Just found this interesting article about a strike in 1865 at a pit in Cramlington, Northumberland which caused the management to bring in miners from Cornwall. It doesnt say which pit it was, and there were quite a few coal mines in the Cramlington area but this is something I have never come across before. Here is the page:
http://www.pomeroyfamilyhistory.com/resources/Cornish+emigration+to+the+NE.pdf 


I wonder how often this kind of thing happened back in the 19th century?

I particularly like the line... They mocked the Cornishwomen's attempts at making bread but had to
admit that they were 'tops' at baking pasties...

Cornish miners had something of a reputation as black leg labour up north! In 1844 they were involved in breaking a strike when colliery owners were trying (unsuccessfully) to break the power of the Miners' Association of Great Britain and Ireland.

Maybe this is a bit of a sterotype, as 32 Cornish miners sent to Radcliffe, Northumberland as strike breakers went on strike soon after arriving to gain the wages they had been promised!

The arrival of Cornish labour in Cramlington is well known. In c1866 (a bad year for Cornish mines when numerous mines were 'knacked' owing to the collapse of the copper mining industry) 428 miners were sent to this area north of Newcastle as 'black-leg labour'. However, a year later 400 miners present at the Temperance Hall in Liskeard showed that miners in Cornwall had sympathy with their counterparts in the North of England. They voted to stop 'at home' until all the differences were settled between the 'masters and the men'. They had been enlightened by delegates from the N. of England and Scottish coalfields about the prevailing situation.


Interesting stuff. And I agree, no one can make a pasty like the Cornish!!! :lol:

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I only live about 3 miles from Cramlington and cannot believe I didnt know about this, I think I will have to do some more investigating 😉

The bit about them having to be taught how to mine the coal caught my attention. Some time ago, in a coal mine in County Durham, a vein of barytes was discovered. It was decided to mine it but the coal miners didnt know how, so mineral miners were brought in from the dales to extract it.

Cornish miners also came to Sunniside and worked at Marley Hill Colliery, because they would have been my great grandparents I have not approached the subject. However their offspring helped to form the local labour party and were tremendous NUM fighters and because of their local council work they have a street named after them.

Regards

Bearpark

That's really interesting, Bearpark. Contrary to popular belief, to suggest that strike action was uncommon in Cornwall has been proven false, Rule arguing that this form of collective activity, although infrequent before 1840, was not unheard of. This included that at the Lanescot Mine near St Blazey in 1831 that Rowe states was the first open collision between capital and labour in Cornish industrial history. Strikes occurred in 1840 and 1842 and there was an attempt to form a trade union at the Consolidated Mines near Redruth in 1842.

In Cobre, Cuba in the 1840s and the Morro Velho Mine in Brazil in the 1870s, Cornish miners engaged in strikes and were punished for it. And they played an active role in unionisation in the US.

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Cornish miners were not coal miners as there are no coal mines in Cornwall. The technology and working practices were altogether different, hence the Cornish miners needing to be taught how to mine coal.

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In Cobre, Cuba in the 1840s and the Morro Velho Mine in Brazil in the 1870s, Cornish miners engaged in strikes and were punished for it. And they played an active role in unionisation in the US.

As you know two Cornishman Tom Mathews and James Farquharson Trembarth were pioneers of the labour movement in Johannesburg and Kimberley. (Dawe, 1998).

Edit.
Sorry if granny and eggs springs to mind. 🙂

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http://www.durhamrecordsonline.com/literature/murton.php 

This description of the population changes in Murton describes the movement of families from Cornwall. This is of course in Co. Durham but I suspect the same sort of thing was happening in several areas.

Cornish miners were brought into the south Wales coalfield as strike breakers on occasion (as indeed were miners from various English coalfields). The most famous occasion Cornish miners were used as strike breakers in south Wales was in 1871 when a recruiting agent was paid six shillings a head to recruit them. More usually though, Cornish miners were recruited to south Wales to sink shafts or drive major new headings - i.e. precisely the sorts of projects thier skills suited them to. Permanent Cornish migrants to the south Wales coalfield appear to have been drawn more commonly from occupations other than mining.

I assume that Dean is referring to the mine at New Brancepeth where outside labour had to be brought in to extract the Barytes. This mine was best known for its large scale production of coke but at the turn of the 19th/20th century some 200,000 tons of Barytes were produced and there was even a processing mill built on site to handle it. Similarly, in the 1930s a good workable seam of Witherite was discovered at the Morrison North Pit near Stanley and it was decided to mine this commercially so much so that by the middle of World War 2 all coal from here was transferred underground to the Louisa pit nearby to be brought to surface so that the Morrison North shaft could be used solely for raising Witherite. Maybe here too there was an influx of South Western know-how.

Thats the one Rodel, New Brancepeth. Thanks. I didnt know about the Witherite though. Cheers for this info.

The miners at Morrison and South Moor came from Settlingstones witherite mine, in fact a joint company was set up to their mutial benefit,they produced a book about the mining of witherite from the different mines of which I was fortunate to get a copy when i worked at Settlingstones.

The miners at Morrison and South Moor came from Settlingstones witherite mine, in fact a joint company was set up to their mutial benefit,they produced a book about the mining of witherite from the different mines of which I was fortunate to get a copy when i worked at Settlingstones.

