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May I suggest that you navigate the site via the
index on page 001. PRIOR PAGE / NEXT PAGE
Do you want to make a comment? A
site guestbook is
here. You can contact the webmaster here.
Test.
Copyright?
To search for specific text on this page, just press 'CTRL +
F' & then enter your search term. A general site search facility is here.
This page is a page in progress. Hopefully more data about Durham & Sunderland
coal mining history will be located,
& included on the page in the future. Just four items today. In time sequence.
| 1 |
'Mines de Lambton', a collection of
52 albumen images
& a map about Lambton Mines - published in the French language in 1891. |
| 2 |
'The
supply of London coal by water.' an article about the birth of William Cory and
Son, Limited, published in Illustrated London News on Oct. 10, 1896. |
| 3 |
An 8 page article by Ritchie Calder that was published in 'Picture Post'
magazine on Feb. 18, 1939. |
| 4 |
'Durham Miners' Association 1869-1969', a history of the Durham Miners'
Association, thru 1969. |
Also on this page, probably temporarily, is i) an image of the Durham Miners' Memorial in Durham Cathedral, and
ii) the programme for the Durham Miners' Association Gala of 1973.
"MINES DE LAMBTON" AN 1891 VOLUME ABOUT LAMBTON MINES OR COLLIERIES.
This fine volume is a collection of 52 albumen images & a map about
Lambton Mines - published in the French language in 1891. It is made available by 'Bibliothèque
nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie, PET FOL-VG-492 (whom we sincerely thank), as
you can see here.
The volume is in the public domain, hence its inclusion in these pages. A wonderful archive with images of many 'Lambton' coal mines, vessels in the 'Lambton' collier fleet
& much more besides. The volume surely merits being made available through these pages - hence my purpose in putting it on site cover to cover.
Physically the book is 36 x 48 cm. in size, I read. A modest index is below the next image on this page. We thank Chris
Herring, via Meg Hartford, for bringing this volume to the webmaster's attention.
An attempt at getting you to the correct spot in the
book. The images are mostly in a large size however those in a vertical format are
available in that large size by clicking the image. Move forward & backwards
through the album via the links at the top of each page.
The map
Lambton mines -
Dorothea,
Harraton, Herrington, Houghton
(1 & 2),
Little Town, Lady Ann,
Lady Durham,
Lumley,
Margaret, Sherburn Hill,
Sherburn House
Lambton fleet colliers - Biddick,
Dora, Heathpool,
Lady Ann, Lady Beatrix,
Lady Eleanor, Matin,
Sherburn, also fleet tugs Her Majesty,
Pilot, Snowdrop
Places - Durham Cathedral (1 & 2),
Lambton Castle (1, 2,
3, 4 &
5),
Lambton Park (1, 2,
3, 4,
5 & 6),
Lambton Staithes (1, 2),
Penshaw (1 & 2),
Miners - A group of foremen & miners, Miners'
houses & gardens.
The following image came from an eBay listing for 8 letterheads of
'The Lambton and Hetton Collieries Limited', of Newcastle, dating from 1917. An e-Bay
item,
which sold for GBP 9.25 or U.S. $13.76 on Jan. 29, 2015. We thank 'atlantic-fox'
the eBay vendor for his fine (larger) listing image.
The article below entitled 'The Supply of
London Coal by water.' was published in Illustrated London News ('ILN') on Oct. 10, 1896. I
hope that you will find it to be an interesting commentary both on the birth of
'William Cory and Son, Limited' & of the system for the
physical handling & distribution of coal in London at that time.
The article was accompanied by a fine print entitled 'Coal Traffic
in the Thames : William Cory & Son's derricks at work',
- by artist Charles (W) Wylie. The print can be seen here. Where you can also
read where the webmaster found the article - indeed where you today, as this
page is amended, can buy the
very page & article that I have transcribed with diligence & care.
THE
SUPPLY OF LONDON COAL BY WATER.
In that famous Third Chapter, which itself now stands as a far milestone upon the road of progress along which we have since passed, Macaulay records that the
consumption of coal in London in the latter half of the seventeenth century seemed to the writers of that age enormous, and was often mentioned by them as a proof of the greatness of the imperial city. "They scarcely hoped to be believed
when they affirmed that two hundred and eighty thousand chaldrons - that is to say, about three hundred and fifty thousand tons - were in the last year of the reign of Charles II, brought to the Thames. At present, " he proudly adds, writing
in the year 1847, "three million and a half of tons are required yearly by the Metropolis." And at present, let it be stated with an equal bulk of somewhat futile pride, no less than about sixteen million tons of coal are brought annually to
London. It will naturally be seen that, the greater the amount imported into "the imperial city, " the more complex becomes the problem of carrying so huge a bulk of material to its final resting-place. Roughly speaking, about half of
this immense quantity is carried by rail, and about half by sea. It is with this last division of the subject, and the developments which have just now been suggested and carried out in connection with it, that we have to deal at present.
Of the eight millions of tons, then, which come up to London yearly by water, about two millions are conveyed by the gas companies through their own steamers, and of the remainder over five millions find their
way to town through the agency of certain firms, hitherto distinguished separately by the names of Messrs. William Cory and Son, Lambert Brothers, D. Radford & Co., Beadle Brothers, J. and C. Harrison, Green Holland and Sons, Mann, George
and Co., and G. J. Cockerell and Co. Hitherto, as is also natural, each of these distinct firms has had its own plant, its own methods and its own principle in working the competition of one against another. The necessary fluctuations in price,
and the retardation of any assured possibility of fighting the land traffic of coal with even moderate success, were the natural outcome of such a condition of things. It should seem, therefore, not unlike the inevitable consequence of an
economic law that some kind of combination should eventually be formed between the various firms interested in the shipping of coal to London by water, that they might the better enter into competition with the railway traffic, and that they might
also relieve the internal expenditure of so many separate bodies by a large and material annual sum of money. Amalgamation, therefore, was clearly the true policy, and amalgamation has therefore been arranged in such fashion that after the date of
Nov. 1 all these companies will trade together under the style and title of Messrs. William Cory and Son, Limited.
The internal economies already mentioned will, of course, involve the new handling of the entire trade through one central office. Here ensues an enormous reduction of expenditure ; and by the combination
which will utilise all the Derricks for a common interest and by the laws of a common endeavour. Anyhow, take the thing all in all, it is calculated that a material saving will be made to the combined companies upon every ton brought up yearly to
the Metropolis. If the ambitions of the new company prove true and successful, and if the railway traffic be held in check by its economical advantages, there is no assurance as to what might ensue. At present it is clear that this combination in no way
resembles a "coal ring".
Not the least interesting division of the equipment with which the new combination sets out upon its amazing task is the extraordinary conquest which it has made over the difficulties that necessarily attend the
mere manipulation of the coal, its loading and unloading, that is - the victory, in a word, over the malignity of matter. Recently a large party of journalists were afforded an opportunity of inspecting the facilities afforded for the rapid discharging
of steam-colliers and the barging of coal, and visits were paid to the Derricks moored near the Victoria Dock entrance, the Albert Docks, the Tilbury Docks, Gravesend and Erith, and to the extensive barge building works of William Cory and Son, at
Charlton. The works at Charlton afforded a particularly interesting object-lesson in the new quick discharging Derrick system of which Messrs. Cory are the originators. The upper Derrick, which is a reasonable example of the discharging-berths,
is fitted with ten hydraulic cranes of three various types, the swinging crane, the overside crane, and the luffing crane. By this means four colliers can be worked simultaneously, and no less a quantity than 5000 tons can be loaded into the
barges in the space of twelve hours. Each bucket of coal is weighed as hoisted at the moment of rest before tipping. At the entrance to the Albert Docks Messrs. Lambert have their splendidly equipped jetty ; at the Tilbury Docks Messrs. J.
and C. Harrison have their incomparable plant for discharging colliers, while at Erith, Beadle's coal-wharves extend about three-quarters of a mile, and are connected with about seven miles of sidings for the supply of the South
Eastern Railway system.
It will thus be perceived that the whole of the river facilities for the handling of coal lies between the fingers of the various companies that have banded together, not, indeed, as philanthropists,
but for the ulterior benefit of the public no less certainly than their own. They possess, moreover, twenty-five steam tugs, 1250 barges, a fleet of thirty-one colliers, and many thousand railway-trucks, the latter of which are used for
the transporting of coal from the landing-wharves to such localities in the South of England as lie too far inland to be served from the coast. A service of sea-lighters, which have already been in use by Messrs. Cory and Son for the
space of two years will also be considerably augmented, and it is unnecessary to add that they will play a most important part in the developments that are to be confidently looked for. The history of these vessels has been associated with a good
deal of controversy. When they were first put forward as practical improvements, the Sailors' Union took considerable exception to them, chiefly on the grounds that they were perilous to human life. However that may be, this much is certain -
that they have stood a two years' test between the Humber and the Thames, and that not one life has yet been lost upon them. Moreover, they are exceedingly popular amongst the men - an infallible demonstration of their safety. The usual practice is to arrange
towing-gear between two of these vessels attached to a steam-collier, which itself carries a cargo of coal. If the weather happens to grow too rough, the lighters can be easily be cast off the collier, when their qualities as
excellent sea-boats practically ensure their security. But their best characteristic is their capability of carrying their cargoes to places inaccessible to the ordinary steam-collier. The early-built vessels of this kind carry only 350 tons each,
but in the augmented service they will have a much larger capacity. Of this service the Snurk (?) is the first, and is capable of carrying 1000 tons of coal. With the appliances above mentioned, fifteen steam-colliers, each carrying 1500 to
2000 tons, can be discharged every twelve hours. It is under such auspices, and with eager expectations founded upon them, that this gigantic enterprise sets its foot afar upon river and upon sea.
|
AN 8 PAGE COAL MINING ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN 1939
 |
|
We start the page with a fine, evocative image
next below - of a
scene that was repeated many times each day at any of thousands of coal mines across the
United Kingdom. The image is not of a Sunderland miner, but it was taken at a
Durham mine - at Greenside Colliery, 7 miles W. of Newcastle. The image, which dates
from 1938 or thereabouts, shows miner Tommy Shotton (that's Tommy at left) collecting a token & miners lamp as
he started his shift
in the Greenside mine.
