Coal Mining Fatalities
This database contains 2497 known Nova Scotia coal mining fatalities. Names, dates, places, mines, and causes of death have been painstakingly compiled. Despite this, it is by no means a complete list. Fatalities occurred before records were kept; descriptions of incidents and those involved were lost along with coal company records. Official recording of multiple deaths may have missed some names; in some cases, names are misspelled. However, this is likely the most complete list that exists. Please contact us if you know names to add.
Displaying page 2 of 50 pages (2497 entries).
| Surname | Given Name(s) | Year |
County |
Mine | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chiasson | Leo | 1933 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 16 | Struck by a trip |
| McDonald | Ronald H. | 1934 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 12, Surface | Fell while working on bankhead machinery |
| McLeod | Dan | 1934 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 10 | Fall of stone |
| Lee | Patrick | 1936 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 12 | Caught between box and prop |
| McDonald | William | 1937 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 2 | Struck by trip |
| Gouthro | John J. | 1938 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 12 | Struck by empty trip |
| MacDonald | William B. | 1938 | Cape Breton County | Princess | Broken cable on riding rake; 1 of 21 killed |
| Jobes | John | 1939 | Cape Breton County | Florence | Fall of stone |
| MacNeil | Hugh M. | 1941 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 1B | Struck with haulage rope |
| Kelloway | Kenneth | 1942 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 20 | Struck by box |
| Barnes | William | 1943 | Cape Breton County | Tomson | Struck by runaway box |
| Foley | Thomas | 1943 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 2 | Coal tank platform tilted, threw man down shaft; 1 of 4 killed being lifted in coal shaft |
| Hart | Thomas | 1944 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 12 | Fall of stone |
| Caverzan | Gaetano | 1945 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 12 | Haulage |
| Jeffrey | Leonard | 1946 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 16 | Explosives |
| Tremblett | Phillip | 1949 | Cape Breton County | Greener | Haulage |
| Gardiner | Richard | 1950 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 1B | Haulage |
| Desmond | William | 1952 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 20 | Methane explosion; 1 of 7 killed |
| Jamieson | Kenneth | 1954 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 4 | Fall of stone |
| Budden | Leonard | 1955 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 4 | Fall of stone |
| McDougall | Daniel | 1956 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 12 | Haulage |
| MacDonald | John Robert | 1958 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 16 | Fall of stone |
| McPherson | Angus | 1959 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 12 | Fall of stone |
| Seward | Wilfred | 1961 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 26 | Haulage |
| Sharpe | Arthur | 1963 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 20 | Fall of stone |
| Morrison | James | 1966 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 20 | Naturel Causes |
| Gillis | Fred | 1968 | Cape Breton County | DEVCO No. 12 | Haulage: Caught by box on 25E main level and squeezed against low side of wall |
| MacLellan | Earl | 1973 | Cape Breton County | DEVCO No. 26 | Natural Causes |
| MacNeil | Reginald A. | 1979 | Cape Breton County | DEVCO No. 26 | Methane explosion, sparked by coal shearer hitting stone; 1 of 12 killed |
| Tighe | Danny (boy) | 1966 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 17 (old Victoria) | Methane inhalation; 1 of 2 cousins who went down old slope |
| Bennois | John | 1867 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines Colliery (Queen pit) | Explosion of powder |
| Cameron | Michael | 1874 | Cape Breton County | Victoria | |
| Greenwell | Isaac | 1878 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines (Princess) | Methane explosion; 1 of 6 killed |
| Fergusson | John | 1887 | Cape Breton County | Gowrie | Fall of roof coal |
| MacIntyre | Joseph | 1893 | Cape Breton County | Victoria | Run over by cage in balance, died next day |
| Gracy | Bosel | 1895 | Cape Breton County | Hub | Fell from stage down shaft; 1 of 2 killed |
| Doyle | John, Jr. | 1899 | Cape Breton County | Caledonia | Afterdamp from methane explosion; 1 of 11 killed |
| Kearney | Patrick | 1890 | Cape Breton County | Caledonia | Killed by coal fall while loading in room |
| McCuish | John | 1900 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines (Princess) | Killed drawing props out of an old room |
| Porter | Elia | 1902 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 2 | Fall of stone from roof |
| McDonald | John | 1903 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 2 | Caught between cage and pulleys |
| McNeil | John D. | 1904 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 2 | Methane explosion |
| McDonald | James T. | 1905 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 3 | Fall of coal from roof |
| Gardner | Joseph | 1906 | Cape Breton County | Reserve | Fall of stone from roof |
| Flemming | William | 1907 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 2 | Caught between box and boom |
| Burns | George | 1907 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 5 (Queen) | Full box ran over him on main level |
| McDonald | Dan | 1908 | Cape Breton County | Hub | Fatal injury: pelvis broken in fall of stone |
| McNeil | John H. | 1909 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 2 | Fall of coal |
| Macmillan | Rod | 1909 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 4 (Scotia) | Fall of stone |
| Bonnell | Louis | 1910 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 2 | Fall of coal at face |