Gresford : the anatomy of a disaster / Stanley Williamson.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-236) and index.

1. The disaster -- 2. The village -- 3. The coalfield -- 4. The industry -- 5. The colliery -- 6. The aftermath -- 7. Sir Stafford Cripps -- 8. The working mine -- 9. The inquiry -- 10. The management -- 11. The firemen -- 12. The inspectorate -- 13. The miners -- The union -- 15. The reports -- 16. The last rites -- Epilogue -- Appendix A : Nationalisation -- Appendix B : The Davy lamp -- Appendix C : Nutties -- Appendix D : Owners.

Against this background, Stanley Williamson has set the first readily available account of the worst disaster of the North Wales coalfield and one of the worst in the history of the British mining industry. The disaster occured in 1934 : 256 men lost their lives, 200 women were widowed and 800 children lost their father, causing massive devastation of a small community. A great wave of public sympathy followed and a public appeal resulted in donations to disaster funds amounting to 560,000 pounds -- an immense sum for those times. At a subsequent Inquiry -- of great significance for the future of the mining industry and its safety -- the North Wales miners were represented by Sir Stafford Cripps. The disaster was also a great influence in the establishment under Lord Rockley in 1935 of a Royal Commission on Safety in Coal Mines. The author uses his own interviews with bereaved people and those involved in the rescue that was mounted, also drawing on personal accounts from the reports of the Inquiry as well as on the records of th North Wales Miners' Association. Williamson covers the Inquiry, and the important issues it raised, in detail and charts the way in which Stafford Cripps developed his indictment of the managers and the owners of the mine, launching an attack on the whole social and industrial system of which the industry was a part. This is a fascinating story told in a readable and fast moving style, and often reported in the words of witnesses and survivors of the tragedy. It provides a valuable contribution to British social and economic history of the twentieth century.