Pretoria Pit Disaster

Pretoria Pit disaster was a Mining accident that occurred on 21 December 1910, when there was a massive underground explosion in Pretoria Pit, (The Hulton Colliery), formally No. 3 Bank Pit, in Westhoughton, Lancashire, between Wigan and Bolton, in North West England. The colliery was known locally as the Pretoria Pit. There were approximately 2500 men and boys employed by the Hulton Colliery Company in 1910 On the morning of the 21st December 19... more

Pretoria Pit disaster was a Mining accident that occurred on 21 December 1910, when there was a massive underground explosion in Pretoria Pit, (The Hulton Colliery), formally No. 3 Bank Pit, in Westhoughton, Lancashire, between Wigan and Bolton, in North West England. The colliery was known locally as the Pretoria Pit. There were approximately 2500 men and boys employed by the Hulton Colliery Company in 1910 On the morning of the 21st December 1910, approximately 900 men and boys clocked on for the day shift. Here they would be working the 5 seams of the pit. These being the Trencherbone, Plodder, Yard, Three-Quarters and Arley Mines (in Lancashire the word mine means a coal seam). At 7:50am, there was an explosion in the Plodder Mine, which was thought to have been caused by a build up of gas from a roof collapse the previous day. In all 345 men and boys had descended the No 3 pit shaft to work in the Plodder, Yard and Three Quarters seam. Of those only 4 survived to be brought to... less