Blantyre mining disaster

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The Blantyre mining disaster which happened on the morning of October 22, 1877, in Blantyre, Scotland, was and remains Scotland’s worst. Blantyre Colliery, William Dixons pit numbers 1 and 2 both blasted killing 207 miners of which the youngest victim was a boy of 11. It was known that fire damp was present in the pit and it is likely that this was ignited by a naked flame. The accident left 92 widows and 250 fatherless children.

At this time rescue arrangements were inadequate and Alexander Macdonald, president of the Miners' National Association and a former miner prevented the surviving employees from attempting a rescue on safety grounds.

Although complaints about the working conditions at High Blantyre had been made repeatedly, they were ignored. In fact, a year before, the Blantyre miners had been so fearful for their safety in the mines that, when Dixons refused them a wage rise to compensate, they went on strike and were immediately sacked.

There was another explosion, this time at Dixons pit number 1, on July 2, 1879, with the loss of 28 lives.

Soon after the explosions William Dixon Ltd. erected a large granite monument to mark both disasters. The dedication reads: "William Dixon Ltd. in memory of 240 of their workmen who were killed by explosions in Blantyre Colliery on 22nd October, 1877 and 2nd July 1879 and many of whom are buried here".

Six months after the accident, Dixons raised summonses against 34 widows whose husbands had been killed and who had not left their tied cottages which they rented from the mining company. They were evicted two weeks later.