I might have put this History Lesson I wrote on the Board before, but we have new visitors so its better twice than not at all


Sir Humphrey Davy’s Safety Lamp
And the Hebburn connection

Hebburn’s first Colliery was simply called ‘A’ Pit which opened in 1792.
Soon afterwards we had a ’B’ Pit & a ‘C’ pit.
‘A’ Pit was located between Wagonway Rd & Auckland Rd at the far end of Argyle St.
‘B’ Pit was on the east side of Black Rd (Black Lane in those days) and just south of where St Oswald’s Church was later built.
‘C’ Pit was across Ellison St, on land which later became Hawthorn Leslie’s steel stock yard. It’s perimeter wall was alongside Lyon St.

Gas explosions were a hazard in all coal mines. Hebburn & Jarrow Collieries had explosions that killed the miners & in Jarrow the miners nicknamed their pit as ‘The Slaughter House’. In 1812 just a couple of miles upriver from Hebburn in a town called Felling there was a massive explosion at Felling’s ‘John Pit’ where 92 men and boys, were killed underground in a methane gas explosion. Those killed were buried in St Mary’s Churchyard at Heworth
The local Vicar of ‘Jarrow & Heworth’ was the Rev John Hodgson and he was so moved with compassion, and anger at such a terrible waste of life, he along with Hebburn Hall’s Cuthbert Ellison and John Buddle a Local Mining Engineer and Matthias Dunn the ‘Viewer’ in our local coal mines arranged to meet scientist Sir Humphrey Davey and asked him if he could possibly invent a lamp that could be used safely underground.
Since coal was first mined, many men and boys have died underground in what the miners called ‘fire damp’ explosions which is methane.
Sir Humphrey took up the challenge and large wine bottles were filled with methane from Hebburn 'B' pit so that Sir Humphrey could produce a lamp and carry out tests on it in his Laboratory`.
After quite some time ( late 1815) the Rev Hodgson received a parcel from Sir Humphrey with 2 of the newly invented lamps, ready for testing underground. A Coal mine official called Matthias Dunn a ‘Viewer’ at the pit took one underground on Jan 1st 1816 at Hebburn ‘C’ Pit located very close to where 54 years later the foundation stone for St Andrew’s Church was laid.
The lamp was tested successfully so on the 9th Jan Rev John Hodgson took the lamp underground in ‘B’ Pit which was located 50 yds or more from where St Oswald’s Church was built 67 years later in 1883.
When he took the lamp down ‘B’ Pit the management amazingly hadn’t informed the mine workers so the first miner that saw him walking along with what he thought was a candle shouted ‘Put that candle out or I’ll put this shovel through you’ . He stupidly didn’t reply and just kept walking towards the man.



The pitman would have been terrified and Rev Hodgson later admitted it was a mistake not to inform the mine workers about this.
The safety lamp was a success and eventually, years later it became more efficient when a glass tube shaped surround was added instead of 100% wire gauze. Before glass tubes were added Sir Humphrey’s older version didn’t give out as much light as a candle because the light had to pass through the fine metallic mesh so it became much more efficient when the glass was introduced.
The poor miner who threatened Rev Hodgson had been using what was called a ‘steel mill’ to illuminate his work place. It was a handheld device where a wheel was rotated manually to create a shower of sparks from the flint. That shower of sparks was the only light available and the sparks weren’t hot enough to ignite gas although they did sometimes. The miners obviously needed to work so they’d have had to use the ‘steel mill’, then remember the view, put the device down and carry out the work in total darkness. This new Davy lamp was just what was needed in coal mines & it saved many many lives throughout the world. The lamp actually gave off more light when 'firedamp' was present. Methane would enter through the wire gauze where it burned but was contained inside the mesh which absorbed the heat.
Mining Officials right up to recent times used ‘old’ Safety lamps for determining the percentage of methane in the air. All they do is lift the lamp high up in the roadways where lighter than air Methane collects .If gas is present, the shape of the blue flame and size of the white arc on top of it tells the man what percentage of gas is present
These safety lamps have saved thousands of lives all over the world where coal is mined deep below the earth, all thanks to what happened here on Tyneside.
153 years after the testing of the safety lamp
I started a 5year engineering apprenticeship with the NCB (National Coal Board in 1960) at Hebburn Technical College on NCB Courses & on site at Wardley & Follonsby Collieries. Underground in those days was a lot different & safer than in past generations. We were well paid because ‘Coal was King’ then & had been for years..Every man had a battery powered lamp slotted into the front of their pit helmet with a cable running down their back to a battery fastened to their belt. Those lamps gave off a bright light that early miners would have loved to have had. Batteries lasted a full shift and after finishing the shift, lamps were recharged in the ‘Lamp Cabin’ ready for the next day.

Methane gas was just one of the deadly gases underground. Another flammable gas was the highly toxic ‘[Hydrogen Sulfide’ and because it had a horrible smell like rotten eggs it was nicknamed ‘Stinkdamp’ by the miners’ After smelling it for a short time it damaged the sense of smell and the miner thought it was no longer there, but it was & it was slowly killing him..
A third gas was nicknamed ‘Black Damp’ which was heavier than air and collected at floor level. Its real name was ‘Carbon Dioxide (CO2)’ and it killed by displacing the oxygen you need to live, so it caused suffocation. Pit ponies were little Shetland Ponies & they would have been vulnerable with their noses just a foot or more above floor level.
A 4th deadly gas was Carbon Monoxide (CO) which has no smell whatsoever and just 1.6% in the air can kill. To make that easy to understand if at home & a child’s balloon was filled with CO & it burst it in the sitting room it would kill all the people in the room. This Carbon Monoxide is the same one that kills people at home if their gas appliances are not burning efficiently. This is why it is very important to use a registered gas engineer to service your gas appliances. It is also an idea to have a CO detector fitted .
I hope you enjoyed my Local History lesson on how Hebburn helped Sir Humphrey with the invention of the Safety Lamp that over many years saved many many lives in coalmines all over the world..
Norman Dunn