Clunie Colleries Kirkcaldy

[trish1]

This was part of the obit for a family member - who died in England 1911.
"Mr. Boyd was a partner in the Clunie Collieries, Kirkcaldy, Fifeshire, where he unfortunately sustained a severe loss owing to the flooding of the pits, which had eventually to be abandoned."

He was a Robert Boyd, born in Kinghorn 1830. His last child was born in Kirkcaldy in 1865 & by the 1871 census he was in Ware, Hertfordshire, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1861 in Kirkcaldy, he is listed as an engine fitter. I've looked at some of the mining sites but can find no information about the "flooding of the Clunie Collieries - in fact I have found very little about them - any ideas would be welcome.

thanks
Trish

It may well be that Robert Boyd worked at the Collieries rather than was a partner - other parts of the obit contain stories about him, which have not survived reality.

[Russell]

HiTrish
I'm bust looking after a hyperactive 4½ yr old so didn't have time to check but this site should give some info.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/mmartin/fifepits/
I've found it very useful in the past

Russell

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings from NZ.

Not my subject of interest, but i'm interested to know if you have checked out this site, to see if there is any information there that will assist your search. Unfortunately at the time of that post they were experiencing problems, that made them restrict the personal service they had previously been offering, but they proposed to keep the site open and updated as material came to hand.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16526&hilit=mining+accidents

Alan SHARP.

[Currie]

From the Edinburgh Gazette, August 5, 1870, and others.
http://www.edinburgh-gazette.co.uk/issu ... st/start=1

“Robert Boyd, sometime Engineer in Kirkcaldy, thereafter Coalmaster at Clunie, near Kirkcaldy, and presently residing at Clunie aforesaid, a partner of the now dissolved Firm of Landale & Boyd, Coalmasters at Clunie …….etc”

If a colliery had a problem with water seepage into the pit it may well be that the operation just became uneconomic and shut down rather than there being some sort of disaster that would produce headlines.

All the best,
Alan

[trish1]

Russell and Alan - thank you for the links - I had been to the site referenced by Alan - but not Russells. I searched for quite some time but found little as to any flooding at the Clunie Colleries.

Other Alan - many thanks for finding the bankruptcy details - "Landale and Boyd" is interesting as Landale has an in-law relationship to a different branch of my family and reinforces the viewpoint that relationships formed outside of Scotland either originated with family in Scotland - or visits/mail from Australia/NZ to Scotland developed these relationships. So far away - yet they all stayed together as a family.

I was, indeed thinking it may have been a disaster of epic proportions - in the link to the Scottish Mining site there were 2 fatal accidents listed for the Clunie Colleries 1860-1870 but no mention of flooding. Given that is may have been a problem with seepage or other water issues - it is interesting that Robert Boyd - spent the next 40 years of his life working for the Ware Urban Council as engineer at the Musley Waterworks.

Trish