REMEMBER 100 YEARS AGO THE BIGGEST COAL MINING DISASTER

At 8.30 on 14 October 1913 miners in South Wales started their shift 2000 ft below the surface and soon after a massive boom were heard. Apparently a spark from an electric bell had ignited a dangerous mix of methane gas and coal dust.  The miners call it “firedamp”. It caused an enormous fireball which went through the pit in Senghenydd, near Caerphilly. It was like a river of flame. The miners had no chance.  They died within seconds.

The 439 miners who died was the worst disaster in British history. The explosion was so powerful it was felt in the Welsh valley above.  The death included 63 teenagers and amongst them were 23 only 14-16 years old.  162 were in their 20s and the disaster let 542 children fatherless and 200 widows.

Just to give the full picture of the impact that one woman had eight coffins in her house. She lost her husband, three brothers and four sons. It is incredible how anybody can bear such a loss.

The grand daughter Hilary who lost both her grandfathers points at the long terraced row of two-bedroom miners’ cottages and said: “This was only a small village. Not a single house was unaffected. Growing up here, all of us had lost a member of our family. Today nothing remains of the mine that produced endless tonnes of coal to fuel the British Empire.”

A sheer miracle occurred of 18 men were rescued because they were in an air pocket. Altogether 489 miners were not brought out alive.

This is one of hundreds of accidents big and small and the impact of the family was always devastating of which the Government and pit owners cokuld not care less.

According to the records the catastrophe could have been avoided. The wealthy pit owners did not take the advice already ordered by Act of Parliament and installed safety methods.  After an earlier explosion in the Universal Colliery Parliament ordered to control electrical equipment to prevent sparking, to water dusty areas, and to have reversible fans so clean air could be provided in emergencies. All this was ignored. The knowledge of it must be the worst to the families who lost their loved ones.

The mine manager Edward Shaw was fined for negligence just £24 which meant 6p for every live lost. The owner was fined £10 because he did not install reversible fans.

The town has now built a memorial to all those lives lost and it was unveiled on 14 October by school children featuring stone plaques for each of the men who died.  They also had engraved paving stones for victims of 150 other pit accidents as a tribute to the victims.

All these men working in mines built the British Empire and yet when it came to Margaret Thatcher being Prime Minister she just closed those mines regardless.  These men and some women worked under ground under harsh condition with death constantly at their elbow.  Britain would not have had the great industrial revolution if it was not for the miners bringing up coal. The same men fought so bitterly for their job and not many would have stepped in or envy them but they were proud men and proud of doing their job. 

Margaret Thatcher stepped on them and involves the police paying them highly which earned them the deserved nickname “Maggis Bootboys”.  Not only did she destroy those men’s income but the whole community. All the little shops in their small villages must have gone bust.  It was nothing but a cold blooded crime she committed.