Working Conditions in the South Wales Coal Industry

Although the general conditions and dangers in which the miner worked underground improved as the 19th century went on they were always bad and South Wales was one of the most dangerous coalfields to work in because of its difficult geological conditions and its gassy deep mines. The miners' leader Noah Ablett gives this general description of the various dangers and difficulties the miner faced:-

...The hewer down in the mine away from the sunlight and fresh air, sometimes in a temperature of up to 90 degrees, every movement of the day inhaling coal and shale dust, perspiring so abnormally (unusually) as few men in other industries can realise; head throbbing with the almost inhuman exertion (effort); the roof, perhaps, eighteen inches low, perhaps, twenty feet high; ears constantly strained for movements in the strata on which his limbs or his life is dependent, breathing always noxious (harmful) smells due to the absence of any kind of sanitation, and to gases ... ; subject at any moment to the terrible list of mining diseases, most common of which is the dreaded nystagmus, which may, if neglected, lead to insanity; liable always to wounds and death from falls of roof . . . and ever and over all the sickening dread of the awful explosion ...

Without these special dangers mining was a job which lead to general ill-health. Blood poisoning (from working in filthy clothes), rheumatism (from working in water), constant headaches (from the gas), ruptures (from cramped working positions) and many other ailments were accepted by the collier as part of his way of life!

Much less acceptable were the major mining disasters which occurred all too frequently in South Wales. These were usually caused by massive explosions of natural gas and sometimes by sudden inrushes of water from underground lakes.

Naturally these major disasters, with the awful effect they had on single communities, captured a great deal of public attention. However, major disasters were not the typical cause of death in the mines, which was much more likely to result from isolated single incidents of roof-falls, the effect of gas, journeys of trams running wild etc. Edmund Stonelake gives this account of such an incident in his autobiography:-

...In the mines it matters not how careful or skilful a man may be, sudden unforeseen accidents will occur. I had a man working with me one day in a perfectly timbered place. I was a few yards from him, holding conversation when without the slightest warning a huge stone weighing about half a ton crashed through the timbers and killed him instantly. Whilst men were trying to move the stone from his body, 1 recovered from the shock; I then caught hold of his legs and pulled him free, he was dead and his brains were on the floor...

Non-fatal accidents, which sometimes would cripple or injure a man for life, were even more frequent. In 1892 for every fatal accident in South Wales there were 100 non-fatal accidents.

The effects of the dust which Noah Ablett mentioned earlier, were also a cause of disability and the early death of miners. However, it was a long time before the diseases caused by dust-pneumoconiosis and silicosis -were recognised as industrial diseases and compensation was paid. A doctor who made a survey of the health of retired coalminers in South Wales in 1933, here describes the effect of these dust diseases:-

The three main types of dust which the miner has to contend with in mining are coal-dust, rock-dust and shale-dust, and in the case of the steam coal miners, the stonedust used in dusting the mines as a precaution against explosions ... The symptoms of pneumoconiosis are-dyspnoea (shortness of breath) ... cough is almost always present ... Sputum (phlegm) is, as a rule, scanty but may be copious (plentiful) and black . . . In late stages there may be signs of heart failure or tuberculosis . It is well known . . . that borers on a hard heading develop silicosis. One miner told me of a heading near Aberdare which eleven men were set to drive. As the money was good many of them worked double shifts. Before the heading was driven through, ten of the men had to give up work, and later died of silicosis...

Ablett also mentions the eye condition. This was caused by working in conditions where there was not enough light and it was a disease which became more common as the 19th century went on because, ironically, the safety-lamp gave far less light than the flame from a candle. In 1912, a collier described the effects of nystagmus to a doctor making a study of it, as follows:-

...Up to the last two years ... I had no trouble with my eyes and always earned good money. During the last two years my eyes got weak, but I struggled on, hoping things would mend. 1 lost days and days, and on times a week. At the time it was not safe for me to go to the face without the help of another man. 1 could not recognise anybody ... My wages fell to a pound a week, and the manager stopped me at last and told me that it was not safe to allow me to work any longer. If I could only have known before, I might have saved my eyes!..

In British mines from 1868 to 1914, on average a miner was killed every 6 hours and seriously injured every 2 hours. This average would have been even higher in South Wales which was just about the most dangerous coalfield in Britain to work in. It also, of course, takes no account of the deaths and permanent disability caused by the diseases described earlier: neither does it account for the multitude of minor injuries which were never reported to the Management.