I read that Greenside Colliery operated for over 80 years, from 1880 or thereabouts thru to Jul. 1966.
From 1907 it was owned by Stella Coal Co. Ltd. - until it was nationalised in
1947 & became, of course, a National Coal Board property.
|
The image was included in an 8 page 1938 magazine article.
Which article, I now learn, was published on Feb. 18, 1939 in 'Picture Post'
magazine. An article by author, journalist & academic Ritchie Calder i.e. Peter Ritchie Calder, Baron
Ritchie-Calder of Balmashanner (1906/1982).
'Steve' of Gateshead tells us, in his guestbook message (thanks!) that the photographer for the Picture Post article was D.
(David) W. Savill, who was 'married to my great aunt Agnes McDine,
a Greenside lass.'
I try in these pages not
to reinvent the wheel, so advise that you can see the entire Ritchie Calder article here as a 'pdf'
document. The
above image is not from that 'pdf' file however. It rather appears here thanks to the unusual kindness
of Paul Debney, whose e-Bay store
would seem to have since vanished.
Ritchie Calder advised in his article that
'Every day three miners are killed and over 400 injured in the bowels of the
earth'. As they toiled for their then average British miner pay-packet of
'about £2
16 0 a week, with all allowances'. I read that there were 41 known miner deaths
at Greenside Colliery over its lifetime. Ritchie Calder uses the next words to
describe the sad scene at any of the thousands of pit-heads after a mining disaster
has occurred.
WAITING.... Ever since
the shuddering summons of the hooter, urgent and fraught with foreboding,
had sent them running to the pit-head. Waiting women, coats over their
night-clothes, shawls over their heads, shivering with cold and with fear.
Waiting for that winch to bring up its load, for the cage gates to open, for
limp men, their gas-masks dangling round their necks, their clothes
scorched, and a look of men who had been through hell, to stagger out with
stretchers. Waiting as they have waited all their lives as miners' wives,
for that moment when their ever-present nightmare becomes a reality. Only
those who have stood at the pit-head after a disaster and have watched the
dry-eyed agony of those women can realise the human price of coal.
Next
are two more images from that
8 page article. Do read the whole article!
DURHAM MINERS' ASSOCIATION, 1869-1929
By
E. Allen
Webmaster's comment - The text which follows was published by 'Stephenson' in a booklet entitled 'Monster in the
Pit'. The booklet does not state a publication date, &
contains no information whatsoever about 'Stephenson', the name stated
prominently on the booklet's cover. The booklet, however, was surely
published, in or about April 1991, by Rev. John Stephenson, former Rector of All Saints', Eppleton. He retired in 1996, I read,
& in 2010 was living in East
Herrington.
In 1991 he was described by the Northern Echo as the North-East's best known
priest. 'A pacifist, a poet, a campaigner for social justice, a friend to the
miners and an inveterate opponent of the first Gulf War.'
Can anybody put the webmaster in touch with the Reverend John Stephenson today?
Or alternatively I invite him to
contact the webmaster. Re matters of copyright.
Anyway, the 'Monster
in the Pit' booklet contained a lengthy article entitled
DURHAM MINERS' ASSOCIATION, 1869-1929. The name of the article's author was not stated.
The article was illustrated but I cannot tell if those illustrations were the
same illustrations that apparently appeared in a 68 page soft cover
brochure published in
1969. That brochure, by author E. Allen M.A., contained 12 full page black
and white photographs, a forward by Alfred Hesler, General Secretary (of the
Durham Miners' Association, I presume), & would
seem to have been entitled 'Durham Miners' Association, 1869-1929; A Commemoration'.
'Bookfinder' advises that it was published by 'Durham Miners'
Association', of Red Hill, but David Temple, of that Association, tells me, in Oct. 2013, that they did not,
in fact,
publish it.
All of the images in the article below, are images added by the webmaster.
They do not relate in any way to the original illustrations, whatever they were.
Is it appropriate, copyright-wise, to provide here Mr.
E. Allen's text that was
published in
'Monster in the Pit'? Is the text Mr. Allen's complete text - to the extent at
least that it clearly does not include an 'annexe to the main account' to which
the author makes reference & includes no images? I do not know the answer to those questions. I
undertake however to remove the text below from the site, should Mr. Allen so request.
I like to think that he might just welcome the text's inclusion here.
I have tried to transcribe the text with diligence & care.
DURHAM
MINERS' ASSOCIATION, 1869-1929
On November 20th, 1919, the miners
of the Durham coalfield celebrated the Jubilee of their Association.
Appropriately, for it was the room in which the first official meeting of the
Association had been held in November 1869, a meeting was held in a room of the
Market Hotel, Market Place, Durham City. A resolution, expressing thankfulness
for what had happened in the past was combined with an affirmation of commitment
to the principles represented by the Association in the following terms : "That
we place on record our deep appreciation of the services rendered to the mining
community by the old pioneers of the Durham Miners' Association who commenced
their labours in this room fifty years ago and pledge ourselves individually and
as a committee to continuing their good work."
Further
celebrations took place in the Miners' Hall at Red Hill on Saturday, December
20th, 1919. A brief Council meeting was held : photographs were taken : letters
of friendly congratulation were read : presentations were made, amongst
them one to Mr. M. Thompson of Murton who had been a delegate at the first
meeting of the Association. Toasts were proposed and replied to : Peter Lee
replied to Mr. W. B. Charlton, Chairman of the County Federation Board : Robert Smillie replied to a toast by William Straker to the Miners'
Federation of Great Britain. What memories these names must evoke. Now, a further fifty years on,
the time has come to celebrate the Association's centenary. What changes there
have been since that Jubilee celebration. They evoke a whole series of
unanswerable surmises as to what the position may be when the next occasion of
celebration comes along. Mr. E. H. D. Skinner, who will be remembered by many as
the former Chairman of the Board of the Durham Division of the National Coal
Board has left on record a conversation he had with Sam Watson (1 & 2). They were
together at a conference and they talked about the position the industry might possibly be in in the future and jocularly referred to the possibility that in
100 years time there might very well be a very much smaller coalmining industry
in Durham. Sam dismissed the suggestion with the remark that anyhow these would
be other people's problems, not theirs. But the future has crashed through into
the present and the rapid rundown of the industry in recent years, which seemed
then so remote, has become, and has been since the late fifties, one of the toughest
and most anxious problems the men in the industry and the officials of the
Association have been called upon to face. But there is a sense in which the
future must look after itself : each generation must solve its problems as it
finds them, and in its own way. If the future for the coalmining industry in
Durham holds the prospect of further contraction in size, in contrast with the
prospects of continuing growth which those who celebrated the Jubilee might
entertain--though even then there were signs, in coal as in cotton, that a massive
change was not far off--it is still proper for those celebrating the centenary
today to use the same words and express the same sentiments as their
predecessors in 1919--deep appreciation of what has been done in the past and a
resolve to continue their good work. A centenary, no doubt, is an occasion for
looking both ways, forwards in time as well as backwards, but insofar as it it is
a commemorative celebration of what has been done it is fitting that the main
emphasis should be placed on what has passed. We should not seek to press too
far back in that past : coal was being extracted from the soil of County Durham
well before the Durham Miners' Association was formed in 1869 and there were
numerous attempts to form unions amongst miners before the arrival of the D.M.A.
It is with pride that Durham miners remember the names of pioneering trade
unionists such as Martin Jude and Thomas Hepburn. It almost seems to be a law of
institutional evolution that before a continuing instrument to serve a
particular purpose can be set up there should be a series of experimental
episodic formations which, like sheet lightning, provide a vivid illumination,
but, unlike the daylight, only a fitful one.
The Durham Miners' Association appeared at
a time when the industry was attaining a considerable size, when men were
becoming increasingly aware of common problems and the possibilities of finding
solutions in common and united action. In Durham the problems which drew men
together arose from their detestation of "The Bond", and "Rocking", and the need to
protect their position with regard to rates of pay and conditions of work. It is
to their credit that the men who sought to solve their problems through the
formation of a union also expressed their determination to put a stop to the
long shift-working to which young boys were subjected.
