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 27 of 50 pages (2497 entries).
| Surname | Given Name(s) | Year |
County |
Mine | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muller | William | 1912 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fall of top coal at face of pillar |
| Nicholson | John | 1881 | Pictou County | Vale | Caught between moving rake & door |
| Perris or Paris | A. | 1905 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fell when staging broke in shaft as they were sinking it |
| Reid | Robert | 1868 | Pictou County | Acadia | Fall of earth on surface; working on rail line |
| Ross | Alexander | 1911 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Struck by a rake |
| Scott | Joseph | 1923 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fall of coal |
| Smith | Howard | 1924 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fall of stone |
| Sullivan | Peter | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Vaast | Lucien (boy) | 1916 | Pictou County | Thom or Tom pit | Gas explosion at mouth of abandoned slope; boy was chasing a ball |
| Wilkes | John | 1902 | Pictou County | Marsh | Dynamite explosion in office; frozen sticks put near heat to thaw; 1 of 3 killed |
| Bartholemew or Bartholomew | Joseph | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Blackwood | Thomas | 1914 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Carbon monoxide after devastating explosion; 1 of 2 killed |
| Brown | Murdock | 1934 | Pictou County | Drummond (Intercolonial) No. 2 Scott slope | Struck on head when taking coal to chute |
| Campbell | John | 1868 | Pictou County | Acadia | Fall of coal |
| Cassidy | Francis | 1894 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Run over by a coal trip |
| Conway | James D. | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | influx of water; 1 of 6 killed |
| Cyr | William | 1920 | Pictou County | Drummond No. 5 (Intercolonial No. 5) | Run over by an empty box |
| Doyle | Edward | 1935 | Pictou County | Albion | Fall of rock |
| Ellis | John | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| Forbes | Andrew | 1867 | Pictou County | unidentified shaft being sunk or Cage pit | Methane explosion |
| Fraser | John E. | 1921 | Pictou County | Albion | Fall of coal |
| Gossens | Octav | 1920 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fall of coal |
| Halliday | Duncan | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| Hayman | Archibald | 1952 | Pictou County | McGregor | Methane explosion (localized); 1 of 19 killed |
| Isnor | Hubert | 1921 | Pictou County | Albion | Fall of coal |
| Jordan | Norman | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Laite | James | 1927 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fall of coal from face |
| Lipton | Dave | 1954 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | watchman, died suddenly at work |
| MacDonald | Daniel | 1873 | Pictou County | Vale | Crushed by coal tubs |
| MacInnis or MacInnes | John Henry | 1940 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fall of roof coal, died 4 days later |
| MacKenzie | Kenneth | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| MacNeil | Angus Joseph | 1992 | Pictou County | Westray | Devastating methane and coal dust explosion |
| McAulay | Joseph | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| McEachern | Alexander | 1882 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Killed by a rake of full pit tubs |
| McKay | Angus | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| McMaster | D. | 1908 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Fall of coal |
| Mirtan | William | 1872 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Powder explosion |
| Munro | Charles | 1945 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Crushed by full box of coal |
| Nicholson | John | 1883 | Pictou County | Vale | Drawbar broke, crash of runaway slope rake |
| Pettipas | Fred | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fall of top coal |
| Reid | William | 1929 | Pictou County | McGregor | Struck on head by falling jackhammer; died 5 weeks later |
| Roy | John H. | 1904 | Pictou County | Albion | Killed instantly in a fall |
| Scully | James | 1924 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Carbon monoxide suffocation after explosion; 1 of 4 killed |
| Smith | John J. | 1926 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Coal fall that had him buried for 2 hours |
| Sutherland | David | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| Vaast | August | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Wilkes | F. | 1905 | Pictou County | Marsh | Powder explosion |
| Bastin or Baston | Andrew | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Blarion | Leon | 1923 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Fall of coal off face |
| Bryne | George | 1923 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Crushed between rail cars on surface |