NAKED LIGHTS CAUSED TRAGIC EXPLOSION AT COMBS PIT
Examiners Discovered Little Evidence Of Fire

SMALL QUANTITY OF GAS 'WENT OFF LIKE A TRAIL OF GUNPOWDER'

On the 4th July a terrible disaster occurred at the Combs Pit, near Dewsbury, the property of Mr E.T. Ingham, and it is my painful duty to record that it resulted in the loss of 139 lives. No accident attended with such fearful consequences had taken place in the district since the year 1875, when 143 persons were killed at Swaithe Main Colliery. The accident at Combs Pit forcibly and sternly dispelled the hope which was existing, that disasters of such magnitude had, owing to increasing-care and extended scientific appliances, ceased to happen.
You were pleased to direct my colleague, Mr Hall, to assist me in elucidating the cause of the accident, and, further, Mr A Young, barrister-at-law, received your instruction to attend the Inquest.

I have already, in conjunction withMr Hall. According to your instructions, made a special report to you on this accident, and I consider it advisable to embody it in this Anual Report, together with that of the counsel, recording the result of the inquest, after a very complete and patient investigation by the jury and all concerned.

To the Right Ron H. H. Asquith, Q.C., M.P., Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department.

Wath-on-Dearn, 8th August, 1893

Sir,
We have the honour to report to you on the circumstances connected with an explosion of gas which took place at Combs Pit, Dewsbury, on the 4th July, and which resulted in the loss of 139 lives.

This pit forms a part of what is known as Thornhill Colliery, and is the property of Mr ET Inghams, who lives at Blake Hall, Mirfleld.
The official staff at this colliery consisted of the resident certificated manager, Mr William Scott, an under manager, Amos Hawksworth, and, in the day shift, two deputies, one for each side of the pit.

Mr Scott had only been in charge a few weeks, having obtained the appointment in consequence of the former manager's retirement, after a long term of years, owing to his being physically unable to discharge his duties.

The total number of persons at work in the pit on the day of the explosion was 146, including the under manager and two deputies; 57 of this number were boys.

Two Shafts Sunk To New Hards And Wheatley Beds

Originally two shafts were sunk at this colliery to the 'New Hards' seam of coal, a depth of 115 yards from the surface. Later the downcast shaft was sunk to the Blocking bed, a further depth of 50 yards, and a staple pit was sunk to the same seam from the 'New Hards'. Both these shafts intersected the Wheatley seam about midway between the New Hards and Blocking bed, or about 25 yards below this and above the other.

Upon the abandonment of the New Hards, the Wheatley seam became the only one in which work was carried on, and it was here where the explosion took place.

The downcast shaft was 11 feet in diameter, and the upcast, known as the 'Ingham' pit, 13 feet. According to the last recorded measurement, there were 19,600 cubic feet of air per minute passing through the Wheatley workings, and there would probably be about 2,000 cubic feet passing through the sides of the staging in the downcast shaft, into the Blocking bed.

Ventilation was produced by means of Guibal fan (30 feet) at the top of the Ingham pit, and which was running at a speed of 48 revolutions per minute. There was another gauge of 1.70 inches. The seam is not considered a fiery one, and instances of gas being found were comparatively rare. No fatal explosion has occurred in this pit before.

The colliers, however, all used safety lamps — 'Stephenson'. Open lights were allowed on the main roads to points about 600 yards from the shaft on the south side, and about 660 yards on the north. Oil lamps were hung in the porches of the downcast shaft, at the Wheatley seam, three in each porch, at distances varying from 3 to 16 yards from the shaft.

The mode of working this seam is that known as 'stoop and room' and will be understood on referring to the plan accompanying this report.
The seam is wet, and there is no part of the workings or roads which can, in the smallest degree be called dusty.

We made a careful examination of the shafts and working, accompanied by the manager, and Mr Garforth and Mr Nevin, mining engineers, together with Mr Cowey and Mr Murray, representing the Miners' Association. In consequence of the Blocking seam having been flooded, it was necessary to wait until the with drawl of the water before the seam could be entered. Our examination was therefore divided into two parts, the first being confined to the Wheatley seam and the shafts thereto, and the second, including the Blocking seam and the shafts between the seam and Wheatley.

Owing to the fact that the damage done to the shafts and workings was confined within such narrow limits, we were enabled to make an examination as soon us all the bodies had been recovered and there was not the delay which generally is necessary after terrible disasters such as this, consequent upon fire or heavy falls.

No evidence of the effects of the explosion was to be seen outside a comparatively small radius of the downcast shaft bottom; but, notwithstanding this, we thoroughly examined the pit far beyond these points.

The stables on the south side are only a very short distance from the shaft, but show no trace whatever of burning. The door of the under manager's cabin, which is a few yards from the shaft, was found closed after the explosion, the paint on the outside of the door being blistered by the heat. Within the cabin were three bodies, but otherwise nothing was disturbed, an oil lamp against the wall hanging in its usual place with its glass intact.

Proceeding towards the 'north straight ending' a door on the east side was blown a few feet ‘inbye’, although this was only a short distance from the bottom of the shaft. At the junction two oil lamps, in a direct line from the shaft, were standing upright, and with the glass chimnies unbroken.

Just beyond this point, two doors to the west of the 'straight ending' were blown down, 'inbye', the first being merely turned over, and the second carried a distance of 12 feet from its original position. The reason why this was blown further than the other may been owing to the fact that the foot of each post was rotten, and no great force would, therefore, be required to displace the door.

No Further Evidence Of Explosion

A few yards further, another door in the 'straight ending' was disturbed — this had not been in use, but was propped open, and the force of the explosion appeared to have struck it on the end. The head-piece of the door frame was blown 3 or 4 yards 'inbye' and was much decayed and broken at the end bolt.

We examined the 'straight ending' to the 'face' but between there and the door last alluded to, no further evidence of the explosion existed. We next examined the Glebe board as far as 'Ashtons' ending, passing the 'Swilly' and Smiths endings.

We next examined the Glebe bord as far as 'Ashtons’ ending, passing the 'Swilly' and 'Smiths' endings. A black bord runs parallel with this, and the brick stoppings, 4 ½ inches thick, in the slits between the two, were perfectly good, and exhibited no trace of the force of the explosion.

A safety lamp, we believe the under manager's, and an oil lamp were found on a water tub near the shaft in an upright position and uninjured.

Some dry spun yarn projecting from a cupboard a few yards from the shaft exhibited no trace of fire or even heat, although the cupboard door was open.

A few snacks and a quantity of loose hay which were near were quite uninjured, and beyond this point on the south side, which was next examined, there was absolutely no indication whatever of flame having travelled, nor of any heat.

All the way along to the bottom of 'Ashtons' ending, lamps were standing erect as though they had simply become extinguished from lack of oil.

Mine Examination Might Have Been Dinner Break

The roadways throughout the whole of the mine have suffered comparatively no injury — there are no falls of roof — and had it not been for the lamentable fact which were known, we would have thought, had we been making an ordinary examination, that work was simply suspended for the dinner hour. It was at and about the bottom of the shaft itself where evidences of explosion were more apparent.

Neither the shaft from the Wheatly seam to the surface nor the wooden conductors nor the cages were injured at all, but the landing stage at the bottom, together with the flat sheets on both sides of the shaft were upheaved.

Workmen's clothing hanging on in either side of the porch, as well as some of the props, were badly burnt, in some cases only shreds of clothing being left.

Corves throughout the pit were standing on the rails, with the exception of some empty ones not far from the shaft, and which were turned over.

The under manager, followed by the hanger on, had gone, after the explosion, through a door which was kept locked and of which he had the key, and then through a sheet, expecting, no doubt, to get into the air from the Staple pit, but instead they met the smoke and the after damp and their bodies were found about 50 yards beyond the sheet.

The downcast shaft had been sunk some years ago to the Blocking seam, a distance of 25 yards below the Wheatley seam, and a staple pit was also sunk from the New Hards to the Blocking. A heading was driven in this seam until a 'throw’ was met with and on going through this and boring upwards, it was found that the New Hards was thrown down 48 yards. An incline was then driven from the bottom of the downcast for the purpose of working the New Hards. This seam was finally abandoned in 1888, and as the coal dipped from a point a short distance from beyond the ‘throw’ water was allowed rise, and the whole of the working became flooded to this point, The only roads left open were those between the downcast and the Staple pit, as shown on the plan, and a pump was fixed at the bottom of the Staple pit to keep these clear from such water as overflowed down the incline. A man went down every day to see that this pump was in good order, and on the morning of the explosion, he found no gas, everything appearing to be as usual.