The
issue fared up at Monkwearmouth when four men of the Wearmouth Colliery were
charged before the courts for breach of contract. They had signed "The Bond" in
the customary way and had then withdrawn their labour on the grounds that the
low wages which the coalowners were paying did not provide, even on the most
stringent tests. "a living wage". It provided a focal point for the widespread
discontent which had been growing in the coalfield for many years. Discussions
took place between various people on the possibilities of forming a union and in
the upshot a meeting was called for November 20th, 1869, to be held in a room of
the Market Hotel, Durham City. This was the start : no official records of this
meeting appear to have survived : the source of information is
the Durham Chronicle. In its issue of November 26th it carried a detailed
account of the proceedings : the bulk of it is printed in John Wilson's "History
of the Durham Miners' Association", but it may be worth while to give a few
illustrative details here. It was said that the delegates present at the meeting
represented 4,328 members. They could hardly be members in the enrolled and
paying sense of the term but it could quite well be that numerous groups of
miners in the county had sent men who could act as delegates, for already
meetings had been held at which the notion of forming a Durham miners' union had
been given attentive consideration. There had been a meeting in July, 1869, not
so much, as yet, to pass resolutions but rather to consider how a body could be
brought into being which could quite fittingly do so : it is possible to find
references to similar meetings at other places, at Thornley, for example, in
September. Those who were contemplating the formation of a miners' union were
clearly moving to a point of decision. It is this meeting in the Market Hotel on
November 20th, 1869 with which this point of decision may be identified. There
is an air of specific purpose about their proceedings as reported in the Durham
Chronicle and they pass resolutions. A selection of their resolutions, as
reported, is as follows :-
"That the following be appointed
Trustees--Alan Murray, W. Clarke, Isaac Parks, W. Patterson, R. Carr, W. Wilson,
John Armstrong and T. Noble" : again :- "that each delegate have one vote" :
"that Mr. John Richardson be Agent and Secretary and be paid 32s per week and
allowed third-class railway fare when on the business of the Association when
such business calls him more than four miles from his residence, the delegates
to decide his place of residence" : " that the miners of the County of Durham
have their attention called to the objects contemplated by the Association by
hand-bills and that 500 be printed": "that the agent go into the Crook and
Spennymoor districts and explain the advantages of the Society": there were
others : but these will suffice ; the Association, small and shaky though its
structure might be, was "in business."
The union was formed at an opportune time. Trade was beginning to boom, and did
so steadily, particularly through 1871-2 into 1873. Coal prices were rising and
the coal-owners, eager to gain and fulfil contracts, were more amenable to trade
union pressure than in a slump. Rates of pay were increased by several stages
until in February, 1873, the total advance made wages 58.7% above the level of
1871 : the trend of opinion amongst the owners was that the practice of "The
Bond" should be discarded : at a meeting of miners and coalowners on February
17th, 1872, on the basis of this understanding, consideration was given to the
question of what the best terms of service might be : the owners favoured a
monthly, the men were unanimous in their view that fortnightly notices should be
the rule : this period of notice was adopted, with fortnightly pays. The
acknowledged leader of the Durham Association was now William Crawford. He was
made an Agent in 1870, later President and then in March, 1872, he was made
Secretary. He was a vigorous, forceful man, dedicated to the cause of trade
unionism, and the encouraging start enabled him to speak and write about the
future in bold and confident terms. It was as well that circumstances had
provided such a favourable context for the start of the new union and that their
leader was a man of vigorous optimism, for the book broke. During 1873 coal
prices fell and the market, as indeed the economy generally, was sliding
downwards into one of those cyclical depressions with which the 19th century was
learning to live even if it could not either understand or control them.
The coal trade continued to experience low prices and slack demand--certainly
demand below the capacity to produce coal which the industry had now built up,
and this made for coalmining trading difficulty which was reflected in a
continued reduction of wage rates. By 1879 rates, instead of being over 50%
above 1871 rates, were 10% below. The continuing low price of coal presented a
sharper problem to the union that might otherwise have come about because of the
arrangements for determining wages which had now been agreed upon by the
Executive Committee of the Association and the coalowners. These arrangements
fell into two parts. First, it had been agreed that the variation of wages for a particular grade of labour (the hewer)
should be related to an agreed basis rate which should itself be moderated by
percentage additions or decreases whose amount should depend upon the average
price of a ton of Durham coal in the market. This was the first of four
sliding-scale arrangements. The first was put into operation in 1877, to run for
a period of two years. Three other sliding-scale arrangements followed : the
fourth being terminated in 1889. The history of the sliding-scales is an astonishing one.
The attitude of both owners and men seems to be one which can
only adequately be described by a piece of jargon drawn from psychology : they
seemed to have a sort of love-hate attitude towards the sliding-scale principle.
The owners terminated the first because they were dissatisfied with the way in
which it was working out : the men terminated the 2nd, 3rd & 4th. The merits
which may be claimed for the sliding-scale arrangement are that the adjustment of
wage-rates, to an agreed basis rate, is, or can be, reasonably quick and
impersonal. It does not require the lodging of a claim by the men for an increase
or of a claim for a reduction by the owners. It does not lead to unduly
protracted negotiations because of stone-walling by either side, or both, when a
claim is made, or because of excessive claims by the side presenting it.
The sliding scale provided an automatic mechanism which could therefore rule out undue delays,
and the possibility of clashes between the two parties to the wage bargain. But, equally obviously, the willingness of both sides to continue the operation of such arrangements will tend to depend
upon the acceptance by
each of the reasonableness of the foundations on which the sliding-scale
changes take place. And it was precisely because of suspicion and uneasiness
on these counts that the sliding-scale arrangements fell into disfavour. The
owners terminated the first because the fall in coal prices could not be given
what they regarded as their due reflection in a decrease in percentages on basis
rates because they had, perhaps unwittingly, agreed that there should be a
minimum level below which the rates should not go. When they met the minimum
wage requirements "in the flesh", so to say, they did not like it. The
Association terminated the other three because they became increasingly critical
of the figures which the owners were using to measure the costs of producing a
ton of saleable coal and which, therefore, in conjunction with realised
sale-proceeds on the market, would be relevant to the calculation of profit.
"Let us see a more detailed breakdown of costs", they said. The men became
increasingly restive at having to accept, blindly, the simple assertions of the
owners that, given the costs of production, based on, in part, existing wage
rates, the realised average price of coal left them with inadequate profit
margins or even losses. The miners naturally were not content to go on being
told the time by simply being told the position of the fingers; they wanted to
look inside and study the works. But a close look inside the clock, where the
ratios between the various moving parts produced the profits, was precisely what
the owners were not prepared to accord. Continued willingness to operate a
sliding-scale arrangement between realised prices and percentage changes on
basis wage rates is also clearly dependent on willing acceptance of the level of
the basis rate itself, and also of the principle that the right relation between
wages and prices is for wages to follow prices, In the end the experience of
four sliding-scales was enough, for both sides, but it is an understandable
reflection of the continuing attachment of the miners to sliding-scales that
when steep wage reductions were demanded in 1879 the miners' leaders were
already engaged amongst themselves in discussions which eventually led to the
second scale. As negotiations proceeded the owners reduced the amount by which
they had initially demanded that wages should be reduced, and the men's leaders
moved increasingly over to the idea that a wage determination should be left to
arbitration, though, as the owners' demands came lower the leaders, as well as
the Federation Board expressed themselves as prepared, however reluctantly, to
consider acceptance of the owners' terms. They drew attention to the slackness
of trade and to "the risks which always attend a stoppage of the pits when trade
is paralysed and men both suffering and disorganised."
In
the upshot the miners' leaders offered arbitration but the owners gave notice
that all existing wage arrangements would expire on a named date and that
thereafter work would be available only on the basis of agreement to accept
quite sizeable percentage reductions. The men were unwilling to accept these
terms and they remained 'on strike' from April 5 to July 28, when an interim
award by Judge Bradshaw giving a reduction was supplemented by a further award
by Lord Derby giving a further small reduction. The Association was again
involved in a general county strike in 1892. The owners presented a claim in
November 1891 for either a reduction in wages of 10% or a submission to open
arbitration. (Webmaster's Note - an article ex Illustrated London News of Mar. 26, 1892, available here, sets out in some detail the causes of the 1892 strike). After protracted discussions the various unions in the Federation
Board ballotted on the issue of "strike" or "no strike" and the voting on
March
16 was 43,000 for striking and 12,000 in favour of leaving the Federation to
settle. the strike was on : it lasted until June 3rd. Its settlement was in part
effected by the entry of Bishop Westcott. He appears to have been saddened at
the evidence of privation and hardship amongst the people of Durham : it is
possible he may also have been influenced by the evidence that tempers were
rising, attitudes hardening, with the possibility that there might be ugly
scenes and public affrays. Be that as it may, he appealed to the owners to
meet him and the miners round a table, not on the grounds of the rightness or
otherwise of their case, but on the humanitarian ground that the continuance of
the stoppage of work was bringing many people into distress. A meeting at
Auckland Castle took place and a settlement was eventually reached on the basis
of a 10% reduction in wages and the undertaking to consider the setting up of a
Conciliation Board, on the existence of which the Bishop set a great deal of
importance. It had a shaky and uneasy start. A Board was set up and held its
first meeting in 1895 : it was suspended in 1896 : but it was renewed in 1899.
The
course of wage determination after the abandonment of sling-scales presents
itself therefore as a series of arbitration awards. It is interesting to see
from the facts that the variations asked for by the owners were consistently
greater that the awards eventually made. This cannot be automatically taken as
proof that the system of arbitration operated to the advantage of the miners but
it is at least evidence that the owners did not get the amounts for which they
initially asked. How, precisely, the outcome should be interpreted depends, in
the last analysis, on a just blend of perceptiveness and trust.
When
this section was introduced some pages back it was said that the means for
determining wages and conditions of work fell into two parts. It is now time to
consider the sort of instrument of control to be found in this second part. What
we find is The Joint Committee. Its establishment arose from discussions between
a number of employers and a number of the miners' leaders on July 19th, 1872. At
this meeting a formal resolution was adopted that six members of each
Association (owners on the one hand and miners on the other) should meet
regularly to consider matters of detail on which one or other of the two parties
might seek a ruling. The purpose of the Joint Committee comes out more clearly
however if note is taken of the rues which were agreed upon by a further
committee which had been given the specific job of drawing up a code of rules :
"The object of the committee" it was laid down, "shall be to arbitrate, appoint
arbitrators, or otherwise settle all questions (except such as may be termed
County questions or questions affecting the general trade) relating to matters
of wages practices or working or any other subject which may arise from time to
time at any particular colliery . . . "
February
14, 1910
Washington
'F' Pit
Owners
complain that back shift hewers are not staying in the face until loosed by
their marrows
. . .
