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

Bradley Bradley may refer to: People * Bradley (given name) * Bradley (surname) Places In the United Kingdom In England: * Bradley, Cheshire * Bradley, Derbyshire * Bradley (house), a manor in Kingsteignton, Devon * Bradley, Gloucestershire * ...

and

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

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees 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 confl ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, 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, a fire was started when a 10-year-old boy, James Thornton (), was sent down into the mill's

carding In Textile manufacturing, textile production, carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver (textiles), sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passi ...

room with a naked candle. The flame ignited huge amounts of flammable material. Many workers were trapped on the mill's upper floors. As they tried to escape and attempts were made to rescue them, the mill's floors and roof collapsed. Twenty-six women and girls aged between nine and 18 working through the night, and of these 17 were killed. The inquest found that the deaths were accidental, and no one was prosecuted. The bodies were in such a mutilated state that they were unidentifiable, and 15 bodies that were recovered were buried in a communal grave at Kirkheaton Parish Church on 16 February 1818.

Impact and memorial

The tragedy led to questions about factory conditions being raised in Parliament contributing to the movement for improved 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 that aimed to prevent a recurrence of 'that which has lately taken place at Colne Bridge'. The Bill was enacted as the

Cotton Mills and Factories Act 1819 The Cotton Mills and Factories Act 1819 ( 59 Geo. 3. c. 66) was an 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 cotton industry. It was introduced by t ...

. In 1821, a memorial to the victims of the fire was erected, by voluntary subscription in

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

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...

. In 2018, 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 Factory fires Building and structure collapses in the United Kingdom Building and structure collapses caused by fire