Midland Counties Miners' Federation

The Midland Counties Miners' Federation was a trade union, representing coal miners in the West Midlands region of England.

Midland Counties Miners' Federation
Founded1886
Dissolved30 June 2011
HeadquartersHednesford, Staffordshire
Location
Members
35,600 (1907[1])
Key people
Enoch Edwards (President)
Albert Stanley (Secretary)
Parent organization
Miners' Federation of Great Britain (1889–1944)
National Union of Mineworkers (1944–2011)
AffiliationsMiners' Federation of Great Britain

History

The union was founded in 1886. It initially had seven affiliates, including the North Stafford Miners' Association, the Old Hill and Highley District Miners, Enginemen and Surfacemen's Association, the Pelsall District Miners, the Shropshire Miners' Association, and the West Bromwich District Miners.[2] It affiliated to the Miners' Federation of Great Britain.[3]

By 1893, the federation's affiliates also included the Bristol Miners' Association, Forest of Dean Miners' Association, Somerset Miners' Association, and Warwickshire Miners' Association.[4][5] The first three of these accepted reductions in wages which went against federation policy, and therefore left in 1894, recombining as the South-Western Federation.[6]

In 1945, the union became the Midland Area of the National Union of Mineworkers, with less autonomy than before. It dissolved in 2011.[7]

Affiliates
NameFoundedJoinedMembers (1907)
Cannock Chase Miners', Enginemen's and Surfacemen's Association187618867,500[8]
North Stafford Miners' Association1869188616,709[8]
Old Hill and Highley District Miners', Enginemen's and Surfacemen's Association187018861,116[9]
Pelsall District Miners' Association188718876,120[8]
Shropshire Miners' Association188618861,600[8]
Warwickshire Miners' Association18851890s9,000[8]
West Bromwich Miners' Association186918862,300[8]

Leadership

Presidents
1886: Enoch Edwards
1912: Samuel Finney
1930s: F. J. Hancock
1941: John Blakemore?
1950s: Arthur Baddeley
1963: Jack Lally
1983: John Connon

Secretaries
1886: Samuel Henry Whitehouse
1888: Benjamin Dean
1890: Albert Stanley
1915: John Baker?
1930s: George Henry Jones
1948: J. H. Southall
1963: A. M. Jones
1983: Jim Colgan
1990s: Joe Wills

References
  1. Report on Trade Unions in 1905-1907. London: Board of Trade. 1909. p. 121-124.
  2. Robin Page Arnot, The Miners, vol.1, p.105
  3. Robin Page Arnot, The Miners, vol.1, p.251
  4. Robin Page Arnot, The Miners, vol.1, p.224
  5. Roy Gregory, The Miners and British Politics 1906-1914, p.168
  6. Robin Page Arnot, The Miners, vol.1, p.298
  7. Trade Union Certification Officer, "Annual Return for a Trade Union: National Union of Mineworkers (Midlands Area): 2010"
  8. Report on Trade Unions in 1905-1907. London: Board of Trade. 1909. p. 10-11.
  9. Gregory, Roy (1968). The Miners and British Politics 1906-1914. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 168. Figure is for 1910.
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