Chapter
Part 1: The Miner In Context
Chapter 1: Discovering the Working Life of your Miner-Ancestor
First days: working at the pit top
First days: working underground
Job variety and progression
Bathing and women’s work in the home
Officials: deputies and overmen
Under-managers and managers
Chapter 2: Accidents, Disasters and Disease
Everyday accidents and dreadful disasters
Occupational diseases and ailments
HM Mines Inspectors’ Reports
Accessing annual mines inspectors’ and disaster reports
Newspapers and periodicals
Was your mining relative or ancestor in the mines rescue service?
Did your coalmining relative or ancestor receive a bravery or gallantry award?
Further reading, video and film
Chapter 3: Rights and Strikes: Associations and Unions
Union development c.1780 onwards
Notable strikes and lock-outs
Chapter 4: Women and Child Miners
‘Invisible’ female miners
Women and children working underground
The Children’s Employment Commission (Mines) and its two Reports 1840–42
Chapter 5: Coalfields and Miners at War
Spanish Civil War 1936–39
Second World War: ‘We’ll do the fighting if you get the coal’
Selective sources and further reading
Chapter 6: Using the Census
Incomers and Miner-Households: a case study of Treeton, near Rotherham in south Yorkshire (1891)
Chapter 7: Making Use of Objects and Ephemera
Early miners’ union badges
Later miners’ union, strike and commemorative badges
Chapter 8: Collieries and Coalfields
Part 2: Where To Find Information
Chapter 9: Regional Sources
The coalfields of Scotland
Northumberland and Durham coalfield
Yorkshire (and Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire) coalfield
Lancashire and Cheshire coalfields
Bristol and Somerset/Forest of Dean (Gloucestershire) coalfields
Chapter 10: National Sources
National Mining Museum Scotland
National Records of Scotland (NRS)
The National Library of Scotland (NLS)
Scottish Screen Archive (SSA)
National Museums Scotland
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland(RCAHMS)
Scottish Genealogy Society
National Mining Museum for England (NCM)
The Coal Authority (Mining Heritage Centre [MHC])
Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE)
Iron Mountain (UK) Limited
The National Archives (TNA)
National Union of Mineworkers
Working Class Movement Library (WCML)
(1) Big Pit : National Coal Museum
(2) National Waterfront Museum (NWM)
(3) National Museum Cardiff
National Library of Wales (NLW)
National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales (NSSAW)
Tracing Your Coalmining Ancestors
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