Died:	5th Jan 1875
Accident:	5th Jan 1875
Year Born:	abt. 1839
Colliery:	Buffery, Old
Company:	John Jones and Sons
Occupation:	Deputy
Notes:	Suffocated by gases from an underground fire, the result of spontaneous combustion
Buried:	[not known]
Category:

Miscellaneous.

Four miners lost their lives by suffocation in the rib and pillar workings of the thick coal in the Old Buffery Colliery, which, like many other parts of the South Staffordshire coalfield, has been subject to spontaneous combustion (called gob-fire) more or less ever since thick coal mining began. At the pit where this lamentable occurrence took place no stalls or openings (sides of work) had been commenced. The operations were principally confined to exploring drifts, or, what is better known by the name of gate-roads. At the time of the accident considerable progress had been made in this kind of work. If the local and dangerous circumstances already alluded to had not hindered the operations, another means of escape would have been provided at this mine, making two outlets instead of one from the main shaft or entrance to the mine, by which the lives of the unfortunate men would in all probability have been saved. For several weeks before the accident happened fire had been discovered near the exploring drifts in the old workings of former years, which at length became so troublesome as to cause a temporary suspension of the exploring work. With a view to extinguish or get rid of a fire of this kind it is usual to construct air-tight dams, or remove the fire itself where it may be safely approached and practically cleared out.

It appears however that a dam was decided upon in this instance and the work of construction went on safely and well, and was so nearly completed that the charter master left the pit to change his clothes, leaving the overman (who perished in the accident) in charge of the work and the pit. Shortly after the charter master's departure one of the workmen climbed up to the top of the dam to ascertain the state of things beyond, when he discovered a quantity of fire, smoke, and steam. With a view, as he thought, to hasten if possible the extinction of the fire, he took a water pipe and directed a jet of water to act upon the burning mass. This brought about a disturbance of some kind (an explosion it was stated), but this could not be the case, as no flame was seen. It was doubtless a heavy fall of rock or charred coal and rock in the old workings, which drove the hot ashes and fire before it into the gate-road in front of the archway, and thus closed all access to any part of the workings beyond the dam, where it was afterwards found the four unfortunate men, including the overman, had gone. The mass of fallen stuff was so great, and, together with the roof of the place, so difficult to deal with, that it took three hours to clear a roadway to get through on the other side of the archway, in search of the missing men. As soon as the state of the mine admitted of safe travel, several miners, including the manager and chartermaster, rushed along the gate-road in the hope of finding some at least of their comrades alive, this hope being strengthened by the fact of voices having been heard for some time after the accident. However, sad to relate, not one of the four men was found alive; they had all evidently succumbed to the deadly gases which escaped from the fire.

It was stated at the inquest upon the bodies that the roadway was fenced off, and that they had no business whatever to have gone into the part of the mine where they lost their lives, and for what purpose this was done by the overman who had so recently been left in charge, and especially after the strong injunction given by the manager to this man and the chartermaster to withdraw the workmen during these operations, will now for ever remain unknown.

Immediately after the bodies had been recovered, it was found absolutely necessary to dam up all approach to the place where the accident happened. Therefore, neither myself nor my assistant have been able to examine the spot, with a view, if possible, to ascertain the real cause of the fall of gob and fire. Many attempts were made to get into the workings again, but without avail, and the inquiry, which was opened in January after being several times adjourned and re-adjourned for this and other reasons, was finally closed in June, the jury returning a verdict of accidental death.

It appeared from the plan of the workings that one of the exploring drifts had passed so near an old shaft and partially through one of the old excavations in connection with it, that abundance of ventilation had constantly been produced without the aid of an independent airway and the manager was taking advantage of this, till the additional communication, already spoken of at the commencement of my report on the case, should be completed. If, however, such an additional provision had been in existence in connection with the shaft near the fire, it is doubtful if any of the men would have made their escape.

A very similar accident to this happened in the year 1874 in one of Mr. Hackett's pits, near Rowley Regis, and although the circumstances connected with it were so widely circulated in this district, it was no warning to the persons concerned in the working of this mine, for in this, as in the case last under review, the application of water to the burning mass underground was doubtless one of the primary agents in bringing about these unusual and appalling fatalities. The place where the accident occurred at Mr. Hackett's Colliery was suddenly and unavoidably closed immediately after the accident, and this up to the present time has prevented any inspection being made.

• 1875 Mines Inspectors Report (C. 1499), South Staffordshire District by James P. Baker, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 144 Where to find this report
• 1875 Mines Inspectors Report (C. 1499), South Staffordshire District by James P. Baker, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 148, Accident Number: 1 Where to find this report

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