MORLEY AND DISTRICT FAMILY HISTORY GROUP
Morley Main pit disaster 1872
names of those killed in the accident
| Name | Additional information |
| John Addison | a married 32 year old |
| Thomas Seddon | a married 32 year old with 3 children |
| George Preston | a 45 year old from Gildersome with 3 children - one of which was killed in the explosion (see Noah Preston) |
| Mark Wroe | an unmarried 28 year old |
| John Ratcliffe | an unmarried 58 year old |
| Joshua Teasdale | a 34 year old from Churwell, married with 3 children |
| Thomas Auty | a 48 year old married man with 3 children |
| George Hurst | a 38 year old married with 9 children |
| William Purkis | a 26 year old unmarried Morley man |
| James Pickersgill ** | a married man from Bruntfcliffe with 6 children - his brother was also killed (see William Pickersgill) |
| Henry Townend | a 23 year old unmarried Morley man |
| Matthew Spence | a 36 year old married man from Morley with 3 children |
| James Haworth | a 37 year old unmarried Morley man |
| George Hardy | a 22 year old unmarried Churwell man- his father was also killed (see James Hardy) |
| James Hardy | a 51 year old man from Churwell who was father of 10 children - his son George was also killed (see George Hardy) |
| George Bell | Morley man aged 31 and father of 2 children |
| Joe Armitage | a 41 year old from Morley and father of 9 |
| William Marsden | a 50 year old married man and father to 2 children |
| John Powell | 30 year old married man |
| John Mitchell | a 35 year old man from Churwell, married with 3 children |
| Emmanuel Page | a 22 year old married man from Gildersome |
| John Tomlinson | a 33 year old married man and father of 1 |
| John Roberts | a 50 year old Morley man and father of 3 |
| George Almond | a 23 year old unmarried Morley man |
| Henry Broadbent | a 14 year old from Gildersome |
| Joseph Singleton | a 14 year old from Morley |
| James Butterfield | a 17 year old from Gildersome |
| William Pickersgill ** | 17 year old from Bruntcliffe and brother was also killed in the disaster ( see James Pickersgille |
| Walter Earnshaw | 16 year old from Beeston |
| Noah Preston | 19 year old from Gildersome - his father was also killed in the disaster ( see George Preston) |
| George Parker | 16 year old from Bruntcliffe |
| George Carson | 16 year old from Morley |
| James William Waite | 14 year old from Morley |
** buried in Woodkirk Churchyard
The explosion at Morley Main Colliery took place on Monday the 7th of October 1872. Thirty four miners lost their lives during this disaster which made front page news on national weekly newspapers. The inquest took place at the Royal Hotel and it was brought to the notice of the coroner that the miners had almost certainly been smoking during their shifts. Apparently, this was a normal occurrence and one of the deceased miners had in his possession an empty packet of matches in his hand.
The majority of the miners had died of suffocation as the explosion had destroyed the ventilation in that part of the mine - this also hampered the rescuers in bringing the bodies of the deceased miners to the surface.
Morley Main Colliery was owned by William Ackroyd & Brothers of Birkenshaw and had been opened in 1855. Two shafts had been sunk to depths of 120 and 150 yards. The pit head was at the side of Albert Road and close to the Miners Arms. The colliery was last worked on 23rd of July 1909.