The details of the following book appeared unsolicited. I haven't seen it,
so cannot comment on the quality but it certainly sounds interesting.
Perhaps members who are or will be reading it might like to comment.

Peter

PIT WOMEN:

Coal Communities in Northern England in the Early Twentieth Century

GRISELDA CARR

Griselda Carr lives in Sheffield and was formerly a Lecturer in Social
Studies at Leeds University.


Life in pit communities was no bed of roses and women had to learn how to
keep their men well fed and their children happy in difficult circumstances.
In the years before nationalisation coal miners depended on their wives to
help them recuperate from their hard labours underground, with baths, clean
clothes, hot meals and rest. It was the women who kept up a routine of
washing, cleaning and removing grime from clothes and boots to keep their
shift working men productive. Women managed their households bringing up
children and taking part in much of the community's informal social life. In
good times there was the danger that some of the earnings might be leached
away if miners went to the pub before bringing their wages home. In bad
times, with strikes, closures, accidents or deaths there would be little
money. Wives and daughters had to manage the family through thick and thin.



This book describes the history and culture of women and men in early
twentieth century Northern England. It focuses on family life and on the
coal communities of Yorkshire and the North East. It provides interesting
perspectives on relations between women and men, on how girls grew up and on
the culture of these communities.



-         A fascinating and engaging story of mining life.

-         A portrait of domestic routines in a pre-electrical age.

-         How the lives of women and their families were regulated by the
rhythms of pit life.

-         How women with little formal education learnt to survive as adults
in coal communities.

-         How men and women kept body and soul together through long strikes



Contents:   Introduction,   - -The coal industry in the early twentieth
century,   - -- Mining communities, - - The Women's place,     - -Housing,
the encapsulating environment,   - - Ill-health,  the continuing worry,  - -
Children, the centre of their mother's world,     - -'Mothers' apprentices':
the socialisation of girls,   - - Women's networks:  formal organisations
for women,      - -The Impact of some prolonged industrial struggles on
women's lives,     Conclusion.

Subjects: Women, labour and social history, sociology.

BIC CODES : HBCW, HBXD, JBF, JBJG,

 214x134mm  180pp     ISBN 085036 495 7pbk     Pounds 12.95

USA $ 19.95

Published by  THE MERLIN PRESS Ltd., PO BOX 30705, LONDON, WC2E 8QD.
[parcels to 38 King Street, WC2E 8JT]
TEL +44 [0] 20 7836 3020; FAX + 44 [0] 20 7497 0309   UK only* local rate
TEL: 0845 458 1579 [log in to unmask]  www.merlinpress.co.uk
______________________________________________

Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales  SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599

University of Exeter - School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
(Centre for South Western Historical Studies)
E-mail:  [log in to unmask]

Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/  for details.

Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/

_____________________________________________