MAKING USE OF OBJECTS AND EPHEMERA
Among my most treasured possessions are a variety of memorabilia once used or associated with my mining ancestors and late mining friends. In many respects such items can be as meaningful and important as any of the usual family history sources. What’s more, I believe that family history research is not just about about discovering aspects of our ancestral past, but also about passing on information, stories – and artefacts – to the next generation or more. When I have talked about coalmining to primary school children the best reaction (and probably the most effective learning experience) was when I involved them handling and trying a variety of authentic materials, from old helmets, lamps and clogs to more modern pitman’s gear. Take that a stage further, with role play set in and around a particular event such as a disaster, and the experience widens to involve the whole curriculum and local community.
If you can acquire some personal items they can not only help ‘tell the story’ of that individual’s work but also remain as concrete links to the past. These days, through popular internet auction sites and antique and collectors’ fairs, it is easy (except for very rare items) to build up a small collection of relevant items, supplementing any that you already have from family, friends and contacts. The following examples are only suggestions as the range is considerable. More detailed background information is available via sites run by enthusiasts, for instance, the National Mining Memorabilia Association (www.mining-memorabilia.co.uk).
Pit checks
New starters at pits were routinely issued with small numbered personal identification disks, generally known as checks. They were usually thinly cut, using metals such as brass, zinc or aluminium, and had a small hole drilled near the upper edge to facilitate storage. The numbers were often hand-stamped on the obverse side and had embossed or inscribed identification details of the colliery/owners on the other. Routinely, the miner would hand in his check to the banksman at the pit top before descending the cage of a deep mine, keeping another with him throughout his shift. On completion of his work the miner then handed in his remaining check to the banksman when he reached the surface. This was vital information for use in accidents and disasters, and of course provided management with an accurate record of who and how many workers were underground at any time. This simple but effective manual process continued right up to the 1990s when swipe cards were introduced. Checks were also provided for the issue and return of lamps. The checks were suspended on a numbered tally board in the lamp room or time office. Checks and tokens were in widespread use by the late nineteenth century and – with safety in mind – the system became mandatory for British mines in 1913. Many mines also issued numbered pay checks or tokens for the use of miners when they collected their wages; and there were numerous other types of checks or tokens used at collieries. After nationalisation in 1947 the National Coal Board (NCB) issued its own new checks, though, due to the large number of collieries and miners, some older checks were simply re-stamped. But it is the pre-1947 ones that are the most interesting, though more expensive to buy, particularly rare and early examples. If purchasing, obtain from a trusted dealer or site as forgeries are becoming more common.
Studio photograph of Tony Banks, a coalmining veteran with thirty-eight years’ work experience in the industry. A member of Wakefield Family History Society, Tony can trace his mining ancestry through five or six generations, including his son, who worked at the Selby complex. Aged 15, Tony started work at Manor Colliery near Wakefield in 1957, a family pit’ where his great-great-grandfather had also worked. Later moving to Lofthouse Colliery (the scene of the 1973flooding disaster), he completed his mining work at Selby, having to retire following the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning in 1995. Dressed in his old NCB suit and with pit deputy items, Tony helps to present mining films to schools and local groups and has a great interest in local mining history. He is often involved in commemorative community events.
Pit check for Comrie Colliery, Scotland dating from the NCB era. This Fife area pit functioned from 1936–1986, employing 1,498 men at its peak in 1963.
Checks were issued in a variety of forms, as can be seen in these examples from Deep Navigation Colliery (oblong, pre-1947, South Wales), Hatfield Main (coffin-shape, Yorkshire, NCB) and New Monckton Collieries (round, pre-1947, Yorkshire, where my paternal grandfather worked).
Early miners’ union badges
A large variety of miners’ union or association badges were issued – usually in metal – from the mid-nineteenth century, and they were often more creatively designed than most pit checks. They were issued to denote membership and/or record that a subscription had been duly paid. The early ones are particularly interesting. The measure of their former importance can be seen when worn by miners – pinned to lapels – on old photographs, each one having pin holes for this purpose. Often found via online auction sites, they are also occasionally discovered by metal detectors.
