I have just disocvered this list and hope I might be able to share some information on my mining ancestors and find out how to discover more. My greatgrandfathe Thomas Bryden married in Galston in 1860. His occupation is given as coal miner, his father Thomas Bryden (deceased) was also a coal miner. His wife was Barbara Menteith and her father David Menteith (deceased) was a coal miner. I found the two Thomases in a CD of the "Retours of Heirs" - the elder Thomas is described as collier, Kilwinning late of Irvine and the younger Thomas who was about 15 or 16 at the time of his father's death in 1851 was living at Kilwinning. The Menteith family appears to have lived at New Cumnock. After his marriage Thomas stayed in Galston for a year or two before emigrating to New Zealand at the end of 1862. In New Zealand he was a carrier for close to thirty years, however in the 1890's New Zealand was going through a depression and the carrier business would not support his large family, so he took a job as shot firer in a quartz reef gold mine - presumably because of his earlier coal mining experience. He was killed in an explosion after working in the gold mine for about ten months. I have the inquest report which makes quite interesting reading as it gives some details of the layout of the mine etc. I would be interested in hearing of any sources of information on coal mining in the Irvine, Kilwinning, Galston and New Cumnock areas - especially any sources that might give actual names of the miners - as I am having difficulty getting any information on the family prior to the start of civil registration in 1855 Catherine Fitchett Christchurch, New Zealand [email protected]