Strike: An Uncivil War tells the story of the Battle of Orgreave, the most violent confrontation between miners and police during the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike in Great Britain. The year long Miners’ Strike was the most divisive and violent industrial dispute that Britain has ever witnessed, and using powerful personal testimony, previously hidden government documents and a treasure trove of never before seen archive material, Strike: An Uncivil War follows the events at Orgreave, which took place […]
In the last few weeks, people have been looking back to the 1984/5 miners’ strike, and celebrating the tremendous solidarity shown by National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) members to sustain their fight to protect jobs and communities. The strike provoked a wave of solidarity from people across the UK that helped to sustain the striking miners. It also had an impact on levels of political organisation more generally. Many younger activists became more confident and developed organisational skills […]
This 70-page booklet, City Pit: memoirs of a Speedwell miner, tells the story of Fred Moss who lived and worked in east Bristol as a collier in several different pits. Fred starts his story as a boy, telling of a strong community, living difficult hard lives but with sturdy solidarity in the face of adversity. He describes the benefits of mutual aid and respect in an area dominated by mining and associated trades, in a community which has largely passed and is now a historical memory. He […]
In September 1886, an explosion deep underground at the Dean Lane Colliery led to the deaths of 10 miners and life changing injuries to many others. Tony Dyer will explain the mistakes that led up to the disaster, how and why the explosion happened, the repercussions both for the miners and the local mining industry, and how it impacted safety regulations in the Bedminster mines immediately following the explosion. A descendent of Bedminster coalminers himself, Tony will look at how the […]
Charles Fletcher: Gypsy, Orphan, Forest of Dean Miner and Socialist
In this article, the short life of Charles Fletcher is used as a lens to explore aspects of the labour movement in Chepstow and the Forest of Dean in the early twentieth century. It starts with Fletcher’s experiences as an orphan in Bristol and ends with his early death following his role as a witness in one of the most sensational murder trials of the 1920s.
Many of those who crowd the streets of Bedminster during Upfest or for the Winter Lantern Parade are probably oblivious that they are actually deep in mining country. For many residents, the idea that this was once an area where several coalmines existed and men emerging from pits covered in coaldust was a feature of the working day, has long been forgotten. Above ground, there are no surviving reminders of that history except a single noticeboard in Dame Emily Park. But below the nearby […]
Based on his co-authored book, Anthracite Labor Wars, Prof. Bob Wolensky will speak about a 40-year "labour war" that resulted from the mining arrangements between the Pennsylvania Coal Company and a gang of organized criminals. Beginning in 1916, the company decided to subcontract and, later, to lease mineral rights to the mobsters in an effort to discipline the labour force, enhance productivity, and boost profits. Statistics indicated that the scheme worked quite well when it came to […]
Not A BRHG Event
‘Degrees of Conscience’ (Catharina Clement) The story of three tribunals, Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham in North Kent, and how they treated their conscientious objectors. Rochester, despite its Conservative and ex-military mayor, was very tolerant of the conscientious objectors and granted most of them exemption. Chatham and Gillingham on the other hand had Liberal mayors, but were much harsher towards their conscientious objectors. This talk will discuss why there was this huge difference […]
Not A BRHG Event
'England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity' Joe Mooney of East Wall History Group, Dublin explains how Irish Nationalists responded to the Great War. His talk will outline the difficulties of the 'Irish question', the movement towards Home Rule and the rise of armed bodies in 1913/1914. How did these conflicting groups react to the outbreak of war and the possibility of conscription - and why did some Nationalist support the war effort while others opposed it? Some saw the Irish rebellion of […]
In August 1917 a meeting of Forest of Dean Miners passed motions against the conscription of miners and in favour of an immediate negotiated peace to end the war. This talk will discuss the role agitators and conscientious objectors played in this process and what happened next. Ian Wright recently authored Ring Out the Thousand Wars of Old: The Forest of Dean World War One Conscientious Objectors.
