ON January 16, 1884, the lives of many in the Amman Valley were changed forever after a disaster at one of the local collieries.

Unfortunately, disasters were part of life in collieries, no matter where in the world they are, with almost every colliery suffering at least one.

Here we take a look at the January 16, 1884, disaster at Garnant Colliery where 10 men and boys lost their lives.

In 1884, Garnant Colliery was owned by Cardiganshire MP David Pugh. In the early hours of the morning, some miners had gone down the shafts safely and a further 10 were about to join them around 4am.

The men were clocking in early to finish earlier so that they could attend a funeral later that day. Normally, only eight would travel in the shaft at any one time, but the 10 crammed themselves in and according to welshcoalmines.co.uk the wire rope that was attached to the cage snapped and they plunged 225 feet to the bottom of the shaft.

The 10 who died that day were 37-year-old David Roberts from Brynaman, 31-year-old John Evan Jones from Cwmaman, 30-year-old William Lake from Cross Inn, Thomas Mitchell, 26, from Cwmaman, Thomas Bevan, 23, from Cwmaman, 22-year-old John D. James from Cwmaman, 16-year-old Evan Roberts from Brynaman and his 14-year-old brother Thomas and Daniel Williams and Edward Morgan, both 14-years-old from Cwmaman and Brynaman respectively.

Here we look more in depth at the cause of their deaths as recorded in the press at the time.

On January 29, an inquest was held at The Raven Inn – during opening times of the pub - into the deaths of six of the men under coroner Mr James Rowlands. The report in the Cardiff Times on Saturday, February 2, said that Mr T. E Wales, a government inspector of the mines was present as was Mr J Simons of Merthyr on behalf of the colliery. Mr Linton of Cardiff represented the company that made the rope which broke and Mr W Howell of Llanelly represented Thomas Michael, the man who was being held responsible for the incident.

The inquest was examining the deaths of John Evans Jones, Daniel Rees, Thomas Mitchell, Thomas Bevan, John David James and William Lake.

The inquest was told that the cage was crumpled after the incident and the top of it had to be cut off to get the bodies out according to the overman John Davies. Mr Davies said that his job was to ensure that all men were at their correct places and not to examine the rope on the cage.

He also said that the cage had been used for horses that day but that there didn’t seem to be any more dangerous. He said that it was the duty of the banksman to lower the cage and nobody else and as far as he was aware, no one else had lowered the cage but he could not swear that it had not been touched by anyone else.

Mr Davies told the inquest that he was usually due to start at 7am when the morning shift went in, but they had all agreed to start at 4am so that they could finish three hours earlier for a funeral. He was getting dressed to go and join his colleagues at 4am when he was told of the incident and said that as he arrived to the mine, just 200 yards from his home, the men and boys were already dead.

On Saturday, February 2, Llandeilo’s petty sessions saw Thomas Michael, a collier at Garnant Colliery, appear before Captain lewis and Mr H. Peel, to answer a charge of causing unlawful death of the 10 aforementioned victims.

John Hay, manager at the colliery told the court how the rope that broke was purchased on September 14, 1882, and had been in use from four days after that. The breaking strain for the rope, according to the manufacturers table, was 33 tons and an ordinary load of 4 tons 2cwt. It was said that usually the load it bore in the mine was 2 tons 10cwt.

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He also said that eight men would go down at one time and when horses were taken down, one horse and one man would be all that was in the shaft at each time. The inquest heard how the rope was examined daily by lowering the cage slowly down but it had never been taken off for thorough examination.

There had been some corrosion damage from steam on the rope which was found during an inspection on January 11, just days before the disaster.

He said that the banksman was responsible for the fact the 10 men went down together as were the men themselves.

The banksman on duty – David Jenkins – said that he had arrived at the colliery for 3.30am for when the men would arrive at 4am. At the time, the engineman was on duty and he saw the hitcher and two or three men already ready to go down. He said how he let them down and then after that, he let a horse and a man down.

The third group to go down was the fatal group. He told the inquest that he only saw eight people go into the cage and therefore thought only eight had gone in. He said that he did not let the cage go down but Thomas Michael did without his authority.

Mr Jenkins said the cage caught when the top of it was level with the collar board of the top of the shaft. He said he gave the signal to stop to Mr Michael who had let the handle of the lever loose before the cage stopped.

The engineman stopped at once but the breakage and the knock came together. When cross examined, he was asked about how he had told people after the incident that it was he, not Mr Michael, who had let the cage down, which he didn’t recall saying.

12 of the 13 jurors took an hour and a half to conclude “The accident took place by the breakage of the rope caused by a jerk, the jerk of the cage having caught the fangs (or keeps) in consequence of the mis-management of the lever working them.

“We consider the conduct of Thomas Michael working them reprehensible, but not culpable.”

The coroner said the verdict was tantamount to accidental death.

In a report by the South Wales Daily News on Monday, February 4, Thomas Michael appeared in Llandeilo petty sessions on Saturday, February 2. He was defended by Mr W. Howell and Mr T. G. Williams of Llandeilo was prosecuting.

Mr Williams said that the charge was brought against Thomas Michael ‘on the grounds that he trespassed on the pit’s bank, and improperly interfered with the machinery for lowering the cage.’ He was asked to apply for further remand to consider the evidence to bring forward as the ruling had been issued in the coroners court of the accidental death.

Mr Howell said that there had to be evidence that his client had broken the rules as otherwise if he had not, he could not be labelled a trespasser. The bench granted a remand.

On March 1, the Cardiff Times printed the report of the manslaughter trial against Thomas Michael. Mr Williams, prosecuting, explained how it was not Michael’s role to use the levers and that he interfered with them on the day in question and he caused the slack to run out on the rope and the resulting fall of the cage broke the rope.

The prosecution also stated that if he was not found to have been interfering as a trespasser, he should be found guilty of allowing the 10 men into the shaft as acting as a banksman he had the responsibility to make sure no more than eight went down.

Witnesses were called who said that Michael had lowered the cage.

The Carmarthen Weekly Reporter reported on March 7 that the hearing recommenced on Saturday, March 1. James Davies, the overman, told the court that Michael had no right to be using the lever.

After six hours on the second date, the bench dismissed the case as the defence were about to call more witnesses following a request by Mr Howell to dismiss the case as the prosecution had failed to prove their claims.