| 4. | Gwilym HOWELL was born in Jan 1890 in Bridgend, Glamorgan, Wales; died on 23 Apr 1928 in Redbank, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia. Other Events and Attributes:
- _FNRL: 24 Apr 1928, Queensland Times newspaper funeral notices
Notes:
Newspaper reports of the incident:
MINING DISASTER.THREE MEN PERISH.TRAGEDY AT REDBANKHEROIC RESCUE EFFORTS.
Death struck swiftly at the Redbank Colliery yesterday morning, at the moment when the mining folk of Ipswich were awakening to a holiday breathing space from the work in the underground galleries.
The three victims were J. P. Lestrange (managing director of the Redbank Colliery Company), G. Howells* and J. Marstaeller (deputy managers).
The three men had decided on a visit of in inspection, and descended shortly before 7.30 o'clock. A few minutes later a violent explosion rent the early morning silence of the little mining district, and a great flame shot from the mouth of the pit in a huge jet to a height of about 60ft.
Fighting their way through the dim galleries, laden with the poisonous fumes of the foul gases which it is surmised generated the explosion, the rescue party first came upon the body of Mr. Lestrange, and with recharged breathing apparatus they again descended to continue their dreadful task.
Passing through a belt of deadly gases, and clambering over smouldering timbers, they found the bodies of the two remaining victims, about 150 yards from where that of Lestrange had been discovered earlier in the day.Had not the fates decreed that the disaster should occur on a holiday, a heavy toll would have been exacted from the employees, which numbered 23.
IPSWICH, April 23.As to-day was a holiday the three men decided on an early inspection of the mine. Shortly after 7 o'clock they were lowered down the shaft, and apparently began to inspect the middle seam, at a depth of 350ft.
As shown by subsequent discoveries the men had evidently travelled some distance up the seam, and had turned up the first road on the left hand side of the dip facing the driving of the dip seam, when the explosion occurred. Mr. Harry Doyle (managing director) was about to descend to the mine a few minutes after the other men, when someone called to him, and he turned back.
At that moment there was a deep rumbling like heavy thunder, followed by a violent explosion which was heard a mile away. Immediately a huge flame shot upwards 60ft. high from the mouth of the shaft, and a dense, cloud of smoke and coal dust was vomited out of the mine. One of the pit gates was torn away, one of the cages used by the men in entering the mine was jammed, and the other damaged.
Men and women came running towards the mine from all directions, startled at first by the explosion, and then, terrified at the thought of injury to loved ones.
PREPARATIONS FOR RESCUE.
But for the fact that the day was a holiday the extent of the disaster would have been much more serious. As it was the main body of miners was not working.
"Thank God it was a holiday," was the expression of relief heard on all sides.
The Ipswich Ambulance and the Miners' Rescue Station had been telephoned, and in an incredibly short time they were on the spot.
The ambulance brigade received its call at 7.40, and by 7.55 two ambulance cars, with four bearers, were ready at the mine for any emergency.
Among the many miners who gathered on the scene were members of the Miners' Rescue Brigade, and it was not long before an organised effort resulted in active preparations being made to enter the mine and determine the welfare of the entombed men. The fact that the two cages had been disabled presented a difficult obstacle, but eventually a huge bucket was utilised.
Meanwhile safety air breathing apparatus had been got in readiness, and the rescuers fitted with the rescue appliances.
PATHETIC SCENE AT PIT HEAD.
The scene at the pit head was a very pathetic one. Ever and anon some person would arrive at the mine in the anguish of wondering whether some relative or friend was a victim of the disaster.
As the preparations progressed many motor cars and vehicles began to arrive. Soon there was a crowd of several hundreds watching with interest the work of rescue.
All available points of vantage in the staging at the pit head were occupied by sightseers, many of them miners, who, on hearing of the accident, had rushed to offer their services in the rescue effort. By 10 o'clock the first batch of three men were ready to enter the mine.
As they entered the bucket they were watched with mixed thoughts, and more than one glance was cast in the direction of a canary carried in cage.
The significance of the presence of the canary was felt by all.
