The tragic loss of life at Bowhill Colliery, on October 31, 1931, was one of those accidents which happened every now and again in mining communities across the country, and which brought home to the public the very dangerous nature of the work of the coal miner. One of the tragic aspects of these accidents was that the wives, children, and other dependants of the victims were suddenly bereft of the breadwinner, and, unless a generous public came to their assistance, their outlook on life was bleak indeed.

The Committee of the Fife, Clackmannan and Kinross Miners’ Accident Permanent Relief Fund, of which Mr R. W. Wallace, Chairman of the Fife, Clackmannan and Kinross Coalowners’ Association, and the Right Honourable William Adamson, Secretary of the Fife, Clackmannan and Kinross Miners’ Union and late Secretary for Scotland, were joint Chairmen, felt it to be a special duty falling upon them to make an earnest appeal to the public for the necessary funds to minimise the loss sustained by the dependants of the victims of the disaster, and lost no time in doing so.

It was requested on November 7, 1931, that all donations should be sent to Mr. James Currie Macbeth, at the Clydesdale Bank, Dunfermline, and marked “Bowhill Disaster Fund”.