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Thomas Stubbs
| Age: | 43 |
| Died: | 10th Jul 1858 |
| Accident: | 10th Jul 1858 |
| Year Born: | abt. 1815 |
| Colliery: | Kelloe, East Pit |
| Company: | John Burrell Esq. and Partners |
| Occupation: | Hewer |
| Notes: | died from burns after an explosion of gas |
| Buried: | [not known] |
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No. 44 accident in the list occurred at the Kelloe East Pit, which had very recently been sunk, causing the death of Thomas Stubbs, a hewer, on the 10th of July 1858.
On the 29th June Thomas Stubbs was working in an exploring place, at a distance of about 60 yards from the pit bottom, and about an hour or an hour and a half before the accident, Thomas Spencer, who was a putter, and almost a perfect stranger to pits, was near him, and told him that the flame of his candle was very large, and indicated the presence of firedamp; Stubbs in reply admitted that something was not right; Spencer then advised him to come out of the place, and a little boy who was with him removed Stubbs' candle into a lower position, which appeared to satisfy him for the time being.
Thomas Spencer and the boy then left Stubbs in the place, but returned to him again shortly afterwards, and while there, again called his attention to the elongated state of the flame of his candle, as indicating the presence of firedamp, and advised him to extinguish it, leave the place, and inform John Earl, the inspector, of the condition it was in; but this he declined to do, and almost immediately after Spencer and the boy had left the place, they heard the explosion of the firedamp, by which Stubbs was so severely burnt, that after lingering about ten or eleven days he died.
The place where this accident occurred was ventilated by means of air boxes, but the evidence adduced at the inquest indicated that an unusual, although not very large, discharge of water and firedamp had come off in the place about two hours before the accident occurred.
The explosion of firedamp at the Kelloe East Pit proves the necessity of having a competent officer in a mine at all times when workmen are employed there, whether by day or night, and whether the persons employed are few or many in number. In this case there were very few working places in the pit, which had but recently been sunk to the coal, and there was only one charge man over the whole, although some of the places were worked night and day, and one person could not be in the pit at all times. Had he happened to be there during any part of two hours previous to the accident, when both inexperienced men and boys were becoming alarmed at the discharge of firedamp, there can be little doubt but he would have removed the workman from the place, notwithstanding his reluctance to leave it on the mere recommendation of persons having no authority, and thus have saved his life.
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| Sources | |
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- 1858 Mines Inspectors Report
- 1858 Mines Inspectors Report, Southern District by John J. Atkinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 30, Accident Number: 44
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