The
Miners Welfare Fund in
Ivor
Brown, SCMC Journal No.4
The facilities provided from the Miners' Welfare Fund in most Shropshire
mining villages are still, by and large, giving good service, although nowadays
to a different clientele and under new control. Their "Halls" and
"Institutes" are now being recognised as much a part of our
industrial heritage as the mine buildings themselves, even though the present users
may have little understanding of their beginnings.
The First World War did much to break the mould of 19th century British
society. Not only did it cruelly remove so many of the heirs of the mine owners
by its indiscriminate killing of young men (Sir Arthur Anstice of the Madeley
Wood Coal & Iron Company lost his son in 1915 for example) but it gave the
working man aspirations for a better life. One result of this was the passing
of a statute in 1920 which inaugurated the "Miners' Welfare Fund".
Its aim was to provide educational, welfare and recreational facilities for
miners and their communities. Money for the fund was to come from two basic
sources :-
1. The mine owners, who were required to contribute one penny (0.42 new
pence) per ton of saleable coal produced
2. The coal owners, who were required to contribute one shilling (5 new
pence) in the pound on net mining royalties.
Coal was effectively nationalised in 1938, so that the Government would
then become liable for the levy on royalty. The coal mines themselves were
nationalised in 1947 so that the nationalised industry (NCB) then became liable
for the tonnage levy also.
In any case, the sum available annually was relatively small and, even
in the 1930s, the Shropshire District Fund Committee set up to disperse the
money were always complaining that they really hadn't sufficient to do all that
was required. The sum was only about £800 and this had to cover new projects
and maintenance of those existing. The Committee was in 1939, for example, made
up of 10 persons :-
5 representing mine owners :-
- St V Champion Jones, Lilleshall Company
- T H Stonehouse, Highley
- J A Jackson, Madeley Wood
- A N Fielden, Hanwood
- T E Freestone, other mines (he was also Chairman).
5 representing miners :-
- R Ward
- A Robinson
- S Gill
- G Davies
- A Hoggins.
Ifton Colliery was, as usual, taken to be part of North Wales District
but is included here due to its location in
The general policy of the Fund was firstly to obtain land for a
recreation ground (or "rec" as it was called locally), then if
necessary provide a Welfare Hall or Institute, then as soon as practicable
provide a pit head baths complex at the mine itself. In the years under
consideration, grants were provided as follows :-
- Recreational 14 (but some were extensions to existing schemes and this
included sports grounds, halls and institutes)
- Pit Head Baths 1
- Canteen 1
- Cycle Store 1
- Educational 11 (including 2 mining science labs and 9 general education)
- plus a number of individual scholarships for study
There had also been grants to provide classroom accommodation for
war-time evacuees at Hanwood and a grant for a colliery band (possibly the
Lilleshall Collieries Band).
"Recs" were provided at least at the following centres
beginning early in the 1920s (although this list is not in chronological order)
- Ifton, Madeley, Highley, Hanwood, Donnington Wood, Wrockwardine Wood,
Priorslee, St Georges, Oakengates and Dawley. Then beginning about 1929,
substantial welfare halls were provided at St Georges (1929), Ifton (1932),
Highley (1933), The Nabb (1936) and Hanwood (1938). These are described in the
Appendix (there could be others at yet unidentified). Madeley does not seem to
have had a hall at this stage (although it had a "rec" from 1922),
probably due to the Anstice Memorial Hall & Working Mens Institute being
available. This was already miner-biased, owing to its origins as a Memorial
Hall to the local mine owner John Anstice. The Madeley miners, however, became
the first to obtain a Miners' Welfare pit head baths / canteen complex in 1941.
A modern recreational hall was provided at Madeley later in that decade.
The Welfare Fund Committee was also keen to improve "the
landscape", particularly in town centres, and their most commendable work
was the removal of a large spoilmound to form a "rec" in Oakengates.
This was situated between the Hartshill and Hadley Roads and was opened by
Herbert Smith, then President of the Miners Federation of Great Britain.
Opposite this was another site reclaimed by the international peace volunteers
in the 1930s. The Committee were not always successful in removing pitmounds,
however, such as in 1935 when they added a bowls pavilion at St Georges on a
site which lay at the foot of a tip. No encroachment onto other property was
permitted. To overcome this, they had to burrow into the tip and, using
reinforced concrete walls which doubled as retaining walls, produced a
half-buried structure. This had "... two small rooms, one for men and one
for women", with a "combined glazed metal screen and doors opening
onto a small veranda". The total cost was £198 and it was opened in
December 1935.
Financial problems were beginning to be experienced in the mid-1930s. It
was reported in 1938 that annual income was still only £800 due to the
depression and "... this small sum must be eked out to supply the needs of
4 district areas and 9 separate schemes". In the main area
(Coalbrookdale?) where the schemes were normally self-supporting, there was now
severe unemployment. On the other hand, two schemes serving outlying areas were
maintained by means of contributions from the parent colliery company and by a
colliery levy on the men of so much per week out of wages. It was also reported
that a re-appraisal was to be carried out. One site (Dawley?) had already been
disposed of and it was hoped to concentrate activities in another area on one
site (St Georges). On the brighter side, a hall had been opened at Hanwood and
planning was underway for a pit-head baths at Madeley.
The report for 1939 was still quite gloomy, although employment had
picked up because of the war. The costs of maintenance, however, were still a
problem. No new schemes had started and a proposal for a bathing pool at
Priorslee had been dropped, as had a new football ground at Wrockwardine Wood.
The Committee was critical of the local reactions to its centralisation plans
"... the difficulties at Priorslee were impossible to overcome but it is
felt that, if local restrictions could be set aside, the difficulties at
Wrockwardine Wood could be solved by centralising the football section at St
Georges". The sites at The Nabb, St Georges and Donnington Wood had,
however, been well maintained with a new hockey pitch and hard tennis court
provided at the second site and tennis courts at the third.
The Committee was always keen on education and, over the years, had
provided new mining laboratories at the
Except for the construction of the pit-head baths at Madeley, against
many difficulties (see separate paper by the writer), no new schemes were
developed during the Second World War. Immediately after the war, the income
and responsibilities for pit-head baths were taken away from the Fund Committee
but it still continued to develop the recreational side. Perhaps its major
achievement in this period was the new hall at Madeley but this has since been
demolished. It is understood that none of the surviving schemes are maintained
by the Welfare Fund at the present time.
Appendices
Miners' Welfare Halls in
1. 1929 St Georges - Replaced an old wooden hut, new one is brick with
cement asbestos tiled roof, cost £920. It has two large dressing rooms, each
having a bath 9ft 6ins x 3ft 6ins x 2ft deep attached to it. There is a folding
partition so that the rooms can be combined on special occasions. The grounds
include a football ground with cycling and running tracks around it, also 2
grandstands, a cricket ground, 4 tennis courts,
2. 1932 Ifton - A large institute of brick with artificial stone
dressings and a slate roof, cost £7,500 (furnishings £950 extra). Consists of a
hall to seat 444, with stage and cinema projector and rewinding rooms. Also
rooms for billiards, games, reading, library and kitchen. There is in addition
a lean-to with separate rooms for bowls and tennis players and a groundsman.
"... As there is no electricity within several miles a power plant has
been installed".
3. 1933 Highley - A hall to seat 260 persons, constructed of timber
framing, roughcast on metal lathing and lined with matchboard and insulating
boarding. Foundations are of brick and roof of asbestos tiles, cost £1,892,
including furnishings.
4. 1935 St Georges Bowls Pavilion - as described previously.
5. 1936 Nabb Institute - Replaced an earlier corrugated iron building.
No details available but had a brick base and appeared to be of timber.
6. 1938 Hanwood - A hall of brick and tile construction, cost £1,000.
Has a central club room large enough for social functions and educational
classes.
7. 1941 Kemberton Pit-Head Baths - "... the only pit-head baths in
operation in this District" (
Note 1 - The present condition of the above buildings has not been
checked and I would like to know of any changes. Also of any demolitions and
any other Miners' Welfare buildings discovered in the county.
Note 2 - Madeley Miners' Welfare Hall was built in 1950 (outside the
period considered in this paper but included for sake of completeness). It was
a large single room of concrete block construction with a kitchen-annexe.
Demolition took place about 1970 as part of the Madeley By-pass project. The
Anstice Memorial Hall & Working Men's Institute at Madeley was built in
1869 as a memorial to a well-respected local mine owner. It survives, crammed
into a 1960s shopping complex.