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Local Records
1844
January 18. — A slight explosion of gas occurred at Killingworth colliery, near Newcastle, by which five persons were killed. [LRL]
February 7. — The first shipment of coals from Coxhoe colliery took place at Stockton, amidst some rejoicing. [LRL]
April. — About the end of this month, the "Scotsman," an Edinburgh newspaper, stated that a large vessel was then loading coal at Leith, for Newcastle, in consequence of the pitmen's strike. In the last week of May, a vessel was loading small coal in the river Wear for a Tyneside manufactory; and "duff" (very small) coal, which had hitherto been nearly worthless, rose to a high price. [LRL]
April 5. — The bonds by which the pitmen in Northumberland and Durham were engaged to their employers expired this day, and, the men having generally refused to renew them, a "stick" was the consequence. On the 8th, a meeting, held at Black Fell, was attended by upwards of 30,000 workmen, and it was then determined to adhere to the terms which had been offered to, but refused by, the masters. The dispute principally related to wages, on which the men wished to have an advance of about 2s. per week; to the fine hitherto levied for sending refuse coal to bank; and to the fine also charged for sending up deficient measure. One of the most curious conditions demanded by the men was that they should be secured work yielding 15s. for every week throughout the year, but that they should not, on any account whatever, be required to work for more than 3s. per day. This self-imposed restriction would, they believed, equalise the demand for labour throughout the district, and prevent any portion of their body from being thrown out of employment. As no compromise could be come to, the employers, in May and June, ordered the men to be ejected from their houses, and this having been done, though not without much irritation in many places, the unhappy families encamped by the sides of lanes and other unenclosed grounds, and much distress and disease were necessarily the consequence. A Mr. Roberts, an attorney, had been engaged by the men some months before, at a salary of £1,000 a-year, besides his law costs, and his proceedings against the employers, generally fruitless as they were, did much to augment the irritation which prevailed. According to a return published at the time, the following were the numbers of men employed in April in the several districts, nearly all of whom "struck' — The Tyne, 15,556; Blyth, 1,051; the Wear, 13,172; the Tees, 4,211: total, 33,990. As might be expected during a protracted struggle of this kind, a portion of the men at length yielded, but at the end of July only 2,000 unionists had returned to work; on the other hand, 3,519 "foreigners" had been obtained by the owners, and the pits had gradually resumed operations. In the second week of August, the strike was virtually at an end. Considering the state of destitution to which so many families were reduced, the amount of crime during the strike was singularly small. Its conclusion was, however, marked by an unfortunate affair. In consequence of the depredations committed in potato and turnip fields during the night, watchers were engaged in many places to protect the property, and, early on the morning of the 11th August, a man, named Thomas Robson, a brakesman, employed at Ravensworth, was shot dead in a field near to that place, whilst in company with a watcher named Jefferson. The perpetrator of the crime was not discovered. [The loss to the district by this strike was estimated at upwards of half a million sterling. [LRL]
April 23. — Operations were commenced for winning a new colliery at Old Roddymoor, near Crook. Coal was found at a depth of fifteen fathoms from the surface. [LRL]
April 26. — Three overmen went down the pit at Friars' Goose, near Gateshead, to see that the workings were in proper condition. A few hours after, three others went down to relieve them, but as the first men were not to be found, a search was made, when they were at length discovered in a part of the pit far on the Newcastle side of the Tyne, where they had been buried by a fall of stone. Five hours more elapsed before they could be reached, when one was dead and another very much hurt. [LRL]
May 23. — The Newcastle and Darlington Railway bill (purchase of Durham Junction Railway, and erection of bridge at Newcastle), and the bill for the construction of a dock and harbour at West Hartlepool, received the Royal assent. [LRL]
May 27. — The first train of wagons passed over the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company's iron bridge across the Tees at Stockton. The river had previously been spanned by a suspension bridge, built in 1831, but which had proved insufficient for the traffic. [LRL]
September 28. — One of the most destructive explosions which ever occurred in the Durham coal field took place at Haswell colliery, the property of Messrs Plummer, Taylor, and Co., when ninety-five human beings were deprived of life. The explosion occurred in the Hutton seam, almost immediately after a fall of stone from the roof, which had liberated a vast quantity of gas ; and only four persons in the mine succeeded in escaping. On the 30th, fifty-four bodies were interred side by side in South Hetton churchyard, thirty-one at Easington, and the remainder at more distant places. The pit had been seven years at work, and was considered a very safe one. A subscription was immediately set on foot for the relief of the sufferers, and the sum received amounted to £4,264. [LHTB]
November 15. — An alarming subsidence of the earth occurred at St Peter's, Newcastle, in consequence of the falling-in of part of the roof of Friar's Goose colliery. Very serious damage was done to the dock and premises of Messrs. T. and W. Smith, and some of the neighbouring dwelling houses were partially destroyed, to the great terror of the inmates. [LRL]
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