Matthias Dunn (bap. 1788, d. 1869) was a British mining engineer and one of the first government inspectors of mines. He was known for encouraging safe practices in mines.
Dunn was baptized at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Birtley, County Durham, on 10 December 1788, the son of Robert Dunn (c.1755–1822) and his second wife, Agatha (Agnes), possibly née Hunter (d. 1790). His father was a viewer at Lumley colliery near Chester-le-Street.
Mining career
In 1804, Matthias Dunn was apprenticed to Thomas Smith, colliery viewer of Lambton Colliery, Durham. In 1810 he was appointed assistant viewer at Hebburn Colliery, also in Durham, under the supervision of John Buddle, where he oversaw the day-to-day running of the colliery. It was common then for viewers to do consultative or surveying work at collieries other than those to which they were contracted so Dunn gained further experience by accompanying Buddle on visits to some of the other collieries with which he was involved. In 1813 Dunn became resident viewer at Hebburn.
His concern for mine safety was enhanced from his experience retrieving the bodies of the 75 victims of the flooding of Heaton colliery in 1815 and later observing that the explosion at Harraton Row pit in 1817 where over 40 people lost their lives was due to a hewer who refused to use a safety lamp. (Dunn and the Rev. John Hodgson had tested the first Davy safety lamp at Hebburn Colliery in January 1816.)
Dunn might have expected to inherit shares in the collieries owned by his family and be manager there, but the will of his Uncle Matthias who died in 1825 did not provide for this, perhaps because Dunn wanted to be able to continue his freelance work. Thus for the next 20 years or so he worked at many collieries in Britain and some in Europe.
He leased and became a partner in several collieries including Stargate near Ryton, Co. Durham and Prestongrange, East Lothian,(now the site of the Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum) where, in 1830, he sank the first deep shaft in Scotland using Buddle's cast-iron tubbing to line the shaft. This was a first use in Scotland as it was later by him in Ireland at one of the Castle Comer pits in Kilkenny. The Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts in Scotland subsequently awarded Dunn its first honorary medal for his work at Prestongrange.
In 1831, Dunn was appointed viewer by the Hetton Coal Company, Durham, but he still had freelance work, which led to tensions with management. His apparent lenient handling of striking miners at the colliery in 1832 further strained relationships, especially as he disagreed with the treatment of the men by John Wood the underviewer and he was dismissed at the end of 1832.
He also spent time at Workington and visited collieries in Belgium.
As viewer of the St Lawrence Main and Shield Field collieries, he gave evidence on child labour to the Children's Employment Commission that reported in 1842.
Safety promotion
Throughout his career Dunn demonstrated a profound concern for mine safety and was particularly interested in improvements to mine ventilation and flood prevention. He was a prolific author producing books, pamphlets, and practical papers on the coal trade and mining engineering, many covering safety topics.
In particular he emphasised the need for adequate underground air-flow rate to neutralize gases, and promoted developments such as the use of barometers to monitor changes; cast-iron equipment; improved boiler safety valves and wire rope. He championed the better management of safety lamps and encouraged the work of those like William Reid Clanny who made improvements to lamps.
He advocated better education for those who managed and worked in the mines, believing that instruction should focus on technology and science, so that mine managers and men were aware of the dangers of their working environment,
He began to argue for government involvement in regulating mines, noting that "profit is the main object of working a coal mine" and that there is "the supposition that all persons, proprietors, agents, contractors &c. are always ready to adopt whatever may be requisite for the safety of the people.[1] Owners would choose how safe their mine should be, despite any recommendations there might be from their viewers.
A House of Lords Select Committee was set up in 1848 to enquire into the prevention of mine accidents [2] and in that year Dunn brought out his ‘’Treatise on the winning and working of collieries’’ including some practical ways in which issues of mining safety could be addressed. In 1849 he was an expert witness before the Select Committee where he pressed for compulsory government inspection, one of the few managers and owners to do so. He asked for regulations, but "as few and as simple" as possible; said that further advances in legislation should be made as "the state of opinion" ripened and argued for high technical and scientific qualifications for the inspectors and for the development of Schools of Mines.[3]
The Coal Mines Inspection Act 1850, setting up an inspectorate, was the outcome of the select committee's recommendations.
Mine inspector
Dunn was appointed one of the first four government mines inspectors under the act. Initially he had responsibility for Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, and Scotland, but his workload was excessive and an inspector to cover Scotland was appointed in 1853. He was relatively poorly paid (initially £400 per annum plus travelling expenses) when compared with government inspectors in other fields – a factory inspector earned £1,000 – and many colliery viewers. He did however continue to act as a consultant. The inspectors' influence was limited to recommendation and admonition. Dunn urged miners to contact him if they were anxious about the condition of their pits, stressing that he did not have the power to enter and inspect mines uninvited. His position as government inspector nevertheless enhanced and strengthened his reputation as a mining engineer. He was seen to have integrity and honesty and was generally accepted by owners and miners, though in 1863 the directors at Cleator Moor Colliery tried to have him dismissed.[4]
Following an explosion at Seaham colliery in Durham in June 1852 Dunn and some mine viewers met and put forward proposals for a forum where practical knowledge and scientific developments in mining especially relating to safety could be shared and discussed. The result was the setting up of the North of England Institute of Mining Engineers (from 1870 the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers) which held its first meeting in September 1852. As an inspector Dunn was an honorary member of the Institute Council and gave a number of papers before the institute.
Dunn believed that some technical and practical knowledge was needed by all levels of mine employees to help in preventing and dealing with accidents so in 1862 published A practical treatise on the best means of preventing accidents in coal mines. This was a revision of a book first published in 1852 and provided a checklist of good practice; noted the appropriate duties of managers and discussed the role of inspection.
Other activities
Dunn was one of the founder members of the management committee of the Newcastle upon Tyne Joint Stock Banking Company established in 1836. In 1835 he produced a pamphlet in association with the engineer Robert Hawthorn setting out the advantages of a railway between Newcastle and Morpeth, intended to form the first phase of a rail link with Edinburgh.[5]
Personal life
Dunn married Margaret Warden Hill Rennie (1794–1869), daughter of Captain Archibald Hill Rennie of Balliliesk, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, High Sheriff of Clackmannanshire, and his wife, Isabella Mortimer on 19 January 1829 at Alloa, Clackmannanshire, and had four children: Isabella Agnes (1830–1907), Robert (1831–1840), Archibald Matthias Dunn (1832–1917) - who became a prominent Catholic architect - and Margaret Mortimer (1836–1875).
Dunn was also a leading member of the Roman Catholic community in the North East and attended the ‘Great Meeting of Catholics’ at Ushaw College in July 1858.
Though he had some financial involvement in mines Dunn never seems to have become a partner in any of the major North East colliery companies, unlike people such as Nicholas Wood who became rich men. Dunn lived mainly off his consultancies, individual major reviews and evaluations and later his inspector's salary.
In 1866, owing to ill health - though he was 78 - Dunn retired from his inspectorship. He died on 10 October 1869, just a few months after his wife, at Whitecliffe, Caterham, Surrey, where he had moved from Newcastle to be near his daughter.
Publications by Matthias Dunn
Books and pamphlets
Dunn, M. Prospectus of a railway from Newcastle to Morpeth, to be called the Northumberland Railway … 1835
Dunn, M. An historical, geological and descriptive view of the coal trade of the North of England; comprehending its rise, progress, present state and future prospects. To which are appended a concise notice of the peculiarities of certain coal fields in Great Britain and Ireland, and also a general description of the coal mines of Belgium. 1844
Dunn, M. Review of the report of Messrs Lyell and Faraday, upon the subject of explosions in coal mines, arising from the catastrophe at Haswell in September 1844. 1845
Dunn, M. A treatise on the winning and working of collieries; including numerous statistics regarding ventilation and the prevention of accidents in mines, and illustrated with explanatory engravings and colliery plans. 1848
Dunn, M. A treatise on the winning and working of collieries; including numerous statistics, and remarks on ventilation, and illustrated by plans and engravings: to which are appended a glossary and index. 1852.
Dunn, M. How to prevent accidents in collieries. 1852
Dunn, M. and others Report on ventilation of mines with reference to the steam-jet and furnaces at Seaton Delaval Colliery. 1853
Dunn, M. A history of the steam-jet, as applicable to the ventilation of coal mines: Comprising extracts from parliamentary evidence, scientific investigations, ... working of the present mine inspection Act. 1854
Dunn, M. How to prevent accidents in collieries. A practical treatise upon the best means of preventing accidents in Coal Mines, also, advice regarding proceedings after explosion. 1862.
Journal articles
Dunn, M. Remarks on the state of Belgium and France in respect to the production of coals compared with England and Scotland Transactions - North of England Institute of Mining Engineers4 1855–56, 287–305
Dunn, M. On boiler explosions Transactions - North of England Institute of Mining Engineers4 1855–56, 39–53
Dunn, M. On the coalfields of Cumberland and the problems of coal being found under the new red sandstone which surrounds the city of Carlisle Transactions - North of England Institute of Mining Engineers8 1859–60, 141–160
Related Research Articles
The Davy lamp is a safety lamp used in flammable atmospheres, invented in 1815 by Sir Humphry Davy. It consists of a wick lamp with the flame enclosed inside a mesh screen. It was created for use in coal mines, to reduce the danger of explosions due to the presence of methane and other flammable gases, called firedamp or minedamp.
The Blantyre mining disaster, which happened on the morning of 22 October 1877, in Blantyre, Scotland, was Scotland's worst ever mining accident. Pits No. 2 and No. 3 of William Dixon's Blantyre Colliery were the site of an explosion which killed 207 miners, possibly more, with the youngest being a boy of 11. It was known that firedamp was present in the pit and it is likely that this was ignited by a naked flame. The accident left 92 widows and 250 fatherless children.
A safety lamp is any of several types of lamp that provides illumination in places such as coal mines where the air may carry coal dust or a build-up of inflammable gases, which may explode if ignited, possibly by an electric spark. Until the development of effective electric lamps in the early 1900s, miners used flame lamps to provide illumination. Open flame lamps could ignite flammable gases which collected in mines, causing explosions; safety lamps were developed to enclose the flame to prevent it from igniting the explosive gases. Flame safety lamps have been replaced for lighting in mining with sealed explosion-proof electric lights, but continue to be used to detect gases.
The Hartley Colliery disaster was a coal mining accident in Northumberland, England, that occurred on 16 January 1862 and resulted in the deaths of 204 men and children. The beam of the pit's pumping engine broke and fell down the shaft, trapping the men below. The disaster prompted a change in British law that required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape.
The Oaks explosion, which happened at a coal mine in West Riding of Yorkshire on 12 December 1866, remains the worst mining disaster in England. A series of explosions caused by firedamp ripped through the underground workings at the Oaks Colliery at Hoyle Mill near Stairfoot in Barnsley killing 361 miners and rescuers. It was the worst mining disaster in the United Kingdom until the 1913 Senghenydd explosion in Wales.
The Felling Colliery in Britain, suffered four disasters in the 19th century, in 1812, 1813, 1821 and 1847. By far the worst of the four was the 1812 disaster which claimed 92 lives on 25 May 1812. The loss of life in the 1812 disaster was one of the motivators for the development of miners' safety lamps such as the Geordie lamp and the Davy lamp.
The Gresford disaster occurred on 22 September 1934 at Gresford Colliery, near Wrexham, when an explosion and underground fire killed 261 men. Gresford is one of Britain's worst coal mining disasters: a controversial inquiry into the disaster did not conclusively identify a cause, though evidence suggested that failures in safety procedures and poor mine management were contributory factors. Further public controversy was caused by the decision to seal the colliery's damaged sections permanently, meaning that the bodies of only 8 of the miners were ever recovered. 2 of the 3 rescue men who died were brought out leaving the 3rd body in situ until recovery operations began the following year.
Clifton Hall Colliery was one of two coal mines in Clifton on the Manchester Coalfield, historically in Lancashire which was incorporated into the City of Salford in Greater Manchester, England in 1974. Clifton Hall was notorious for an explosion in 1885 which killed around 178 men and boys.
Prestongrange Museum is an industrial heritage museum at Prestongrange between Musselburgh and Prestonpans on the B1348 on the East Lothian coast, Scotland. Founded as the original site of the National Mining Museum, its operation reverted to East Lothian Council Museum Service in 1992.
