In this section of the site we will provide the text of the inquests held into the disasters, these texts were often included in the early official reports of the Mines Inspectorate into disasters and major incidents that have occurred in the northern coalfields. This section will gradually grow as more reports are added over the coming months. We are also including some of the inquests covered in local newspapers.

The ability to provide the information from official reports is due to the relaxation of Crown Copyright for some classes of documents. After consultation with HMSO we have been granted a Class Licence (Number C01W0000177) to reproduce this material.

These reports are generally known as "Command Papers" as they are presented to Parliament by Command of His/Her Majesty. The specific Command Paper number is given in the left column of the following table - click on this and it will take you to the text of the report.

	Ref.		Incident Date				Colliery / Cause		Coroner
	1826		17th	Jan	1826		Jarrow Colliery		Mr. Michael Hall
							Explosion of gas
	1826		5th	Sep	1826		Heworth Colliery		Mr. Michael Hall
							Explosion of gas
	1833		9th	May	1833		Springwell Colliery		Mr. Michael Hall
							Explosion of gas
	1841		19th	Apr	1841		Bigge Pit, Willington		Mr. Stephen Reed
							Explosion of gas
	1841		5th	Aug	1841		Thornley Colliery		Mr. T. C. Maynard
							Explosion of gas
	1843		5th	Apr	1843		King Pit, Stormont Main		Mr. J. M. Favell
							Explosion of gas
	1845		21st	Aug	1845		Jarrow Colliery		Mr. J. M. Favell
							Explosion of gas
	Ann Rpt		1st	Oct	1858		Page Bank
							Shaft caught fire
	C-2924		8th	Sep	1880		Seaham		Mr. Crofton Maynard
							Explosion, coal dust, ignition caused by safety lamp or shot firing
	C-3319		16th	Feb	1882		Trimdon Grange
							Explosion, firedamp, ignition probably caused by shot firing
	C-3327		18th	Apr	1882		Tudhoe		Mr. Dean
							Explosion, firedamp, ignition probably caused by naked light
	C-3331		19th	Apr	1882		West Stanley		Mr. John Graham
							Explosion, firedamp, ignition caused by safety lamp
	C-4549		2nd	Mar	1885		Usworth
							Explosion, firedamp and coal dust, ignition caused by shot firing
	1893		19th	Nov	1893		Bigrigg, Croft Pit		Gordon Falcon
							Shaft Accident
	1898		25th	Feb	1898		Whitehaven, Croft Pit		Gordon Falcon
							Suffocation by Natural Gases
	1899		7th	Jul	1899		Southam Pit		J. Webster
							Poisoned by carbonic-oxide gas given off by burning timber
	1901		16th	Apr	1901		Whitehaven, Croft Pit		Gordon Falcon
							Shaft collapsed
	1901		2nd	Sep	1901		Parkside Iron Ore Mine		J. Webster
							Workings collapsed
	1901		12th	Nov	1901		Edmondsley Colliery		John Graham
							Explosion of firedamp
	1902		15th	Oct	1902		Holmside Colliery		Mr. Graham
							Explosion of firedamp
	1903		16th	Nov	1903		Sacriston Colliery		Mr. Graham
							Irruption of Water