Hi Norman, Allan, Ged, et al, I purchased a book at a Wigan bookstore titled, Children In The Mines, The Children's Employment Commission of 1842, ISBN 0 9516843 6 1, published by Picks Publishing, Ashton-in-Makerfield in conjunction with The Lancashire Mining Museum, Salford & City of Salford. It's a very sad but interesting read. It not only names the employees interviewed, age, etc. but provides a vivid picture of life in the mines and, in the Appendix, it names the works, coal proprietors and the number of adults, young persons (13-18) and children (under 13) working in each mine. For Bickershaw, the Appendix lists Abram, Ackers and Co., near Wigan, age 21 and up, 105 male/25 female; Age 13-18, 31 male/23 female; under 13, 19 male/11 female. There's also a publication, Weep, Mothers, Weep, The Wood Pit Explosion, Haydock, 1878. It can be found on LDS Film No. 576334. It provides a list of the 189 victims, including age, occupation and other details about the individuals. One other item I copied is titled, Haigh Collieries, Wigan Coal & Iron Company Limited, Wigan Coal Corporation, Fatal Accidents 1836-1947. Unfortunately, I can't find any notes on where I found this but am quite certain it was in a publication at the LDS Library (film/book?), Chapter Nine. It includes the names of individuals, age and a brief description of how they died. There are 13 pages covering Haigh Collieries, 1836-1869; Wigan Coal & Iron Co. Ltd., 1870-1929 & Wigan Coal Corporation, 1930-1943. Hope this information will be of some value. Karen Fraser Nanaimo, BC, Canada

Karen The book you refer to is: Anderson, Donald & France, A.A. (1994) Wigan Coal & Iron. Published by Smiths Books (Wigan) Ltd. 240pp. ISBN 0951068075 There are a large number of books dealing with coal mining, but others which deal specifically with events and people on the Wigan area of the South Lancashire Coalfield include: Davies, Alan & Hudson, Len (2000). The Wigan Coalfield. Tempus Publishing Ltd, Stroud. 128pp. ISBN 075241724X. Davies, Alan (2006). The pit brow women of the Wigan Coalfield. Tempus Publishing Ltd, Stroud. 127pp. ISBN 075243912X. Hannavy, John & Lewis, Roy (1983) The Maypole, diary of a colliery disaster. Published by Wigantech Publications, Wigan. ISBN 0950028096. Anderson, Donald (1986). Blundell's Collieries 1776-1966. Published in Wigan [England]: Wigan Printing. 150pp. ISBN 0951070312. The sheer scale of the British mining industry makes it difficult to find information about individual workers, who often moved from pit to pit. Here are some figures of persons employed (both above and below ground) over the years [from Bryan, Sir Andrew (1975) The evolution of health and safety in mines. Ashire Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0950438707]. 1853-1862 260,000 1863-1872 341,000 1873-1882 503,000 1883-1892 571,000 1893-1902 742,000 1903-1912 958,000 1913-1922 1,086,000 After 1922 the numbers dwindled steadily. Peter Wood

Hi Karen, Thanks for the information. I have now purchased my copy of "Children in the Mines" via Amazon. Other useful books I enjoy on coal mines are: The Industrial Railways of the Wigan Coal Field, parts 1 and 2, by Townley, Smith and Peden, Runpast Publishing Allan Finland I purchased a book at a Wigan bookstore titled, Children In The Mines, The Children's Employment Commission of 1842, ISBN 0 9516843 6 1, published by Picks Publishing, Ashton-in-Makerfield in conjunction with The Lancashire Mining Museum, Salford & City of Salford. It's a very sad but interesting read. It not only names the employees interviewed, age, etc. but provides a vivid picture of life in the mines and, in the Appendix, it names the works, coal proprietors and the number of adults, young persons (13-18) and children (under 13) working in each mine. For Bickershaw, the Appendix lists Abram, Ackers and Co., near Wigan, age 21 and up, 105 male/25 female; Age 13-18, 31 male/23 female; under 13, 19 male/11 female. There's also a publication, Weep, Mothers, Weep, The Wood Pit Explosion, Haydock, 1878. It can be found on LDS Film No. 576334. It provides a list of the 189 victims, including age, occupation and other details about the individuals. One other item I copied is titled, Haigh Collieries, Wigan Coal & Iron Company Limited, Wigan Coal Corporation, Fatal Accidents 1836-1947. Unfortunately, I can't find any notes on where I found this but am quite certain it was in a publication at the LDS Library (film/book?), Chapter Nine. It includes the names of individuals, age and a brief description of how they died. There are 13 pages covering Haigh Collieries, 1836-1869; Wigan Coal & Iron Co. Ltd., 1870-1929 & Wigan Coal Corporation, 1930-1943. Hope this information will be of some value. Karen Fraser Nanaimo, BC, Canada -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users. It has removed 160 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their emails. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len

Hi Karen, There is also a book " Memories of an Atherton Pitman " Published by Leigh Local History Society, Publication No 18 1990. These are the memories of the Late Arthur Griffiths. There are some very interesting and amusing and heartwarming stories. I think it is available from Leigh Library. Yours, Bernie Davies, Ottawa, Canada. ----- Original Message ---- From: "Karen Fraser" <kmfraser@pacificcoast.net> To: <eng-lan-wigan@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 11:40 AM Subject: Re: [WIGAN] Lancashire Coal Mines > Hi Norman, Allan, Ged, et al, > > I purchased a book at a Wigan bookstore titled, Children In The Mines, The > Children's Employment Commission of 1842, ISBN 0 9516843 6 1, published by > Picks Publishing, Ashton-in-Makerfield in conjunction with The Lancashire > Mining Museum, Salford & City of Salford. It's a very sad but interesting > read. It not only names the employees interviewed, age, etc. but provides > a > vivid picture of life in the mines and, in the Appendix, it names the > works, > coal proprietors and the number of adults, young persons (13-18) and > children (under 13) working in each mine. > > For Bickershaw, the Appendix lists Abram, Ackers and Co., near Wigan, age > 21 > and up, 105 male/25 female; Age 13-18, 31 male/23 female; under 13, 19 > male/11 female. > > There's also a publication, Weep, Mothers, Weep, The Wood Pit Explosion, > Haydock, 1878. It can be found on LDS Film No. 576334. It provides a list > of > the 189 victims, including age, occupation and other details about the > individuals. > > One other item I copied is titled, Haigh Collieries, Wigan Coal & Iron > Company Limited, Wigan Coal Corporation, Fatal Accidents 1836-1947. > Unfortunately, I can't find any notes on where I found this but am quite > certain it was in a publication at the LDS Library (film/book?), Chapter > Nine. It includes the names of individuals, age and a brief description of > how they died. There are 13 pages covering Haigh Collieries, 1836-1869; > Wigan Coal & Iron Co. Ltd., 1870-1929 & Wigan Coal Corporation, 1930-1943. > > Hope this information will be of some value. > > Karen Fraser > Nanaimo, BC, Canada > > > > > ~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~ > > Each poster owns his/her own post. Before forwarding someone else's > message to another list, be sure to receive permission from the author. > > ~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~ > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-LAN-WIGAN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message