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 15 of 50 pages (2497 entries).
| Surname | Given Name(s) | Year | County |
Mine |
Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McKinnon | Neil | 1885 | Pictou County | Vale | Devastating methane explosion |
| Campbell | John A. | 1885 | Pictou County | Vale | Devastating methane explosion |
| McNulty | C. | 1902 | Pictou County | Vale | Powder explosion; 1 of 2 killed |
| Ryan | Thomas | 1885 | Pictou County | Vale | Devastating methane explosion |
| Kennedy | Dan | 1885 | Pictou County | Vale | Devastating methane explosion |
| Maquire | Bernard | 1914 | Pictou County | Vale | Struck by an empty trip that derailed |
| Fraser | Alexander | 1883 | Pictou County | Vale | Drawbar broke, crash of runaway slope rake |
| MacKenzie | A. D. | 1890 | Pictou County | Vale | Roof fall in Six-Foot Seam |
| McGilvray or MacGillivray | Wallace | 1883 | Pictou County | Vale | Drawbar broke, crash of runaway slope rake |
| McLean | J. | 1885 | Pictou County | Vale | Devastating methane explosion |
| Wamboldt | Harry | 1903 | Pictou County | Vale | Fall of stone at working face |
| Fraser | John Walter | 1885 | Pictou County | Vale | Devastating methane explosion |
| Gillies or Gillis | James | 1883 | Pictou County | Vale | Drawbar broke, crash of runaway slope rake |
| Haggart | Joe or James | 1885 | Pictou County | Vale | Devastating methane explosion |
| Cameron | Hugh | 1885 | Pictou County | Vale | Devastating methane explosion |
| Fraser | Archie | 1890 | Pictou County | Vale | Run over in a back balance |
| Paul | John | 1956 | Cape Breton County | Tomson | Explosives |
| McMullin | James | 1943 | Cape Breton County | Tomson | Injured while replacing derailed box |
| Barnes | William | 1943 | Cape Breton County | Tomson | Struck by runaway box |
| Lettuce | William | 1958 | Cape Breton County | Tomson | Explosion |
| Higgins | James William | 1980 | Pictou County | Thorburn Mining Ltd, Stellarton | Fell and struck head, died 4 days later; coal dumps reclamation project |
| Vaast | Lucien (boy) | 1916 | Pictou County | Thom or Tom pit | Gas explosion at mouth of abandoned slope; boy was chasing a ball |
| Clark | Samuel | 1925 | Pictou County | Thom or Tom pit | Killed by boxes |
| MacLeod | Neil | 1908 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 5 (Queen) | Fall of stone |
| Burns | George | 1907 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 5 (Queen) | Full box ran over him on main level |
| Ferrymand | Edward | 1907 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 5 (Queen) | Fall of stone |
| Haworth | Joseph | 1909 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 5 (Queen) | Fall of stone |
| White | Thomas | 1914 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 4 (Scotia) | Fall of stone |
| Broderick | R. | 1907 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 4 (Scotia) | Struck by runaway box down main slope; 1 of 3 killed |
| Nicholson | J.W. | 1907 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 4 (Scotia) | Struck by runaway box down main slope; 1 of 3 killed |
| Pendergrast | Donald | 1907 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 4 (Scotia) | Struck by runaway box down main slope; 1 of 3 killed |
| Macmillan | Rod | 1909 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 4 (Scotia) | Fall of stone |
| Theriault | Wilfred | 1916 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 4 (Scotia) | Killed by shot blowing through pillar |
| McAldine | William | 1910 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 4 (Scotia) | Fall of stone |
| Bond | Alexander | 1913 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 3 (Florence) | Fall of coal |
| Brown | Charles | 1907 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 3 (Florence) | Fall of stone |
| Lamond | James | 1914 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 3 (Florence) | Caught between box and prop |
| Enion | Benjamin | 1911 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 3 (Florence) | Fall of coal from face |
| Dawe | Andrew | 1910 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 3 (Florence) | Runaway box knocked out timber he was putting up and stone fell on him |
| LeBlanc | Edward | 1906 | Cape Breton County | Sydney No. 3 (Florence) | Struck by moving box |
| Burchell | John | 1877 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines (Princess) | Fell down shaft |
| Aldrid | William | 1907 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines (Princess) | Fatally injured while riding in empty trip |
| Williamson | James | 1908 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines (Princess) | Fall of coal |
| Young | Thomas | 1908 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines (Princess) | Struck by runaway box |
| Morrison | John | 1899 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines (Princess) | Fall of coal whilst holing in pillar |
| Willis | William | 1899 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines (Princess) | Fall of roof stone whilst driving |
| MacDougall | M. | 1909 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines (Princess) | Fall of stone |
| Greenwell | Isaac | 1878 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines (Princess) | Methane explosion; 1 of 6 killed |
| McCuish | John | 1900 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines (Princess) | Killed drawing props out of an old room |
| Hutcheson | Robert | 1878 | Cape Breton County | Sydney Mines (Princess) | Methane explosion; 1 of 6 killed |