Birkrigg Colliery

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Binnie, Andrew, 06 May 1896, aged 60, Miner, Ignited firedamp at longwall face in Upper Drumgray seam by an open light

Goodwin, James, 12 Nov 1906, aged 16, Labourer, Struck by a piece of iron projected by a shot of gelignite used to break up an old spur wheel

Kerr, Alexander, 12 Jun 1924, 8.0 a.m., 7th hour of shift, aged 51, Pump Attendant, He had finished his work and was proceeding up an endless rope haulage road rising at 1 in 5 when three tubs became uncoupled from a rake at the top of the mine, ran away down the mine and killed him instantly. The mine was 8 ft. 8 ins. wide by 5 ft. 9 ins. high, but deceased had no time to reach refuge. On examination of the rake it was found that the hook of the drawbar had been pulled out, allowing the coupling to be snatched off. Had this defect in the drawbar been noticed and remedied, this accident would not have happened

Lockhart, Thomas, 07 Aug 1911, aged 18, Miner, He was at work at the face when a stone fell away off the side of the road and fatally crushed him. The stone came away from a break which was unseen, and in falling threw out two props supporting it

McAllister, Thomas, 13 Dec 1900, aged 29, Labourer, Deceased's duty was to take hutches loaded with ashes from the boiler fires and place them on one of the cages running in the shaft at the surface level, in order that they might be raised to the level of pithead, where they were taken off the cage and emptied over the dirt bing. He either was under the impression that the cage was at the required point at surface level when this was not the case, or while placing a hutch to be ready allowed it to go too far ; at any rate, he fell into the shaft with a hutch

Milligan, John, 16 Mar 1908, aged 43, Miner, When working at the coal face the roof gave way and fell on him. In order to comply with the propping rules, two props should have been set below the stone which fell, and other three alongside. The fireman failed to see that props were set, and both he and Milligan's neighbour were prosecuted and fined

Rae, Robert, 18 May 1898, aged 30, Manager, The winding rope broke while deceased was ascending the shaft, and he was precipitated to the bottom, a distance of 40 fathoms. The rope was made of steel wire, was 34 ins. circumference, and had been in use since September 1894. The shaft is 67 fathoms deep, and the rope broke 6 fathoms from the cage. Water constantly ran down the rope, which caused internal corrosion. A series of tests were made with the broken ends of the rope, and the average breaking strain was found to be 18 tons, but the torsional strain was very little