Sir William Galloway

Sir William Galloway (1840–1927) was a Scottish mining engineer, professor and industrialist.

William Galloway was the eldest son of William Galloway (1799–1854), JP, a Paisley shawl manufacturer and coal and iron master from Paisley in Scotland and his second wife Margaret Lindsay (1818–1902), daughter of Thomas Lindsay, a brewer from Glasgow. He was educated in Scotland, and in Germany and London. He qualified as a mining engineer and spent much of his life as an Inspector of Mines, before being offered the post of Professor of Mining at the University College of Wales. His life was spent improving the lot of miners and working to determine the causes of explosions and accidents in mines and finding ways of preventing them or alleviating their impact. His efforts were recognised in 1924, when, at the age of 83, he was knighted.

Galloway attended a private school before going to Germany where he studied at the University of Giessen and the Technische Universitat Bergakademie Freiberg. He also studied at University College, London. He was proficient in six languages, and in later life received an honorary degree D.Sc. from the University of Wales, where he was employed as a Professor of Mining.

In 1861, at the age of 21, Galloway was employed as the colliery manager at Cambusnethan, in Lanarkshire, Scotland. He held a first class certificate under the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1872 after being examined in June 1873 and June 1879.As a mining inspector in Scotland he investigated the causes of between 60 and 80 accidents before moving to Wales.

On 3 December 1875 at Old Pit in New Tredegar, after a minor explosion the previous day where no gas had been detected, the men entered the pit against orders and at 8:00 a.m. there was a tremendous explosion killing 20 men and boys instantly and two more died from their injuries. Three days later, on 6 December 1875, at Llan Colliery, Pentyrch, another explosion killed 12 men and boys. Galloway as mining inspector reported his findings at the inquest. He found that both the timbers and miners furthest from the point of ignition were the most severely burned, reinforcing his theory that in dry mines coal dust spreads the explosion. His conclusions were accepted by the coroner and 'watering' and spreading stone dust were introduced as a result of his observations at Llan. In 1876 he delivered lectures in Paris, France with Jules Pierre Callon and Sir Clement le Neve Foster, which have been translated and printed in 'Lectures on mining delivered at the School of Mines, Paris' By the start of the 1880s his theories on the dangers of coal dust were being taken more seriously and have been discussed in many books and articles from then to the present day.

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