Occupation: Samuel Pickles, Coal Miner

Much of Samuel Pickles's working life was spent in a mine pit.

In the 1871 census, 14-year-old Samuel was shown to be working as a coal miner/hurrier already. A hurrier was a child or woman employed by a collier to transport coal through small shafts. Also called a coal drawer or thruster, adults could not easily do this job because the tunnels were so small. To save money, the mine owners made these transport shafts only as large as they absolutely had to and then hired the smallest people they could find to fit into them.

This was an unimaginably hard job as the hurrier pulled a coal-filled basket or small wagon called a corf using a 'gurl' or leather harness. These carts were hauled through dark shafts that could be as small as 16-inches high. These children or small women would often work 12-hour shifts going back and forth between the coal face and the surface (sometimes on their knees) in tiny tunnels lit only by candles.

Shockingly, in the early part of the 19th century, children as young as 3-years-old were being used as hurriers. Legislation passed in 1842 outlawed the use of women and girls in mines. Then in 1870 it became compulsory for children aged 5-13 to attend school. As a result, colliers were limited to hiring small teenaged boys for hurriers after that, but this practice continued into the 1920s.

Samuel's step-father is missing from the 1871 census. This indicates he was away from the family. It is possible that Samuel had to take this job because his step-father was away, and Samuel was the oldest boy in the household, which meant it was his responsibility to support the family. It may also be possible that this was standard practice for boys his age who were not from privileged families.

After a youth of coal mining, on 14 July 1885, Samuel joined the Prince of Wales Own (West Yorkshire) Regiment (service # 1047). He would have turned 18 just two months earlier, and this would have been one of the few options available to a young man of his station without a father.

Samuel was only 5'4-1/2" at the time of his enlistment. He weighed 117 pounds and had a chest measurement of 33-1/2 inches. They recorded these measurements for their uniforms. Although it’s possible he was still growing, the family was known to be short so he may have remained this height for the rest of his life for all we know. 

After his first stint of military service, Samuel ended up back in Leeds, where he grew up and returned to coal mining. On his marriage record in 1893 when he was 25 years old, Sam shows his occupation to be coal miner.

On 9 January 1900, Samuel was recalled to the army. He'd had active service from 1885 until 1893 and was on reserve after that. But the Boer War began in October 1899 in South Africa. Officially known as the Second Boer War and most recently as the South African War, it lasted until May 1902.

Samuel came home in June 1902 and returned to coal mining as his occupation showed on the birth records for his subsequent children and the 1911 census.

In the 1921 census, Samuel shows that his occupation was “Miner. Coal getter.” But in the next column, he indicates that he was “out of work” and that his last employer was Stringer and Son Colliery and the place of work was the Waterloo Main Colliery, Temple Newsam. This colliery was situated just under 4 miles east of Leeds city centre. The area where this mine was located was a private estate that is now a heritage site with a museum in the grand manor house and trails around the former mine. A brochure for the site, called "A Blot on the Landscape," recounts the history of the mine.

"In 1815 William Fenton contracted with the landowners—the Ingram family—to sink a deep mine on the estate at nearby Thorpe Stapleton. Named Waterloo Colliery to commemorate the famous battle of that year and with several pits, it produced coal for its owners for over 150 years. The Temple Pit operated from 1913 until 1966 and this is likely the site that is referred to in the census."

Waterloo Main Colliery, Temple Newsam in Leeds, Yorkshire England as it looked in 1968.

Samuel’s sons William 17 and Samuel 15 both show on the 1921 census that they too were out of work and their last employer was Waterloo Main Colliery. William's occupation was Miner, Driver, while Young Sam's was Miner, Trammer. There are various definitions of the term 'trammer,' including: a person who loads broken rock on tramcars and delivers it at the shaft. But trammers are also shows as assistant miners in all the work a miner does such as loading the broken mineral onto shaker or belt conveyors, filling and hauling the mine cars, bringing in the mine timber and other materials to support and equip the mine workings, serving the mining and transport machines, and working also as auxiliary mine timbermen.

Apparently, Samuel had secured jobs for his son at the mine where he worked, but all three had been let go. There are conflicting stories as to state of the miner and mining in general at that time. While some say that coal declined after the First World War, other sources say that mining and particularly Waterloo Main Colliery was profitable through the 1920s. Since the 1921 census is ‘snapshot’ of life on a particular day, it is possible that the men were hired back at that mine, even the following day. And there is no indication how long they had been unemployed. It’s possible that layoffs for short periods were normal due to planned maintenance or improvements or unplanned equipment failure. 

A train designed to carry coal from the mine.

One of the few types of memorabilia from the coal mining era in the United Kingdom is the 'pit check.' Pit checks, also called miner tokens, tallies, and motties, were introduced in the 1860s or 1870s as a way to identify miners going into pits. Pit checks were made from materials such as brass, aluminum and leather and could be round, square, rectangular or even hexagonal or octagonal. Typically each was stamped with a location and number. Each miner was issued a token with a number that was identified specifically with him. The tokens were often used to mark a specific lamp that was used by that miner but were ultimately designed for work attendance tallies. In a disaster, the numbers were used to determine which miners were in the pit.

A pit check from the mine where Samuel and his sons worked.

By 1900 pit checks were in common use in the UK and by 1913 had become mandatory as a way to take attendance, especially during a mine disaster. 

While the use of pit checks varied from mine to mine, in one system, the token had a corresponding safety lamp with the same number. Each miner was issued a token and a lamp. At the beginning of shift, the miner exchanged the token for his lamp. When the lamp was returned, the miner received his token back, which he took home with him. In an emergency, the tokens showed which miners were currently in the pit. The practice of using these pit checks continued until the 1980s or 1990s when electronic systems using ID cards replaced them.

Samuel died of chronic bronchitis/arterio sclerosis 19 February 1932 at the age of 64. His death certificate lists him as a retired Colliery Hewer. His place of death on the certificate was 123 Beckett Street. This address was a workhouse in 1904 but appears to have been St. James Hospital by the time he died. He had likely been ill for some time with bronchitis, which was common in miners and resulted from years of breathing in toxic air, gases and fibres.

For more information on the Waterloo Colliery visit: https://eastleedsmemories.wordpress.com/tag/waterloo-colliery/

For more information on Temple Newsam heritage site visit: http://www.dmm.org.uk/colliery/w203.htm

For more information on pit checks visit: http://www.mining-memorabilia.co.uk/Checks.htm

Prepared using information available as of 17 October 2022.