The Leeswood Accident, 1865

The following memorial has been presented to Sir George Grey by Lord Richard Grosvenor, MP. for Flintshire :—

To; The Right Hon. Sir George Grey, Bart., Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department.

The humble memorial of the undersigned owners and lessees of Collieries and other Mineral works and establish roents in the district of Leeswood, Tryddyn, Nerquis, and Pontblyddyn, and also of the mineral district of Mold and Hawarden, in the county of Flint,

Sheweth,— That on the 16th of December last, an accident, whereby the lives of several persons were lost, occurred at the Leeswood Green Main Coal Colliery, near Mold, such accident being occasioned by the sudden eruption of an unexpected body of water. That without taking upon themselves the right in any way to call in question the local circumstances under which such accident arose, your Memorialists feel it incumbent upon themselves, alike in justice to the general interests of the public as of their own in particular, to lay before you, sir, some of the facts connected with the Coroner's inquest, which they cannot but regard as a most serious departure from justice, and of the greatest possible importance to the welfare of the public, if such inquest and its surrounding circumstances be not the subject of a further and rigid scrutiny.

That the inquest in the first instance was held by and before Mr. Peter Parry, the County Coroner of Flintshire, on Tuesday, the 10th day of January last, and was then adjourned to Tuesday, the 17th January, when the same was concluded, and a verdict of manslaughter recorded against the Lessees of the Colliery in question— namely, William Craig, Henry Taylor, and William Wright Craig. That such verdict has occasioned the utmost surprise and consternation in ttie minds of your memorialists, and of the inhabitants of the district generally; and your memorialists most respectfully but earnestly submit to you, sir, that the interests of justice imperatively demand a rehearing of the case, and a full and searching inquiry into all the circumstances thereof. That your memoriansts earnestly entreat that such steps may be taken by the Home Department as may lead to an immediate and searching inquiry into, and re-hearing of the case to which be ventured herein to call your attention.

• Thomas B Sharp, for the Coed Talon Colliery Company, Limited.
• Henry Jones, for the Leeswood Cannel and Gas Coal Company. Limited.
• Griffiths Brothers, Coppa Colliery near Mold.
• For the Bromfield Hall Colliery Company, Frederick Bromley.
• John Hokroft, Nant Colliery.
• Thos. F. Cottingham, mining engineer, Mold.
• A. and A. Craig, Leeswood Hill Colliery.
• William Brentnall, Mold. - P. P the proprietor of the Aston Hall Colliery,
• S. Edward Peace; Mancott Banks Colliery,
• David McCuttock. Great Mancott Main Colliery,
• E. Mainwaring. Little Mountain Coal Company, Buckley,
• Joseph Turner. Northop Hall and Dublin Coal Company, Limited,
• Joseph Rowley. Upper Nant Colliery, Edward Thompson. ditto,
• Thomas Ollis,. Henry Wright and Company, Padeswood Colliery.
• Flint Marsh Colliery, Limited, William Jones.
• George Haworth, for the Flintshire Oil and Cannel Co., Limited
• Roberts and Hopwood, Tryddyn Colliery.
• Brencoed Colliery Co , Limited, Mold, per Chas. Hales.
• John Catherall. Nant Coal Company.
• Hope Mineral Oil Company, per W Dyson.
• Thomas Green, for Mineral Oil Works, Coppa Colliery, near Mold.
• George H. Birchbeck, Mineral Oil Works, Coppa Colliery. Mold
• E. S. Battery, Hope Mineral Oil Works, Mold
• Page and Co.. Mineral Oil Works, per F Marshall.
• Pentrobin Colliery, Wm. Tudor.
• Plas-y Mwys Colliery, W. McCullock, viewer.
• Leeswood Iron Co., Limited, per Gerard Gandy, secretary.
• Robt. Williams, Mineral Agent, Mold.
• The Padeswood Oil Works, per F. F. Winter. Major.
• Leeswood BrickWorks, per J. B. Butt.
• C. H. Earp and Co., Oil Merchants, Mold.
• Thomas Taylor, Hartsheath, one of the jury of the inquest.
• Geo. Griffith, Ty Newydd, one of the jury of the inquest.
• Cadwalader Griffiths, Leeswood, one of the jury of the inquest
• Geo. Ingram, Leeswood, one of the jury of the inquest.
• Edward Ingram, Leeswood, one of the jury of the inquest.
• John Williams. Leeswood, one of the jury of the inquest
• Richard Lewis Williams, Tryddyn, one of the jury.
• Hugh Jones, one of the jury.
• A. C. King, Argoed Colliery, Buckley.
• Robert Piatt, Tryddyn Lodge, near Mold.
• Joseph Dougan, manager, Coed Talon Colliery.
• Walter Ness, manager of Coppa Colliery.

The Cheshire Observer, 11th February 1865