Llanbradach Memorial 1904-1913

Llanbradach colliery deaths 1904-1913

1904

  • William Evans, aged 33, died on 14 January as the result of a roof fall the previous November.
  • David Jenkins, 40, was killed on 12 August by the sudden fall of two pairs of timbers and their laggings, above which he had cleared away all the loose rubbish. He lived in the Cwm, Caerphilly, and left a widow and five children.
  • Jonathan James, 31, was working at the face on 19 August when he removed a sprag. The top coal fell and dislodged a road-prop which struck him in the abdomen. Although suffering severely, he declared himself able to walk to his home in Lewis Terrace, supported by his fellow workmen. Village GP Dr James Lloyd diagnosed severe internal injuries, which caused Jonathan’s death the next day in the presence of his parents, brothers and sisters. He was buried in Bedwas.
  • William Boyland, a collier boy aged 14, was stowing rubbish in the gob on 12 September when a large mass of coal fell on him. He was taken to his home in Wingfield Crescent, apparently dead. Dr Lloyd did all he could for the boy, who died of head injuries two days later.
  • John Harpur, 51, was carrying a sheet of iron on his shoulders across a road on which four wagons, filled with small coal, were being shunted on 30 November. The sheet of iron probably prevented him from seeing the wagons, which knocked him down, passing over his legs. He was taken to the Cardiff Infirmary, where one of his legs was amputated. He died a few hours later and was buried at Ystrad Mynach.
  • Richard Evans, 47, a mason’s labourer, was employed on the construction of the coal washery. While wheeling a barrow of stones he overbalanced and fell 5.2m (17ft) to the ground.

Colliery fatalities in the South Wales Division: 198.
Manpower: 163,034

1905

  • John Lane, 16, was crushed on 12 January 1905 by a fall of coal. He lived for only ten minutes after the accident; his body was taken home to his parents in Cardiff.
  • David Jenkins, 27, was crushed to death on 23 September when a small rope attached to a full journey of trams coiled around him. The rider whose duty it was to unhitch the rope had left the place at the time of the accident. At the inquest the coroner summed up for manslaughter but the jury gave the rider the benefit of the doubt.
  • Lewis Morgan, 50, a roadman, was unloading rubbish from a tram on 14 October 1904. A large stone knocked out a road-post, and so released the roof it had supported. About 250kg (5 cwt) of cliff fell. He died on the 23 May 1905.
  • Fred Elliott, of Llanbradach, suffered severe injuries from a roof-fall in No.2 pit.

Colliery fatalities in the South Wales Division: 363
Manpower: 165,609  

1906

  • Thomas Baker, 50, was pulling down a piece of coal in the four-feet seam on 26 January 1906 when he stumbled, fell across the rails of the Barry face, and fractured his ribs. He walked 1,100 yards to the shaft, and three miles home. He never returned to work. He suffered inflammation of the lung, caused by the laceration, and died on 2 March.
  • Frederick Roberts, 17, a collier boy, was working in the nine-feet seam on 20 April when a stone weighing 150 to 200kg (3 to 4 cwt) fell on him. He died before being brought to the bank. At the time of the accident his father, originally a tinplate worker from Lydney, was on the pit-top seeking work. The family lived in Wingfield Terrace.
  • Isaac Powell, 16, employed as a cleaner in the engine-house, was struck on the head by the crank of the winding engine on 29 December. After the accident his body was found outside the crank-pit fence, while the head of his brush was in the crank-pit. The coroner thought the head of the brush may have fallen into the pit as Isaac was passing with his bucket and he may have tried to reach it. Isaac’s home was at 1 Castle Street, Caerphilly. The inquest learned that the boy’s father died in a pit explosion some years earlier.

Colliery fatalities in the South Wales Division: 223
Manpower: 174,660

1907

  • William Richards, 38, a hitcher, tried on 24 June to get out of the way of a journey of 30 full trams which were out of control and approaching the pit–bottom rapidly. He tried to jump across the shaft, but failed and fell between the cage bearers from the four feet seam to the nine feet seam, a distance of about 41m (45 yards). He left a widow and seven children.
  • Richard Thomas, 15, was a slag picker on the screens. On the 22 August, when the screen engine was started at the commencement of the shift, screams were heard coming from the end of one of the picking belts; the machinery was stopped and the lad was found twisted round the shaft of a sprocket wheel which works a scraper conveyor on the loading arm. He had no business to be there. Richard was the son of David Thomas who brought his family to Llanbradach in 1896; at first a colliery carpenter he later started a building business in partnership with David Hughes and together they were responsible for erecting Thomas Street and Church Street and much of Tynygraig Road. Richard was buried in Bethania graveyard, Ystrad Mynach, to be joined by his mother, Mary, in 1923 and by his father in1951.
  • John T Dixon, 43, was struck dead by a piece of stone as he was sitting down resting on 24 September.
  • Frank Mapp, 39, had his neck broken by a large stone which fell on him   on 29 October.
  • Isaac Mortimer, 24, was crushed by a roof fall on 20 November.

1908

  • Thomas Jones, 25, died on 13 January after a shotfiring (blasting to loosen the coal or rock) incident which nearly led to a charge of manslaughter against a fellow workman. The inquest, at Llanbradach police station, heard that Jones, the shotsman, had an assistant with him that day called Alfred Piper, who was not qualified to fire a shot but did so while Thomas Jones was close to the explosive charge. Piper explained to the coroner and jury that he thought Jones had asked him to fire the shot and through a misunderstanding he believed Jones had left the danger area.
    The inquest jury gave a unanimous verdict of “Death from Misadventure” but the colliery owners took Piper – a widower with four children – to Caerphilly magistrates, who made him pay a £1 fine and 6 shillings in costs.

