Argoed Hall Mining Disaster 1837

Date: 12 May 1837 to 12 May 1837
Location: Argoed, Flintshire, Wales, United Kingdom
Surnames/tags: Disasters Mining Flintshire

Disasters |Wales Topics Teams| Mining Disasters |Flintshire Mining Disasters

Summary

• Date: Friday, 12 May 1837
  
• Location: Argoed Hall Colliery, Mold, Flintshire, Wales
  
• Victims: 20 casualties, 10 rescued
  
• Cause: Flooding
  

• The colliery was the property of Messrs Hampton and on Friday, the 12 May 1837 was inundated. 30 men and lads were missing. Water had been coming in from old mine workings for about 10 days prior to the disaster, but this had managed by pumps. On the day of the disaster the flow of water dramatically increased.
• 18 men who were at the bottom of the engine shaft climbed to safety on machinery in the shaft. 30 men were missing
• By the following Monday 10 bodies had been recovered.
• It wasn't until later on that sounds were heard, and they were able to rescue 4 men and 6 lads. They were exhausted and sopping wet, but alive.
• One of the survivors, a Mr Roberts, gave the following account:-
  • I heard the alarm from a collier named Jones calling me to leave the seam as water was flooding in. I thought it was a false alarm so went on working for a few minutes until a second alarm was given. I went to the engine shaft and found the water too high so I returned, passing through the air cut into the bye shaft but the passage was too small so I stayed where I was. Three others named Ither, Williams and Jones were swept away by the water whilst trying to get to safety (NB the man called Ither is not mentioned in the death list). The boys were crying for food so Kendrick and me shared out some bread and butter from our pockets. We were trapped for three days but the water did not go up. Two elderly gentlemen, Robert Owens and William Williams died and we stayed with them and said prayers
• Profiles for those lost in this disaster are categorised under Category:Argoed_Hall_Mining_Disaster
• References [1][2]

Victims Name Age Those they left behind Address Sourced Bio Connected Category Bellis, Thomas 16 Mold Ellis, Thomas 48 widow and ’large’ family Mold Griffiths, Robert 51 Mold Hopwood, William 31 widow and 4 children Mynydd Isa Hughes, Thomas 35 Hendrebiffa Humphreys, William 59 Mold Jones, John 38 widow and 3 children Sychdyn Jones, Richard 12 Son of John Jones Sychdyn Jones, Daniel 15 Mold Jones, Thomas 25 Argoed Jones, John 24 Mold Jones, William 21 Mold Lewis, Edward 66 Mold Matthews, Matthew 21 Mold Morris, Pete 9 Bistre Owen, Robert 37 Mold Argoed Hall Mining Disaster 1837 Owen, James 21 Mold Owen, Robert 11 Son of Robert Mold Owen, Thomas 16 Son of Robert Mold Parry, Hugh 9 Mold William, Williams Bagillt Wynne, George 15 Mold