Miners’ association badges for the Barrow Branch of the Yorkshire Miners’ Association and North Staffordshire Miners’ Federation (the latter featuring its well-known leader Enoch Edwards, 1852–1912).
Shield-style union badge for the Hylton Branch of the Durham Miners’ Association.
Later miners’ union, strike and commemorative badges
A considerable number of NUM branch or area badges, usually in metal and often enamelled, were issued and are meaningful small mementoes of a mining ancestor’s union membership. Was he in the 1984–85 strike? The year-long dispute resulted in many hundreds of official and privately commissioned enamel badges. On picketing and social occasions these were exchanged between miners from different pits and areas. After the strike many more appeared on a commemorative basis, relating to individuals, pits, events and anniversaries. Many former miners or voluntary groups also commissioned badges to commemorate the closure of a particular pit or as a tribute or fundraising aid for colleagues killed in accidents or a particular disaster. Badges were also issued in respect of galas and demonstrations. In 2008, former miner Brian Witts published Enamel Badges of the National Union of Mineworkers, a substantial colour-printed guide well worth seeking. More ephemeral and larger tin and paper badges were also produced for individual collieries as well as for the 1984/85 strike.
Orgreave picket badge (Scotland), 1984–85.
Women Against Pit Closures badge, 1984–85.
Tin ‘Support the Miners’ badge for Dinnington Colliery in South Yorkshire.
Safety lamps
The safety lamp is perhaps the most iconic of all mining memorabilia. To have your father’s, grandfather’s, or great-grandfather’s actual lamp is a great heirloom. Failing that you may wish to obtain a typical example. There are a lot to choose from! Original brass and gauze oil lamps of the style created by Davy, Stephenson, Clanny and others are expensive to buy because of their scarcity and the great demand from collectors. Early ‘naked flame’ lamps such as Spedding’s steel or flint mill and small ‘tea-pot’ wick lamps made of tin or brass (often attached to a hat or cap), popular in Scotland, are less common, as are the ‘peg and ball’ cap lamps used in Welsh and Forest of Dean mines. Carbide lamps were once used in ‘gas-free’ workings of adit or drift mines, right up to the 1940s. Modern lamps produced by firms such as The Protector Lamp & Lighting Company (of Eccles, Lancashire) and Wolf (Sheffield) are more easily obtained. Companies such as CEAG Ltd (of Barnsley) pioneered the use of electric safety lamps, cap lamps, inspection lamps and torches, making them to a very high specification right up to 2005, so many examples still survive. Websites for collectors (and to assist identification) of lamps include David Barrie’s The Wand of Science (www.thewandofscience.net).
A mid-nineteenth century Davy-style lamp from the author’s collection.
A modern flame safety lamp by The Protector Lamp & Lighting Company, presented to the author in 2002.
Ceramics and glassware
A large and wide range of commemorative pottery was produced from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. Early examples, usually in the form of plates, mugs and jugs (often marking pit disasters) are quite rare and therefore expensive to obtain, but pieces are usually on display, viewable virtually or on display at mining and other museums. There was a great resurgence of commemorative pottery production after the 1984–85 miners’ strike, either for the dispute itself, or to pay tribute to the closure of a particular colliery. Also very interesting are ‘union pieces’, commissioned and produced by the NUM and its regional offices; and also items relating to demonstrations. The modern plates in particular often have quite detailed and useful summaries on the backs and are much more easy to obtain.
This attractive modern plate was one of many similar ‘pit closure’ examples created by Pear Tree Pottery, a small art pottery in the village of Laughton-en-le-Morthen, near Rotherham. A limited edition of 250, it commemorates the closure of Kiveton Park Colliery. The reverse contains a short history of the mine. A useful souvenir for anyone whose ancestor or relative worked at the colliery, which functioned from 1866 to 1994. ‘
One of two (now rare) transfer-printed commemorative plates produced by Wardle & Sons of Middlesbrough and Stoke for the 6 December 1875 disaster at Swaithe Main, near Barnsley. This example also commemorates the late Yorkshire miners’ leader John Normansell, who died on Christmas Eve the same year, its edge surrounded by the names of sixty (of 143) disaster victims. The other version has the name of coal owner Joseph Mitchell in the centrepiece. Mitchell died a few weeks after Normansell, on 24 January 1876. In a very scarce third example the black design at the centre of the plate is overlain with gold lustre.
A much larger ‘Edwardian bone china’ Swaithe disaster plate was issued in a limited edition by E.J. & J.A. Downes in 1994, with all the deceased miners named, along with their ages and general places of residence. A central image of an underground scene shows rescue workers attending to the victims. Printed on the reverse is a short account of the disaster and an extract from a poem.
Commemorative glassware is far less common but became fashionable in Victorian and Edwardian times (and to a lesser extent in later decades), especially in the North East, where everyday items such as tumblers, pub glasses and tankards were hand-engraved. Families were able to commemorate the loss of life of an individual miner in an accident or obtain a disaster souvenir for events at, for example, Hartley, East Hetton, Seaham, West Stanley, Whitburn and Woodhorn collieries. Again, there are examples kept or displayed in museums, and occasionally one will come on the market for purchase.
Small metalware
A variety of small everyday and highly personal metal objects are well worth obtaining. One example is a miner’s lunch or sandwich box, known regionally by a variety of terms: snap tin, bait tin, piece tin, for example; although I recall my father taking his sandwiches, usually beef dripping or jam, skilfully wrapped by mum, in ‘Mother’s Pride’ (or other brand) loaf wrappings. The Acme tin was the purpose-made metal version often used, offering some security from rats, mice – and clever pit ponies! Metal bottles of various sizes and shapes were used for containing drinking water. The flat, round versions, known as dudleys, were popular in some areas. Again, my father tended to either use a flask (despite the fragility) or reuse a glass ‘pop’ bottle.
Small pocket-portable tobacco tins were often used by miners, the ‘twist’ (chewing tobacco) providing some relief when working in hot and dry underground conditions. The little tins would be topped up from larger containers kept at home or from twist bought from local shops. The tins, round and oval mainly, were made by the local tinsmith, pit blacksmith or the miner himself. What makes so many of them interesting is that they were often personalised, rather like a piece of trench art, with a variety of patterns and/or pictures; and maybe the name of the miner, his colliery and even his home address, a family historian’s dream find. There are some very attractive examples from south Wales.
A typical ACME snap tin.
A Welsh miner’s tobacco tin, made of brass and dated 1899. It is inscribed ‘Alfred Jenkins. 17 Amelia Terrace. Llwynypia’. The house, not far from Tonypandy in South Wales, still exists.
Ephemera
A very wide range of mine-related paper items will enhance standard family history sources, if you can find or obtain them. Some may have survived within families over several generations, though sadly many will have been lost or destroyed. As with other items, it is still possible to build up a small collection from a variety of outlets, though having extant pieces directly from or relating to your miner is preferable for most of us. Personal examples include pay/wages slips, printed price lists (rates of pay for particular jobs), compensation records, Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme items, certificates of competence or qualification, official letters, union cards and summer school/convalescence home ephemera. As with other family history keepsakes, obituary news cuttings, funeral cards and other bereavement items are also important mementoes. Paper items relating to the colliery or collieries where your miner worked are also well worth collecting: NCB brochures, open-day literature, social and retirement events, coal wagon tickets/labels, posters and notices.
Certificate of Competence (‘to work and take charge of electric pumps’) issued to my father, Fred Elliott, when he was employed by the Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery Ltd. Fred’s general employment title was that of an underground fitter.
Payslip for underground piecework for miner 123 (A.K.Clayton) employed by the Newton Chambers Company Limited (at Rockingham Colliery), dated 1 February 1938.
NCB (and NUM/NACODS) invitation to a ‘Christmas Treat’, 7 December 1972.
