History - Fascinating Things it Brings Up

[Andy873]

The last couple of days I decided to try and make a judgement call regarding a question of whether some relief coal trains ran in 1873 / '74 - A question that really would only be of interest to me, however it brings up some historical fact that I wasn't aware of and some of you might find interesting.

The Burnley coal miners strike of 1873, Cornish miners and the elusive relief coal trains:

Late in 1873, 30 miners decided to join the Amalgamated Association of miners union one Monday in November at Padiham's main colliery. On Tuesday, the colliery owners, the Executors of the late John Hargreaves (Hargreaves & Co) found out and dismissed the men. The union calls for a strike which includes the mines owned by Hargreaves & Co in Burnley. Suddenly, over 1,000 miners walk out. The company responds by locking them out.

The cotton mill owners of Padiham, wanting to keep their mills operating ask the L&Y if they would operate relief coal trains to Padiham. The Rose Grove - Padiham section at this time was sufficiently advanced enough to allow this. Indeed, the new junction signal box was already in place and open at Rose Grove. And the question is - did these relief coal trains run? It is reported that the L&Y would probably agree to the request of the mill owners.

Hargreaves & Co respond to this strike by sending an agent down to Cornwall to recruit miners, and in one visit the agent arranges for over 500 Cornish miners to come to Burnley promising to double their wages, and thus break the strike. Hargreaves & Co soon report that output has now returned to normal and the strike looks to be broken.

Things at this point get quite nasty, and by January 1874 the leaders of the union are charged in Burnley Police Court with conspiracy. four get off, but the others are sent to trial in Manchester.

As for the Cornish miners, many went back home, however there was a part of Burnley known as Little Cornwall!

Regarding the relief trains:

1. I can find no newspaper reports stating they ran.
2. I think the L&Y would probably have run the trains if needed.
3. It would have been possible to run them.

With the Cornish miners taking the work of the strikers, the strike is broken and once more the coal flows. The union is dissolved in 1875 and the members become part of the NUM.

My judgement is - relief trains could have run, but never did.

I still find it fascinating how one question reveals some history you never knew about!

 

[Gloster]

Firstly, relief is, I presume, being used in a non-railway sense. It would presumably be being used a bit like the Relief of Mafeking: to relieve a situation in the military sense. Relief trains in a railway sense means trains intended to relieve overcrowding at busy times and would not normally apply to extra goods trains, although you never know what contemporary railway terminology might have used. It is a fine difference, but unless quoting i would think that special or extra would be better: possibly the former if there weren’t any regular trains yet.

The L&Y could have run them if the line was sufficiently complete, even if the line hadn’t been inspected. I believe that technically no public traffic of any type was supposed to run until the Board of Trade Certificate had been issued, but there were plenty of loopholes that allowed a limited goods traffic to start before that. I doubt that the unions on the L&Y were yet strong enough to boycott the trains. I wonder if the strike lasted long enough for the stocks of coal at the mills to have run dangerously low or whether the companies might have built up their reserves earlier.

 

[Rover]

it brings up some historical fact that I wasn't aware of and some of you might find interesting

Indeed it is, this site never ceases to amaze me at the interesting snippets of historical information that keep appearing.

 

[LickeyIncliner]

Fascinating stuff. An interesting follow-on question is whether Hargreaves' agent chartered a train or trains to get his Cornishmen to Burnley. That might have been part of the inducement for the recruits to start immediately, and in sufficient numbers for mining to restart.

It also leads to the non-railway question of whether Hargreaves & Co arranged any kind of accommodation for the men their agent recruited. 500 Cornish strike-breakers turning up in Burnley and trying to find bed and breakfast might have led to some disorder!

 

[Andy873]

relief is, I presume, being used in a non-railway sense. It would presumably be being used a bit like the Relief of Mafeking: to relieve a situation in the military sense. Relief trains in a railway sense means trains intended to relieve overcrowding at busy times and would not normally apply to extra goods trains, although you never know what contemporary railway terminology might have used. It is a fine difference, but unless quoting i would think that special or extra would be better: possibly the former if there weren’t any regular trains yet.

I'm using the word relief here simply because of how a Manchester newspaper wrote of the situation. With the potential of no coal arriving at the local mills, relief would certainly fit the feeling of the mill owners and of course the 1,000s of workers employed in them, otherwise the mills close, and you're thrown out of work.

The L&Y could have run them if the line was sufficiently complete, even if the line hadn’t been inspected. I believe that technically no public traffic of any type was supposed to run until the Board of Trade Certificate had been issued, but there were plenty of loopholes that allowed a limited goods traffic to start before that

I've since come across an article that mentions in January 1875 correspondence between the L&Y and the local board at Padiham. The board are are asking just when will the official goods trains start rolling, the reply from the L&Y is that they didn't consider the line quite ready - so it really does look as the coal trains being requested during the strike did not run.

Indeed it is, this site never ceases to amaze me at the interesting snippets of historical information that keep appearing.

Fascinating stuff. An interesting follow-on question is whether Hargreaves' agent chartered a train or trains to get his Cornishmen to Burnley. That might have been part of the inducement for the recruits to start immediately, and in sufficient numbers for mining to restart.

