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Colliery Deputies in the British Coal Industry Before Nationalization*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2009

Peter Ackers
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This article challenges the militant and industrial unionist version of British coal mining trade union history, surrounding the Miners' Federation of Great Britain and the National Union of Mineworkers, by considering, for the first time, the case of the colliery deputies' trade union. Their national Federation was formed in 1910, and aimed to represent the three branches of coal mining supervisory management: the deputy (or fireman, or examiner), overman and shotfirer. First, the article discusses the treatment of moderate and craft traditions in British coal mining historiography. Second, it shows how the position of deputy was defined by changes in the underground labour process and the legal regulation of the industry. Third, it traces the history of deputies' union organization up until nationalization in 1947, and the formation of the National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers (NACODS). The article concludes that the deputies represent a mainstream tradition of craft/professional identity and industrial moderation, in both the coal industry and the wider labour movement.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of Social History , Volume 39 , Issue 3 , December 1994 , pp. 383 - 414
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1994

References

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28 L. Jones, Cwmardy. See also, We Live (both London, 1986).

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47 Note: Sources on British colliery deputies. The specialist material here on the colliery deputies is mainly from five internal trade union sources. Fellowes, G., Historical Records of the General Federation of Colliery Firemen of Great Britain (Barnsley, 1963)Google Scholar is a chronological summary of all the Federation's conferences and important executive meetings, compiled by a Yorkshire union President. The Trades Union Congress note, Salient Points in the History of NACODS (London, 1962) is a brief factual outline. England, J. W., NACODS: Midland Area, 1908–1963 (Nottingham, 1963)Google Scholar, and Crawford, J., Brief History of NACODS (London, 1963)Google Scholar are accounts by former Midlands and national union Secretaries, respectively, which duplicate much of Fellowes in a slightly more interpretative style. The former is easily the most rounded attempt at a history, this time concentrating on the Midlands coalfield. Lee, J., Lancashire and Cheshire Colliery Firemens' Association: A Brief History from its Commencement up to June 30th, 1914 (Wigan, 1914)Google Scholar, is an account of the early days in Lancashire by its first Secretary. All are in the author's possession. Specific references to these “histories” are made only when they add to the Fellows narrative, which is drawn on widely.

48 Challinor, The Lancashire and Cheshire Miners, p. 52.

49 Church, The History of the British Coal Industry, p. 424.

50 England, NACODS, p. 9.

51 Ibid., p. 16.

52 McCormick, Industrial Relations in the Coal Industry, p. 72.

53 Ibid.

54 Lee, Lancashire and Cheshire Colliery Firemans' Association.

55 England, NACODS.

56 Ibid.

57 Ibid., p. 11.

58 Ibid., p. 14.

59 Ibid.

60 Ibid., p. 25.

61 Lee, Lancashire and Cheshire Colliery Firemans' Association.

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67 Zweiniger–Bargielowska, “Colliery Managers and Nationalisation”.

68 England, NACODS, p. 19.

69 McCormick, Industrial Relations in the Coal Industry, p. 71.

70 Crawford, Brief History of NACODS.

71 Miller, W. T. is the author's great-grandfather. This article arises from a biographical doctoral study, “Christian Brethren, Union Brother: A Study of the Relationship between Religious Nonconformity and Trade Union Leadership, in the Life of the Coal Mining Deputies' Official, W. T. Miller, 1880–1963” (Ph.D., Wolverhampton University, 1993)Google Scholar. See also, “Miller, William Thomas”, in Bellamy, J. and Saville, J., Dictionary of Labour Biography, Volume II (Oxford, 1993)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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73 Marsh, Trade Union Handbook.

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77 England, NACODS, pp. 18–19.

78 Ibid., p. 21.

79 Ibid., p. 18.

80 Ibid., p. 31.

81 Ibid., p. 32.

82 Marsh, Trade Union Handbook, p. 166.

83 England, NACODS, p. 11.

84 Melling, “Employers and the Rise of Supervisory Unionism'.

85 Zweiniger–Bargielowska, “Colliery Managers and Nationalisation”, pp. 60–61.

86 Page Arnot, The Miners, vol. 3, p. 434.

87 Melling, “Employers and the Rise of Supervisory Unionism”; Zweiniger–Bargielowska, “Colliery Managers and Nationalisation”.

88 T. Pattinson, “Thatcher Out to Smash Pit Safety Union”, the Daily Mirror, 13 April 1989; S. Milne, “Lives at Risk in Pit Safety Deregulation”, The Guardian, 24 August 1993.

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