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The Black Country Miners Struggle for Justice -
- Thread starter mikejee
- Start date
Interesting piece Mike. My grandfather was a miner (but in Yorkshire) and he really suffered as a result of his job. He ended up wearing a steel girdle for a large part of his life due to the punishing conditions and accidents working in the pit. He took to drink and became a very angry and unhappy man. My grandma divorced him in her late 50s and had to move away from him for her own health. Not only was the physical damage immense, but the psychological damage from the working conditions ruined his life and that of others around him. His large family swore none of them would follow in his footsteps "down pit" and they made absolutely sure they didn't.
Any efforts to improve working conditions were too late for him, and he died a very sad and lonely man.
Any efforts to improve working conditions were too late for him, and he died a very sad and lonely man.
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Don't know the name(s) but it would have been in the Birstall or possibly Mirfield area of West Yorks.
Pedrocut
Master Barmmie
George Barnsby in his book, Social Conditions in the Black Country 1800–1900 (1980), has this to say about the Earls of Dudley.
“The Dudleys gave no lead to the area regarding safety in mines. In the middle of the century their mines were no lesser death traps than those of other owners, and some of the ghastliest accidents of the century occurred in the Dudley mines.…..The Earl stood above the law and this immunity was fully utilised…..But the greatest indictment of the Dudleys is that they were chiefly responsible for the great evil from which most other abuses flowed, namely the perpetuation of the butty system……Thus the Earls of Dudley, far from using their immense influence to ameliorate social and economic conditions were an active, and in some some respects a decisive influence, in perpetuating disgraceful conditions…”
“The Dudleys gave no lead to the area regarding safety in mines. In the middle of the century their mines were no lesser death traps than those of other owners, and some of the ghastliest accidents of the century occurred in the Dudley mines.…..The Earl stood above the law and this immunity was fully utilised…..But the greatest indictment of the Dudleys is that they were chiefly responsible for the great evil from which most other abuses flowed, namely the perpetuation of the butty system……Thus the Earls of Dudley, far from using their immense influence to ameliorate social and economic conditions were an active, and in some some respects a decisive influence, in perpetuating disgraceful conditions…”
