In the period that we now call the Industrial Revolution mining disasters wrecked the lives of thousands of South Yorkshire families and devastated entire communities. The Husker pit flooding of 1838 in which 26 young girls and boys were killed shocked Victorian society and and was a significant factor in the 1842 Report on Employment of Women and Children in Mines; but earlier, long forgotten disasters are also explored. The Barnsley area was particularly hard-hit during the middle decades of the century with major mining accidents, usually great explosions of firedamp occurring, for example, at Lundhill Colliery (189 men and boys killed); Oaks (361 fatalities, Britains worst pit disaster) and Swaithe Main (143 dead). Scenes of grief, mourning and remarkable heroism provided spectacular copy for Victorian newspapers and magazines such as The Illustrated London News, focusing on the very uncertain and dangerous life of the miner. Despite the importance and widespread occurrence of South Yorkshire mining disasters, which also included dreadful winding accidents and gas emissions, their story has never been told in a single volume.

In the period that we now call the Industrial Revolution mining disasters wrecked the lives of thousands of South Yorkshire families and devastated entire communities. The Husker pit flooding of 1838 in which 26 young girls and boys were killed shocked Victorian society and and was a significant factor in the 1842 Report on Employment of Women and Children in Mines; but earlier, long forgotten disasters are also explored. The Barnsley area was particularly hard-hit during the middle decades of the century with major mining accidents, usually great explosions of firedamp occurring, for example, at Lundhill Colliery (189 men and boys killed); Oaks (361 fatalities, Britain’s worst pit disaster) and Swaithe Main (143 dead). Scenes of grief, mourning and remarkable heroism provided spectacular copy for Victorian newspapers and magazines such as The Illustrated London News, focusing on the very uncertain and dangerous life of the miner. Despite the importance and widespread occurrence of South Yorkshire mining disasters, which also included dreadful winding accidents and gas emissions, their story has never been told in a single volume.

“These haunting images, with well-researched facts, figures and timelines providing context, bring the bygone era of 20th-century coal mining to life.”—Family Tree Although everyday fatalities in mines was far greater, it was the disasters that encouraged those in power to reform the way in which miners had to work underground, especially with regard to safety. And it would be no exaggeration to say that it was the disasters that greatly contributed to bringing the coal industry into national control. Sadly, for bereaved individuals and families, nothing could really compensate for the loss of one or more of a loved one. The impact of the big disasters, where hundreds of men and boys—one or two generations—were lost, immediately, the impact was massive, and continued to be felt many years afterwards. New and restored disaster memorials bear testimony to the great respect that former mining communities continue to have for their “lost miners.” Using many previously unpublished images, and a carefully supportive text, the author provides a detailed overview of mining disasters in the modern era, from the early 1900s to the 1980s. It is the first book of its kind to attempt such a large project in pictorial form with a foreword by Ceri Thompson, curator of the Big Pit, the Welsh national mining museum. The book is published at a particularly poignant time, after the recent closure of Britain’s last deep coal mine. “So many remarkable photographs and drawings: The story may be tragic, but it is one that lies at the very heart of the history of coal mining in Britain.”—WDYTYA? magazine

Yorkshire Mining Veterans is an extraordinary collection of stories told by the Veterans of the mines. Their memories span nearly a century from the early 1900's to the great strike of 1984/85 as well as the pit closures of the 1990's. Miners all across the Yorkshire region from the Selby Coalfield to the old West Riding area in and around Barnsley, Rotherham, Doncaster and Sheffield share their experiences with the reader.Brian began his research prepared to explore the many roles of miners, working conditions and their way of life, but interviews uncovered more remarkable stories, especially relating to the period before nationalisation. Getting a job often meant leaving school on Friday and starting work either in terrible conditions on the pit top screens, described by a 99 year old veteran as 'Miltonic' or 'on the haulage' in the cold pit bottom. Incredibly, one man described his work as a young trammer in the 1930's, painfully pushing tubs along a low underground roadway using a candle as his source of light, 'a throw back to conditions a century or more earlier'. A sprightly 93-year-old described an occasion when. as a young lad, he worked naked alongside his father and refused to make himself to make himself 'descent' when the lady Mayor made a VIP visit.Set chronologically according to the age of the miner, the author profiles each of the 47 veterans and tells their individual stories based on his interviews with them. Their stories, all previously untold, together with a superb collection of photographs makes fascinating reading.

Mining disasters attracted the attention of the public and the press during the twentieth century, just as they had done a few generations earlier. This interest was made even more immediate and certainly more graphic through the increasing use of photographic images and film; and the impact of broadcasting via radio and, eventually, television was immense. The disasters also demonstrated and underlined the tremendous courage that miners had for their comrades, selfless heroism evident on countless occasions. Although everyday fatalities in mines was far greater, it was the disasters that encouraged those in power to reform the way in which miners had to work underground, especially with regard to safety. And it would be no exaggeration to say that it was the disasters that greatly contributed to bringing the coal industry into national control. Sadly, for bereaved individuals and families, nothing could really compensate for the loss of one or more of a loved one. The impact of the big disasters, where hundreds of men and boys - one or two generations - were lost, immediately, the impact was massive, and continued to be felt many years afterwards. New and restored disaster memorials bear testimony to the great respect that former mining communities continue to have for their 'lost miners'.Using many previously unpublished images, and a carefully supportive text, the author provides a detailed overview of mining disasters in the modern era, from the early 1900s to the 1980s. It is the first book of its kind to attempt such a large project in pictorial form - with a Foreword by Ceri Thompson, curator of the Big Pit, the Welsh national mining museum. The book is published at a particularly poignant time, after the recent closure of Britain's last deep coal mine.

Lancashire Mining Disasters chronicles the effects, death and grief of the local mining communities in Lancashire, through colliery accidents and explosions from the early 1830's through to 1910. It also recalls the great bravery of other miners, often from other pits in the recue attempts, who with no thought of their own safety went below ground to try and their fellow comrades. In doing so, they knew full well that they were risking their own lives, probably facing death. Such was the comradeship in coal mining communities. In no other industry would men grapple at rock and roof falls with bare hands, wade through flooded smoking underground galleries, or face further explosions and deadly suffocating gases in order to try and save their fellow colleagues. And while all this was ongoing, the pit banks filled with the old men, the grieving womenfolk and children, waiting for news of a loved one - a brother, a son, a husband from deep below in a silent hell. As each cage was raised to the pit bank, the crowd lunged forward hoping, perhaps beyond hope, that their loved one was safe. Little wonder there were no carols sung at Christmastide 1910, at Westhoughton and Atherton in South Lancashire for here, a few days before Christmas an explosion followed by a searing hot fiery blast tore through the workings of the Hulton Colliery Company's Pretoria Pit - and in doing so in just a few seconds took away the lives of over three hundred man and boys. This still holds the unwelcome record of the greatest single colliery explosion in English coalming history. It was coal the fulled the steam engines at mills, factories and foundriers which was to make Britain the greatest industrial nation in the world - but what a terrible price the miners paid in putting the 'Great' in Britain. This was the 'True Price of Coal'.