silicosis was always recognised in areas like Cornwall, where dry-drilling of hard rock containing silicates was a long-standing issue... but it was largely eliminated before WW2 by the spread of water-flush drilling ( because it was more cost-effective, not because it was healthier )
I remember seeing the last of the old generation of "broken-winded" Cornish miners when I arrived in Camborne in the 70s, these men are now pretty much all gone and few of them lived long enough to make worthwhile compensation claims for their illness.
most later claims are for white finger and radon exposure.
the construction industry has always had a very poor record for this; its transient workforce and poor-to-non-existent record keeping until recent years made it all but impossible to verify a claim, always assuming you could find someone to claim against anyway.
''the stopes soared beyond the range of our caplamps' - David Bick...... How times change .... oh, I don't know, I've still got a lamp like that.