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The Northern Coal-Owners and the Opposition to the Coal Mines Act of 1842

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

A. J. Heesom
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“Never have I seen such a display of selfishness, frigidity to every human sentiment, such ready and happy self-delusion”, wrote Lord Ashley of the opposition to his coal-mines bill in the House of Lords. Historians have tended to confirm Ashley's judgement, and agreed that the motives of the Northern coal-owners in opposing the bill were inspired by simple self-interest, a desire to preserve their right to dispose of their pits, and the men, women and children in them, as they saw fit. It would, of course, be naive to suggest that the Northern coal-owners were not self-interested, but it is perhaps worth analysing the nature of that self-interest, which was not, as the simple and usual dismissal of it would suggest, merely an assertion of proprietorial rights.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of Social History , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , August 1980 , pp. 236 - 271
Copyright
Copyright © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis 1980

References

1 Ashley's diary, 26 July, in Hodder, E., The Life and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G. (London, 1887), I, p. 431.Google Scholar All dates cited refer to the year 1842, unless otherwise specified. For the traditional view of the coal-owners, see, e.g., J. L., and Hammond, B., Lord Shaftesbury (London, 1969), pp. 75–83.Google Scholar

2 Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, Third Series, LXIV, cc. 784, 936, 999; LXV, c. 118.Google Scholar

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4 Hansard, LXV, c. 109.

5 Ibid., LXIV, c. 999; LXV, cc. 119–20.

6 Londonderry to Peel, 20 July, Peel papers, British Library, Additional Manuscripts 40512, ft. 35–36.

7 Hansard, LXV, c. 122; Children's Employment Commission (hereafter CEC), Appendix to First Report, Pt I [Parliamentary Papers, 1842, XVI], p. 265.Google Scholar

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11 Ibid., LXV, cc. 582, 586. The Morning Post, 26 July, toned down Campbell's speech to read: “He could scarcely think the alternative of the workhouse worse than their present condition.”

12 Hansard, LXIII, cc. 197–98; LXV, cc. 118, 316–17; LXIX, c. 437.

13 CEC, Appendix to First Report, Pt I, p. 257Google Scholar; id., Pt II [PP, 1842, XVII], p. 516. Janet Neilson, from Fife, “much prefers service”, but supposed her father needed her earnings, PtI, p. 514.

14 Hansard, LXV, cc. 111–12.

15 Buddie, “Comments on Ashley's Speech”, National Coal Board Manuscripts 1/ JB/1788 Durham County Record Ofiice; id., “Remarks on Lord Ashley's Bill, clause by clause”, ibid., 1795. Cf. Buddie to Londonderry, 14 May, in which Buddie describes the employment of women as “an abomination”, Londonderry Manuscripts D/Lo/C 142 (1313), Durham County Record Office.

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17 Hansard, LXV, c. 119. Londonderry also warned that poor rates must go up, or be subsidised from, for instance, increased excise duties, ibid., c. 582.

18 Ibid., LXIV, c. 1000.

19 Ibid., LXIX, c. 444. A Scottish miner, opposing Cumming Bruce's motion in a speech at Newcastle, 11 March 1843, “trusted that every pitman would be prepared to resist the slightest tampering with Lord Ashley's bill”, Hamilton-Russell Manuscripts, Northumberland County Record Office, 602/25/15.

20 Hansard, LXIII, cc. 1339–40.

21 Ibid., LXIV, cc. 1000–01.

22 Ibid., LXIII, cc. 197–98; LXIV, cc. 783–84; LXV, cc. 575–76.

23 Ibid., LXIII, c. 197; LXIV, c. 542, note.

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26 Hansard, LXIII, cc. 1357–58.

27 Ibid., cc. 1353–54, 1361. Of South Durham, the Children's Employment Commission wrote: “in this district children are sometimes taken down into the pits as early as five years of age, and by no means uncommonly at six”; in North Durham (where the Lambton collieries were) one case was recorded “in which a child was taken into the pit at four and a half years old; and several at five and between five and six”, CEC, First Report [PP, 1842, XV], p. 28.Google Scholar

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29 Hansard, LV, c. 1264.

30 CEC, Appendix to First Report, Pt I, p. 174.Google Scholar

31 Hansard, LXIII, c. 1356.

32 Buddie to Londonderry, 16 May, Londonderry Manuscripts 142 (1315).

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34 Buddie, “Comments on Lord Ashley's Speech”.

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40 Buddie's place-book, 15–20 June, pp. 151–55; Taylor, “The Third Marquess of Londonderry”, loc. cit., p. 23, note 15, mistranscribes the date “June 18th 1842. Saturday” as 17 June.

41 Buddle's place-book, 20 June; Taylor, loc. cit., p. 23, note 17, omits Egerton; confuses Lord Harry Vane, MP for South Durham, and no relation to Londonderry, with Henry Vane, Viscount Seaham, Londonderry's son; and also confuses James Loch with James Losh, a Newcastle coal agent who died in 1833.

42 Buddle to Londonderry, 21 June, Londonderry Manuscripts 142 (1316).

43 Lambton to Morton, 24 June.

44 Hansard, LXIV, c. 426.

45 Ibid., cc. 538–44; Morning Post, 25 June.

46 Hansard, LXI1I, cc. 196–99.

47 Londonderry to Buddie, 12 May, National Coal Board Manuscripts l/JB/1781; id. to Brandling, 28 May, Coal Trade United Committee Minutes, 1840–44, p. 166 b.

48 Notice of petition, 8 June, Coal Trade Papers, Coal Trade Reports 1833–54; Buddie's place-book, 6 June, p. 146.

49 Buddle to Londonderry, 19 June, Londonderry Manuscripts 142(1317); Londonderry to Buddle, 21 June, National Coal Board Manuscripts 1/JB/1791.

50 Lambton to Morton, 24 June.

51 Ashley to Buddle, 28 June, National Coal Board Manuscripts I/JB/1796.

52 Buddle to Londonderry, 9 July.

53 Buddle to Ashley, 5 July (2 letters), National Coal Board Manuscripts I/JB/1797–98.

54 Ashley to Buddle, 8 July, ibid., 1799.

55 Buddle to Ashley, 11 July (draft), ibid., 1804.

56 Peel to Londonderry, 22 July, Peel Papers, loc. cit., ff. 71–72.

57 Hansard, LXIV, c. 426.

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60 Hansard, LXV, cc. 104, 120–22.

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63 Ashley's diary, 23 June, loc. cit., p. 426.

64 On the “compromise”, see Taylor, , “The Third Marquess of Londonderry”, p. 24Google Scholar, and Heesom, , “Entrepreneurial Paternalism”, p. 242.Google Scholar

65 Buddle's place-book, 21 June.

66 CEC, First Report, pp. 68–69.

67 Ibid., pp. 59–60.

68 Ibid., Appendix, Pt I, p. 143.

69 Hansard, LXIV, c. 1000.

70 Buddle's place-book, 21 June.

71 Hansard, LXIV, c. 545, note.

72 CEC, First Report, p. 271.

73 Hansard, LXIV, cc. 426–27.

74 Ibid., LV, c. 1274.

75 Ibid., LXIV, c. 427.

76 Ibid., cc. 545–56, note.

77 Buddle to Lambton, 28 May.

78 Hansard, LXIII, cc. 1363–64.

79 CEC, Appendix to First Report, Pt II, p. 193.

80 Buddle to Lambton, 28 May.

81 CEC, Appendix to First Report, Pt I, p. 660.

82 Colls, R., “‘Oh Happy English Childeren!’: Coal, Class, and Education in the North-East”, in: Past & Present, No 73 (1976), pp. 75–99CrossRefGoogle Scholar; A. J. Heesom, “Coal, Class and Education”, ibid., forthcoming.

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88 Hansard, LXV, c. 111.

89 CEC, Appendix to First Report, Pt I, p. 428.Google Scholar

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92 CEC, Appendix to First Report, Pt II, p. 152.Google Scholar

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94 Buddle's place-book, 21 June; Hansard, LXV, c. 120.

