Stanrigg Colliery inrush, 1918

Between ten and half past ten on the morning of 9 July 1918 liquid peat moss broke through into the shallow Humph seam workings of McCracken Brothers' Stanrigg and Arbuckle Colliery near Airdrie. Fifty-eight men and boys escaped, but nineteen in the Humph section were cut off. Boreholes found the workings under water by the second day; eight bodies were recovered and eleven remain entombed.

Cause

The Humph seam lay only 82 feet down, under blue clay and a peat moss whose depth was not known. Working had been changed from stoop and room to longwall and back again, and near a small fault where the longwall face had stopped the cover gave way, letting the saturated moss run into the workings.

What happened

The two firemen were at breakfast at the surface when the bottomer at the No. 3 shaft, James Rafferty, came up to say the ventilating current was 'coming very strong'. They went straight down. William McCracken met liquid moss pushing a hutch along the haulage road in the Virgin seam about 90 yards from the shaft; Edward McCracken gathered the men in the Sour Milk section and took them to the No. 2 shaft, where steam was raised to wind them up. The moss filled both roads out of the Humph seam, trapping nineteen. A 17-year-old miner, John McCabe, who ran back to warn others, was later awarded the Edward Medal, exchanged for the George Cross. The moss went on filling the pit until it stood within 34 feet of the top of the No. 3 shaft.

Rescue & recovery

A shaft five feet square was started above the edge of the workings, boreholes were put down and a road was cleared from the No. 3 shaft through old workings, all under the threat of creeping moss; a boiler shell was used to sink through it. By the morning of 11 July boreholes showed eight to sixteen feet of water over the Humph workings and hope was given up. A shaft was later sunk on a borehole site and the roads cleared behind barricades; eight bodies were found, and further work was judged too dangerous.

Investigation & inquiry

James Duncan Millar MP raised the accident in the Commons on 25 July 1918, and the Home Office ordered a special inquiry, opened by Henry Walker, Acting Chief Inspector of Mines, at Airdrie Sheriff Court on 18 December 1918; his report of 12 March 1919 found no contravention of the Coal Mines Act, judged the manager's change of working method an error of judgement, and called for more control of working under moss, quicksand and similar ground.

Recorded claims

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

• On 9 July 1918 an inrush of moss at Stanrigg and Arbuckle Colliery killed nineteen men and boys. ^1,2,3
• Fifty-eight men escaped from other parts of the mine. ^1,2
• Eight bodies were recovered; eleven were never recovered. ^1,2,3
• The inquiry found no contravention of the Coal Mines Act but an error of judgement in changing the method of working. ^1,2

Related terminology

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

• HM Chief Inspector of Mines (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s investigation: “…Office ordered a special inquiry, opened by Henry Walker, Acting Chief Inspector of Mines, at Airdrie Sheriff Court on 18 December 1918; his report of 12…”
• Haulage (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “…down. William McCracken met liquid moss pushing a hutch along the haulage road in the Virgin seam about 90 yards from the shaft; Edward…”
• Longwall (contextual relationship)
  Named twice in this record, first in the cause: “…depth was not known. Working had been changed from stoop and room to longwall and back again, and near a small fault where the longwall face had…”
• Onsetter (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s narrative: “The two firemen were at breakfast at the surface when the bottomer at the No. 3 shaft, James Rafferty, came up to say the ventilating…”
• Room and Pillar (contextual relationship)
  Named in this record’s cause: “…a peat moss whose depth was not known. Working had been changed from stoop and room to longwall and back again, and near a small fault where the…”

Sources

1. (secondary) NMRS: Stanrigg and Arbuckle Colliery Inrush, Airdrie, 1918 — Northern Mine Research Society
2. (secondary) Wikipedia: Stanrigg mining accident — Wikipedia
3. (secondary) RAILSCOT: Stanrigg Memorial — RAILSCOT

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