Harkess father & son and crew drown 1892

[tidybooks]

Hi Lucy,

I have found a James M. Harkness on 1st August 1929, giving evidence that gas was present on the day previous to an explosion that 2 miners subsequently died. This was reported in scotsman on 22 October 1929 and in miners website, http://www.scottishmining.co.uk/353.html .

Could this be your grandfather?

I note the spelling is Harkness not Harkess, but this happened occasionally.


Tom

[tidybooks]

Hi Lucy,

I have found a birth certificate listing on http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk in 1909 at Prestonpans, East Lothian for a James McLellan Harkess, and found his death certificate in 1995 in Baiilieston, and he was 85 yo.

A possible marriage in 1945, to an Elizabeth Stevenson in Old Monkland (Western District), Lanarkshire.

Tom

[tidybooks]

Hi Lucy,

I have also found your grandmother's Elizabeth Harkess nee Stevenson death certificate in 1983 at Baillieston, aged 71.

Tom

[jdh1951]

Re sinking of 1892, my father told me that some of his relations were drowned in a sinking before he was born in 1909.  I think it was his grandfather. He was one of the men who were questioned in the enquiry into the 1929 pit explosion at Preston links pit. His name was spelt wrongly in the report. My father's name was James M Harkess and NOT Harkness as reported in the press.

I am John Donaldson Harkess and my mother was Elizabeth Harkess nee Stevenson. This is in response to my daughter Lucy posting earlier.

[tidybooks]

Hi John,

Thanks for the info, I will need to try and trace back to the crew that died. I know they are spelt differently but this happened a lot, at that time.


Tom

[tidybooks]

Hi John,

I don't know if you have your fathers Birth Certificate, if you want I can send a copy, but he was born in 10 West Seaside, Prestonpans. If you put that on Google maps you get a great view of Cockenzie Power station at one side, and Edinburgh and Arthurs Seat on the other side, and of course, the Firth of Forth.

Your grandfather, was your namesake, John Donaldson Harkess and grandmother Alison Drysdale McLelland, who were married on 31st Dec 1908 at Prestonpans.

Tom

[tidybooks]

Hi John and all,

Got your grandparents marriage lines, John Donaldson Harkess 23 yo Coal Miner married Allison Drysdale McClelland, 27 yo Domestic Servant. Your grandfather's address was 8 South Doors, Cockenzie, same street my father's family grew up at 5 South Doors.

Your great-grandfather, was James Harkess, a Fisherman (Deceased), great grandmother was a Margaret Donaldson, where you get your middle name from.

So now got your family back to Cockenzie as fisherman, in the correct area for the family being lost at sea. Now just need to tie up their relationship up.

Tom

[tidybooks]

Hi John,

I have got your great-grandfathers James Harkess's Death certificate and he was drowned along with son, Peter about 15yo, as part of the crew of "James and Robert"on 14th October 1892 in the Firth of Forth about 5 miles of Gullane Ness. He was 41 and married to Margaret Donaldson, who had 8 children, one being your grandfather John Donaldson Harkess.

Tom

[jdh1951]

Re James M Harkess. In the sixties I was upstairs on a bus with my dad and when it reached Argyll St. in Glasgow, he leaned across me and started to swear at a man who was walking along the street. It was the man who had lit the cigarette down the pit all those years ago in 1929. My dad was a quiet gentle person and that was the first time I had ever heard him swear.
As a result of that explosion he lost a job that he had been accepted for as an assistant golf professional because he spent a year in bandages because of his injuries.

About 1993 I took my class of primary seven on a trip to Lady Jane Grey mining Museum and my dad accompanied me. One of the miners was showing different types of lamps to the children and my dad started to laugh. The man asked him if he had used the carbide lamp and he said yes in Preston Links Pit. He also told him that he had been in the explosion. That word spread round all the retired miners who were working there and before we left to come home every one of them had come to speak to him.
JDH


JDH