Banner
Address FT Site Email CCL Info In Memory Menu Philip Individuals Search Webmaster Content Work Fionn Bob
Information and photographs submitted by subscribers are posted in good faith. If any copyright of anyone else's material is unintentionally breached, please email me


Calendar
Time Line Romans Middle Bk1 1600 1700 1734 1800 1830 1860 1900 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2015
Robert Bradley

 

Coal Mining Records in The National Archive
Bob


Coal Mining Records in The National Archives

Domestic Records Information 35

  • Introduction: A brief history

The first statute to give the state some element of control over coal mining, was the Coal Mines lnspection Act 1850 which set up an Inspectorate of Coal Mines. This Inspectorate reported to the Home Office. From the end of the 19th century, the Board of Trade was concerned with both the industrial and the economic aspects of British coal-mines, and in 1920 the first state organisation exclusively concerned with them, the Mines Department, was set up as department of that Board. Since then, a long succession of government departments has exercised general responsibility for coal-mining and related matters. This research guide attempts to identify some of the most useful sources in The National Archives for the study of coal-mining history in this country.

The successive government departments which have exercised responsibility for the coal industry are:

  • Home Office, 1850-1920
  • Board of Trade: Mines Department, 1920-1942
  • Ministry of Fuel and Power, 1942-1957
  • Ministry of Power, 1957-1969
  • Ministry of Technology, 1969-1970
  • Department of Trade and industry, 1970-1974
  • Department of Energy, 1974-1992
  • Department of Trade and Industry, 1992 to date

Parallel to this central government administration, a succession of bodies within the industry has been responsible for day to-day executive functions. These are:

  • Coal Mines Reorganisation Commission, 1930-1936
  • Coal Commission, 1938-1947
  • National Coat Board (NCB), 1946-1986
  • British Coal Corporation (commonly called simply 'British Coal'), 1987-1997
  • Coal Authority, 1994 to date

More detailed administrative histories of all these departments and bodies are in the Catalogue at departmental (lettercode) level.

2. The First World War

On 1 March 1917, the coalfields were temporarily taken over by the government and were run under the direction of a Coal Controller working through the Coal Mines Department of the Board of Trade. Records of the Coal Controller's Advisory Council (1917-1920) are in BT 189. Records of the Coal Mines Department are in POWE 10, POWE 22 and POWE 26.

The Ministry of Munitions also exercised a considerable degree of authority within the coal industry during the First World War. See MUN 4 (records of the Central Registry of the Ministry of Munitions) in the subseries 'Coal and Coke', and MUN 5 (Ministry of Munitions, Central Records Branch). Information about war emergency measures from 1917 onwards can be found in POWE 16 (code 13 in the paper catalogues).

3. Between the Wars

ln 1925, the Royal Commission on the Coal lndustry (the Samuel Commission) recommended the amalgamation of small mines, and the Coal Mines Act 1930 set up the Coal Mines Reorganisation Commission to bring this about. As well as regulating the production and supply of coal, the Commission was to rationalise undertakings in six designated regions. Opposition to the scheme by colliery owners resulted in its modification and the Commission was dissolved in 1936. Under the Coal Act 1938, coal deposits were nationalised and the Coal Commission was established to administer them, inheriting the powers and functions of the Coal Mines Reorganisation Commission. The outbreak of war in 1939, however, prevented the scheme from being implemented.

4. The Second World War

Prior to the Second World War, government responsibilities for sources of power and energy had been split between several government departments. After the outbreak of war, there were severe difficulties in meeting the demand for energy supplies, and steps were taken to concentrate responsibility for sources of fuel and power into a single department, in order to meet national priorities with regard to the allocation and distribution of supplies. The coal-mining industry was controlled by the Mines Department, under the Board of Trade, until its abolition in 1942 when all functions relating to the fuel and power industries were transferred to a new Ministry of Fuel and Power. The wartime work of the Ministry was mainly of an executive nature, and included responsibility for: coal production; controlling the price of coal; and the health, safety and training of workers in or about mines and quarries. The Ministry also supervised the examination of colliery officials in certain grades, and the testing and approval of certain types of mining apparatus. The status of the Ministry of Fuel and Power was recognised by the Ministry of Fuel and Power Act 1945, which also charged the Minister with a general duty of co-ordinating the development of fuel and power sources in Great Britain.

Files relating to the control of supplies of coal and coal products during the Second World War and later (including drafts of the Mines Department War Book) are in POWE 21. Information about wartime emergency measures is to be found in POWE I6 (code 13 in the paper catalogues). The minute books of the War Emergency Committee on Coal Mines, 1939-1946, are in COAL 4.

Files about solid fuel control and rationing, 1939-1959, are in POWE 6. Files about emergency services, 1941-1946, are in POWE 17.

For Cabinet policy papers and files, see CAB 87/92, CAB 87/93, CAB 117/243, CAB 123/33 and CAB 124/704–45.

5. After the Second World War: Nationalisation

ln 1945, the Labour government announced its intention to nationalise the coal industry, and the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 provided for the complete nationalisation of the coal industry. On 12 July 1946, the National Coal Board (NCB) was established, which was given sole responsibility for managing the industry and running it on business lines. The Minister of Fuel and Power was empowered to give the Board directions of a general character after consultation. The peculiar difficulties of the coal industry led to the retention by the Minister of Fuel and Power of strict ministerial controls in matters of production, pricing, modernisation, wage negotiations and recruitment.

The main functions of the NCB were to decide and set objectives for the industry, to lay down policy directives and the limits within which management must work, to hold management to account, and to provide for the future by means of research and development, and the recruitment and training of Staff. It was also responsible for
promoting the safety, health and welfare of employees, conducting national negotiations, obtaining capital, and providing common services such as scientific research. The NCB's reports were presented to Parliament by the Minister of Fuel and Power.

The NCB formed the top tier of a four-tier system. At the lowest level were the coalfields (each colliery had its own manager), which were grouped into 48 geographical areas, each under the control of an area manager. The areas were grouped into eight geographical divisions, each under a divisional board which reported to the NCB. Many of the Board's functions were in practice exercised at area or colliery level.

On the vesting date, 1 January 1947, coal-mines were taken into public ownership: the productive assets of 800 or more private colliery undertakings (and the service contracts of their employees) were transferred to the National Coal Board, as were the coal deposits and other assets of the Coal Commission and the functions and staff of the district selling schemes.

ln 1973 the NCB formed two holding companies, NCB (Coal Products) Ltd., and NCB (Ancillaries) Ltd., to handle aspects of its work not directly related to deep and opencast mining.

On 1 January 1987, the NCB became the British Coal Corporation. It was wound up in 1997.

The Coal Industry Act 1994 established the Coal Authority, reporting to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, which became operational on 31 October 1994 and took over certain functions of the British Coal Corporation. The Coal Authority has four main areas of activity: licensing coal-mining operations and granting leases to exploit coal reserves in Great Britain; processing subsidence damage claims not falling on coal-mining companies; the management of property and the historic legacy of past coal-mining, such as the treatment of minewater discharges; and the provision of geological and other information on past and future coal-mining operations. lt has also taken on the role of ensuring that sound environmental procedures are followed in all areas of its activities.

6. Records of the National Coal Board, British Coal and the Coal Authority

The records of the National Coal Board, British Coal and the Coal Authority are public records under section 51 of the 1946 Act. Those held at The National Archives are described below.

Records still held by the Coal Authority include all the coal-mine abandonment plans: these depict areas of coal extraction, the extent of coaling operations, and locations of mine entrances. These records may be consulted at the Mining Records Office, 200 Lichfield Lane, Berry Hill, Mansfield, Notts. NG18 4RG (See
http://www.coal.gov.uk/services/miningrecords/index).

The pre-nationalisation records of colliery companies extant in 1946 are also deemed to be public records. Such records, together with any surviving deeds and evidences of the companies, are usually held in local authority record offices. Many other records of the National Coal Board and British Coal are held in local authority record offices - see the National Register of Archives (http://www.nra.nationalarchives.gov.uk). The National Register of Archives also provides information on the whereabouts of records of many pre-nationalisation collieries and other companies.

7. Mining Records in The National Archives

The National Archives contain a large quantity of material about coal-mining, especially but not necessarily on Crown land. Incidental references to coal-mining can be found in a wide range of legal and administrative records.

The State Papers Domestic (SP 10 to SP 29) and the Treasury Board papers (T 1) are often a good starting-point: use the indexes to the printed Calendars to help you identify relevant papers.

Material about mining in the Forest of Dean exists amongst the Forestry Commission records (F 3; F 16; F 20; F 29); maps and plans of the Forest are in F 17.

The National Archives holds many maps which predate the first legal requirement to make plans of coal-mines (required by the Coal Mines Inspection Act 1850). Early examples include 16th-century maps showing open-cast mines. Roger J P Kain, The tithe maps of England and Wales: a cartographic analysis and county-by-county catalogue (Cambridge, 1995) indicates when pits, shafts etc. are shown on tithe maps (18 30), but it should be noted that it usually only the surface entrance which is shown, not the underground workings. This publication is available in The National Archives' Library. Other maps are likely to be found in the records of the Crown Estate (CRES). A few plans of off-shore mines in County Durham and Northumberland, to which the Crown owned the rights, are among the records of the Land Revenue Record Office in LRRO 1. The Home Office files in HO 45 include a few plans of abandoned mines.

POWE 10/197 is a file about proposals concerning the deposit of plans of abandoned mines, 1939-1953.

8. Records about individual Collieries

Information about individual collieries and mining companies can sometimes be found at The National Archives, but in general local record offices are likely to be a much more fruitful source.

References to individual mines and collieries may occasionally be found in the correspondence and papers of the Home Office: from 1782-1820, these are in HO 42; from 1820-1861 in HO 44 (with registers in HO 46); and from 1841 onwards in HO 45 (with registers in HO 46). Home Office out-letters relating to mines and quarries, 1873-1920, are in POWE 4; and registered files on mines and quarries, 1887-1920, are in POWE 6.

The Mines (Working Facilities and Support) Acts 1923 and 1925 gave the Railway and Canal Commissioners certain powers to grant colliery and other mining undertakings the right to search for, and work, minerals. Applications and Orders to curtail or halt mining activities under these acts and the Mining Industry Act 1926, the Coal Mines Act 1930, the Mines (Working Facilities) Act 1934 and the Coal Act 1938 are in J 75. These records relate to numerous individual collieries.

The Companies Registration Office files on colliery companies which were dissolved before nationalisation (1856-1946) are in BT 31. Similar files relating to joint stock colliery companies are in BT 41. The files in BT 31 and BT 41 normally contain only the formal records required to be deposited with the Companies Registration Office (articles of incorporation, lists of shareholders, etc) and not the records of the companies themselves. High Court files relating to companies winding-up proceedings are in J 13. All these series can be searched in the Catalogue by company name.

To show how company assets were settled and compensation awarded at the time of nationalisation under the 1946 Act, papers relevant to 26 sample companies were selected for permanent preservation and are now in POWE 35 and POWE 36. COAL 34 relates to the registration of assets under the same Act and includes estimates of value and statements of interest. Records of the Central Valuation Board, which settled and apportioned compensation, are in POWE 42 .

Maps relating to the registration of assets are in COAL 40 (with registers in COAL 39). Coal seam surveys (1957-1967) are in COAL 10. POWE 6/85 contains mining maps of several counties dating from 1895. There are plans of collieries in COAL 38.

See also COAL 4, COAL 12, COAL 17, COAL 29.

Some information about individual mines can be found in the British Transport Historical Records (RAIL record series), a card index to which is available at The National Archives. Board of Trade papers about branch lines to collieries are in MT 6.

A very few Ministry of Town and Country Planning files on NCB applications to mine in specific locations are in HLG 89.

The National Archives does not hold mining personnel records. lnformation about individual miners and other staff, if it survives, is more likely to be found in records held by British Coal or deposited in local record offices.

