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	Disasters - Names		Disasters - Names

Date:	7th January 1848
Colliery:	Byers Green
Company:
Cause:	(See description below)
Lives Lost:	1
Category:

An inquest was held at the Fox and Hounds, Newfield on 8 January into the death of pitman William Jones. On the previous night, at about 6.30 p.m., Jones had rode up the shaft with two other men in the cage at Byers Green Colliery. On reaching the surface, they all got out, but Jones, who had a candle in his hand, reached over to the oil lamp to light it. George Thubborn, the banksman, shouted at him to come off the pit, and as Jones came from the lamp he moved to the left instead of the right and fell to the bottom of the shaft. Three sides of the shaft were fenced, but Jones had fallen through a gap 2 foot 9 inches wide. A man descended and found him lying dead. "Deceased had probably been dazzled with the glare of the lamp, and thus prevented from seeing where he was moving to."

Source:

Text kindly provided by Jim Grainger from his research into early newspapers (primarily the Durham Advertiser and Durham Chronicle).

	Jones, William, fell down the shaft
	All names found
	Those names marked with , have a web page providing individual details of the accident, the page may also include a photograph of the deceased. Click on the symbol next to the name to see the web page.
	Some of the names of mining fatalities on this web site have been kindly provided by Jim Grainger from his research into early newspapers (primarily the Durham Advertiser and Durham Chronicle) and are marked with .

 

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