There is a small report in the book Underground Liverpool which says:
Digging the tunnel was a hazardous occupation and the work was hard and wet. Seventeen hundred men were employed and salt boils were common. No workman was allowed to work by himself but this did not stop casualties and, in all, there were nineteen fatalities. When one of the workmen, Bert Jones, was killed by a falling rock, his workmatees took the day off without pay to attend his funeral.
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It would be only natural that there would be collapses at some point without the modern machines and health and safety - I wonder if the nineteen men have been recognised by a plaque or something?
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