Continuing my quest to tell the personal stories of ALL 215 miners who died in the Blantyre Mining Disaster. As with each previous year, I’ve added more articles slowly but surely forming a growing list of life stories. Today, we remember William Clyde (14). This is the story of brother of James Clyde the youngest victim of the Blantyre Pit Disaster.
There is nothing more sad about the Pit Disaster of October 1877 than hearing of the death of children, so I hope the content is not too upsetting all these years on.
William Clyde was actually a Hamilton child. Born there on 30th May 1863. He was the eldest child of James Clyde Snr, a miner and Agnes Cornfield. His parents had moved from Ireland prior to their marriage in 1863 and young James would have four siblings, (three other boys and a girl) all born in Hamilton between the years 1863 and 1870.
The 1871 census shows Agnes & James and their surviving children William aged 7, Marryanne 6, James 5 and John 3 living at No.4 Low Patrick Street, Hamilton.
Like many miners seeking employment, parents James and Agnes brought their young family to Blantyre around Summer 1875 and young William would only have been around 11 or 12 years old when he arrived in the town. He may have found himself attending one of the new Blantyre schools that year, but only for a short time, for it is known he became a pit pony driver for Dixon’s at a very young age. This was a young boy robbed of some of his childhood, and by the age of 14 he had started working in Dixon’s Pit beside his father and younger brother James, aged 12.
His father would have been quite used to leaving home at 44 Dixons Street in Stonefield and walking with his two young sons to the nearby pit in High Blantyre. As a pit pony driver, it would have been William’s duties to look after the animals in stables below ground and to ensure they were taken to and from the workfaces.
Pony driving was often one of the first jobs for young lads, usually aged around 14, who were starting work in coal mines. Boys would normally work as a pony driver for 1 or 2 years before being moved on to heavier work. Pony drivers were in charge of a horse or pony hauling empty hutches to the different working areas in the mines and bringing hutches filled with coal to the pit bottom.
On the morning of 22nd October 1877, a terrible explosion caused by fire damp rocked High Blantyre Pits 2 and 3, wiping out the lives of 215 men and boys in an instant.
William’s father James and brother James were found on 6th November 1877 2 weeks after the disaster and they were buried at Dalbeth together. However, owing to the debris at the pit stables (below Redburn Farm Inn today), William’s body would not be recovered until 22nd November 1877, a full month after the explosion.
I cannot imagine the horror of the rescue party in finding the lifeless body of such a small boy and I’m sure this would have been hard hitting for all involved at the pithead that day.
William was buried at High Blantyre Cemetery, though his father and brother were buried at Dalbeth, something which occurred due to the timing of the retrieval of their bodies.
Finally, we have to spare a thought for Agnes Cornfield, the mother of William. The 22nd October, the day of the explosion, was also her Wedding Anniversary! As the doctor registered each death, Agnes Clyde (nee Cornfield) put her mark on the death certificate recognising that, one by one her husband, and sons were dead. She had done this after doing the same for her brother in law John Burns 33, husband of her sister Helen Cornfield and Thomas Burns 24 married to Agnes’s niece Jane Cornfield., i.e two other family members who had died in the explosion.
One cannot imagine the grief and heartache this poor woman must have felt, upon hearing the news of the disaster, the desperation and hope she would have felt during the rescue attempts and ultimate despair and sorrow felt afterwards. It’s difficult to comprehend grief on that scale in such a small space of time.
Rest in Peace William Clyde. You are remembered. Picture created by AI. For illustration only for this article.
