Gresford Disaster (10:49)

"I should have thought that the miners' leaders were the stupidest men in the kingdom, if I had not met the owners."

attributed to Lord Birkenhead, 1926

Gresford Colliery [click for larger image]

Gresford Colliery as it appeared prior to The Disaster. ca. 1930

ER COF
AM Y 266 O LOWYR A GOLLODD
EU BYWYDAU YN NHANCHWA
GWAITH GLO GRESFFORDD

MEDI 22ain 1934

IN MEMORY
OF THE 266 MINERS
WHO LOST THEIR LIVES
IN THE
GRESFORD COLLIERY DISASTER

22nd SEPTEMBER 1934

At about 2am, in the morning on Saturday 22nd September 1934, an explosion occurred in the Dennis Section of Gresford Colliery, just outside Wrexham, in Denbighshire, Wales. It was at the time when many of the men might have been taking their break in the middle of the shift that had started the night before, on Friday 21st September at 10-00pm. Some 800 children lost their fathers and more than 200 women lost their husbands and sweethearts.

One of the most appalling disasters in the history of British mining occurred at the Gresford Colliery, owned by the Westminster and United Collieries Group. The mine operated in two main sections, the Dennis and the Slant. The explosion occurred in the Dennis, one of the deepest pits in the North Wales coalfields. The Dennis Main Deep was ruptured by the explosions, and many miners would have been flung across the pit roads, some of them dying instantly. Others were burnt alive, gassed, asphyxiated or crushed to death. There is no doubt that there were others trapped alive with no means of escape who were the victims of later explosions and the release of more gas, and who were dead before they were entombed forever by the sealing of the mine by their colleagues.

Only six men in the Dennis survived the explosion.

Within a few hours of the first explosion, more than 1000 men had assembled at the pithead in the cold and pouring rain, waiting to help their comrades, sealed behind a wall of fire, two miles from the bottom of the downtake shaft. This needs to be understood in the context of the times and the communications technology of the day.

The Chronicle reporter writes "As the pit cage wheels turned, the large crowds were scattered over the pit banks, and all over the colliery yard, and the highest bank was thick with silent men standing in the rain, waiting and watching. The saddest confirmation was soon available. The wheels of the winding shaft began their revolutions once more, and I saw two of the rescue party brought up - dead". There was a call for 20 volunteers, and 100 men stepped forward. Nobody spoke. The women stood quietly in the rain.

Shortly after 8-00pm on Sunday night, the following official statement was issued :

Sunday September 23 1934, 7-45pm "The attempt to overcome the fire in the main road has gone on continually since yesterday, but in spite of very strenuous efforts, and although some progress has been made in this road, the fire has got a further hold in a road to the right, through which it was hoped access would have been got to any possible survivors. "Today several explosions in bye of the fire in the main road have occurred, and this afternoon they became more frequent and closer to where the men were working on the fire. "The return air in both main returns is carrying carbon-monoxide in dangerous quantity, and it is with great reluctance that all parties - the management, the representatives of the miners and H.M Inspectors - have come to the conclusion that no person can possibly be alive in the workings. "In these circumstances and in view of the increasingly grave risk to the men combating the fire, it has been decided that it would not be right to continue to expose these workers to such serious risk, and all persons have been withdrawn from the mine

H. DYKE DENNIS, EDWARD JONES, H.WALKER

Some 260 men were entombed behind a wall of fire and for two days, brave men fought to reach their entrapped colleagues - and then came the dreaded decision to withdraw the would-be rescuers and seal the pit shaft with the men inside.... and so the inevitable happened ... the mine was sealed, and it stays so today ... more than fifty years on ... the roads and shafts burnt and collapsed, forever entombing the bodies of 256 men and boys .... "don't send your sweethearts down a dark, dreary mine ... they'll be lost like the souls in hell".

Sir Stafford Cripps lead the investigation into the disaster, and this inquiry ended two and a half years later, when the report was tabled in Parliament. In 1937, proceedings were started against the Manager of the mine, the under Manager, firemen individually and jointly against United and Westminster Collieries Limited, and hearings commenced on 20 April 1937 at Wrexham County Petty Sessions Court.

The Gresford Colliery continued to be worked, but not the Dennis Section. Mining at Gresford in the Slant District continued until 23 October 1973, but the pit was closed officially on economic grounds on 10 November 1973.

Gresford Mining Disaster 1934

The Gresford Disaster

You've heard of the Gresford Disaster,
Of the terrible price that was paid;
Two hundred and forty two colliers were lost,
And three men of the rescue brigade.

It occurred in the month of September
At three in the morning the pit
Was racked by a violent explosion
In the Dennis where gas lay so thick.

Now the gas in the Dennis deep section
Was heaped there like snow in a drift,
And many a man had to leave the coal-face
Before he had worked out his shift.

Now a fortnight before the explosion,
To the shotfirer Tomlinson cried,
"If you fire that shot we'll be all blown to hell!"
And no one can say that he lied.

Now the fireman;s reports they are missing
The records of forty-two days;
The collier manager had them destroyed
To cover his criminal ways.

Down there in the dark they are lying.
They died for nine shillings a day;
They have worked out their shift and now they must lie
In the darkness until Judgement day.

Now the Lord Mayor of London's collecting
To help out the children and wives;
The owners have sent some white lilies
To pay for the poor colliers' lives.

Farewell all our dear wives and children
Farewell all our comrades as well,
Don't send your sons down the dark dreary pit
They'll be doomed like the sinners in hell.

Five of the six Gresford survivors

The Six Survivors
Names

Ted Andrew
Cyril Challinor
Thomas Fisher
Davy Jones
Burt Samuels
Jack Samuels

Death Roll Gresford Colliery

22nd of September 1934

the list researched and compiled

by Peter Chadwick, Wrexham

a very through and well done job

Gresford Disaster 1

the page as it appears on our

How Green Was My Valley website

Gresford Disaster 2

the original page at our

Rise Up Like The Sun website

Gresford Photographs

the memorial to The Disaster

courtesy of Roy Lambert

thanks Roy!

Letters of condolence and letters

offering gifts in kind received following

The Gresford colliery disaster of 1934.

this incredible find is to be found on

the Gathering the Jewels website, a

website for Welsh cultural history

The Gresford Colliery Disaster

actual news bulletins of the time

from the BBC archives, as read on air

by Stuart Hibbard, the doyen of

BBC announcers

The Gresford Colliery Disaster -

The Real Price of Coal

this excellent and well-researched

account, and background materials

courtesy of the

Wrexham Country Borough website

The Report of The Commission of Inquiry Into The Explosion At Gresford Colliery on Saturday 22nd Sept 1934

once more Roy Lambert comes through

with this absolutely priceless

documentation

.

The Gresford Disaster

The epic track on this album
"Rise Up Like the Sun"
recorded by The Albion Band
in 1978 tells the story of the
Gresford Disaster. John Tams of
The Albion Band did the research
into the song, and found that
it had been written in the form
of the great, black-lettered,
broadside ballads to raise funds
for those who had been
widowed and orphaned
by the accident He also discovered
that the colliery band was at
the pithead as the bodies
were being brought out,
playing to try and raise the spirits
of the wives, children and
friends who were waiting.
One "tune" the colliery band is
known to have played was
"How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds",
which was written by D.H. Lawrence's
great-grandfather
(now there's a bit of historical trivia !).
John Tams decided to
fit the words to the hymn
and produce it as a ballad.
There is a live and slightly
longer version of The Gresford Disaster
on the Albion Band
Live in Concert album.

related internet links

Gresford

This is the start of a guide

to the village of Gresford.

You'll find links to stories and

photos about Gresford contained

elsewhere on the BBC website

The Miners Hymn

also called 'Gresford'

this moving hymn can be

heard here at the

Lancaster Brass Band's

well put together website.

Thanks lads!

A crowd waits at the colliery following the disaster

Gresford Remembers 70 years On Sep 22 2004 it being the 70th Anniversary of the Gresford Mining Disaster

rise up like the sun:

sam-and-lizzie