The Mines and Colliery Act of 1842 is a key piece of legislation in understanding the coal mining industry. The act prohibited women and girls from working down in the mines. For boys, a minimum age of 10 years old became standard. ¹ Alan Heeson in his 1981 article on the subject goes through some of the motives behind the supporting of the Bill. Although some wanted more restrictions for the benefit of the miners, some had other ideas. He discusses how Leonard Horner, a factory inspector, thought that working-class children ought to be educated for longer periods in order to civilise them. Horner held this opinion for children of coal miners and other industries alike. ²

Heeson also discussed how much of the Bill rested on public opinion. He highlighted that, for better or worse, sensationalism about the conditions of the mines was a key factor in this Act coming to pass. ³ However, even Lord Ashley, one of the main figures behind the Act, was morally ambiguous about his view of the mines. His view on removing children from the mines was often through necessity rather than morality. Heeson goes on to say Lord Ashley even tolerated many of the conditions found in the north-east of England. ⁴

Coal Mining Strikes

Michele Campolieti wrote in 2021 about the strikes that occurred within the coal industry. He states that early on, the unions that formed to protect workers’ rights were more localised. He highlights that even by the middle of the 1880s, only one fifth of these coal miners were part of a union. ⁵ The Miner’s Federation of Great Britain had been founded in 1889, but a peak in union membership overall only occurred in 1913 with 81%. ⁶ As would be expected, these strikes were primarily about dangerous working conditions, unsatisfactory wages, and a high-stress environment. Between 1893 and 1914, 56% of the days lost in work were due to strikes in this industry alone. That number was 66% in the years between 1919 and 1939. ⁷

Michele goes on to discuss the impact of the First World War on the coal mines. He discusses the increased importance of this industry not for the war effort but also for the nations allied with Britain. He stated that by December 1916, the government had taken control over the industry. The first area affected was South Wales, and quickly it became the entire country. Due to growing dissatisfaction from wartime conditions, a uniform wage and fixed price policies were enforced. This period lasted from 1916 to 1921. ⁸

De-Industrialisation of the Coal Mines

I will now focus a little on the era when the coal industry was starting to decline. Jörg Arnold wrote a book in 2024 on the subject of de-Industrialisation. He discusses the unique perception during the 1960s about miners compared to other industries. Arnold wrote that the mines were ‘no hot bed of militancy’, and that miners were seemingly quite able to adapt and accept the declining reality of their way of life. The amount of coal strikes went down significantly, while other industries faced an increase. ⁹ Arnold then explained that miners were often viewed like soldiers. He highlighted that in a sense, since miners had made similar sacrifices to soldiers, they could morally demand more out of society in terms of compensation. ¹⁰ This is of course one opinion, and would need to weighed up carefully with the later mining strikes of the 1980s.

Regarding the decline itself, Arnold argued that it was primarily the Liberals that pushed for the acceleration of mine closure. ¹¹ He pointed to a particularly vocal example in Liberal MP and medical professional Cheadle Michael Winstanley. He discussed how Winstanley saw the continuation of the mines as appalling because of their work conditions. ¹² Bruce Lloyd, a socialist, also believed that accelerating the decline of the coal mines was the first and most important priority to push forward a cheap energy policy. ¹³ More generally, Arnold points to the shared doubt among both Labour and Conservatives about the trajectory of the industry. He noted that both parties seemed to agree in the prospect of an ‘economically competitive coal industry’, as part of the gradual deceleration. ¹⁴

Conclusion

We should not forget just how far-reaching the impact the coal mining industry has been on British politics. From being able to change laws around children and women’s employment, wages, and even the dismantling of the industry itself, coal mining had long been a contentious source of social upheaval. You can take the information I have shown you here to consider to following:

• What kind of life did the people in my ancestry lead if they were coal miners? What was their earnings, their quality of life, and so on?
• Were my ancestors well-respected as miners, as Jörg Arnold argued, or was it a myth?
• Were my ancestors part of these mining disputes, either as union members or those in opposition?
• Do I have any politicians in my family who debated this industry in Parliament, or were affected by their policies?

There is an awful lot to be learned from the political side of genealogy, and when it comes to the coal mines, there is plenty to discover. I would encourage any readers with a connection to this industry to investigate some of the sources discussed here. See what you can find!

Sources

Arnold, Jörg. The British Miner in the Age of De- Industrialization: A Political and Cultural History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024).

Camolieti, Michele. ‘Strikes in British Coal Mining, 1893- 1940: Testing Models of Strikes’. Industrial Relations 60 (2021): 243-273.

Heeson, Alan. ‘The Coal Mines Act of 1842, Social Reform, and Social Control’. The Historical Journal 24 (1981): 69-88.

Parliament UK. ‘Coal Mines’. Accessed 22nd May 2025.
https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/livinglearning/19thcentury/overview/coalmines/.