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| Trolley Boys |
Whilst researching this article, I have to say I was shocked to read about how many small children were employed in local coal mines, and their personal circumstances, which got me wondering....what jobs could children do underground?
The trapper was often the youngest member of the family working underground. Their job was simply to open and close the wooden doors [trap doors] that allowed fresh air to flow through the mine. They would usually sit in total darkness for up to twelve hours at a time, waiting to let coal tubs through the door. It was not hard work, but was boring and could be dangerous. If he fell asleep, the safety of the whole mine could be affected.
The Hurrier and the Thruster were the older children
and women who were employed as hurriers, pulling and pushing tubs full of coal
along roadways from the coal face to the pit-bottom. The younger children
worked in pairs, one as a hurrier, the other as a thruster, but the older
children and women worked alone. Hurriers would be harnessed to the tub, and
thrusters would help hurriers by pushing the tubs of coal from behind with
their hands and the tops of their heads. The tubs and the coal could weigh over
600kg, and would have to be moved through roadways which were often only
60-120cm high.
The job of a Coal Getters was reserved for the oldest and
strongest members of the family, almost always grown men or strong youths.
Their job was to work at the coal face cutting the coal from the seam with a
pickaxe. Getters were the only members of the family who would work continually
with a candle or safety lamp, as they needed the light to see the coal face.
On 4 August 1842, a law was passed that stopped women and
children under ten years from working underground in mines in Britain. Before
this law was passed, it was common for whole families to work together
underground to earn enough money for the family to live on. The Victorians
saw child labour as a normal part of working life. Most children started work
underground when they were around eight years old, but some were as young as
five. They would work the same hours as adults, sometimes longer, at jobs that
paid far less.
Around 1834 the Denholme Park Pits, which probably included
the nearby Sawood pits, was taken over by David Baxendale and Sons, and in
February 1841, the manager was interviewed by members of a Parliamentary Commission inquiring into children’s employment ahead of the change of law. The following comments made by the
pit owner make shocking reading:
“Mr Baxendale states that the colliers of Denholme, with
whom he had been for several years connected, were steady, sober and well
behaved, and that he attributed their superior conduct generally to the attention
that had been paid to their education…..the employment of females in these
collieries would cease at the passing of the act, without being the cause of much
inconvenience. He did complain however of the difficulties entailed on the
masters and some of the colliers by the exclusion of boys under 10 years of
age”
One such youth was David Bancroft, born 1850 in the Upper Bradshaw Head
area of Oxenhope, near Keighley. David was the son of Joseph Bancroft, who
ran a pub and stone quarry in the Sawood area,
which as well as having good supplies of stone also had a seem of high sulphur
coal, about two feet thick, which would have been much in demand from all the
local mills who were at this time starting to convert from water to steam
power.
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| David Bancroft - Coal Miner-1861 census |
The 1861 census, shown above, shows David as a 11 year old coal miner,
still living at home with his family. David, like many workers in coal pits, did not live a long life however,
because records show he died in 1879 and was buried in the local Wesleyan
graveyard.
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| Denholme & Sawood Coal Mines |
Shown below are
details of children, both boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 14 years who
were working in a local coal pit known as 'New Day Hole' in Denholme in the 1840’s,
which makes disturbing reading. When the parliamentary commission interviewed a
number of these children, these was the responses given:
James Wright had
been a bobbin winder until he was 14 and then began to work in the pit because
they needed a hurrier. He believed that he “ had got very near too big to go into t’pit” and that his
health, which had not been good, had improved since working underground.
George Holden drove
the [gin] horse at the mill top before he went underground. He has good health
and enjoyed the work.
David Brooksbank found
the work harder than when he began, which left him tired. He liked the pit, but
would rather be lakin’ [playing] or doing some other trade.
Christopher Groves lived near the pit and went underground soon after 6 am, having
breakfasted on porridge. He had an hour off for lunch, which he took in the
pit, and ate potatoes and collop [probably fried bacon and oatcakes. He left
the pit around 6 pm and had porridge for supper. He had not wanted to work in
the pit, but now enjoyed it. He was healthy, was never beaten and went to
Sunday-school.
Margaret Saville could
not recollect how long she had worked “
in t’hoile”. She had worked for her father and brother and found the
work not too hard, preferring to do it than stay at home. She got herself up in
the morning, saying “ a’ most know
when it’s time to get up”. If she did not get up, they would say nothing
to her, but if they were not at work at the right time, the colliers sometimes
sent them away. She was not often beaten, but some would do so if they were
busy.
William Tidswell was
only six. He had worked in the pit for around a year and did not like it. “ there’s a deal o’ coals and stones in t’gate;
has had the skin off his leg till he could see the bone; had to stop at home
then”.
The following table lists all of he children employed by at New Day Hole pit in Denholme
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| Child Coal mine workers |
Living in the Denholme area in the early to mid 19th century were a Bancroft family of Jabez and Martha, where several of the men with coal mine workers. Their son John, his brother Joseph and John’s son William are all listed as mine workers on the census records.
Joseph was listed on the 1841 census as a coal miner, and
had married another miner’s daughter, Mary Mitchell in 1837. Along with many
others doing this hazardous work, he died at the early age of only 28 years, probably from some incident to
do with this type of work, and his burial record is shown below.
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| Joseph Bancroft's burial record 19/6/1842 |
His brother John, seemed to have survived a little better. He
was born in 1811, and seems to have worked a long time in the local coal mines
because he is listed in the various census records as a coal miner, banksman
and collier, and after marrying a Rebecca Brooksbank, went on to have 13
children with her.
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| John Bancroft 1861 census |
John died in 1866,
and one of his sons, William, also went down the mine….albeit not for long! The
1861 census lists him as a coal miner, but by the time of the next census in
1871 he is now a weaver, which must have been a much safer occupation.
The early coal miner would have needed only a simple range
of tools. He would have used either a pick or a hammer and chisel to cut into
the ground by hand. To get to the coal he would have first have to pick out the
shale, either above or below the coal seam, and then used wedges to break the
coal into clean largish lumps. He would then have to use a rake to pull the
coal towards him and than shovel the coal into baskets which were used to drag
it into the shaft. The coal was then lifted from shallow pits, using a rope and handle arrangement. Where the pit shafts were
deeper, which many were in order to get at the thicker coal seems, was to lift
the heavier amounts of coal using a cog and rung arrangement powered by horses called a gin,
similar to the drawing shown below.
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| Cog & Run Gin |
Miners worked in constant danger, as many pits were
susceptible to flooding, and ventilation was also a problem at times which
often led to small explosions because the miners were using naked lights. An often
greater problem was the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the workings which,
being odourless, could suffocate men.
Contrary to what you might expect, the coming of the canals
and railways, bringing in large quantities of cheap high quality coal from
abroad, did not spell the end of these small local mines. Many cotton and wool
mills were changing from water wheel power to steam power, and the new larger
mills being built led to an every increasing demand for local coal,
particularly if it was of good enough quality.
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| Coal Getter |
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