Swaithe Main Colliery Disaster - Worsbrough

Gillian Nixon

I am at present working on an article about the Swaithe Main Pit disaster in 1875 in which 146 men and boys lost their lives. I chose the Swaithe as there is a lot of original material in Barnsley Archives relating to the event. There is a minute book of of the relief committee from which I am taking most of my information. There are also extensive write ups in the newespapers covering the actual event and the funerals of the deceased. The correspondence concerning the issue of relief covers many weeks in the correspondence columns. There are also two items which are of great interest to the family historians who may have had ancestors killed in the disaster. There are four sheets, each sheet is divided into six columns - name, residence, age, wife, children and remarks. The remarks column very often gives the children's names and their ages and the amount of relief they were eligible for, or remarks about their dependants. This column also gave information as to whether they belonged to any friendly or sick societies. Two typical entries are: -

The other item is the case book. This must have been specially printed for the fund, as it has Swaithe Main Colliery Explosion printed on every page.

The book has 7 pre-printed columns.
Names of deceased, names of widows or other dependants, names of children, date of birth, usually the children but sometimes the widow or other dependant, when allowance ceases for children, when allowance ceases for widow, and a remarks column.

The date of birth of the children was needed to acertain if they were eligible for relief. This would cease as soon as the child was of school leaving age as they would be considered able to earn a wage to support themselves and their family. If anyone thinks that an ancestor perished in the Swaithe I will gladly examine the books for them.

I will gladly look up details in either document. I also have the newspaper report on the inquest which usually gives a small paragraph on each person. There are also accounts of the funerals and services which took place. I can be contacted via the Barnsley Archives email address archives@barnsley.gov.uk

Names of men and boys killed in the Swaithe Main Disaster 1875

© Gillian Nixon 1994

The above article was published in The Journal of the Barnsley Family History Society Vol 2 no 3 July 1994. It is reproduced here by permission of the Committee and Editors.
All Rights Reserved

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