Postcards and studio photographs
Many thousands of ‘real photo’ postcards were published relating to mines and miners, especially between c.1903–1930. There is a reasonable chance, therefore, that you will be able to obtain a postcard image of the colliery or collieries where your ancestor miner or miners worked; but the originals are expensive, depending of course on rarity and condition. Reproductions, however, will cost a fraction of the cost of originals and can be ordered from archives, libraries and picture collections. Apart from collieries, popular mining subjects include strikes, disasters, rescue and first aid teams and social events such as galas, and views of associated buildings such as institutes, welfares and houses may be found. Sporting teams, colliery brass bands and images of pastimes such as pigeon and greyhound racing were also popular, photographers appreciating their commercial appeal.
A small group of South Wales miners (and an impressive dog) outside an unnamed colliery during a strike in 1910, photographer unknown. The pit may well have been Aberaman Colliery in the Cynon Valley, which was bought by the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal company in 1866 and the dispute the so-called ‘block strike’ rather than the more famous Cambrian Combine strike in the Rhondda. About 1,700 men were employed at Aberaman in 1908.
Studio photographs, where the miner or miners appear ‘as if for work’, wearing their pit clothes and displaying lamps and hand tools (as against the usual formal portrait or family group composition) are quite rare. One regional exception, for the Wigan coalfield, are those taken by enterprising studios from the middle decades of the nineteenth century showing ‘pit brow’ female miners, produced for ‘tourists’ as well as locals. Again, surviving originals will be both hard to find and expensive to obtain (unless via picture collection services), though Wigan pit lasses also featured on postcards, some of which can be purchased for a few pounds.
Awards
Bravery and gallantry awards have already been discussed in Chapter 2, but a variety of other medals and certificates were presented to miners. Those men who worked in the mines rescue service received long-service medals for every five years of their involvement, certainly from the NCB era. Earlier, one-off medals of recognition in the service were also issued on a regional basis. Occasionally these can be seen on internet auction sites or at collectors’ fairs, or are available from specialist medal/coin dealers.
Returning ‘soldier-miners’ were often honoured by both workmen and companies through the award of a medal (particularly those that survived the First World War) and such events were usually reported in local newspapers. The number of medals awarded per pit could be large; several hundred in many cases. Surviving examples are much sought after by collectors, but a priceless treasure if you already have one as a family history heirloom. It is worth checking out extant examples – virtually and actually – at local, regional and national museums. The quality of these medals was often high, many being struck in silver and gold, and most are inscribed with the recipient’s name. Medals, certificates and trophies were also presented after first aid competitions and a photographic record was often made of a successful team (and more rarely of an individual award winner). Again, these are – or should be – treasured family history items. Very many NCB awards and certificates were presented, including those won in recreational and sporting contexts: pigeon racing, horticultural pursuits, football, cricket and athletics. I still have small card certificates won by my father at NCB cage bird shows. For long service, the NCB also presented (or gave out) certificates, and one or more of these may survive among family papers.
Brass and enamel mines rescue medal issued by Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire collieries, inscribed ‘T.S. Vardy 1914’ on the obverse. A check through military records shows that Thomas S. Vardy went on to serve in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC), and was of sergeant rank, though there are no extant service or pension papers. He appears in the 1901 census, aged 18, born at South Normanton, Derbyshire, the son of a miner. In the 1911 census, aged 28, he was living at 44 Lincoln Street, Tibshelf, Derbyshire and is listed as married with one child, his profession or occupation that of ‘stationary engineman (down the coal mine)’. So Vardy was a relatively mature and experienced miner aged about 31 when he received his mines rescue medal.
Silver fifteen-year service NCB mines rescue medal presented to A. Gunn, Rotherham Rescue Station, c.1951.
Clothing and equipment
Before c.1930 most miners wore old clothes and even dispensed with these when at work in hot and cramped conditions. A cloth cap was the most common head wear. Basic tools such as picks, wedges and shovels had to be bought and were inscribed for recognition and ownership. After 1947 and nationalisation a more formal system and uniform gradually emerged, to the point where miners were perhaps the most visible of workers both underground and on the surface. Carrying items via a leather belt around the waist such as cap lamp battery, safety lamp and self-rescuer added to the weight of other safety and work gear and produced an almost astronaut-like appearance. The more modern items are fairly easy to obtain, even clothing, though old picks and shovels will probably be confined to the garden shed or garage.