LEADHILLS, Lanarkshire, 1st March 1817
A melancholy accident occurred in the lead mines belonging to Messrs Horner Hurst & Co., Leadhills on the forenoon of the 1st inst. Occasioned by the air being rendered impure from the smoke of a fire engine, placed about 100 feet underground.
As soon as the danger was ascertained, 2 miners and the company’s blacksmith descended to the relief of their neighbours below, when unfortunately the two miners perished in the humane attempt. The smith escaped but is still dangerously ill. Many of the miners who were at work at the time were violently affected, almost to suffocation, but are now out of danger.
We have since learned that in all seven lives have been lost in this accident. Five at least of those who perished have left widows and large families, some of them 8 to 10 children.
The following are the names of the sufferers:
- William Austin
- Peter Blackwood
- John Bain
- James Alston
- Robert Hamilton
- Thomas Thomson
- A man from the north.
REFERENCES
Glasgow Herald 7th March 1817
Information supplied by Ian Winstanley and the Coal Mining History Resource Centre.
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