1909

  • Henry Matthews, a labourer aged 46, was painting the headgear    on 19 May when he fell off a temporary staging into the mine shaft.
  • William Francis Hill, 20, was throwing rubbish (spoil from the coalface) back to a mate on 11 November when a large piece of rock fell on him. He died from his injuries the next day.

1910

  • John Williams, 35, a master haulier, was braking an empty tram on 11 February when a loaded tram broke loose and crushed him. He lived at De Winton Terrace.
  • William Brown, a 36-year-old mason working above ground on 27 July, struck into an overflow from the boilers and was soon up to his waist in boiling water. He died in the first from severe injuries to his back and legs in the first week of September. He was buried at Penyrheol cemetery.
  • WJ Attwell, 22, injured his hand while loading a tram on 2 September. He died of septic poisoning on 28 September.
  • George Morgan, 36, a master haulier, was overtaken and crushed on 19 October by four trams of rubbish which he had left standing on a gradient of 1 in 4. He lived in Plastirtwyn Terrace.
  • Ernest Jones, a collier’s helper aged 17, was caught beneath a fall of roof at the working face on 17 November. After receiving first aid, he was taken to the rail station and left for Caerphilly by the 1.07 train but died before the train reached Caerphilly. While waiting for the train he was laid on the table in the general waiting room, surrounded by a crowd. The Caerphilly Journal commented that workmen in such circumstances deserved better treatment, more suitable accommodation, and that ambulance carriages should be in readiness at all places where large numbers of workers are engaged in dangerous work.

1911

  • Frederick Williams, 38, a timberman, was killed on 13 January by a roof fall at the workface. His funeral took place at St Martin’s Church, Caerphilly.
  • Charles Pratley, aged 34 years, had collected his pay on 29 April and was making his way home when he was knocked down by a wagon as he crossed the railway sidings. His right arm and left leg were severed. He was taken to the Cardiff Infirmary but died on 1 May. He had been employed as an ostler (looking after the pit ponies).
  • Walter Oliver, 22, injured his knee when he fell to the ground while unloading rubbish from a wagon on 16 June. He died from septic pneumonia on the 28 June.
  • William Perry, 59, of 3 Rees Terrace, was struck on the leg by a haulage rope as he was greasing a roller on 2 October. He suffered a deep wound but it did not extend to the bone. He died a week later of lockjaw (inability to open the mouth because of infection).

1912

  • Robert Owen, 73, was employed as a ripper below ground but he died on 31 January after falling from a bridge near the screens. The bridge had a four-foot fence and it was not known how he came to fall over.
  • David Young, 31, died of blood poisoning at King Edward VII Hospital, Cardiff, on 20 February. After cleaning underneath a roller he rested his hand on the haulage rope. At that moment the journey started and his hand was crushed between the rope and the roller. At the time of the accident on 8 February he received first aid from colleague Ben Morgan and later from Dr James Lloyd, the colliery practitioner. He lived in De Winton Terrace with his wife and three children.
  • Stanley (or Sydney) Tanner, 40, a roadman, was helping to adjust a journey of trams which had derailed on 27 September when the rope which lay flat on the floor began to work and lifted up by about two metres (five or six feet), catching him under the chin. He was a married man from Bedwas.
  • John Fry, 38, an assistant timberman, was making room to stand a pair of timbers on 22 November when the roof collapsed and killed him.
  • George Idris Tudor, 15, lived with his parents in Beech Street, Ystrad Mynach and had been employed at the colliery for 18 months, on the screens. He died on Saturday 14 December. The inquest, in the Beech Tree Hotel, heard evidence from Wyndham Edwards, weigher, that the boy had to call out the numbers of trams as they came out of the tumbler of the screens. He saw George crossing the tramroad just as a tram was running into the tumbler. He was knocked into the tumbler and died soon afterwards in the saddler’s shop. The boy had no need to cross at that point. The place was well-lit by electricity.  A verdict of accidental death was recorded.

1913

  • William Rawlins, 41, was shunting a tram of rubbish on 4 April when it derailed and knocked out an arm of timber, causing a fall of roof which killed him.
  • Herbert Thomas, 31, a sheavesman, was trying to get the rope to coil properly on a main and tail drum when he was caught by the rope and carried partly around the drum. Three days later, on 13 May, he died from his injuries.
  • Watkin Morgan, 40, trafficman, injured his spine by falling after slipping on a rail. The accident happened in June but he lived on until 3 December.
  • Henry Staite, 52, was standing on a full tram on 13 June when some other trams a little distance away ran wild. As he jumped down and was getting out of the way he was caught between the trams and crushed. He died two days later.
  • William Yeo, 14, a collier boy, was running to the shaft on 26 August when he was caught and crushed by a hoist which is used for loading the upper deck of the pit cage. He died the following day.
  • Joseph Smith, 52, was cleaning the sump on 21 September, with the cages suspended in the shaft. (The sump was the pit at the foot of the mine shaft where water gathered for pumping out.) Something fell from below the “Four Feet mouthing”, struck him on the head and killed him.
  • William Furse, 41, timberman, was carrying out a repair in the main level when he was killed by a roof fall on 11 December.
  • Frederick Jewel, 17, a collier boy, was caught and killed by some trams which ran wild down a haulage road on 29 December.

Colliery fatalities in the South Wales Division: 782
Manpower: 232,821