Coal mining has long played a major role in the lives of many Welsh families. Tragically, it has also caused major losses in many Welsh families. On May 10, 1852, there was an explosion at the Middle Duffryn Colliery, near Aberdare in South Wales.
This wasn't the first accident at Middle Duffryn; in 1850, a falling roof released a pocket of gas which ignited. Eight miners were killed, and another five passed away later from their injuries.
The 1852 explosion, though, claimed the lives of sixty-four miners. Nine of these occurred when a wooden platform collapsed as they attempted to escape.
I mentioned how whole families were affected by such events, and none more so than the Thomas family. 38-year-old Charles Thomas was killed, along with sons Evan (19), David (17), and Charles Jr., who was just 11. Yes, there were many children who followed their ancestors into the mines, even at such a young age.
In fact, Charles Thomas Jr. was not the youngest casualty. David Morris was aged 10. Like the Thomas', young David was not the only victim in the family; father Ebenezer (32) and brother John (12) also perished. There were seven other young men cut down before they reached their teens; Richard Evans, Charles Marks, and David John (all 11), and John Jenkins, John Thomas, John Richard, and William Jones (all 12).
It is a terrible tragedy when any life is lost in such an accident, but it seems so much worse when children are involved, Fortunately, what was once commonplace in the coal mines of Great Britain is now very much a thing of the past.
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