Book review: The Sneyd Colliery Disaster 1942 by Mervyn Edwards, reviewed by Fred Hughes

The Sneyd Colliery Disaster 1942 by Mervyn Edwards, £8 at Market Place Miniatures in Burslem and Proctor’s newsagent in Wolstanton High Street.

The Sneyd Colliery Disaster 1942 is clearly a labour of love. The narrative has been compiled from contemporary news and official reports together with some contemporary personal recollections and illustrated by the author’s own sketches. A most touching first-hand account is contained in an appendix written by Ernest Taylor, a miner who was one of the first at the scene.

For more than 100 years Sneyd Colliery was a major employer in Burslem. And, like the potteries, the colliery was an integral part of the town’s occupational and social fabric. It is easy to understand therefore that on that fateful New Year’s Day in 1942 every man, woman and child was in some way affected by the events that were taking place beneath their feet.

The official report into the Sneyd disaster found that fifty-five men died instantly and two later in hospital as a result of an underground explosion in number 4 pit. The cause was said to be a braking failure that caused loaded wagons to run away down an incline.

The author has written a chronological account of the disaster and of the days and months following, and of the official investigation. This is a factual book unadorned by emotion. The reader nevertheless will carry away much feeling of tragedy, anger and, yes pride, from each page.

Timed to coincide with the erection of a memorial in Burslem town centre, this book is a tribute to a lost generation and a lost industry: a comprehensive and touching account of one of Burslem’s blackest days.