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Business and industry

Lilly Lane Mill boiler explosion

One of the worst tragedies ever to hit the town of Halifax occurred in the afternoon of Friday November 29th 1850. Lilly Lane Mill, by the railway line between the old and new stations, was a worsted mill which had been extended, leaving the engine room, once at its southern extremity, in the heart of the complex.

The engine room housed three powerful boilers, and above it were several floors, containing worsted spinning and other heavy machinery, at which women and girls were at work on the afternoon of November 29th. With little accompanying noise and as if out of nowhere, one of the boilers, with a huge lift, raised the floors above it to a great height, after which the mass of machinery, along with those working there, was thrown to the ground and buried among a vast heap of rubble. Eye witnesses confirmed how awfully and quickly the disaster occurred. Remarkably, some flooring remained standing and there were notable examples of children who had an extremely narrow escape. Ann Swift, along with five other young girls, on sensing that something was wrong, took refuge in the privy, from where they were later rescued by ladder. Others were not so lucky and there were an estimated twelve deaths, mostly children and young people, along with many more injured.

Prior to the explosion, there had clearly been problems with either the boiler or the engine, since work had been halted at the mill for several hours the previous day and the machinery was reported to have been running at an irregular speed. Some workers had in fact, stayed away on the Friday because of their fears on this matter. In the course of the Friday afternoon, the engine reportedly stopped three times before the explosion finally occurred.

The scene of devastation quickly attracted a great crowd, while the police and local worthies took charge and soldiers, civilians and a party of excavators attempted to clear debris and search for the dead and injured. Cheers accompanied the discovery of survivors, who were promptly transported to the Infirmary. The work went on after darkness fell and as long as five hours after the explosion, the crowd clapped heartily as a child, Rachael Jones, was rescued alive. Shortly after this, the disaster was compounded by the mill catching fire, but, as this had been anticipated, engines were at hand and the fire was soon brought under control.

Samuel, John and Isaac Firth were the occupiers and proprietors of Lilly Lane Mill and it was Samuel who had specific responsibility for the engine machinery, while Joseph Helliwell was the engine tenter, tasked with ensuring the safe working of the boiler. Samuel and Joseph appeared before the Yorkshire Spring Assizes in March 1851 charged specifically with the manslaughter of one victim, Sarah Ann Riddell, but they were found not guilty, in a one-day trial, and acquitted.

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