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 13 of 50 pages (2498 entries).
| Surname | Given Name(s) | Year |
County |
Mine | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foster | Archie | 1904 | Cumberland | Aberdeen | Caught between box and chute; died on beaching bank |
| Delaney | Douglas | 1909 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 3 | Killed by runaway box |
| Gillespie | David | 1916 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Struck by cage |
| Jones | Hezekiah | 1922 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Fall of stone and coal from face |
| Brown | George D. | 1926 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Fall of stone |
| Carter | Ralston | 1935 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Struck by full car on back slope |
| Weatherbee | Lorne A. | 1942 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Struck by trip |
| Pashkoski or Pasoshki | Alexander | 1946 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Killed by haulage |
| Skelton or Skilton | Hollis T. | 1952 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 4 | Fall of stone |
| Knowlton | Everett | 1954 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 4 | Fall of stone; 1 of 3 killed |
| Clarke | Kenneth | 1956 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 4 | Electricity-fired coal dust explosion |
| McLeod | Henry | 1956 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 4 | Electricity-fired coal dust explosion |
| Bunton | Alexander | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Massive gas and coal dust explosioni |
| Allen | Fidele | 1958 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Terrific, devastating bump |
| Legere | Alfred | 1958 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Terrific, devastating bump |
| McLeod | Frank | 1958 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Terrific, devastating bump |
| Ross | Robert | 1958 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 2 | Terrific, devastating bump |
| McMasters | Earl J. | 1969 | Cumberland | Springhill, Syndicate Mine or Springhill No. 1 | Struck by empty trip |
| Andrews | Archibald | 1926 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Struck by metal that fell off ascending cage or chuck falling down shaft |
| Baxter | James | 1913 | Pictou County | Acadia | Fall of roof |
| Borden | Joseph | 1922 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fall of stone and coal |
| Burney | George | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| Campbell | William | 1884 | Pictou County | Albion | Premature explosion of a shot |
| Clark | Samuel | 1925 | Pictou County | Thom or Tom pit | Killed by boxes |
| Copan | John | 1947 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Caught by a haulage cable |
| 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 |