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	Individual Details		Individual Details

Age:	Boy
Died:	5th Aug 1852
Accident:	5th Aug 1852
Year Born:	abt. 1852
Colliery:	Liversidge
Company:	John Sheard
Occupation:
Notes:	Falling into the winding machinery
Buried:	[not known]
Category:

Accident No. 14 in the List.

Falling into the Winding Machinery at Liversedge Colliery, near Leeds.

The deceased, who was only twelve years old, attended an engine which drew the coals and workmen, and pumped water. To work the hand-gear he stood on a narrow and unfenced stage, placed in such a position that a slip of the foot would precipitate him upon the shafting. He seems to have stumbled against the crank, and his mangled body was found between the flywheel and the walling.

The boy had been six months at this occupation, and received four shillings a week for his services. It further appeared that the owner of the colliery had been in the habit, from economical motives, of engaging boys under the legal age (fifteen years) to work his winding engines.

The practice is fraught with danger, for such inexperienced engineers may, and sometimes do, draw the colliers over the pulleys, damage the machinery, burst the boilers, and maim or kill themselves.

Although it was clearly proved that death had resulted from the boy having been illegally employed by the proprietor of the engine to perform duties for which he was not qualified, yet the coroner's jury found a verdict of "accidentally killed."

In flagrant cases like the present, it is desirable that the coroner should be authorized by law to inflict some punishment or pecuniary penalty on the colliery owner, or agent, in addition to the fine leviable under the provisions of the Statute 5 & 6 Vict. c. 99.

• 1854 Mines Inspectors Report, by Charles Morton, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 40
• 1854 Mines Inspectors Report, by Charles Morton, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 59, Accident Number: 14

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