Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Bolton & District Humane Society Medal for the Hulton Colliery Disaster 1910, 35mm., bronze, unnamed, good very fine £350-400

On 21 December 1910 a terrible explosion occurred at the No. 3 Bank (Pretoria) Pit at Hulton Colliery, near Atherton. The explosion wrecked a portion of the casting of the upcast shaft. A large number of miners had their escape blocked by the fall of earth and died from the effects of poisonous gas. A total of 370 men were killed in the disaster - the worst mining accident to have occurred in Lancashire and the third worst mining disaster in British mining history. A total of 10 Edward Medals in Bronze were awarded to those involved in the rescue. The Bolton & District Humane Society had struck a special medal to reward those active in the rescue operations - 160 were awarded. With the book: The Pretoria Pit Disaster, A Centenary Account, by Alan Davies, Amberley, 2010, 128pp., paperback.