1870 Fatal Accidents - January to June

Notes - The information in this page is mainly compiled from appendices to the reports of the Inspector of Mines and Collieries - William Alexander for the Western District of Scotland and Robert Williams for the Eastern District of Scotland. Unless stated otherwise, the extra details are from the main body of the report. Many accidents are not listed in these reports and additional names have been added from newspaper reports and other sources - these are indicated by a shaded gray background.

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Information from Appendix to Inspectors Report											Extra details
Year	Month	Day	Name of Colliery	Where situated	Owners name	Person(s) killed	Occupation	Age	Category (if given)	Cause of death and remarks
1870	January	14	West Calder	Lothians		James McTaig			Not listed		Newspaper report
1870	January	25	Cambusnethan	Wishaw	D and J Sneddon	John Kenmuir	Collier	47	Falls, Coal and Roof	Fall of coal while being holed
1870	January	29	Greenhead	Wishaw	Robert Brand	Jas Johnstone	Collier	--	Falls, Coal and Roof	Fall of coal while “stooping”
1870	February	1	Pather	Wishaw	William Boyd	James Moffat	Collier	36	Falls, Coal and Roof	A piece of stone fell from the roof while he was “holing” and caused his pick to run into him
1870	February	3	Cuttlehill	Dunfermline	Henderson & Wallace	Henry Cormick	Collier	35	Falls, Coal and Roof	Fall of roof
1870	February	3	Netherton	Wishaw	Scott & Gilmour	Thomas Paul	Collier	25	Explosions	Explosion of firedamp, defective ventilation	On the 5th of February an explosion of firedamp resulted in the death of two colliers at Netherton Colliery. The accident was caused by one of them, during the night, wrongly going into a place about twenty yards from where he worked, and with his naked lamp exploding some gas, which had collected in it. The place was bratticed, but the current was slacker during the night, as no one attended the ventilating furnace at night.
						James Liddel	Collier	25
1870	February	14	Grange	Kilmarnock	Robert Yeats &Co	James McGill	Collier	21	Explosions	Explosion of fire damp	It appears that the fireman, on the morning of the accident, had discovered a small accumulation of gas in the deceased's working place shown in hand sketch Fig. l I understand that at the time of the accident, he was engaged displacing the gas by " waffing ' it out, and the deceased and others, who had left their open lights near to B, about seven yards distant, assisted him. This was a direct violation of the special rules, which provide that "In case fire damp or other impure air shall be discovered in any working place, road, or level, the fireman shall in the first instance thoroughly clear the same of such impurity, if that can be done easily, and shall thereupon report to the colliers that the working places are apparently safe, &c.'' The fireman, assisted by the deceased and others, as above described, ignited the gas, while in the act of displacing it, at one of their open lights near to B. They were all burned (five of them), the fireman being one; and the deceased died from the effects of injuries received. In this case the fireman acted very imprudently, first in allowing anyone to be in the place while in an unworkable state; and, secondly, in permitting open lights to be so near to where the fire-damp was being displaced. Since the accident, the owners of the colliery have made the following addition to their special rules. "The engineman shall not allow the descent of workmen into the colliery on any morning till after the fireman has completed his underground examination, and has signalled to the surface to that effect."
1870	February	18	Kinneil Iron Works	Borrowstouness	George Wilson &Co	Sam Blakely	Miner	--	In Ironstone mines – above ground	Crushed by cage
1870	February	18	West Thornton	Kilmarnock	Archibald Finnie	John Caldwell	Collier	19	Falls of Coal and Roof	Fall of roof at the face while engaged taking down coal
1870	February	25	Auchenharvie	Saltcoats	Archd Kenneth & Co	John Fitzcharles	Fireman	37	Falls of Coal and Roof	Fall of roof while engaged taking a part of it down
1870	February	28	Grougar	Hurlford	Eglinton Iron Co	Alexander Frew	Collier	31	Falls of Coal and Roof	Fall of coal
1870	March	2	Benthead	Fauldhouse	W S Dixon	Peter Ellis	Miner	--	In Ironstone mines – falls, coal and roof	Fall of stone
1870	March	3	Glencleland	Wishaw	Kerr & Mitchel	John Gallacher	Collier	16	Falls, Coal and Roof	Piece of coal he was holing fell over on him
1870	March	31	Allanton	Hamilton	Austine & Co	P McMechan	Collier	42	Above ground	He rashly passed through between waggons on his way to the smithy, and was caught between the buffers
1870	April	4	Goatfoot	Galston	Boyd Gilmour & Co	John Nimmo	Collier	45	Falls of Coal and Roof	Fall of coal
1870	April	8	Govan	Glasgow	W S Dixon	John Kyle	Sinker	26	In shafts	When placing wood in a sinking pit, he fell into some water at the bottom and was drowned	The deceased and a neighbour workman were at the time of the accident engaged putting in "buntons," and securing " barring in a sinking shaft." As is customary in such cases, they stood upon a scaffold suspended in the shaft, and which was about 27 feet from the bottom. In the course of their operations, a piece of wood, which the deceased was engaged securing, fell and, striking him on the leg, caused his foot to slip from the bunton, on which he was partly leaning, at the same time he lost his hold of the scaffold, and fell to the bottom. There was about nine feet of water in the bottom of the shaft at the time.
1870	April	9	No 1 Shale Pit, Starlaw, Bathgate	8 men killed by fire- Patrick McComisky, Peter McComisky, coal miner, James McNeil, John McNeil, David Muir, William Rankin, William Rushford, William Wands - Newspaper reports
1870	April	13	Palacecraig	Airdrie	Wm Baird & Co	Michael Malloy	Drawer	13	In shafts	Fall of stones from the side of the shaft
1870	April	18	Solesgirth	Kirkintilloch	James Dunlop & Co	Alexander Easton	Oversman	40	In Ironstone mines – in shafts	Fell down the shaft while engaged disconnecting a water chest from the winding rope
1870	April	19	Kipps	Airdrie	Robertson & Eddie	James Shank	Collier	25	Falls, Coal and Roof	Killed by a fall of coal while “stooping”
1870	April	24	No 1 Pit Motherwell	Motherwell		James Evans	not employed	12	Not listed in accidents	On Sunday, 24th April, a boy 12 years of age was killed at Motherwell. He was not employed at the colliery, and his name does not appear on the list. A son of the engine-man, thirteen years of age, in his father's absence attempted to lower two men and this boy to the horses. By some mistake, however, he took them up to the pulleys; the men got off, but the boy fell down the pit, and was killed.	Newspaper Report
1870	May	4	Woodhall	Airdrie	Merry & Cunningham	Niel Martin	Collier	48	Falls, Coal and Roof	Fall of roof at face
1870	May	25	Ellismuir	Baillieston	Provanhall Coal Co	James Wyper	Drawer	13	In shafts	Fell from a “mid-working” 17 fathoms	In this case the shaft was divided by a midwall into two divisions, and a cage worked in each. There were doors placed on the front of the pit, and a bottomer was appointed to open these doors when required, and to see that the drawers placed their hutches properly upon the cages before he signalled them away. It appears that the deceased on the day of the accident had reached near to the pit bottom, with a loaded hutch, when the bottomer through some mistake, failed to open the door leading into the division of the shaft where the cage was resting at the time, and he, pushing forward his hutch, fell with it into the shaft, and to the bottom, a distance of 100 feet. This is one of those unexplainable occurrences which sometimes happen in mines.., I can scarcely call it neglect on the part of the bottomer, but rather momentary absence, as he, at the time of the accident was assisting the deceased, and narrowly escaped falling into the shaft with him.
1870	June	1	Halbeath	Dunfermline	Henderson & Wallace	W Beveridge	Collier	57	Falls, Coal and Roof	Died on 17th June. He was holing after the sprags were out
1870	June	11	Boutreehill	Irvine	Boutreehill Coal Co	Joseph Blair	Drawer	34	In shafts	Fell from a midworking	There were two seams of coal being worked at the time of the accident; the first at 33 fathoms, and the second at 53 fathoms from the surface. The deceased was a collier, and worked in the upper seam. He, and his neighbour, Stewart, engaged on a night shift, were the only persons in it. It appears that after they had finished their shift, and filled the coals into hutches, and drawn them to the shaft, Stewart went to the surface, leaving the deceased to "cleek" the coals, and see them properly sent away. No one was present with the deceased at the time of the accident; but it is supposed that the cage was lowered with an empty hutch to the level of the upper seam, and the deceased, after taking it off, had been in the act of returning with a full hutch, for the purpose of placing it upon the cage, when, from some cause, the cage was suddenly raised, unknown to him, and he, in pushing the full hutch forward, fell with it into the open shaft, and to the bottom, a distance of upwards of 40 yards. Under the circumstances, the deceased had a right to expect that when the cage was landed properly at the upper seam with an empty hutch, it would not be removed until a proper signal was given.
1870	June	11	Westmuir	Glasgow	Robert Gray & Co	James Cairns	Collier	43	Falls of Coal and Roof	Fall of roof at face
1870	June	24	Quarter			Patrick Lyons			Not Listed		Newspaper report
1870	June	27	Springfield	Bishopbriggs	W S Dixon	William Neilson	Labourer	28	In Ironstone mines – in shafts	Fell down a blind shaft 14 fathoms

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