Poor Law Relief and Miners’ Lockouts in the Forest of Dean
Tag Index: Miners
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Bristol Miners Support Campaign Archive: Appeal for Artefacts
Looking back to the Miners’ Strike and the Bristol Miners Support Group In March 1984 the publicly owned National Coal Board provoked Britain’s miners into a year-long strike by announcing the closure of twenty of Britain’s 173 coal mines. The strike was defeated and within 20 years Britain’s last deep coal mine had closed. 200,000 jobs were lost and hundreds of working-class communities were laid waste. Looking back 40 years later, it is easy to think that, despite the high price paid by the […]
Bristol Miners Support Campaign Archive
40 years on from the miners’ strike, there have been many events to mark its significance and to remind the labour movement of the importance of solidarity in the long fight for social and economic justice. The Bristol Radical History Group are collecting documents and other materials relating to the Bristol Miners Support Campaign. We are now appealing to you for any contributions you can add to this collection, which will be deposited in Bristol Archives in B Bond Warehouse (Create Centre). It […]
The 1926 General Strike
To mark the centenary of the 1926 General Strike and miners’ lockout, BRHG members are involved in a project to commemorate the strike in Bristol and the surrounding area. The outcome of this will either be a number of pamphlets on general strike themes or a book containing a number of essays. The aim is for the publications to be launched in April or early May 2026 and that the launch will coincide with a commemorative event. The centenary of the start of the strike will be on May 4th 2026. The […]
‘Killing yourself to keep yourself’
Class struggles in the Somerset Coalfield
Dave's talk is intended to be an introduction to the Somerset Coalfield, one of the West Country's best-kept historical secrets. Whilst 'Killing yourself to keep yourself' will cover geography, geology, land owners, mine owners, mining techniques, accidents and disasters, the talk will focus on the miners' trade union, the Somerset Miners Association (SMA). It will look at some of the battles with vicious employers the SMA engaged in, to gain recognition, respect, and improvements to wages and […]
Strike: An Uncivil War
Strike: An Uncivil War tells the story of the Battle of Orgreave, the most violent confrontation between miners and police during the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike in Great Britain. The year long Miners’ Strike was the most divisive and violent industrial dispute that Britain has ever witnessed, and using powerful personal testimony, previously hidden government documents and a treasure trove of never before seen archive material, Strike: An Uncivil War follows the events at Orgreave, which took place […]
Bristol Miners Support Group 1984/85
In the last few weeks, people have been looking back to the 1984/5 miners’ strike, and celebrating the tremendous solidarity shown by National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members to sustain their fight to protect jobs and communities. The strike provoked a wave of solidarity from people across the UK that helped to sustain the striking miners. It also had an impact on levels of political organisation more generally. Many younger activists became more confident and developed organisational skills […]
City Pit
Memoirs of a Speedwell miner
This 70-page booklet, City Pit: memoirs of a Speedwell miner, tells the story of Fred Moss who lived and worked in east Bristol as a collier in several different pits. Fred starts his story as a boy, telling of a strong community, living difficult hard lives but with sturdy solidarity in the face of adversity. He describes the benefits of mutual aid and respect in an area dominated by mining and associated trades, in a community which has largely passed and is now a historical memory. He […]
The Dean Lane Pit disaster of 1886 and its repercussions
In September 1886, an explosion deep underground at the Dean Lane Colliery led to the deaths of 10 miners and life changing injuries to many others. Tony Dyer will explain the mistakes that led up to the disaster, how and why the explosion happened, the repercussions both for the miners and the local mining industry, and how it impacted safety regulations in the Bedminster mines immediately following the explosion. A descendent of Bedminster coalminers himself, Tony will look at how the […]
Charles Fletcher: Gypsy, Orphan, Forest of Dean Miner and Socialist
Charles Fletcher: Gypsy, Orphan, Forest of Dean Miner and Socialist
In this article, the short life of Charles Fletcher is used as a lens to explore aspects of the labour movement in Chepstow and the Forest of Dean in the early twentieth century. It starts with Fletcher’s experiences as an orphan in Bristol and ends with his early death following his role as a witness in one of the most sensational murder trials of the 1920s.