Thursday, about two o'clock in the afternoon, one of those dreadful explosions which have been so lamentably frequent in mining districts, took place at one of Mr. Russell's collieries, at Wallsend, known by the name of the church pit, or Russell's old Wallsend, by which twenty-six men and seventy-five boys lost their lives, leaving twenty-four widows and eighty-three children to bewail their sudden, and, under the circumstances, most sorrowful departure.

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After the disaster of 1821, improvements had been made to the ventilation and for fourteen years there had been no accidents at the colliery until this one. The explosion caused the deaths of 102 men and boys and four others were seriously injured. Eleven horses were also killed.

The pit had been examined by the viewers and it was considered safe for the men to go down and work. There were four very experienced overmen and deputies down the pit at the time of the explosion. Two hundred and fifty men and boys were in the mine at the time of the disaster. The hewers had started work early in the morning and had finished getting coal. It was then brought to the bottom of the shaft by the young men and boys during the day. This was the customary way in which the colliery worked.  

The explosion occurred in the Bensham Seam at about 2 p.m.. About 60 hewers had left the pit after their morning’s work and the majority in the pit were young persons, putters, drivers and trappers who were getting the coal out. Six hewers were working in the coal with candles. There were few indications of the disaster at the surface. One of the banksmen at 'G' Pit, John Patterson, had just unhooked the lowest full corve from the rope and placed an empty corve in the pit, when a gust of wind blew it out and carried his hat over the headgear. Just after this the men saw smoke coming from the Pit. he described it as ‘a lightish colour’ and as ‘a puff that ceased almost immediately’.

The two furnacemen employed in the ‘A’ Pit succeeded in escaping through the ‘C’’ Pit and four persons were found alive at the bottom of ‘G’ Pit but one of the men died soon afterwards. Eight men immediately volunteered to go down but at the bottom of the shaft, afterdamp drove them back up again and were almost insensible when they got to the surface. Mr. Buddle and his assistants went down the ‘C’ shaft but there was so much damage that they had to go to the surface without recovering any of the bodies. The day the bodies of two men and nineteen boys were recovered Some had been burned but the majority had died from the effects of the afterdamp.

At about 10 a.m. on 20th June, three men were brought out of the mine alive. They had been entombed for 65 hours and it was said that they did not suffer from hunger. One of them had to have his leg amputated and died as result which brought the final death toll to 102. There were seventeen women widowed, eight mothers who lost sons and forty eight children under 14 years of age left fatherless.  

John Reed, father of Percival and John was one of four who were got out of the mine alive and had his leg amputated.

The Coroner’s inquest continued until the 29th June and an examination of the mine found that the explosion had not originated in any part of the workings. The indications of the greatest violence were near the ‘G’ shaft and the source was trace to a point where two men were blasting down roof in roller-way leading to the ‘B’ Pit to make the height necessary for a horse to pass. These men had been allowed to use naked lights where blasting was going on but they had been restricted to safety lamps where the stones were deposited. Near where they were working there were doors which led to a highly dangerous part of the mine and form the position of the men’s lamps it was concluded that they had approached one of these doors with a naked light which caused the explosion of the gas that had accumulated in the workings.  

A fatal feature was the blowing out of the brattice in the ‘G’ Pit. From the experience at the ‘A’ Pit in 1821, Mr. Buddle sunk the ‘G’ form the Main Coal in two shafts, six feet in diameter, separated by a partition of rock but this arrangement failed to answer his expectations. One hundred feet of timber brattice above the Min Coal was carried away, fell down the shafts and close the mouths of the two shafts to the Bensham Seam. If this had not occurred, Mr. Buddle was of the opinion that the death toll would have been halved. The accident was cited as one which occurred in a mine where safety were lamps used.  

After hearing all the evidence the Coroner summed up by saying -

“Gentlemen, this unhappy occurrence which has take place, might any day, any instant of time, or these last fourteen years, have happened and it can therefore be said that providence has been unwatchful of the lives of numerous individuals who have gained their bread in their perilous employment. For reasons of infinite wisdom, inscrutable to the human mind, it had been suffered to take place. The fire went forth and one hundred human beings have instantly been swept form the face of the earth. But are we to suppose that this awful visitation will pass away without anyone ultimately benefit? May it not be he means of leading to investigation in the highest quarters? Men of science and leering will devote their thoughts, their energies, to the inquiry and who dare deny that the same Providence that so long arrested, and had now willed this deplorable event, may direct on some superior individual, whose gigantic mind may suitably grapple with the latent foe, and generations yet unborn look back with gratitude to the cause of future protection. Thus may good spring out of evil.”  

The jury returned the following verdict-

“We find our verdict to be Accidental Death, arising from the explosion of inflammable air but how, or in what part of the mine it originated, there is no evidence to shew. In recording the verdict, the jury express their full conviction, that there has been no want of due care and precaution on the part of those who have direction and management of the mine.”

Explosions in coal mines were becoming more frequent and the fact was being noticed by parliament. A motion in the House by Mr. Pease, M.P. for South Durham resulted in a Select Committee to inquire into the subject to be set up on the 2nd June 1835 to-

“Inquire into the nature, cause and extent of those lamentable catastrophes which have occurred in the mines of Great Britain with the view of asserting and suggesting the means of preventing the recurrence of similar fatal accidents.”