People gathered in a West Cumbrian town this weekend to commemorate the 175th anniversary of a pit disaster.
On October 28 1848, between 6am and 7am, there was an explosion at Whinney Hill in Cleator Moor, which killed 30 men and boys – the youngest aged 12.
A new plaque was unveiled on the anniversary yesterday to mark the event
The colliery was owned by the Haematite Mining Company and according to the Northern Mine Research Society, at the inquest into the men and boys’ deaths, it was in a dangerous state and the explosion was caused when a workman took the top off his lamp to light his pipe.
The list of those killed, according to the Northern Mine Research Society, were:
- James Thompson, 26
- Thomas Aitken, 39
- Richard Lawson, 46
- James Milby, 26
- John Cummins, 24
- George Vetch, 47
- Daniel Loebery, 32
- William Lish, 23
- John Barwise, 28
- John Atkinson, 32
- John MacDougall, 46
- Dennis Savage, 26
- Patrick Kelly, 23
- John Hall, 30
- Patrick Monaghan, 41
- Thomas Fitzsimmons, 25
- Alexander Davidson, 23
- William Dryden, 23
- John Lawson, 16
- Robert Lawson, 12
- Charles Loebrey, 21
- James Dowie, 18
- John Aikin, 17
- Robert Clark, 13
- Henry W, 19
- John Milby, 18
- James Harrison, 29
- George Watson
- John Ward, 18
- John Disley, 22
- Edward Bradley
- Thompson Piper, the furnaceman, escaped.
