‘Killing yourself to keep yourself’: Class struggles in the Somerset Coalfield

Event Details
Date: , 2024
Time: to
Location: Bedminster Library
Venue: Bedminster Library, BS3 4AQ
Price: Free
With: Dave Chapple
Series: South Bristol History Festival 2024
Page Details
Section: Events
Subjects: Socialism, Workers Organisations & Strikes
Tags: ,
Posted: Modified:
Soldiers and police occupying Dunkerton Colliery, near Peasedown, Somerset, January 1909.

Dave’s talk is intended to be an introduction to the Somerset Coalfield, one of the West Country’s best-kept historical secrets. Whilst ‘Killing yourself to keep yourself’ will cover geography, geology, land owners, mine owners, mining techniques, accidents and disasters, the talk will focus on the miners’ trade union, the Somerset Miners Association (SMA). It will look at some of the battles with vicious employers the  SMA engaged in, to gain recognition, respect, and improvements to wages and conditions. Dave has undertaken three years of research into the amazing archive of the SMA, held at the Special Collections Department of the Bristol University Library, and, along with historic photographs, will illustrate his talk with copies of some documents from this collection

2 Comments

  1. Hi Dave
    It’s Austin from Bath
    We have spoken in the past about mining
    I just saw this talk and would like to attend if I can manage to get over to Bristol
    Do I need to book

    Many Thanks

    Austin

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This