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Detail View: Library Publications Collection: Colliery legislation and its consequences: 1842 and the women miners of Lancashire

Image Number: 
escholar006426.pdf
Reference Number: 
R43515
Link to Catalogue: 
Image Title: 
Colliery legislation and its consequences: 1842 and the women miners of Lancashire
Parent Work Title: 
Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester
Creator: 
John, Angela. V
Creator Role: 
Author
Creator: 
Taylor, Frank, 1910-2000
Creator Role: 
Editor
Date Created: 
1978
Publication Details: 
Manchester: John Rylands University Library of Manchester
Volume: 
61, no.1
Page/Sheet: 
78-114
Description: 
This thesis provides an examination of the role played by women in the British coal mining industry between 1840 and 1890. But, in addition to considering the nature of their underground and surface employment, it is equally concerned with the fundamental problems and attitudes that such work posed and the relevance of those problems to nineteenth century society. It is therefore not just a study of coal mining but of aspects of society in general. The study opens with introductory general surveys of both coal mining history and of the position of women in Victorian Britain. The origins of female pit labour underground are next considered. The early nineteenth century situation is examined against the background of industrial change and a new social conscience. The exposure of conditions of work first in Scotland and then in England is described and Ashley's vital espousal of the Cause explained. The origins of the Children's Employment Commission are traced and its 'subsequent findings critically examined for each major area of female employment. The impact of this revelation on public opinion is considered next and the course of the Parliamentary struggle leading to female prohibition in the Mines and Collieries act of 1842. Chapter three deals with the problems raised by the act, the reactions to it and the difficulties of finding alternative employment. A brief assessment is also given of the efforts of the few coalowners who tried to alleviate hardship by phasing out female employment more gradually. The work of the mines Commissioner, H. S. Tremenheere, is evaluated as is the widespread evasion of the law and the massive problems of enforcement. A comparison is provided by a brief consideration of underground female employment in Belgium. The second part of the thesis deals with the lesser known aspect of female colliery work, the surface labour. The jobs of the pit brow lasses are explained and in order to examine their living and working conditions more thoroughly, the Wigan coalfield is used as a case study. This involves extensive use of the contemporary diaries of A. J. Munby. The public exposition of the women's work is seen through literary and journalistic sources. Their treatment by both the miners' unions and by the masters is sketched and the validity of their arguments assessed. The 1886-7 campaign to exclude the pit brow women from their work is examined in detail and the wider implications concerning the right of women to labour at outdoor work. This includes surveying the interests of groups such as the early suffrage movement which had no direct link with coal mining but which nevertheless felt threatened by the exclusion proposals. The study culminates in the retaliation by an effective West Lancashire pressure group, a deputation of pit brow women to the Home Office and the eventual success of their struggle for the right to continue working.
Keyword: 
mining, women,
Language: 
English
Language Code: 
eng-GB
Subject: 
University of Manchester
Subject: 
Libraries--Special collections
Subject: 
John Rylands Library
Subject: 
Academic publication series
Subject: 
Articles
Category of Material: 
Printed
Sub-Category: 
Periodical
Medium: 
Ink
Support: 
Paper
Time Period Covered: 
19th Century CE
Places Covered_: 
Lancashire
Places Covered_: 
Belgium
Current Repository: 
The University of Manchester Library, U.K.
Rights Holder - Image: 
The University of Manchester Library
Rights holder - Work: 
The University of Manchester Library
Access Rights: 
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Copyright of The University of Manchester
Date Captured (yyyy-mm-dd): 
2010-06
Image Creation Technique: 
Scanned from original by Hollingworth & Moss Ltd
Date Image Added (yyyy-mm): 
2017-07
Metadata Language: 
eng-GB
Collection Code: 
Publications