Easington Colliery

Easington Colliery, was one of the most modern and productive mines in Europe but at 4.20am the picks of the coal cutting machine cutter, which was working in the Duck Bill district of the Five Quarter seam, struck pyrites causing sparks which ignited firedamp causing an explosion which brought down 120 yards of roof and entombed 81 men.

The explosion took place 900 feet below ground. 38 men were coming to the end of their shift and were to be replaced by 43 men who were working the fore-shift.

The cause of the explosion was the ignition of firedamp triggered by the picks of a coal cutting machine, operating on a retreating longwall face, when they struck pyrites.

The explosion spread through 16,000 yards of roadway and caused the deaths of 81 persons. Two persons died in the ensuing rescue operations.

The Inquiry was opened at the Easington Colliery Welfare Hall, Easington, on 30th October and terminated on 15th November. Evidence was taken on 13 days and 75 witnesses were examined.

The death toll rose when two rescue men were killed, taking the death toll to 83.
They were Henry Burdess, 43, a Deputy, from Brancepeth Colliery, and John Wallace, 26, Back Overman.

Rescue Worker Casualties

John Young Wallace, a fully trained rescue man of 26 and an overman at Easington, was acting as the captain of a rescue team when he met his death. About half an hour after leaving the fresh air base the team was exploring the West Materials Road in the neighbourhood of No. 10 Stenton when, without any previous signal of distress, Wallace sank to his knees, said a few words from the side of his mouth about sweating, sat down and then fell over unconscious. Probably he died almost at once as his jaw would sag when he lost consciousness and the lethal external atmosphere leaking past the mouth piece would prove fatal within a few moments.

Apparently the team had been walking rather more quickly than is usual or prudent in rescue operations and they had had to negotiate a number of obstructions, but they had travelled only about 700 yards from the base and no other member of the team was distressed.

According to the evidence, when Wallace collapsed his mouth-piece and nose clip were in place; air was flowing normally into the breathing bag from the liquid air pack; and he\ had not previously spoken.

Wallace undoubtedly died from carbon monoxide poisoning. A post-mortem examination revealed in both lungs a degree of emphysema sufficient to cause breathlessness on heavy physical exertion, especially if such exertion were undertaken whilst wearing self-contained breathing apparatus under conditions of both mental and physical stress. In answer to questions by Mr. T. A. Jones and myself, Dr. W. C. Sharp, H.M. Medical Inspector of Mines, expressed the opinion that as a consequence of his exertions Wallace might have experienced sufficient difficulty in breathing to cause an involuntary opening of the mouth; that this would allow the outside atmosphere to leak past the mouth-piece; and that with the high concentration of carbon monoxide existing—probably of the order of three per cent. - even a slight leakage would induce a sufficient quantity into the breathing circuit to cause him to collapse.

Three days after the death of Wallace, Henry Burdess, a trained rescue man, died in somewhat similar circumstances.

About 35 minutes after leaving the fresh air base, Burdess signalled to his captain that he was in distress. His breathing bag was inflated and functioning normally and his nose-clip and mouth-piece were in place. Although the team had only travelled between 600-700 yards and the other members were quite cool and comfortable, he was sweating heavily.. His captain and another man tried to help him out but after going ten to 12 yards he collapsed. Eventually he was carried out on a stretcher, but on arrival at the fresh air base was found to be dead.

Examination and tests of the apparatus carried out by Mr. Calder showed that the automatic relief valve was set at 2.6 inches water-gauge instead of 3.5 inches water-gauge, and that one of the teeth grips of the mouth-piece was torn. Otherwise the apparatus was in order.

The effect of the relief valve being set at 2.6 inches water-gauge would be to bring down the volume of air in the breathing bag to rather less than the six litres normally held when the valve is set at 3.5 inches. This, however, should not have had any adverse effect as the quantity of air produced by the Aerophor apparatus is much in excess of that normally required; to quote Mr. Calder, "I would not expect it to affect a man’s breathing in any way other than to reduce the resistance against breathing". As regards the torn teeth grip, it is impossible to say when the damage took place. It may have happened before or after Burdess collapsed, but in any event I do not think it had any particular significance. This view was confirmed in part at least when the apparatus, re-charged but otherwise as it was taken from Burdess’ body, successfully passed one test in which the wearer walked for two hours at four miles per hour and a second test of two hours in which various operations were carried out in an irrespirable atmosphere.

