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 26 of 50 pages (2497 entries).
| Surname | Given Name(s) | Year |
County |
Mine | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murray | Garfield | 1939 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 16 | Fall of coal |
| Dickson | John | 1940 | Cape Breton County | Princess | Fall of stone |
| Finlayson | Charles | 1942 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 1B | Struck by trip |
| Briffett | Edward | 1942 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 4 | Fall of stone |
| Forris | Stephen | 1943 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 16 | Fall of stone |
| Mason | Arthur | 1944 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 20 | Struck by trap door dislodged by trip |
| Seward | Peter | 1945 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 24 | Fall of stone |
| Gallant | Joseph | 1946 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 12 | Fall of roof |
| O'Connell | Patrick | 1948 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 20 | Explosives |
| Edwards | James | 1950 | Cape Breton County | Florence | Haulage |
| MacIsaac | John A. | 1951 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 18A | Haulage |
| MacLean | John | 1953 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 18 | Haulage |
| MacDonald | Robert C. | 1954 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 18 | Fall of stone |
| Paul | John | 1956 | Cape Breton County | Tomson | Explosives |
| Mitchell | Fred | 1957 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 20 | Fall of stone |
| Thorne | Wesley | 1959 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 16 | Haulage |
| Jenkins | Robert | 1960 | Cape Breton County | Four Star | Surface haulage |
| LeBeau | John | 1963 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 12 | Maintenance |
| Currie | Michael | 1966 | Cape Breton County | Dominion No. 26 | Fall of stone |
| Swarttzack | Freeman | 1968 | Cape Breton County | DEVCO No. 20 | Natural Causes |
| Legnaro | Benedict | 1971 | Cape Breton County | DEVCO No. 26 | Natural Causes |
| Matheson | Fred | 1979 | Cape Breton County | DEVCO No. 26 | Methane explosion, sparked by coal shearer hitting stone; 1 of 12 killed |
| MacDonald | Ronald | 1984 | Cape Breton County | DEVCO No. 26 | Fire |
| Barclay | J. W. R. | 1907 | Pictou County | Albion | Killed on main slope by runaway box |
| Berallen | Joseph | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Brixco | Nicholas | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Cameron | Alexander | 1906 | Pictou County | Vale | Run over by a hopper in pit yard |
| Carrigan | Peter | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Conn | James | 1839 | Pictou County | Storr pit | Methane explosion; 1 of 2 killed |
| Cummings | Daniel | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| Dewan | Ferris Todd | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Duprey | Edward | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Flynn | James | 1917 | Pictou County | Greenwood | Fall of stone |
| Fraser | J. W. | 1905 | Pictou County | Marsh | rock fall |
| Gillis | Myles Daniel | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| Hale | Milledge | 1938 | Pictou County | Drummond No. 5 (Intercolonial No. 5) | Struck by falling timber |
| Hayman | David | 1886 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Run over by a box of coal |
| Humblet | Victor | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Johnstone | Louis | 1949 | Pictou County | McBean | Caught by a moving cable in haulage |
| Laderie | Desire | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Lilley | Stephen Paul | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| MacArthur | John F. | 1934 | Pictou County | Acadia No. 3 (Six-Foot) | Head crushed between boxes |
| MacEachern | John | 1935 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Shot blew back exploding methane and coal dust; 1 of 7 killed; asphixiation by carbon monoxide |
| 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 |
| McDonald | J. W. | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| McIsaac | Malcolm | 1873 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Crushed by coal tubs |
| McLellan | William | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Mellise | Nicholas | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |