125th anniversary of the Donibristle Pit disaster this summer

THIS summer one of the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area's first pit disasters of the 20^th century will see its 125^th anniversary remembered.

And on Thursday Cowdenbeath Rotary heard, through Kelty historian Kevin Gurthrie, about how a huge fall of moss claimed the lives of eight men at Donibristle Colliery, on Mossmorran.

Kevin explained how the pit was owned by James Naismith and family and those who lost their lives on August 26 1901 were Thomas Rattray, 54, oversman; David Campbell, 54, fireman; Alexander Smith, 48 oncostman; George Herd Hutchison, 50, miner; William Hynd, 52, pit bottomer; James. Bowman McDonald, 32, incline bottomer; Andrew Paterson, 40 ostler; and William Forsyth, 20 wheeler,

Kevin added: “Two men, David Campbell and Alexander Smith, were working at the heading, probing upwards with a rod as part of operations to form an air shaft. 

“At 1.40pm the moss burst in killing both men, and another two men working in the lower levels.  Six others were trapped and two rescue parties were formed - one party of four, led by Thomas Rattray was never seen again. 

“The next day, rescuers lowered on ropes down a shaft and succeeded in freeing five of the trapped men.  While searching for the sixth man Alexander Bauld, two of these rescuers, John Jones and John Sheddon, were trapped as the moss once more flowed in. 

“These men were rescued on August 29 by Robert Law, a miner from Cowdenbeath”.

Kevin added that such was the magnitude of the tragedy it featured on the news pages of most national papers for many days.

“It was a significant mining accident which saw seven widows left and 14 children without fathers,” he said.

“Andrew Carnegie, the Dunfermline philanthropist who made his fortune in the USA, was home at the time and he organised an event in Cowdenbeath to honour the rescuers which saw a huge turnout at the south end of High Street.

“A Disaster Fund was organised to help the stricken families and it raised a fantastic sum of money for the time.”

Kevin concluded by stating that the inquiry held into the Donibristle Disaster was very critical of the mine owners who had looked at putting a new air shaft into the pit and then there were concerns about moss infilling the pit.

A cairn was created on Bridge Street, Cowdenbeath, overlooking Mossmorran, many years ago by James McDonald's grandson, Donald McArthur, to remember those who died in the accident and it still sits proudly there.