We made a careful examination both of the downcast and Staple shafts to the Blacking seam, as well as of such proportion of the roads in the seam as were open.

There were no indications whatever of fire, nor any trace of the force of the explosion, in the Blocking seam road nor in, nor at the bottom of the Staple pit, but the downcast shaft between the Wheatley and Blocking seams presented a very different appearance, the wooden case guides or conductors, were almost entirely burnt out. Without doubt there had been here a very serious conflagration, and it can be quite understood the exploring party correctly described the noise they heard to be like the roaring of a furnace.

The Cause Of The Explosion

The explosion was caused, in our opinion, by the ignition of an inconsiderable accumulation of gas at the porch of the Wheatley seam in the downcast shaft. This gas apparently, had been given off from a feeder behind the brick walling of the shaft and 'collected under and about the scaffold, some of it also finding its way into the troughs or boxes which conveyed the haulage rope under the flat sheets.

A wooden staging was fixed in the shaft at the Wheatley seam for landing the cages, at either side of which was left a space for a scale of air to pass through for the purpose of ventilating the short distance of roads open in the Blocking seam which we have alluded to. These spaces amounted to about 4 square feet each and acted as a regulator, the air passing thus to the bottom, and after traversing the Blocking seam, ascending the staple pit, at the top of which it joined the Wheatley seam air, and passed thence to the upcast, 'or 'Ingham' pit.

Some time ago, when the haulage rope boxes were put in, just under the staging referred to above, a small quantity of gas was given off, and which apparently came from a ‘leader’ or 'fault' situated there, and which crossed the shaft in the porch. The manager at the time intended to utilise this gas at the bottom of the shaft, and with this object, fixed a pipe, having one end through the brick walling in the shaft, the other end being taken up into the porch. This was never used, in consequence of there not being enough gas to light. It seems, however, that gas had been noticed here on at least two or three occasions, the most recent being sometime about last Easter when in consequence of water rising in the staple pit, the airway down the shaft underneath the staging became cut off. The open lights in the proch were at once withdrawn, and safety lamps temporarily substituted. As soon as the blocked airway was restored, open lights however were again introduced.

It seemed likely from appearances, after a minute examination, that the gas was ignited at these open lights, and the flame passed like a train of gunpowder to the feeder of gas, described above, under the singing.

Lamentable Nature Of The Affair
Men To Form Relief Committee

On Thursday afternoon, a meeting of the Relief Committee took place at the Local Board Offices, Mr .J. Brown, presiding, said he hardly knew which had affected him most — the lamentable nature of the calamity or the ready response which had been made for assistance to provide relief for the bereaved.

Mr Eli Townend considered it would be well to leave each Town Council or Local Board district to arrange its own methods of collecting moneys.

Colonel Lee suggested that the Executive Committee should consist of men for the most part who lived in the neighbourhood. The committee was then constituted as follows :-
The Rev H Chadwick, and Messrs E.T. Ingham, colliery owner, Thomas Ward, J Crowther, Alfred Hill, Tom Kilner, William Barraclough, Samuel Firth, J. Schofield and Lidbetter.

The Ones They Left Behind
Neighbourhood Men To Form Relief Committee

The trustees were given uncontrolled discretion as to the manner and sums of money the sufferers of the colliery explosion should receive. The indenture expressly declared that the trustees should, in the event of any gross misconduct by anyone receiving payment, be given full power and authority, if they thought fit, to stop for a specified period or absolutely, part, or all, of the said payments.

The disaster left 65 widows and 220 children, 182 of these being under working age. In one family seven children were left fatherless, in another six. Widows were paid five shillings a week, and children, under 13, two shillings a week. Daughters on their wedding day were given a small dowry of a few pounds. Miners at the time earned about £1-10s a week.