Thankerton Colliery hutch accident, 1905

On 16 August 1905 a hutch carrying a miner, John Brown, and a pony driver, Charles Murray, came off the rails on a road in No. 7 Pit at Thankerton Colliery, near Holytown, knocked out the timbering and brought the roof down on them both.

Date	16 August 1905
Mine	Thankerton Colliery
Region	North Lanarkshire
Primary type	Collapse / Roof Fall
Associated types	Haulage / Transport
Fatalities	2 (John Brown (52), miner, and Charles Murray (23), pony driver.)
Context	During active mining

Cause

A derailed hutch knocked out the road timbering; Brown was riding on it illegally.

What happened

Thankerton Colliery, near Holytown in Lanarkshire, was worked by J. McAndrew and Co. On 16 August 1905 Charles Murray, a pony driver of 23, and John Brown, a miner of 52, were riding on a hutch along a road in No. 7 Pit, Brown against the rules. The hutch went off the rails and knocked out the timbering supporting the roof, which fell and killed both men.

Recorded claims

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

On 16 August 1905 a fall of roof on a road in No. 7 Pit of J. McAndrew and Co.'s Thankerton Colliery killed John Brown (52), a miner, and Charles Murray (23), a pony driver. ^1,2
The two were riding on a hutch, Brown illegally, when it went off the rails and knocked out the timbering, bringing down the roof. ^3,1,2
The accident was in Thankerton No. 7 Pit, near Holytown. ^1,2

Related terminology

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

Colliery (contextual relationship)
Named twice in this record, first in the summary: “…Murray, came off the rails on a road in No. 7 Pit at Thankerton Colliery, near Holytown, knocked out the timbering and brought the roof down…”
Tub (contextual relationship)
Named 4 times in this record, first in the summary: “On 16 August 1905 a hutch carrying a miner, John Brown, and a pony driver, Charles Murray,…”

Photographs & further reading

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

Thankerton No. 7 Pit, 1905 (Durham Mining Museum) (reference)

The two men killed and how the derailed hutch brought the roof down.

View source

Sources

(primary) Colliery Disaster: Thankerton No. 7 Pit, 16 August 1905 — Durham Mining Museum
(secondary) Mining victims, 1900s, M (Murray) — Healey Hero (Ian Winstanley's list of mining victims)
(primary) Thankerton Colliery — Durham Mining Museum

Record created: 4 October 2026 · Last researched: 5 October 2026