Quarter is a village in

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

, Scotland, on the hill above the

Clyde Valley The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

History

Francis Groome Francis Hindes Groome (30 August 1851 – 24 January 1902), son of Robert Hindes Groome, Archdeacon of Suffolk, was a writer and foremost commentator of his time on the Romani people, their language, life, history, customs, beliefs, and lore. Li ...

described the village in 1884-4 thus: :"Quarter Ironworks and Darngaber, a conjoint village in Hamilton parish, Lanarkshire, 3 miles S of Hamilton town and ½ mile ENE of Quarter Road station on the Strathaven branch of the Caledonian railway. It has a post office (Quarter) under Hamilton, an Established chapel of ease, a public school, and iron-works with five blast furnaces. The chapel of ease is an Early Decorated edifice of 1884, containing 430 sittings. Pop. (1871) 544, (1881) 886.—Ord. Sur., sh. 23, 1865."

Coal Mine

The coal mine at Quarter belonged to the

Duke of Hamilton Duke of Hamilton is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in April 1643. It is the senior dukedom in that peerage (except for the Dukedom of Rothesay held by the Sovereign's eldest son), and as such its holder is the premier peer of Sco ...

. On 16 March 1841 there was a fatal accident arising because of an underground explosion. The seven workers (one a boy) underground at the time died instantaneously. Four other workers died while trying to rescue them. In his teens the

labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

activist

Keir Hardie James Keir Hardie (15 August 185626 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party, and served as its first parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908. Hardie was born in Newhouse, Lanarkshire. ...

worked as a pony driver and then as a

Hewer A hewer (german: Hauer or ''Häuer'') is a miner who loosens rock and minerals in a mine. In medieval mining in Europe a ''Hauer'' was the name given to a miner who had passed his test (''Hauerprüfung'') as a hewer. Training In Europe in form ...

here.William Stewart, ''J. Keir Hardie: A Biography.'' Revised Second Edition. London: Independent Labour Party Publication Department, 1925; pgs. 7-8.

Ironworks

The Quarter Ironworks were established in 1865 and remained open until 1885. In 1880 they had 5

blast furnaces A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric p ...

References

Villages in South Lanarkshire Ironworks and steelworks in Scotland Coal mines in Scotland Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Mining communities in Scotland {{SouthLanarkshire-geo-stub