YORKSHIRE MAIN COLLIERY

The sinking of cadeby main colliery near Doncaster began in 1889 and the Barnsley seam was reached in 1893, the colliery remained open untill 1986.

The history of Cadeby main is dominated by a single event. On the morning of 9th july 1912, two explosions shook the underground workings. The first explosion occurred on the night shift in the early hours of the morning. The explosion killed thirty five men.The second explosion between 10.30 and 11am killed 53 men who were takeing part in the rescue operations. The total loss of life was 88 men including 3 inspectors of mines and the managers of both Cadeby and near by Denaby Main Colliery.

The death toll could have been much greater had it not been that most miners had taken the day off to see the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to near by Conisbrough Castle. There were only 111 men at work at the time of the explosion, on the same shift the week before there were 489.

Barnsley bed coal, the only seam worked at the time at the colliery, had a reputation of being very gassy and liable to spontaneous combustion.  Mr W H Chambers, the Managing Director of the colliery gave evidence that there had been 35 fires in the 19 years between the opening of the colliery and 1912, with an average of 1.9 fires per annum, it was clear that the pit was particularly prone to the problem.

The chief Inspector of Mines Mr Redmayne, came to the conclusion that the first explosion had been caused by a fire which had started some years previously and never been completely eradicated.  Conditions at the time provided the ideal circumstances for an explosion to occur. The exit from the fire area had been sealed off but the failure to seal the inlet roadway allowed the accumulation of an explosive mixture of gas which lead to the explosion.  Mr Redmayne put forward the conclusion that the second explosion occurred after a large accumulation of gas ignited at the point of the fire and spread through the face and workings.

The explosion would have been even worse if it had travelled a little further on to the south plane as dust samples had shown a very dangerous mixture, had it travelled far on this plane then the whole colliery could have been wrecked. The chief inspector of mines concluded his report into the explosion by stating that he was happy to report that he could find no breaches of the coal mines act which contributed to the explosions.

CADEBY MINES RESCUE TEAM 1911.

CADEBY MINES RESCUE TEAM 1940.

In the week following the explosion there was a constant procession of funerals which dominated the life of the people in the local village of Denaby, 54 of the miners lost came from the village.

Not all the bodies however were laid to rest, there were still 14 bodies which had to be left in the mine and sealed off in the effected area.

The remaining bodies where not recoverd from the mine untill september , two months after the explosion.

WAITING FOR NEWS.

 

It could be said that the explosion killed 91 miners and not the official 88.

One miner who helped in the recovery of the dead and later said it was horrible and he would never go down the mine again committed suicide by drowning himself in the near by river Don a week later.

Another miner , a member of the Manvers rescue team was engaged in the recovery of bodies a month later, while climbing over a fall of rock his mouth piece came out and he was starved of oxegen and died at the scene.

Another miner to die was a pit deputy, Mr Springthorpe, he was in the area at the time of the second explosion and reported that he had felt a scorching heat, he died of his injuries on the 25th march.

The miners at the pit decided to resume normal production in other areas of the colliery 1 week after the explosion.

 

POEMS ABOUT THE DISASTER.

List of those killed.

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From Keith Butcher

More from the Cadeby colliery disaster and information on the Beach family, Mr Beach was killed in the explosion, the information is from a book by Mr pete Navin.

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