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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. […]
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 […]