Colliery Accidents cont.
Here is some more about the colliery accidents referred to in my last posting. The numbering is mine, for clarity here only. These notes are not meant to be exhaustive and are based on my notes on parish registers, censuses and Picton Castle deeds as well as reference works in my own library.
1. 1878: John POWELL (15) collier, was killed by a roof fall in Southwood Colliery, owners Walters & Canton, Haverfordwest, Pembroke[shire]. Southwood is in Roch parish, Haverfordwest being the nearest town. The Canton owner is David Canton of Nolton Haven, Roch, descendant of the family of Cantons (line PF) who had earlier farmed and mined in the parish of Freystrop for several generations.
2. 1879: Thomas LALLIS (42) collier, was killed by a fall of stone in Southwood colliery, owners Walters & Canton, Haverfordwest, Glamorgan [sic]. This error re the county name suggests that occasional mistakes in recording or transcription could occur - on this point, see no.4, below. There is a map showing the location of Southwood in Fig. 10 in (c) below.
3. 1877: Henry WEBB (23) labourer, was killed by a blow at Woodland colliery, owner David Canton, Haverfordwest, Pembroke[shire] - the same DC as in nos 1 and 2. Woodland is in the parish of Walton West - there is a map of its location in Fig.12 in (c) below.
4. 1877 Nov: Henry ROBERTS (44), sinker, was killed by falling down sinking pit shaft … at Woodfield colliery, owner David Canton, Pontypridd, Glamorgan. This one presents a real difficulty. There is a Woodfield colliery in the Pontypridd, Glamorgan, area, but I rather doubt that David Canton was ever one of its owners, usually described as Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. Ltd. (The forename David isn’t actually very numerous in Canton families.) I think that probably Woodland and Woodfield have become confused here, as Pembs and Glamorgan were in no.2, above. With the intention of unravelling this riddle, I searched for the death of Henry Roberts in the last quarter of 1877 (and later) but found no-one of that name and general age.
Some further reading:
(a) George Edwards, The Coal Industry in Pembrokeshire (Field Studies reprint, 1963).
(b) Dr Brian S. John, The Geology of Pembrokeshire (1979, reprinted 2003).
(c) M.R. Connop-Price, Pembrokeshire: The Forgotten Coalfield (Landmark, 2004).