Bowhill 31st October 1931
 | Ten men lost their lives in the worst mining disaster in the history of the Fife Coalfields which occurred on Saturday 31st October 1931 at about midday at Bowhill Colliery, Cardenden. |
About 1200 men were employed at Bowhill Colliery, but Saturday was an idle day so only oversman and oncost workers were on duty.
Rescue attempts were made by other repair gangs at work elsewhere in the Colliery, and by ambulance and rescue brigades from a wide area, but their efforts were impeded by the presence of noxious gases and although the bodies of the victims were located at an early stage, it was not until 10am on 1st November that the working parties reached the spot where the explosion had occurred. The rescue party worked all through the night to clear the gas from the section using several fans - two to force pure air into the section, and a 3rd to draw foul gases away - and eventually, after over 20 hours, it was possible to reach the spot where the bodies lay.
Names of Dead
- James Martin Anderson (formerly Cairns), colliery fireman, 45, married, 33 Balgreggie Park, Cardenden cause of death burns of face, arms, hands & body, shock
- Alexander Dempster, colliery fireman, 51, married, Helena Cottages, Cluny Rd, Cardenden - cause of death carbon monoxide poisoning following burns of face & arms, shock
- William Bruce Dodds, electrical engineer (apprentice), 24, single, 62 Woodend Park, Cardenden - cause of death burns of face & hands, carbon monoxide poisoning, shock
- John Rattray Donaldson, colliery oversman, 48, married, Newton Cottages, Balgreggie Rd, Cardenden - cause of death carbon monoxide poisoning following burns of face & arms, shock
- Charles Baxter Fernie, coalminer, 19, single, 4 First St, Bowhill - cause of death burns of face, arms & body, shock
- William Ireland, colliery oversman, 35, single, Cluny Road, Cardenden -burns of face & hands, carbon monoxide poisoning, shock
- James Drummond Paterson, coalminer (hewer), 19, single, 8 Eighth St, Bowhill - cause of death carbon monoxide poisoning following burns of face, arms & hands, shock
- Andrew Smith, coalminer (hewer), 27, married, Long Rows, Denend, Cardenden, cause of death carbon monoxide poisoning following burns of face & arms
- James Smith, coalminer (hewer), 35, single, 22 Sixteenth St, Bowhill, cause of death carbon monoxide poisoning following burns of face & arms, shock
- Thomas Smith, coalminer (hewer), 33, married, 13 Ninth St, Cardenden - cause of death carbon monoxide poisoning following burns of face & arms, shock
The widow of Thomas Smith, contractor, lost her husband, her brother (Charles Fernie), and her brother-in -law (Andrew Smith). The Smiths had 2 small children.
Mr C C Reid, general manager of the Fife Coal Company, was on the scene early and descended and joined the rescue party, working for many hours without a break. On his return to the surface he issued the following statement: -
"I deeply regret that an accident occurred in Bowhill Colliery between 11 and 12 o'clock. The report seems to point to the fact that an ignition of fire damp took place. The rescue men who have been down the pit have found the men, but unfortunately they are dead"
News of the disaster
When the first news of an accident below ground reach the surface, rumour of disasters spread like wildfire through the village clustered about the pit head, and crowds of anxious relatives and friends hurried to the scene.
Hours of anxious waiting ensued before any definite news came from the rescue parties to those at the pit head. And news that came dispelled practically all hope that lingered among the relatives of the entombed men. Through the rescue party had got to within about 50 yards of the scene of the disaster, they were prevented from going further by gas. Four masked safety men were able to work ahead of the main party.
Shortly after 8 o'clock on Saturday night word came to the surface that the bodies had at last been definitely discovered. Nine of them were lying together, while a tenth body was some little distance away, perhaps blown by the force of explosion. Shortly before 10 o'clock the rescue men came to the surface, and Mr Reid, the manager, addressed the crowd at the pit head and gave them the tragic news that all the men had perished. He explained that the rescue men had reached the bodies, but that the air was absolutely unbreathable, and the men could work no longer until the atmosphere had been cleared and obstructions caused by the explosion removed.
Rescuers Stories:
One of the rescue party described his experience as follows. "We went down immediately after we heard the news. I did not know who the men were. All we knew was that some of our pals were down there and we had to get them out. It was an unnerving business, and I had never been before on such a job. After several hours' work, we found some of the men's meal kits, and that gave us hope. But the atmosphere was becoming terrible. We took down 9 canaries, and when the last bird died we began to give up hope, I'm afraid, that any of the men might be alive. I should imagine that that we got within 50 yards of where the entombed men were, but we got no further. We were beaten completely by the atmosphere, and at last we had to give up."
Councillor John Bird, of Bowhill, another of the rescue party gave the following account:
"The safety men had to crawl on their hands and knees in order to reach them [the bodies]. To their horror they found nine men huddled together in a corner, while the tenth was some distance off, having apparently been hurled away from the others by the force of the explosion".
William Adamson, ex-Secretary of State for Scotland, also descended the pit soon after the accident. Afterwards he said that it was the greatest disaster that had occurred in the Fife coalfields and that during his 58 years connection with industry he had not seen similar heart-rending scenes.