The canary, being of warmer blood than a human being, would show the effects of the monoxide, or fire damp, much quicker.
Three more batches of three men each were lowered down the shaft, making 12 men in all engaged on the actual rescue work, which was in charge of Mr. J. Stafford (Chief Inspector of Mines), assisted by Messrs. T. Sharp and J. Haggarty (Inspectors of Mines for the Ipswich district).
Mr. W. Oliver was the instructor in charge of the rescue apparatus. The names of the members of the rescue brigade who assisted were:- Messrs. M. Crosier, E. Ainscough, J.Pedley, J.Rae, J.Wilson, T.Griffiths. W.Bond, R.Rutherford, T.Young, T.Clark, V.Walker and J.Duck.
The following managers of surrounding colleries were also present to give their assistance:- Messrs. G. Mathieson (Newchum), R. Arbuckle (Noblevale), A. Laurie (Aberdare), R. Marshall (Blackheath), C. Walker (Aberdare Extended), J. Brown (Blackheath No. 1), F. Wright (Noblevale No. 1), W. Walker (Aberdare Extended No. 2), W. Bond (Boxflat Tunnel). Mr. D. A. Gledson (Minister for Labour and Industry, and a first-class mine manager) also assisted throughout the day. Just before 11 a.m. one of the men was raised to the surface.
He reported that there was no need for shovels, as the men could get over the fall of earth at the bottom of the shaft.
Before the last batch of men went down the mine a voice from the bottom intimated that the bucket was coming up empty, and that a message was written on the side.
This message was to the effect that the shaft was clear, with the exception of the bottom, and that the next batch could be sent down at a quicker rate.
The crane driver followed out instructions, but the bucket had not been lowered again more than 30ft. when the men in the bucket called loudly for the bucket to go slower.
THE RESCUE WORK.
The rescuers' first duty was to repair the circulation circuit, as the division doors had apparently been burst and destroyed by the explosion.
It was necessary to close these division doors and to conduct the air head with brattice cloths to the place where the party intended to work, and where it was thought the three entombed men would be found.
Mr. H. Doyle had had a good idea of where the men would have worked, and his opinions were largely followed in the rescue work. It was considered certain that the men were about 150 yards down the dip of the middle seam.
FRESH OXYGEN SUPPLIES.
At 12.20 p.m. Messrs. Sharp and Mathieson returned to the surface, and reported that they had penetrated about 100 yards down the drive without finding any sign of the missing men.
Mr. Lawrie and two or three more men went down to join in the search. At 12.50 p.m.
Mr. Lawrie sent up a message written on the bucket asking for spare oxygen cylinders and caustic soda.
Fresh supplies of oxygen were lowered, and men at the surface recharged the used apparatus. Some of the appliances proved defective, and a further call was made for effective breathing apparatus.
A LONG VIGIL.
Then followed a long vigil lasting over an hour. Many of the people who had gathered early in the morning disregarded the call to dinner, but stayed to watch the proceedings.
Refreshments were served to the workers and to the men searching in the mine.
It seemed ages before a voice was heard from the depths of the mine indicating that Messrs. Mathieson and Haggarty were coming to the top. This was about 2 p.m.
They reported that the body of Mr. Lestrange had been found about 175 yards from the pit bottom.
Then the bucket was lowered again, to be raised 20 minutes later with the body, enshrouded in a brattice canvas.
Supporting the body in the bucket were Messrs. Lawrie and Sharp, and one of the rescue brigade.
All heads were bowed as the body came into view at the top of the pit, and was carried reverently towards the engine house, where the ambulance men took charge of it. The body was not much cut about. The chief injuries were to the chest, from which all the clothes had been burnt.
Mr. Sharp reported that the body had been found in the first road at the left-hand side of the dip facing the driving of the dip seam.
This was the place where the search party expected to find the missing men. Mr. Lestrange was the last of the three to go down on the ill-fated visit of inspection, and so it was expected that the other two men would be found not very far away.
MUCH FOUL AIR.
Detailing the operations of the search party Mr. Sharp said members of the party went down the dip in the middle seam for a distance of about 55 yards, where they found the body of Mr. Lestrange lying face downwards.
