North East History : Echo Memories
North East History : Echo Memories: "Industrial unrest brings hard times and even harder bosses
By David Simpson
Ushaw Moor's original colliery village overlooked the colliery threequarters of a mile west of the present village and was the scene of a troublesome strike in the 1880s. The colliery owner, Henry Chaytor, of Witton Castle, was an uncompromising master.
Sanitary conditions in his terraces were appalling and wooden huts housing additional miners were described as 'the most wretched dwellings it was possible to conceive'.
Conditions in Chaytor's mine were no better, and men complained of working in 18in of water. Chaytor hated unions and appointed Thomas Robinson, a ruthless colliery manager who assigned the best seams to his favourite employees and reduced the wages of others. Robinson was especially hard on miners with union connections. Before 1881, two union representatives were removed from the colliery."
more......
By David Simpson
Ushaw Moor's original colliery village overlooked the colliery threequarters of a mile west of the present village and was the scene of a troublesome strike in the 1880s. The colliery owner, Henry Chaytor, of Witton Castle, was an uncompromising master.
Sanitary conditions in his terraces were appalling and wooden huts housing additional miners were described as 'the most wretched dwellings it was possible to conceive'.
Conditions in Chaytor's mine were no better, and men complained of working in 18in of water. Chaytor hated unions and appointed Thomas Robinson, a ruthless colliery manager who assigned the best seams to his favourite employees and reduced the wages of others. Robinson was especially hard on miners with union connections. Before 1881, two union representatives were removed from the colliery."
more......
