You cannot copy our Research & Content. Google Map Location & IP noted
This is the tragic story of one of the miners who lost his life in the Blantyre Pit Disaster of 1877. James Brodie, was the son of John Brodie (shepherd) and Mary Turnbull. Born in 1851 in Lanarkshire. Coming to Blantyre between 1871 and 1874, the timing fits well with new opportunities for coalminers being […]
Little is known about this next victim of the Pit Disaster, but there is some information to be had. Michael Brannan was born in 1851, the son of Irishman John Brannan, farm labourer and Catherine Haggan. Michael came to Blantyre in either 1876 or 1877. He never married, nor had children. Like many other young […]
William Boyle was born in Ireland around 1828. His parents were Hugh Boyle and Rose Ann Gallagher. William married Helen (or Ellen) McDonagh in 1860 at Airdrie and became a coal miner. The 1861 census shows Helen and William living at 1 Clarkston’s Land, Coatdyke, Old Monklands with children Rosy 13 and Mary 3 months. In […]
On this anniversary of the Blantyre Pit Disaster, we remember two more individuals, brothers no less who both lost their lives on 22nd October 1877. Not to be confused with another pair of Bolton Brothers (their cousins) who also lost their lives. This is the story of Thomas Bolton and his younger brother William, one […]
Exploring more of the fatalities from Blantyre Pit Disaster. The story of Owen Brannaghan or Brannigan is an interesting one. Owen Brannaghan was the son of Patrick Brannaghan (farmer) and Catherine McCallum. It is thought he came from Ireland over to Scotland to seek employment, Dixon’s pits providing that opportunity. Owen never married, nor had […]
This is the story about two young, teenage brothers who lost their lives in the Blantyre Pit Disaster of 1877. James Bolton was born in 1860 in Hamilton, the son of Ann Maria Shields and John Bolton (b1820-1870). His father John had been married before but his first wife Janet Aitken died in 1859. As […]
As you may be aware by now, every year around the week of the Blantyre Pit Disaster, I’ve been publishing the stories of the miners who died in that terrible accident. My goal no less, is to eventually tell the story of every single person who lost their lives, an aim well underway. Today is […]
Another story today of a notable person in their 90s. This article is from the Hamilton Advertiser 29th December 1945. “The death on Sunday at his home at Priestfield Terrace High Blantyre, of Mr John Wotherspoon marks the passing of one of the last links with Dixon’s mining disaster. Mr Wotherspoon who had just celebrated […]
An annual meeting took place in Glasgow on Monday 20th December 1915, to discuss what amount was left in the Blantyre and Udston Colliery Accident Funds. When the Blantyre Pit accident happened in 1877, a whopping sum of £48,246 (about £8m in todays money) was collected in the immediate period of National grief and shock. […]