HI,
I think I posted a query a couple of years ago asking if there would be any reason why bal maidens would travel backwards and forwards between Wheal Uny (Redruth) and Lady Bertha (Buckland Mononchorum) between 1855 and 1859, but together we couldn’t resolve the issue.
I have now looked at this in more detail. About 8 (who appear to have family names connected with Wheal Uny) were working at Lady Bertha 1855, 1856, 1857 – not all at exactly the same time necessarily – but I understand this was when Lady Bertha was opening. They have all returned to Wheal Uny during the course of 1858 (from April onwards). Then about twenty of the Wheal Uny bal maidens, including the original eight, are back at Lady Bertha from Nov 1858, but mostly during 1859. This seems to coincide with copper production significantly increasing at Lady Bertha 1859-62. They appear to go in three separate waves.
I can’t find any managerial links. (Have looked at Roger Burt’s Mining in Cornwall & Devon CD, also Morrison’s Cornwall’s Central Mines). Are they just following the fortunes of the two mines? The problem being that the 8 spend only a few months back at Wheal Uny, and 15 of the subsequent 20 only spend a few month at Lady Bertha. Alternatively, I am beginning to wonder if small teams of experienced bal maidens were sometimes sent to new mining ventures to ‘train up’ local dressers. Certainly most of the larger group travelling east in 1858/59 were older girls or women (wages between 10d and 14d per day, i.e. top of range!). I am beginning to suspect that this may sometimes have happened as the Cornish took over the lead mines in Wales, for instance. Any comments would be most welcome.
Lynne
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