“No blame, no claim?”:  Women compensated by the Northumberland Coal Owners Mutual Protection Association

How rare is it to find records of coal owners compensating a woman for loss of wages as a result of injury or compensating her family as a result of her death? Well…The Mines and Collieries Act 1842, prohibited women and girls of any age from working underground. So, why do we, in Northumberland Archives have records of three women who appear in the compensation books of the mine owners?

Well imagine the scene…you start digging a hole in the ground in search of coal, the soil is heavy and claggy, in fact you realise that it is clay that you are trudging through. Clay isn’t just a waste material it can be used to make bricks. Which is why many pits in Northumberland had brick works as part of their commercial enterprise. And this is how the first woman we will look at came to be working at Seghill pit in 1926¹.

The record we hold is the Northumberland Coal Owners Mutual Protection Association Minutes, it details the case of Eleanor Urwin Baxter, Brick setter (a worker who arranges raw bricks for firing in a kiln.)

Her case goes over three volumes and says that she;

“Received injuries to her right hand on June 26th 1926 through an explosion. The hand was subsequently amputated. Compensation was paid at the full rate up to November 8th 1926, when Baxter having been supplied with an artificial hand, undertook work at a wage equal to that at the date of accident.”

The record can seem very matter of fact when dealing with such a shocking and traumatic event. It goes on to tell of Eleanor, some three years later seeking the help of Messers. Sutton, Cheshire and Thompson solicitors, to seek further compensation as;

“she had occasionally been thrown off, [work] owing to her injury, without compensation.”

The mine owners association doctor was requested to give his findings so on July 5th 1929, Dr W E Hume reported as follows;

“This girl says that she has had a hard winter, and has apparently become gradually worn out. She seems to have worked steadily for 2 ½ years and is now in somewhat a depressed state. She says she has to lift heavy weights and carry them on the stump of her right forearm. I think that her present breakdown must be regarded as a sequel of the accident, and that she should be given another month’s rest. I think she will then be able to return to light work.”

The record states that;

“In view of this report, the management arranged for the payment of compensation at the full rate with arrears.”

Collieries had other side operations too, as we can see from the case of our next woman.

“Backworth Colliery- Evelyn P. Stewart, 23, farm girl. Received injuries to her left foot on 9th December 1943 through her foot becoming engaged in the “feeder” of the thrasher. The foot was subsequently amputated.”

In a communication dated 31st December 1943 the management wrote as follows;

“The thrashing of a stack had just been completed and cleaning down was in progress when Stewart put her foot on a revolving drum and her foot was drawn into the machine. It should be mentioned that the feeding in operation had not ceased as the machine was being cleaned down of all grain and unthrashed corn. The wooden lid covering the drum has to be put down after feeding in, operations cease and the machine has been cleaned down. The thrashing machine is a Marshall owned by us and the name of the person in charge was Mathew Ridley of East Farm, Shiremoor. When the machine is thrashing it is necessary for the drum to be exposed otherwise the corn would not get through.”

Dr RJ Willan reported on the 11th January 1944 as follows;

“As a result of the accident she has lost the left foot and half of the left leg. She cannot work. It will be some time before an artificial limb can be fitted.”

Messers Sebag Cohen and Co Solicitors on behalf of Evelyn claimed damages at Common Law or alternatively compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Acts 1925 to 1943

The decision on her compensation claim reads- “Claim for damages at common law to be resisted.”

The record ends there and does not explain why the claim was to be resisted, however looking on the British Newspaper Archive website (which is free for all visitors to use in our search room) we found two newspaper reports, first the Blyth News and Ashington Post, dated 24th February 1944.

“Unfenced Thresher Charges Dismissed”

It reports that Evelyn was carried into court by a police officer where Backworth Collieries Ltd were summonsed for allowing the use of an unfenced threshing machine. The paper states that Evelyn was using the machine for the first time and was blind in her left eye. Enquiries were made and witnesses were called, but the court found that Backworth Collieries Ltd were “not liable in any way”

Her case was also reported in the Evening Chronicle where they reported that the accident occurred in her first hour’s duty on the machine. Representing Backworth Collieries Ltd Mr J.W. Jackson said that “the girl was inexperienced and whilst the accident was regrettable it was due to her own negligence.”

Obviously, we would question the result of this hearing now and it is notable that Evelyn appears to have been unrepresented. If she had been represented her solicitors may have questioned whether it was reasonable to expect someone with partial vision to carry out such a dangerous task. They may have asked whether any training was given and queried the nature of any warnings that were issued of the dangers of using such machinery.

We hold all manner of things in the archive including diagrams of now obsolete farm machinery, such as the rather beautiful one below of a threshing machine c. 1800.

Our third and final woman is Mary Ann Kelly who worked at Ashington farm, which was then owned by Ashington Coal Company Ltd.

“Mary Ann Kelly, 22, Byre Woman at farm” (A byre woman is a woman who looks after cows)

“Died September 28th 1915 of heart failure due to injuries received whilst cycling in Ashington Dene”

We hold copies of many Ordnance Survey maps in the archive and the 3rd Edition (1924) shows Ashington farm, but there is no record of Ashington dene. There are several other denes, namely Whitefield Dene, Blackclose Dene and the charmingly named Climbing Tree Dene. The closest to her place of work however is Well Head Dene. Ashington was originally called ‘Aescen-denu’ which is an Anglo-Saxon name that means ‘valley overgrown with ash trees’. Well Head Dene may well have been ‘aescen-denu’ from which Ashington takes its name.

As part of the investigation by the mine owners they sought details of the earnings of the deceased and her family, it reads;

Mary Ann’s father, working as a hewer would have been aware of the compensation scheme and put in the claim for compensation. The table shows how badly needed Mary Ann’s wages were and it perhaps explains her father’s rather hopeful attempt at getting some money for the family?

The record shows “the claim was to be resisted.”

No further information is given in the compensation record.

Using the British Newspaper Archive website again, however, gives more information. The Newcastle Daily Journal dated 29 September 1915 tells us that Mary Ann lived at Stakeford Lane, Choppington. She had left the farm to cycle home and had been “run into by a motorcyclist and knocked off her machine…she was found in the Dene which is ten foot below the level of the road”.

The motorcyclist was never found.

The stone buildings of Ashington farm, the farm where Mary Ann worked still stand today on Wansbeck Road, just past the junction with Shire Farm Grove. There is a blue plaque on the wall installed by Wansbeck District Council and Belway Homes (North East) which reads “Ashington farm restored and converted 1999-2000 the original settlement of Ashington began here.”

So Eleanor the brick setter at Seghill Colliery claimed compensation successfully but needed to employ the help of a firm of solicitors. She was severely injured and we have evidence that it affected her mental health as well as her physical health.

Evelyn the farm woman at Backworth Colliery’s Shiremoor East Farm claimed compensation but was unfortunately unsuccessful, she too was severely injured and may have found it very difficult to obtain work as a result of her injuries.

Mary Ann, byre woman at Ashington farm sadly lost her life, albeit away from her place of work, her father claimed compensation but was unsuccessful.

According to the Health and Safety Executive 142 workers in Great Britain were killed at work in 2020/21. The number of non-fatal accidents for the same period was 0.4 million.

These are shocking figures and show that work is still a place of risk for so many people.

¹ 1926 was of course the year of the general strike, it started on the 4^th May that year and whilst the “general” part of the strike did not last very long the miners held out after other trades had returned to work. Unfortunately, the strike did not bring the very much needed increase in wages and in fact the miners returned to work for less money and longer working days. Perhaps Eleanor was given work at the brick works because of the strike?