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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent | William | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| McKinnon | Angus 2nd | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| McLeod | Henry | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Pitt | Joseph | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Tattersal | Joseph | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 & No. 2 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Scully or Soully | John | 1885 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Run over by cage |
| Newman | George | 1944 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Struck by boom moved by coal scoop |
| McLeod | Murdock | 1886 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Fall of roof |
| Armishaw | Herbert | 1891 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Gas and coal dust explosion |
| Pashkoski or Pasoshki | Alexander | 1946 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Killed by haulage |
| Costigan | Richard | 1892 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Struck by timber lowered down slope |
| Lewis | John F. | 1943 | Cumberland | Springhill No. 1 | Crushed between trip and air line |
| 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 |
| Dean | George W. | 1946 | Cumberland | Springhill No .4 | Fall of coal |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Paul | Percy | 1911 or 1912 | Cumberland | Dominion No. 2, Surface | Smothered in culm car |
| 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 |
| Roach | William | 1861 | Pictou County | Bye pit | Methane explosion |
| MacKenzie | Daniel | 1861 | Pictou County | Bye pit | Methane explosion |
| Robertson | James | 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 |
| Forbes | Andrew | 1867 | Pictou County | unidentified shaft being sunk or Cage pit | Methane explosion |
| MacLean | Alex | 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 |
| Benoit | Bennie Joseph | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Johnson | Eugene William | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Martin | Glenn David | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Dewan | Ferris Todd | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Gillis | Myles Daniel | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Lilley | Stephen Paul | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Dollimont | Adonis Joseph | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| McIsaac | Eric Earl | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |