The early years.
In 1896 the Shirebrook Colliery Company began sinking 2 shafts, each 18 feet in diameter, at Shirebrook, under the direction of Arnold Lupton, a professor in mining. Who incidentally became a Member of Parliament for the Sleaford division of Lincolnshire a few years later.
Kibbles used in sinking the shaft, notice the kibble which was damaged when it fell down the shaft.
Winding house 1890s.
Coal was reached a year later at a depth of about 600 yards.( Top Hard Seam ).
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Coal Price List.
In 1898 Shirebrook miners were in dispute over the top hard price list. Price lists were an agreed schedule of prices at every colliery which was part of the contract of employment and could, if necessary be enforced in the courts.
The men complained that the roof was bad and it was impossible to earn a fair wage on the district price.
They asked for an increase of 2d a ton and the removal of the undermanager whose treatment of them had become intolerable.
After months of friction the men came out on strike on May 25th. Extra police were drafted into the village and the strikers received notice to leave the Company's houses or pay a fortnights rent in advance.
On June 19th. the enginemen and firemen joined the miners, the firemen agreeing not to descend the pit under any other winders and the enginemen agreeing not to let down the pit any non-unionist miners.
On August 8th. the surface workers ceased work.
Men came from Glasgow to work at the colliery but returned home as soon as they discovered that a strike was in progress. Their expenses were paid by the tradesmen and others in the village.
August 22nd. saw the arrival of 55 miners from Wales. They were met by a hostile crowd of over a thousand people and were eventually persuaded to return home.
The South Wales miners were locked out at the time and were receiving financial assistance from the Miners Federation of Great Britain, which the Derbyshire Miners' Association had joined in 1889.
James Haslam, the General Secretary of the Derbyshire Miners' Association sent a telegram to Lewis Miles the secretary of the Ponypridd Workmens Provisional Committee, in which he stated that the Derbyshire miners were "furious". He also sent a letter.
Derbyshire Miners' Association, Miners' Offices,
Saltergate,
Chesterfield.
August 23rd., 1898.
Dear Sir,
We have a body of men on strike at Shirebrook Colliery. I am sorry to say we are troubled with Welsh blacklegs. We have have already paid for nine men to return, when lo! yesterday 55 men turned up. Mr. Harvey has gone with money to pay their fares as they say they would go back if money was found for them; and, as a matter of ordinary practice, whatever it costs to send them away, will be taken out of the donation to Wales this week. One way or another, our men pay about £200 per week to keep the starving poor, and it is black ingratitude for these beggars to come blacklegging. I shall inform Mr. Ashton, and I think if it is not stopped it will be for the Federation as a whole to reconsider its position about granting money at all to South Wales. I do not blame you, but desire that an exposure be made throughout Wales at once of the dastardly conduct of these men. The two Evans are stumping the country, and we are helping all we can, and this is the return we get for it. Set the thing going, denounce all such men.
yours, deeply hurt, J. Haslam.
Meanwhile Lupton, the managing director of the Shirebrook Company, had applied to the Board of Trade for the assistance of a conciliator in accordance with the Conciliation Act, 1896.
Mr. Harvey ( the Miners' Agent ) claimed, "the moment they accepted conciliation the tyranny had been such as had never been surpassed in any dispute in the country."
The conciliator was a Mr. John Burnett, he had several discussions with Lupton and the miners' leaders. The price lists were modified and both sides agreed to accept the arbitration of Burnett on the question of the undermanager.
The undermanager was suspended ( for a period ) and by the end of September all the men were back at work. The stoppage had lasted 17 weeks.
Lupton decided to leave the Shirebrook Colliery Company just before the end of the year.
The Derbyshire Miners' Annual Demonstration, 1909.
There were other disputes in Derbyshire which were in relation to the nature of tasks, rather than changes in the price lists. It's difficult for us to believe nowadays, but in 1895 at Hollingwood pit, which was owned by the Staverly Company, the men were told to use forks instead of shovels when filling their tubs. This was to reduce the amount of small coal sent to the surface.
Practices such as this were usually brought in when there was a depression and completion was high. This increased the profits of the owner at the expense of the miner, whose earnings were reduced.
Over the years owners introduced forks with wider spaces between the prongs or they introduced screens or riddles which had a larger mesh.
The Bolsover Company even appointed an official, known as the "slack bobby", he would go around the various stalls to ensure that shovels were not being used by the men.
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Shirebrook Population and Epidemic.
The opening of a colliery at Shirebrook led to a massive increase in its population. The census figures for 1891 revealed 567 inhabitants. By the 1901 census, the figure was 6,200.
People were arriving from various parts of the country looking for work. Model Village was being built for the mine workers and their families, unfortunately the houses were not being built fast enough to satisfy the tremendous growth in population which Shirebrook was experiencing. Some people had to live in tents and huts which were erected in nearby fields. This in turn led to health and hygiene difficulties.
In 1900 a typhoid epidemic in Shirebrook led to a heated discussion on sanitation at Pleasley parish council, one speaker suggested that Arnold Lupton "knew nothing about the place", and "I do not suppose that Mr. Lupton expended his capital from any philanthropic motives."
In 1910 Herbert Peck compared the death and epidemic death rates for various types of housing.
At Barrow Hill houses were built in small blocks with large gardens and a free circulation of air, the death rate was 8.1 per thousand, the epidemic rate was 0.7.
The epidemic death rate for the district was 1.54.
In Palmer Street, Mosborough, in 26 back-to-back houses, deaths occurred at the rate of 40 per thousand, epidemic diseases rate was 16, compared to 12.4 for the remainder of the parish.
In 80 houses at Waterloo, North Wingfield, the death rate was 47 per thousand compared with an average of 9.3 for the parish.
Peck described 170 houses at Speedwell as, "one-doored, built in long rows with long privy middens and coal house between them. The ground between the houses and out-buildings was garden at one time but has long lost all resemblance to such."
In these dwellings deaths occurred at the rate of 15.6 per thousand, the rest of the parish was only 11.9.
Infant mortality
In all the colliery districts of Derbyshire the infant mortality rate was high.
At Shirebrook in 1901, it reached an appalling rate of 236.4 per thousand births.
At Chesterfield in the same year it was 217, at Blackwell 188.5.
In the rural village of Ashbourne the rate was 88 per thousand. The average for the whole of England and Wales was 151.
Notoriety.
Shirebrook gained notoriety through the numerous shebeens, ( a shebeen was an unlicensed house selling alcoholic liquor ), that existed there in the early 20th. century.
Time after time the police made big hauls, and the justices imposed what was described as "exemplary fines" on those who were caught.
Gambling was also prevalent at this time. A popular gambling activity was Pitch and Toss, the rules were something like this:-
One man, the chucker ( thrower ), threw 2 pennies, sometimes he had an assistant who collected the coins after each throw. If the chucker made a profit the assistant might get a little tip.
There could be 3 possible outcomes.
(1). 2 heads=the chucker wins.
(2). 2 tails=the chucker loses.
(3). 1 head and 1 tail=no one wins.
If more than one gambler wanted to be the chucker, then the choice was made by having the candidates throw a penny towards a marker on the ground. The mark might be a piece of paper, a little mound or a stone on the ground. Being the chucker could turn out be a very expensive business, because the odds on winning are even and there could be several big bets against the thrower.
Pitch and toss remained popular at least until the 1950 / 60s.
Occasionally a man would lose his whole weeks wages gambling pitch and toss. I once heard the story of a man who had lost his wages and he threw himself down the mine shaft, but I don't know if the story was true or not.
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Cage Accident.
On the March 26th. 1907, there was a cage accident and 3 Miners Fell to their Death.
I include the following details which I have copied from the web site of
Rosie Pursglove.
William Edward Limb, aged 45, and William Phillips, aged 27. Arthur Burton, aged 36, a native of Basford, Notts., were killed in an accident when the bottom conductor of the cage carrying the men down for the start of their shift at around 5.40a.m.broke after about 150 yards and tipped out the three men sending them to their deaths at the bottom of the pit shaft. Two others were injured. There were 14 men in total in the cage. Family legend has it that my grandfather Alexander Joseph, who looked after the pit ponies, should have been on the same shift but missed the cage down because he was late arriving. Apparently his bootlace snapped and he had to hunt out another before he could set out for work (Shirebrook Colliery Pit Cage Disaster - Newspaper Report)
Newspaper Report
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Coal Exports.
By 1909 the Shirebrook Colliery Company was exporting coal to France, Russia, Italy, Spain, Germany, Norway and Sweden.
Sankey Commission.
Amenities in mining villages were greatly improved as a result of the Sankey Commission's recommendation that there should a welfare levy of a penny a ton on coal output.
The levy was first imposed for a period of 5 years by the Mining Industry Act, 1920 and subsequently continued.
It was augmented in 1927 by a shilling in the pound on coal royalties.
The output levy was reduced to a half penny a ton in 1934, then restored to a penny a ton in 1939.
The fund was administered by the Miners' Welfare Committee appointed by the Board of Trade.
It consisted of representatives of the colliery owners and mineworkers, with some independent members.
The following year the committee was replaced by the Miner's Welfare Commission which was of a similar composition as that of the Miners' Welfare Committee.
Pit head baths, institutes, canteens, recreation grounds, health services and educational activities were all supported by the scheme.
Baths were opened at Langwith colliery in 1931 at a cost of £21,000, the following year Shirebrook colliery baths were opened.
Although some miners thought that if they washed their back, it weakened it, pithead baths were a great success and nearly everyone took advantage of it. A few men liked them so much that when they retired they still came to the pit for a shower.
Figure of a miner having a shower at Woodhorn Museum.
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Derbyshire Miners Holiday Centre.
May, 1939, saw the opening of the Derbyshire Miners Holiday Centre, a grant of £40,000 from the Miners' Welfare Fund, plus various contributions from the coal owners made it all possible.
It was capable of accommodating nearly a thousand visitors. The cost to a man and wife was 33 shillings. Children over 4 years of age cost, 8 shillings and 6 pence.
The accommodation was in in small chalets overlooking the sea and meals were served in a large dining hall at very low prices.
Special arrangements were made with the railway companies for cheap fares from Derbyshire to Skegness. This allowed many miners and their families to have a weeks holiday by the sea for the first time in their lives.
I know that thousands of people, and not only miners and their families, have wonderful memories of the time they spent there. I will have to get my old photo's out and perhaps add them to this page.
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Coal seams worked at Shirebrook.
Top Hard.
Main Hard,
Main Bright.
Deep Soft seam.
Piper.
Blackshale.
Tupton.
1969 / 70. Shirebrook produces its first one million tons of coal.
1976 / 78 Jubilee Drift driven. ( from the surface to the Main Hard seam ). For the transportation of coal.
1983, Shirebrook merged with Pleasley Colliery.
1986 / 87 Shirebrook produced 1.721.272 tonnes, a North Derbys Area output record.
The Colliery closed in April 1993.
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