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Coalmen

I believe the better qualities of coal were desperately needed b our industries at that time.
Then there was the infamous 'nutty slack'.:eek:
 
Jeannie
I think your coalman might have had some difficulty with 100cwt on his back (1 cwt is 112 pounds weight). I think you meant 1 cwt
 
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Rogers the coal man
was my grandad. I remember him covered in coal dust every night and had to be scrubbed in the bath. I remember the coal yard and the big scales and he used to swing the coal sacks on his back. He was a hard worker. He started to sell bundles of wood as a youngster and then owned his own coal yard. Fond memories of him. Coal yard was in Edward Road, Balsall Heath.
 
I remember going and collecting Coke from somewhere near Lawrence st
I suppose it was a gas works ?? I don't think it was Edwards st
does anyone know what street I might have got coke from
 
From your Reply Oldmohawk it appears that it was Windsor Street
were we collected the Coke in our home made box on wheels
but I don't remember any queue like the one in the photo
Thanks
 
dereklcg said:
hi ya, does anyone remember Higgins coal merchants they had an office in grt Lister st?and worked out of Rupert st / avenue rd depot?
another name that may be tied with them is a family call preedy?
in the stechford area we had a coalman they were based at a yard by the bulls head pub,called fenners we lived in the south yardley area after we moved due to to i hate the words slum clearance.
happy days regards dereklcg.
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Hi, yes I know about the Higgins, and preedy, do you want to know more?
 
But could also make people vulnerable if there was a real emergency. Putting all your eggs in one basket if some other country has a control of certain energy resources could be a bad move.

Maurice :cool:
 
My mom would insist on the coalman leaving the empty bags for her to count by the coal house. She would also tell the coalman up front, not to bring any slack.
 
Morturn said:
My mom would insist on the coalman leaving the empty bags for her to count by the coal house. She would also tell the coalman up front, not to bring any slack.
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talking about slack we must have had some because dad would go down the cellar and make up slack bricks

lyn
 
I think we were happy to get slack in the coal. Not sure why but thought it had something to do with it catching light more easily. Although I can only remember lighting slack was a very smoky process. Viv.
 
after the coal man had put the coal in the celler through the grate in the entry,dad checked it in case the bags were half full of slack and not all coal, he would then chain up,the grating to stop burglars getting in robbing the gas meter and getting in the house via the celler.
 
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i fetched coal from the gassworks for people pushing a homemade cart up and down nechells place hill for a few shillings. i suppose you could have called me a coalboy :grinning:
 
I remember going up Liverpool Street round past the bus station to the gasworks with Dad to get coke for the back room fire. We had a hatch in the pavement outside the house that we lifted to dump the coke into the cellar below.
Andrew.
 
Saturday morning job "up the cut" shovel the coal from the barge to the little truck with steel wheels for the buyer, wheel it to their home and tip it into the cellar then take the truck back and keep the 3d deposit they paid!! I wonder if there are any jobs still?
 
Apparently there was a coal shortage in 1954. Why was that ? I expect coalmen could only deliver a quota of coal during the shortage.

This is supposed to be of a Birmingham coal queue. Mostly women and children in the queue. Looks quite possible that it’s a Brum street. Someone may recognise it. Must have had to get there early if the yard closed at 10.00 (am ?) Viv.

E41CC7F9-87B2-4B96-92F3-7998C9B2319C.jpeg
 
Vivienne14 said:
Apparently there was a coal shortage in 1954. Why was that ? I expect coalmen could only deliver a quota of coal during the shortage.

This is supposed to be of a Birmingham coal queue. Mostly women and children in the queue. Looks quite possible that it’s a Brum street. Someone may recognise it. Must have had to get there early if the yard closed at 10.00 (am ?) Viv.

View attachment 169243 a Coal Merchants in Green Lane smallheath pete thinks
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mikejee said:
In Kellys there is a distinction between coal dealer and coal merchant, in that these are separate listings. As far as i can see a coal dealer was usually smaller and was supplied by a coal merchant. Coal merchants were usually larger and could deliver, but mainly transported the coal around the country and supplied the smaller merchants. Has anyone any comments on this ?
mike
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I came upon several advertising images for Caswell and Bowden Ltd., described as Coal Brokers,.
caswell and bowden.jpg caswell and bowden. 2jpg.jpg caswell and bowden 3.jpg caswell and bowden 4.jpg guy fawkes.jpg

I can make out two addresses from the images, one in Cannon Street and another in New Street. Is anything known about this company. I've searched the forum with no success.
 
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