New Search

Return to Search Results

Full Details

Surname
McNEE
Forename
Robert
Day
02
Month
04
Year
1929
Age
36
Occupation
Miner
Mine/Quarry Name
Redding, No.23 Pit
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
James Nimmo & Co. Ltd
Location
Polmont
County
Stirlingshire
Details of Event
2 April 1929: Fatality at Redding Colliery - Robert M'Nee (36), a married miner, who resided at Buttock Cottage, Polmont , was fatally injured as the result of an accident which occurred at No.23 Pit, Redding colliery, near Falkirk, late on Tuesday night. M'Nee, along with another man, was operating a coal-cutting machine, and had just switched on the power when the machine swung round. He was caught in the cutting-wheel of the machine, and was so severely injured that he died before he could be taken to the surface. [Scotsman 4 April 1929] In Falkirk Sheriff Court yesterday - before Sheriff Robertson and a mixed jury - a public inquiry was held into the circumstances attending the death of Robert M'Nee, miner, Battock Cottages, Polmont, who was killed while working at a coal-cutting machine in No.23 Pit, Redding colliery, on 2nd April last. The evidence was to the effect that M'Nee and another miner named Robert Paterson, working on night shift, had prepared a coal-cutting machine for under-cutting operations, and had fitted it with fresh picks. The machine had just been set in motion, when the fresh picks, "gripping greedily," threw the machine back, and. M'Nee, standing behind, was caught by the revolving disc. Paterson at one made to switch off the power, but found that the switch and the emergency switch had been thrown out of gear. Before he could stop the machine he had to go a distance of 50 yards to the box switch at the end of the road, but in the meantime M'Nee was being pummelled by the picks at every revolution of the disc. When witness got back he found M'Nee lying at the side of the machine with his left arm torn right off from the shoulder and the body otherwise badly lacerated. He was then still alive, but died before he could be conveyed to the pit bottom. It had been the custom prior to this accident to have a man at the back of the machine. That practice, by an instruction of the owners of the colliery, had now been stopped. The jury returned a formal verdict. [Scotsman 2 July 1929]