From time to time there came through the open windows of the room where, only a short while before the tragedy, many of the victims had danced, the piping of a whistle from a neighbouring pit, where work was in progress. Mr. Robert Dunn, the NCB director for North Derbyshire, said:  “clearly the events leading up to the disaster were more concerned with the end of the wind rather than the beginning.”. But the question is not one which I propose to discuss.”. A National Committee for Safety of Manriding in Shafts and Unwalkable Outlets was formed and first met on 3 December 1973. In a large gaunt dance hall, stripped of its decorations, the inquest on the 79 victims of the disaster at the Markham No. An inquiry will be held into the disaster – the worst in a British mine since 1965. Worn sections are cut and replaced. near Chesterfield, where the life-line cage lay crumpled at the bottom of the 1,320 foot shaft. “The men inside the cage were on their haunches lying backwards with their legs bent underneath them. In an attempt to ease, however little, the hardship and suffering of those bereaved and those who survived, we have opened the Markham Colliery Disaster Fund.

Mines inspectors were already at work a few hours after the disaster to see if they could find the cause. At the start of the winding cycle, power applied to winding motor is gradually increased and mechanical brake released. It will be conducted by Mr. James Calder. Eventually this service proceeded, and it was not until 4.30 that the military funeral party arrived at the church. H.M. chief inspector of mines and quarries, and is expected to last for over a week. MATTHEW BURTON stopped for a chat yesterday – and missed being one of the Markham victims by seconds. The shaft was now fully operational. Pether, also a victim of the disaster, was laid to rest in the churchyard of Scarcliffe. It was the start of the day shift and by 6.20am 105 miners had already been lowered into the pit.

A number of people went to the hospitals not knowing whether their husbands, sons and other relatives were among the dead. The others were badly injured. “I’d normally have gone down with the lads in that cage.” said Matthew. At unfortunate hitch arose in connection with arrangements for two military funerals, one from Poolsbrook and the other from Staveley, which should have synchronised at the cemetery at about 3.30 pm In the absence of coaches for the mourners at Poolsbrook the local Territorials  sent an Army lorry and this was used to convey the coffin, private cars and vehicles from another funeral  being used as conveyances.

He jumped back and the cage crashed into the bottom. Suddenly, underground, a tremendous draft got up followed by a terrific bang. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________, The Birmingham Post, Tuesday, July 31, 1973. “I felt a slight braking just before the cage reached the half-way, and then felt the cage begin to accelerate,” he told the public inquiry at Chesterfield. Mr. Ike Carter (49), the miners’ union branch secretary, said he thought the cage went out of control about half way down the 1,320ft. “the next thing I can remember is bricks falling around me,” he said. Wprthington, deputy coroner, sat with a jury, several oh whom were miners. Pit cages are so safe that it is forty years since on was last involved in an accident.

The night shift left the pit by means of a sloping tunnel used to bring out the coal, and some of the day shift miners went underground by this route. The journey was in the hand of the winding-engine man, who worked alone, but there were safety devices which should operate if he was suddenly taken ill or failed to apply the brakes for any reason. It was empty. A group of management and union volunteers made a trail cage drop down the 1,320ft deep No.2 shaft before the Coal Board asked shift workers to use it once more. (2) Mechanical braking only was available through the emergency stop button. “It is implicit there has been an engineering failure of one sort or another, irrespective of whether there was human error..”.

He had directed Mr. James Calder, aged 59, Chief Inspector of Mines and Quarries, to hold the inquiry. it produced about 30,000 tons per week of saleable coal and employed 1,870 men below ground and 425 on the surface. The Rector the Rev. To investigate fatigue failure it was necessary to determine the in‑service loading of the brake rod. 1 Colliery, Duckmanton, Derbyshire on Tuesday was opened today.

The National Coal Board carried out a programme to examine the braking and safety systems on all of its mine winders and modified them in accordance with the recommendations of the reports. “Moving the brake lever was the same as picking a pen up – there was no weight there at all,: he told the inquiry.

Sad scenes were witnessed in the packed streets, for 69 women had been widowed and 103 children left fatherless. He was shaking and could not keep still. We dragged them outing laid them out on stretchers,”  he said. Mr. Robert Dunn, North Derbyshire area director of the Coal Board, described the tragedy as a “further subchapter in the recent events which have bedevilled the coal mining industry.” It was “extremely serious and tragic.”, The winding equipment was being taken from the shaft for examination. Mr Martin Kennedy, secretary of the Chesterfield group of hospitals, said that 33 people were being treated , five for shock. think it is clear that anyone experienced in these matters would have said that it was practically impossible for an explosion of coal dust in the east plane (the affected portion of the pit to have propagated to any great extent.” Mr. Sandlands reveals that it was suggested to him that he should deal with the question of  whether the use of electricity in mines ought not to be prohibited altogether within a period of ten years.

This was also due to the unexpected bending stress which progressively squeezed the lubricant out of the gap. The cable on the top of the cage was still intact. Four of the dead were named by the hospital. The body of the husband of Mrs Elizabeth Jacklin, of Duckmanton, was so badly mutilated as to be unrecognisable, but Mrs Jacklin said she identified her husband’s tattoo marks, a miner’s belt, and a pair of torn shorts which had belonged to him. Hatton), Mr. D.N. The cages accelerate then maintain a speed of 6 metres per second (20 ft/s) until the cages approach the ends of the shaft. In low voices grief-stricken relatives followed close on one another and told how they had recognised the bodies of their menfolk. In under an hour 20 witnesses had been called. They were groaning, and one poor lad was moaning “My legs, my legs.”, “They were all badly injured – faces, legs, ankles.