Can any of history buffs out there give me info on the Ting Tang mine in Cornwall, possible lists of employees (particularly John Bray of Gwennap) during the 1800s, accidents, deaths, working conditions and wages and when the mine closed.
Lindal Moor, Greenhaume and Park Mines, Cumbria where Thomas Wilkinson worked and managed at one time.
What age did boys go underground?
Was it only iron that was mined around Urswick, Dalton, Barrow areas?
What was the iron used for? Was it anything to do with the ship building at Barrow?
Were the mines underground or open cut?
How were the mine girls employed, what did they do?
What happened to the workers and the villages when mines closed?
Did Cornish miners have sponsers when they moved to the copper mines of Moonta and Kapunda South Australia?
Was TB anything to do with pollution from the mining?
I'm doing my family history and many members were miners of iron, copper, tin and coal. Amazingly some lived to good ages while others died quite young.
I await with anticipation.
Marnie.

I think you will need to buy some relevant books with all those questions 😉

Perhaps someone can point you in the right direction, I would recommend Mike Moore Books as a good starting point (see the link at the bottom of the page) 🙂

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Hi Marnie. Suggest that you send an email to: [email protected]

This is a web based mining history org whose members may be able to help

Regards

Lipsi

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Thanks Jimbo,
So much information to consider I'll need to live another lifetime.
Marnie.

Thanks Lipsi,
I'll have a look at that site.
Marnie.

I've had a PM from Marnie and since she's based in Australia ordering every book on the subject might be a little impractical.

Does anybody have any pointers to the list of questions, and specific suggestions for titles from Mike Moore that might provide the required info in more depth.

Ta :flowers:

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Regarding children working at and down mines THE ROYAL COMMISION REPORTS on CHILDREN in THE MINES, 1842 is pretty comprehensive.

http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/site/literature/royalcommissionreports/ 

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Thanks Carnarkie,
I had good browse, however most seems to be related to coal mining whereas I'm after iron mining around Dalton-in-Furness and Urswick mainly, possibly copper in Gwennap Cornwall and no specification of mining type around Girthon, Kirkudbright Scotland.
Sorry I'm so far away.
Marnie.

Heres a copy of a painting I did years ago of Park Mine... hope you like... if you want a better electronic copy PM me your email 🙂

🔗Personal-Album-856-Image-045[linkphoto]Personal-Album-856-Image-045[/linkphoto][/link]

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Did Cornish miners have sponsers when they moved to the copper mines of Moonta and Kapunda South Australia?
Was TB anything to do with pollution from the mining?

Hi Marnie

The short answer to the first is some did. Passage to Australia in 1852 cost £15 for a berth near the steerage area of the boat but most of the people could not afford this and as employment was so bad in the local area and these new lands wanted labour so badly that later assisted and even free passages were brought in by the government. At this time passage from Plymouth to Adelaide would take between 15 and 20 weeks.

For a more detailed article see "The Cornish Diaspora of the 19th Century" by Gill Burke which I suspect is more than you are looking for but it does mention Moonta.

http://www.aditnow.co.uk/documents/personal-album-272/Diaspora.pdf 

I don't know of any connection between TB and pollution from mining. I suspect more the conditions that prevailed in Victorian Britain. Of course there was a connection with conditions down the mines but I'm not sure if you meant that.

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Girthon parish, in which the main part of Gatehouse Of Fleet lies, had a copper mine abandoned in the early 1800s (it had been worked by a welsh company). There were lead mines some 8 miles or so further west in the Minigaff area which worked after that. Don't think there was much after mid 1800s, most of the employment then around Gatehouse was in a cotton mill or agriculture (as I remember from researching my own family).

The mines in the Dalton/Urswick area were all iron and there were some openworks at outcrop, especially in the early years, but mostly underground.

TB wasn't due in itself to working in mining (the various grades of the pneumoconiosis group of diseases are quite enough to put up with) but the proximity to a carrier in a confined working environment would have been an ideal way to acquire it. Even after the last war there were still notices in the baths of the Cumberland pits urging men not to spit to help avoid the spread of "consumption".

TB wasn't due in itself to working in mining (the various grades of the pneumoconiosis group of diseases are quite enough to put up with) but the proximity to a carrier in a confined working environment would have been an ideal way to acquire it. Even after the last war there were still notices in the baths of the Cumberland pits urging men not to spit to help avoid the spread of "consumption".

This could get slightly complicated, rather depending to an extent on the era. An extract from a paper by Gill Burke and Peter Richardson "The Profits of Death: A Comparitive study of Miners' Phthisis in Cornwall and the Transvaal 1876-1918.

The disease of phthisis to which these figures refer is a disease particularly associated with the practice of metalliferous mining. More especially it is to be found where mining for gold, tin, copper, and mica is carried out. Phthisis is also found amongst coal miners working in mines where deposits of sandstone are found in the country rock. All these types of mining are associated with geological formations containing high degrees of free silica in a crystalline or micro-crystalline state, which, upon extraction of the ore, is released in dangerous quantities in the form of fine or needle-like dust. Phthisis, or miners' phthisis, is in fact a form of silicosis, particularly associated with such mineral bearing rocks as quartz, quartzite, cristobalaite, flint and chert. As a silicosis, phthisis is part of the disease group covered under the generic description of pneumoconiosis. However, it differs from other forms of pneumoconiosis in one particularly important respect: it predisposes significantly to the development of pulmonary tuberculosis.

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However, it differs from other forms of pneumoconiosis in one particularly important respect: it predisposes significantly to the development of pulmonary tuberculosis.[/i]

Won't disagree with that at all Carnkie, it's a view still held today. Although there are a lot of other ailments which predispose the sufferers to contract TB - diabetes, some cancers, intravenous drug (ab)use, etc. Being underweight is also given as a risk factor, but as silicosis is a debilitating disease sufferers are often thin anyhow.

But as TB is due to infection by Mycobacterium sp. it invariably is contracted due to the inhalation of the results of spitting, coughing and sneezing by carriers. It is thought that silica particles damage the macrophages in the lungs so that they are not as efficient in mopping up the Mycobacterium.

As I said before, working in a mine won't in itself give you TB but being coughed on by an infected workmate might. If your own immunity is compromised by disease you have a higher chance.