DAVE WELBOURNE continues his look back at the mining disaster at Silkstone, near Barnsley, on July 4, 1838, in which 26 children drowned:

One survivor said at the enquiry, how they had no idea what was going on, and described how the innocent children were swept along by the torrent. Uriah Jubb who escaped death by seconds with Elizabeth Taylor, dived into a hole and stayed there until the water subsided.

The village was stunned, and the grief-strickened parents could not contain themselves. Queen Victoria was deeply moved when she heard of the disaster, and sent a letter of condolence to the families.

The mine owner, Robert Clark, who also owned most of the houses in Silkstone, and the area around, and the ‘tommy shop’ where the villagers bought their food and clothes, erected a monument in 1841. The bodies were buried on July 7, 1838. The verdict at the inquest was “accidental death”.

This terrible tragedy contributed to evidence collected by a Royal Commission of inquiry, in 1840, led by Lord Ashley (later Lord Shaftesbury). They interviewed children who worked in the mines, sometimes without the coal owners’ permission.

What followed was moving evidence which had a profound influence, especially as it was also illustrated showing the work which was done by children and women. Most of the public who lived away from coal mines, had no idea what went on.

Apart from being appalled by the work the children had to do, they were morally shocked because children and adults worked half naked alongside each other. At Silkstone it was revealed that “a great many girls” were working in the pit. They were seen washing themselves naked below the waist, next to the men, and they seemed unconcerned.

It was felt this “immoral” behaviour would influence them in everyday life. Ashley deliberately appealed to Victorian prudery by focusing on the fact that females wearing trousers, and bare breasted, worked with men, and this caused a moral outrage.

Women and young children pulled heavy coal trucks, along low galleries, harnessed to the wagon like animals. They often had to fill four to five tubs a day, each holding about 500kg.

They worked in the dark for twelve hours, and only on Sundays did they see daylight. It’s hardly surprising that their physical development was affected and some suffered from stunted growth, or were crippled.

The Royal Commission’s Report shocked the nation, and Parliament. In 1842, the Mines Act was passed. It stated that no females were to be employed under ground. No child workers under 10 were to work underground.

There was some criticism from women that they had been deprived of a livelihood, and from families who suffered a drop in income. But it had been a moral victory, and spared many from ill treatment and oppressive working conditions.

In 1843, the first miners union was formed. Today the memorials can be seen in Silkstone Churchyard as a reminder of that terrible disaster.

On November 27, 2004, children planted a tree in Nabs Wood for each of the 26 children who died.