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Ashley Saunders sent me this plate inscription which was on the inside of a bible and lo and behold, it turns out to be one of the bibles presented to the rescuers who bravely went down the mine during the 1877 Blantyre Pit Disaster. This particular bible was presented to William Simpkin by the National […]
Lets go to 1979 next and pictured here in September that year is the view from the former Craighead Bing. Looking back towards Blantyre, you may be able to make out the burned out shell of the Stonefield Parish Church, which caught fire that month. The cleanup operation was due to commence on the Bing, […]
One of my favourite photos, if only as one of my family appears in it! This is of course the photo of the Pit Disaster rescuers in 1877. The men have been presented with a large bible for their valiant efforts in descending into the pit following the disaster. The term “rescuer” is perhaps misleading […]
Mary Roberts certainly had a hard life. She had been married previously to John Gold, but left a widow when John died in the Blantyre Pit Disaster in 1877. The terrible thing about this tragedy is she not only lost her husband, but she had also lost 3 brother in laws AND 4 of her […]
I was recently thrilled when my good friend and fellow history colleague Gordon Cook gave me a nice gift! I’m now the proud owner of a large map of the underground coal workings of High Blantyre, marked up to show where each victim of the 1877 Pit disaster died. As well as this to accompany […]
Continuing a look at the Blantyre Mining Disaster 22nd October 1877. By road and rail, crowds of people, chiefly miners, poured into the village of Blantyre on the day of the disaster Monday 22nd October 1877 and took the liveliest interest in the progress of operations. The trains especially were crowded to a degree never […]
The most heartrending scenes were witnessed in the neighbourhood of both pits, and all along the Priestfield row of houses situated one hundred yards from No. 2 Pit, for it was near those buildings that the dead bodies recovered from the pit were conveyed. There were women with children in their arms with swollen eyes […]
Continuing a look at the tragic events of 22nd October 1877. Around the house where the bodies of those recovered, arrived a band of heart-sore relations, people who had come to the pit for news of loved ones. They hung despairingly, anxious to be admitted. However, very considerately, they were often refused permission to look […]
By the evening of Monday 22nd October 1877, the scenes at the pithead at number 3, were such that would leave a deep impression on anybody who witnessed them. By contrast to the rain and clouds so prevalent during the daytime rescue attempts, when the moon arose, it illuminated everything it seemed in the District. […]