95 CEC, Appendix to First Report, Pt I, pp. 132–33.Google Scholar

96 Hansard, LXIII, c. 1321.

97 Morton to Buddle, 27 June, National Coal Board Manuscripts I/JB/1792.

98 Hansard, LXIV, cc. 538–39; Morning Post, 25 June; Hansard, LXV, cc. 6–7.

99 Hansard, LXV, cc. 111,117.

100 Ibid., LXIV, cc. 1166–68.

101 Wellington to Londonderry, 12 May, Londonderry Manuscripts 113 (202).

102 Londonderry to Brandling, 28 May; Coal Trade United Committee Minutes, 1840–1844, 30 05, p. 169.Google Scholar

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105 Hansard, LXV, cc. 116–17.

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110 Returns of the ages of the pitmen in the Londonderry collieries, ibid., 1790; Hansard, LXIII, c. 1355.

111 Buddle, “Comments on Ashley's Speech”.

112 Hansard, LXIV, c. 1000.

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128 Ibid., LXIV, c. 539.

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131 Ibid., LXIV, cc. 1003–04.

132 Ibid., LXIV, cc. 540–42; LXV, cc. 101–02, 118–19.

133 Londonderry to Buddie, 13 July, National Coal Board Manuscripts I/JB/1807: “If I cannot throw over the bill the Select Committee will with good management put an end to it for this session at least.”

134 Hansard, LXV, c. 114.

135 Ibid., LXIII, c. 1321.

136 Ashley's diary, 21 May – 1 June, loc. cit., pp. 419–20.

137 Hansard, LXV, c. 109.

138 Buddle to Londonderry, 6 June, Londonderry Manuscripts 142 (1297). The executive-committee minutes have not, apparently, survived before January 1842, so Buddle's statement cannot be corroborated, but there is no reason to suppose he would have invented it.

139 Hansard, LXIII, c. 1354.

140 Printed copy of the Mines Bill with manuscript additions. National Coal Board Manuscripts I/JB/1815.

141 Hansard, LXV.c. 891.

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145 Hansard, LXV, c. 892. Ashley protested that subterranean inspection was “altogether impossible; and indeed, if it were possible, it would not be safe. […] I for one should be very loth to go down the shafts for the purpose of doing some act that was likely to be distasteful to the colliers below”, ibid., LXIII, c. 1340.

146 Ibid., LXV, cc. 578–79, 587–88; Morning Post, 26 July.

147 Coal Trade United Committee Minutes, 1840–44, pp. 178–79; printed copies of the Mines Bill with manuscript additions, National Coal Board Manuscripts I/JB/1815–16.

148 Hansard, LXV, cc. 579–80.

149 Printed copy of the Mines Bill etc., 1816.

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154 Buddie to McDonnell, 1 June 1841, Buddie Letter Book, No 30, Buddie Manuscripts, Vol. 24.

155 Hunter to Londonderry, 15 December 1844, Londonderry Manuscripts 149 (199).

156 Londonderry to Graham, 23 February 1844, ibid., 454.

157 Hansard, LXV, c. 113.

158 Ibid., LV, c. 437.

159 Ibid., LXIII, c. 197.

160 Ibid., LXV, cc. 571–78, 583.

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164 Hansard, LV, c. 1276.

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168 Ibid., Pt II, p. 195.

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178 Buddle's place-book, 21 June.

179 Ashley's diary, 2 July, loc. cit., p. 429.

180 Hansard, LXV, cc. 583–84.

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183 Report on the Administration and Practical Operation of the Poor Laws [PP, 1834, XXVII], p. 116.Google Scholar

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189 Ibid., LXIII, c. 1348.

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195 Baines, State of the Manufacturing Districts, op. cit., pp. 53–54.

196 Morning Post, 12 July.

197 Hansard, LXIII, c. 199.

198 CEC, Appendix to First Report, Pt I, p. 313.Google Scholar

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200 The Times, 11 July.

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202 Hansard, LXIII, c. 1323.

203 Leifchild to Buddle, 18 May.

204 Morning Chronicle, 10 May.