October
20, 1913
Saint
Hilda
Owners
complain that men at coal cutting and drilling machines refuse to work more
than
11 shifts per fortnight and ask that they work when ordered 12 shifts or more in
accordance with custom of colliery : the Lodge must not prevent these men
carrying
out the custom."
The Joint Committee seems to be in serious danger of being converted to an
undesirable extent into a committee for the hearing of complaints, where, for
the most part, it would seem the committee is being called on to inculcate a
discipline which local managements are failing in. This may perhaps be
interpreted as a further sign of the development of an increasing militancy in
the attitude of the men in these closing years before World War I. The point is
worth consideration. It may be a further aspect of a swing against the attitude
and policy associated with the leadership of Crawford and Wilson. Both men,
though firmly and utterly committed to the cause of seeking to better the
position of working men through Trade Union action had had consistently strong
views on the subject of unconstitutional strike action by lodges, the
inexpediency of strikes considered as an industrial weapon, and the non-validity
of Socialism as against a radical version of Liberalism which would enable them
to stand for Parliament as candidates in the Labour interest, but with Liberal
sponsorship. They insisted upon constitutional action in industrial disputes
because only in this way, as they seem to have thought, could continuing
negotiations and mutually respecting industrial relations be maintained with the
coal owners. Their tactics and language on the point have, from the start, a
surprisingly contemporary relevance. No occasion seems to bring out this
attitude more clearly than that in 1872 when Crawford was about to open his
negotiations with the coal owners and the men at Haswell and Castle Eden Collieries had come out on strike. After a short consultation the miners'
leaders who had gathered in Newcastle to open up these joint discussions sent
the following telegram to the men at Haswell and Castle Eden.
"
We regret to hear that Haswell and Castle Eden Collieries are idle. You must
know that
you are wrong and we strongly advise you to commence work tomorrow
otherwise steps will be taken to repudiate such reprehensible conduct and if
necessary the strongest action will be taken in the matter."
The
attitude of Crawford and Wilson has been described by Professor Geoffrey Best in
his Bishop Westcott Memorial lecture as " Burtism. " Burt, the Northumberland
miners leader held and practiced precisely these doctrines and beliefs -- but
not more strongly, one would think, than Crawford and Wilson : and the attitude
could just as rightly be described as Wilsonism. Neither term is particularly
attractive as literary coin but the point of the distinction which it is desired
to make is that Wilson did not hold these views as a follower of Burt : they
were his own; and he sought to provide a leadership and a strategy to the Durham
miner which would have this stamp.
But a
tide of opinion was now beginning to run against him : and it was, in the end,
to carry the D.M.A. away from him. This opposing tide had already shown itself in
various ways. There was the occasion when certain lodges had brought forward
resolutions asking that the Gala be held, not in Durham City, but in some other
place--Waldridge Fell, Auckland, were mentioned--away from the citadels of the
established order. Another example is seen in the formation in 1898 of a
Progressive Group--The Durham Miners' Progressive Federation--which even in the
Wilson era is restless under the sponsorship of the Liberal party. It is seen
yet again in the nomination of Tom Mann to speak on several occasions at the
Gala : he first spoke at the Gala of 1912. His nomination, his appearance to
speak, no less than what he said--and on one occasion he was called to order by
the chairman on his platform for expressing sentiments which, to the chairman,
seemed an abuse of hospitality--were a pointed challenge to the Burt/Wilson
formula. It would not be wrong, either, to see as further evidence of the
changing tide the application by the D.M.A. in 1907 to become a member of the
M.F.G.B. By this act Durham expressed its willingness to depart from its
long-cherished position of County independence and associate itself with such
policies as might arise from the majority decisions of the M.F.G.B. And this, in
certain instances, particularly the matter of Hours, would mean the abandonment
of something which had been almost a Durham gospel. The 8-hour shift which the
M.F.G.B. was pressing Parliament to establish by statute had long been
steadfastly opposed by Durham. Although its adoption meant reductions in working
time for some miners it involved an increase in the length of the working day for
hewers, the county's most numerous and influential workmen, and the threat of
multi-shift working, with all its social and domestic inconvenience.
But the day of County isolation and self-determination had passed : opinion had
hardened against it and if there was a price to be paid for merging with the
national movement amongst miners and taking up a more militant and socialistic
stance which tended to express itself with increasing sharpness in a demand for
the Nationalisation of the coalmining industry, then the D.M.A. had now reached a
stage when it was prepared to pay that price. An increasing number in the
membership of the D.M.A. would no doubt be inclined to rank that price much
lower than Wilson and Crawford would. But, as was said earlier, each generation
must settle its problems in its own way and the way of Wilson and Burt was
beginning to slide away into history.
It
would be wrong, however, to interpret the activities of the D.M.A. in the years
between its formation and World War I merely in terms of industrial relations,
bargaining procedures, and the evolutionary shift, ideologically and
politically, from " Burtism " to militancy and Socialism. The D.M.A. had notable
achievements in the field of welfare. Its interest in safety in the pits was
always strong and it promoted a very beneficial system of training in ambulance
work and safety methods for the men at the pits. It did so by an effective blend
of courses, competitions and the presentation of the issue as one of challenge
to the individual miner to improve his knowledge, test himself in competition
with his fellows, and, in so doing, put himself into a state of knowledgeable
preparedness for acting in emergencies either independently or as one of a
disciplined team.
Another notable
achievement, not unrelated to the first, for it stems from the dangers
inevitably associated with pit life, was the evolution and elaboration of a
committee for dealing with cases of compensation. The Compensation Committee
began in 1898. It was built up carefully and solicitously to become an effective
instrument for dealing as quickly and equitably as might be possible with cases
of need arising through accidents in the pits.
Those
arrangements became a source of justifiable pride to the leaders of the
Association. There was a recognised need for such an instrument : the D.M.A. met
that need and met it carefully, thoughtfully and effectively, employing for the
purpose whatever legal skills might be thought necessary. The D.M.A. has had a
number of lawyers in its service, amongst them Mr. R. W. Williams and Mr. I. E.
Geffen to mention only two. It is a safe surmise to make that these men valued
their association with D.M.A. and their power to make a contribution to the
welfare of its members through their work.
Yet
another notable achievement in contributing to the welfare of their members
other than through the normal and traditional trade union procedures, indeed one
which has been widely recognised to be an outstanding piece of imaginative and
perceptive pioneering, is to be seen in the acquisition, betterment and building
of homes for aged miners. The man whose name will always be remembered for his
initiative in starting this work, his patient understanding and careful
custodianship of the scheme as it developed is Mr. J. Hopper. He first suggested
that the D.M.A. should form an Association and use its funds for the purpose of
acquiring or building houses which could be allocated to old miners in 1899.
Reading between the lines the impression is created, perhaps unjustifiably, that
Mr. Hopper's suggestion was not received with very great enthusiasm. It was a
kindly thought no doubt but it is easy to come away from the records with the
thought that a number of people at the time tended to think that there were
other, bigger more exciting campaigns in which the Association might engage its
time and finances. But Joseph Hopper quietly persisted with his suggestion and,
gradually, support for his suggestion grew. He secured support from a number of
men of influence in Durham amongst them Canon Moore Ede. First, a large hall
standing in two acres of ground was acquired near Boldon. This was taken over by
the Boldon lodge for their own men. Next the Committee negotiated with the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners for parcels of land amounting in all to nine
acres, in three different parts of the county. A splendid opportunity then came
their way when the chance was afforded to acquire at one go the whole of the
colliery village of Haswell Moor, 112 houses, each with a garden and obtainable
at £25 per hose. Amongst the advantages of the acquisition, and clearly there were
many, one that was particularly pleasing was that here you already had a
collection of houses grouped on their common site and it was possible to envisage
making very quickly the transference from a collection of houses to a community of
people using them. The whole scheme, which had gained large support amongst
people outside the industry, was given an official send-off in the same month.
The work of the committee expanded : it built homes, and indeed, the provision of
new houses, generally small single-storey properties, bungalow type, in little
rows and crescents became the central formula for its work. What they built can still
be seen today : sturdy, neat, inexpensive and obviously eminently livable. The
number of houses is now more than 20? and though today the function of housing
old people has passed to the Local Authorities these properties stand as a
quietly moving tribute to the imaginative
insight and patient endeavour of an early leader who, by reason of the quietness of
his personality, does not otherwise figure prominently in the records.
To
this work in providing homes for aged miners the D.M.A. has added a further
contribution to welfare by acquiring and running convalescent homes. The
first such home was opened in 1930 when Conishead Priory was acquired : a second
was opened at Richmond in 1961 to be called the Sam Watson Rest Home. What some
miners at any rate think of this aspect of D.M.A. activity is illustrated by the
fact that a representation of the Conishead Priory Convalescent Home figures as
the central theme on one of the banners proudly carried on Gala Day.
With
regard to Education, however, there does not seem to be the same weight of
support as in these other fields of welfare. Plenty of examples, of course, can
be found of leaders, in speeches or in circulars, stressing its importance. It
is also true that from time to time there is reference to a contribution which
has been made to some institution or movement in adult education. But the main
interest in Education seems to come after the war and in these more recent
developments the move worthy of note would seem to be, first, the keener
interest taken in educational activities during the heavy unemployment of the 1930's
when men had so much 'time' on their hands and when various bodies, interested
in general social welfare, Councils of Social Service, The Society of Friends,
the Extra-mural Departments of the Universities, the W.E.A., and others were
actively concerned to co-operate with the miners in laying on courses which would
at least occupy and interest people's minds, as indeed, for many, they did. In a
number of cases, small but significant, a means might be afforded for somebody
to move forward to more continuous study at a higher level, at Ruskin College,
Oxford, or Fircroft, or, possibly, for a still smaller number study for a degree
at a university. Secondly, a development well worthy of mention must be the
Sunday classes which, for so many years, were taken by Sam Watson or by speakers
he was able to persuade to go along. In the interest of his Sunday class he
could be very persuasive and as a result its members heard many notable speakers
whose path they might normally never have been likely to cross. Of his Sunday
Class he was very, and very properly, proud. It introduced into the thoughts of
the members international issues in a manner which consistently continued the
interest in international affairs and the peoples of other countries which had
been exemplified in the international interests of the leaders in the days of
Crawford and particularly Wilson, and is illustrated by the names of speakers at
the earlier Galas. As a pendant to the weekly class was the annual week of
residential study at Cober Hill, near Scarborough. Men competed for a limited
number of places by the writing of essays : many are the stories that could be
told, and indeed have been told, about the exacting task which this essay
writing presented to many, and how they coped with it.
Cober
Hill and the Sunday classes are remembered and will go on being remembered, no
doubt, with both pleasure and pride by Durham miners ; and they will not be
likely to forget the man responsible for their initiation and development.
These
references to education and unemployment have spilled over beyond the period it
was intended to keep to, for 1914 provides a natural stopping point. Forget
them, then, for a while and pause to try to take stock of the position which the
D.M.A. had by this time carved out for itself and of the economic position of
the industry to which it belonged. In taking stock, however, there will be no
attempt to present a full array of statistical tabulations, membership, assets,
and the like. Figures have been used from time to time by way of illustration
and this is the way in which they will continue to be used : the full
statistical arrays will be found in due course in the two volumes which it is
the intention to publish when this occasion of centenary has slipped behind. The
same economy of selection of statistical data will be employed when dealing with
the economic position of the Durham Coalfield. So, if the reader wants an array
of full statistical sequences he will not find them : let him be patient : they
will come.
The position of the D.M.A. by
1914 can be briefly but perhaps adequately indicated by giving the figures of
its membership and comparing them with the figures of membership of miners
unions in other districts. A good source for such comparisons is found in the
tables which show how different districts voted on issues of great significance
on which opinion was either strongly held or divided. When district voting took
place Durham could throw in a total of approximately 100,000 votes. Only South
Wales and Yorkshire could throw in bigger figures. Scotland came along a good
fourth in these comparisons. In numbers and solidarity of organisation Durham had
become, from the shaky less-than-2,000 start, one of the 4 most powerful
components within the national miners' organisation. On the lists of the
Executive Committee of the M.F.G.B. there had appeared by 1915, the following
Durham names :- T. H. Cann, S. Galbraith, J. Hobson, Dr. J. Wilson, W. House, J.
Robson, W. Whiteley : in later years they were to be supplemented by further
notable names : by 1930 the following new names had appeared on the M.F.G.B.
Executive Committee :- T. Trotter, J. Batey, W. P. Richardson, P. Lee, J. E.
Swan, J. Gilliland. Of these W. House held office as Vice-President (1914-17)
: James Robson (1918-21) : and W. P. Richardson (1921-30) served as
Treasurers.
The economic position of the industry was
strong and that of the industry in the County so strong as to look almost
unassailable. The county could provide a large quantity annually of coals of
different sorts and classes. Its gas coals were in strong demand in gas works
both locally and nationally. The London gas companies maintained a shuttle
service of ships taking gas coal from the region's ports to the Thames.
Its steam coals were in strong demand locally, across the North Sea in Western
Europe, and for bunker purposes all over the world. Its coking coals,
particularly the coking coal of the thin but rewarding Victoria Seam in South
West Durham, were rated to be the best in Western Europe. A growing population
in the North East served to sustain an expanding market for its household coals.
In
so far as its coals were bought by heavy industry, e.g. the iron and steel and
shipbuilding industries, or taken up for bunker purposes by the shipping fleets
of the world, its activity was one of course affected by the cyclical variation
of the demand originating in these ways and it was one of the stock beliefs of
the trade that the prices of coals in export markets tended to be more variable
than the prices of other coals, e.g. gas coals. For this however there was, as
yet, no diagnosis, let alone suggestions for a remedy, for which there was
general acceptance and support. The alternation of slump with boom had to be
accepted as part of the facts of national economic life. In the period up to
1914 however these alternations had worked out their course along an ascending
growth path, both nationally and regionally. The tonnage figures of a slump of
the later years could be above the tonnage figures of a boom belonging to the
earlier years, if two cycles far enough apart were taken. It was an unsteady, or
perhaps, better, oscillating progress along the time-path of the industry. The
cycle had thus its brighter as well as its darker and more damaging
features. Unfortunately the greater degree of damage might be likely to be done
to those members of the community who work with short horizons of time rather
than long : a wage earner paid weekly or fortnightly may well be more vulnerable
than a man paid monthly or quarterly. The reason is not far to seek. Slumps
inevitably brought with them an increase in unemployment, low or non-existent
pay packets, and therefore the pinch of harder times for miners and their
families. The weekly sum which the D.M.A. could provide to its unemployed
members was small and did not go far : in the absence of National Unemployment
Insurance Benefit provision a miner's family would be thrown back on its savings
and such credit as the local shops, notably, perhaps, the local Co-operative
Society, could provide. But miners do not as a rule, or did not then, save much
and a month can be a long time for a family which is without a regular wage
packet or other dependable source of income. All the same it is fair comment
that even in the slumps the hope of economic revival could be genuinely and
sincerely nourished. It is in that respect, if no other - though there are
indeed many others - that that day differs so very markedly from today.
During
the first World War two lines of development stand out which are important
because they provide a link with developments on which comment has already been
made and developments yet to come. Because of its key importance to the working
of the national economy in wartime the industry eventually passed under Government control : exhortations to maintain output in the national interest
became a common-place. These are circumstances which will not be explored
further. The two developments which it is perhaps important to single out for
special comment are :-
| |
1. |
The growing dissatisfaction in various parts of the Durham coalfield with the
existing basis
for wages and a growing demand for a reform of the wage system, which would include, in particular, the establishment of a 'living' minimum wage.
|
| |
2. |
The emergence of an even more sharply expressed conflict of opinion between
those who, on the whole, tended to be satisfied with a continuation of Burt/Wilson and
those who, like Mr. Gilliland, appear to have desired a strong and open advocacy
of Socialism. |
The first sensitive issue came
to a head during 1916 when increased rates were successfully negotiated but an
underlying restiveness persisted at what was thought to be the undesirably low
minimum rates. The second came to a head, indeed exploded, when Mr. Cann tackled
Mr. Gilliland on the justification for certain allegations he was said to have
made against the more moderate members of the D.M.A. leadership. Mr. Cann
moved, in a memorandum, from his questions to Mr. Gilliland, without a break, to
a vigorous polemical assault on the Independent Labour Party. We may perhaps
read two things from these events. First, that a spirit of dissatisfaction is
gathering strength which could develop into a full scale attack upon the whole
principle of basing wages on the determinations of a Conciliation Board which
had been set up as long ago as 1895. Second, the members of the Association are
indicating firmly where they stand on the issue of Burt/Wilson or Socialism and
it is becoming increasingly clear that there is a growing weight of support for
Socialism.
As a tailpiece to this brief
account of what seems to be significant in World War I and as a quieter item that
the two already mentioned there must be put into the record the fact that on
October 23rd, 1915, the Association moved from the North Road to its
newly-erected Hall and Offices at Red Hill. This is where, of course, its
affairs are still conducted. It is a quiet place, not without dignity and though
its meetings must often have been vigorous and turbulent, with plenty of hard
things plainly said, they have not disturbed its peace. If, in the days to come,
when, sadly, the Hall and Offices might have to be applied to other uses, and
there are ghosts about the place, they will be friendly ones.
As during 1918,
it became increasingly possible to visualise an end to fighting, two events took place which provided a very clear
pointer to the way in which it might be expected that discussions with the coalowners on matters of pay and conditions might develop.
First, the programme of the M.F.G.B.
for its Summer (1918) conference contained demands for the nationalisation of coal mines, and land : there was also a demand for a six-hour day.
If this was to set the tone and indicate the direction then there was already
evidence that quite a number in Durham would be found ready to speak, vote and
act in sympathy.
Second, Mr. Robson, who had been asked
in 1917 to examine the structure of wages in Durham and, in particular, the
function of the Conciliation Board, presented a very detailed and raking report.
The general tenor of his argument was one of profound dissatisfaction with the
principle upon which wage-rate changes were calculated. There is an echo
of a similar dissatisfaction which had been expressed, but not in such
forthright terms, during the love-hate relationship of both owners and men to
the sliding-scales. He had noted the tendency of the owners to make great play
with costs and he was not satisfied that the build-up of costs was conducted in
a manner that was either fair to the miners or indeed strictly correct as pure
accounting procedure. It is dissatisfaction with the clock-face treatment all
over again but is is much more aware of itself and more determined to produce a
reform.
" What are these costs?" he asked.
" Unless the owners," he said, "are ready and willing to allow the accountants
to ascertain not only the selling price but the cost they have so often urged I
am not prepared for my part to allow the important interests of our people to
rest upon the word of the owners."
It is
impossible to go here into the detail of the case he wished to press : but it is
evident that there had been an increase in purpose and determination on the side
of the miners leaders : if the chips are not yet down then the situation bears
the signs of a determination to throw them down if need be. It is worth
recalling that John Wilson had elicited a reply from Lord Davey which disclosed
the rightness of the miners' insistence upon disclosure and explanation of costs
item by item. But it is at this point that one is again forcibly reminded of the
complicating duality of the position in which the D.M.A. now found itself. On
the one hand it had to work out as satisfactory a relation as possible with the
Durham coalowners : on the other the D.M.A. was caught up in the plans and aims
of the M.F.G.B. The situation in 1918 illustrates the tension between the two
most vividly. The Durham Federation Board had asked the coalowners for a new
start with regard to the compilation and discussion of costs and the reply of
the owners had not been discouraging. Yet it is precisely at this time, when the
owners seem prepared to take the clock-face off and explain the works, that the
M.F.G.B., at its July Conference, had carried its resolution in favour of
nationalisation unanimously. Nationally. the M.F.G.B. was consorting with the
N.U.R. and the Transport Workers' Federation to organise opposition to both the
Government and the T.U.C. at one and the same time.
"This conference of the Triple Alliance," they said, "decides to recommend to all its constituent parts
to take such action in accordance with their respective constitutions to
ascertain whether their members are prepared to take industrial action .
. . " Mr. Cann must have been relieved to receive, later, a
telegram from Frank Hodges, General Secretary of the M.F.G.B., to take no action
about a ballot on direct action till further notice. The general complexity of the situation was
not helped by the development and then the breaking of a feverish post-war boom,
by the confused state of opinion created by the publication of the Sankey
Commission and the action of the Government in relation to the recommendations.
1921 was a year of depression, strikes and confusion. The Government's policy towards the mining industry seemed to consist of short-run expedients, with,
behind them, a longer-run determination to establish the coal industry in a
position where it could make profits and avoid losses without depending upon a
continuing subsidy. This made it clear that one of the issues of the mid-part of
the twenties must inevitably be wages and the costs of coal, which would, in
turn, inevitably raise the question of hours.
Controversy
over hours, wages, profits continued unabated through 1924 and 1925 and when, in
April 1926 the notices previously given by the coalowners expired and the miners
were asked to agree to terms which would mean a reduction in wages and an
increase in hours the outcome was not in doubt. The miners were in no mood to
accept a worsening in the terms and conditions of their work. So they were
locked out. On May 4 the T.U.C. gave instructions for the calling of a General
Strike in sympathy with the miners. The general strike did not last long : the
miners lock-out did. They did not go back to work until November. At its end the
men had to go back on the owners terms : the basic subsistence rate was reduced
by nearly 1/- per shift : there was an increase in hours from 7 to 8 for workers
other than Deputies and Hewers whose shifts were increased from 7 to 7½. The
question that arises is how this stoppage, particularly when the stoppage in
coalmining was supplemented by stoppage arising from the sympathetic strike
organised for a few days by the T.U.C. should be interpreted.
To
some it seems to be an attack by organised labour on Government, Law, Order and
the general stability of the realm. To some it seems to be the beginnings of an
immense gesture of industrial defiance by the workers which somehow ran out of
fervour and conviction and left the battle to be fought lengthily, wearily, by
the owners and miners in coalmining : to many, perhaps, it was a last stand in
a coalmining battle with the owners over hours and pay which could be traced
back to 1919 and 1920.
It had its brighter
side. The summer was better than most English summers tend to be. The pit
ponies were brought out of the pit : their scamperings on the unaccustomed
grass, the many pony races, all provided delight and excitement. The difficulty
came when, after a long summer, not of discontent, but of philosophic
acceptance, with the means to buy things grimly scanty, the good weather broke
and the days grew cold and wet. Under such conditions a return to work,
necessarily on the owners terms, was inevitable. And so it turned out. The
writing of this section of the brochure has been immensely helped by the
provision of a letter written by a man who lived through these days in 1926 and
remembers them. In response to a request he wrote his recollections down. What
he has written is simple, clear and unmistakeably sincere. In parts it is
immensely moving. It confirms the impression with which this section opened. The
miners lock-out and the general strike which, for a time, accompanied it, was no
surge of incipient revolution : it was a last stand by men who felt that
circumstances had left them no option if they were to maintain their dignity and
self-respect. How far this impression is acceptable and how the miners' stoppage
occurred in a place not far from Durham City may perhaps be conveyed by a few
extracts from the letter which has been mentioned. After describing how the
miners and their families spent their time, and how much goodwill was created
between them, local farmers, local shopkeepers and others, he touches on the
danger to solidarity which was created by the establishment of Spencers
(Midland) Non-Political unions and he has a vivid account of the situation at
West Rainton, where the Adventure Colliery was working with "blackleg" labour
. . .
"Mass meetings were held in parts of the county where
the morale seemed to weaken. Such a meeting of 30,000 miners was held at the
Adventure Colliery at West Rainton. All the Miners' Lodges brought their bands
and banners from every corner of the county. The Adventure Colliery was working
with blackleg miners and hundreds of police were drafted into West Rainton from
as far south as Hull. On the sight of the blackleg miners coming up from the pit
(surrounded by a cordon of police) the crowd became incensed : but due to the
advice of the miners leaders an ugly scene was averted. A. J. Cook was appealing
in his shirt sleeves from a raised, make-shift platform : it was a scorching hot
day. The Rainton Workingmen's Club provided a dinner for the speaker and the
loyal men of the colliery who refused to break away to blackleg. In the
afternoon a visit was made to each blackleg s home and here again the police
were present in strong force but it was a peaceful picketting, no action
against the canvassers could be taken . . . "
He describes he closing scenes of the stoppage and the return to work in
these terms :-
" . . . I was summoned to attend
a County delegates special meeting in the Red Hills Miners' Hall in Durham City
to hear the report of the deliberation and report of the National
Conference given by our President, Peter Lee. It was an atmosphere of
despair and defeat with Peter Lee almost in tears giving a lamented advice for we
delegates to return to our miners' halls and advise their members to go to the
colliery office and sign on for a return to work as had been arranged with the
coalowners. It was a day of torrential rain and I rode to and from Durham on my
pedal cycle. When I reached the Miners' Lodge Hall I found it packed to the door
with an overspill on the road. A clearance in the hall was made for me to reach
the platform where men and boys were sitting with their legs dangling to the
floor, for a make-shift sing-song had been going on awaiting my return. I was in
such a bedraggled, drenched state that the Chairman, George Gregory, announced
that the delegate needed time to arrange his notes (which were sopping wet) and
the check weighman was going to get his wife to make me a cup of tea. They lived
next door to the hall. The concert was renewed and I sat in the Committee room
with my tea. In about half an hour I felt I wanted to commence my report and the
Chairman and Committee cleared the platform, and I spoke for about a half-hour
giving all the phases leading up to the day's special conference at Durham. I was
listened to in dead silence and when I announced that I was instructed by
our County leaders that no useful purpose could be served by continuing the
lock-out and men and boys must go at once to the colliery office where the
manager and his officials together with the colliery clerks were ready,
waiting to interview each man and boy individually, the hall exploded with a
rush for the door. It was chaos, with men and boys jammed in the doorway. The
street was crowded with hysterical men and boys rushing up to the colliery
office to sign on. Yet the worst was yet to come for the manager only made it
possible for a single file of men and boys to enter the office. Cap in hand it
was a great humiliation but desperation took place of any such. The manager
announced that as the pit had stood idle so long it was impossible to replace
all the men and boys at once and some would have to go on the dole for a while.
Thus he picked his men and boys as he wished and it gave him the opportunity to
use this phrase--which became a by-word at every colliery--it was now Tom, Dick or
Harry, I'll send for you when I want you. It was evident that the local owners
had coined that guarded phrase and sent it to each colliery. Needless to say
that many active trade unionists and Labour Party supporters were never sent for
and names circulated around every colliery . . . "
The
rigours of the owners terms, the determined follow-up of the Government in
repudiating the Samuel Commission, the repeal of the 7 Hours Act of 1919 and the
passing of a controlling and correcting Trade Disputes and Trades Unions Act in
1927 had two effects in Durham. It reduced the more moderately-minded men to a
condition of stoic resignation and inflamed those whose views were already
strongly Socialistic to even stronger expressions of distaste for the Government
and the system which it was interpreted as representing and defending. It
provided an opportunity for those who held Communist or near-Communist
viewpoints to assail the D.M.A. leadership and undermine their appeal to the
Durham miner. Mr. W. P. Richardson, intent on the rebuilding of his exhausted
resources had the difficult task of trying to stave off the extremer critics and
persuade his rank-and-file that to listen to the extremer voices might be simply
to invite continued financial loss and disruption. His critics openly campaigned
to replace Richardson and moderate leaders who thought like him with men who
would aim at providing a more militant leadership. Those with long memories or a
good knowledge of the records may recognise the threat implied by the nomination
for election to the Executive Committee in such names as W. Crangle, B. Hunter,
A. Henry, G. Cole, J. Glanville and J. Stephenson. In 1928 the extremer elements
in the County intensified their campaign. They issued circulars : they attempted to make unauthorised use of the name of A. J. Cook -- "Follow the lead
of A. J. Cook ": "Get a leadership of fighters ": "The Communist party calls
upon you to force Robson Straker and Co. to get up from knees grovelling. Tell
them to fight or get out ": "Smash the Plender and the Dodds awards ". The
moderates had to defend themselves : they did the best they could by the issue
of circulars, but vigorous though their language could be it seemed pale and
anaemic against the crudities of expression and argument provided by the extremer
men. In such a situation the louder and cruder protagonist may, in the short
run, but only possibly in the short run, gain the advantage. The pity is that
the short run victory may set back the clock of reconstruction and make the task
of the more moderate man all the harder. But Peter Lee, in one strongly and
vigorously worded circular provided what seems to have been something of a
check : "they stand for change by civil war and destruction, " he said :
"we stand for change through the ballot box and reconstruction." Bit
by bit the D.M.A. was recovering its poise and its strength. The leaders of the
D.M.A. took part in the discussions which preceded the passing of the Coal Mines
Act in 1930.
They had a part, too, to play
in the operating of the key committees for the County through which the aims of
the Act were sought to be achieved. It was now thought that the coalmining
industry in Durham--as elsewhere--was in need of two things : order and
stability on the one hand and, on the other, re-organisation through the planned
co-ordination of pit with pit, amalgamating them where necessary, even though
this would, in more normal circumstances have been regarded with suspicion as
likely to lead to monopoly. To achieve the first it was thought there
should be control, of prices and quantities of output, by means of Joint
Committees, one committee for prices and one for the fixing of output quotas. To
achieve the second a Coal Mines Re-organisation Commission was set up and the
chairman was charged with the duty of going round the various coalfields to
introduce, by agreement, schemes of re-organisation which would be likely to
lead to more efficient working of the pits.
Committees to achieve the first were soon in being and working and there is
reason to think that they worked as thy had been intended to. The
Re-organisation Commission achieved very little.
The
main picture presented by the industry, despite these attempts at orderly
control, is that of prolonged and massive unemployment amongst the miners, with
the D.M.A. actively cooperating with the Government on the one hand in the
organisation of relief works and, with voluntary bodies on the other, such as
Councils of Social Service, Community Service Councils (as in Durham), the
Society of Friends, the Universities, Lord Nuffield and others. Talk to the
older man today of unemployment and he will most probably begin to tell you of
the massive, long and demoralising unemployment of the 30's. It is an
experience he has not forgotten : it is possibly true to say that it is an
experience he never will : it has seared itself into his very soul. Sam Watson
was made Unemployment Officer to the Association. He produced a number of guides
to the intricacies of the Insurance Acts, the provision of National Assistance,
which were a help to men in finding their way through the complex detail of the
Acts, the Rules, the Orders relating to the welfare of the unemployed. Within
this brief compass it is impossible to portray adequately the conditions and
reactions of people to conditions at this time. On one side it would call for
the insights of the philosopher and the poet : on the other it would involve the
compilation of a long catalogue of official and voluntary provision which even
if completed, would do less that justice to the inspiration of those who worked
within their framework. The reports of various committees, the studies such as
that by Newsom "Out of the Pit" leave us in no doubt about the shock which this
degree and length of unemployment gave to people. Young boys could leave school
and have no job to call their own for perhaps 3 to 4 years. If they got work it
would most probably be short-run in nature in afforestation or road
construction. Men, particularly those of middle age, once out of a job, grew
resigned to the possibility that they might never again go back to what they
would call "their own job". The allotment patches provided by the Society of
Friends, the larger agricultural areas provided under the Land Settlement
schemes of the Government were only too often, well intentioned though they may
be, a pitiful irrelevancy.
When World War
II came in 1939 the demand for men--full employment--came with it. Men long
unemployed, in whom the hope of a permanent job might well have flickered out,
could hardly be blamed for thinking ironic thoughts about the change in their
circumstances. World War II, like World War I, was a time of full, even, at
times, over-full, employment as coal shortages developed : also of
control by the Government; and before the war was over it was clear that very
soon on in the post-war period the long-hoped for nationalisation of the coal
mines would be realised, but the full unmistakeable note of triumph was not
heard until the Gala of 1948. In 1946 and 1947 the Association, particularly as
expressed in the circulars and addresses of Sam Watson had been more concerned
to stress the long struggle the union had had to reach this goal and, with this,
stress, too, upon the need for a strong sense of responsibility. As Mr. E. H. D.
Skinner has clearly shown in publications in which he sought to set out the
existing economic position of the industry, the tasks of organisation on the
side of management were great.
Sam Watson associated himself wholeheartedly
with the endeavours of Mr. Skinner to build up understanding relationships between Board officials in their managerial
function and the union. In these statements by Mr. Skinner there are frequent
references to the support he received from Sam Watson and it is clear that he
regarded Sam Watson's personality and leadership of the D.M.A. as a sheet-anchor
in his work. Not that Sam Watson was lacking in determination in the pressing of
a point where the Union's interest was in question. Mr. Skinner says things
which show clearly that in his view Sam Watson was a doughty opponent.
In
addition to drawing attention to the need for creating a balanced and efficient
managerial organisation, in which the Association would have a part, Mr. Skinner
pointed out the implications for Durham of the great fall in exports of coal as
compared even with 1939. He found the answer to his problem in the attaining of
a higher output. He pointed out that in the very favourable conditions for
selling coal an enlargement of output would be likely to bring about a decrease
in costs by distributing an existing burden of overhead costs over a larger
tonnage. "Divisionally", he said, "we are losing heavily and [that] the loss can
be reduced by increased output." Hence the production drives, the campaigns to
recruit young lads who might be likely to make a career in mining and the
emphasis on the reduction of absenteeism--though in this respect Durham's record
was first-rate and it was frequently Sam Watson's justifiable boast that if the
other coalfields had only the absentee rate of the Durham coalfield there would
be no problem of absenteeism left. Hence also the emphasis on the enlargement of
output by Sam Watson even in his Gala programmes. He linked the chances of
continuing success by Labour in General Elections with the maintaining of a
large and efficiently produced output.
It
is a matter of constant interest to see how, in the last analysis, everything is
made to turn on the continuation of a Labour Government. But in the Gala
programme of 1950 the Secretary had to admit a much reduced majority. At the
next Gala his main emphasis was upon the tragic disaster at Easington Colliery
on May 29, when 83 members lost their lives. He had also to refer to the
explosion at Eppleton Colliery on July 6 when 7 men were killed and 2 men,
seriously injured, died later.
In 1952 he
was compelled to ruminate on the ejection of a Labour Government from office. His
theme was political, and he seemed to take the continuing growth in output,
output per man-shift and wages per shift for granted, as though, given
sufficient exhortation, it would continue so. In all three of these categories
the figures for the Durham coalfield were the highest for any post-war year. It
is an interesting situation for the time was not far distant when the economic
position in the coalfield would be vastly changed and again present problems of
massive complexity.
With the gift of
hindsight we can now see how change came creeping in. In June, 1948, agreement
had been reached on the subject of compensation for redundancy--a remote
contingency on any significant scale, it seemed to be. In July, 1949, had
come the closure of the Burnhope Lodge--but again a small change of this nature
need cause no alarm : small pits had closed before--even in the great days of
massive build-up of the coalmining industry in Durham. In January, 1952, a new
shaft was sunk at Murton and this might quite reasonably be taken as an important
event capable of off-setting, with its promise of output, any number of Burnhopes. In December, 1951, it was to be noticed that miners had climbed to
the head of the table of Industrial Workers Earnings. Sam Watson is said to have
declared on one occasion that nothing gave him greater pleasure than to note that
miners who had once been near the bottom of the 'Earnings League' were now at
the top. There was indeed much that was happening that could encourage an easy
mind.
In 1954 circumstances and anxieties
about possible unemployment and redundancies compelled him to address himself to
this problem explicitly and at length. It was possible to argue, however, quite
correctly, that, as yet, the problem was one peculiar to West Durham rather than
Mid and East Durham. It was also possible to argue, as indeed he did, that
controlled transference of redundant miners either to pits near their houses,
or, when the men volunteered, to pits in the Midlands, together with carefully
selective recruitment and the steering of new candidates into the areas of pit
run-down would be likely to keep the problem in check without undue stress. But
from 1957 onwards pit closures began to multiply and the early attitudes tend to
be shown up as too trusting. By the sixties any pretence that the situation was
anything but serious could not be sustained and nobody tried to. It is evident
that through the late fifties and the sixties up to date two tendencies have
been at work in Durham. Beginning in a small way (the opening of the South Pelaw
Pit Head Baths in 1948) there has been a growing number of occasions when, at
this pit or that, new Pit Head Baths have been opened. In addition there have
been additions on the side of medical or welfare provision. In 1947 new medical
treatment centres were opened at Vane Tempest and New Herrington : in 1951 a
Rheumatic Clinic was opened at Seaham : in 1953 colliery medical treatment
centres were opened at Hylton, Washington, Murton, Harton, Thornley and
Monkwearmouth. These lists are not intended to be complete and exhaustive. The
full detail can be found in an annexe to this main account on pages 35-46. Here
the purpose is to pick out the significance of these happenings. Evidently there
is coming to fruition a comprehensive set of plans for increasing the welfare of
the Durham miner in these ways. If we note them with pleasure, as indeed we
must, we may perhaps also be permitted to note the irony of their arrival. This
quite massive, many-sided and wholly welcome welfare provision comes, so to say,
at the end of the day. The self-same years which carry their record also record,
again with increase in the numbers involved, the closing of pits and the
disappearances of Lodges.
During the
sixties, possibly beginning in the late fifties, a sequence of pit closures has
been announced amounting to a more rapid and more massive run-down of the
Durham coalfield than anything before experienced. The coalmining industry
in Durham County has been subjected to a planned sequence of closures for which
"crunch" is the only adequate word. The D.M.A. has taken this treatment with
characteristic stoicism and reticence. Its officials have at various times
addressed the top management of the National Coal Board in terms which leave no
doubt of their dismay and anxiety. At times their leaders have expressed themselves in terms of angry surprise, as when, for example, the decision was
announced that the new power station to be built in South-East Durham was to be
nuclear-fired. A decision of this sort was seen by the Union leadership,
understandably, as the adding of insult to injury, or vice versa : the outcome
is the same whichever way you turn the phrase: but they have stoically accepted
these closure decisions of the N.C.B. and have not diminished one whit in their
zeal to co-operate with the N.C.B. if by so doing they can ensure that these
drastic changes shall take place with the least possible stress and damage to
their members. It is in keeping with the traditional attitudes which have been
manifested by the Durham leadership all along the line; from William Crawford,
or beyond him Tommy Hepburn, right through to the present time. It may be that,
when all things are considered this is the best way to deal with an old and
declining coalfield : a quick drastic surgical operation rather than a long
drawn-out anaemia may perhaps be the best on the wider view. It may be so, but
even if it is, it is still possible to be critical of the delays in the arrival
of new jobs in the region under the Distribution of Industry Acts. One cannot,
either, withhold a sympathetic thought for the leaders and the men who have had to
adjust their ideas, their hopes, and fears several times to the changing
information given out on different occasions as to which pits would be likely to
be long-life which medium-term pits and which short-life under threat of early
closure. Pits which at one time seem to be classified as long-life have turned
out, on later information, to be included with the medium-term pits. Such
changes in the dates of closure of threatened pits must have been at times
difficult, even infuriating to adjust to. Yet the attitude of the Durham leaders
did not change : they maintained a stoic dignity and a continuing willingness, in
the interests of their members, to co-operate with the process and the outcome
of closures : all credit to them : the more so if we reflect on the relatively
long time for which nationalisation of the coalmines was looked forward to,
first by a minority, then by the union generally, as a means for the fulfilment
of their hopes for "a better deal", and the relatively brief period for which,
in Durham at any rate, the miners have been able to savour its full
uncomplicated triumph. Support to the formula of nationalisation gathered its
strength in the years before World War I. The disappointing outcome of the Sankey Commission, the stoppage of 1926, the eventual necessity to go back on
the owners' terms, the heavy and numbing unemployment of the 1930's added
further weight. When World War II ended, the formation of a Labour Government,
the passing of the Act which nationalised the mines, the arrival of "Vesting Day"
must have seemed the perfect consummation. But in Durham, except for a short
run of years, Nationalisation may well have seemed "a dusty answer" to their
hopes and dreams.
In the early years of
Nationalisation, as has been well pointed out by Mr. Skinner in his address at a
County Conference of Durham Colliery Conservative Committees at Red Hill,
Durham, on August 19th, 1950, a first task of great importance was that of
"creating a properly balanced, efficient, economical and humanitarian
organisation." The building up of a managerial organisation which
would satisfy the requirements mentioned by Mr. Skinner would necessarily take a
good deal of time and discussion. In the process of fashioning this structure
many men would continue to be employed in positions of managerial control who
had exercised these powers under private ownership. There may have been those
whose patience was sorely tried and who disliked a process which left, as has
been said, "so many of the old faces on the other side of the desk in the
manager's office." But these men had the necessary knowledge and experience :
they could constitute the necessary continuity in pit operation. That this was
so was recognised by the leadership of the union : and they appreciated,
further, that as compared with the position under private ownership they had
been given a recognised place and share in the policy-making and decision-making
that was going on. But hardly had the County cleared the ground around its feet
and put itself in good operational and organisational shape than it found
itself beset by the problems arising from a planned programme of pit closures
which, in the last five years, has involved a scale of closure which, ten years
ago, no one would have dared to predict or, perhaps, even thought of predicting
had he dared to. How different, then, from what the early campaigners for
nationalisation must have envisaged, has been the task in which the co-operation
of Durham miners has been sought and stoically given.
Nearing the end of this
commemorative account of the hundred years life of the D.M.A. there is one
remark still to be made which no account of the D.M.A. should omit : it is that
no account of the history of the D.M.A. can be regarded as complete without a
reference to the Gala. With the Gala of 1969 the score will be 86. It is less
than the 100 by which the Union counts its age because the first Gala was not
held till 1871 : none was held in the years 1915, 1916. 1917. 1918 because of
World War I : none was held in 1921 and 1922 because of the 1921 lockout and the
depression in 1922 that followed the lockout : none
was held in 1926 because of the Miners' Stoppage : and none was held in the
years 1940/45 inclusive which covered World War II. Numerous writers have tried to
portray in words the essence and significance of the Gala. Sam Watson has
himself tried his hand, but he has also asked how it is that no one in the
movement has so far succeeded in capturing the occasion in words. No one has so
far done this. Some succeed in expressing, in terms that carry conviction, one
aspect, or possibly two aspects, of the occasion : John McCutcheon, in his book
"Troubled Seams", (1 &
2) has perhaps come nearest to capturing the ineffable poignancy
of some moments during the day in what he writes about the playing of
'Gresford' (1 & 2)
by the massed bands. But it is to other writers one must turn for the capture of
other features of the Gala. This perhaps is the secret of both the Gala itself
and the inability of the writer to capture the scene and the occasion in all its
aspects. The Gala has, or had in its best days, a comprehensive inclusiveness
which is nothing short of terrific. There is too much for one writer to discern
and express, from the first snatch of the music of a band as it enters the city
early in the morning, to 'Gresford', to the political speeches, to the dancing
in the streets, to the throng of folks as they pack in the narrow streets, to the
uninhibited drinking that starts early and goes on late, to the service in the
cathedral and the crepe upon the banners of those lodges which have suffered
fatal accidents since the last Gala, to the final scenes of the late evening in
the days when trains were used much more than they are now, when the
approaches to the railway station could be dotted with recumbent forms sleeping
off their heavy drinking, needing to be wakened by their mates to be asked where
they were from, how they proposed to get back, and to be reminded of the time of
departure of the train which would take them back. It is a canvas : a full
canvas : a medieval canvas--a Brueghel in modern dress : yet it is more than a
canvas, for there is noise, laughter, music and talk. It is a day, or again it
was a day, when Durham miners could meet each other and renew their faith in
their movement and in each other : its form has been that of a day of
roistering, political affirmation and renewed dedication to the cause of unity.
No writer, then, has so far succeeded in capturing the essence of the Gala in
words and presenting its spirit to us through his words. And now the Gala is
changing or maybe, some would say, it has already changed. It is now not so much
the Big Meeting--the Gala in the old meaning of the term--: it is moving
increasingly to being a Fair, and if it has not lost anything of its vivacity those
who remember it from the 1930's, or those whose memories will take them back
further still, may perhaps be forgiven for thinking that it has lost
something of its one-time inner significance as the biggest and most meaningful
folk-gathering in the United Kingdom.
The Gala is smaller now than once it was.
The throng in the streets at the peak moments is nothing like so closely packed
: the number of banners ranged round the old race-course where the platforms for
the political speeches are set is sadly smaller. It is only to be
expected. It follows the decline in recent years in the number of active pits in
the coal field. In 1953 the number of pits was 121 : by early 1969 the number
had fallen to 38. But, if one may hazard a prediction, it is that the Durham
miners' leadership will go on as doggedly, as stoically, with the Gala as it
will with the industry. If they and their industry have, eventually, to go then
they will go, not with a bang, for that is not in keeping with their tradition,
but certainly not with a whimper.
Let a last
reflection link the D.M.A. with the words inscribed on the memorial to Durham
miners which is to be found in the Cathedral. These are the last two lines :--
| |
He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn.
They are forgotten of
the foot that passeth by.
JOB 28 : 4 |
The first is true : mining
communities have developed in solitary and divided places and an aerial view of
central and west Durham, even now, might well give the impression that the
mining villages and townships distribute themselves over the county, with its
rolling hummocky fields, like so many plates flung carelessly down upon the
grass of a camp site. It is true even of the pits which lie along the East
Durham Coast, though urban development has gone further here and population
groupings tend to be linked together, for many miners must perform their tasks
at the face and in other places underground under the, to them, quiet waters of
the North Sea.
But the second is not true,
for they and those who have gone before them are remembered here.
|
I would like to offer here a fine quality image of the miners' memorial in
the aisle of the south nave of Durham Cathedral - and some day soon I doubtless will.
Most sites seem to refer to its having been erected in 1947 but March 3, 1946
may prove to be the correct date. But .... quality images of the memorial elude me.
There is, however, a wonderful image by 'Ninesergeants' WWW available
that I cannot use for reasons of copyright. But you can see & admire it here.
If any site visitor can provide a quality image of the memorial for inclusion
here, do consider being
in touch.
A postcard image, ex e-Bay, of the memorial follows.
In 1913, the region boasted 304 pits employing 165,246 people.
I read, in the Archie Calder 1939 article referred to above that 'Government
experts have prepared a "Doomsday Book" of our coal reserves. They have surveyed
only a quarter of our coalfields, but they have found, and identified, enough
coal to last us until A.D. 2080--£30,000,000,000 worth of black wealth in the
vaults of Britain.'
DURHAM MINERS' GALA - 1973 PROGRAMME
The programme for the 1973 Durham Miners' Association Gala, held Jul. 21, 1973, is now on site
from cover to cover -
here.
Move within the booklet via the arrows. In most cases a larger image of each
page is
available with a click of your mouse. Amongst other matters, the programme contains
the following sections that the webmaster found to be of interest:-
i) a
chronological listing, from 1869, of significant events in the history of coal mining in
Durham - commencing here,
ii)
a list of the pit disasters from 1869, the lives that were lost & also the
miners' strikes here,
iii) a listing of the dates of all previous galas from 1871
(#1) to 1973 (#90) commencing here.
May I suggest that you navigate the site via the
index on page 001.PRIOR PAGE / NEXT PAGE
Do you want to make a comment? A site guestbook is here.
[ ] £ ½
To the
Special Pages Index.
| A SITE SEARCH FACILITY
THE GUEST BOOK - GO
HERE
|
|
|