Hi Roadsterman, what was the title of the book? I would love to read that if it is still available.

When I first heard about the Witherite extraction at Morrison North from a work colleague who had been a Bevan Boy at nearby Burnhope pit I was a bit sceptical as it was something i'd never heard before, but he was quite right, although it was some years before I saw anything in print. In fact Durham Mining Museum make no mention of it even though it continued up until at least 1946 possibly due to wartime secrecy. It appears though that when the Morrison was absorbed by the NCB Northern Division No.6 Area in 1947 it reverted back to coal production until closure in 1964 leaving Settlingstones to continue as sole producer. It would be interesting to know how much Witherite that seam produced over the 10 years or so that the Morrison worked it.

Hi Roadsterman, could you please check something in your book for me. What little info I have been able to find on the Witherite mining says that the other mine involved (albeit briefly) was the mine at Craghead although at the time both it and Morrison North were owned by the Holmside & South Moor Collieries Ltd. I ask as this was the subject of some local discussion a short while ago and it would be good to clarify it. Thanks.

Hi ,As soon as I can find my book I will be able to give much more info,it was an in house puplication to give to prospective customers
the government wartime publication on Barium minerals gives the Witherite production figures for the durham collieries,I also have a copy of this somewhere.
I have 40 years worth of books etc (my wife would say rubish) which I am trying to sort out

Reverting to the original thread, there seems to have been a big Cornish influence amongst the iron ore miners of what is now South Cumbria, particularly Barrow in Furness and Millom. Cornish surnames such as Polkinhorne and Pellymounters are present in Millom while Barrow has a St Perran's church and I don't think there are many of those outside the South West. Other regular contributors, I am sure can add more flesh to these bones.

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Very true, Patch. Roose was one of those areas. Cornish miners were familiar with the success of the Hadbarrow Mine at Millom (there was a discrete Cornish community at Moor Row) and the nearby settlement of Barrow was almost swamped by immigrant workers in the 1860s.

The rise of the Stank Mines coincided with the demise of the Cornish copper mining industry prompting a large migration to Cumbria. A shortage of accommodation for the miners who came to work in the Stank Mines caused the settlement of Roose to be developed close to the mine workings. It was a fairly isolated community back then, comprising 196 cottages in two rows (North and South Rows), built by the Barrow Haematite and Steel Company in 1873-74 on land purchased from the Duke of Devonshire for £6,940.

Hundreds of Cornish miners made Roose their home, transplanting their values and cultural traditions. Because it was a physically isolated community, it meant that this quintessentially ‘Cornish village in Furness’ remained undisturbed for a generation.

The majority of the immigrant Cornish came from parishes in the west of the region which were witness to large-scale copper mining: Gwennap and the area centred on the parishes of Breage, St Hilary, Marazion, Perranuthnoe and Germoe. The migration network can be explained. H.W. Schneider, the most influential individual at Barrow Haematite Steel Company had a strong connection with Cornwall where he had formerly been the Chairman of Helston Wheal Vor Mine in 1853-8, until forced to resign. Leaving Cornwall he focused his energies into developing the Stank Mines.

Schneider used his contacts in Cornish mining to recruit men known to him, particularly in the Wheal Vor area, which is centred on the Breage-Germoe district.

The Barrow Haematite and Steel Company built an Established Church in 1874, named St Perran’s. This was never widely used by the Cornish as the Cornish were mainly Methodists and had begun to run Sunday School classes in 1874 in Roose. A year later followers of the Bible Christians were regularly holding meetings in Jackson’s Barn at Roose Farm. In 1877 a purpose built Methodist chapel was opened at Stonedyke.

Today North and South Row, cottages for Cornish miners, remain virtually intact. The mines were worked by steam, and the pumping machinery included a Cornish beam engine originally from Wheal Mary Ann near Menheniot, Cornwall. I suspect that there's not trace of an engne house.

Back to Millom. Beginning in the mid-1850s soon after the mine opened, the first trickle of migrants from Cornwall made Millom their home. By 1866 they comprised a significant percentage of the underground labour force. By the end of the C19th century half the mineworkers were noted to have been of Cornish extraction. One, Captain Thomas Rich, became a member of the Millom Local Board of Health.

The emigration of Cornish to Cumbria is still evident today. In 1998 there were 174 electors in Copeland with Cornish names and these were particularly concentrated in the older parts of the iron ore mining and steel making communities of Cleator Moor, Egremont and Millom, with the streets of the latter having the highest concentrations of all, particularly those around the Glasson Dock area, ‘Glasson’ being a surname readily associated with Cornwall.

Some members of my mother's family worked in the iron mines at Dalton in Furness.

There were Cornish miners working on many British mines from the C18th. Too much to go into now!! But Cumbria caught my interest due to my family connections there. It's a beautiful part of the world. :thumbup:

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Wow! Isn't it just great when you put out a feeler and get a reply as comprehensive as the one above

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I was raised in the mining village of New Delaval just a few miles from Cramlington and in school, in the 50s, I had 'marrers' from Cramlington named Penhallurick and Penhalluna - both I believe members of Cornish in-comer families. I think that some of them still live there. Being Geordies, of course, we welcomed all comers - except blacklegs. As the song went we 'hoyed their gear doon the pit'. I don't think we'd get away with that now.

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