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	Individual Details		Individual Details

Age:	40
Died:	8th Jan 1862
Accident:	8th Jan 1862
Year Born:	abt. 1822
Colliery:	Byermoor
Company:
Occupation:
Notes:	boiler explosion, lived at Busty Bank; left a widow and four children
Buried:	[not known]
Category:

At about half-past four on Tuesday afternoon, 7 January, a boiler at Byermoor Colliery exploded killing two men and seriously injuring three others. Built by Messrs Palmer of Jarrow, the boiler was 40 feet long and 5 feet 3 inches in diameter and had only been in operation since 17 October last. The Durham Chronicle wrote:

With a rush and roar, the boiler, split up into four parts, was lifted from its seat, and carried to a considerable distance. Accompanying the explosion, the greater portion of the brickwork in which it had been encased rose into the air, and was scattered on every hand. As the debris fell it dropped through the roof of the pit-shed, riddling the roof like a pepper-box; whilst stones and mortar, flying in sharp volleys, shattered and demolished every square of glass and every bit of woodwork that had been in the windows of the engine-house. Turning to the west, three pieces of the boiler lay at regular intervals of about twenty yards from each other. The sides of the boiler, in the explosion, had been burst open, and now lie two flattened lumps of iron. Still further westward, and about 120 yards from where the boiler had had its seat, lies an immense ball of iron, 60lbs in weight, embedded in the earth. This had been a damper attached to one of the boilers, and had winged its flight with the rest of the exploded mass.

The fourth part of the boiler, the "egg end", was blown one hundred yards to the north, where it embedded itself in a field. The adjacent boiler was lifted from its seat but was undamaged. Two men, James Hunter and Jon Robson, had been removing and replacing one of its plates prior to the explosion, and they were found lying in the ruins. Hunter was dead; Robson died soon after his body had been recovered. John Barrett was blown almost 60 yards through the air and landed in a grass field, breaking his thigh. He had also been scalded and there was little hope of his recovery. Thomas Brown of Mountside and John Wheatley of Burnopside were also badly injured in the explosion. At the time of the explosion, the new Byermoor Colliery employed 30 or 40 men and was producing about 68 tons of coal per week.

Pub. Date	Article (Newspaper)
11 Jan 1862	Boiler Explosion At Crookgate, Two Men Killed (Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury)
18 Jan 1862	Weekly Retrospect (Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury)
18 Jan 1862	The Boiler Explosion At Crookgate, Coroner's Inquest (Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury)

• 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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