People Australia

Robert Atcheson, also known as Robert Aitchison (1829-1858) miner killed at work

Birth: 1829 in Tyrone, Ireland, son of Robert Atcheson, stone mason, and Agnes, née Ferry. Marriage: 15 March 1852 at Southwick, Durham, England, to Mary Donnan (1830-1884). They had one daughter and two sons, the youngest was aged three months at his father’s death. Death: 24 May 1858 at Borehole, Newcastle, New South Wales. Religion: Presbyterian. 

• Was a labourer working at Heworth, Durham, England by 1851.
• Arrived in NSW as an assisted immigrant with his wife and family aboard the John Bunyan in October 1857. He was described as an agricultural labourer and like his wife could read and write. Mary had two cousins, Francis and James Donnan, living near Newcastle, NSW.
• Robert was working at night in May 1858 in the Australian Agricultural Company’s Borehole coal pit. He fractured his head and back when he fell down the shaft of the pit. The coroner’s verdict was accidental death.
• A subscription list for the relief of the widow and family collected £20 by the date of the inquest, including £5 from the AA CO’s manager and £1 from the coroner.

Sources
NSW, Assisted immigrant Passenger lists, 1828-1896, NSW Archives, via Ancestry.com; inquest, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 May 1858, p 2: