Fatal Accident at the Coal Pit – Charles Armour

Further to the other blog post about the death of Charles Armour – here is an other extract from the Argyllshire Herald (1875) about his death.

Fatal Accident – An accident occurred in the Trodigal Coal Pit on Tuesday to one of the miners named Charles Armour, which we are sorry to say, terminated fatally on the day following, although at first serious consequences were not apprehended. It appears that while at work in the pit on Tuesday forenoon a mass of coal became detached from the roof or side of the pit and fell upon Armour crushing him severely against one of the hutches. The injured man was promptly rescued and brought to the surface. He was afterwards taken home and Dr. Cunningham sent for, however, gradually sank under the injuries, which were found to be of a very serious nature, and expired on the Wednesday forenoon. He was married and leaves a wife and five of a family.

Extract from the Argyllshire Herald, 1875 on the death of Charles Armour, coal miner, Trodigal. Courtesy of Campbeltown Library and with thanks to Angus Martin.

Drumlemble – Strike of Miners

Extract from the Argyllshire Herald, Saturday 27th June 1885, reporting on the end of a strike at the mine at Drumlemble. Courtesy of Campbeltown Library and with thanks to Angus Martin.

Accident at Drumlemble Coal Pit – David Brown, coal miner

Extract from the Argyllshire Herald, Saturday 28th August 1886, reporting on an accident at Drumlemble Coal Pit which involved coal miner, David Brown. Courtesy of Campbeltown Library and with thanks to Angus Martin.

Fatal Accident at the Drumlembe Pit: John McGeachy

Report in the Argyllshire Herald on the death of John McGeachy, collier at Drumlemble Pit. He was killed in December 1860, aged 23 years old. Thanks to Angus Martin.

Charles Armour – Fatal Accident at the Coalpit

On browsing through the Scottish Mining Website I came across the following extract relating to the death of Charles Armour, who was killed on 10th November 1875, at the  Drumlemble pit, aged 30.

“Fatal Coal Pit Accident At Campbeltown – Charles Armour, a collier, residing at Macarananish [sic], died on Wednesday from injuries received in Trodigall [sic] Coal Pit, Campbeltown, the day previous. It appeared that while at work a mass of coal became detached above him, which crushed him against the edge of a hutch before he could get out of the way. His injuries were very severe. Dr Cunningham attended him, but he never rallied. [The Dundee Courier & Argus and Northern Warder 12 November 1875]”. 

Here follows a report from the Argyllshire Herald relating to the same accident.

FATAL ACCIDENT AT THE COALPIT

A pitman named Charles Armour, Employed by the Argyll Coal and canal Company, Drumlemble, sustained an injury on last Tuesday, which resulted in his death the next day. He was engaged in the pit on Tuesday, and was standing before a hitch when a heavy piece of coal fell from one of the supports upon his back, crushing him against the hitch. When found he was in a very weakly condition, an’ was immediately removed to his home when medical aid was procured. Little, however, could be done for the sufferer and he expired on Wednesday. Curiously enough there were no external marks of injury on the body. The deceased leaves a wife and a family.

Report from the Argyllshire Herald on the death of Charles Armour on 10th November 1875. Thanks to Angus Martin for looking through the archives at Campbeltown Library and finding this for us. Courtesy of Campbeltown Library.

There are still Armours living in the area so I’d be interested to know if any of them were relations of Charles and if so, if they could shed any light on Charles and the family he left behind.

Jan Nimmo

Fatal accident at Drumlemble – the death of Donald Kerr

I was looking through the records on the Scottish Mining website to see if there was anything of interest that related to South Kintyre when I came across the following entry.

“1859 July 25th – Drumlemble, Campbeltown (Duke of Argyll) Donald Kerr died aged 40 by getting entangled with the signal wire in the shaft“.

I mentioned this incident to Campbeltown historian and writer, Angus Martin, and he very kindly found this account of the death of Donald Kerr in the Campbeltown Library – this article is from the Argyllshire Herald from August 5th, 1859 and reads as follows:

FATAL ACCIDENT AT DRUMLEMBLE

On the morning of Monday the 25th ult., a fatal accident occurred at the coal-pit at Drumlemble. As three of the colliers were ascending the pit, one of them named Donald Kerr happened to look out of the basket, when unfortunately the recoil of the signal wire which had previously been broken, caught him by the chin and dragged him out of the basket. Before he could be rescued from this perilous position, he lost hold of the wire, fell to the distance of 90 feet, and was killed on the spot. His remains were taken up in a very mangled state. One of the two two workmen who were in the the basket at the time was the son of the deceased. We understand that the men at the bottom of the pit hallooed to the man at the head of it, informing him of the condition in which the signal wire was. Immediately on receiving this intelligence, he communicated it to the person in charge of the engine, at the same time urging upon him to be very cautious, as it was men who were coming up. A widow and seven children survive to mourn the loss of the deceased. It is now 25 years since any fatal accident occurred at this colliery. 

Article about the death of Donald Kerr, collier at Drumlemble Pit. Argyllshire Herald, 5th August 1885. From the collection at Campbeltown Library.

This account makes harrowing reading – that Donald’s son, Alexander, should witness his father die in such a way is quite horrific. I am left wondering how the family survived after Donald’s death and if the Duke of Argyll ever compensated them in any way…

Jan Nimmo