Coal Mining Fatalities
This database contains 2498 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 1 of 50 pages (2498 entries).
| Surname | Given Name(s) | Year | County |
Mine |
Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McCarney | unknown | 1866 | Pictou County | Above ground, at Acadia wharf | Fell and struck his head |
| Colin | Francis | 1878 | Pictou County | Acadia | Run over by pit tub |
| Kingou | James | 1873 | Pictou County | Acadia | Fall of coal |
| MacLeod | James | 1903 | Pictou County | Acadia | Died 15 February |
| Gillis | Peter | 1884 | Pictou County | Acadia | Fall of coal |
| Turner | James | 1880 | Pictou County | Acadia | Fall of coal |
| Glenn | Alex | 1895 | Pictou County | Acadia | Fall from roof of working face |
| Reeves | James | 1872 | Pictou County | Acadia | Fall of coal |
| Bigney | Edward | 1910 | Pictou County | Acadia | Run over by a box of coal |
| Reid | Robert | 1868 | Pictou County | Acadia | Fall of earth on surface; working on rail line |
| Campbell | John | 1868 | Pictou County | Acadia | Fall of coal |
| Roy | Thomas | 1912 | Pictou County | Acadia | Runaway box on the jib |
| Hamilton | Samuel | 1868 | Pictou County | Acadia | Methane explosion |
| Favier | Thomas | 1911 | Pictou County | Acadia | Crushed between rib and full box |
| Fraser | Simon | 1868 | Pictou County | Acadia | Crushed between two cars |
| Taylor | Henry | 1912 | Pictou County | Acadia | Knocked down by horse and run over by full trip |
| Baxter | James | 1913 | Pictou County | Acadia | Fall of roof |
| Davidson | Charles | 1894 | Pictou County | Acadia | Squeezed by a box of timber |
| Russell | Robert M. | 1879 | Pictou County | Acadia | Collapse of coal storage structure |
| McInnis | John | 1872 | Pictou County | Acadia | Fall of coal |
| Nash | John | 1881 | Pictou County | Acadia | Devastating methane explosion |
| Debodt | Frank | 1925 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 3 (Six-Foot) | Fall of coal |
| MacArthur | John F. | 1934 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 3 (Six-Foot) | Head crushed between boxes |
| Barclay | Thomas | 1932 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 3 (Six-Foot) | Fall of coal |
| Fraser | Hiram | 1920 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 3 (Six-Foot) | Struck by railway car on surface |
| MacRae | John Duncan | 1930 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 3 (Six-Foot) | Fall of Stone |
| Roberts | Charles D. | 1925 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 3 (Six-Foot) | Carpenter; struck by wood thrown from circular saw |
| Love | Ernest | 1920 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 3 (Six-Foot) | Struck by a runaway box |
| Auld | Angus | 1931 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 3 (Six-Foot) | Fall of stone |
| Rector | Rueben | 1943 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 7 (Moss mine) | Fall of stone |
| Ince | William | 1938 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 7 (Moss mine) | Caught by fall of rock |
| Skidmore | Kenneth | 1942 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 7 (Moss mine) | Fall of stone |
| Moss | Samuel | 1937 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 7 (Moss mine) | Crushed under full trip he was riding; died 3 days later |
| MacLean | Alex | 1937 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 7 (Moss mine) | Fall of coal |
| Benoit | Rodham | 1917 | Pictou County | Albion | Asphyxiated by methane |
| Bowran | George | 1923 | Pictou County | Albion | Caught and crushed by screening machinery |
| Cullen | John Sr. | 1934 | Pictou County | Albion | Fall of coal |
| MacKenzie | Frank | 1909 | Pictou County | Albion | Killed on balance by runaway box |
| McLellan | James | 1884 | Pictou County | Albion | Struck by a rake |
| Muir | Gilbert | 1924 | Pictou County | Albion | Struck by a trip of coal boxes |
| Barclay | J. W. R. | 1907 | Pictou County | Albion | Killed on main slope by runaway box |
| MacKenzie | H. M. | 1911 | Pictou County | Albion | Fall of coal at the face |
| MacLeod | Wellington | 1921 | Pictou County | Albion | Suffocated by methane under coal fall |
| Mason | Stanley | 1927 | Pictou County | Albion | Fall of coal |
| Connell | Frank | 1914 | Pictou County | Albion | Fall of coal |
| Brown | Leo | 1919 | Pictou County | Albion | Struck by a cage in a balance |
| Cameron | John W. | 1946 | Pictou County | Albion | Struck by coal trip on main slope |
| Downs | William B. | 1910 | Pictou County | Albion | Scalded or burned, causes unknown; a machinist making repairs |
| Laderie | Jules | 1924 | Pictou County | Albion | Struck down by a runaway box |
| MacKenzie | Hugh | 1918 | Pictou County | Albion | Crushed by cars |