The Huskar Pit disaster in Yorkshire in 1838 spurred the government on to do something about child labour
Workers at the Huskar coal pit went to work on a hot, sunny summer’s day, but a freak thunder storm turned their coal mine into a death trap for 29 children, 180 years ago today
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IT was a hot, sunny morning when the coal miners arrived at work at the Huskar Pit, Nabs Wood, near the village of Silkstone, South Yorkshire, England. But at 2pm on July 4, 1838, 180 years ago today, a thunderstorm pelted the earth with rain and hailstones for two hours.
About 6cm of rain fell in a short time, filling up a stream in a nearby wood that was normally a dry creek bed. The stream, which had never been known to overflow, passed close by a “drift”, a shaft being used for ventilation. As the waters in the stream rose it threatened to inundate the shaft.
The rain had also put out the fire under a boiler for the steam engine powering the winch that pulled coal and workers to the surface. The miners were told to wait until the fire could be relit or to make their own way to the surface.
Most of the older men chose to wait at the bottom of the pit, but a group of about 40 boys and girls, also working in the mine, became impatient and decided to make their own way out via the small ventilation shaft. As they climbed upward, in pitch dark, the stream broke its banks and water poured down their escape route, washing 26 children back to a trap door that was shut, allowing water to build up. They either died from hitting the door or drowned.
Some children were able to escape through an adjoining shaft and alerted others to what had happened.
The tragedy shook the village and all of England. In an era when deaths down coal mines were common, this one had a major effect.
It resulted in the establishment of a royal commission into child labour that brought about changes in the exploitation of children during the Industrial Revolution.
Silkstone is a village with ancient origins. It is first mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 as “Silchestone” and was largely a farming community until the boom in coal consumption in the 18th century.
Silkstone was known for its high quality coal, which produced little sulphur and ash. The Silkstone seam, as it was known, had been mined on a small scale for centuries but in the first decade of the 19th century it was first exploited on an industrial scale.
A heavy duty road, known as the Waggonway, was built in 1809 to accommodate the many large wagons that carried coal from Silkstone to a canal terminus about 4km away. In 1830, local squire Robert Couldwell Clarke of Noblethorpe Hall opened up two new mines — the Huskar Pit and the Moor End Colliery.
The two were connected by the drift that also provided ventilation, letting out near the usually dry creek bed.
The mines became a major focus of the village and people from nearby villages also came to work there.
Entire families often worked together in the pits, to keep up with the increasing demand for coal. Fathers would hack away at the coal seam, and women and children were mostly put to work hauling the coal to the surface, or to the collection points from where it would be winched to the surface. They worked in appalling conditions, and many were half naked to deal with the heat down in the mines.
On July 4, 1838, the death of 26 children brought home the tragic dangers of allowing children down the mine. The youngest victim was seven-year-old James Burkinshaw, whose brother George also died. The oldest was 17-year-old Hannah Taylor.
An inquest returned a finding of “accidental death” but there was an outcry around the nation.
Queen Victoria heard the story and took an interest in the tragedy. She recommended the holding of a commission into children and women working in coal mines. Championed by Lord Ashley-Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury, parliament established a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Children’s Employment in 1839, which culminated in an 1842 report, written by Richard Henry Horne, a well-known poet and friend of Charles Dickens, who later migrated to Australia. The report gave graphic detail about some of the horrors of work in factories and mines.
Lord Ashley-Cooper pushed for legislation limiting the hours worked by children and women in mines. Playing on prudish Victorian morality he emphasised the fact that women did their work in the mines bare breasted or wearing trousers. His legislation passed.
The Mines and Collieries Act 1842 resulted in a ban on boys younger than 10, and females of any age, working in coal mines and limited the hours of those who did work.