Derbyshire community pays tribute to 18 miners who lost their lives in Markham Colliery disaster of 1973

Within hours, 13 pitmen were killed at the colliery and another five were unable to survive their injuries in hospital. They were victims of a horrific accident when the cage they were travelling in crashed at the bottom of a mine shaft after developing a mechanical fault.

Gordon Richard Cooper, of East Street, Scarcliffe, was the youngest casualty at just 30 years old. A miner for 14 years, the dad of three normally worked on the night shift but he decided to do a day shift as a favour. The first that his family knew about the 6am accident was when his oldest daughter, Deborah, heard the early afternoon news on television. Gordon’s son, Shane, said that his mum told them: “Your dad will be OK – he’s probably helping with the rescue.”

Shane, who was two years old at the time, recalled his grandfather turning up at the house a couple of hours later to break the news that Gordon had been involved in in the accident. He told The Story Mine in a recorded interview that his mum went into a state of shock and his sisters started kicking their granddad because they didn’t want to belive it was true. Shane’s granddad took his mum to hospital where a nurse said Gordon’s name wasn’t on her list boosting the family's hopes that he was still alive, only to have them dashed by a porter who said that Gordon’s name was at the top of his list. He had died that morning at 11am.

Lynne Barton was a second year student nurse at Chesterfield Royal Hospital on the fateful day of July 30, 1973. She told The Story Mine: “The call came in that there had been an accident at the pit and I remember the night superintendant at the time telling us all to be alert and be ready to do anything.” Lynne was working on the children’s ward and was left in charge when the staff nurse was despatched to A&E.

She said: “I was in the office looking out of the window and you could see as the ambulances came in with the miners. The doctor went out, certified them dead, the ambulance went out and the next one came in.”

Miners arriving for treatment in intensive care had to be washed clean of the coal dust and one of the patients had his hand wrapped around his breakfast, an egg sandwich.

Fifty years on, a day of commemoration will be held on Sunday, July 30, 2023, to remember the 18 pitmen who sacrificed their lives. Proceedings will begin at 11am with an exhibition at St John the Baptist Church and Church Hall, followed by a memorial service in the church at 3pm conducted by the Bishop of Oswestry and featuring the Ireland Colliery Band. There will be the opportunity to stroll along the Walking Together Memorial Trail from Markham Vale or Robertson’s Avenue, Duckmanton, with coach transport provided from Staveley at 11.50am. For more details, email: [email protected] or call 01924 860258.

The day, which is open to the public, will also celebrate the ongoing work that has avoided a repeat of the Markham horror in the United Kingdom.

Vincent Fowler is chairman of the National Technical Liaison Committee for Safety of Manriding in Shafts and Unwalkable Outlets, which was set up following the disaster. He said: “Through collaboration between the regulator, mine operators, equipment suppliers, specialist service providers and others, a repeat disaster in shafts and winding operations has been avoided in the UK for 50 years. This is sadly not the case internationally.

"It is by applying the learnings of the disaster and near miss incidents in the UK or internationally, that collectively we as the regulator and all the other stakeholders have achieved this, which should not go unnoticed.”

Mr Fowler, who is HM Principal Inspector of Electrical Engineering in Mines, Health and Safety Executive, gave an insight into what led to the fatalities at Markham. An investigation found that the cage had passed the mid-point in the 1,470ft shaft when the winding engineman began to slow the system down by using electrical braking. When a bang came from the vicinity of the mechanical brakes, he moved the electrical control power lever more towards the off position to reduce speed further and tried to apply the mechanical brake by using the service brake lever, but it had no effect. He pressed the emergency stop push button, which cut off all power and the mechanical brake should then have been applied automatically, but it was not. No electrical braking remained available as the supply to the winding engine had been cut off and there was no means by which the operator could slow down or stop the cage.

“The descending double deck cage carrying 29 men crashed into wooden baulks at the pit bottom at around 27mph,” said Mr Fowler. “As a result, 18 men received fatal injuries and the remaining 11 on the cage were seriously injured.”

An investigation into the disaster found that a central rod in the braking system was flexed during each application of the brake and after 21 years of service had failed from fatigue.