It also leads to the non-railway question of whether Hargreaves & Co arranged any kind of accommodation for the men their agent recruited. 500 Cornish strike-breakers turning up in Burnley and trying to find bed and breakfast might have led to some disorder!

Yes, isn't history fascinating!

It appears that the agent for Hargreaves & Co paid their train fares to get to Burnley.
Regarding accommodation - yes it must have been very difficult for families to open their doors to the strike breakers, I guess you wouldn't want your windows smashed etc.

As for the miners on strike, they tried several tactics, bully boy, inviting the Cornish miners to their union meetings, and offering to pay their fares home.

Not related to the strike, but the section of line mentioned:

When Jonas Gregson (contractor) went bust constructing this section of line, he had to sell up all sorts of things he used in connection with the construction. First on the list was his horses - Steamer, Bobby, Tom, Gilbert, and Polly to name but a few. Although work horses, he loved his horses and it must have been a very sad time selling them on.

 

[Gloster]

In these sort of circumstances trains would only be provided if a very large group were to travel at the same time. More likely the Cornish miners would have their fare paid or be given a ticket (probably marked ‘Not to be refunded’ or something similar to prevent them cashing it in and going on a binge). The owners might not have recruited the Cornishmen themselves but used an agent, possibly Cornwall-based or at least one who had recruited in the county before, who would be experienced in the cheapest and most practical ways of carrying things through.

For accommodation it is quite likely that the Cornishmen would have to rough it in old warehouses or sheds, rather than lodging in the modern sense. Just look at the near-contemporary situation on the Settle & Carlisle.

 

[norbitonflyer]

I'm using the word relief here simply because of how a Manchester newspaper wrote of the situation. With the potential of no coal arriving at the local mills, relief would certainly fit the feeling of the mill owners and of course the 1,000s of workers employed in them, otherwise the mills close, and you're thrown out of work.

Regarding accommodation - yes it must have been very difficult for families to open their doors to the strike breakers, I guess you wouldn't want your windows smashed etc.

Depends whose side you were on - the mill workers who were getting laid off because of the shortage of coal might have welcomed them with open arms.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Some of the strikers would probably have been Cornish, which would have presented a bit of a dilemma. By the 1860s the Cornish mining industry was in serious decline. with huge new deposits discovered in South America and the USA. Many Cornish folk emigrated abroad, but some migrated to the Lancashire and other coalfields in search of work. The 'new' town of Nelson at one time had a significant Cornish community.

 

[LickeyIncliner]

It appears that the agent for Hargreaves & Co paid their train fares to get to Burnley.

In these sort of circumstances trains would only be provided if a very large group were to travel at the same time. More likely the Cornish miners would have their fare paid or be given a ticket (probably marked ‘Not to be refunded’ or something similar to prevent them cashing it in and going on a binge)...

For accommodation it is quite likely that the Cornishmen would have to rough it in old warehouses or sheds, rather than lodging in the modern sense. Just look at the near-contemporary situation on the Settle & Carlisle.

On reflection, whilst I think it might well have been cheaper to move 500 men on a special train or two, it would have been much easier to issue pre-paid tickets, especially as the miners were probably recruited a few at a time in different villages and towns of the Cornish mining area. And yes, I was taking too modern a view of their likely accommodation! The owners of mills and other businesses affected by the strike were probably happy to make some kind of space available.

 

[D Williams]

Cornish miners were quite often used for strike-breaking in the coal mines as they were very reluctant to join trade unions. The reason may have been that the miners , as opposed to the other occupations in the tin mines, were employed on a contract system , an agreement for payment bargained with the mine officials that depended on the quality of the ore and ease or difficulty of extraction. Hard rock mining is very different to coal mining and the transition must have been difficult.

On a similar note , sometime before the first world war the management had a fall out with the boilersmiths at Swindon. Some recruiters from the North East shipyards that were short of staff due to the massive increase in naval ship building visited Swindon offering higher wages with the result that Swindon then had a shortage of boilersmiths.

 

[Andy873]

I was taking too modern a view of their likely accommodation! The owners of mills and other businesses affected by the strike were probably happy to make some kind of space available.

Yes, that's my view also, over the years many people have worked and lived in not ideal places but if it's only short term and it's going to double your wages...

Cornish miners were quite often used for strike-breaking in the coal mines as they were very reluctant to join trade unions. The reason may have been that the miners , as opposed to the other occupations in the tin mines, were employed on a contract system , an agreement for payment bargained with the mine officials that depended on the quality of the ore and ease or difficulty of extraction. Hard rock mining is very different to coal mining and the transition must have been difficult.

Those contracts - the trial goes into great detail about who was under contract and who wasn't, and not forgetting many of the miners could not read or write, so if you did sign anything, you wouldn't know what the agreement was.

Probably the best thing now is for any of you are interested in reading about the initial trail, you can do so by viewing pages 6 & 7 of The Examiner, Friday January 30, 1874 which is free to read on the British Newspaper Archive site. It's a long read, but very interesting!