Edmonstone Colliery shaft collapse, 1839

At about half past ten on the night of Friday 8 March 1839 the lined shaft of an Edmonstone Colliery pit, leased by Alexander and Mowbray Stenhouse, gave way some forty or fifty yards down, entombing nine men and four women and girls. After two failed attempts to reach them, they groped through a flooded air passage to a neighbouring pit and were all brought up alive on the Sunday morning, 36 hours after they went down.

Cause

At the point of collapse a seam had been worked out about two years before and the space filled with earth and rubbish; the iron fastenings of the shaft's timber lining were thought to have given way through brittleness and the pressure on them.

What happened

George Scott, at the pithead, heard a rattling and a shout from below that deals were coming down; he had himself lowered in the bucket and was drawn up seconds before the shaft filled where he had been. The shaft was about 100 yards deep. The thirteen, most of them working some 300 yards from the shaft bottom, found the debris too massive to clear and twice tried the air-gate, three feet wide and four high and partly full of water, to the neighbouring air pit at Back Dean. When their lights went out on the Saturday evening they lay down in a dry place, sang a hymn and prayed. Early on the Sunday, the water having dropped about two inches, they crawled through with their chins touching the roof, two men who knew the passage leading, the girls carried through the water.

Rescue & recovery

Five men went down the old pit at two on the Saturday morning and got 140 yards along the air-gate before foul air turned them back; a second attempt that afternoon failed at the shaft bottom. Millwrights then began building a 25-foot timber crib to be lowered to clear the shaft, helped by workmen sent by Sir John Hope. About half past seven on the Sunday morning the watch at the old pit heard a voice, and the thirteen were drawn up within half an hour, given warm milk and bread, and taken home on carts in straw and blankets. Engines at the neighbouring water pits, set on harder by the Stenhouses and Sir John Hope, had lowered the water in the air-gate enough to let them through.

Recorded claims

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

• On a Friday night in March 1839 the shaft of an Edmonstone Colliery pit collapsed about 40 to 50 yards down, entombing nine men and four women. ¹
• All thirteen were brought out alive after about 36 hours. ^1,2,3
• They escaped through a flooded passage to an old shaft, where they were heard by those watching above. ^1,2
• One of them, Helen Reid, recalled in 1842 that they were two days without food or light and nearly a day up to their chins in water. ^4,2
• Those trapped included a 12-year-old girl. ³

Related terminology

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

• Bad Air (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s rescue and recovery: “…on the Saturday morning and got 140 yards along the air-gate before foul air turned them back; a second attempt that afternoon failed at the…”
• Colliery (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s summary: “…on the night of Friday 8 March 1839 the lined shaft of an Edmonstone Colliery pit, leased by Alexander and Mowbray Stenhouse, gave way some forty…”
• Millwright (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s rescue and recovery: “…back; a second attempt that afternoon failed at the shaft bottom. Millwrights then began building a 25-foot timber crib to be lowered to clear the…”
• Pithead (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “George Scott, at the pithead, heard a rattling and a shout from below that deals were coming…”
• Shaft (contextual relationship)
  Named 7 times in this record, first in the summary: “At about half past ten on the night of Friday 8 March 1839 the lined shaft of an Edmonstone Colliery pit, leased by Alexander and Mowbray…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Sources

1. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Edmonstone 1839 — Scottish Mining Website
2. (secondary) Hood Family and Coal Mining: Edmonstone Colliery, Children's Employment Commission 1842 — Hood Family and Coal Mining
3. (secondary) Calls for pit children memorial in Danderhall (Marie Sharp, 12 July 2021) — Edinburgh Evening News
4. (secondary) Scottish Mining Website: Midlothian 1 (Children's Employment Commission evidence) — Scottish Mining Website

Record created: 11 October 2026 · Last researched: 11 October 2026