Mining History

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Real Geordie
Ballet Girl
Posts: 267
Joined: Mon Nov 09, 2015 8:02 pm
Location: England

Mining History

Post by Real Geordie »

I was aware during the course of growing up that there was a history of miners in the family, on my mother’s side. My grandfather was a miner, most of my uncles were miners, and most of my aunts were married to miners. A few cousins also became miners, all working in the Durham coalfields. I was a little surprised when looking into the family ancestry a few years back, that there was also an unexpected history of mining on my father’s side. To date I have been able to trace back to a direct relative born in 1816 who described himself as a coal miner aged 25 in the 1841 census. In the same household however is his step-father born in 1777, who on the same census form still described himself as a coal miner at the age of 64, and also a step-brother who was a miner aged 20. These were working in the Northumberland coalfields.

A few days ago I was contacted by a distant relative I did not know existed who was exploring the history of a related branch of the family, asking if I could shed any light on various individuals. In the event I couldn’t but in looking back through my paperwork I came across a census form for 1911 which I had previously not paid too much attention to. This noted that the father of my grandmother (again, mother’s side) was a miner (hewer), aged 32 who had been born in Haswell Colliery. I think there is a fair probability his father was also a miner there. I had never heard of Haswell, so out of curiosity I did some searching. Below is a link to the history of Haswell - and how it connects with Easington :-

http://www.haswell-history.co.uk/growth.html

The rise and decline of this village is interesting. Under the section heading Disaster, there is reference to the 1844 strike and subsequent disaster, with “scab” labour making an appearance. And then, “...........there was great hardship and poverty everywhere until the miners were finally starved into submission………..”. The explosion following the return to work at Haswell cost the lives of 95 men. Sounds familiar ? Easington had its own pit disaster in 1951 with the loss of 83 men ; we all know about the strike of 1984 of course ; after closure of the mines both Haswell and Easington went into steep decline. And guess what - when Haswell Colliery closed in 1896 the miners moved on to surrounding pits - those of Dawdon, Easington, Horden and Blackhall. Easington Colliery pit was sunk in 1899. ? History repeating itself ? Pleased I never became a miner ? You bet.
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