It shouldn’t be any surprise to learn there’s a large section in Lloyd’s book concerning songs about pit accidents and disasters. Mining today still has its dangers, but nothing compared to the perils of working in a Victorian-era mine. In his notes to this song, Lloyd gives the following information:
The explosion at the West Moor Colliery, Killingsworth, [in 1845] occurred between two shifts. The gas was ignited by the candle of a little boy who was allowed to proceed before the men. There had been a fatal explosion at West Moor in January of the previous year, but nothing had been done to improve safety.
His description of a ‘little boy’ makes me wonder whether the mine owner ignored the recently enacted Mines and Collieries Act. Here’s a couple of verses.
‘I thought that at my post I sat, upon my duty bent, When suddenly there came a sound as if the mine was rent: And then the earth rocked to and fro, and I strove for help to call For o’er my head a mass of coal hung ready to fall.
‘It swayed and tottered, still it hung, as held by secret power, and as I gazed such horrid faces round me seemed to lower. Grim demons looked with scowling eye, and nearer then they came. They smote and dashed me to the earth and turned my heart to flame.’