Fatal accidents at Bowburn Colliery

Coal mining was a dangerous occupation. At one time, about 1,300 men and boys died in UK pits every year and thousands more were seriously injured or crippled by industrial diseases. The Durham Mining Museum lists the names of over 20,000 men and boys killed in colliery accidents in the Durham coalfield alone.
(See www.dmm.org.uk to find more on this excellent site.)

Bowburn Colliery began to be sunk in 1906; drew its first coal in 1908, and ceased production in 1967: it lasted little more than half a century. Yet in that time 52 men and boys who were killed or fatally injured in accidents there. All were in single accidents; there were no “disasters” (defined as an accident in which five or more died) at Bowburn.

A memorial to these men, in Bowburn Community Centre (the former Miners’ Welfare), was dedicated on 16th December 2006.  It was made from part of the skeets from the coal shaft of Bowburn Colliery and is dedicated to the honour and memory of all those who died in the quest for coal.


The 52 men and boys killed at Bowburn pit are listed below.
(Note that more details are included in “A history of Bowburn Colliery”, a separate sub-page on this site.)

1912    Joseph Ferguson (17), Rope boy, of 34, Steavenson Street, Bowburn
1922    William Kemp Wheatley (30), Stoneman, of 6, Steavenson Street, Bowburn – Fall of stone
1923    Benjamin Hepple (57), Stoneman, of 19, Durham Road, Bowburn – Blow on head
1923    Edward Cranson (15), Pony driver, of Church Street, Coxhoe
1925    Thomas Robinson (27), Hewer, of 12, Burn Street, Bowburn [Accident 18/0919/25?]
1930    John Allison (29), Hewer, of Steavenson Street, Bowburn – Fall of stone
1932    William Cowings (58), Onsetter, of 10, Burn Street, Bowburn – Crushed by tubs
1933    Stephen Allison (18), Rope lad, of 7, Bow Street, Bowburn
1933    Robert Moore (14), Belt lad, of 8, Carnaby’s Buildings, Tursdale – Crushed by belt
1934    Scott Barlow (26), Cutter man, of Quarrington Hill – Electrocuted
1934    George Connaughton (36), Cutterman, of Thinford Road, Coxhoe
1935    James Lawson (46), Stoneman, of Spennymoor? – Fall of stone
1935    John Pennock (19), Hand putter, of 14, Heugh Hall Street – Fall of stone
1935    Joseph Platts (51), Coal cutter, of Hawthorn Crescent, Quarrington Hill – Fall of stone
1936    Christopher Smallwood (51), Stoneman, of Broom Lane Terrace, Ushaw Moor – Fall of stone
1938    Joseph Hutchinson (43), Stoneman, of West Cornforth
1938    Michael Richard Marr jnr. (21), Suction plant worker, of Dinsdale House, Tursdale – Fall of stone
1939    Thomas William Kendle (31), Deputy, of Park House Gardens, Sherburn
1939    Nicholas Swainston (20), Datal worker, of Meadowfield – Crushed by tubs
1940    William Thompson (55), Stoneman, of High Blocks, Metal Bridge – Fall of stone
1942    Robert William Stapleton (43), Filler – Fall of stone
1942    William Scott (19), Haulage hand (datal worker), of 87, The Grove, Coxhoe – Crushed
1943    Joseph Blythe (57), Shifter, of 66, High Street South, Langley Moor – Caught by set
1944    Wm. Dennis Gibson (18), Hoist hand, of 60, Moorlands, Gilesgate – Explosion
1944    Richard Hewison (45), Stoneman, of Old Row, Tursdale – Fall of stone
1944    Joseph Watson (39), Hewer – Fractured skull
1945    Naisbett Wilson (37), Stoneman, of 14, Bishop s Close Street, Spennymoor – Fractured skull
1945    Alexander Weir (26), of 74, The Grove, Coxhoe
1946    John Adair Halliday (20), Apprentice joiner, of 13, Burn Street, Bowburn
1946    Andrew Hunter Smith (53), of 25, Durham Road, Bowburn
1946    James W. Knight (61), Filler, of 22, Norton Avenue, Bowburn – Runaway tram
1947    George T. Hogg (59), Stoneman – Fall of stone
1947    William Joseph Bateson (29), Driller, of 70, Long Row, Coxhoe – Electrocuted
1948    John T. Rose (39), Cutter – Fall of stone
1948    Sidney Blackburn (22), Bank hand, of 56, Steavenson Street, Bowburn – Fell down shaft
1948    Fred W. Crossley (41), Stoneman, of 58, Park Avenue – Fall of stone
1948    James Beattie Bell (46), Filler, of 5, Durham Road, Bowburn – Hernia (open)
1948    Thomas Stoker (55)
1951    Edwin Bryan (53), of Ferryhill?
1952    William Morgan (49), Deputy, of 17, Mavin Street, Durham
1952    Henry Morton (25), of Pittington?
1953    Joseph Bunce (44), of Cornforth Lane
1956    Ralph Carter (49), of Gilesgate?
1956    Hugh Bryden (18), Pony putter, of Durham?
1957    Surtees Simpson (57), Deputy, of 123, Park Avenue
1958    John William Hutchinson (41), of 47a, School Street, Tursdale
1962    James Lawrence Ellerby (50), Puller, of 51, Prince Charles Avenue, Bowburn
1962    William Peverall (48), of 70, Wakenshaw Road, Gilesgate Accident in 1943?
1963    George (Micky) Milburn (42), of 1, Margaret Court, Bowburn
1964    Thomas Corner (50), Deputy, of 12, Steavenson Street, Bowburn
1966    Tommy Charlton Calder (50), Stoneman, of 45, High Street, Carrville
1966    Adam Harker Cowley (60), of 19, George Street, Sherburn

This Mining Memorial also carries the names of four Bowburn miners who went to other pits, after Bowburn closed, and there met their deaths. These were:

1967    John Evans (17), of 61, Steavenson Street, Bowburn (East Hetton Colliery)
1970    Keith Broom (31) (Metal Bridge Drift)
1982    Bill Stokoe (53), of 18, Burn Street, Bowburn (East Hetton Colliery)
1990    Thomas Taylor (42), of 19, Burn Street, Bowburn (Westoe Colliery)

A second memorial was ceremonially ‘opened’ by Roberta Blackman-Woods, MP, near the entrance to Prince Charles Avenue, Bowburn, on 19th December 2007. This took the form of a refurbished 10cwt coal tub, which was donated by Jimmy Milburn in memory of his father, ‘Mick’ Milburn, who was killed at Bowburn Colliery in 1963, and to all who worked at Bowburn Colliery.