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Miner's Day (Canada)
"Get up!" the caller calls, "Get up!"
And in the dead of night,
To win the bairns their bite and sup,
I rise a weary wight.
My flannel dudden donn'd, thrice o'er
My birds are kiss'd, and then
I with a whistle shut the door,
I may not ope again."
~ Pitman Poet, Joseph Skipsey (1832-1903)
Davis Day, also known as Miners' Memorial Day, is an annual day of remembrance observed on June 11 in coal mining communities across Nova Scotia, Canada. It honors the lives of miners who were killed in the province’s coal mines, recognizing the immense risks and sacrifices tied to this historically perilous occupation. Davis Day is named in honor of William Davis, a coal miner and union activist who was killed on June 11, 1925, during a strike-related confrontation in New Waterford, Nova Scotia.
Coal mining itself is an ancient practice, dating back thousands of years to the early extraction of surface deposits. In Roman Britain, coalfields were being worked as early as the late 2nd century AD. By the time coal was being mined on a larger scale in the 19th century, the work remained brutal and hazardous. Miners relied solely on hand tools such as picks and shovels, and it was not uncommon for children to be employed underground, enduring dangerous and grueling conditions.
To monitor the presence of deadly gases like carbon monoxide, miners brought animals underground—primarily birds such as canaries and small rodents like mice. These creatures were more sensitive to toxic gases and would show signs of distress before levels became lethal to humans, providing a primitive yet life-saving warning system.
This commemorative tartan pays tribute to the miners of Springhill, Nova Scotia—the designer’s hometown—as well as those in other coal-producing regions of Canada. Each color in the tartan holds symbolic meaning: black for the coal and the darkness of the mine, yellow for the glow of the miners’ lamps, red for the blood spilled in pursuit of this dangerous work, and white for the remembrance of lives lost. 🖤 💛 🤍 ❤️ 🖤 ⛏️ 🎗️ 🇨🇦
Coal has been mined in Canada since 1639, when a small mine was opened at Grand Lake, New Brunswick. In 1720, French soldiers began to mine at Cow Bay (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia) to supply the fortress at Louisbourg.
Cape Breton later supplied coal to Boston and other American ports, and to the British militia in Halifax. By 1870, 21 coal mines were operating in Cape Breton, but virtually all of them were abandoned in the early 20th century.
Named in honour of William Davis, who was killed at the New Waterford Lake riot on 11 June 1925, Miner's Day (also called Davis Day) has come to symbolize both the miners' battle for fair wages and the continuing struggle to save Nova Scotia's coal industry. Its original purpose was to mourn Davis's death but has evolved to become an occasion for mourning all miners killed in provincial coal mines.
William Davis, for whom Miner's Day is named, was a coal miner from Cape Breton Island. Born in Gloucestershire, England, Davis had been a coal miner from a young age until his untimely death. His father worked in the mines at Springhill, Nova Scotia, and his older brother, then fourteen years old, was killed in the 1891 explosion there.
Davis began working for the Dominion Coal Company Limited (DOMCO) in 1905 at various collieries in the Sydney coalfield in Cape Breton, eventually graduating to become a pumpman and a roadmaker, lastly at the No. 12 Colliery in New Waterford.
Davis was killed June 11, 1920 during a confrontation with the company police of the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO), who had taken over the coalworks and begun a targeted campaign to break the miner's union.
For more on this event and the circumstances leading to it, click the mineshaft.