UK. Historical account of the development of coal mining in lancashire and cheshire, and of the role of lancashire coal miners in the national level trade union movement from about 1830 to 1900 - covers working conditions, living conditions, collective bargaining for higher wages, political aspects, strike and lockout activities, etc. Bibliography pp. 272 to 280 and statistical tables.
This series, fully illustrated with maps and half-tones, is written for general readers as well as the student. In illuminating the anonymous lives of our predecessors it will, when complete, substantially enrich our understanding of the many histories which together make up the history of England. This authoritative volume surveys the modern history of the counties of Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cheshire. In 1540 this was a backward area, poor, underpopulated and conservative. During the seventeenth and early eighteenth century the spread of the first cottage industries to the mills and the mines transformed the region into one of the engines of Britain's nineteenth-century greatness. The causes, the costs and the consequences of that transformation are vividly portrayed in this very readable text. Offers a succinct account and analysis of the first region to experience the developed factory system. Discusses the rise, dominance and decline of the region which has parallels across the country and the world. Provides essential background text for the students of local history. Assumes no previous knowledge of the region.
This book examines the experiences and values which shaped working-class life in Britain in the half-century from 1880. It takes as its focus a region, Lancashire, which was central to the social and political changes of the period. The discussion centres on two towns, Bolton and Wigan, which, while they were geographically close, differed significantly in their industrial fortunes and their electoral development. The formation of class identity is traced through developments in the world of work, from the impact of technological and managerial innovations to the elaboration of collective-bargaining procedures. Beyond work, particular attention is paid to the dynamics of neighbourhood and family life, the latter emerging as an important source of continuity in working-class life. The broader impact of such influences are traced through a close examination of the electoral politics of the period. Dr Griffiths' conclusions fundamentally challenge the notion that the fifty years around the turn of the century witnessed the emergence of a working class more culturally and politically united than at any other time, either before or since. Rather, an alternative narrative of class development is offered, in which broad continuities in working-class life, in particular the survival of religious, ethnic, and occupational points of division, are emphasised. Despite the presence of strong and stable labour institutions, from trade unions to Co-operative and Friendly Societies, the picture emerges of a working class more individualist than collectivist in outlook, more flexible in response to economic change, and less constrained by the broader solidarities of work and neighbourhood than has previously been supposed.
Coal is a topic that has been, remains, and will continue to be of significant interest to those concerned with the causes, course and consequences of industrialization and de-industrialization. This six-volume, reset collection provides scholars with a wide variety of sources relating to the Victorian coal industry.