In Memory Of those Who Died

Anson, John	64	Shifter	8 Thomas Street, Easington
Armstrong, William	55	Datal	6 Barwick Street, Easington
Bedding, Mark Smart	38	Filler	84 Wordsworth Road, Easington
Brenkley, George	20	Filler	Buried: Garden of Remembrance at Easington Colliery Cemetery
Brenkley, Thomas	32	Filler	24 Dean Avenue, Easington
Brennan, Louis	49	Stoneman	3 Cuba Street, Easington
Brown, George Miller	50	Datal	14 Cook Street, Easington
Burdess, Henry, Overcome by noxious gas. Died 1st June 1951	43	Deputy, also Rescue Worker	Brancepeth Colliery
Burn, Bertram	25	Filler	12 Thorpe Street, Easington
Cain, Emmerson	63	Stoneman	22 Ashton Street, Easington
Cairns, Frederick	23	Filler	72 Station Road, Easington
Calvert, George	50	Stoneman	5 Clifton Street, Easington
Calvin, James	51	Conveyor Maintenance	1 Laburnum Crescent, Easington
Carr, Frederick	50	Electrician	5 Leachmere Terrace, Ryhope
Carr, George William	45	Timber Drawer	5 Cook Street, Easington
Carr, James	38	Timber Drawer	7 Vincent Street, Easington
Challoner, John Edwin (Teddy)	53	Deputy	10 Boston Street, Easington
Champley, Richard	43	Cutter	29 Hazel Terrace, Shotton
Chapman, Albert Kerr	44	Stoneman	48 Attlee Crescent, Easington
Charlton, Joseph Brother in law of John Lamb	42	Master Shifter	15 Baldwin Street, Easington
Clough, John	57	Shifter	2 West Crescent, Easington
Dryden, William Arthur	27	Filler	13 Tower Street, Easington
Ellison, John	19	Datal	2 Wear Terrace, Easington
Fishburn, Charles	54	Shifter	7 Cardiff Street, Easington
Fishburn, Henry	23	Filler	111 Station Road, Easington
Garside, Thomas	20	Datal	49 Oak Road, Easington
Godsman, Joseph	41	Cutter	41 North Road, Wingate
Goulburn, George	57	Mason's Labourer	54 Station Road, Easington
Gowland, Albert Leaves a widow and three boys	51	Deputy	20 Bradley Street, Easington
Goyns, Ernest	60	Stoneman	20 Stokoe Crescent, Easington
Goyns, Herbert	56	Stoneman	1 Fifteenth Street, Wheatley Hill
Harker, John	53	Shifter	30 Glebe Avenue, Easington
Henderson, John William	56	Shifter	The Cottage, Hawthorne
Hepple Thomas	31	Filler	16 Easington Street Easington
Hunt Daniel	54	Datal	8 Castle Street Easington
Hunt Stephen	24	Filler	5 The Crescent Easington
Hunt William	43	Datal	29 West Crescent Easington
Hutton Arthur Chambers	42	Filler	72 Oak Road Easington
Jepson Frederick Ernest	68	Shifter	11 Abbot Street Easington Buried: Garden of Remembrance at Easington Colliery Cemetery
Jones Lawrence	36	Filler	1 Attlee Crescent Easington
Jones Thomas Edward	35	Deputy	62 Station Road Easington
Jopling Herbert Jeffrey	57	Shifter	11 Ashton Street Easington
Kelly John Father of William Leaves a widow and two sons	57	Datal	11 Clifton Street Easington
Kelly William (Billy) Son of John	28	Filler	11 Clifton Street Easington
Lamb, John, Edward, Armstrong Brother in law of Joseph Charlton	43	Datal	15 Butler Street Easington
Link, Jesse, Stephenson	44	Datal	6 Anthony Street Easington
Lippeatt, Joseph, Fairless	37	Filler	Oak Road Easington
Lynch, Peter	20	Filler	4 Stephenson Square Easington
McRoy, Denis	23	Filler	22 Bolam Street Easington
McRoy, William, James	31	Filler	9 Tower Street Easington
Milburn, Robert, William	26	Filler	37 George Avenue Easington
Nelson, Harold	49	Stoneman	27 Bradley Street Easington
Newcombe, Albert	67	Stoneman	13 Beatty Street Easington
Nicholson, Norman	29	Filler	51 Oak Road Easington
Noble, Robert	45	Shifter	24 Austin Street Easington
Parkin, William	24	Filler	31 Thorntree Gill Peterlee
Parks, William Edward Forbes	62	Shifter	7 Raby Avenue Easington
Pase, Robert	63	Shifter	16 The Crescent Easington
Peaceful, Stanley	37	Stoneman	6 South Street Thornley
Penman, Alexander	42	Cutter	71 Oak Road Easington
Porter, James	32	Filler	51 George Avenue Easington
Porter, John, Thomas	23	Filler	3 Alnwick Street Easington
Rice, Thomas, Valentine	53	Shifter	2 Beaty Street Easington
Robinson, John	50	Stoneman	5 Carol Street Easington
Robson, John, George	25	Filler	East View Easington
Scott, George	53	Datal	1 Burns Street Easington
Seymour, Albert	64	Datal	32 Oak Road Easington
Sillito, Frederick	52	Shifter	10 Angus Street Easington
Stubbs, George, Henry	60	Shifter	21 Alma Street Easington
Surtees, Hugh Bell	36	Datal	4 Bevan Crescent Easington
Thompson, Laurence	54	Datal	2 Boyd Street Easington
Surtees, Matthew, White	61	Shifter	22 Alma Street Easington
Thompson, Thomas	28	Underground Bricklayer	2 Wickham Street Easington
Trisnan, Thomas	43	Stoneman	56 Oak Road Easington
Turnbull, Robert Leaves a wife one son and two daughters (was due to retire in 3 months)	64	Master Wasteman	29 Ascot Street Easington
Wallace, John, (Jack) Young Rescue Worker overcome by noxious gas. Died same day	26	Back Overman	Deneside Seaham
Wilkie, George	63	Shifter	16 Argent Street Easington
Wilkinson, Reginald	40	Stoneman	33 Hart Lane West Hartlepool
Williams, Matthew Fatally injured and died the same day	18	Datal	6 Ashton Street Easington
Willins, Robert	45	Fore Overman	11 Byron Street Easington
Wilson, John	62	Hauling Engineman	23 Baldwin Street Easington
Wilson, Stephen	60	Shifter	9 Anthony Street Easington

Report on the causes of, and circumstances attending, the explosion which occurred at Easington Colliery, County Durham, on the 29th May, 1951