Now! Then! An explosion injures half the shift and kills four at the Leeds Steel Works, Hunslet

11 January 1900: An explosion injures half the shift and kills four at the Leeds Steel Works, Hunslet

Error: old image code

Times. 1900/01/12. Fatal Explosion at Leeds. London. Get it:

Excerpt

There are three furnaces at the works, and they face the railway. The explosion occurred suddenly and without any warning at No. 3, which had been for some time, it is stated, working unsatisfactorily. The force of the explosion, which is attributed in part to an accumulation of gas, carried away the bell and the copper close to the upper part of the furnace, and blew out a large proportion of coke and molten metal. One or two of the men were hurled a distance of about 65ft. Dr Hardcastle was soon on the spot and attended to the sufferers, some of whom were sent home, while 12 of the more seriously injured were conveyed in ambulances and cabs to the city infirmary. Jesse Barrett, of 11, Woodville Place, Hunslet, was instantly killed, being hurled into the air by the explosion. He leaves a widow and four children. Others were shockingly burnt.

Order the book

Subscribe to the free daily email

To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.
Abbreviations:

ER: East Riding
GM: Greater Manchester
NR: North Riding
NY: North Yorkshire
SY: South Yorkshire
WR: West Riding
WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

Leeds Library & Information Services says that there was another fatal explosion 13 years later:

View looks onto the 25 acre site of Leeds Steel Works at Hunslet. This site opened in 1889 and was at one time Britain’s largest producer of steel tram tracks. The site included seven smokestacks and four blast furnaces as well as five miles of train tracks. In 1913 a boiler exploded, tragically killing nine men. The firm closed in 1935.(Leeds Library and Information Services n.d.)

John Lockwood, on the same page:

My uncle, Jack Guy, grew up living in the Grove Pub in Hunslet, run by his parents. The man in charge of demolishing Leeds Steel Works visited the pub and recruited him to help. He told me that at the bottom of one of the furnaces there was a disc of waste metal too big to cut up so they dug a pit beneath it, supported by timbers and then burnt away the timbers. He always wondered if it was discovered later when the land was built on.

Something to say? Get in touch

Original

An explosion occurred about 7:30 yesterday morning at the Leeds Steel Works, Hunslet … where several hundred men are employed. The accident was attended by the injury, more or less severe, of 23 men out of a shift of 50, and four of the sufferers died on the way to the infirmary or in the course of the day. There are three furnaces at the works, and they face the railway. The explosion occurred suddenly and without any warning at No. 3, which had been for some time, it is stated, working unsatisfactorily. The force of the explosion, which is attributed in part to an accumulation of gas, carried away the bell and the copper close to the upper part of the furnace, and blew out a large proportion of coke and molten metal. One or two of the men were hurled a distance of about 65ft. Dr. Hardcastle was soon on the spot and attended to the sufferers, some of whom were sent home, while 12 of the more seriously injured were conveyed in ambulances and cabs to the City Infirmary. Jesse Barrett, of 11, Woodville-place, Hunslet, was instantly killed, being hurled into the air by the explosion. He leaves a widow and four children. Others were shockingly burnt. The accident caused a great sensation in the neighbourhood. The severe cases were retained in the infirmary, the rest being sent to their homes. The night foreman, Mr. Bullas, was among those most injured. A large gang of men were engaged to clear the adjacent railway, which runs through the works. At the foot of the furnace was the engine-house, which, together with the engine, was totally demolished by the huge pieces of iron and steel which fell upon them. The engineman had a narrow escape with his life, and so had an engine-driver. One of the injured men was found under a hot-water pipe and narrowly escaped being scalded to death. The following is a complete list of the dead and the seriously injured detained in the infirmary:-Dead.-Jesse Barrett (20), married; John O’Grady (23), single; William Henry Kirby (23), single; William Cawthorne (33), married. Seriously injured.-William Henry Nettleton (35) (the engine-driver), single; Jeremiah Bullas (43), married.

360 words.