Dumbreck Colliery fire, 1938

On Sunday 30 January 1938 a fire broke out at a cable junction box in a haulage road of the No. 1 Pit at Dumbreck Colliery, Kilsyth. Smoke and fumes carried into Kelly's Section, more than a mile from the shaft, and nine men there died of carbon monoxide poisoning; one man escaped.

Cause

An electrical fault. The report found that the fire began at the junction box where a smaller cable joined a larger one on the side haulage road: the box had slipped from its place about four feet above the floor, a heap of dirt had fallen from the side of the road over the cable end, and the cable was severed there. The fire took hold in the timber lagging, old railway-wagon sides and wooden chocks packed behind the steel arches.

Contributing factors

The D.C. supply tripped about 10.15 a.m. and the No. 1 Pit circuit breaker was later found off and closed again without anyone looking for the cause; the time-lag on the power-house breaker was short of oil. No pit bottomer was on duty at the No. 1 Pit that Sunday, contrary to Section 53(2) of the Act, so no alarm came from below. The fire lay on the intake to Kelly's Section, and its smoke filled the men's usual way out by Waddell's Brae.

What happened

Thirteen brushers and two firemen went down on the Sunday morning to prepare the sections for the next shift; eight brushers and the fireman Joseph Campbell worked in Kelly's Section with the brushing contractor Thomas Martin. About 10 a.m. they noticed a faint haze, which they took for shot-firing reek from another section. It returned about 11.20 and did not clear.

Shortly before noon Thomas Martin went out to see what was wrong, struggled through thickening smoke to the main return and reached the pit bottom, where he telephoned the surface. His nephew Joseph Martin set out with him but turned back and died. With the electricians William Patrick and James Wilson, Martin went back inbye; Patrick cut the current and found the fire burning on both sides of the road about 100 yards beyond the undercast at Paterson's Road. Among the dead were Martin's brothers Robert and James and his brother-in-law Harry Hagan.

Rescue & recovery

The agent, William McAlpine, called the Coatbridge Rescue Station and the Senior Inspector of Mines, Arthur Stoker. Fifty to sixty men carried hundreds of fire extinguishers in to the fire, and later water was piped to it; it was put out about 3.30 a.m. on 31 January, some fifteen hours after it was found. Reversing the ventilation was ruled out. Rescue teams in breathing apparatus set up a fresh-air base at 2.10 p.m. and made repeated attempts along the return and Kelly's Return through heat and smoke; the first body was brought out at 9.25 p.m. and the ninth at 2.30 a.m.

Investigation & inquiry

The Secretary for Mines, Captain Crookshank, reported the deaths to the Commons on 1 February 1938. A Fatal Accident Inquiry under the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiry (Scotland) Act 1906 sat before Sheriff-Substitute John Dean Leslie and a jury on 25 and 26 April 1938; the formal verdict was asphyxia from carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide caused by a fire in the side haulage road of the No. 1 Pit, with no recommendations. T. Ashley, H.M. Divisional Inspector, and J. A. B. Horsley, H.M. Electrical Inspector of Mines, reported on the causes and circumstances.

Recorded claims

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

• On Sunday 30 January 1938 nine men lost their lives in a fire at Dumbreck No. 1 Colliery, Stirlingshire. ^1,2,3
• The fire started at the junction box where the smaller cable joined the larger one in the side haulage road; the cable was severed there and the box lay touching a heap of dirt fallen from the side of the road. ¹
• The fire was caused by a short circuit in the junction box. ⁴
• Of the ten men working in the squad only Thomas Martin, the contractor in charge, escaped; his brothers Robert and James and his nephew Joseph were among the dead. ²
• The fire was finally extinguished about 3.30 a.m. on the following morning, about fifteen hours after it was discovered, and the nine bodies were recovered between 9.25 p.m. and 2.30 a.m. ¹
• The Fatal Accident Inquiry on 25 and 26 April 1938 returned a formal verdict of asphyxia from carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide caused by the fire, with no recommendations. ¹
• No one was appointed to replace the absent pit bottomer at the No. 1 Pit, a contravention of Section 53(2) of the Act. ¹

Photographs & further reading

This page doesn't try to reproduce everything — these are the best original sources found for this disaster.

Sources

1. (secondary) Dumbreck Colliery Fire - Kilsyth - 1938 - Northern Mine Research Society — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Dumbreck 1938 - Kilsyth - Scottish Mining Website — Scottish Mining Website
3. (primary) Dumbreck Colliery Accident (Hansard, 1 February 1938) — UK Parliament (Hansard)
4. (primary) Durham Mining Museum - Dumbreck Colliery (UK) — Durham Mining Museum
5. (secondary) Dumbreck Disaster, Kilsyth, Stirlingshire - Healey Hero — Healey Hero

Record created: 1 October 2026 · Last researched: 1 October 2026