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	Individual Details		Individual Details

Age:	26
Died:	26th Aug 1857
Accident:	26th Aug 1857
Year Born:	abt. 1831
Colliery:	Binchester
Company:
Occupation:	Deputy
Notes:	explosion of firedamp
Buried:	[not known]
Category:

No. 49 accident in the list was an explosion of gas in the Binchester Colliery; it took place on the 27th August under the following circumstances

At the bottom of an engine plane a slip dyke had been met with, which elevates the seam of coal, and explorations to a very limited extent had been made beyond or upon this dyke, and no firedamp had been observed in them, although the seam is known to generate a little.

Under these conditions, on the 26th August some water on the lower side of the dykes was observed by the overman to have become so increased in quantity and raised in level, as to form an obstruction to the proper ventilation of the workings or explorations beyond, and on the rise or elevated side of the dyke, in consequence of which, during the ordinary working hours of that day, he immediately brought all the workmen out of the workings beyond the dyke, and at the same time warned his deputy overman for that part of the mine, that no naked lights were to be taken beyond a point on the outer side of the rise dyke until the obstruction to the ventilation had been removed. The order to this effect was overheard by another deputy overman, whose duties laid in another part of the mine, he having been sent for by the overman at the time of removing the workmen.

This part of the mine was then left, under the expectation that the continuous pumping of the water by the engine might have so far removed it as to render it workable on the following morning.

John Halliday, the deputy overman for that part of the mine, came to attend to his duties in the mine on the following morning, and on his way he was accompanied by another deputy, who had been present at the removal of the workmen from the workings beyond the dyke on the previous day. This deputy cautioned John Halliday to be careful, and to examine all the working places with his safety lamp and not with a naked light, lest the ventilation should still be imperfect in that part of the mine.

With all this warning, however, Halliday appears to have gone a short distance beyond the point which had been mentioned to him by the overman, and where the current of air ventilating another part of the mine separates from that which should ventilate the workings on the rise dyke, taking with him a naked light, which ignited an accumulation of firedamp lying beyond the dyke, and the resulting explosion caused his death.

As a safety lamp cistern and poles were found near the body, it seems probable that the deceased had taken a safety lamp with him, intending to use it as such in examining the state of the extremes of the working places ; but, probably, either had a candle with him also, or had not thought it necessary to enclose the flame of the lamp by the safety gauze until he had got beyond the point where the explosion took place.

After the explosion the airway was found to be completely closed, by an increased accumulation of water at the bottom of the dyke, from some cause which could not very clearly be ascertained.

The special rules of the colliery require that "if, in the course of being worked, any place prove insecure from any of the causes above mentioned, the overman or deputy shall, if he think necessary, stop the working there and remove the workmen ; and should the insecurity of the place be owing to the issue of firedamp, the officer in charge shall cause a danger signal to be placed at the entrance of it." And in this case, although it was from an apprehension or fear of the issue of firedamp that the workmen were withdrawn, yet, as the issue of firedamp had not actually been observed in that part of the mine, and as the jury, after having their attention directed to this rule, exonerated the overman from all blame, as regarded his not having placed or caused to be placed at the entrance to it a danger signal, I did not think it desirable to try to get him convicted of a breach of the rules, feeling that the chances of success were but slight ; more particularly as the Inspection Act is a penal one, and had not been violated in the strict letter, although, perhaps, it had in the spirit.

I confess, however, that I think it was a very great want of caution on the part of the overman, under the circumstances, to have neglected to place a danger signal, notwithstanding his having given a verbal warning to the deceased not to go into the doubtful part of the mine with a naked light. It was, however, more careless still on the part of Halliday to do so after being warned.

Pub. Date	Article (Newspaper)
05 Sep 1857	Colliery Explosion Near Bishop Auckland (Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury)

• 1857 Mines Inspectors Report
• Contributions by members of the Public

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