Hello
My 4x great grandfather Robert Miller (Ayrshire 1798 - 1855) erected a rather elaborate family gravestone in Irvine in 1834. The inscription reads-
Robert Miller Coal Master Knowehead
And Janet Murdoch his spouse
In memory of their son
Andrew Miller who died 7th January 1834
etc etc
Everyone in our family tree for ever has been a plain old coal or iron miner so I'm curious about Robert calling himself a coal master rather than a miner. He had enough money to buy and engrave this stone, it has a poem engraved on the reverse too so if you paid by the letter in the 1830s he wasn't scrimping.
I wonder if anyone might have any insight into what Robert's work might have been like, whether he was in fact higher up the ladder than then average coal miner?
I know that in 1830 he was living in Shewalton, on the gravestone dated 1834 he says Knowehead/ Knowhead, by the 1841 census he's in Kirkland, Dreghorn and is a miner rather than a master. I don't know if there is anything particularly interesting about those areas?
Robert died early in 1855, I guess just before statutory registration, so I don't have anything more.
I just like to imagine as much as I can what their lives would have been like. We're not important enough to leave detailed records about individuals, so I find small details like master rather than miner curious.
Thank you