"I could not get within 300 yards of the disaster and the news of the bodies having been found was conveyed to me by one of the rescue party. I cannot express in words my great grief at the calamity. Many of the men involved and their people had been associates of mine during the greater part of my public life. Calamitous as the disaster was many more lives would have been lost if the full number of men had been at work".
Account of Allan Hutt, in charge of the ambulance department at the Colliery:
"The point where the explosion occurred, was about a mile from the foot of the shaft. The 10 men had been engaged in moving an electric fan from one point of the pit to another, the purpose of the fan being to drive out explosive gas from that part of the pit which was known as a safety lamp section - a section, that is, where it was essential to work with safety lamps. It was situated at the end of a gallery 300 yards long running eastwards from the bottom of the long "dook", a sloping roadway. The task of the working parties was hindered not so much by falling debris as by the deadly gases - carbon monoxide and others - generated by the explosion. The only men who could reach the entombed party were the masked rescue brigade, specially trained for the work, and able to penetrate into poisonous areas. The ambulance men and others, who were unmasked, concentrated in arranging fans at the foot of the dook and at the entrance to the section at the end of which the men had been killed. By arranging two fans blowing fresh air into the section and another acting as a suction fan to draw air and gas out through another gallery, the task of clearing the atmosphere was accomplished. This was a long and difficult piece of work, which went on steadily all through the night, and it was not until 10 o'clock yesterday morning that the air was sufficiently pure to enable the workers to reach the point where the bodies were lying.
With the conditions now made possible for the final task of taking the bodies to the surface, the stretchers were carried right in to a point near the place where the dead men had been found. The bodies were then conveyed to the stretchers and carried out one by one. Of the 10 men, some had evidently been killed outright by the explosion, and the rest had been burned to death. In every case death must have been very rapid"
Allan Hutt also speculated on the cause of the disaster. He considered that the explosion may be due to the ignition of inflammable gas by electric spark in some part of the mechanism of the fan the which the men were engaged in moving from one position to another. In order to move the fan it had been necessary to disconnect it for some time, and the quantity of gas would be liable to collect in the section during the time when the fan was not in operation.
It was thought possible at first that a spark in the motor or at the plug might have caused the explosion. This theory however was discountenanced by the discovery of which was made at the foot of the dook that the wire leading to the electric fan was not plugged in at the distributor situated at the entrance to the section, and that therefore, even although the fan had been reconnected by the men working at the end of the section, it would still be "dead" and not capable of operating. The cause of the explosion therefore, remained unexplained.
 | The bodies were brought to the surface between 11am and 12 noon the next day. A great crowd of villagers, among whom were the relatives of the dead men, were waiting as the stretchers bearing the dead men were carried from the pit head to a temporary mortuary in a storehouse at the colliery. Many in the crowd broke down at the sight. |
Relatives then faced the harrowing task of identifying the dead. In many cases identifcation was almost impossible owing to the charring of the bodies, and fragments of clothing and lamps found alongside the dead men formed the only means of identifying some of them.
Finally the bodies were placed in coffins a hearse began removing the bodies, one at a time to their homes. Nine of the men were buried in Bowhill Cemetery, the tenth man John Donaldson, was buried in Kingskettle Cemetery.
10 November 1931
Fraud Echo Of Fife Pit Disaster - A Lochore miner, who represented that he was collecting subscriptions in aid of the dependants of the men killed in the Bowhill Colliery disaster, was sent to prison for 20 days at Kinross Sheriff Court yesterday. The accused, Alexander Dow, Waverley Cottages, Lochore, Fife, pleaded guilty to having falsely represented that he was authorised to collect subscriptions on behalf of the dependants of the deceased in the Bowhill disaster, and with having appropriated to his own use 30s., which he had collected in the village of Scotlandwell. Hon. Sheriff-Substitute Brown, in passing sentence, said that accused in taking advantage of the serious position and plight of the poor people in Bowhill had committed one of the most contemptible and meanest frauds imaginable. [Scotsman 11 November 1931]
January 26 1932
Deputy Sheriff Umpherston and jury which included 3 women, concluded the enquiry at Dunfermline yesterday into the pit explosion which nearly 3 months ago led to the deaths of 10 miners at Bowhill Colliery, Fife.
The jury found that the deaths were due to an ignition and explosion of firedamp but they were unable to assign any cause to it. They warmly commended the bravery of the rescue workers. In particular they described as being worthy of the highest traditions the conduct of James Clark, and overman who seeing a glimmer of light some distance along the coal face, crawled without any lamp to detect gas until he reached the glimmer and found the body of a man who was still breathing. He was unable to move the body down the coal face, so returned for assistance. With a safety lamp he crawled back a long the coal face until his lamp filled with firedamp and was extinguished, compelling him to give up his attempt at rescue.
The jury recommended that the section in which the explosion occurred should be provided with an auxiliary fan which ought to be in constant operation; that all electrical apparatus in the section should be constructed and maintained in a flame proof condition; and that electric lamps carried by miners should be encased with laminated triplex glass. [Scotsman 26 January 1932]