The 1890 Morfa Colliery Disaster

The Morfa Colliery shortly after the 1863 explosion, as shown in the Illustrated London News. (Scanned image courtesy of Huw Daniel.)

The Morfa Pit at Taibach, Port Talbot, Glamorgan, was well known to be a very gassy mine. In 1863, 30 had been killed there in an explosion, and in 1870, 38. In the early hours of Tuesday, 10 March 1890, when about 250 men were working below ground, there was another violent blast. Those who made their escape did so only after long and painful struggle. In one group of six (including Rees OATES, a young boy, who survived) there were only two undamaged lamps. Everyone was so weak that as men fell insensible they had to be abandoned. Even the two rescue parties suffered casualties. In all, 87 were killed.

Locked safety lamps were in mandatory use. After the disaster, Isaac EVANS, a member of the exploration party, examined every lamp found near a body. All were in safe condition except for the lamp of John MORRIS, the gaffer haulier, which had been unlocked.

The Victims

See below for sources and notes.

Name	Occupation	Age	Address	Cause of Death
William Barras	manager	75		body not recovered
Griffith (Griff) Bevan	collier	27 or 32	Taibach	body not recovered
Daniel Brownsell or Brownsill	explorer	36 or 40	Constant	after damp, cardiac failure
Daniel Buckley	pumper	29		fire damp, burns
John Buckley	pumper	35		fire damp, burns
William Henry Claturthy or Clatworthy	pumper	18	Morfa	fire damp, burns, compound fracture of both arms
William Curnick or Cormick	plugman	50 or 48	Constant	fire damp, burns
Thomas Daniel	airwayman	29		body not recovered
James or John David	collier	42 or 40	Bridge Row	body not recovered
Thomas David	repairer	47 or 46	Bridge Row	fire damp, burns
David Davies	repairer	35 or 33	Gwarrycaeau	body not recovered
Ebenezer Davies	collier	31 or 36	Miners Row	body not recovered
Meredith Davies	collier	31	Constant	body not recovered
Thomas Davies	hitcher	19 or 20	Stone Row	fire damp, burns
Evan Eley	collier	37 or 40	White Row	fire damp, burns
Edward Ellis	collier	51 or 48	Chapel Row	fire damp, burns
Edward (Ted) Floyd	collier	25 or 32	Constant	body not recovered
William Francis	collier	28 or 34	Taibach	fire damp, burns
Daniel (Dan) Griffiths	collier	40 or 42	Stone Row	body not recovered
John Griffiths	collier	52 or 42	Gwarrycaeau	body not recovered
Samuel (Sam) Griffiths	collier	50	Stone Row	fire damp, burns
Evan Hedley	repairer	30 or 40	Kenfig Hill	body not recovered
Bethuel Heycock or Haycock	haulier	19	Bridge Row	after damp, asphyxia
David Hopkins	haulier	48 or 52	Incline Row	fire damp, burns
Thomas Hopkins	collier	53 or 51	Brick Row	body not recovered
John Hopton	haulier	24		body not recovered
Samuel (Sam) Howells or Howell	collier	46	Pantymach	body not recovered
William James	collier	35	Constant	body not recovered
William James	collier	41 or 40	Stone Row	body not recovered
Frederick (Fred) William Jenkins	greaser	16	Brick Row	fire damp, burns
Daniel John	collier	57	Margam Terrace	fire damp, burns
David John or (Manney) Jones	collier	50 or 52	Aberavon	fire damp, burns
John Jones	collier	26	Taibach	body not recovered
Joseph Jones [my ancestor]	collier	52	Bridge Row	body not recovered
William Jones	collier	35 or 40	Constant	body not recovered
William J. Jones	hitcher	18	Taibach	fire damp, burns
Thomas Kemp	haulier	19		fire damp, burns
Patrick (Pat) Kennedy	pumper	46		fire damp, burns
David King	collier	36 or 38	Miners Row	body not recovered
Benjamin (Ben) Lewis	collier	40 or 28	Stone Row	body not recovered
John Lewis	collier	33 or 38	West End	body not recovered
Simeon (Sim) Lewis	collier	27	Taibach	after damp
Thomas Lewis	collier	42 or 40	Goitre	body not recovered
William Lewis	collier	34 or 36	Brick Row	fire damp, burns
William Lewis	collier	45 or 46	Goitre	body not recovered
John Leyshon	repairer	35 or 40	Taibach	fire damp, burns
Thomas Leyshon	collier	30		body not recovered
Thomas Leyshon	collier	46 or 48	Stone Row	body not recovered
William Leyshon	collier	49 or 50	Constant	body not recovered
Richard Lucas or Lewis	haulier	36 or 40	Taibach	fire damp, burns, etc.
Noah Mandry or Mainwaring, jun. [see Note 1]	collier	34 or 50	Cwmbrombil	body not recovered
Thomas Mandry or Mainwaring	repairer	45		after damp
David Matthew or Matthews	collier	28 or 30	White Row	body not recovered
Thomas Miles	collier	47 or 48	Penycae	fire damp, burns
Evan Morgan	signalman	20 or 21	Brick Row	fire damp, burns
Evan Morgan	collier	33	Taibach	body not recovered
John Morris	overman	46 or 47	Morfa	fire damp, burns, slight after damp
John Morris	collier	46 or 44	Stone Row	fire damp, burns
John Nichols or Nicholls or Nicholas	airwayman	65 or 62	Salt Lake	body not recovered
John Henry Nicholls or Nicholas, jun.	collier	29 or 28	Taibach	fire damp, burns all over body
Thomas Oats or Oates, jun.	collier	20	Brick Row	fire damp, burns
Henry Parker	labourer	44		body not recovered
Alfred Phillips	collier	40	Brick Row	body not recovered
John Pippin or Peppin	collier	34 or 39	Brick Row	body not recovered
David Price	haulier	31 or 36	Tanygroes	fire damp, burns
John Ready	repairer	58 or 50	Aberavon	body not recovered
David Rees	ostler	40	Groeswen	fire damp, burns
Lewis Rees	collier	40 or 42	Brick Row	body not recovered
David Richards	collier	35 or 36	Stone Row	body not recovered
William Scott	collier	29 or 31	Gibson Terrace	fire damp, burns
William Taylor, jun.	haulier	15		fire damp, burns
Evan Thomas	collier	37 or 34	Cwmbrombil	body not recovered
Joseph Thomas	collier	50	Penycae	fire damp, burns all over body
Thomas or William Thomas	collier	30 or 32	Margam	body not recovered
James Tippott or Tippett	haulier	17 or 16	Taibach	fire damp, burns
William Vanstone	collier	31 or 32	Penycae	body not recovered
Isaac Walters	fan driver	23 or 16	White Row	fire damp, burns
Richard Walters	collier	50 or 49	Taibach	fire damp, burns
Joseph Weeks or Hicks [see Note 2]	hitcher	26 or 20	Aberavon	fire damp, burns
David Williams	collier	49 or 46	Stone Row	body not recovered
David Williams	hitcher	19	Stone Row	fire damp, burns
Henry Williams	repairer	66 or 70	Aberavon	body not recovered
Isaac Williams	collier	47 or 50	Constant	body not recovered
Joseph or James Williams	repairer	32 or 16	Taibach	fire damp, burns
Thomas Henry Williams	collier	31 or 36	Brick Row	fire damp, burns
David Wyld or Wild	roadman	40		fire damp, burns
Thomas Yorwerth or Yorath	haulier	33 or 38	Taibach	body not recovered

Sources

Names, occupations, ages of those whose bodies were recovered, and causes of death are from the official reports presented to Parliament (Howel Jeffreys and J.T. Robson, Reports to the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the Home Department on an Explosion which Occurred at the Morfa Colliery, Port Talbot, on the 10th of March 1890, H.M. Stationery Office, 1890) with a few abbreviations silently expanded.
Ages of those whose bodies were not recovered are from the General Register Office death registration index (see FreeBMD) in which the 87 victims appear consecutively on pages 374-383, volume 11a, Neath registration district, 2nd quarter 1890.
Addresses are from the booklet And They Work Us To Death by Ben Fieldhouse and Jackie Dunn (courtesy of Huw Daniel).
Italics indicate variant names and ages from Fieldhouse and Dunn. Boldface indicates variant names from the GRO index. Where the report to Parliament gives an age, it is always the same as in the GRO index.

Notes

Many additional details are found in the contemporary reports in The Times and The Cambrian (Swansea). The following details are from other sources:

An obituary of Margaret Mainwaring, widow of Noah Mandry or Mainwaring, appeared in the Glamorgan Gazette in Feb 1946 (Clive Blakemore).
At the inquest, the body of Joseph Weeks was identified by his father-in-law, Thomas Gilbert, of Vivian Row, Sandfield (Fieldhouse and Dunn).

content last revised 8 Apr 2007