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William Bell
| Age: | 14 |
| Died: | 4th Jun 1855 |
| Accident: | 4th Jun 1855 |
| Year Born: | abt. 1841 |
| Colliery: | Newfield |
| Company: | |
| Occupation: | Fireman |
| Notes: | boiler exploded |
| Buried: | [not known] |
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| Description | |
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William Bell, 14, a fireman at Newfield Colliery, was killed on 4 June, when the boiler he was attending exploded. Bell was found covered with bricks about three yards from the fire hole doors; he only survived a few minutes, ‘being dreadfully scalded and bruised.’ At the inquest, engineman William Wood testified that there had been plenty of water in the boiler; in fact, it would have taken between 8 and 10 hours to boil down from safe to a dangerous state. Matthias Dunn could not account for the explosion, ‘as the boilers seemed to have been in regular working order, and not under heavy work.’ He recommended that the engineman should never trust the management of the feeding apparatus to the fireman, and that there should be double valves on each boiler. A verdict of ‘accidentally killed’ was recorded.
This story appeared in the Bishop Auckland Herald.
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| Related Articles | |
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| Pub. Date | Article (Newspaper) |
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| 16 Jun 1855 | Boiler Explosion (Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury) |
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| Sources | |
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- Contributions by members of the Public
- Text kindly provided by Jim Grainger from his research into early newspapers (primarily the Durham Advertiser and Durham Chronicle).
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| Researchers | |
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