Frequently Asked Questions

We will be using this section to answer those questions which we are frequently asked by e-mail correspondents.

Why is my ancestors death not recorded on the site?

There are a lot of mistakes and omissions in the official lists of accidents covering 1852 to 1914.  Accidents in mines were very common and it is likely that many of them simply went unreported.  It is always worth checking the entries for the whole year as frequently the wrong date is given.  If you find such a mistake, or you still can't find your ancestor, please contact us and we will check the original report to ensure we have not missed out the data and also see if we can locate any reports on the accident.  It is also possible that due to either timing or circumstances your ancestors death was not considered to be an accident at work.   After 1914, names were not recorded in the official reports.  We are gradually compiling lists for these years, mainly from newspaper reports, and would be very grateful for any details supplied of deaths we do not have listed. 

It is also possible that we have your ancestor listed under a non-fatal accident.  While we check for death certificates in many cases where an accident seems likely to be fatal, this is not possible in all cases.  If you find your ancestor listed in the non-fatal indexes but you know that they subsequently died as a result of the accident, please contact us so that we can update our records.

What other records exist?

Quite simply, very few records have survived.  If you know the company that your ancestors work for, you may be able to find out what records survive for that company using the catalogues of the Scottish Archive Network or the National Archives of Scotland. 

How can I find out which pit my ancestor worked in?

It can be difficult to definitively determine which pits ancestors worked in as detailed employment records do not exist.   Most miners worked close to their homes so it is worth looking at an old map (see links) to see what pits were in the area at the time.  The various lists of mines which have been trancribed will also assist this process.  Please remember that this can only be considered an educated guess - it is quite possible that your ancestor was actually travelling  a fair distance to work and was not employed in any of the local pits.

Useful clues may be gained from the names of miners rows as these were often linked to the company who owned them.  However, please remember that collieries could change owners.

Questions about the site:

Who runs this site?
The site was set up by a small group of amateurs with an interest in the lives of their mining ancestors.  All the work is compiled by volunteers and the site receives no  funding.

Why have you mispelled a name/placename?
We try to use the original spellings given in historical documents as we want to preserve the information as given.  However, it is worth checking with us that this is the spelling given in the document as mistakes do happen.

My ancestors accident is covered on the wrong page.
We used parishes as a convenient way to arrange the information on the site but often miners lived in one parish and worked in another.  We are trying to update all pages to ensure accidents are listed under the correct parish but this is an ongoing process.

Why don't you cover a particular place?
The places we cover are determined by personal interests and records we have access to. We are gradually adding historical descriptions from gazetteers to cover the other mining areas of Scotland and we do cover accidents for the whole country.   Feel free to contact us if you'd like to see some information on any particular place.

Can I republish information from this site?

All transcriptions of old reports and newspapers are the copyright of this site and cannot be republished without permission from this site owners.  We do allow limited use by private individuals - please see our copyright statement for further details.