John Buddle was a prominent self-made mining engineer and entrepreneur in North East England. He had a major influence on the development of the Northern Coalfield in the first half of the 19th century, contributing to the safety of mining coal by innovations such as the introduction of the Davy Lamp, the keeping of records of ventilation, and the prevention of flooding. He was also interested in shipping as an owner, and built Seaham Harbour, establishing an important trade dock. He was chairman of the company that built the Tyne Dock at South Shields, and was also involved in the creation of two harbours and the development of a tunnel.
Universal Colliery was a coal mine located in Senghenydd in the Aber Valley, roughly four miles north-west of the town of Caerphilly. It was in the county borough of Caerphilly, traditionally in the county of Glamorgan, Wales.
Nicholas Wood was an English colliery and steam locomotive engineer. He helped engineer and design many steps forward in both engineering and mining safety, and helped bring about the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, holding the position of president from its inauguration to his death.
The North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (NEIMME), commonly known as The Mining Institute, is a British Royal Chartered learned society and membership organisation dedicated to advancing science and technology in the North and promoting the research and preservation of knowledge relating to mining and mechanical engineering. The membership of the institute is elected on the basis of their academic and professional achievements with Members and Fellows entitled to the postnominal MNEIMME and FNEIMME. The Institutes’ membership is predominantly from local industry and from academics at Durham and Newcastle Universities, though members are also located further afield across the UK.
Sir William Galloway was a Scottish mining engineer, professor and industrialist.
John Hodgson (1779–1845) was an English clergyman and antiquary, known as the county historian of Northumberland.
George Clementson Greenwell was a British mining engineer.
Edward Fenwick Boyd was an English industrialist who became the fourth President of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (NEIMME). He held a leading role in the Mining Institute from its inauguration in 1852 as Treasurer and a member of the council before becoming the fourth president in 1869. As president, Boyd oversaw the installation of the Nicholas Wood Memorial Hall and the Newcastle College of Physical Science.
Thomas Emerson Forster was an English mining engineer.
A colliery viewer or coal viewer was the manager of a coal mine or colliery. The term was mostly used in the late eighteenth to nineteenth centuries, in the UK. In modern use, the viewer would be the senior and responsible mining engineer at a site.
The Cymmer Colliery explosion occurred in the early morning of 15 July 1856 at the Old Pit mine of the Cymmer Colliery near Porth, Wales, operated by George Insole & Son. The underground gas explosion resulted in a "sacrifice of human life to an extent unparalleled in the history of coal mining of this country" in which 114 men and boys were killed. Thirty-five widows, ninety-two children, and other dependent relatives were left with no immediate means of support.
References
↑ Dunn, M. Review of the report of Messrs Lyell and Faraday upon the subject of explosions in coal mines, arising from the catastrophe at Haswell in September 1844. Newcastle, 1845
↑ Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to inquire into the best means of preventing the occurrence of dangerous accidents in coal mines.1849
↑ MacDonagh, O. Coal mines regulation: the first decade, 1842-1852, in Robson, R (ed.), Ideas and institutions of Victorian Britain 1967,58-86
↑ Job, B. The British Mines Inspectorate: the early years 1850–1872, Mining Engineer145 April 1986, 426–31
↑ Ray, M. Dunn, Matthias (bap. 1788, d. 1869)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2015 accessed 20 June 2016
Stokes, W. Matthias Dunn: campaigner for mining safety, c.1789-1869 Bulletin, Durham County Local History Society69 2006, 3–20
Others
Job, B. The British Mines Inspectorate: the early years 1850–1872, Mining Engineer145 April 1986, 426–31
Job, B. The formation and early development of the Mines Inspectorate Mining engineer153 1993–4, 249–255
Job, B. The first coal mines' Inspectors British Mining (48) 1993, 152–158.
MacDonagh, O. Coal mines regulation: the first decade, 1842–1852, in Robson, R (ed.), Ideas and institutions of Victorian Britain 1967, 58–86
Sill, M The journal of Matthias Dunn, 1831-36: some observations of a colliery viewer in Sturgess, R.W. Pitmen, viewers and coal masters: essays in North East coal mining in the Nineteenth Century. North East Labour History Society, 1986, 55–80
Sill, M. The diary of Matthias Dunn, colliery viewer, 1831-1836 Local historian16(7) 1985, 418–424
Thompson, R. Thunder underground: Northumberland mine disasters 1815-1865. 2004, 117–125.
Mr Matthias Dunn [Obituary] Colliery Guardian 15 Oct 1869, 376
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