9. Mines lnspectorate

Reports of inspectors of mines for 1851-1852 are in HO 87/53, and for 1850-1968 in POWE 7. Many such reports were printed as Parliamentary Papers (available on microfiche at The National Archives). Letters to inspectors of mines, 1855-1871, are in HO 95. Records of the Mines lnspectorate, 1884-1947, are in POWE 8 (code 11 in the paper catalogues). Correspondence and papers of the Mines lnspectorate, 1887-1928, are in POWE 10 (code 10 in the paper catalogues). Records about the relationship between mines inspectors and the Mines Department and successor bodies, 1899-1955, are in LAB 15/22.

10. Labour Relations and Disputes

The National Archives holds a considerable amount of material on industrial relations in the coal industry. Ministry of Labour series include:

  • General correspondence files, 1897-1913 (LAB 2 with means of reference in LAB 7)
  • Industrial relations files, 1895-1975 (LAB 10)
  • Records books of trade disputes, 1901-1965 (LAB 34)
  • Employment Department files, 1909-1973 LAB 8
  • Coal-mining dispute and general strike, 1926 (LAB 27)
  • Trade disputes record books, 1930-1934 (LAB 3/35)

Material about coal-mining industry dispute, 1918-1929, is in LAB 27. Daily bulletins on the coal strike, 1920-1921, are in CAB 27/79 and PRO 30/26.

Records created or inherited by the Ministry of Fuel and Power include files as follows:

  • Labour and trade unions, 1899-1943 (POWE 8 - code 9 in the paper catalogues)
  • Labour relations, 1917-1945 (POWE 16 - code 9 in the paper catalogues)
  • 'A' series files, 1902-1970 (POWE 26 )
  • 'B' series files, 1943-1966 (POWE 37)
  • Coal Division correspondence and papers on labour and labour relations, 1883-1963 (POWE 20)
  • Production and labour relations, 1936-1947 (POWE 22 - code 5 in the paper catalogues)

Records of the National Coal Board Industrial Relations Department, 1946-1967, are in COAL 26. Records of the Mining Association of Great Britain, 1936-1947, are in COAL 11.

Numerous files about the coal-miners' strike of 1984 are in COAL 26, COAL 31, COAL 95 and other COAL series.

11. Health and Safely

Records of the Safety and Health Division, 1876-1968, are in POWE 8, and those of the Safety in Mines Research Board and Establishment, 1912-1938, in POWE 10 (code 12 in the paper catalogues), continued in POWE 25 (code 4 in the paper catalogues). LAB 14, LAB 15 and LAB 26 contain papers relating to health, safety and welfare and to HM inspectors of factories.

For material on industrial diseases (including pneumoconiosis), see Ho 157, LAB 56, PIN 12, PIN 39, PIN 900 and POWE 20. A number of files about the Workmen's Compensation Regulations are in COAL 26, LCO 2/1934-1952.

12. Accidents

Reports on many major mining disasters have been printed as parliamentary papers (Available on microfilm at The National Archives).

Material about accidents and accident prevention, 1876-1953, together with papers on the Royal commission on Safety in Coal-mines, 1938-1964, is in POWE 8 (code 10 in the paper catalogues). POWE 6 includes registered files on accidents from 1889 to 1919. The files of the National Coal Board Legal Department in COAL 27 also contain relevant material in the subseries 'Litigation and Arbitration'.

Records on the Valleyfield Colliery explosion of 1939 are in BT 103/105 -108

There is an enormous amount of information about the Aberfan disaster of October 1966, including records of the Welsh Office, the National Coal Board, the Treasury solicitor, the Ministry of Power, and other departments. The report of the Tribunal of lnquiry into the disaster is at BD 52/154 .

The records of the Explosives Executive of the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive include a list of mining accidents, 1896-1952 in EF 2/7. Papers of various committees of the Explosives lnspectorate are in EF 4.

13. Miner’s Welfare

From 1920 onward, a Miners' Welfare Fund was administered successively by the Miners' Welfare Commission, the Miners' Welfare Committee and the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation. Records of and relating to these bodies are in BX 1, POWE 1, POWE 8/278 and POWE 10.

