Pendleton Colliery

In 1835, Fitzgerald formed the Pendleton Colliery Company, with George Stephenson as a director, and leased nearby land from the Duchy of Lancaster for new mining works.

In 1836, the colliery supplied at least 215,000 tons of coal to Manchester by road, 24 per cent of the city's total demand.

[7] Robert Stephenson supervised the sinking of two eight-feet diameter shafts to deeper, drier seams below the Worsley Four Foot in 1836–37[4] and a steam engine of around 40 horsepower was installed.

[3] The new workings undertaken by the company were expected to generate profits of £14,000 per annum but the colliery suffered from problems relating to water ingress throughout its existence.

[4] More flooding in 1843 caused the pit to close when it employed nearly 1,000 people and produced 1,000 tons of coal per day.

[9] The lower sections of the new shafts, which were around 1,590 feet deep, were lined with cast iron tubbing in an attempt to restrain water ingress.

Newspapers reported that Fitzgerald's losses as a result of the ingress — which was initially termed a "destruction" by the Morning Post — were at least £50,000.

[10] Mining operations recommenced in January 1847 and were marked with a celebratory procession through the streets of Manchester and Salford[11] but the disaster had ruined some of the company's directors and in 1848 Fitzgerald filed for bankruptcy.

His son noted in 1843 that My father, after spending £100,000 on a colliery, besides losses by everlasting rogues, runaway agents, etc., has just been drowned out of it ...