Pretoria Pit disaster

They were working five coal seams of the Manchester Coalfield: the Trencherbone, Plodder, Yard, Three-Quarters and Arley mines.

[1] At 7:50am, there was an explosion in the Plodder Mine, which was thought to have been caused by an accumulation of gas from a roof collapse the previous day.

[1] That day 345 workers descended the No 3 bank pit shaft to work in the Plodder, Yard and Three Quarters mines.

All the victims were members of Permanent Relief Societies to which they paid contributions weekly and most had private life insurance with friendly societies and all were covered by the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1906 which brought together all (except the private insurance) the compensation to produce a lump sum and annuity for the dependants.

[2] John Baxter was the last recipient of payments from the Hulton Colliery Explosion (1910) Relief Fund when he died in January 1973.

[citation needed] On 19 December 2008, an account of the disaster was discovered, written anonymously by a man who accompanied the rescue team.