Blantyre Explosion – occurred on 22nd October 1877. That night the Herald reported, “the most grevious in Blantyre’s history, when fierce squalls of sleet and rain drove away the merely curious, but lowering under hedgerows or whatever slight shelter they could obtain, many anxious ones continued to hang about the scene, eager to receive any scrap of news”. Further that, “only the genuinely bereaved or concerned were in evidence. No idle sightseer would have braved such a night.”
1877 Blantyre Explosion sketch
The scene was to change drastically the next day however as was recorded also in “All Ye Young Miners Blantyre. 1877” which said, “Sensational news, as we have seen, draws the multitude. Throughout the day, 23rd, the Strathaven railway line did a record amount of business. The trains were crowded to a degree never previously experienced and conduct at the station varied from the indecorous to the unruly. The weather remained wet and miserable, reflecting though only imperfectly, the gloom and despair of the village. Local pubs did roaringly well, catering for drenched sensation mongers, whilst the hundred constables on duty were kept fully occupied, dealing by turns with distressed relatives and drunken sightseers. The representatives of the press recorded their impressions, including a faintly resentful feeling that they were being accorded something less than courteous treatment by the authorities. Reporters found the colliery managers unwilling to give any but the most meagre information about the state of operations underground.”