Women
Many of those people who depended
on the mining industry, although they did not work
in it, were the wives of miners. Although most women
in the 
coalfield
would have been in this position it is quite surprising
how many women did work. Women still worked in the
mining industry itself during this period.
A number of women were employed
in producing bricks. Brickworks would often be attached
to collieries to meet the need for bricks for mineshafts
and house building.
In fact after coalmining. ‘being
in service’ was probably the next biggest area of
employment for people in Glamorgan. However, most
of the girls who worked as domestic servants had to
leave Glamorgan and Wales. In particular a large number
would have gone to London where it became fashionable
to employ a Welsh parlour maid. The hours of work
and the wages received were much worse than anything
these women who were still working at the mines would
have experienced! Here are the sad memories of one
South Wales girl in service in London of her first
day:-
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Mrs. Fox had told me to
put on my black afternoon dress and white
apron. I kept trying to staunch (hold back)
the tears with the flannel and water in the
washstand bowl. A black frock seemed to suit
the occasion. I was in mourning for my lost
self ... My childhood was dead-and now I was
the skivvy (servant) ... 1 was given my supper
in the tiny kitchen while the family ate in
the living-room. It was strange to be considered
not fit to eat in the same room as other human
beings. It was a good supper ... but loneliness
and misery had taken away my appetite. How
delicious, in comparison, seemed the remembered
slice of marge-spread toast given me by Mam
and eaten as a member of a family.
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