If you were a Bevin Boy in The Potteries, The Phoenix Trust would like to hear from you. Email us at phoenixstaffs@mail.com and tell us about life on the North Staffordshire Coalfield and about working conditions in the mines.
Read about ”The Bevin Boys ” at http://www.northstaffordshire.co.uk/?p=8232
When the Second World War began in September, 1939 a large number of coal miners enlisted in the armed forces.
Despite the coal industry’s importance, mining was not made a reserve occupation until 1941.
Before it became a reserve occupation, young miners were “called up” for military service and older men left the industry to work in munitions factories where they earned more money.
Between 1939 and 1942, coal production fell from 231 million tons to 204 million tons.
Coal was the country’s major source of energy and Britain faced a serious fuel crisis. Without coal, industry would grind to a halt. Trains would stop running. Power stations could not generate electricity and gas works could not produce gas.
Only a few houses and flats had central heating. Most homes were heated by coal fires and housewives prepared meals in kitchens that had large coal fired ranges with an oven for cooking meat or baking bread and hot rings for boiling vegetables.
Facing a desperate situation, the government considered rationing coal. Fearing it would lead to nationalisation, Conservative backbenchers and colliery owners opposed the scheme which was abandoned.
Ernest Bevin
Early in 1943, Ernest Bevin, the Minister of Labour and National Service, appealed to miners serving in the armed forces who were stationed in the United Kingdom to return to the industry and asked men eligible for military service to volunteer to work in the mines.
At the beginning of autumn, Bevin was told that at least another 50,000 miners would be needed in 1944. Realising it was impossible to obtain 50,000 volunteers, he decided to use conscription and made plans to compel men to work in the industry.
Bevin turned to The Mining Department at The North Staffordshire Technical College, one of the world’s leading mining schools, for help. He asked it to provide training for men sent to work on the North Staffordshire Coalfield and to run courses for instructors employed to train conscripts assigned to other coalfields.
The school was willing to help and the first course for instructors began towards the end of November,1943.
Shortly afterwards, on December 2nd, Bevin made a statement in the House of Commons announcing the compulsory recruitment of men for the mining industry. Things moved quickly and in less than a fortnight the first 75 recruits, who became known as “Bevin Boys”, arrived in The Potteries.
If you were a Bevin Boy in The Potteries we should like to hear from you.
Email us at phoenixstaffs@mail.com and tell us about life on the North Staffordshire Coalfield during the war and about working conditions in the mines.
Copyright Betty Cooper and David Martin – The Phoenix Trust 2010
PH/BC
Miners leaving work at the end of their shift
Vocational education for North Staffordshire miners began in 1891 when Staffordshire County Council appointed a lecturer to organise part-time training programmes for apprentices and management trainees.
In 1898, the council employed a mining engineer and geologist, John Thomas Stobbs, to run these courses.
A graduate of Durham University’s College of Physical Science, he divided the training programme into four stages – preliminary, elementary, advanced and honours.
Preliminary courses lasted 30 weeks. Designed for boys starting work in the industry, preliminary courses were held in Biddulph, Brindley Ford, Halmerend, Kidsgrove, Leycett, Smallthorne, Silverdale and other coalfield towns and villages.
During 1906, John was appointed principal of the Central Mining School which opened in Victoria (now College) Road, Shelton. Housed in a temporary corrugated iron building, the school contained a classroom 48 feet long by 26 feet wide.
As well as running the school, John retained responsibility for all the mining courses in North Staffordshire and continued to travel round the area teaching preliminary classes. Appalled by the lack of public libraries and the low standards of elementary education in mining towns and villages, he introduced additional classes in mathematics for his students.
John realised these classes would not give miners’ children the opportunities they needed to realise their full potential and started looking for a way to bring higher education to miners and their families.
While he was considering this problem, Oxford University’s Extension Movement organised an experimental tutorial class in economic history for 40 working class and middle class students who wanted to obtain a degree level qualification.
Their tutor was Richard Tawney, who later became professor of economic history at The London School of Economics. The class held its first meeting on January 24th, 1908 at the Sutherland Institute in Longton where John was teaching advanced level mining.
Although in full-time employment, Richard’s students volunteered to run tutorial classes in neighbouring mining towns and villages. Helped by John and Richard, the volunteers, who called themselves “student-tutors”, successfully organised their first classes and laid the foundations of a popular working class movement which took adult education to North Staffordshire’s isolated mining communities.
Encouraged by their success, they held a meeting at the Central Mining School on May 27th, 1911 which was attended by representatives from 20 mining villages. John took the chair and Richard addressed the meeting. The “student-tutors” and the representatives agreed to establish the North Staffordshire Miners’ Higher Education Movement and run adult education classes in history, geography, philosophy, natural science and nature study. John became the movement’s president. During the academic year 1911-12, it organised ten courses which were attended by 200 students.
Copyright Betty Cooper and David Martin – The Phoenix Trust 2010
Stoke-on-Trent’s Lord Mayor councillor Denver Tolley will present city library staff with a new two volume book exploring the history of mining in North Staffordshire when they visit the Mayor’s Parlour at Stoke town hall next week.
Entitled the North Staffordshire Coalfields, the book has been produced by the North Staffs Mining History Group.
Speaking about North Staffordshire’s mining heritage the Lord Mayor said: “This area of the country has a proud history of mining and this project is a testament to all the years of hard work put in by the people of North Staffordshire. The depth and wealth of knowledge contained in the book shows just how much history we have below our city’s surface.”
Copies of the book will be available in libraries across the city and at the city centre archives.
St. Thomas’s Church at Mow Cop is one of the many historic buildings in North Staffordshire which have been nominated for inclusion in the Phoenix’s Trusts comprehensive photographic survey.
These photographs show general views of the churchyard and its memorials. During the next few days more photographs will be taken in the Mow Cop area for display on the website.
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