NRO 07375/37 Black and white photograph of the crowning of Mrs Sally Smith, Coal Queen, Ashington Colliery Pit Yard, Northumberland, 1952. The Coal Queen is crowned by Mr Donald Hindson, M.C., National Coal Board Area General Manager, No.3 Area.

NRO 08523/14 Black and white photograph of the Miss Bedlingtonshire Beauty Queen Gillian McNair and other beauty queens at an unveiling the ‘Coronation Shelter’, 1 June 1953.

NRO 06978/3/37 Photograph showing ‘Coal Queen’ float from Northumberland Miners Picnic held at Ashington, 9 June 1979.

In the first half of the twentieth-century, various industries introduced beauty competitions for young women. “Industry Queens” represented textile manufacture, railways, and coal mines. Industry Queens were similar to the older tradition of the May Queen or Carnival Queen where a young woman would be chosen by her community to be “queen” for their celebrations. Like May Queens, Industry Queens would often be crowned by a person of importance, would wear elaborate or new dresses and take part in a parade.  

Industry Queens would also be used by the company or organisation that they represented for publicity. They would have their photographs taken for advertisements and appear at public events. 

The Coal Queen pageant in Northumberland ran from the 1930s until the 1980s within mining communities. Coal Queens could be the wife, sister or daughter of pit workers and would be crowned each year at local miners’ picnics or carnivals. The competition added a touch of glamour to the heavy, dirty, and gritty nature of their work.

Local queens would be selected to represent a colliery or colliery town. Local queens would be entered into the regional competition to become Coal Queen for Northumberland, who would be crowned at the Miners’ Picnic. Regional queens, like the Northumberland queen, would then compete for a national title with other young women from across the country. Prizes of the national competition included exotic trips at a time when few people went abroad on holiday.