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My only guess is "Hotel Asst", which doesn't seem very mining related. Did you find him as an engine driver before or after this 1916 record, as it's possible he could have left the mining industry?

Best wishes

Rockford

Hello

That looks like a Scottish record. I've seen a couple of these where the parents weren't married at the time the child was born, or the father's name was omitted - as if the parents weren't married, both had to attend and sign the register for the father's name to be included.

if your Thomas was born in 1923, he would have been 18 in 1941 and perhaps this provided a need or an opportunity to update the record.

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/registration/changing-or-correcting-a-register-entry/

Best wishes

Rockford

Hello,

Looks like James had an older brother Archibald who died in 1903 aged 16/17, and who is buried at Neilston Cemetery. There are other Duncans, but no James.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/220062560/archibald-duncan

I don't know if the cemeteries team at East Renfrewshire would be able to confirm if anyone else is buried in the same plot.

https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/article/3835/Contact-the-Cemeteries-and-Burials-team

Best wishes

Rockford

Hello

It means that he would have been an elder within his Church of Scotland congregation, and would have been a member and eligible to participate in the kirk session, which was the local governing body for the parish.

https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/get-involved/serve/office-bearers/eldership

Best wishes

Rockford

Hello

Airdrie and Coatbridge were surrounded by mines, and as most of the workers lived in tied housing provided (at a rent) by their employers, it meant that anyone considered as causing trouble for the company could be put out of work, meaning the would also be evicted from their homes.

If you have Joseph or his family in the 1861, 1851 and 1841 census, they might be recorded living at the colliery / mine as a lot of housing was right on the mines doorstep. Looking at the old maps on the National Library of Scotland site at www.nls.uk/maps can help locate the mines that existed around the places folk were living.

The newspapers of the time might also report on any industrial unrest at particular places. I have used the British Newspaper Archive in the past for access to the Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser and other Lanarkshire papers, and depending on where you are, your local library might have access. It's probably unlikely that any record of the blacklisting of individual miners would exist now.

In his book "The Mineworkers" Robert Duncan discusses a strike in 1842 that saw 12,000 miners in the Monklands area stop work (Coatbridge was in the parish of Old Monkland and Airdrie in the parish of New Monkland), with the local Sheriff declaring a state of emergency with police summoned from Glasgow.

The book reports that strikes were a feature of the Lanarkshire coalfields and it's a really good read if you are interested in the history of mining across Scotland.

Best wishes

Brian