A Fife man has spoken of his joy after raising enough money to mark the grave of the train driver killed in the Tay Bridge Disaster.
Leslie poet Ian Nimmo White has confirmed that a headstone to mark the resting place of David Mitchell will be installed next month at a village cemetery, after the grave had gone without a memorial for over a century.
Mr Mitchell, a Leslie man, was at the controls of the train that plunged into the Tay on the night of December 28, 1879, following the collapse of a section of the bridge in high winds. His was just one of an estimated 75 lives lost, his body eventually being found nine weeks after the tragedy on a nearby beach.
Although he was eventually buried in his home village, the grave was never formally marked, prompting Mr Nimmo White, who has studied the events on that fateful night, to launch a campaign to raise funds for a headstone at the plot.
Having successfully traced the descendants of the father of five and received donations from various parties, Mr Nimmo White hopes to have the headstone in place within weeks.
He told The Courier, “It’s been quite amazing and I found that 99% of the time people were quite supportive.
“I understand that there are present-day charities for people who are not well at this time and some think that heritage should take a back seat. But history is who we are and if people were to look at their genealogy then they would see that there was a lot of suffering back then.”
The Courier has reported Mr Nimmo White’s efforts to hunt down the family of Mr Mitchell to seek permission to erect a headstone at the burial plot in Leslie.
His search resulted in him contacting family members across Britain, bringing in further financial support for the appeal as well as permission to install a marker.
Although an arduous task, Mr Nimmo White admits he was surprised at the ease with which he was able to locate relatives as far as four or five generations on from his subject.
“There was a rumour that there was a headstone and that it had been vandalised but I don’t know about that,” he said. “I had to follow cemetery law and find his living descendants as they automatically inherit the site.
“That was tough but after three weeks I eventually found them. I don’t have a lot of experience in genealogy but the internet is amazing. If you follow a few rules then it doesn’t take long to pick up a few tricks.”
With permission and funding now in place for the headstone, Mr Nimmo White hopes that a small ceremony next month will conclude his personal mission to have a memorial for Mr Mitchell erected.
He added, “I was a community worker all my life and I had a lot of pleasurable experiences doing that. But, apart from my family, this has been the best experience that I have ever had. It’s just been a privilege.”