The men who found the body came back to report to Mr. Sharp, who asked if they had sufficient oxygen in their apparatus to go back and bring him out.
They said they had just sufficient. They had seen no sign of the other two bodies. The body was then brought out. Mr. Sharp stated that in all probability the two bodies of the missing men would be found close to the place where Mr. Lestrange was found.
There was a considerable amount of foul air at that place, though there did not appear to be much damage. The opinion was expressed that except at the bottom of the mine not much damage had been caused by the explosion.
SECOND RESCUE PARTY
Immediately afterwards all the members of the search party were brought to the surface more or less exhausted by their strenuous efforts and the conditions under which they had been working.
The supply of oxygen was also exhausted in most cases. Preparations were immediately begun to equip and send another batch of rescuers down the mine. It was said a considerable amount of work would have to be done before the missing men were recovered.
Any hope of finding them alive had vanished with the finding of Mr. Lestrange's body. The canary that accompanied the party died from the effects of the gases. The stopping required adjusting to allow the conduct of air right to the section to clear it of foul air.
(Continued on page 17.)
MINING DISASTER
(Continued from page 13.)
TWO BODIES FOUND
The rescue gang went down again about 3.30, with re-charged breathing apparatus. Working as before, with Messrs. E. Ainscough and M. Crosier as captains, a party continued the exploration of the roadway in which the body of Lestrange was found, leaving others for relief at the slope dip, where the air was fairly good, about 100 yards from the foot of the shaft.
There the district mine inspectors, Messrs. Sharp and Haggarty, were in charge, with some of the managers of other mines who were assisting.
Only the seven Rescue Brigade men with respirators went beyond this base. When the rescue party passed the place at which Lestrange was found, the rest of the road was explored to the end of the workings at the coal seam, 10 yards ahead.
They found nothing, and returned to the base. Others then went into the straight-in road, As they went, they found signs of greater force in the explosion in this direction.
Most Of the way they were in deadly gases.
Here and there about them smouldering timbers were glowing, ready to break into flame should any fresh air get into the tunnel. In the pillar section, where pillars of coal left in the first working were being withdrawn, a crossing was to be put to finish the roadway.
Here, where the force and heat of the explosion seemed to have been greatest, the two bodies were found, about five yards apart. The body of Marstaeller was burnt more of the three.
The place at which the two bodies were found was about 150 yards from where that of Lestrange had been discovered earlier in the day.
Both places were in a south-westerly direction from the bottom of the pit, Lestrange in a new section, which is being developed, by a machine coal cutter, and the others older workings.
As soon as the bodies were found, they were taken to the base, and sewn in canvas, were hoisted one at a time to the surface. As the damage to the shaft prevented the use of the cage, and only the emergency bucket could be used, the winding had to be very slow.
The great crowd at the pit head had waited more than an hour when the thin sound of a call from the bottom of the pit was heard, "Up steady, men on."
The call was repeated from the pit mouth to the engine-driver, and the drum started its slow winding. In a dead silence, save for an instruction now and then to keep the crowd back from obstructing the driver's view of the top of the pit, and a little hissing of steam and the slow roll of the winding gear, the bucket was hoisted; the moving rope seemed endless.
The winding drum was watched as its worn surface was slowly covered with the rising cable, and its pace grew slower. As the bucket appeared, all heads were bowed, and so the people stood, silent, while the second body to be taken from the mine was carried away by the ambulance bearers. That was at 5.30.
The third body, that of Howells, was brought up a quarter of an hour later. All of the workers from below came up after the bodies had been brought to the surface.
There was no further exploration of the mine, and investigation of the origin of the explosion was not attempted.The sole purpose of the brigade was to bring up the men who had been caught in the explosion, and when their bodies were found no search was made even for their lamps. As soon as the last body was brought to the surface, the crowd quickly broke up.
Light rain had been falling for about an hour, and the tracks to the main road, cut up by car traffic, were inches deep in mud.
The sky was strangely dark, after a smoky, crimson sunset glow - a dreary ending to a dismal day.Close Raging Torrent: Disaster Feared in Central Queensland. (1928, April 24). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 13.
Retrieved December 29, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21245907
REDBANK EXPLOSION.A colliery disaster is a very old and very sad story that is unhappily associated with every old coal-mining field in the world. But that does not make the disaster that occurred yesterday at Redbank, near Ipswich, any the less sad. Fortunately the mine was idle for the day, otherwise the loss of life would have been very considerable. Taking advantage of the holiday the managing director of the colliery, Mr. John P. Lestrange, and two deputy managers, Mr. G. Howells* and Mr. J. Marstaeller, went down the shaft to make an inspection of the workings. A few minutes after they had descended came one of those unexpected explosions that are always heard on a coal-mining field with terror and dismay. The explosion had wrecked the mine, entombing the three men who were probably killed by the terrific shock. Within a few minutes men were volunteering to descend into the poisoned fumes to attempt to rescue the unfortunate men if they still lived. So great was the force of the explosion that little hope could have been entertained of rescuing any of them alive. But in every such tragic happening brave men are always ready to risk their lives in trying to save their comrades who have been entombed. It is a noble trait of humanity and of indomitable courage that is always associated with such disasters. The sympathy of the whole community will be extended to the relatives of the three men who have lost their lives. The one thing about the accident about which everybody will be thankful, is that the death roll was not heavier, as it doubtless would have been if the miners had been working on their ordinary shifts.
*Gwilym Howell
REDBANK EXPLOSION. (1928, April 24). The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), p. 12. Retrieved December 29, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21246050
https://www.bdm.qld.gov.au: 1928 C1640 Gwilim Howells son of Ivor Howells and Susan Thomas
Birth:
Yet to confirm, but this is his presumed birth entry:
Name Gwilym Thomas Howells Event Date 1890 Event Place Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales Registration District Merthyr Tydfil Event Type Birth Registration Page 619 Volume 11A Affiliate Line Number 194 Registration Quarter Jan-Feb-Mar Registration Year 1890 https://www.familysearch.org/search/ark:/61903/1:1:2XBX-7SC
_FNRL:
Queensland Times (Ipswich, Qld. : 1909 - 1954), Tuesday 24 April 1928, page 1
FUNERAL NOTICES.
HOWELL. The Friends of Mrs. G. HOWELL, of Dinmore, are respectfully invited to attend the Funeral of her deceased Husband (GWILYM HOWELL), to move from Reed's Funeral Parlour, South-street, at 3 o'clock THIS (TUESDAY) AFTERNOON for the Ipswich Cemetery. J. & H. REED, Undertakers.
HOWELL. The Friends of Mr. and Mrs. E. NUNN and FAMILY, of Dinmore, are respectfully invited to attend the Funeral of their deceased Son-in-law and Brother-in-law (GWILYM HOWELL), to move from Reed's Funeral Parlour, South-street, at 3 o'clock THIS (TUESDAY) AFTERNOON for the Ipswich Cemetery. J. & H. REED, Undertakers
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114198000
Died:
https://www.familyhistory.bdm.qld.gov.au/
Death registration: Gwilim Howells Death date: 23/04/1928 Mother's name: Susan Thomas Father/parent's name: Ivor Howells Registration details:1928/C/1640
Gwilym married Rose Jane NUNN on 12 Jul 1916 in Queensland, Australia. Rose (daughter of Elisha NUNN and Sarah Ann BEDDOW) was born on 30 Jun 1896 in Dinmore, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia; died on 27 Aug 1972 in Queensland, Australia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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Rose Jane NUNN was born on 30 Jun 1896 in Dinmore, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia (daughter of Elisha NUNN and Sarah Ann BEDDOW); died on 27 Aug 1972 in Queensland, Australia. 
Elisha NUNN was born on 22 Mar 1857 in Whepstead, Suffolk, England, UK (son of David NUNN and Rachel NUNN); died on 19 Dec 1932 in King St, Dinmore, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia; was buried on 20 Dec 1932 in Ipswich Cemetery, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia.