0:00:03 > 0:00:06100 years ago, here at Senghenydd,
0:00:06 > 0:00:10439 miners were killed in a massive underground explosion.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15It was the biggest loss of life ever in a British coal mine.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17My great-grandfather died in the explosion.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21My grandmother's husband died in the explosion.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23Now, descendants of those who lost their lives
0:00:23 > 0:00:25are marking the centenary of the disaster
0:00:25 > 0:00:30by uncovering just how their ancestors lived and how they died.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32Do you know what? That has shocked me. Honestly.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35Well, well, well.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37The Senghenydd explosion came to symbolise
0:00:37 > 0:00:40how the mighty coal owners grew rich...
0:00:40 > 0:00:44Murderers, simple as that, murderers. They knew what was happening.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47..whilst the colliers risked all.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50They paid the ultimate price. They really did.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05South Wales 100 years ago was like the Klondike.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07People flocked here from all over Britain.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11They left poorly paid jobs on farms and in domestic service
0:01:11 > 0:01:15for jobs in a booming energy industry - coal mining.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19The quality of the coal mined here was unrivalled.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21But the risks to those digging it out
0:01:21 > 0:01:24were far greater than in other parts of Britain
0:01:24 > 0:01:27because of the high levels of explosive methane gas
0:01:27 > 0:01:29found within the coal seams.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34There were a quarter of a million men working in the pits.
0:01:34 > 0:01:35A quarter of a million men.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40Every year, at least 1,000 would die
0:01:40 > 0:01:42and sometimes closer to 2,000 would die.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Now, you get an explosion in a mine like Senghenydd
0:01:47 > 0:01:49where the ventilation isn't very good,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52where the air is full of coal dust,
0:01:52 > 0:01:54where there are known pockets of methane.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58That's a recipe for disaster.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03This is the only film of the Senghenydd disaster in existence.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06The smoke billowing from the colliery
0:02:06 > 0:02:09came from underground fires caused by the explosion
0:02:09 > 0:02:10that burned for weeks afterwards.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17It all began at eight o'clock on the morning of 14th October 1913.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22The 935 men on the day shift at the Universal Colliery
0:02:22 > 0:02:25were making their way to the coalface.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29Normal day, people down the pit. Everything going fine.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32The men working on the coal faces, a lot of the coalface
0:02:32 > 0:02:34would be manned by a father and son, perhaps,
0:02:34 > 0:02:38a father and brother, and everything is going normal.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41It is a normal...like every day in the office. Yes.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43And then there's a bang happens.
0:02:43 > 0:02:44EXPLOSION
0:02:44 > 0:02:47HOOTER
0:02:49 > 0:02:52It's thought that a build-up of methane gas was ignited
0:02:52 > 0:02:56either by an electrical spark or by a miner's lamp,
0:02:56 > 0:02:58causing a blast that ripped through the mine.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04There's certain people who have been blown to bits immediately.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Other people in the pit further away know something's happened.
0:03:09 > 0:03:10The air has changed.
0:03:14 > 0:03:15Because once you explode,
0:03:15 > 0:03:17the air pressure is going to alter immediately.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20So they know something has gone on here somewhere.
0:03:20 > 0:03:21They think, "OK, let's go back to the pit
0:03:21 > 0:03:23"and find out what's happening."
0:03:23 > 0:03:27They walk back and then, of course, the carbon monoxide hits them
0:03:27 > 0:03:30because the oxygen has been burnt out of the air and they collapse.
0:03:30 > 0:03:31Walking down the roadways
0:03:31 > 0:03:34and they've basically gone on the deck and died.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44More than half the workforce of men and boys,
0:03:44 > 0:03:47some as young as 14, were killed,
0:03:47 > 0:03:52leaving 205 women widowed and 542 children without fathers.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57It was a coal mining tragedy on an unprecedented scale.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05Today, little remains of Universal Colliery in Senghenydd.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07It closed in 1928.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11But all was not lost.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14The Aber Valley Heritage Group pulled together a unique archive
0:04:14 > 0:04:19of documents and memorabilia which includes a model of the village
0:04:19 > 0:04:22as it was a century ago, dominated by the colliery.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28Now, as the centenary of the Senghenydd explosion approaches,
0:04:28 > 0:04:32the museum has become an important focal point for local people
0:04:32 > 0:04:35who want to rediscover their family history
0:04:35 > 0:04:38so that those who died are never forgotten.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41The father and son worked on the west side.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44The younger generation are learning from local historian Jill Jones
0:04:44 > 0:04:48about life in Senghenydd 100 years ago.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51There was more fuss if a horse was killed underground
0:04:51 > 0:04:52than if a man was killed.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Men came cheap because they had to buy the horses.
0:04:58 > 0:04:59But it is not just the youngsters
0:04:59 > 0:05:02who are interested in their family history.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06Hilary Barbrook grew up in Senghenydd
0:05:06 > 0:05:09and now she runs a flower shop in nearby Caerphilly.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13She too has been inspired by the centenary
0:05:13 > 0:05:17to find out more about her family links to the explosion of 1913.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22My connection is that I had lost two grandfathers in that.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25My mother's father, which was Evan Hopkin James.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28He's buried in the Pen-yr-heol cemetery,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30where a lot of people were buried.
0:05:30 > 0:05:32But my father's father, Charles Brown, was never found.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36And as far as I know, he is still down the pit.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38They never found his body at all.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Hilary has been digging through the records of the appeal fund,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44set up in the aftermath of the disaster,
0:05:44 > 0:05:46for more information on Charles.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48On there, it says there, look...
0:05:50 > 0:05:56Charles Brown, aged 31, then you've got funeral expenses.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00They didn't have no funeral expenses because they never found his body.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Few liked to talk about the explosion
0:06:04 > 0:06:05when Hilary was growing up.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08It was a taboo subject.
0:06:08 > 0:06:09It is intriguing me.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11I would like to find out more about them
0:06:11 > 0:06:13and how my grandmother survived.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16She lost the breadwinner, then, if you like.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22Evan, by all accounts, was an upstanding member of the community.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26But family tradition describes Charles as a rough character
0:06:26 > 0:06:28who came to the Welsh coalfields in search of work.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32The families in Senghenydd were ordered by the colliery
0:06:32 > 0:06:34to take these itinerant workers in.
0:06:38 > 0:06:44Charles Brown became a lodger in my great-grandmother's house
0:06:44 > 0:06:47and my grandmother was there as a young girl.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52And before very long, they had a baby by Charles Brown.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55And my great grandparents were horrified
0:06:55 > 0:07:01at the fact that she had an illegitimate child.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04And they were...they threw Charles Brown out immediately.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09He went and lodged elsewhere and the records show
0:07:09 > 0:07:12he fathered another illegitimate child in Senghenydd.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19To shed more light on the dangers
0:07:19 > 0:07:21both Charles and Evan faced underground,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24Hilary is heading to the Big Pit Mining Museum.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31I would like to know how they died and where they died actually,
0:07:31 > 0:07:33what part of the mine.
0:07:34 > 0:07:40It is going to be a big black dark hole with a lot of dust about.
0:07:40 > 0:07:41I'm very claustrophobic.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Ceri Thompson is an ex-miner himself
0:07:46 > 0:07:48and is now the curator here.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51He has looked into the museum's archives for Hilary
0:07:51 > 0:07:54to see if there's anything that will help her understand
0:07:54 > 0:07:56what happened to her grandfathers.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Go on then, there you go.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05Hilary descends into the pit
0:08:05 > 0:08:09just as her grandfathers did on that fateful morning in 1913.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18How deep down are we going now? 300 foot.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21The same as Senghenydd? No, Senghenydd is about 600m.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29The Senghenydd pit spread for over a mile underground.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32It was designed so that the coal could be removed quickly
0:08:32 > 0:08:34through the main tunnels
0:08:34 > 0:08:37in coal trucks, or drams, pulled by pit ponies.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42In those times, the men cut the coal by hand.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46Conditions would have been cramped and roof falls were a daily threat.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53Ceri takes Hilary to an area of the mine that is similar
0:08:53 > 0:08:56to the conditions her grandfathers worked in
0:08:56 > 0:09:00at the Universal Colliery at the time of the explosion.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05My father's father, Charles Brown, was a haulier in the pit.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07What type of work was that then?
0:09:07 > 0:09:10The haulier accompanied the horses in,
0:09:10 > 0:09:12bringing empty drams into the stalls.
0:09:12 > 0:09:13And when they were full,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17the haulier would come in and then take the full dram out
0:09:17 > 0:09:18to the main roadways.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20But I don't know much about my other grandfather,
0:09:20 > 0:09:22which was Evan Hopkin James.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24I don't know what he'd have done in the pit, actually. OK.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27We've got a death certificate here
0:09:27 > 0:09:31and this is for a Mr Evan Hopkin James. He was 42 years old
0:09:31 > 0:09:33and the job, according to this, is a colliery rider.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Now, a rider is somebody who travels out with the drams.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41So they were both employed to get the coal back to the pit.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45So basically then, my grandfather, Charles Brown,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49would be working somewhere along here on these roads
0:09:49 > 0:09:52bringing it to the main road there,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55where my other grandfather, Evan Hopkin,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58would be bringing the coal out of the mine itself?
0:09:58 > 0:10:02Yes. It may have been that they often met underground.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Yes, that's quite possible. Yes. You know.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09But unfortunately, my grandfather... His body was never found.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12He's one of the people who are still down the pit.
0:10:12 > 0:10:13The problem was, of course,
0:10:13 > 0:10:18there were fires which raged for almost a month, apparently.
0:10:18 > 0:10:19And these are the roof supports
0:10:19 > 0:10:22they would have used on the main roadways.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25They would have been about 12 to 14-foot high. Yes.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28And once these started to burn, of course, they would collapse
0:10:28 > 0:10:32and anybody then who died in the roadway, would be buried
0:10:32 > 0:10:35because there's thousands of tonnes of stone, coal,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37bits of old timber, burnt.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Upturned drams, dead horses, everything.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44Ceri has his own theory as to what killed most of the men.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49I think the majority of men died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Yes.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51Because once there's a fire underground, of course,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54the oxygen's burnt out of the air so they cannot breathe.
0:10:54 > 0:10:55So they collapse and die.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58He has unearthed compelling evidence of this.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03This is actually a copy of the inspector's notebook who came round
0:11:03 > 0:11:08straight after the disaster, before the bodies were recovered.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11And you can see here where men have heard the blast,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14started to walk out and then been overcome.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18These are matchstick drawings of people lying in the roadway.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22And you can see the inspector actually drew them as he found them.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Yes. So these have actually just collapsed, basically,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28in a line as they're walking. Because there's no air.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30It was that quick. It was that quick.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33One of the drawings records the death of a lone haulier
0:11:33 > 0:11:35and his pony.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37So there's the dram and there's the horse.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39That could have been like my grandfather.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41It could have been your grandfather.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43Yes, moving that with the horse. It is quite sad.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45You can see the way he'd done his body there.
0:11:45 > 0:11:50He's collapsed on himself, rather than just falling down. Yes.
0:11:50 > 0:11:51So it's very poignant.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03They paid the ultimate price, they really did.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06And, and then the struggle afterwards,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10the realisation afterwards, was all the breadwinners had gone.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15It is sad.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30Many of the bereaved families were kept waiting for months
0:12:30 > 0:12:33before the bodies of their loved ones were recovered from the pit.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37And as well as the bodies still underground,
0:12:37 > 0:12:40there were those that could not be identified.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42So some families faced the reality
0:12:42 > 0:12:44of never knowing where their menfolk lay.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49There would have been a sense of numbness initially,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52of astonishment that such a thing had happened
0:12:52 > 0:12:56and a sense of wondering why it had happened.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02They knew that this explosion was exceptionally powerful.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04It even caused havoc above ground.
0:13:04 > 0:13:09It blasted a two tonne pit cage up and out of one of the mineshafts,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11wrecking the winding gear.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15But what began underground with an explosion of methane gas
0:13:15 > 0:13:17became something far more lethal
0:13:17 > 0:13:19because of another contributing factor.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25An explosion of that sort can then cause coal dust
0:13:25 > 0:13:27to be pushed up into the air.
0:13:27 > 0:13:33And if coal dust is in suspension in the air in cloud form,
0:13:33 > 0:13:36then it itself becomes explosive.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38EXPLOSION
0:13:38 > 0:13:41The particles of coal dust catch fire, they explode...
0:13:41 > 0:13:42EXPLOSION
0:13:42 > 0:13:44..and you get a chain reaction.
0:13:44 > 0:13:45EXPLOSION
0:13:46 > 0:13:50The shock wave ahead of the initial explosion raised coal dust
0:13:50 > 0:13:51so there wasn't just one,
0:13:51 > 0:13:55but a devastating series of self fuelling coal dust explosions...
0:13:55 > 0:13:57EXPLOSION
0:13:57 > 0:13:59..which spread through the mine.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04In its wake, came the deadly carbon monoxide.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09The biggest cause of death amongst the 439 men who lost their lives.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13The centenary of the Senghenydd disaster
0:14:13 > 0:14:18has become a focus for many to find out more about their ancestors.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Fourth-generation coalminer Peter Broome
0:14:20 > 0:14:22is discovering more about his.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26I have a genuine link into the Senghenydd disaster.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Something I had ignored and forgotten about really
0:14:29 > 0:14:30and possibly didn't think I had.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36This painting, which has been handed down through his family,
0:14:36 > 0:14:38shows his grandmother, Sarah, and her children
0:14:38 > 0:14:41in the aftermath of the explosion.
0:14:41 > 0:14:42Peter's father left it to him.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47He explained to me that the painting was of my grandmother
0:14:47 > 0:14:52and she was crying in the painting with two children in the background
0:14:52 > 0:14:53and through the door,
0:14:53 > 0:14:57you could see a man being carried on the shoulders of two rescue men
0:14:57 > 0:15:00and the Senghenydd pithead on fire.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03And he explained to me that that was my nan crying
0:15:03 > 0:15:07because it was her husband who had just been killed
0:15:07 > 0:15:10and been brought out of the mining disaster.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16The future for Sarah was bleak.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18Like many of the grieving widows,
0:15:18 > 0:15:20the house was rented from the mine owners
0:15:20 > 0:15:21and with her husband dead,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24Sarah faced the prospect of losing her home.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31A few months after the explosion, there was a knock on the door
0:15:31 > 0:15:34and the bailiffs from the company
0:15:34 > 0:15:36wanted to evict her from the company cottage
0:15:36 > 0:15:39that was owned by the mining company
0:15:39 > 0:15:42because she couldn't afford to pay the rent
0:15:42 > 0:15:45because her husband had been killed in the disaster.
0:15:47 > 0:15:51But Sarah was saved from eviction by marriage to a miner,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54John Broome, Peter's grandfather.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57And it was he who painted the haunting image of Sarah.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03But for Peter, there's an important piece of the story
0:16:03 > 0:16:05that has been lost.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08The identity of Sarah's first husband,
0:16:08 > 0:16:12the man who died and is known to Peter only as "Mr Price".
0:16:16 > 0:16:19Now, he wants to find out more about him.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23Although the Mr Price isn't a blood relation,
0:16:23 > 0:16:28he obviously has a big effect on the story of my grandmother's life.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33So it's really dreadful to think he's anonymous to me.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38Sarah lost her husband, Mr Price, in 1913.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42But this wasn't the first tragedy she and other families faced.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46So the same colliery, 12 years before the big disaster,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49she lost her father in that explosion.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55This earlier explosion in 1901 took the lives of 81 miners.
0:16:58 > 0:17:03Astonishingly, it is now thought the two disasters had similarities.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06Both were methane gas explosions,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09which triggered further coal dust fuelled explosions
0:17:09 > 0:17:10that spread through the mine.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15The inquiry into the 1901 explosion found that not enough
0:17:15 > 0:17:18was being done to control the coal dust underground.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24Despite this warning of the dangers, by 1913,
0:17:24 > 0:17:26little had been done to remedy the problem.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30The mine owner, William Thomas Lewis,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32was pushing at the boundaries of mining engineering -
0:17:32 > 0:17:37sinking pits even deeper to get at the coal and to maximise profits.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41They were very often engineers, they were often people
0:17:41 > 0:17:47who knew very well how mines worked and what the dangers were.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49But they were also people who wanted to make money,
0:17:49 > 0:17:50a lot of money.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53They were people who were prepared to take risks.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56They weren't prepared to put the investment in the pits
0:17:56 > 0:17:59which, as engineers, they knew they should have put into those pits.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04In the years after the 1901 explosion,
0:18:04 > 0:18:08William Lewis rose to become one of the most powerful men in coal
0:18:08 > 0:18:11and his achievements were celebrated.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15The great and the good erected this statue of him in Aberdare
0:18:15 > 0:18:17when he was honoured with a peerage
0:18:17 > 0:18:21and the title of Lord Merthyr of Senghenydd.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25But those who suffered as a result of the explosions
0:18:25 > 0:18:29in his Universal Colliery are not so well commemorated.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33Peter's grandmother, Sarah, was buried with other family members
0:18:33 > 0:18:34here in Treharris.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40I couldn't believe that nothing was put on the grave to remind them
0:18:40 > 0:18:43so, I, I don't have a great deal of money,
0:18:43 > 0:18:46but I purchased a cross and put the plaque on.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52Peter's quest to learn more about Sarah's first husband,
0:18:52 > 0:18:57who was killed in the 1913 explosion and who he only knows as Mr Price,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00has taken him to local historian Jill Jones.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03What we've actually done, we double checked all through
0:19:03 > 0:19:07the list of the miners that were killed in 1913 explosion
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and there are three Prices. Right, three Prices.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14Harold Price was 22. William Terrace, Senghenydd.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18Idris Price was 18. But they were both single.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21They only had the compensation for single men. OK.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23However, George Price was 28
0:19:23 > 0:19:27and lived at 137 High Street in Abertridwr,
0:19:27 > 0:19:31was married to Sarah Jane. That was the one then.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35That's it. So it's George. Yes, so it was George Price, aged 28.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38He was a collier. Yes. Right. Same as me.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40137 High Street, Abertridwr.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42His widow was Sarah Jane and they had two children.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47James, aged two, and George Abraham, eight months. There we are.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51But George Price's body was not recovered or identified.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54He was not recovered. No, no. Oh, my God.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57Very sad, isn't it? Oh, God, yes.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11Now, Peter's family history, built around the painting
0:20:11 > 0:20:14of his grieving grandmother, Sarah, has been transformed.
