Carberry Colliery fall of coal, 1924

At half past one on the afternoon of 6 August 1924, in the seventh hour of the shift, a fall of coal in the Jewel seam at Carberry Colliery near Musselburgh killed three miners, John (or James) Morrison, William Purvis and James Urquhart, the eldest fifty-eight. Nothing more about the circumstances is recorded in the sources read.

Cause

A fall of coal in the Jewel seam.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• Three miners were killed by a fall of coal in the Jewel seam at Carberry Colliery at 1.30 p.m. on 6 August 1924, in the seventh hour of the shift: John Morrison, 33, William Purvis, 38, and James Urquart, 58. ¹
• The Scottish Mining Website's 1924 index lists James Urquhart, James Morrison and William Purves killed at Carberry on 6 August 1924. ²
• The Durham Mining Museum gives John Morrison, William Purvis and James Urquart; the Scottish Mining Website gives James Morrison, William Purves and James Urquhart. (disputed) ^1,2

Related terminology

Mining terms this disaster is structurally linked to, with the nature of the relationship.

• Coal (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “…of 6 August 1924, in the seventh hour of the shift, a fall of coal in the Jewel seam at Carberry Colliery near Musselburgh killed three…”
• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s summary: “…hour of the shift, a fall of coal in the Jewel seam at Carberry Colliery near Musselburgh killed three miners, John (or James) Morrison,…”

Sources

1. (secondary) Carberry Colliery — Durham Mining Museum
2. (secondary) Fatal accidents in mines in Scotland, 1924 — Scottish Mining Website

Record created: 10 September 2026 · Last researched: 14 September 2026