1881-Dec-06: Bank Coal Company

No.	Name	Age	Cause
1.	John Murphy	61	fell down shaft

John Murphy was born on 9^th January 1819 at Lint Mile, Closeburn, Dumfriesshire son of John Murphy and Susanna Simson. On the 24^th May 1840 married Elizabeth Roddick at Dunscore, the daughter of John Roddick and Jane Carruthers. Together they had 5 children – Jane, Susan, William, Agnes and Elizabeth.

The family moved about Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire, including Parton, Ruthwell, Crossmichael, Kirkpatrick Durham and Urr, as John found work on the land as a farm labourer and ploughman.

In their later years John, Elizabeth and daughter Agnes moved to 49 Peesweep Row, Craigbank, New Cumnock where John found work as a pit labourer at the pits of the Bank Coal Company. The family expanded following the birth of Agnes’s two daughters Jane in June, 1876 and Susanna in May, 1881.

map_craigbank_25 — Map 1 Craigbank | Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

The family expanded following the birth of Agnes’s two daughters Jane in June, 1876 and Susanna in May, 1881.

The Scottish Mining Website entry for John Murphy reads –

From Main body of report: A workman engaged at the pithead by mistake pushed a hutch into the open shaft, and fell to the bottom with it, a distance of 64 yards

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