0:20:14 > 0:20:19He always thought the body being carried was Sarah's husband, George,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22but there was no funeral for him.
0:20:25 > 0:20:30The headstone for George Price was the pit headgear.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32That was his grave and she looked out of that house every day
0:20:32 > 0:20:33and saw that,
0:20:33 > 0:20:35it reminded her of the disaster.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39It must have been horrific for her to have that.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41There was nothing for her to just go and put flowers on.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43Dreadful to have to think that.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46In the weeks that followed the explosion,
0:20:46 > 0:20:50the traumatised families of Senghenydd and nearby Abertridwr
0:20:50 > 0:20:52took yet another body blow.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57Shockingly, 800 men were laid off.
0:20:57 > 0:21:03Not only were their wages stopped, but also their free coal concessions.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05It was November and winter was upon them.
0:21:07 > 0:21:09Lord Merthyr's only offer of help
0:21:09 > 0:21:12was for 200 of the survivors to uproot
0:21:12 > 0:21:15and move to work in one of his pits in the Rhondda.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18But none took him up on the offer.
0:21:18 > 0:21:19They didn't want to leave
0:21:19 > 0:21:22whilst many of their comrades' bodies were still entombed.
0:21:24 > 0:21:25Eventually, after seven weeks,
0:21:25 > 0:21:29the men face the daunting prospect of going back into the mine.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34The horror of it all is that they are not just being respectful
0:21:34 > 0:21:36getting the pit clear,
0:21:36 > 0:21:40they're actually making it ready for work again.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42So that must be a terrible mind shift.
0:21:42 > 0:21:43You've been through all of this
0:21:43 > 0:21:46and you're actually getting it ready so you can hack coal,
0:21:46 > 0:21:48bring your drams out
0:21:48 > 0:21:51and basically forget what's happened, in a way.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54You know! And just change over completely, you need the production.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04Hilary Barbrook believes her grandfather, Charles,
0:22:04 > 0:22:06was one of those whose body was never recovered from the pit.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10At the community archive in Senghenydd,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Jill is helping her find evidence that supports this.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17She's uncovered some important research
0:22:17 > 0:22:22done by local schoolteacher Basil Phillips in the 1960s.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25He pulled together the first accurate list of victims,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28half a century after the explosion happened.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32From Basil's detailed notes, Jill has pieced together
0:22:32 > 0:22:35some surprising new information about Charles.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38Right, well I've got news for you, Hilary.
0:22:41 > 0:22:46"Charles Brown, 31, a haulier, from 23 Caerphilly Road, Senghenydd.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49"Marital status: single."
0:22:49 > 0:22:55His body was unaccounted for by 31 March, 1914.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59However, it was recovered over a year later.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02Never. Yes. Yes. Yes.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05We are not sure where the burial place is.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08But, how...how in those days would they know after a year,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11after that long, that it was Charles Brown?
0:23:11 > 0:23:15Because they had no DNA or anything like that?
0:23:15 > 0:23:19There must have been some sort of... A watch. A watch or something.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Oh, good gracious. I have never found out that. Yes.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26And what we wondered was how was it so long before they found him?
0:23:26 > 0:23:29We have talked about it and we believe that, gradually,
0:23:29 > 0:23:34they cleared the west side and it must have taken a long time.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38The falls...the falls had to be cleared to get back to the coalface.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42And they must have discovered Charles Brown's body there.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46Well, that is...all these years, Jill, all these years, growing up,
0:23:46 > 0:23:52and so my own father never knew that they actually found his body.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55As I've known to this very minute,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57that my grandfather was still down the pit. Yes.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01Do you know what, that has shocked me. You're all right, Hilary.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04That has shocked me, honestly. Yes.
0:24:07 > 0:24:08So there it is. Well, well, well.
0:24:17 > 0:24:23It's very, very emotional. Very emotional in fact.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25And I can't say any more than that
0:24:25 > 0:24:27because it really choked me, actually.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41The government at the time paid the bereaved families
0:24:41 > 0:24:43up to ?300 compensation.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47But the public inquiry to determine why the explosion happened
0:24:47 > 0:24:49was a disappointment to many
0:24:49 > 0:24:53as no-one was found to be culpable for the men's deaths.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57The colliery manager was fined ?24
0:24:57 > 0:24:59for breaching mine safety regulations.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03Whilst the owners were fined a mere ?10.
0:25:03 > 0:25:08In today's money, that would amount to just ?1,600.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12It was another bitter blow for the families
0:25:12 > 0:25:14of the men and boys who were killed.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26Peter Broome's investigations have shed new light on the painting,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29which has been handed down through his family.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33Now, he knows the body of Sarah's first husband, George,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36was amongst the 18 miners never recovered from the pit.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40It just makes it even more sad that that is the case.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44There's nowhere to grieve for Georgie Price.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48Now, on the centenary of the explosion,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52the image painted by his grandfather, a miner himself,
0:25:52 > 0:25:55has become ever more poignant.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57To think this goes back to those days,
0:25:57 > 0:25:59when those men were treated so badly.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01In 1901, 81 miners died.
0:26:01 > 0:26:0512 years later, at the same coal mine, 439.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09And to see that painting, the way it was painted,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12again, you can just feel the sadness.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23Hilary is still trying to piece together
0:26:23 > 0:26:26more information about her grandfather, Charles.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29He fathered a second illegitimate child
0:26:29 > 0:26:32but Hilary has no idea if there any descendants.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35She has come to the Caerphilly County Registry Office
0:26:35 > 0:26:38where Della Leigh Mahoney has scoured the records
0:26:38 > 0:26:42of those born a generation after the explosion.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45She has discovered Charles's daughter, Gwendolyn,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48who herself had two children.
0:26:48 > 0:26:53The two daughters I found were actually born in 1938 and 1941.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56Gosh, if they lived in Senghenydd, I am bound to have known them.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58Well, almost certainly they were in the Senghenydd area.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02I mean, to think that's family really. Isn't it?
0:27:02 > 0:27:03It seems so, doesn't it?
0:27:03 > 0:27:07They would only be in their 70s now, wouldn't they? Yes.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10They would have been my age. They would be my age. Of course.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12We could have even been in school together
0:27:12 > 0:27:13and we were relatives.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16They might have died at a young age and never have got married.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19I haven't got anything further at this point for you.
0:27:22 > 0:27:23It...it...it...
0:27:24 > 0:27:26It's heartbreaking, I can't.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33The explosion that destroyed so many lives
0:27:33 > 0:27:37is now responsible for a fracture in Hilary's family.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40To think all these years that he's gone...
0:27:41 > 0:27:48..knowing we had family, we had family living in and around us
0:27:48 > 0:27:51in Senghenydd, that could have been part of our family
0:27:51 > 0:27:56and it's sad to think my father didn't know
0:27:56 > 0:27:57and neither did any of us.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Despite further searches, Hilary was unable to find
0:28:03 > 0:28:05any living descendants from the lost side of her family.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10It's thought they moved away from Wales more than 70 years ago.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20The true sacrifice of those who lived, worked and died here,
0:28:20 > 0:28:21is being recognised.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23Where the Universal Colliery once stood,
0:28:23 > 0:28:26a national memorial is being put in place.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30Centre stage is this sculpture depicting a miner
0:28:30 > 0:28:32coming to the aid of his injured buddy.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34But this is not just in memory
0:28:34 > 0:28:38of those killed in Senghenydd's two disasters,
0:28:38 > 0:28:42but of the 8,000 miners who lost their lives
0:28:42 > 0:28:44mining coal all across Wales.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd