“The History of Coal Mining in the Nottingham Coalfield”
October 2003 Meeting Report
Guest Speaker - Colin Griffin
The October meeting of the Keyworth & District Local History Society was held in the Centenary Lounge, Keyworth on 3 October 2003. The guest speaker for the evening was Colin Griffin and his subject was “The History of Coal Mining in the Nottingham Coalfield”. The meeting was particularly well attended, the room being virtually full. The presentation was in two distinct halves. The first half was in the nature of a lecture whilst the second half was in the form of a slide/talk show.
Colin began his talk by informing the audience that there is evidence to support the fact that coal mining has been conducted in the East Midlands since the Middle Ages.
From 1550 to 1950 the extent of coal extraction and the numbers employed in the industry expanded at a colossal rate. In 1550 approximately 15,000 tons of coal were mined. Mainly from opencast mines and shallow “Bell” mines. By 1950 the amount of coal extracted had increased dramatically to 21,600,000 tons. Likewise the number of people employed in the industry expanded from a few hundred miners until by the time of the 1984/85 miners strike over 1,000,000 men were employed in around 4,000 mines.
The East Midlands coalfield was one of the most productive fields in the country. After the 2nd World War over 45,000 men were employed East Midlands industry. As the output from the collieries increased with the concomitant increase in workforce so the effect on villages adjacent to collieries was dramatic. Villages such as Bilsthorpe had a population of 134 people in 1921 but by 1931 with the development of the colliery at Bilsthorpe this figure had increased to 1972. A phenomenal figure and this trend were followed in mining villages all over the East Midlands. Villages such as Bircotes, Blidworth, Boughton, Clipstone, Edwinstowe, Langold, Ollerton and Rainworth all witnessed very considerable population explosions. A great many of the new inhabitants were displaced miners from other worked-out coalfields. Thus there was a considerable population shift from other parts of the country.
The industry in the West Midlands had also been in decline for many years with the result that the mining population tended to migrate eastwards from the Nottingham / Derbyshire border into the Dukeries where what remains of the industry tends to be found now. Post 2nd World War there has also been a significant population shift from South Wales and the North East into the East Midlands.
The type of coal traditionally mined in the East Midlands has always been for domestic use. Domestic coal needs to be comprised of larger chunks than that which satisfies the industrial market. In this respect the East Midlands coal reserves have been ideal. During the late 19th century and for a considerable portion of the 20th century demand to satisfy the domestic industry was massive. It could be argued that coal not only powered the Industrial Revolution but also was one of the prime causes for it. To transport the coal on a cost effective basis the transport infrastructure needed to change dramatically. The canals simply could not cope and the railways came into being in the first half of the 19th century to move coal from colliery to user. Coal was the bedrock on which two of the largest and most profitable railway companies, the Midland Railway and the North Eastern Railway, built their business. In fact, so profitable was the coal business for these railways that they became amongst the richest in England.
The history of coal mining is also one of continual technological advances. Early mines were either opencast of very shallow excavations. As these reserved became depleted so the industry had to find ways of mining coal from deeper and deeper reserves. The introduction of steam power into mines to pump out water and generate ventilation underground gave the industry the impetus to expand to the extent that it was able to. The trend today is to larger and deeper mines with greater and greater amounts of automated machinery cutting, washing, carrying and raising the coal from seam to surface. Where coal used to be hewn by hand, with all the resultant dangers and physical effort involved now huge machines do all of the work. This has resulted in a vast increase in the amount of money that needs to be invested in a particular coalfield. It has also resulted in the life expectancy of coalfields to be greatly reduced as the reserves are mined much more quickly.
Up until the mid 19th century, coal mining was carried out by local landowners on a relatively small scale. The landowners would own and run the pit or lease it out to other businessmen. After this time until 1946, large groups that were mainly ironmasters took over the mines. Thus, deep mines were being sunk and were becoming extensive. On 1st, January 1947 all collieries were nationalised under the body of the NCB (National Coal Board). A large capital investment was given to the North Staffordshire coalfields. As a result miners health and working conditions improved. The NCB was dissolved in 1994. The remaining authority is called the Coal Authority. All mines are now in private ownership
The industry is also one in which labour relations have been less that harmonious. Mining communities have traditionally been isolated and working class. Mine owners have traditionally tried to keep wages as low as possible whilst maximising their profits. The industry for a long time was a very dangerous one in which to work. Death and serious injury were a constant threat. Miners tended to develop a very powerful camaraderie and to act as a group rather than as individuals. It was in this climate that the coal mining Trades Unions developed and they became very powerful indeed. Their power became almost legendary and more than one Government fell as a result of their actions.
British industry stopped on 4th May 1926 when between 3 and 4 million workers obeyed their Trade Unions and stopped work when a General Strike was declared in sympathy with the miners. Mine owners wanted the colliers to work longer hours for less pay. The miners themselves wanted a national basic wage, seven hours work per day and the pits to be re-nationalised, as they had been during World War I. It lasted for seven months and the miners returned to district wage settlements, and an increase in working hours. One result of the strike was that the East Midlands area split from the National Union of Miners and formed the breakaway union. This union was known as the Spencer Union and the East Midlands colliery owners refused to recognise the N.U.M. This was the basis of a long running and bitter dispute whish was to have important ramifications many years later. It was not until mid-way through the 1930’s that the two unions managed to resolve their differences and re-unite.
The 1984 strike was far more damaging for the industry, in fact it sowed the seeds for the virtual eclipse of the industry. As in 1926 the East Midlands miners took a different view of the situation with the result that a new union was once again formed. The new union was known as the Union of Democratic Mineworkers and its formation split the workers straight down the middle. Whilst the N.U.M. members were on strike for many, many months the U.D.M. continued to work. The dispute became very bitter and memories of 1926 re-surfaced when it was felt that history was repeating itself and the split would cause the strike to fail. This indeed turned out to be the case. The rights and wrongs of the situation have been, and will be disputed for many a long time. What cannot be disputed is that the strike broke the power of the N.U.M. in particular and the miners in general. When the striking miners returned to work in 1985 it was to a very different political climate than the one that existed before the strike. The Government of the day decided to shift from coal to gas and oil for the country’s power needs and coal was effectively consigned to history.
The second half of the presentation then continued with a selection of slides showing how conditions in the industry had changed over the years. Men were depicted using picks to hew coal from thin seams in cramped conditions with the ever-present threat of roof falls. Pit ponies and conditions generally were also depicted. The slides then went on to show the development of the technology and types of machinery used to cut the coal more effectively and efficiently. The conditions that the miners lived in was also shown, graphic examples of their housing, old and new, and the facilities, or lack of them, provided at the old pits and the new. Amusing anecdotes were made with reference to the village “bobbies” in the new mining villages and the problems that they encountered from the influx of a disparate population that may have been comprised of many different regions. The mix of different cultures from around the country could give rise to many problems. Each group tended to stick together, thus the various miners from South Wales, the North East, Scotland and the West Midlands would naturally polarize together and this could cause problems. For some reason, not entirely made clear, the South Wales miners had the reputation of the biggest source of trouble.
All in all the presentation was very informative, the only blot on the landscape being that, with the demise of summer, the central heating had been turned on and the room was like an oven by the time that the meeting ended!!