I apologize in advance if this is off topic - maybe it is more of an English language query... Please feel free to migrate or close if needed :)
I have seen mine cages/service lifts referred to as Mary-Ann (or Maryann/Mary Anne etc.) for example here, here and here. Does anyone know where this comes from? And is it a common term - I have heard it used in South Africa and the sources linked are Canadian, which suggests this is the case.
Someone has solved this for me offline. According to Anglo American's The A Magazine (page 25), the origin of the name is:
‘Mary-Ann’ is a name that is often given to service cages. It originates from the United Kingdom and it is said that the aristocratic mine owner who installed the first device named it after his mistress.
I would guess the name derives from the fact that St Anne, the apocryphal mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus (in both Christian and Islamic traditions) was the patron saint of miners, among many other things.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Anne:
As the mother of Mary, this devotion to Saint Anne as the patron of miners arises from the medieval comparison between Mary and Christ and the precious metals silver and gold. Anne's womb was considered the source from which these precious metals were mined.
Mining certainly has a long history of its own traditions, and even its own laws. For example the "barmote courts," created in the 13th century to regulate lead mining in the UK, still exist today. Their function is now almost entirely ceremonial, but they still have the power to make legally binding judgments over mining disputes - the most recent judgment AFAIK was made in 2013.
My understanding is that the Mary Anne (in the sense of an escape hoist) originated in Australia. A convicted horse thief was able to escape his island prison when his girl friend, Mary Anne, swam to the island towing a jury-rigged life saver. Her lover, who could not swim, donned the jacket and Mary Anne virtually towed him back to shore through shark-infested waters. Unfortunately he then continued his nefarious profession until he died in a shoot-out with a posse of "rangers." This tale is authenticated and well detailed in several independent posts on the internet.
