Appeal for monument to victims of pit blast

Jul 24 2008 by Sandra Walls, Hamilton Advertiser

A MAN this week launched an appeal for a monument to be put up in memory of the victims of a forgotten mining disaster.

Bill Kerr (64), who now lives in Paisley but was born and brought up in Eddlewood, is hoping to gain support for a statue in honour of the 10 men and one boy killed in 1841 in an explosion at Avonbanks Mine, situated close to what’s now Chatelherault Country Park.

The poorly-paid victims worked up to 16 hours a day in shafts no higher than 18 inches.

They were William Brounlie and his 10-year-old son, James Duffie, John Duffie, George Pate, James Fyfe, Hugh McLean, John Smith, William Wotherspoon, James Fleming and James Fisher.

They left 60 dependants and their funeral expenses were paid by the the owner of the mine, the Duke of Hamilton.

The victims lived in a collection of miners’ houses known as Hoolet Row, three-quarters of a mile from the pithead, and close to the entrance of what is now the country park.

Those working in the mines used crude tools and faced the danger of lethal gases. Women were used to pull barrows of coal from the pit to the yard.

Mr Kerr believes it’s time to erect a permanent memorial to those who died in the explosion and others who worked in the pit.

Many were ‘slaves’ whose families had been bonded to the Duke of Hamilton’s estate for decades.

They had no choice but to work for the Duke and it took an Act of Parliament to end the system that tied workers to the estates of rich landowners.

Mr Kerr has discovered that his great great great grand-father, William Kerr, worked as a ‘bonded slave’ in the Avonbanks Mine 30 years before the pit disaster.

Mrl Kerr said: “I would prefer the monument to be erected near the entrance to Chatelherault so that the people of Hamilton can read about the disaster and its background.

“I found out that I was related to ‘bonded slaves’, who were shackled and treated like the scourge of society, and that devastated me.”

lAnyone interested in helping Mr Kerr can contact him on 0141-561 8949.