Continued from Parts 1 – 8….from the Scotsman, Tuesday 23rd October 1877…..the day after the disaster describing events in detail of the terrible day before. Here crowds arrive around the pithead on the Monday afternoon. “Then sharp breathing and excited groups pressed round the shaft mouth, anxious to be relieved from suspense, yet fearful that […]
Continued from Parts 1 – 7….from the Scotsman, Tuesday 23rd October 1877…..the day after the disaster describing events in detail of the tragic day before…..here the account of rescuers finding bodies is described, which may make for upsetting reading. Mr McFarlane described the scene in the workings, so far as they could, penetrate, as something […]
Continued from Parts 1 – 6….from the Scotsman, Tuesday 23rd October 1877…..the day after the disaster describing events in detail from the disaster morning. It is only consistent with the character of miners to say that the moment the extent of the calamity was realised, there were many willing hands ready to embark on the […]
Continued from Parts 1 – 4 ….from the Scotsman, Tuesday 23rd October 1877….. “Many of those at the pit-head had their whiskers, eyebrows, and hair singed, and the manager Mr Watson has his face and hands scorched. We looked into each other’s faces, each fearing to say a word, because we only knew too truly […]
Continued from Parts 1 and 2 ….from the Scotsman, Tuesday 23rd October 1877….. “When the colliers are at work, they dig the coal from the face, and throw it behind them. The mineral is conveyed in hutches to the pit bottom, and thence to the surface but when the end of the seam has been […]
Exploring the lives of those men and boys who lost their lives in the Blantyre Disaster. I’ve investigated the tragic story of 3 Blantyre brothers who died in the Dixon’s Pit Disaster on Monday 22nd October 1877. Francis (23), John (22) and James Welsh (15). John Welsh b1824 married Elizabeth Smith b1831 on 5th March […]
By the afternoon of Monday 22nd October 1877, reporters up and down the country were scrambling to find out more details about the Blantyre Disaster that had unfolded that morning. It would take larger newspapers like Edinburgh Evening News, who determined for the “scoop”, could call upon reliable contacts in the area. Their Hamilton correspondent […]