Miscellaneous, Strikes & Court Cases

27 February 1903

Hutch Pinning In A Fife Pit - John Auld, miner, Sixth Street, Bowhill, admitted, at the Dunfermline Sheriff Court yesterday, having been guilty of what is known among miners as hutch-pinning. He had removed the tally, or pin, from a hutch filled with coal, gotten by another miner, and put on a tally, or pin, belonging to himself, with the object of defrauding the other miner of wages amounting to 1s. In passing sentence of twenty-one days' imprisonment, and ignoring an appeal for a fine, Sheriff Gillespie said that if such a serious offence were overlooked confidence in the working of the pits would be destroyed. [Scotsman 28 February 1903]

6 August 1921

Seventy Years In The Mines - Mr Alexander Mathieson, miner, Bowhill, has retired after nearly 70 years work in a coal mine. Mr Mathieson has had experience of five strikes embracing a period of 57 weeks, two of which were sectional strikes at Bowhill. He went to Bowhill twenty years ago, and worked at the colliery there all that time. During his long years in the mines he has been blessed with good health, and was always at his post when the pit was open for work. During Mr Mathieson's mining career of nearly 70 years he has never once met with an accident. [Dunfermline Journal 6 August 1921]

24 January 1939

The death is announced from Lochgelly of Mr William Penman, of Mid Street, a well-known West File personality. He was a director and former chairman of Lochgelly Gas Company, Ltd.; a founder director of Lochgelly Public-House Society. Ltd., and a member of Auchterderran Parish Council for a time. Mr Penman, who was 85 years of age, had a long connection with Lochgelly collieries as a mines contractor. His mother, who was a nonagenarian, was the last survivor in Lochgelly of a time when women worked as colliers. She left the coal pits on the passing of the Act, early in the last century, which prohibited women from working underground. Mr Penman was well known in Fife bowling circles before the war, and had taken part in the Scottish finals. [Scotsman 24 January 1939]The death is announced from Lochgelly of Mr William Penman, of Mid Street, a well-known West File personality. He was a director and former chairman of Lochgelly Gas Company, Ltd.; a founder director of Lochgelly Public-House Society. Ltd., and a member of Auchterderran Parish Council for a time. Mr Penman, who was 85 years of age, had a long connection with Lochgelly collieries as a mines contractor. His mother, who was a nonagenarian, was the last survivor in Lochgelly of a time when women worked as colliers. She left the coal pits on the passing of the Act, early in the last century, which prohibited women from working underground. Mr Penman was well known in Fife bowling circles before the war, and had taken part in the Scottish finals. [Scotsman 24 January 1939]