Between 1868 and 1914, a miner was killed every 6 hours in the UK.Between 1850 and 1920 alone, 1/3 of all UK mining deaths in the UK occured in Wales. Although the major disasters grabbed the headlines, many more men died in day to day accidents. A man trapped under a large stone with a dangerous roof above him had to be removed to safety as quickly as possible, by the removing of a limb if necessary. For this reason an amputation kit was kept in most collieries. This particular kit was issued to Dr Arthur Jones who was a medical officer in the wesern part of the coalfield. This particular kit was only used on one occasion, this was to remove the limb of a killed miner so that his body could be recovered.
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