Now that 1911 Census is available to view, we can all start puzzling about what's on it. My great-uncle William Wilson Downing, age 16, was living with his father in Horden and his occupation was given by his father as "Coal Miner Endless Boy". Was that a specific type of mining job or a comment by his father on his immaturity? Adrian

Hi, It was to do with the steel rope that went round and round a pit ''endlessly'' . The 'endless pony' lads or 'endless lads' had to hook the tubs of coal onto these and remove the empty ones as they past, so one could imagine you had to keep your wits around you! I'm sure the Durham Mining Museum website .........  http://www.dmm.org.uk/mindex.htm   will give a better account than mine and may have answers for others searching the 1911!! Regards, Boris.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sent: Tuesday, 17 March, 2009 11:40:54 PM Subject: [DUR-NBL] Mining Occupation or Joke? Now that 1911 Census is available to view, we can all start puzzling about  what's on it. My great-uncle William Wilson Downing, age 16, was living with his father  in Horden and his occupation was given by his father as "Coal Miner Endless  Boy". Was that a specific type of mining job or a comment by his father on his  immaturity? Adrian ==== DUR-NBL Mailing List ==== To Post a message to this list send it to, [email protected] ==== DUR-NBL Mailing List ==== List Web Page http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/durhamgenealogy/index.phtml ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message