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	Individual Details		Individual Details

Age:
Died:	17th Aug 1852
Accident:	17th Aug 1852
Born:
Colliery:	Langton
Company:	Coke and Co.
Occupation:
Notes:	Fall of roof in the mine
Buried:	[not known]
Category:

Accident No. 17 in the List.

Fall of roof in Langton Colliery, near Alfreton.

A portion of roof-stone fell on the deceased while he was excavating coal, and he died shortly afterwards from the injuries he received.

A brief outline of this investigation will tend in some degree to show how little regard was bestowed on the supervision and security of the 100 persons employed under-ground.

The workmen, and not the colliery owners, had to provide the timber requisite to support the roof; there was nominally a steward or bailiff in the pit, but the duties he actually discharged were those of a common labourer ; he had to groom and prepare food for fifteen ponies ; he assisted the drivers, and repaired the tramroads and trucks ; he had not opportunity to go round the works in a morning, and he never did so ; some of the "stalls " he did not visit once a week, and he had not time to examine the airways ; the ventilation and timbering departments were in the hands of the colliers, and both were grievously neglected. One of the witnesses at the inquest said, "the men and boys in this pit must look after their own safety."

With a view to guard against future accidents, the jury concurred with me in opinion that the owner of the colliery ought to employ a competent steward for the sole purpose of superintending the underground workpeople.

• 1854 Mines Inspectors Report, by Charles Morton, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 41
• 1854 Mines Inspectors Report, by Charles Morton, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 59, Accident Number: 17

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