Griselda Carr, Pit Women; Coal Communities in Northern England in the Early
Twentieth Century, (Merlin Press, London, 2001), 174 pp., paperback, ISBN
0-85036-495-7. Price £12.95

This is unfortunately rather a belated review. The book turned up on my
desk at a rather busy period well over a year ago and, whilst I read it as
a welcome diversion from what I was doing at the time, it was not until now
that I had time to put my thoughts on the book into some form of order.

Given what little I know of the publisher, reinforced by the flyers
enclosed with the review copy, I fully expected this book to follow a left
wing agenda but it does not.  Carr's approach to the role of women in
mining communities is realistic as it portrays the struggle to maintain a
better standard of life in an increasingly fragile coal using economy.

In the first half of the 20th century mining communities around the deep
collieries of Yorkshire and the north-east of England were dedicated pit
villages. Serving one or more collieries, they were inhabited virtually
entirely by miners and associated workers occupying houses rented from or
provided free by the colliery. Much of the housing stock and
infrastructure, dating from the mid 19th century, was inadequate although
new villages were being built in Yorkshire to serve the new deeper pits in
the 1920s and 30s. Outside the family group, social activity for miners
centred on the male only clubs; for the women there was chapel, the
neighbours and little else. However, with a large family to look after,
there was scant time available for socialising, particularly with husbands
and sons working on different shifts. Carr provides us with a well written
account of the women's struggle to manage their life within such a
physically restricted environment.

The book begins with a brief history of the developments affecting the coal
industry in the early 20th century but the author clearly finds herself
more at ease with the social rather than the economic aspects of mining.
She makes good use of the statistical evidence to back up her arguments for
the poor living conditions / high birth rate and the high infant mortality
amongst coal mining families. Central to the women's role, child bearing
and rearing are seen for what they were - security of income. A miner's
family were at their ecomomic peak once the male children were in
employment but unmarried. Yet there was little thought given to saving for
the later, less affluent period. Miners on the whole did not look far into
the future, they lived for the present, adopting a fatalistic attitude to
work practices which greatly increased the risk of accidents. Success in
mining prior to large scale mechanisation relied on strength and team work
within small partnerships. Social activity brought the men together,
through the clubs, but it was major events - accidents and strikes - which
brought the whole community, including the women, together. It was at such
times that the women came to the forefront in supporting the family and the
community. Carr finds similarities, and contrasts, between the role of
women in the early 20th century and that during the miners strike of
1984-5. No more so than in their treatment of 'black leg' labour, although
there is little mention of the wives of those who chose to work. Political
and social activists amongst the women were evidently few and formal
organisation to forward the cause of women in the mining communities
generally short-lived. Not surpising given the lack of what we today would
call leisure time - any long term committment to the cause would mean
turning her back on the community and it is not surprising that the
activists were, for the most, middle class rather than miner's wives.

Carr has used her personal and family experience, combine with the
historical evidence, to provide us with hard hitting but realistic account
of the life of women in the half century running up the nationalisation of
the coal industry. Certainly worth reading.

Peter

______________________________________________

Dr Peter Claughton, 
Blaenpant Morfil, nr. 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/

_____________________________________________