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 13 of 50 pages (2497 entries).
| Surname | Given Name(s) | Year | County |
Mine |
Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McEachern | John D. | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| McNeil | Rod C. | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Nairn | James | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Rushton | Stephen | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Wry | Edgar | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Pashkoski or Pasoshki | Alexander | 1946 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Killed by haulage |
| Armishaw | Herbert | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Lewis | John F. | 1943 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Crushed between trip and air line |
| Costigan | Richard | 1892 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Struck by timber lowered down slope |
| Hopkins | George | 1892 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Fall of coal from working face |
| Bigney | Robert | 1881 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Rope broke on cage |
| Matheson | Hugh Thomas | 1895 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Taking down top coal |
| Newman | George | 1944 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Struck by boom moved by coal scoop |
| Scully or Soully | John | 1885 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Run over by cage |
| McLeod | Murdock | 1886 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Fall of roof |
| Dean | George W. | 1946 | Cumberland | Springhill No .4 | Fall of coal |
| McDonald | William | 1887 | Cumberland | Springhill | Fall of coal from face |
| Strong | William H. | 1878 | Cumberland | Springhill | Killed on surface |
| Blue | John | 1881 | Cumberland | Springhill | Struck by cage |
| Gilroy | Joseph | 1911 | Cumberland | Springhill | Jammed by cars |
| Fletcher | William | 1883 | Cumberland | Springhill | Killed by fracture of brake bolt |
| Crocker | Frederick | 1884 | Cumberland | Springhill | Crushed between water box and timber |
| Elkin | Fred | 1906 | Cumberland | Springhill | Killed by trolleys on surface |
| Murphy | Carl G. | 1921 | Cumberland | Springhill | Caught between beam of screen floor and break wheel of a moving railway car |
| Mackey or Mackie | James | 1887 | Cumberland | Springhill | Leg broken; caught by cage in balance |
| Paul | Percy | 1911 or 1912 | Cumberland | Dominion No. 2, Surface | Smothered in culm car |
| Cooper | Arthur | 1931 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 2, Surface | Run over by car in colliery yard |
| Bradbury | Isaac | 1936 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 2, Surface | Fell in pickling tank on surface |
| Gillis | Frank L. | 1941 | Cumberland | Cumberland Railway & Coal | Fall of stone |
| Hunter | Joseph E. | 1941 | Cumberland | Cumberland Railway & Coal | Crushed by conveyor belt |
| O'Brien | Thomas E. | 1941 | Cumberland | Cumberland Railway & Coal | Pulmonary embolism |
| Townsend | Leonard | 1876 | Cumberland | Spring Hill Colliery Mine | Crushed by drum, fall of a gin |
| MacKenzie | Daniel | 1861 | Pictou County | Bye pit | Methane explosion |
| Robertson | James | 1861 | Pictou County | Bye pit | Methane explosion |
| Roach | William | 1861 | Pictou County | Bye pit | Methane explosion |
| Jose | Henry | 1865 | Pictou County | Either Bye, Cage, Dalhousie pit | Fall down shaft |
| Hickman | Henry | 1869 | Pictou County | Marsh Colliery (not Marsh mine) | Fall down shaft |
| Palmer | Robert | 1869 | Pictou County | Marsh Colliery (not Marsh mine) | Fall down shaft |
| MacLean | Alex | 1867 | Pictou County | unidentified shaft being sunk or Cage pit | Methane explosion |
| Forbes | Andrew | 1867 | Pictou County | unidentified shaft being sunk or Cage pit | Methane explosion |
| Campbell | Percy | 1946 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft Wash Plant | Injured putting up a door bar, died a week later |
| Amon | W. | 1921 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 1 | Buried 4 hours under fall, died at home in evening |
| Conway | Wayne Michael | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| James | Laurence Elwyn | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Short | Romeo Andrew | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Feltmate | Roy Edward | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| MacKay | Michael Frederick | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Vickers | Peter Francis | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Bell | Larry Arthur | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| House | Randolph Brian | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |