Blantyre Mining Disaster

picture info	Blantyre Mining Disaster The Blantyre mining disaster, which happened on the morning of 22 October 1877, in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, Blantyre, Scotland, was Scotland's worst ever mining accident. Pits No. 2 and No. 3 of William Dixon's Blantyre Colliery were the site of an explosion which killed 207 miners, possibly more, with the youngest being a boy of 11. It was known that firedamp was present in the pit and it is likely that this was ignited by a naked flame. The accident left 92 widows and 250 fatherless children. Blantyre was also the scene of two further disasters in 1878 and 1879. There was a succession of lesser fatalities, some of which—particularly in the earlier years—were caused by firedamp. Background Seams The Lanarkshire coalfield in the vicinity of Blantyre had three seams of coal being worked in the 1870s. They were the ell coal, thick at ; the main coal, thick at and the splint coal, thick at . Precise depths vary with the elevation of the top of the various shafts. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	Blantyre, South Lanarkshire Blantyre ( or ; gd, Baile an t-Saoir) is a town and civil parish in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, with a population of 16,900. It is bounded by the River Clyde to the north, the Rotten Calder to the west, the Park Burn to the east (denoting the boundary with the larger adjoining town of Hamilton) and the Rotten Burn to the south. Blantyre was the birthplace of David Livingstone, the 19th-century explorer and missionary, and because of Livingstone's work, the second-largest city in Malawi is named after it. History The name is probably originally Cumbric ''blaen tir'' "top of the land"Watson, W. (1926) A History of Celtic Place-names of Scotland". Edinburgh which has been Gaelicised.Local and family history: Blantyre and David Livingstone [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]
picture info	1879 Mining Disasters Events January–March * January 1 – The Specie Resumption Act takes effect. The United States Note is valued the same as gold, for the first time since the American Civil War. * January 11 – The Anglo-Zulu War begins. * January 22 – Anglo-Zulu War – Battle of Isandlwana: A force of 1,200 British soldiers is wiped out by over 20,000 Zulu warriors. * January 23 – Anglo-Zulu War – Battle of Rorke's Drift: Following the previous day's defeat, a smaller British force of 140 successfully repels an attack by 4,000 Zulus. * February 3 – Mosley Street in Newcastle upon Tyne (England) becomes the world's first public highway to be lit by the electric incandescent light bulb invented by Joseph Swan. * February 8 – At a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute, engineer and inventor Sandford Fleming first proposes the global adoption of standard time. * March 3 – United States Geological Survey is founded. * March 11 – The Ry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu]