Arniston Colliery

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Aitken, James, 29 Nov 1906, aged 37, Miner, The workings are to the dip and very steep, and the men are taken to and from their work in carriages at stated hours. A number of the men had congregated at the 400 fathoms level at the end of the fore-shift waiting for the carriages by which to ascend to the shaft bottom. Just as the last rake of loaded tubs left many of them went to the dook road, against orders and lined up on each side to be ready to take their places in the carriages on arrival ; the rake had only gone 20 yards up when the drawbar of the second tub broke, and eight tubs came back and crashed into the side near the level, and deceased, who was close by, was fatally injured. The drawbar was 2 feet 7 inches long by 2½ inches by ¾ inches, and made of mild steel ; the break was at the bend of the hook, and had no sign of a previous fracture

Alexander, Matthew, 04 Feb 1861, Collier, Fall of coal at face of working

Anthony, John, 26 Sep 1904, aged 42, Farm servant, Deceased was at the depot for coal with two carts, and while the locomotive was shunting he by some unknown means got between the waggons and was fatally crushed.

Armstrong, William, 07 Jul 1887, Greaser, Fell into a tub on cage which was leaving pithead

Black, -, 06 Jul 1863, Roadsman, He was "gearing" a road when a large stone fell upon him

Blyth, Archibald, 27 Oct 1934, aged 25, Miner, Burned

Borland, Robert, 05 Sep 1909, 11 p.m., aged 20, Brusher, Explosion of firedamp or coal dust [More information ...]

Brodie, William, 21 May 1900, aged 35, Miner, A strip of about 3 ft. in width was being taken off one side of an old longwall road, for the purpose of straightening it. Deceased was holing out the old stowage under the overhanging side, when a stone 9 ft. in length by 3 ft. by 3 ft. at extremes, suddenly came away from an old break formed by the subsidence of the roof over the longwall waste, and fell upon him. He died whilst being extricated. The stone did not appear to have been in any way shored or ranced up

Brotherstone, Henry, 06 Nov 1903, aged 32, Labourer, Deceased was in a dross hopper clearing dross from the shoot leading into the hopper, and instead of standing on a plank provided for the purpose he stood on the dross. The man in charge of the waggons put a waggon under the hopper and opened the valve to allow the dross to fall into the waggon, when deceased's legs were seen protruding. Before he was rescued he had been suffocated

Brown, David, 03 Jun 1874, aged 35, Brusher, Fall of roof. In a road which he was "brushing"

Clark, John, 02 Dec 1858, Collier, By fall of roof at face of workings [More information ...]

Cornwell, Thomas, 20 Jun 1860, Drawer, By fall of stone from roof at face of working

Cunningham, Robert, 03 Nov 1905, aged 42, Boiler Fireman, In front of boilers was a dross hole, divided into two, one portion had a capacity to hold about 80 tons of dross, a retaining wall 20 inches thick faced the boilers, and at intervals, opposite each boiler, were openings to allow the dross to gravitate so as to be reached by the firemen. This wall without any warning suddenly collapsed, and deceased, who was opposite, was buried

Darling, John, 25 Feb 1876, aged 52, Collier, [Fall of roof] At face. Longwall

Dickson, John, 03 Apr 1879, aged 56, Collier, Fall of roof. At face. Long wall

Falconer, William, 01 Sep 1876, aged 55, Sinker, [Miscellaneous in shafts] In a sinking shaft. A fall of earth which was being bricked carried away the scaffold on which he stood

Flockhart, Thomas, 26 Jun 1874, aged 22, Collier, Fall of coal. At face while "holing" (Long wall)

Ford, John, 27 Oct 1881, aged 28, Drawer, Fall of roof ; on level road at junction of upset ; long wall

Gear, Alexander, 04 Jul 1898, aged 22, Miner, Deceased was said to have been in the act of rising from the holing to drill a shot hole in the head coal, which was 2 ft. 2 ins. in thickness, when about 18 cwts. of head coal suddenly burst off and fell upon him

Gibson, Robert, 21 May 1914, aged 64, Miner, Deceased was walking on a drawing road towards the pit bottom at the termination of shift when a runaway hutch, over which the drawer had lost control, came towards him. Instead of stepping to one side, deceased faced the hutch and attempted to stop it. He was crushed between the top of the hutch and a bar, and died about four hours later

Gray, James, 16 Jan 1910, aged 17, Pit-head Labourer, He was riding on cage of surface hoist against orders when he was caught between it and bunton and killed

Hay, John, 20 Oct 1898, aged 41, Miner, Deceased was setting timber to secure the roof at a longwall face, when a large stone fell upon him, killing him instantly

Hood, Alexander, 02 Dec 1858, Collier, By fall of roof at face of workings [More information ...]

Hutchison, Alexander, 19 Dec 1908, aged 24, Miner, While deceased was at work at the face a large piece of coal suddenly burst off, and killed him instantly

Inglis, Walter, 27 Jun 1904, aged 70, Hutch repairer, Deceased was taking an empty tub off the cage at the laigh scaffold, and when it was partly off, the cage was raised, and the tub was thrown on to the plates and struck deceased. It appears that deceased inadvertently gave the signal to raise the cage

Innes, Alexander, 25 Feb 1902, (accident: 24 Dec 1901), aged 29, Miner, Deceased was riding on the top of a loaded rake, when he was crushed against the roof. He died from his injuries on 25th February, 1902

Jack, Andrew, 24 Dec 1896, aged 73, Fireman, Deceased was riding up an engine dook on one of a set of loaded tubs without having received permission from the manager. A coupling broke near the front of the set which ran back. Deceased jumped or fell off, and was killed on the spot

Jack, David, 07 Apr 1900, aged 63, Cranefooter, Deceased was assisting a fireman to rail a set of derailed tubs on a wheel brae, when a large stone fell from the side near the roof and rolled over him, causing injuries which terminated fatally an hour afterwards

James, Junners, 28 Jan 1906, (accident: 26 Jun 1905), aged 19, Brusher, Deceased had left the brushing face to get his lamp replenished with oil, and while filling the lamp a stone fell upon him. He died from his injuries on 28th January 1906

Kerr, George, 13 Nov 1902, aged 72, Miner, Deceased was proceeding along an endless haulage way on his way to the shaft after his shift was over, and stumbled in front of a moving loaded tub

Kirk, John, 24 Jun 1912, aged 22, Miner, As the working place of deceased and that of another miner were close together, they arranged to fire at the same time, each having two shots. They lighted both their shots, and the lights of both men were blown out by the fuse ; they then decided to hide behind the timbers in the heading which dips 1 in 2 instead of trying to get down to the place below. Both men were hit by the coal from the last shot

Lennie, Robert, 26 Aug 1876, aged 44, Collier, [Fall of coal] At face. Stoop and room

Liddle, William, 23 Feb 1858, Collier, By fall of coal at face of working

Love, David, 11 Jun 1877, aged 39, Oversman, Caught by a bunton while ascending

Maxwell, William, 26 Sep 1907, (accident: 23 Sep 1907), aged 45, Attendant on Coal Cutter, Deceased had fixed some picks into the disc of a coal cutter, and was oiling the parts prior to starting the machine, when the machine started and the picks in the revolving disc caught him, inflicting terrible injuries to which he succumbed three days later. It was expected that the switch on the machine was off, but unknown to anyone it was on, and when current at the gateway was put on the power went direct to the machine and set it in motion. Deceased gave orders to have the current put on at the gateway

McGill, Robert, 22 Mar 1912, aged 17, Labourer, He got on to the cage of a hoist to push a hutch off the wrong way, and while doing so shouted to some men to move. The man at the steam lever mistook his shout for a signal to start and raised the cage. He was crushed against the landing at the top

Millar, James, 20 May 1876, aged 26, Collier, [Fall of roof] At face. Longwall

Mills, James, 29 Apr 1908, 1.30 p.m., aged 23, Drawer, Explosion of Fire-damp or Coal Dust

Moir, Sidney, 28 Nov 1911, aged 17, Drawer, While filling a hutch with coal on the level, a stone which was held in position by the coal was liberated, as the coal was worked off, and fell on to him. Rances were only set to the one side, and were naturally screwed out by the weight of the stone

Munro, Alexander, 28 May 1906, aged 22, Attendant on Coal Cutting Machine

Murray, Thomas, 13 Aug 1891, aged 5, Not employed, Fell off scaffold

Neilly, James, 09 Apr 1879, (accident: 05 Apr 1879), aged 17, Collier, Fall of coal. At face, while holing. Died 9th April. Long wall

Nichol, James, 28 Mar 1859, Pitheadman, By falling down pit with an empty hutch which he pushed into the wrong division [More information ...]

Nisbet, William, 30 Dec 1895, 10 a.m., aged 55, Fireman, Runaway hutch

Potts, James, 26 May 1903, aged 27, Drawer, Deceased and his neighbour were engaged taking a piece of coal off the side of a stoop to form a new roadway, when the roof suddenly fell

Pringle, James, 07 Mar 1922, 8 a.m., 1st hour of shift, aged 21, Miner's Drawer, He was passing the foot of a steep branch road when he was crushed against the side of the road by a tub brought out by another drawer. His skull was fractured and he died almost immediately. Probably deceased thought he could get past in time and that the other drawer had full control of his tub.

Rafferty, Patrick, 16 Jul 1884, aged 40, Collier, Fall of side. While holing ; long wall

Ramage, Adam, 13 Nov 1896, aged 46, Miner, Fall of roof stone at longwall face

Reid, John, 31 Dec 1924, 10.20 a.m., 5th hour of shift, aged 55, Surface Worker, Deceased was greasing bearings of the shaft of a scraper conveyor and while passing alongside the unfenced revolving shaft a wet ragged end of a sack apron he was wearing clung round the shaft and drew him in. He was severely squeezed between the shaft and the conveyor frame ; he died 6½ hours later. The shafting was provided with a clutch which the deceased man should have thrown out to stop the machinery whilst he did his work

Ross, James, 12 Aug 1865, aged 17, Collier, Fall of coal from side of working

Simpson, Robert, 14 May 1881, aged 50, Collier, Fall of side ; while drawing the sprags from the coal it fell upon him. Great seam. Stoop and room

Sneddon, George, 06 Jan 1892, 9.30 a.m., 3rd hour of shift, aged 18, Drawer, Fall of roof stone

Sneddon, John, 06 Nov 1877, aged 18, Collier, Fall of coal. At face. Stoop and room

Sweeney, John, 09 Mar 1900, aged 37, Drawer, Deceased was a drawer on a cuddiebrae, and while descending with a loaded tub the wheel-tree came out and tub and cuddie descended rapidly to the level road ; he held on to the tub, and when it struck the wall side the impact threw him back in front of the descending cuddle. The wheel-tree was too short and had been put up shortly before the accident

Taylor, Archibald, 20 Oct 1856, Bottomer, Falling down pit whilst attempting to go off cage when in motion

Unknown, -, 13 Jan 1871, aged 25, Engineman, Waggon ran amain and struck him

Wilson, James, 23 Sep 1876, Collier, [Fall of coal] At face