Fatal Accidents and Disasters

The lists of names on these pages were compiled by the authors from a combination of the following sources - reports of the Inspectors of Mines, contemporary newspaper articles and death certificates. The lists on this site are far from complete, particularly for the years before 1852 and after 1914 and we welcome any information on any accidents not commemorated on these pages (Contact form).

Fatal Accidents pre-1852

Before 1852 there are no official lists of accidents or deaths. Statutory registration of deaths did not start until 1855, so locating deaths during this period is difficult. All deaths prior to 1852 are indexes on the following pages:

Fatal Accidents - Mine Inspector Reports 1852-1914

The Reports of the Inspectors of Mines were published annually from 1852. The reports contain appendices which list names of those killed in accidents. Additional details for some accidents are found in the main body of the reports. A typical page from the appendix of a report is shown below:

Click on image to view larger image.

To view a list of deaths reported by the Inspector of Mines, click on the year of interest. These lists also contain names of deaths not listed in the Inspectors reports, identified from newspapers.

	1860	1870	1880	1890	1900	1910
	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911
1852	1862	1872	1882	1892	1902	1912
1853	1863	1873	1883	1893	1903	1913
1854	1864	1874	1884	1894	1904	1914
1855	1865	1875	1885	1895	1905
1856	1866	1876	1886	1896	1906
1857	1867	1877	1887	1897	1907
1858	1868	1878	1888	1898	1908
1859	1869	1879	1889	1899	1909

Fatal Accidents - Post-1914

After 1914 the Inspectors reports do not gives names of those killed or injured in accidents. We have compiled the information from a limited number of these reports (currently 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929 and 1932) which are included in the lists below. The information for all other years is compiled from newspaper reports. To view details of the accidents click on the appropriate year :

1915	1920	1925	1930	1935
1916	1921	1926	1931	1936
1917	1922	1927	1932	1937
1918	1923	1928	1933	1938
1919	1924	1929	1934	1939

Fatal Accidents - Post 1940

For deaths from 1940 onwards we do not routinely put newspaper articles or other detailed information on the site. The following lists of names are compiled from a variety of sources including newspaper reports, death certificates and indexes of Fatal Accident Inquiries. We are happy to supply transcriptions of any material relating to these deaths which we hold.Click on the links below to view lists for these years

Non-Fatal Accidents

View indexes here.

Non-Fatal Accidents & Prosecutions- Inspector's Reports

For some years, the Inspector's reports published names of miners involved in non-fatal accident, or prosecutions. These are gradually being transcribed and added to the site. Please note the lists are transcribed in the original format used by the inspectors but will be added to the general alphabetical indexes to aid searching.

1889 Eastern District - Non-Fatal Accidents
1889 Western District - Non-Fatal Accidents
1890 & 1891 Eastern District - Prosecutions

Disasters and Major Accidents

NB The above is not a comprehensive list of major accidents and disasters in Scottish pits - just the ones covered on this site.