General

At a meeting in the Co-operative Hall in Coxlodge near Gosforth it was decided that the men would return to work early. 300 votes were recorded at the meeting; only 15 were against returning to work early. The mine owners agreed to re-open the mines if the reduction in wages was accepted.  

Northumberland miners overall were in favour of the strike but it was not as clear-cut as other counties. The Scremerston Colliery near Berwick voted in favour of returning to work early and the Shilbottle colliery near Alnwick continued to work for four days a week in order to supply the Dunston flour mill with coal. On 30 April miners’ delegates rejected the government’s final offer of £10,000,000, soon after negotiations collapsed. Northumberland was the only county to be in favour of submitting the Government’s final offer to the miners.  

It is also worth noting that not everyone was in favour of the strikes to begin with and many wrote into the editor of the Newcastle Daily Chronicle to show their views on the miner’s strikes. See below a letter sent to the editor from a widowed coal owner.  

Sir,  

I am a widow of 68 and one of 1,300 small owners of a colliery from which I receive a small sum in interest upon my hard-earned savings, which with the amount I still work for, keeps me and my crippled son in a very small cottage. 

If the government gave the miners £100,000,000 per annum, to keep up their wages. I should have to pay an increased tax of £4 per annum for this purpose. Why should I and the whole people be taxed in this way for miners, who even under the wages scheme, would still be earning very good wages, especially if we consider that they get free houses and free coal and burn four times more coal than I could ever afford to burn. Will Mr. Smithe or Mr. Hodges answer… 

A Widowed Coal Owner 

Another letter claimed to be from a miner who argued for the strike to be cancelled and for the longer working days to be brought back.  

Sir,  

Instead of putting blame for the coal muddle on either miner, owner, or government, would it not be wise to give a little space in your daily-written leading article to a solution of same? 

We certainly, since hours of labour have been reduced to seven per day, got into such a tangle in regard to trade that the sooner the better we get back to the old condition of eight again. Being a miner, I can safely say that miners would sooner work longer hours than suffer reduced wages at present in face of the high cost of living. And herein may lie the whole salvation of Labour.  

If the miners were to go back to eight hours, also giving up the 13 13/13 percent received at change, I have no doubt the owner on their part would forego their claim at present until things got back to more normal conditions again.  

Then with regard to the National Wages Board, surely both men and owners would agree for the government to find a solution before the trade need another reduction in wages.  

An Unnamed Miner 

Another letter sent into the Hexham Herald from a transporter was also against the coal miner strike.  

Sir,  

Miners on strike appear to have a much better time than the workmen of other trades, who are idle in consequence of the strike. Miners pay no rent, buy no coal, and are today being fed through several agonies at the ratepayers expense. If miners get Government subsidy, then my trade and others will have the same legal rights and God knows where it will end! 

The coal miners strike also affected local businesses such as the Chirnside Paper Mill which closed down early to provide maintenance which was usually done later in the year. Most of Northumberland swapped to burning wood as a substitute for coal. Unfortunately, not everyone could afford this and some coal miners in Newburn were arrested for stealing firewood from the railways in order to keep warm. The village councillor of Berwick decided to buy in around 400-500 tons of Belgium coal in order to help with the coal shortages his local area was feeling.  

The miners went on strike from 15 April to 28 June, however, without the support from their Triple Alliance allies they realised they were unable to beat the mine owners and ended the walkout. The miners saw their wages drastically fall to 20% lower than in 1914.  

The result of the strike meant the planned 1921 census was postponed and wasn’t completed until later in the year. The 1921 census has now been released by the National Archives, in partnership with the Find My Past website. It will be the only census to be released for the next 30 years. So, to find out your family ancestry head over to the Find My Past! 

References  

British Newspaper Archives  

The Northumberland Archives  

The National Archives 

This blog was written by Peter Connelly who is a third year history student at the University of Strathclyde. Peter has completed a virtual internship at Northumberland Archives and writing this blog was one of his tasks. He also recorded and edited a Northumberland Voices podcast using oral histories from the 1920s that are held at Northumberland Archives.

Being locked out can be a horrible experience, the panic, the 24-hour locksmith and not to mention the cost. However, being locked out of work, school, or university; that’s a different story, one that most would openly welcome. However, this was the unfortunate situation that the hard-working miners of Northumberland in 1921 found themselves in.  

When you think of Northumberland you think of two predominant things; a strong working class and an even stronger community spirit. In the 1920s this was no different.  

In 1921 places like Benwell and Lemington rose to the occasion to help with the community. In Benwell, the community came forward with overwhelming support for the miner’s wives and children in the form of goods and donations. Lemington’s community group, the Comrades of the Great War, helped feed the hungry miner’s children. In just three days over 1450 meals were provided to the children and local tradesmen also supplied goods and money. Lemington’s glassworkers also helped feed over 250 children.  

In Scremerston and Haltwhistle, there were also crisis funds and food relief schemes in place to help the coal miner’s wives and children. In Amble, alone, by the 16^th of May, the village had provided over 12,472 meals to the children of the miners. But why was this incredible community spirit even needed I hear you ask? Don’t worry I’ll get there.  

It all started in March 1920 when Government control of the mines ended and the mines returned to private industry. As a result, wages were cut and hours were extended, high levels of unemployment at the time meant that mines owners had leverage on the miners as they couldn’t simply find new jobs. Also, the coal industry became under pressure from foreign competition after the First World War. The mine owners argued that cuts in wages and extended working days were the alternatives to closing the least economically viable mines down altogether. 

In order for the miners to keep their current wages and conditions, coal mining trade unions looked to call upon their allies’ support in striking. Their allies were the transport workers (NTWF) and railway workers (NUR) unions. The three were better known as the Triple Alliance. A coal strike could be broken easily by importing foreign coal so the miners relied on their allies in order for their strike to be successful.  

Strikes broke out on the 15 April 1921 across the country. However, their attempt was sabotaged by their counterparts of the triple alliance after they abandoned the miners’ cause. Better known as ‘Black Friday’, 15 April saw the miners and the miners strike alone after the NTWF and NUR did not join in with the strikes. The railwaymen and transport workers felt the miners had not negotiated enough and also were concerned that they had not been included in negotiations.  

This is when the lock out comes in. Coal owners locked out the miners and demanded they accept the cuts in wages and extended working hours. In South Shields more than 10,000 miners found themselves out of work. Miners across the county found themselves locked out of work with no money coming in.  

The miners of the Hazlerigg Colliery in Newcastle found themselves out of employment for over nine weeks and only received benefits of 10 shillings which came from the Northumberland Miners’ Association.  

Part two to follow….

We often receive enquiries about workhouse records. Unfortunately, we only hold a small number of documents for Northumberland as a large percentage of them were destroyed during World War Two. For Morpeth workhouse, the only surviving records are a Guardians Minute book for the years 1902-1905 and a General Ledger for 1923-1930. 

However, among our collection of Morpeth Borough records are papers & plans which were found under the foundation stone of the workhouse when it was demolished in 1951. Included are a full plan of the proposed workhouse building, elevations, contemporary newspapers and a parchment roll naming the Guardians, Workhouse Master and Doctor. The roll also states that the foundation stone was laid on Wednesday 21 February 1866 by Lady Elizabeth Grey.  

On 24 February 1866, the Morpeth Herald reported that the new workhouse had been designed by F.R Wilson who was an architect from Alnwick. It was to occupy the site on which the old workhouse and some adjacent property, recently purchased stood. Lady Elizabeth Grey laid in a cavity in the stone, a jar containing copies of the Newcastle daily papers, the Morpeth Herald, Alnwick Mercury, drawings of the buildings and a parchment roll bearing the names of the officials.

It was also reported that Lady Grey was presented with the silver trowel she had used to lay the foundation stone. The trowel was obtained from Mr Stanley, a Silversmith from Morpeth. The inscription upon it read, “Presented to Lady Elizabeth Grey, by the Guardians of the Morpeth Union, on the occasion of her laying the foundation stone of the new Union Workhouse, Morpeth, Feb. 21, 1866.”

In the afternoon, Lady Grey treated the inmates to an excellent dinner of roast beef and plum pudding.  The room in which they dined was tastefully decorated with evergreens, flags and banners. Three banners bearing the arms of De-Merley, Howard and Grey were hung in prominent places.