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 28 of 50 pages (2497 entries).
| Surname | Given Name(s) | Year |
County |
Mine | Cause |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Ryan | John | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| Sinclair | John | 1873 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Devastating methane explosion |
| Stevenson | James | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Taylor | Daniel | 1914 | Pictou County | Albion | Hit by a train |
| Walsh | William | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Wooden | John | 1918 | Pictou County | Greenwood | roof fall |
| Fraser | Grant | 1954 | Pictou County | McBean | victim found in No. 5 level |
| Arthrell | Edward | 1952 | Pictou County | McGregor | Methane explosion (localized); 1 of 19 killed |
| Beaton | Alexander | 1935 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Shot blew back exploding methane and coal dust; 1 of 7 killed; asphixiation by carbon monoxide |
| Bortniak | Egnate | 1935 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Shot blew back exploding methane and coal dust; 1 of 7 killed |
| Burney | John W. | 1901 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Killed by fall of top coal and stone |
| Campbell | John A. | 1885 | Pictou County | Vale | Devastating methane explosion |
| Clark | Richard | 1935 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Shot blew back exploding methane and coal dust; 1 of 7 killed |
| Cossman | Isadore | 1918 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Devastating methane explosion |
| Davidson | Robert | 1949 | Pictou County | Albion | Fall of coal |
| Dunbar | William | 1880 | Pictou County | Foord pit | Devastating methane explosion |
| Findlay | Hugh | 1907 | Pictou County | Drummond mine (Intercolonial) | Killed on main slope by runaway box |
| Fraser | Alexander | 1875 | Pictou County | Black Diamond | Crushed by moving coal tub against a doorpost |
| Gallant | Frank | 1909 | Pictou County | Allan Shaft | Driving a full trip & killed by falling timber |