Bentley Colliery. 1931. 45 Killed.
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On Friday 20th. November 1931, at approximately 5.45 p.m., an explosion of firedamp occurred in the North East District that resulted in the death of 45 men and boys.
At the time of the explosion there were about 1,000 miners in the mine. Most of them were in other sections of the mine and they were taken out of the pit.
The blast was described as a sudden flash of flame that shot across the workings. "The roof and the walls came down like a thunderclap", explained one survivor.
The place was described as "seething with flames", and the blast blew miners into the air.
Numerous miners were overcome by afterdamp and falls of ground in the roads prevented men from reaching the exit shaft.
Rescue parties, wearing breathing apparatus cleared a way through the debris.
During these operations fires were burning; the threat of more explosions was ever present. Three members of a rescue team were severely burned by a second blast; a third occurred later.
The casualties (the dead and injured) were carried on stretchers from the scene of the accident to the pit shaft, a remarkable achievement under any circumstances, but even more so in the dangerous conditions they were in.
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Eight men were awarded the Edward Medal for special gallantry. (Exchange George Crosses were presented by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on the 14th November 1972, to six of them).
Ernest ALLPORT. Edward Medal (Silver) - GC exchange.
Richard Edward DARKER. Edward Medal (Bronze) - GC exchange.
Edgar Hamilton Frazer. Edward Medal.
Oliver SOULSBY. Edward Medal (Bronze) - GC exchange.
Frank SYKES. Edward Medal (Bronze) - GC exchange.
Samuel Jarrett TEMPERLEY. Edward Medal (Silver) - GC exchange.
John Ward. Edward Medal.
Phillip William YATES. Edward Medal (Bronze) - GC exchange.
Extracts from The Daily Telegraph.
John Ward, a pony driver who was near an adjacent part of the coalface when the blast occurred, was blown off his feet and enveloped in a thick cloud of dust. As soon as he recovered himself he went to the face, guiding himself in the darkness by feeling rails and tubs, to help an injured man to safety. He repeatedly returned to the coalface to help extricate injured men and bring them away; and he continued at rescue work for three hours, until he was completely exhausted.
The intensity of the tragedy became more apparent during the inquest at the colliery three days later, when pitiful tales surfaced. The youngest of the victims was a boy of 17. One miner was working in another part of the mine just before the explosion. Having come up to the surface, he heard of the disaster and immediately volunteered to join the rescue parties. He went down to the pit, where he found his own son lying unconscious. He picked him up and dragged him out, so that he could be taken to hospital, but it was the last time he saw him alive.
The first men to arrive on the scene from workings nearby found tragic scenes of miners scattered about the ground, their clothes burned away by the flames. Some appeared to have been blinded.
Yates, along with his colleagues Richard Darker, Oliver Soulsby and Frank Sykes, showed great gallantry and perseverance in extricating the injured and taking them to safety.
At the pit-head a silent crowd of 2,000 men and women watched the continual procession of ambulances and stretcher bearers. Some of the men were almost impossible to identify because of their terrible injuries.
Of 47 men working that night at or near the coalface, 45 were either killed or died later. Five of those were entombed in the mine, after all efforts to reach them had to be abandoned.
In the opinion of Sir Henry Walker Chief H.M.I., the explosion started as a result of a gob fire that was not detected due to the volume of air circulating in the roads.
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Names of victims.
Agnew, William, aged 34.
Allsopp, aged 27.
Atkinson, Charles, aged 37.
Barcock, Albert Edward, aged 17.
Beastall, Henry, aged 58.
Bentley, George Robert, aged 46.
Brett, John, aged 37.
Brocklehurst, William, aged 45.
Brown, John, aged 31.
Buxton, Stanley, aged 28.
Calladine, Albert, aged 31.
Callaghan, John, aged 37.
Cawood, Ernest, aged 50.
Cheetham, Herbert, aged 30.
Dove, Thomas aged 42.
Farnsworth, William, aged 29.
Grain, Joseph William, aged 35.
Greaves, James Roland, aged 35.
Green, Thomas, aged 42.
Guy, Leonard, aged 34.
Hayes, Clifford, aged 25.
Hibbert, Alfred, aged 44.
Hopkinson, Thomas, aged 33.
Huckerby, Albert Edward, aged 29.
Jones, Leonard, aged 24.
Kirkland, Arthur, aged 44.
Lawton, Harold, aged 31.
Llewellyn, aged 47.
Maloney, Daniel, aged 35.
Mason, Samuel, aged 47.
Middleton, Wilfred, aged 36.
Peck, John Ernest, aged 34.
Perry, Richard Thomas, aged 53.
Pritchett, Joseph, aged 53.
Pritchett, William, aged 47.
Rowe, James, aged 56.
Singleton, George, aged 29.
Sleath, Lawrence Oliver, aged 27.
Smith, John Hilton, aged 24.
Templeman, Samuel William, aged 47.
Womack, Henry, aged 44.
Ward, William, aged 41.
Willcox, Clifford, aged 25.
Windle, Horace, aged ??
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