West Stanley, Durham. 16th February, 1909.

The explosion occurred about 3.45 p.m. and about five minutes before the explosion, Mr. Stephenson, the electrical engineer said the pumpman in the Busty Seam telephoned the generating station to switch on the current as he wanted to start the pump and at the time of the explosion the pump was working. There were two indications that an explosion had occurred with an interval of about 50 seconds between them and observed at the surface. Ralph Stevenson said-
“I stood at the lip of the edge of the downcast pit and looked at the ropes, then fairly steady, and then down the shaft. I heard a roar and saw a red flame right down the shaft. As the roar increased I stepped quickly back and called the other men to keep clear. I then stumbled about four yards from the shaft and fell sideways and just at that moment I saw a large ball of fire issue from the mouth of the pit, followed by a thick black cloud. The cloud spread around me whilst I was still on the ground. I was in darkness, still prostrate. When I was in the act of rising again the air in the shaft reversed and carried the remainder of the black cloud with it and I was then in clear air.”

He went to the shaft and found that he doors on the bottom deck were splintered and broken open. Shortly afterwards, about five minutes, two of the three fuses on the switch board in the generator house which carried the current down the mine, blew. First there was a loud burring noise which indicated that there was an overload and then the fuses blew. Simultaneously smoke came from the downcast shaft and the doors at the ‘horse-hole’ at the upcast shaft were blown open but swung to on their own. Fifteen seconds afterwards, a ball of flame issued from the downcast shaft followed by a dense cloud of black smoke.

Albert Todd, the engine winder, was bringing up a set of tubs from the south side near the Busty Seam. There was curve on the brow with an iron guard rail which directed the tubs. When the set was about half way round the curve he stopped the engine because the rope was tight and he thought the tubs were off the road. He reversed the engine and immediately the explosion occurred. The cages were stuck in the shaft and a considerable time elapsed before the shaft was free and the rescuers could get down. There were three survivors from the Towneley Seam, twenty six from the Tilley Seam and one from the Busty Seam but all those who were in the Brockwell lost their lives. The sole survivor from the Busty Seam, Matthew Elliott was recovered unconscious and remained so for about a month after the accident.

On their arrival at the colliery the Inspectors found that both the downcast and the upcast shafts were damaged and the shaftsmen were engaged in clearing a way for the cages which fortunately were not damaged very much. While this work was going on, work went under way to make a temporary hospital in the joiner’s shop. Medical stores, oxygen and other materials that were likely to be needed were brought to the hospital including Draegar, and other rescue apparatus under the control of Mr. Simonds of Messrs. Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company, Eleswick works who arrive by car within two and half hours of the disaster and bringing men who were trained to use the apparatus. Unfortunately no opportunity presented itself to use the apparatus. The arrangements in the joiners shop were required for only three men, one from the Busty seam and two from the Towneley seam who were brought up the downcast shaft after the necessary repairs had been made.

By 2 a.m. the downcast shaft was repaired and rescue parties went down into the Towneley and Busty seams. They found twenty six men in the Towneley seam that had escaped the effects of the explosion, probably due to the absence of dust in the drift leading from the Busty to the Towneley seam. The landing was wet, which suppressed the dust and the men did not try to get to the shafts. The men from the Towneley seam were Patrick Joyce, John Smith, Patrick Cogan and Robert Leadbetter. Leadbetter struggled for life for thirty hours when he was given attention of the doctors and nurses in the temporary hospital but died from the effects of the fumes that he had inhaled.

Along with Matthew Elliott from the Busty seam, these were the only men who were taken from the pit alive.

News of the disaster reached the London evening papers on 16th. February and the Committed of the Miners’ Federation passed a motion that-

“our secretary write [to] Mr. John Wilson M.P. that this Committee deeply sympathise and console the bereaved families who have lost their breadwinners and beloved ones in the dreadful explosion at the West Stanley Colliery Durham.”

The damage to the downcast shaft extended to the surface and the casing erected from ground level to the underside of the hempstead which was blown down on three sides and the roof of the hempstead damaged. At the upcast shaft there was little damage at the surface and the fan was not damaged and continued to run but the water gauge fell from 1.5 inches to 1.3 inches.

The work of exploration went on round the clock and by 22nd February, 165 bodies had been recovered and brought to the surface. Two men were still missing and the search for them was carried on until 5th March when all hope of finding them was abandoned. It was known where they were likely to be but they could not be found and owing to the increasing danger to the exploring parties the attempts were abandoned.

Two of the bodies were left in the mine as unrecoverable.

The inquiry opened on the 29th March in St. Andrew’s Institute, Stanley before the Coroner, Mr. Graham and all interested parties were represented. Messrs. W.E. Harvey, M.P., and H. Twist reported in the inquiry into the disaster to the Miners’ Federation Committee at a meeting held on the 6th. May 1909 at the Westminster Palace Hotel, London.

There was conflicting evidence as to the original point of the explosion. Matthew

Elliott was the only survivor who witnessed the explosion who was the sole survivor from the Busty Seam. He was too ill to attend the inquiry but his evidence was taken at home. He said-

“On the afternoon of the explosions I was on the flat sheets near the shaft on the

South side when I heard a loud noise coming from the South Side which seemed to shake the whole of the shaft sidings. It was so violent that the tubs rattled as if they had been upset, and it was followed by a big cloud of dust, and the lights went out. I had a small safety lamp burning in the cabin which showed the dust.”

The witness said that electric lights on the South side went out before the explosion and he heard a boy, Charles Redman crying, ‘Help me," three times. He tried to get into the cabin to get the lad a drink of water and he remembered no more. Elliott was found by a rescue party exactly where he fell. His body was severely burned.

Mr. W.C. Blackett, a mining engineer speaking on behalf of the owners had formed theories as to the approximate locality of the first ignition. He thought that it was possible that it originated in the Towneley seam, or in the Brockwell seam although he thought Elliott’s evidence did not support this theory. Mr. Blackett continued-

“If then the Towneley and the Brockwell seams are absolved from blame, it is necessary to revert to the contemplation of Elliott’s impression being correct and in that case the only possible point of the initiation to b suspected is somewhere in the immediate vicinity of a big fall just round the Busty West way, and the only cause I can conceive is a very thick and heavy cloud of dust being raised by a fall of stone, which may have brought about by an accident to the set which was being hauled outbye and was the cause of it having been rapped hold. What has ignited such a cloud of dust I can not say. I am very disappointed that I can unable to give any more definite conclusions and I regret the somewhat uncertain state in which I must leave the matter. I could not believe that such an explosion could not have occurred and be developed in all seams without leaving clearer evidence of its cause.”