Glenboig Fireclay Mine roof fall, 1909

Four men were buried by a roof fall in the Glenboig Union Fireclay Company's mine on 5 August 1909 while robbing a stoop in ground that had stood untouched for twenty years.

Cause

A fall of the sandstone roof, fractured along an old roadway, while a stoop was being extracted.

Contributing factors

The neighbouring waste had not closed enough after the props were drawn to take the weight off the stoop; no row of wooden pillars had been set along the old roadway; too many men were at work on a face of about twenty feet.

What happened

Stooping had been going on for some time to the rise in the fireclay seam at Glenboig. On 5 August 1909 the men were taking the first lift off another stoop in an area that had been stopped for about twenty years. In that time the strong sandstone roof had fractured along the old roadway, and when the first breaking of clay came off the face the unseen fracture was relieved and the roof fell under its own weight, burying four men: the drawer Patrick Canavan, 17, and the miners William Taylor, William Allan and Joseph Anderson.

Investigation & inquiry

The inspector's report found the support to the roof insufficient and recommended pillars along the old roadway parallel to the face.

Recorded claims

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

• On 5 August 1909 a fall of roof in the Glenboig Union Fireclay Company's mine buried and killed four men. ^1,2
• They were taking the first lift of a stoop in the fireclay seam, in an area stopped about twenty years before, when the sandstone roof, fractured along the old roadway, suddenly fell. ¹
• The inspector thought a row of wooden pillars along the old roadway might have given the men time to escape, and that too many men were at work on a face of about twenty feet. ¹
• Among the dead were the drawer Patrick Canavan, 17, and the miners William Taylor, 23, William Allan, 34, and Joseph Anderson, 35. ^1,2

Related terminology

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

• Fireclay (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “Stooping had been going on for some time to the rise in the fireclay seam at Glenboig. On 5 August 1909 the men were taking the first…”
• Putter (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…and the roof fell under its own weight, burying four men: the drawer Patrick Canavan, 17, and the miners William Taylor, William Allan…”
• Roof Fall (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s summary: “Four men were buried by a roof fall in the Glenboig Union Fireclay Company's mine on 5 August 1909 while…”

Sources

1. (secondary) Fatal accidents in Scottish mines, 1909 — Scottish Mining Website
2. (secondary) Mining deaths 1900-1909, surnames A, part 2 (Ian Winstanley) — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's mining deaths lists)

Record created: 8 October 2026 · Last researched: 8 October 2026