Children of the Dark: Life and Death Underground in Victoria's England.
A. Gallop; Sutton Publishing, 2003; illustrated, maps, photographs,
sketches, bibliography, 228 pp. £20. Hard Covers.

Although the subject of child labour in the coal mines of Victorian
England has engaged the attention of many writers, in particular those
who take as their inspiration and guide the famous 1842 UK
Government's, Children's Employment Commission: 'Report on the
Employment of Children and Young Persons in the Mines and Collieries
...... ', they have, at least to this reviewer's knowledge, either been
of a wholly factual or fictional nature. This book represents a
departure from the 'norm' in so far as it is both a work of fact and
fiction.

Following a visit to relatives in the area the author, a journalist,
teacher and PR consultant, became fascinated with the tragedy that
occurred in 1838 in the Husker Pit, Yorkshire; where 26 very young
children lost their lives during an inundation of water, following
flash flooding after a sudden storm.

The major part of the book discusses the role of Lord Ashley and his
indefatigable efforts introducing and then guiding through Parliament
his Act limiting the employment of some child labour in the country's
coal mines, he also describes the Yorkshire coal mining area where the
pit was situated and the changing fortunes of the families who owned
the Husker Pit and others in the Barnsley area.

Between his factual portrayals of events surrounding the accident and
the work of the Children's Employment Commissioner's the author also
weaves his fictional story concerning the lives and equally changing
fortunes of one of the families who were employed as colliers and
hurriers in the Husker Mine. The tale centres around the life of a
young boy and his first few tentative steps into the world of work,
inevitably perhaps, as a 'trapper'.

However, possibly of more interest to the mining historian is the
author's account of the work of Lord Ashley in securing his Act, some
of which he claims appears for the first time. It is, for example, of
particular interest that he in part identifies the artist who was
employed to sketch underground and surface scenes for inclusion in the
final report and which, rightly, have become icons of man's inhumanity
to his fellow man in the world of employer-employee relations since
their hotly contested public appearance in the Commissioner's report;
the first time that an official Government report was illustrated in
such a manner.

Unfortunately, although identified as a, "Yorkshire artist ..., armed
with charcoals, pencils and sketchbooks to produce on-the -spot images
of colliers at work and machinery in action", we are left none the
wiser as to the name of this anonymous person. It is possible though
that he or indeed she is identified within the body of the full Report
and thus a more thorough reading may reveal the mystery. The book also
contains the, almost obligatory, extracts of evidence given to the
Sub-Commissioners during the course of their investigations and as
always it makes for some harrowing reading.

Whilst worthy of the effort that has evidently gone into the writing of
this book it is a pity that more recent scholarly work on the subject
of children's employment in the UKs 19th century coal industry appear
not to have been addressed or included. For example, it seems strange,
to say the least, that the very short bibliography cites several works
on the social history of the times but that they appear to be fairly
'long in the tooth', one wonders why more modern histories appear to
have been overlooked.

However, perhaps of more concern is the apparent absence of any
reference to more modern analyses of children's labour in coal mines
during the 19th century and the effect that Lord Ashley's Act had in
changing the practices that he and so many social reformers of the time
found abhorrent. For example, it has been noted that in part at least
the employment of children underground was determined by the geology
of the particular coal-field and thus in some coal-fields with wide
seams there was less pressure to employ children of a very tender age.
Although obviously not excusing the pitiful conditions endured by those
who were employed in the thin seams existing in several coalfields,
together with other determining factors, e.g. evolving technology, such
as the introduction in the mid 19th century of the endless chain
haulage system and also changing economic conditions, it is perhaps at
least advisable to think more carefully about the employment of
children and their working conditions in the mid 19th century UK coal
industry than to reach for the apparent instant blanket rush to
judgement that has often been the mark of earlier writers. In short,
although obviously a disgrace and blot on the country's long history of
exploitation and abuse of working men and women the subject does have
to seen in a much wider context than perhaps hitherto?

Whilst the author concentrates on depicting the life and sterling
philanthropic work of Lord Ashley, who later changed his title to that
by which he is perhaps better known, Lord Shaftesbury, another
character from the period makes a welcome if all too brief appearance,
Hugh Seymour Tremenheere, who was appointed as the first inspector of
mines in 1843 upon the passing of Lord Shaftesbury's Act.

The book is illustrated with the well-known original sketches from the
Commissioners 1842 report and several photographic plates depicting
scenes in and around present-day Silkstone. There is perhaps one
wrongly attributed engraving, that of the fireman, wrapped in water
soaked rags in the bowels of a gaseous coal mine. Here it is attributed
to the, 'Complete Collier', 1708, which, if true, means that Simonin,
in his magnificent book 'Underground Life; Mines and Miners', 1868 and
his engraving of 'Le penitent' therein must have plagiarised it!

Finally, the present book is, on balance, a welcome addition to our
general knowledge of a well-trodden path but we must await a more
searching study before the full story of this period of our mining
history may be said to have provided the definitive account of this
"scandal", as Marx described it. Assuming of course that a 'definitive'
history of anything is even a remote possibility!

Peter Challis.

Thanks are due to Dick Bird for his comments on an earlier draft.