14. Policy, Administration and Finance

A considerable number of record series in the National Archives relate to these matters. As a starting-point, see HO 87 (correspondence on the administration of the Mines and Collieries Act, 1843-1855) and HO 42, HO 44 and HO 45 as detailed above.

POWE 4 consists of out-letters about mines and quarries, 1873-1920, and POWE 6 registered files on the same subject, 1887-1920 (with HO 46 as the means of reference). POWE 16 consists of the early correspondence and papers of the Coal Division, 1896-1953; POWE 39 its finance files; and POWE 26 and POWE 37 its registered files.

Relevant papers of the Advisory Council on Coal and the Coal Industry, 1922-1928, are in POWE 26; those of the Committee on the Reorganisation of the Coal Industry, 1935-1938, in CAB 27/597-598; those of the Coal-mines Reorganisation Commission in COAL 4, COAL 12, COAL 15 and COAL 17; those of the Coal Commission in COAL 6 and COAL 15; and those of the National Coal Board in COAL 3, COAL 5, COAL 21, COAL 27 and COAL 29. CAB 27 contains a number of useful policy files.

On the post-nationalised coal industry, see also POWE 10, POWE 28, POWE 35, POWE 36, POWE 37, POWE 39, POWE 42, POWE 43, CAB 134/62 and CAB 134/523-524. Treasury files on the industry are in T 228, T 230 and T 233.

Registered files selected from various series raised by the Treasury Solicitor's outstation at the Department of Energy and its predecessors are in TS 49. The files contain correspondence and associated papers arising from legal advice and representation on issues relating to the regulation of coal and other fuels during and after the Second World War. The selected records include material on works (e.g. drainage), the control of supply and pricing, consumer councils, primary and subordinate legislation for nationalisation, and the European Coal and Steel Community.

15. Research and Development

The records of the Powell Duffryn Coal Research Establishment, 1892-1953, are in COAL 14. Reports and papers of the Fuel Research Station, 1919-1958, are in AY 6. Minutes of the meetings of the Fuel Research Board, 1920-1961, and papers of and about the Coal Survey Committees, 1925-1953, are among the records of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR 8). DSIR 16 contains the records of Industrial Research Associations, many of which (e.g. the Coal lndustry Research Association) were connected with the coal-mining industry.

Files of the Standing Conference on Lighting in Mines, 1924-1934, are in DSIR 20/31 and DSIR 20/32. DSIR 36/415-19 and DSIR 36/1429-1494 contain technical reports on a variety of matters connected with the mining industry.

The correspondence and papers of the Chief Scientist's Division, 1921-1963, are in POWE 25. COAL 24 contains specifications issued by the National Coal Board since 1950 as a supplement to British Standards specifications.

16. Marketing

Material on coal prices and marketing, 1916-1952, including the records of the district selling schemes under the Coal Mines Act 1930, is in POWE 16. Records of the National Coal Board Marketing Department, 1946-1968, are in COAL 28.

Records about supplies of coal to domestic and industrial users, 1940-1970, are in POWE 16. Records of the Coal Utilisation Council, 1932 to 1972, are in COAL 28.

17. Overseas

The records of the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office contain many references to the mining of coal overseas. Many of these references must be identified using the departments' own registers and indexes. For more guidance on using the records of the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office, see TNA Research Guides Researching British Colonies and Dominions and Foreign Office Records from 1782.

18. Further lnformation

A particularly useful website is that of the Durham Mining Museum (See
http://www.dmm.org.uk/sitemap/index.htm ), which provides information about individual collieries, dates of operation, names of managers and other senior staff, the geology of mineshafts, accidents (including names of those killed), and much more. For Scotland, see the website of the Scottish Mining Museum at
http://www.scottishmining.co.uk/

For information about non-coal-mines and quarries, see TNA Research Guide Sources for the History of Mines and Quarries.

(ri21422) Last updated: 13 September 2005 Crown Copyright 2005
The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU
Tel: +44 (0)20 8876 3444 Fax +44 (0)20 83392 5286
Email: enquiry@nationalarchives.gov.uk
Website: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk