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 38 of 50 pages (2497 entries).
| Surname | Given Name(s) | Year |
County |
Mine | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davidson | Charles | 1894 | Pictou County | Acadia | Squeezed by a box of timber |
| Dunbar | Charles | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| Ferguson | Henry | 1930 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Struck by an empty trip |
| Fraser | John | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| Frye | John | 1914 | Pictou County | Albion | Riding a coal trip that derailed |
| Gunn | Stanley or David | 1906 | Pictou County | English Slopes (abandoned) | Methane exploded when boy lit match while playing near old slope opening; 1 of 2 killed |
| Hannaham or Hanrahan | William | 1883 | Pictou County | Vale | Drawbar broke, crash of runaway slope rake |
| Higgins | James William | 1980 | Pictou County | Thorburn Mining Ltd, Stellarton | Fell and struck head, died 4 days later; coal dumps reclamation project |
| Jennings | Stanley | 1917 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Jammed between a box and a prop |
| Keddy | Wallace | 1942 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fall of stone |
| Leadbeater | John | 1872 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Powder explosion |
| Love | Ernest | 1920 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 3 (Six-Foot) | Struck by a runaway box |
| MacDonald | A. R. | 1911 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Fell in front of a trip of coal |
| MacKearney | Arthur | 1914 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Boiler explosion in surface plant; 1 of 7 killed |
| MacLean | Hector | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| Manning | John | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| McDonald | John #1 | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| McGilderick | A. | 1871 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Methane explosion |
| McKinnon | Neil | 1885 | Pictou County | Vale | Devastating methane explosion |
| McNeil | John H. | 1935 | Pictou County | Albion | Fall of coal |
| Morrison | John #2 | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| Murray | Alexander | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| Palmer | Robert | 1869 | Pictou County | Marsh Colliery (not Marsh mine) | Fall down shaft |
| Power | William | 1920 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fall of coal |
| Roberts Jr | Edward | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| Ryan | John | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| Sinclair | John | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| Stevenson | James | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Taylor | Daniel | 1914 | Pictou County | Albion | Hit by a train |
| Brown | Amos | 1892 | Cumberland | Joggins | Runaway rake in slope |
| Wood | Arthur or Thomas W. | 1910 | Cumberland | Chignecto | Explosion |
| Hall | William | 1918 | Cumberland | Joggins | Fall of stone, died 14 hours later |
| Burke | William | 1930 | Cumberland | Victoria No. 2 | Gas explosion; 1 of 7 killed |
| LeBlanc | Henry J. | 1932 | Cumberland | Maple Leaf No. 4 | Dust and gas explosion; 1 of 5 killed |
| McKeigan | George Hector | 1978 | Cumberland | River Hebert Coal Mine, formerly Cochran | Fall of stone |
| Strong | William H. | 1878 | Cumberland | Springhill | Killed on surface |
| Guthro | Thomas | 1887 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 3 | Fall of frozen clay; 1 of 2 killed |
| Carmichael | Andrew | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Dawson | Richard | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Hunter | John | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| McKay | Donald 2nd | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| McVey | James | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Noiles | Roger | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Simmons or Simmonds | Howard | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Costigan | Richard | 1892 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Struck by timber lowered down slope |
| Milley | John | 1900 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 3 | Struck and run over by rake on main slope |
| Hannah | Joseph | 1905 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Killed instantly by being run over by hopper |
| Paul | Percy | 1911 or 1912 | Cumberland | Dominion No. 2, Surface | Smothered in culm car |
| Piggot | Richard | 1917 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Fall of coal |
| Bourgisk | Charles | 1923 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Bump caused fall of stone in room/bord; 1 of 2 killed |