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A Tv Quiz called 'The Chase' last night (Tuesday)
Posted by Norman Dunn on 24/9/2025, 12:18 pm
A Questions last night was 'Sir Humphrey Davy invented his miners lamp to detect Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide or Methane'. They answered Carbon Dioxide which was wrong. I've only mentioned this on the board because it was Hebburn Colliery's methane gas that was used for testing in his Lab & where the new lamp was first used underground. Sadly Hebburn wasn't mentioned
Re: A Tv Quiz called 'The Chase' last night (Tuesday)
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 east end of Argyle St.
‘B’ Pit was on the east side of Black Rd (Black Lane in those days) and just south of St Oswald’s Church.(which wasn’t there at the time)
‘C’ Pit was behind the Lyon St / lower Ellison St junction, on land which later became Hawthorn Leslie’s steel stock yard.
A few miles upriver from Hebburn in a town called Felling in 1812 there was a terrible explosion at Felling’s ‘John Pit’ where 92 men and boys, were killed in a massive methane underground gas explosion and their graves are in St Mary’s Churchyard at Heworth The local Vicar of ‘Jarrow with Heworth’ John Hodgson was so moved with compassion, and anger at such a terrible waste of life, he along with Hebburn Hall’s Cuthbert Ellison, John Buddle the Mining Engineer and Matthias Dunn the ‘Viewer’ in the coal mines, met scientist Sir Humphrey Davey and asked if he could invent a lamp that could be safely used underground in coal mines. Since coal was first mined, many men and boys died underground in what the miners called ‘fire damp’ explosions. (methane gas). Sir Humphrey decided to help . Large wine bottles were filled with methane gas from Hebburn 'B' pit so that Sir Humphrey could test lamps safely in his Laboratory`. After some time (1816) Vicar Hodgson received a parcel from Sir Humphrey with 2 of the newly invented lamps, ready for testing. Mine official Matthias Dunn a ‘Viewer’ at the pit took one underground on Jan 1st 1816 at Hebburn ‘C’ Pit which was very close to where in 1870 the foundation stone for St Andrew’s was laid. The lamp tested successfully so on the 9th Jan the Rev John Hodgson took the lamp down ‘B’ Pit located close to where St Oswald’s Church is today. St Oswald’s wasn’t there then as it was built in the 1880s. When Clergyman John Hodgson took the lamp down ‘B’ Pit , miners hadn’t been informed so the first miner that saw him walking towards him shouted ‘Put that candle out’ . Hodgson stupidly didn’t reply and just kept walking towards the man, so the man shouted ‘If you don’t put that candle out I will put this Pick/shovel through you’. The poor miner thought his life was in danger and he hadn’t been told they were testing this new lamp and assumed it was a candle. Rev Hodgson later admitted it was a mistake not to inform the mine workers. Sir Humphrey’s safety lamp was a success and eventually years later it became more efficient when a glass tube shaped surround was used with less metal gauze. Before the glass tubes were used Sir Humphrey’s version didn’t give out as much light as a candle because the light had to pass through the fine metallic mesh. That poor miner who threatened Rev Hodgson had been using what was called a ‘steel mill’ to illuminate his work place . It was a hand held device where a wheel was rotated manually and a shower of sparks from the flint was created as long as you kept winding the handle. That shower of sparks was the only light available and because the sparks weren’t hot enough to ignite gas they were safe when gas was present. The miners obviously needed to do their work so he’d have had to use the ‘steel mill’, remember the view, put the device down and carry out the work in total darkness. Sir Humphrey’s Lamp was welcomed everywhere coal was mined and it was so safe it actually gave off extra light if 'firedamp' entered through the gauze. Because of the metallic gauze the flame was contained inside because the mesh absorbed the heat. Mining Officials right up to recent times still used those ‘old’ Safety lamps for determining the percentage of methane in the air. All they did was simply lift the lamp high up in the roadways where much lighter Methane collects . If there was gas present, the shape of the flame and size of the white arc on top of the blue flame told the percentage of gas present from the chart they carried . Sir Humphrey Davy’s lamp saved thousands of lives all over the world where coal mining occurred. All thanks to what happened here on Tyneside. 153 years after the testing of the safety lamp My first job was when I successfully passed an exam to get a National Coal Board (NCB) apprenticeship as a ‘Colliery Mechanic’ at Wardley Colliery in 1960. In my time underground everyone had a lamp that gave out a bright light & it was slotted onto the front of our pit safety helmets. There was a cable from it that ran down your back to the battery pack fastened to our belts. The batteries lasted a full shift so after finishing the shift the lamps were returned to be charged up ready for the next day. I have to say that our working lives underground was so easy compared to those poor Miners in the 1800s. Hope you enjoyed this little History lesson. Norman Dunn
Re: My post triggered a History lesson about that Lamp
Very interesting Norman, thank you. I’ve heard parts of the story from time to time, but reading it all is so much better. How dreadful to read of the mine explosion in Felling. What hard lives miners had in those days.
Re: My post triggered a History lesson about that Lamp
Its lovely to see your name on the board Elizabeth & all the way from sunny Australia.. When I see your Baker family photos it reminds me of a TV Programme called 'The darling buds of May'. Riverside Cottages & Carrahars Field area where you were brought up seemed very like that programme.
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