The Men Who Died Building the Forth Bridge

The Men Who Died Building the Forth Bridge

For over 100 years the accepted number of workers thought to have died whilst constructing the bridge has been 57. The figure was established by Westhofen; a German engineer who published a record of the works in “Engineering” in February 1890. His research appears to have been solely based on data from the project's "Sick and Accident Club" - the club closed just before the works were complete. Furthermore, there has been no published record cataloguing the identities of those who died.

In 2004 the Forth Bridges Visitors Centre Trust accepted a kind offer from a local professional researcher, Val Wilson, to research the identities of those who died. To identify those who died a number of sources were used:

Death Certificates.
Registers of Corrected Entries.
Quarterly reports of the bridge works.
Newspaper articles (The Scotsman, Edinburgh Evening News & The Dunfermline Press).

The project culminated in April 2005 when the Forth Bridges Visitors Centre Trust received the results of this research. The report identified 63 workers who were recorded to have died on the works. The discrepancy between this value and that established by Westhofen is explained as follows:

Two workers died after the Sick and Accident Club closed in late December 1889.
It was considered unlikely that the two boatmen who died on 16 th July 1888 would have been included in Westhofen’s figure; they may not have been in the Sick and Accident Club and did not appear in the bridge’s quarterly reports for 1888.
Two railway miners died whilst working on the approach works – one of these fatalities was after the Sick and Accident Club closed and is considered under point one also.
There were no deaths reported in the 21 st quarterly report (31 st May 1888) – the research has uncovered two deaths in the period it covers.
As the Sick and Accident Club was only open to employees of the contractors, it is conceivable one (or more) of the workers who died were not members.

The table below outlines the identities of those who died.

Name		Occupation	Date			Age	Cause of Death
1	Thomas Joseph Harris	Storekeeper	27	Nov	1883	16	Fell into the Forth & drowned
2	John Fairless	Master Mariner	30	Jun	1884	45	Struck by falling object
3	Robert Adamson	General Labourer	14	Jul	1884	37	Crushed by train
4	Richard Morton	Rigger Driver	15	Jul	1884	38	Drowned
5	Kenneth McDonald	Boilermaker	26	Nov	1884	41	Fall from height
6	Joseph Robinson	Labourer	24	Feb	1885	43	Struck by falling object
7	Nicholi Librali	Caisson Labourer	11	Mar	1885	40	Undefined accident
8	Alexander Ferguson	Joiner	25	Mar	1885	31	Caisson collapse
9	John Gibson	Boiler Maker	25	Mar	1885	35	Caisson collapse
10	John McDead	Bridge Labourer	16	Dec	1885	28	Undefined accident
11	Alexander Young Ogilvie	Contractor's Carter	27	May	1886	26	Crushed by train
12	Alexander Douglas	Bridge Labourer	9	Aug	1886	45	Struck by falling object
13	James Henman	Rivet Heater	13	Sep	1886	23	Fall from height
14	John Christie	Seaman	27	Sep	1886	51	Fall from height
15	Angus Paterson	Mechanical Engineer's Labourer	6	Oct	1886	22	Crushed by boom
16	Richard Timney	Engineman	16	Oct	1886	16	Fall from height
17	James Davidson	Carpenter's Labourer	15	Nov	1886	39	Fall from height
18	Eugene Julius Weise	Rigger	29	Mar	1887	20	Fall from height
19	Thomas Birrell	Labourer	7	Apr	1887	59	Fall from height
20	Alexander Malcolm Steel	Iron Worker's Labourer	6	May	1887	26	Fall from height
21	Michael Berrigan	Rivet Heater	9	May	1887	18	Fall from height
22	William Perkins	Rigger	27	May	1887	41	Undefined accident
23	Martin Welsh	Bridge Labourer	2	Jun	1887	25	Fall from height
24	George Hendry	Rivetter	2	Jun	1887	32	Fall from height
25	John McClinchey	Iron Rivetter	28	Jul	1887	34	Fall from height
26	John Gallacher	Iron Rivetter	28	Jul	1887	20	Fall from height
27	John O'Neill	Bridge Labourer	3	Aug	1887	16	Fall from height
28	James Sim	Bridge Labourer	3	Aug	1887	53	Fall from height
29	Patrick McGarry	General Labourer	18	Aug	1887	16	Fall from height
30	Edward Davies	Joiner's Labourer	9	Sep	1887	22	Struck by falling object
31	Peter Burns McCowatt	Plater	13	Sep	1887	49	Struck by falling object
32	James Neil Mundy	Plater	11	Oct	1887	20	Fall from height
33	Frank McLean McLean	General Labourer	17	Oct	1887	21	Fall from height
34	William Rendall	Joiner	1	Nov	1887	30	Struck by falling object
35	Montague McNab	Labourer	1	Nov	1887	36	Struck by falling object
36	Robert Latta	Machineman	21	Nov	1887	21	Crushed by machinery
37	Joseph Courtney	General Labourer	28	Nov	1887	21	Fall from height
38	Thomas Shannon	Rivet Catcher	9	Dec	1887	14	Fall from height
39	James McCallum	Joiner	23	Mar	1888	23	Fall from height
40	John Miller	Carter	15	May	1888	40	Struck by falling object
41	William Cunningham	Stoker	1	Jun	1888	42	Hit by engine crank
42	Hum Smith	Mechanical Engineer's Labourer	19	Jun	1888	36	Undefined accident
43	William Fairley	Boatman	16	Jul	1888	48	Boating incident
44	Thomas Roberts	Boatman	16	Jul	1888	32	Boating incident
45	John Curran	Bridge Labourer	31	Jul	1888	23	Fall from height
46	William Brown	Bridge Labourer	6	Aug	1888	20	Fall from height
47	William Wright	Labourer	25	Aug	1888	19	Fall from height
48	David Clark Russell	Rivetter's Labourer	13	Sep	1888	13	Fall from height
49	James Wark	Labourer	3	Oct	1888	26	Fell into the Forth & drowned
50	John Ashwood	Bridge Labourer	25	Oct	1888	28	Fall from height
51	Robert Thomson	Mechanical Engineer's Labourer	27	Oct	1888	38	Undefined accident
52	Thomas Fraser	Gatekeeper	30	Oct	1888	61	Fell into the Forth & drowned
53	David Thomson	Stone Miner	13	Feb	1889	32	Struck by falling object
54	Thomas Vennert	Joiner's Labourer	22	Apr	1889	35	Crushed by temporary caisson
55	Owen Rennie	Rigger	17	Jun	1889	28	Fall from height
56	William Laurence Jamieson	Rigger	30	Aug	1889	50	Fall from height
57	John Aitken	Iron Rivetter's Labourer	13	Sep	1889	15	Fall from height
58	Patrick McGinn	Bridge Labourer	17	Sep	1889	18	Fall from height
59	Hugh Richardson	Plater	24	Sep	1889	27	Struck by falling object
60	Frederick Duff	Stone Mason	17	Dec	1889	26	Crushed by train
61	Thomas Conroy	Railway Miner	18	Dec	1889	23	Fall from height
62	Alfred Hall	Railway Miner	16	Jan	1890	34	Fall from height
63	Francis James Watt	Rigger	17	Jan	1890	22	Fell into the Forth & drowned
Data by [Age] [Year] [Cause]

Notes:
1. In many cases, the noted cause of death is a gross simplification of that recorded in source documents.
2. We have not considered deaths after the bridge was opened by the then Prince of Wales on the 4 th of March 1890. Nor have we considered deaths caused by natural causes (e.g. heart attack) or by misadventure (e.g. two men are known to have drowned whilst swimming in their spare time).

Since 1890, the only memorial to these men has been the Forth Bridge itself. However, in 2005 John Barrett (MP for Edinburgh West) formed a committee to erect a fitting memorial to the men. The Forth Bridges Visitors Centre Trust and Val Wilson actively support this project. As such we have made our research available to them and encourage visitors to this site to also consider visiting that of the Forth Bridge Memorial Committee.

It should be noted that a number of men also died building the Forth Road Bridge and its approaches. Due to our respect for the families of those concerned, The Forth Bridges Visitors Centre Trust has decided not to include details of these deaths on these pages. A memorial to these men can be seen just outside the road bridge’s administration block.

Lastly, The Forth Bridges Visitors Centre Trust would like to reiterate our thanks to Val Wilson for the many hours she spent on this project. We would also like to thank the National Archives of Scotland – General Register House and the Queensferry History Group for the help they have given to Val Wilson.