PART of the huge number of mourners who attended the public funeral service on Wednesday for nine of the victims of the disaster at Bowhill Colliery.

The miners who lost their lives in the explosion were: James Martin Anderson (45), fireman; Alexander Dempster (51), fireman; William Bruce Dodds (24), apprentice electrical engineer; John Rattray Donaldson (48), oversman; Charles Baxter Fernie (19), coalminer; William Ireland (35), oversman; James Drummond Paterson (19), coalminer (hewer); Andrew Smith (27), coalminer (hewer); James Smith (35), coalminer (hewer); and, Thomas Smith (33), coalminer (hewer).

Messages of sympathy conveyed to the mining community, included those from the King and Queen, the Prime Minister, and Parliament.