John Walker Cunningham

[Lizzie S]

Hi, I am interested in the death of John Walker Cunningham, a brother of my GGrandfather, who apparently died in a horrific accident on North British Railway at Craighill Colliery, Blantyre. His death was the result of a Compound Fracture of the skull from engine wheels passing over it (gruesome!). This information was on his death record.
I found a death notice in the Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser but that is all I have been able to find. I would have thought there would have been a report of the accident and perhaps an inquest.I am be interested in finding out more about the accident. Has anyone any ideas where I might find this information.
Thanks in anticipation
Lizzie

[garibaldired]

You don't give any dates but have you looked here: www.scottishmining.co.uk

Best wishes,
Meg

[jgmills]

National Records of Scotland has a web page explaining about Fatal Accident Inquiry Records.

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/ ... ry-records

As it is North British Railway, it may also come under Railway accidents http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/eventlisting.php

John

[AndrewP]

I take it from the ScotlandsPeople results index that the death was in 1907.

On using that for a search of The Scotsman archives, no results were found.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Currie]

Nothing found in newspapers from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee and Selkirk.

Glasgow seems to be closer so maybe the Glasgow Herald has something. Not really searchable but can be browsed. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC

If the death date was 19 Dec. 1907, at Bothwell, then I'm not having much luck finding anything in the G.H.

I can't find any reference anywhere to that colliery. They either had an otherwise incredibly good safety record or they somehow managed to hush things up.

What was his occupation on the death certificate?

Lots of luck.
Alan

[Lizzie S]

Hi All,

Thank you so much for the Information. Stupid of me not to put in dates. I can only say I was feeling a bit befuddled as I had been trying to browse through copies of the Glasgow Herald for the following week with no luck! One would think such a horrible death would have been mentioned.

He died on 19th Dec 1907 on North British Railway at Craighead Colliery, Blantyre his usual residence being 5 Cullen Street, Coatbridge. His occupation is given as Mechanical Engineer age 43 years.

Up the side of his death registration it says "See Regr of Corr Enter. Vol 4 p-221 31st Dec 1907". How can I see this? I've never looked up one before and perhaps it will give more clues.

Strange that there seems to be no record of that colliery.

I had looked at mining accidents and railway accidents with no luck and will look further at the fatal accident inquiries web.

Thanks again.

Lizzie

[AndrewP]

Hi Lizzie,

At the top of the webpage that you view the certificate on, you should find a link pointing to the entry in the Register of Corrected Entries (RCE for short). Click on that link. Having paid to view the certificate, there is no further payment to view the RCE. See the example below from one of my lot.

All the best,

AndrewP
.

SP_with_RCE.jpg

[Lizzie S]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for this info. I'd never noticed that button before.

The entry doesn't give much more info except that it did not happen at the mine but near Craighead Signal Cabin, parish of Blantyre, and that it was a passenger train that ran over him and instantly killed him. It was signed by the Procurator Fiscal on 27th Dec at Blantyre

I can still find no reports in the local papers of the accident or any Fatal Accident Enquiry which seems odd.

Lizzie

[AndrewP]

A map of the area (revised in 1910) can be seen via the following link.

https://maps.nls.uk/view/75650937

Craighead is south-west of the centre of the map. Craighead Junction can be seen, and beside the road bridge there, you will see "S.B.". I take that to be a signal box, amongst many S.P. (presumably signal post). It is a stone's throw from Craighead Colliery.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Lizzie S]

Thanks Andrew. It looks to be qute a big junction. Maybe he was working on the line as he was a mechanical engineer and something went wrong with the signals. I guess I'll never know. It is strange that there doesn't seem to be a report in the railway accidents archive.

Lizzie