Colne Bridge Mill () was a factory, built in 1775, in the village of

Colne Bridge Colne Bridge () is an historic 18th-century bridge near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. A Grade II listed stone-built arch bridge, it spans the River Colne, West Yorkshire, River Colne between Bradley, West Yorkshire, Bradley and Kirkh ...

near

Bradley Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English. Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular. It is also an Anglicisation of t ...

and

Kirkheaton Kirkheaton () is a village and former civil parish north-east of Huddersfield, now in the parish of Kirkburton, in the county of West Yorkshire, England, Historically, it is part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It is in the Dalton ward of ...

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, which was destroyed by fire on 14 February 1818. It was owned by the wealthy manufacturer Thomas Atkinson (1779–1838), who was also proprietor of another business at Bradley Mills, Huddersfield.

Fire of 1818

Early in the morning of 14 February 1818, around 5 am, the fire was caused by a 10-year-old boy, James Thornton (), who was sent down into the Mill’s carding room with a naked candle. The flame ignited the huge amounts of flammable material. Many were left trapped in the mill's upper floors. As the workers tried to escape and attempts were made to rescue them, the mill's floors and roof collapsed. Twenty-six women and girls (aged between 9 and 18) were working through the night and of these 17 were killed and only 8 survived. The inquest found that the deaths were accidental, and no one was ever prosecuted. The bodies were in such a mutilated state that they were unidentifiable, and the 15 bodies recovered were buried in a communal grave at Kirkheaton Parish Church on 16 February 1818.

Impact and memorial

The tragedy led to further questions about factory conditions being raised in Parliament; and it thereby contributed to the movement for improving working conditions. Nine days after the fire, Sir Robert Peel the Elder moved the second reading of his Factory Bill in the House of Commons to prevent recurrence of ‘that which has lately taken place at Colne Bridge’. The Bill was later enacted as the

Cotton Mills and Factories Act 1819 The Cotton Mills and Factories Act 1819 (59 Geo. III, 59 Geo. III c. 66) was an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was its first attempt to regulate the hours and conditions of work of children in the cot ...

. Three years later, in 1821, a memorial to the victims of the fire was erected, by voluntary subscription, and stands in

Chuchyard. It was restored in 1986 to mark the centenary of the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

. In 2018, varied events were held to commemorate the tragedy's bicentenary, including a memorial service at Kirkheaton Parish Church on 10 February 2018, and a plaque was unveiled in remembrance of those lives lost.

References

{{portal bar, United Kingdom, Yorkshire Building and structure fires in England Huddersfield 1818 in England Disasters in Yorkshire February 1818 events Factory fires Building collapses in the United Kingdom Building collapses caused by fire