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January 16. — The first cargo of coal from Crow Trees colliery was shipped at Stockton, at the Clarence Railway staiths, on board the brig Etherley, for London. [LRL]

January 29. — The first seam of coal, 3 feet 9 inches in thickness, was won at Thornley colliery, the property of Sir William Chaytor, Bart. and partners, The depth was 72 yards. [LRL]

February 15. — The miners employed at the Monkwearmouth colliery, penetrated through the main seam of coal, which is six feet nine inches in depth, and 264 fathoms from the surface. [LHTB]

February 15. — A disturbance took place at Snipper's Gate colliery, near Hetton, in consequence of the owners of the colliery ejecting a number of the workmen from their houses for refusing to work according to agreement. In the course of the day a number of colliers assembled on the premises, and in their attempt to frustrate the authorities in the execution of their duty, a general battle ensued, in which a number of the constables received severe bruises and wounds from the pitmen, many of whom were armed. In the evening an express arrived in this town for military assistance, and a troop of the Scots Greys were instantly dispatched, but before their arrival the disturbers had left the place. [LHTB]

February 25. — An accident occurred at the Fanny Pit, at Gosforth, by the unhooking of a corf, by which four workmen were unfortunately killed. [LRL]

March 7. — An accidental fire took place in the engine houses of the Isabella pit, at Elemore, Durham, by which the premises were entirely consumed, and damage was done to the extent of about £1,400. [LRL]

March 20. — A fine vessel of about eight keels burden, and the only one ever built above the Tyme bridge, was launched at Chatham, in the presence of a large assemblage of spectators. She was called The Folic, and intended for the Baltic trade. [LRF]

March 28. — During a high wind, an empty corf lying near the mouth of the Buddle pit, Pittington colliery, was blown down the shaft when five men were ascending. Two of them, Matthew Wall and Edward Wilson, were killed, and the others seriously maimed. The remains of the deceased were followed to the grave by upwards of 1,500 workmen belonging to the district. [LRL]

May 15. — The upper part of the Stanhope and Tyne Railway extending from Stanhope to Annfield, county of Durham, a distance of about sixteen miles, was opened. A party of gentlemen left Annfield at eight o’clock in the morning by a railway waggon, tastefully fitted up for the occasion, and arrived at the termination of the line about eleven, highly gratified with the whole line of road, but especially with that part of it which crosses the precipitous ravine called the Hownes. At one o’clock the first four lime waggons were started from the spacious range of kilns belonging to the company, and speedily ascended the steep inclined plane adjoining Stanhope, amidst the cheers of an immense crowd of spectators. A splendid dinner had been provided for 400 persons by the spirited proprietors of the railway. But the hilarity of the occasion was much damped by the occurrence of a serious and fatal accident. Four carriages, in which there could be no less than from forty to fifty people, had just commenced the descent of the second inclined plane, when one of the shackles suddenly snapped, and the waggons ran with great velocity against some other waggons, when by the shock one man was killed, and a boy, nine years of age, so seriously injured, that he died during the night. Several others had bones fractured by leaping off the waggons during their descent, and many received various contusions. [LRF]

August 19. — Tuesday, a girl, 17 years of age, named Nancy Goodhill, met her death in a pit at Little Hulton, near Darlington, in consequence of an explosion on inflammable gas. Two men were nearly suffocated by the after damp in endeavouring to rescue the unfortunate female, whose father, it appears, caused the accident by an incautious exposure of his candle. He was himself seriously burnt. [LHTB]

September 10. — This was the day fixed for the ceremony of opening the entire line of the Stanhope and Tyne railroad, and in consequence, from an early hour in the morning, much interest was excited in the neighbourhood of the company's works at South Shields. The state of the weather was unfavourable for the exhibition, but the sight was, notwithstanding, highly gratifying. The wagons were brought down the railway, a distance of eighteen miles, from Medomsley colliery, the property of the proprietors of the railway, and were lowered by a drop projecting from the company's quay at South Shields into the hold of the first vessel loaded from the Stanhope and Tyne railway (the Sally, of South Shields). At five o'clock, upwards of one hundred and twenty persons sat down to dinner, at the Golden Lion inn, Robert Ingham, Esq., M.P. for the borough, in the chair. The company seemed to be animated with the spirit of mutual good-will, and spent the evening in great harmony, and in cheerful anticipations of the beneficial effects which must be produced on the trade of the Tyne by means of this railway and others communicating with it — connecting the coal district of the county of Durham with the best harbour for the shipment of its produce. The course of the Stanhope and Tyne railway is 32 miles in length; the capital expended upon it was estimated at £200,000; and the whole was effected by agreement with the landholders, and without the aid of parliament. [LHTB]

September 17. — Wednesday afternoon one of the very large steam boilers of the steam engine at the Elemore pit, Hetton colliery, Durham, by some unexplained circumstance or other, was shifted from its place by the force of the steam, and thrown a distance for forty yards, it burst in its flight and rolled ten yards further. One man of the name of George Bell, living at Hetton houses, was killed upon the spot. Peter Thornton, Four Lane Ends, and William Smith, Easington Lane, were very severely scalded. Another man named John Potts, was thrown a very great distance against a dung hill, and with such force that he was completely engulphed in it, and could not be disentangled without being dug round, to loosed the ashes with which he was surrounded. He was dreadfully injured. Verdict on Bell — "Accidental death." [LHTB]

October 4. — A serious accident happened this day, at Springwell colliery, near Eighton Banks, the property of Lord Ravensworth and partners, by the falling of a heavy piece of timber down the pit, which alighted upon a scaffold, or "cradle", upon which were standing, in the act of repairing the shaft, William Puncheon, brakeman, and John Smith, wasteman, the weight of which precipitated them to the bottom, a depth of thirty fathoms, and dreadful to relate, they were both killed on the spot. No blame attached to any person. The sufferers were steady men, and much respected by their employers. Puncheon left a widow and six children to lament his untimely end. Verdict — accidental death. [LHTB]

October 31. — Friday, the pitmen and other workmen employed in Gordon colliery, on the Tees, to the number of two hundred, were regaled by the owners with a dinner of roast beef, plum pudding, ale, &c., in commemoration at their having recently won an extensive field of six feet seam coal, of superior quality, at the depth of thirty-three fathoms. [LHTB]

November 24. — An explosion of hydrogen gas took place at St. Lawrence colliery, near Newcastle, which deprived of life three industrious individuals. It appears that about six o'clock that night, Thomas Hedley, a master mason, living at Heaton, Robert Watson (his cousin), also a mason at Bigge's main, and John Gray, of Byker bar, a shifter belonging the colliery, descended the mine for the purpose of putting up two brick stoppings to close part of the workings of the pit. About ten o'clock the explosion took place, and immediately afterwards the bodies of all the three were found in a dreadfully mangled state. It is supposed that they had nearly finished their work, and Hedley had taken a candle to examine the same, and having reached too far over with it, occasioned the explosion. In confirmation of this, it is known that Hedley was in the habit of using his left hand, and his left arm and hand were most dreadfully scorched. Hedley left eight children, and a wife far advanced in pregnancy, Watson a wife and three children, and Gray a wife and five children. [LHTB]

November 24. — Thomas Martin, William Witty, John Berrick, and a boy named John Howe, were killed at Hartley colliery, by the breaking of the rope in descending the shaft. Verdict — accidental death. Deodand on the rope, 1s. No blame attached to any person connected with the colliery. The unfortunate men were much respected by their employers. They left three widows and ten children to lament their untimely fate. [LHTB]

 

 

 

• LHTB — Local Historian's Table Book of Remarkable Occurrences Connected with the Counties of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Northumberland and Durham by M.A. Richardson. Published in five volumes in 1844.
• LRF — Local Records or Historical Register of Remarkable Events by T. Fordyce, published in 1867
• LRL — Local Records or Historical Register of Remarkable Events by John Latimer, published in 1857