Description:This mining rescue team is about to descend into the tunnels of the Minnie Pit following the Minnie Pit disaster of January 1918.
It was the Potteries' worst colliery accident: around 160 men and boys were killed. The damage was so extensive that the body of the last victim of the disaster was not recovered until August 1919.
The men in this photograph are wearing heavy breathing apparatus to protect then from poisonous gas and dust which may be present following the accident. It is not clear whether this is the Minnie Pit or Apedale mining rescue team: the teams operated on a rapid response basis and worked together during disasters but would usually be based at their own pit.
This photograph was taken by Mr.Fred Leigh who spent many years studying the coal mining industry in North Staffordshire and produced a book on pit disasters.
Pit disaster memories
Residents at Regent Court in Newcastle-under-Lyme remember the fear of pit disasters:
"It's now a country park, but they had a bad pit disaster before my time. I've been down the pit. It's grim. 160 men were killed in the disaster. Our parents talked about it. It is still something that is very much a part of 'round here.'
"My husband's father was killed in Silverdale pit. He was doing a shift for another man.
"The Brymbo Pit disaster was terrible. I was still at school. I can remember it happening. It was before the war. I’ve got a feeling it was flooded. I don’t know how many were killed.
"When you’re in a mining village, which Chesterton was, every family was affected. It numbs everyone. It’s like this disaster that’s happened now [Ukraine, 2004] – it happens so suddenly, like an air raid."
About this photograph
This photograph is now among the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.