THE MONTAGU PIT DISASTER
On 30th March 1925, 107 men and 41 boys were working the Brockwell Seam at the Montagu Pit in Scotswood just outside Lemington. At 9.25 in the morning an explosive charge set in a projection of coal was fired to allow it to be loaded into tubs and brought to the surface. 15 minutes later a thin trickle of smelly water appeared. Unknown to the men the workings were adjacent to the long abandoned Paradise Pit. The pressure of water escaping from it soon shattered the thin wall of coal separating the 2 mines and water flooded in, trapping 38 miners underground. Some were drowned. Others were gassed. It took seven weeks to remove the first body from the mine and five months to bring all of them to the surface.
John’s oil painting, held in a private collection, “Montagu Pit Yard After Demolition” was painted in 1961. It was a place that obviously resonated with him as we know from records of the existence of five other paintings of the same subject. Those five are all on our list of over 450 “missing” paintings. Please email if you can help us to track one down!