There is something about mines that appeals to the superstitions of mankind; especially is this so on the Rand, where one finds miners drawn from all parts of the world. One of the most marked effects noticed in men who have spent most of their life in mining is a sense of danger that suddenly comes over them.
"Some would call this faculty the sixth sense," writes a prominent mining expert at Cape Town. "If you asked a miner how he knows there is something wrong he will reply that he feels it. I had a remarkable illustration of this a few years ago.
"I was walking along a main drift with a mine captain, a man who had been working in mines over 40 years, having started as a lad in the mines of Cornwall. Suddenly he stopped and exclaimed that something was wrong.
"For the life of me I could not see a thing amiss. The timbers seemed solid and the drive pillars looked secure. But the captain was not satisfied, and insisted on climbing into the stope to investigate. There he found a large crack, running for hundreds of feet, indicating a movement of the strata of serious proportions.
"Had this discovery not been made in time there would have been a serious accident in the mine, with a probable loss of life. I dare say the years of experience in the mine had developed a power in him which the men called "superstition" but which was really the faculty of accurate observation, which to him seemed ununconscious."
The Cornish Telegraph, 20th July 1911.
Monday 23 January 2017
Ayrshire miners
A writer in Notes and Queries says:-- There is a traditionary story in this district of a miner who was constantly annoyed while working in a pit by hearing the sounds of a pick on the other side of the coal into which he was digging. The noise went on, day after day coming nearer, till he became convinced it could be none other than the devil who was working through to him. Whereupon he went to his master and asked to be relieved from his work, but without success, and he was obliged to return to the post of danger. At last his misery became unbearable, and he resolved to apply to the minister to protect him from the machinations of his enemy. This the minister undertook to do, and having asked him how many holings he had before the wall between him and the devil could be broken through, sent him back to work till he had left only one holing between them. Then he was to take his piece (of bread) and crumble it all down in a train to the mouth of the pit, and again resuming his pick, to strike through the dividing coal. The moment this was done, and before the devil could claim it, he was to cry, "Tae hole's mine!" and make for the mouth of the pit as fast as his legs could carry him.
These directions the miner carefully followed. He struck through the coal, claimed the hole, and reached the pit-mouth in safety; but the devil would certainly have caught him had he not been obliged to pick up every one of the crumbs scattered in the line of pursuit. As it was, the poor man had a narrow escape, for he had no sooner reached his place of safety than the walls of the pit came together with a thundering crash. To this day, when a miner strikes through into a hole, or when two, working from opposite sides at the same sea, meet, the coal is claimed by the one who shouts first, "The hole's mine!"
The miners here consider it extremely unlucky to meet a bare-footed woman while on the way to their work. Women are often to be seen rushing frantically out of their sight, but if one is actually met, the miners must either return home or they must draw blood from her, which is usually done by scratching her forehead with a pin.
Paisley Herald and Renfrewshire Advertiser. 29th October 1870.
These directions the miner carefully followed. He struck through the coal, claimed the hole, and reached the pit-mouth in safety; but the devil would certainly have caught him had he not been obliged to pick up every one of the crumbs scattered in the line of pursuit. As it was, the poor man had a narrow escape, for he had no sooner reached his place of safety than the walls of the pit came together with a thundering crash. To this day, when a miner strikes through into a hole, or when two, working from opposite sides at the same sea, meet, the coal is claimed by the one who shouts first, "The hole's mine!"
The miners here consider it extremely unlucky to meet a bare-footed woman while on the way to their work. Women are often to be seen rushing frantically out of their sight, but if one is actually met, the miners must either return home or they must draw blood from her, which is usually done by scratching her forehead with a pin.
Paisley Herald and Renfrewshire Advertiser. 29th October 1870.
Gateshead colliery
Nearly 300 miners from a neighbouring colliery were summoned at Gateshead on Thursday for having absented themselves from work after a fatality in a pit.
The owners, it was said, had agreed that in future if a fatality occurred before three in the afternoon the pit should be idle that day, and if after three it should be idle that and the following day.
The summonses were withdrawn.
Derby Daily Telegraph, 23rd September, 1904.
The owners, it was said, had agreed that in future if a fatality occurred before three in the afternoon the pit should be idle that day, and if after three it should be idle that and the following day.
The summonses were withdrawn.
Derby Daily Telegraph, 23rd September, 1904.
Halesowen colliery, Worcestershire
A Miners' Superstition.
The colliery at Halesowen, Worcestershire, has been idle for two days through a superstitious fear that ill-luck would befall the miners who failed to cease work as a mark of respect for a comrade who had been killed. This has caused the large ironworks to be closed for three days.
Yorkshire Evening Post, 1st March 1920.
The colliery at Halesowen, Worcestershire, has been idle for two days through a superstitious fear that ill-luck would befall the miners who failed to cease work as a mark of respect for a comrade who had been killed. This has caused the large ironworks to be closed for three days.
Yorkshire Evening Post, 1st March 1920.
Miner's bathing in Lancashire
There was a superstition or belief prevalent in Lancashire among the miners, said Dr. I. Watts, M.P., at a labour conference in London, yesterday, that if they had a bath it was never wise to wash the back. There was a deep-rooted impression that this would weaken the back.
In Leeds Mercury, 21st June 1923.
In Leeds Mercury, 21st June 1923.
Strange sounds, smells and sights at Morfa colliery
Lingering Remnants of Welsh Superstition.
It is extraordinary that, notwithstanding the spread of education and the enlightening influences which are popularly supposed to have been brought to bear upon the people by the pulpit and the Sunday schools, there still linger in the minds of hundreds in the Principality remnants of the superstitions which prevailed in the days of the "Canwyll Corff" and the "Tylwyth Teg." Such is this fact, however, that the news that the workmen of the Morfa Colliery left the pit on Monday because they had heard "strange sounds" is an instance in point. Doubtless, there are districts in which such credulity dies harder than in others, and Morfa appears to be a neighbourhood in which superstition lingers longingly, for the story of the "sign," or foreboding of evil, conveyed by the appearance of a dove perched upon a colliery tram - absurd as such a fear may seem - reminds us that immediately after the occurrence of the great disaster at that colliery some six years ago, rumours were set afloat that omens of evil had just previously been seen. One of our represeentatives, who at that time interviewed a chapel deacon who had narrowly escaped with his life, had an opportunity of letting in some light upon such ridiculous canards as the appearance of a "red dog" underground and the overpowering influence of an "odour of roses."
Further investigations among miners then revealed a curious taint of such beliefs, occurring, strange to say, in several cases, among people possessed with a strong religious tendency. We are, of course, far from suggesting that such doctrines are propagated by the leaders of religion, but, surely, if isolated cases in other districts and a whole pitful of illustrations in Morfa indicate the presence of relics of a superstitious age, there is ample scope for the most active of ministers and preachers to explode the fallacies which still keep members of their flock so far behind the age. Let us hope that Mr. Robson, the inspector of mines, will be successful in exorcising the spirit which disturbs the Morfa men, and that we shall hear no more of "strange sounds," which have a tendency to make Welsh colliers a laughing-stock, for outside the southern portion of the Principality there will be many who will fondly imagine that the intelligent miners so recently praised by Justice Vaughan Williams are all tarred with the same brush as their innocent brethren at Morfa.
The Western Mail, 10th December 1895
It is extraordinary that, notwithstanding the spread of education and the enlightening influences which are popularly supposed to have been brought to bear upon the people by the pulpit and the Sunday schools, there still linger in the minds of hundreds in the Principality remnants of the superstitions which prevailed in the days of the "Canwyll Corff" and the "Tylwyth Teg." Such is this fact, however, that the news that the workmen of the Morfa Colliery left the pit on Monday because they had heard "strange sounds" is an instance in point. Doubtless, there are districts in which such credulity dies harder than in others, and Morfa appears to be a neighbourhood in which superstition lingers longingly, for the story of the "sign," or foreboding of evil, conveyed by the appearance of a dove perched upon a colliery tram - absurd as such a fear may seem - reminds us that immediately after the occurrence of the great disaster at that colliery some six years ago, rumours were set afloat that omens of evil had just previously been seen. One of our represeentatives, who at that time interviewed a chapel deacon who had narrowly escaped with his life, had an opportunity of letting in some light upon such ridiculous canards as the appearance of a "red dog" underground and the overpowering influence of an "odour of roses."
Further investigations among miners then revealed a curious taint of such beliefs, occurring, strange to say, in several cases, among people possessed with a strong religious tendency. We are, of course, far from suggesting that such doctrines are propagated by the leaders of religion, but, surely, if isolated cases in other districts and a whole pitful of illustrations in Morfa indicate the presence of relics of a superstitious age, there is ample scope for the most active of ministers and preachers to explode the fallacies which still keep members of their flock so far behind the age. Let us hope that Mr. Robson, the inspector of mines, will be successful in exorcising the spirit which disturbs the Morfa men, and that we shall hear no more of "strange sounds," which have a tendency to make Welsh colliers a laughing-stock, for outside the southern portion of the Principality there will be many who will fondly imagine that the intelligent miners so recently praised by Justice Vaughan Williams are all tarred with the same brush as their innocent brethren at Morfa.
The Western Mail, 10th December 1895
Morfa Colliery disaster
The inquiry into the cause of the disaster at the Morfa Colliery, by which eighty-seven lives were lost, was resumed on Thursday, at Aberavon, before Mr Cuthbertson. -- Philip Williams and William Harding, the first two witnesses called, stated that a rumour had been circulated amongst the miners that strange sounds had been heard at the pit, and consequently a special examination was asked for. It was taken as proof that something unusual was to occur at Morfa - a fire or an explosion.
Replying to Mr. S.T.Evans, M.P. Harding said he did not know whether the noises spoken of were such as would be caused by gas. He did not think all the men had heard the sounds, but he and several others had, including William Summer, and they had created fear in the minds of the men. About a fortnight before the explosion he was in the four-foot, and with another man had taken a tram of rubbish to discharge into an old heading. After emptying it they were resting, and both had gone on their knees. No word passed between them, but they heard something, and looked at each other. He said suddenly "What is that? There are some people walking there," and as he uttered the word a door on the upper side of them opened and clapped against the frame. "What in the name of goodness can that be?" he asked; to which his mate replied, "I don't know." They at once pushed the tram back.
He met a man named Tom Barass and said to him, "Something very strange has happened there to-day," upon which Barrass remarked, "Well, I can't doubt it, but this sort of thing makes one believe that everything one has heard before is true." Witness declared he had proof himself that sounds and signs occurred before the explosion in the pit in 1863.
-- By Mr Tennant, solicitor for owner: They found nothing to account for the noises.
-- By Mr Robson, Mines Inspector: He thought the explosion must have occurred in No. 8 or No. 8 1/2 heading. He had not heard that Wm. Leyshon went down to fire a shot on the morning of the exlosion, but there was a "mixture" in No. 8, and, if the blowers gave off at the time that Leyshon had his lamp open to fire that shot an explosion would be caused.
-- Mr Thomas Gray, manager of the mine, gave evidence as to the safety of the colliery and efficiency of the arrangeents. He believed the explosion occurred in No. 8 heading. He had taken no special steps in consequence of the men's fear about ghosts, as this would not concern the management.
-- The inquiry was adjourned.
Wrexham and Denbighshire Advertiser and Cheshire Shropshire and North Wales Register, 26th April 1890.
Replying to Mr. S.T.Evans, M.P. Harding said he did not know whether the noises spoken of were such as would be caused by gas. He did not think all the men had heard the sounds, but he and several others had, including William Summer, and they had created fear in the minds of the men. About a fortnight before the explosion he was in the four-foot, and with another man had taken a tram of rubbish to discharge into an old heading. After emptying it they were resting, and both had gone on their knees. No word passed between them, but they heard something, and looked at each other. He said suddenly "What is that? There are some people walking there," and as he uttered the word a door on the upper side of them opened and clapped against the frame. "What in the name of goodness can that be?" he asked; to which his mate replied, "I don't know." They at once pushed the tram back.
He met a man named Tom Barass and said to him, "Something very strange has happened there to-day," upon which Barrass remarked, "Well, I can't doubt it, but this sort of thing makes one believe that everything one has heard before is true." Witness declared he had proof himself that sounds and signs occurred before the explosion in the pit in 1863.
-- By Mr Tennant, solicitor for owner: They found nothing to account for the noises.
-- By Mr Robson, Mines Inspector: He thought the explosion must have occurred in No. 8 or No. 8 1/2 heading. He had not heard that Wm. Leyshon went down to fire a shot on the morning of the exlosion, but there was a "mixture" in No. 8, and, if the blowers gave off at the time that Leyshon had his lamp open to fire that shot an explosion would be caused.
-- Mr Thomas Gray, manager of the mine, gave evidence as to the safety of the colliery and efficiency of the arrangeents. He believed the explosion occurred in No. 8 heading. He had taken no special steps in consequence of the men's fear about ghosts, as this would not concern the management.
-- The inquiry was adjourned.
Wrexham and Denbighshire Advertiser and Cheshire Shropshire and North Wales Register, 26th April 1890.
Superstition or Reverence
No body of workers are more easily moved by trivial events than the hardy superstitious miner of South Wales. After every explosion we hear of many miraculous escapes due to strange dreams and visions on the part of those rescued, and that many a sad event has been carefully warned to one household or another is a common experience among them. The other day a miner committed suicide in one of the Clydach Vale Collieries lakes, and as they were unable to find the body, about 300 miners refused to enter the pit.
Fortunately, before the next day's shift was due, the poor miner had been recovered, and, consequently, the work proceeded as usual. Was it superstition or reverence that caused these men to abandon their work? We think it was due to their deep reverence for the departed spirit of their fellow-workman, who, probably, during a fit of temporary insanity, had put an end to his earthly existnece.
It is well known that after a fellow-workman receives serious injury every man employed in the district of the workings, where the injured was received, will throw down his tools and escort the injured to his home. It is common in the towns adjacent to collieries to witness a great procession of grave men walking from the colliery with the injured miner carried on a stretcher in their midst. When a workman is killed outright, every man and boy instantly leaves the colliery where the fatal accident takes place. Each man would regard working on that day, after such a sad event, as an insult to the dead, and to the class which he belonged. Miners are a sensitive and superstitious tribe, and as tender-hearted as the most sensitive of females.
The London Kelt, 29th August 1896.
Fortunately, before the next day's shift was due, the poor miner had been recovered, and, consequently, the work proceeded as usual. Was it superstition or reverence that caused these men to abandon their work? We think it was due to their deep reverence for the departed spirit of their fellow-workman, who, probably, during a fit of temporary insanity, had put an end to his earthly existnece.
It is well known that after a fellow-workman receives serious injury every man employed in the district of the workings, where the injured was received, will throw down his tools and escort the injured to his home. It is common in the towns adjacent to collieries to witness a great procession of grave men walking from the colliery with the injured miner carried on a stretcher in their midst. When a workman is killed outright, every man and boy instantly leaves the colliery where the fatal accident takes place. Each man would regard working on that day, after such a sad event, as an insult to the dead, and to the class which he belonged. Miners are a sensitive and superstitious tribe, and as tender-hearted as the most sensitive of females.
The London Kelt, 29th August 1896.
Cynicism in Lancashire
Superstition or Pleasure?
Work was resumed at all the collieries in South-east Lancashire after the Easter holidays yesterday. In the Manchester and Bolton districts several hundreds of men absented themselves, causing much inconvenience. Many of the miners in these localities consider it unlucky to start on the first day after a holiday stoppage, and make this an excuse for another day's play.
Evening Express, 18th April 1906.
Work was resumed at all the collieries in South-east Lancashire after the Easter holidays yesterday. In the Manchester and Bolton districts several hundreds of men absented themselves, causing much inconvenience. Many of the miners in these localities consider it unlucky to start on the first day after a holiday stoppage, and make this an excuse for another day's play.
Evening Express, 18th April 1906.
Cornwall
Among the superstitioins which still survive with old folks in Cornwall is that of the "knockers." The tap, tap of the tiny hammers these pixies use is heard, or supposed to be heard, in the tin mines where the lodes are richest. They are supposed to indicate to the miners where it will be best to drive a level. Once the miners reach the spot it is said the tapping ceases.
A few generations back such noises were said to be caused by the ghosts of the Jews who crucified the Saviour, and who were sent to work in the tin mines as slaves by the Roman Emperor. Latter-day science, with its explanations of the physical causes of such sounds in the depths of the earth, has killed all the romantic and legendary lore which obtained so abundantly in the duchy in the early decades of last century.
Weekly Mail, 30th August 1902.
A few generations back such noises were said to be caused by the ghosts of the Jews who crucified the Saviour, and who were sent to work in the tin mines as slaves by the Roman Emperor. Latter-day science, with its explanations of the physical causes of such sounds in the depths of the earth, has killed all the romantic and legendary lore which obtained so abundantly in the duchy in the early decades of last century.
Weekly Mail, 30th August 1902.
"Warnings" and colliery explosions
For two or three months past we have been told that we might expect to hear of some colliery explosions in the neighbourhood, because "warnings" had been manifested in the pits at Cwmnantddu, near Pontypool. The awful calamities in the Rhondda Valley and Ebbw Vale have too sadly verified these predictions. The "warnings," which are said to be still continued in the Sinking Pits at Cwmnantddu, are attributed by the men to supernatural causes, and have caused such fright that some of the miners declare that they will never enter the workings again on account of "the ghost."
At Tredegar, too, a panic prevails in consequence of an old gipsy woman having said that an explosion was likely to take place there! Now, it is quite time that belief in ghosts and fortune telling had died out. They are inconsistent with common sense and the exercise of reason. But we are not inclined to treat this talk about subterrraneous warnings with contempt. Far from it. We rather think it merits serious consideration and painstaking inquiry.
Let us examine it. One man is said to have seen something covered with a white sheet, and to have hit a hole right through it with his fist! The tom-foolery of this is too obvious, one would think, to need comment, and yet such ridiculous stuff is actually believed! We shall continue to endeavour to put an extinguisher on ghosts. What may have been heard is another matter, and has nothing to do with "spirits." The sounds are said to resemble those caaused by the rattling of chains, the running of trams, and "boring." A man named Coleman appears to have been greatly led away by his imagination, and has caused a great deal of silly fear by asserting his fanciful experiences. We hope, for his own credit, that the tales have been manufactured for him, and are not his own utterances.
Mr. Joseph Green, mineral agent under the Ebbw Vale Company, has made a stand (all honour to him for doing so), against the prevalent superstitious "rot," and has placed sensible men as watchers or rather listeners in the Sinking Pits for some nights past. These men have failed to hear anything extraodinary. But it is not at all unlikely that some have heard sounds that require attention, though they need not excite foolish alarm. Nature has its throes now andt hen. When there is an eruption of Vesuvius (which appears to be agitated just now) the effects are felt far away. When Lisbon was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake in 1755, the waters of the Hot Wells at Clifton, of Loch Lomond in Scotland, and at other places were disturbed.
When large quantities of coal are removed, the strata will naturally settle down, and very likely bad gases will be forced out from one place and driven into another. The whole of the earth's crust has been convulsed, and tossed, and tumbled, in a manner that makes one shudder to think of, but all has been in obedience to natural laws. Change is still going on, and the little local displacements and settlings down of strata are only what may be expected. In these, it seems to us, are to be traced the true cause of the noises that are heard in mines; we believe that in one sense they are "warnings;" warnings of the possible proximity of noxious gases or accumulation of water, forced near by the down-settling or ruptures of the strata, and calling for extra cacre and precautions in working the mines where such noises are heard. But there is certainly nothing supernatural in them.
The Western Mail, 11th March 1871.
At Tredegar, too, a panic prevails in consequence of an old gipsy woman having said that an explosion was likely to take place there! Now, it is quite time that belief in ghosts and fortune telling had died out. They are inconsistent with common sense and the exercise of reason. But we are not inclined to treat this talk about subterrraneous warnings with contempt. Far from it. We rather think it merits serious consideration and painstaking inquiry.
Let us examine it. One man is said to have seen something covered with a white sheet, and to have hit a hole right through it with his fist! The tom-foolery of this is too obvious, one would think, to need comment, and yet such ridiculous stuff is actually believed! We shall continue to endeavour to put an extinguisher on ghosts. What may have been heard is another matter, and has nothing to do with "spirits." The sounds are said to resemble those caaused by the rattling of chains, the running of trams, and "boring." A man named Coleman appears to have been greatly led away by his imagination, and has caused a great deal of silly fear by asserting his fanciful experiences. We hope, for his own credit, that the tales have been manufactured for him, and are not his own utterances.
Mr. Joseph Green, mineral agent under the Ebbw Vale Company, has made a stand (all honour to him for doing so), against the prevalent superstitious "rot," and has placed sensible men as watchers or rather listeners in the Sinking Pits for some nights past. These men have failed to hear anything extraodinary. But it is not at all unlikely that some have heard sounds that require attention, though they need not excite foolish alarm. Nature has its throes now andt hen. When there is an eruption of Vesuvius (which appears to be agitated just now) the effects are felt far away. When Lisbon was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake in 1755, the waters of the Hot Wells at Clifton, of Loch Lomond in Scotland, and at other places were disturbed.
When large quantities of coal are removed, the strata will naturally settle down, and very likely bad gases will be forced out from one place and driven into another. The whole of the earth's crust has been convulsed, and tossed, and tumbled, in a manner that makes one shudder to think of, but all has been in obedience to natural laws. Change is still going on, and the little local displacements and settlings down of strata are only what may be expected. In these, it seems to us, are to be traced the true cause of the noises that are heard in mines; we believe that in one sense they are "warnings;" warnings of the possible proximity of noxious gases or accumulation of water, forced near by the down-settling or ruptures of the strata, and calling for extra cacre and precautions in working the mines where such noises are heard. But there is certainly nothing supernatural in them.
The Western Mail, 11th March 1871.
Bedworth, Warwickshire
On Monday morning a large number of the miners employed at some of the Bedworth collieries in North Warwickshire, giving way to a superstition which has long prevailed amongst their [-], refused to descend the coal pits in which they are employed. The men are credulous enough to believe that certain sounds, which are doubtless produced by flocks of night birds in their passage across the country, are harbingers of some impending colliery accident.
During Sunday night it was stated that these sounds, which have been designated "the seven whistlers," had been distinctly heard in the neighbourhood of Bedworth, and the result was that on the following morning, when work should have been resumed, many of the men positively refused to descend the pits, and were to be seen on Monday idling about the streets of the town.
The recent colliery accidents at Bedworth, and the "sounds" by which they are said to have been preceded, seem to have augmented rather than diminished this superstitious belief.
The Merthyr Telegraph and General Advertiser for the Iron Districts of South Wales, 2nd October 1874.
A paragraph has been going the round of the papers during the past week, which seems to us to be a striking illustration of how not to deal with the industrial aspect of popular superstitions. It is said that the miners at the Bedworth collieries in North Warwickshire, refused to go down the pit one day last week because certain sounds, known as "the seven whistlers," had been heard the night before; and the paragraph adds that "they are credulous enough to believe that these sounds, which are doubtless produced by nocturnal birds in their passage across the country, are harbingers of some impending colliery disaster."
Now it seems to us that the believers in these mysterious "nocturnal birds" are even more credulous than the colliers. What nocturnal birds are there which make noises in their passage across the country at night? If there are such birds, is the early September their time for migrating? And if so, did anybody see them on the night in question so as to be able to say that "doubtless" the sounds proceeded from them. The penny-a-liner's explanation is doubtless a figment of his own dogmatism.
It is obvious to any scientific man that these noises are worth inquiring into if they are really heard at all. Colliery accidents arise from the escape of compressed gases, and there are some states of the atmosphere in which those gases show a greater disposition to escape than others. Now it is by no means impossible that when the sudden lightening of atmospheric pressure which favours colliery explosions takes place, these imprisoned gases may expand, and a singing or whistling noise is exactly the sound which would probably accompany such expansion.
It seems to be admitted that the people did hear "the seven whistlers" before the last colliery accident in the district in question; and if so, it is by no means impossible that their perception of the connection of the noises whith the condition which favours accident is a true one though their explanation of the noises is as absurd as that of the newspaper reporter's "night-birds." The matter is, at anyrate, worth inquiring into. Earth noises due to the escape of vapours are quite as common as "flocks of night-birds," and may give a warning of the condition of the strata which it might be well to note and observe. --- Capital and Labour.
In the Burnley Advertiser, 10th October 1874.
During Sunday night it was stated that these sounds, which have been designated "the seven whistlers," had been distinctly heard in the neighbourhood of Bedworth, and the result was that on the following morning, when work should have been resumed, many of the men positively refused to descend the pits, and were to be seen on Monday idling about the streets of the town.
The recent colliery accidents at Bedworth, and the "sounds" by which they are said to have been preceded, seem to have augmented rather than diminished this superstitious belief.
The Merthyr Telegraph and General Advertiser for the Iron Districts of South Wales, 2nd October 1874.
A paragraph has been going the round of the papers during the past week, which seems to us to be a striking illustration of how not to deal with the industrial aspect of popular superstitions. It is said that the miners at the Bedworth collieries in North Warwickshire, refused to go down the pit one day last week because certain sounds, known as "the seven whistlers," had been heard the night before; and the paragraph adds that "they are credulous enough to believe that these sounds, which are doubtless produced by nocturnal birds in their passage across the country, are harbingers of some impending colliery disaster."
Now it seems to us that the believers in these mysterious "nocturnal birds" are even more credulous than the colliers. What nocturnal birds are there which make noises in their passage across the country at night? If there are such birds, is the early September their time for migrating? And if so, did anybody see them on the night in question so as to be able to say that "doubtless" the sounds proceeded from them. The penny-a-liner's explanation is doubtless a figment of his own dogmatism.
It is obvious to any scientific man that these noises are worth inquiring into if they are really heard at all. Colliery accidents arise from the escape of compressed gases, and there are some states of the atmosphere in which those gases show a greater disposition to escape than others. Now it is by no means impossible that when the sudden lightening of atmospheric pressure which favours colliery explosions takes place, these imprisoned gases may expand, and a singing or whistling noise is exactly the sound which would probably accompany such expansion.
It seems to be admitted that the people did hear "the seven whistlers" before the last colliery accident in the district in question; and if so, it is by no means impossible that their perception of the connection of the noises whith the condition which favours accident is a true one though their explanation of the noises is as absurd as that of the newspaper reporter's "night-birds." The matter is, at anyrate, worth inquiring into. Earth noises due to the escape of vapours are quite as common as "flocks of night-birds," and may give a warning of the condition of the strata which it might be well to note and observe. --- Capital and Labour.
In the Burnley Advertiser, 10th October 1874.
Saturday 21 January 2017
Nationalisation, 1947
The State mines made a bad start to-day, when, ignoring all appeals, 84,000 Yorkshire miners, representing about 60 per cent. of the total labour force of the pits in the county, stayed away from work. New Year's Day is a statutory holiday for miners, but because of the grave coal shortage, with its threat of large-scale unemployment in industry, appeals had been made to the miners to defer the holiday.
[...] National Coal Board leaders are bitterly disappointed by the absenteeism figures on the very day on which the mines were transferred to the State. The chairman of the Coal Board's North-Eastern Division (Major General Sir Noel G. Holmes) told me to-day: "I am very disappointed at to-day's attendance figures at the pits and I am sure my Board is too. I believe Yorkshire miners are superstitious about working on New Year's Day."
[...]
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 2nd January 1947.
[...] National Coal Board leaders are bitterly disappointed by the absenteeism figures on the very day on which the mines were transferred to the State. The chairman of the Coal Board's North-Eastern Division (Major General Sir Noel G. Holmes) told me to-day: "I am very disappointed at to-day's attendance figures at the pits and I am sure my Board is too. I believe Yorkshire miners are superstitious about working on New Year's Day."
[...]
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, 2nd January 1947.
"Strikes caused by ghosts"
Quite recently the whole of the miners belonging to the Glyncorrwg Colliery, near Port Talbot, Glamorganshire, went out on strike through fear of a ghost. Deep down in the nethermost workings, they assert, a white-clothed female figure appears at frequent but irregular intervals, waves her arms thrice above her head, mutters certain words in an unknown tongue, and then vanishes.
This, of course, is no new thing. Miners are proverbially superstitious, and it is only natural that they should decline to go down into a mine that they believe to be haunted; but it is rather hard lines for the mine-owners especially as these ghost-induced strikes often prove exceedingly expensive.
Thus, in 1873, several hundred Warwickshire colliers ceased work, owing to the alleged appearance, in a disused drift, of a "luminous boy." This strike lasted for the better part of a year, and cost £30,000; and after all the so-called "luminous boy" turned out to be nothing more supernatural than a collection of decaying fungi.
Bell-ringing apparitions have haunted the Cornish tin-mines from time immemorial. The miners assert that the bells are rung by kindly-disposed ghosts, themselves miners when in the flesh, as a warning of impending calamity; and no amount of persuasion will induce them to venture below ground at such times.
One of these curious strikes lasted five months; and another which threatened to continue indefinitely, was only brought to a close by the plucky action of one of the proprietors, who, in order to reassure his men, descended himself into the particular working which was supposed to be haunted, and stayed there quite alone for three days and nights.
Very tragic was the termination of the spook-bred strike which, in 1887, occurred iat Mons Colliery, in Belgium. Late in April the men came out because, so they averred, a strange shaggy man, who vanished when approached, had been heard in the workings foretelling disaster and muttering imprecations against those who disregarded his warnings. for several days the mine lay idle, but on the morning of the 5th of MArch the manager had so far succeeded in allaying the fears of the men that a goodly proportion of them returned to work. Two or three hours later a terrific explosion occurred, causing the death of eighty-seven of them.
Northants Evening Telegraph, 16th August 1902.
This, of course, is no new thing. Miners are proverbially superstitious, and it is only natural that they should decline to go down into a mine that they believe to be haunted; but it is rather hard lines for the mine-owners especially as these ghost-induced strikes often prove exceedingly expensive.
Thus, in 1873, several hundred Warwickshire colliers ceased work, owing to the alleged appearance, in a disused drift, of a "luminous boy." This strike lasted for the better part of a year, and cost £30,000; and after all the so-called "luminous boy" turned out to be nothing more supernatural than a collection of decaying fungi.
Bell-ringing apparitions have haunted the Cornish tin-mines from time immemorial. The miners assert that the bells are rung by kindly-disposed ghosts, themselves miners when in the flesh, as a warning of impending calamity; and no amount of persuasion will induce them to venture below ground at such times.
One of these curious strikes lasted five months; and another which threatened to continue indefinitely, was only brought to a close by the plucky action of one of the proprietors, who, in order to reassure his men, descended himself into the particular working which was supposed to be haunted, and stayed there quite alone for three days and nights.
Very tragic was the termination of the spook-bred strike which, in 1887, occurred iat Mons Colliery, in Belgium. Late in April the men came out because, so they averred, a strange shaggy man, who vanished when approached, had been heard in the workings foretelling disaster and muttering imprecations against those who disregarded his warnings. for several days the mine lay idle, but on the morning of the 5th of MArch the manager had so far succeeded in allaying the fears of the men that a goodly proportion of them returned to work. Two or three hours later a terrific explosion occurred, causing the death of eighty-seven of them.
Northants Evening Telegraph, 16th August 1902.
Wellington Pit, Whitehaven, Cumberland
Larne Times, 21st May 1910.
MINING CALAMITY ON ENGLISH COAST.
PIT EXTENDS UNDER SEA.
137 MEN ENTOMBED.
GALLANT RESCUE WORK.
MESSAGE FROM KING GEORGE.
[...] The following telegram has been sent from the Home Office to Mr. Hanlon, the miners' agent at Whitehaven.
-"The home Secretary has consulted the Chief Inspector of Mines, who has just returned from Whitehaven. He states that it is certain that no one in the mine is alive, and that any attempt to penetrate the sealed off workings must fail, and would be attended with certain death to the rescue party. The Home Secretary thoroughly appreciates the feelings of the miners, and their courage and devotion, but cannot sanction further loss of life. Please convey his deep sympathy to the wives and children of those who have perished, and to all their brave comrades. --Signed, Troup, Under-Secretary of State, Home Office.
[...]In the stricken quarters the grief is harrowing. New-made widows sit huddled and morose in their grief, and children, too young to know what the destruction means, look scared. Many of the homes are without fires. The bright sunlight seems to play in mockery upon the desolate scene. The miners are superstitious, and there is a doubt when the two other pits will start again, for the men will not go to work while their comrades lie unburied. [...]
Belfast Telegraph, Wednesday 18th May 1910.
Miners' Superstition. Illustration at Witehaven.
The strong superstition of the mining community regarding the ill-omen of working while men are still entombed in a pit is illustrated again at Whitehaven.
The William pit, which was closed after the disaster at the Wellington pit adjoining, was opened for work, but not a single miner would start, although a few shift men were willing. Matters are thus at a deadlock.
There is a report that the Home Office are considering a new scheme to reach the bodies.
MINING CALAMITY ON ENGLISH COAST.
PIT EXTENDS UNDER SEA.
137 MEN ENTOMBED.
GALLANT RESCUE WORK.
MESSAGE FROM KING GEORGE.
[...] The following telegram has been sent from the Home Office to Mr. Hanlon, the miners' agent at Whitehaven.
-"The home Secretary has consulted the Chief Inspector of Mines, who has just returned from Whitehaven. He states that it is certain that no one in the mine is alive, and that any attempt to penetrate the sealed off workings must fail, and would be attended with certain death to the rescue party. The Home Secretary thoroughly appreciates the feelings of the miners, and their courage and devotion, but cannot sanction further loss of life. Please convey his deep sympathy to the wives and children of those who have perished, and to all their brave comrades. --Signed, Troup, Under-Secretary of State, Home Office.
[...]In the stricken quarters the grief is harrowing. New-made widows sit huddled and morose in their grief, and children, too young to know what the destruction means, look scared. Many of the homes are without fires. The bright sunlight seems to play in mockery upon the desolate scene. The miners are superstitious, and there is a doubt when the two other pits will start again, for the men will not go to work while their comrades lie unburied. [...]
Belfast Telegraph, Wednesday 18th May 1910.
Miners' Superstition. Illustration at Witehaven.
The strong superstition of the mining community regarding the ill-omen of working while men are still entombed in a pit is illustrated again at Whitehaven.
The William pit, which was closed after the disaster at the Wellington pit adjoining, was opened for work, but not a single miner would start, although a few shift men were willing. Matters are thus at a deadlock.
There is a report that the Home Office are considering a new scheme to reach the bodies.
Writers to the newspapers, 1914.
Are Miners Superstitious? A Corner for Readers' Own Contributions.
Sir. -- It would, of course, be very unfair to single out miners for distinction in the matter of superstition. The great majority are intelligent, brave fellows, who have shared in the enlightenment which education generally has shed amongst all classes. But miners like many other men, have their beliefs in the supernatural. In many mining districts it is considered unlucky to be going to the mine and meet a woman on the road before a man; unlucky to meet a cat but fortunate to meet a dog. In some (about Cumberland, Lancashire and Warwickshire, and probably others, for miners sometimes shift from place to place), there is a strong dislike to hearing whistling in the mine; even the youngest boys are forbidden to whistle. A flock of birds (such as seagulls) is held as a bad omen if they scream or "whistle" around the pit mouth, an explosion being almost sure to follow at no distant date!
In Cornwall, certain holidays are insisted upon. To enter the mine on any of these days would be followed by some misfortune - not only Christmas and Good Friday, but Holy Innocents' Day, the first Friday in March, and St Piran's Day (the 5th day of March, whether a Friday or not), the Saint in his time having given some valuable information about mining and preparation of tin.
But in this country and Germany certain mines (like houses) are said to be haunted, and certain "spells" are observed. Needless to add, the horse-shoe is "lucky" both in the mine and the home. Herein the miner, of course, is not singular.
I am, &c., W.S.K., Aberdeen.
Sir. -- Granting that the average miner is more superstitious than most people, can we altogether blame him? Every time he descends into the bowels of the earth he virtually carries his life in his hand. He gropes in the darkness, surrounded by comparatively little known forces. Notwithstanding what science has been able to do to ensure his safety, accidents in the mine are of very frequent occurrence. Is it not only natural that at times he should feel nervous or timorous? Miners may be a rough lot here and there, but the average miner is no coward in the face of known danger. It is only the unknown or "supernatural" that shakes him. Can others throw stones at mines? While pretending to despise such things, many educated people ahve their own private superstitions. Many ladies carry charms; Football Clubs have their mascots; authors, warriors, &c., believe in lucky days of the week or month, and what of some of our ridiculous customs at marriages, giving luck pennies, and what not! Although life at sea is much safer than of yore, when mariners were at the mercy of the winds, sailors are inclined to be superstitious to this day.
Superstition is supposed to be associated with ignorance, and very often it is. I spent some years in Coatbridge and other mining parts of Lanarkshire, and certainly came across some miners who could not sign their own name. But more often it is a question of temperament. Personally I know a good few fairly well educated folks in other ranks who still cling to superstitions which I can only characterise as far more absurd than that of the hardy, heroic miner.
I am, &c., A.W.R.
Dundee People's Journal, 4th July 1914.
Sir. -- It would, of course, be very unfair to single out miners for distinction in the matter of superstition. The great majority are intelligent, brave fellows, who have shared in the enlightenment which education generally has shed amongst all classes. But miners like many other men, have their beliefs in the supernatural. In many mining districts it is considered unlucky to be going to the mine and meet a woman on the road before a man; unlucky to meet a cat but fortunate to meet a dog. In some (about Cumberland, Lancashire and Warwickshire, and probably others, for miners sometimes shift from place to place), there is a strong dislike to hearing whistling in the mine; even the youngest boys are forbidden to whistle. A flock of birds (such as seagulls) is held as a bad omen if they scream or "whistle" around the pit mouth, an explosion being almost sure to follow at no distant date!
In Cornwall, certain holidays are insisted upon. To enter the mine on any of these days would be followed by some misfortune - not only Christmas and Good Friday, but Holy Innocents' Day, the first Friday in March, and St Piran's Day (the 5th day of March, whether a Friday or not), the Saint in his time having given some valuable information about mining and preparation of tin.
But in this country and Germany certain mines (like houses) are said to be haunted, and certain "spells" are observed. Needless to add, the horse-shoe is "lucky" both in the mine and the home. Herein the miner, of course, is not singular.
I am, &c., W.S.K., Aberdeen.
Sir. -- Granting that the average miner is more superstitious than most people, can we altogether blame him? Every time he descends into the bowels of the earth he virtually carries his life in his hand. He gropes in the darkness, surrounded by comparatively little known forces. Notwithstanding what science has been able to do to ensure his safety, accidents in the mine are of very frequent occurrence. Is it not only natural that at times he should feel nervous or timorous? Miners may be a rough lot here and there, but the average miner is no coward in the face of known danger. It is only the unknown or "supernatural" that shakes him. Can others throw stones at mines? While pretending to despise such things, many educated people ahve their own private superstitions. Many ladies carry charms; Football Clubs have their mascots; authors, warriors, &c., believe in lucky days of the week or month, and what of some of our ridiculous customs at marriages, giving luck pennies, and what not! Although life at sea is much safer than of yore, when mariners were at the mercy of the winds, sailors are inclined to be superstitious to this day.
Superstition is supposed to be associated with ignorance, and very often it is. I spent some years in Coatbridge and other mining parts of Lanarkshire, and certainly came across some miners who could not sign their own name. But more often it is a question of temperament. Personally I know a good few fairly well educated folks in other ranks who still cling to superstitions which I can only characterise as far more absurd than that of the hardy, heroic miner.
I am, &c., A.W.R.
Dundee People's Journal, 4th July 1914.
Morfa Colliery, Swansea
A Haunted Pit.
The Morfa Colliery, six years ago the scene of an explosion, has been deserted in superstitious terror by the miners and for some days past they have been gathered about the pit bank, deaf to all persuasions to resume work. Some of them have heard, or think they have heard, strange sounds in the workings, cries, groans, and a "twittering music," a heavy door in one of the roadways has been seen to open and shut of its own accord; and, direst sign of all, on Sunday night a dove was found perched on a coal truck in the weigh-house.
It is conceivable that a seismic tremor, or a settling of strata over the older workings, caused the sounds and movements thus described; and in either case there might be danger. Such sounds were heard a little while before the disaster of 1889. But the Welshmen will not have it so; they say that at such times the pit is haunted; and in proof of this they tell a gruesome story.
Before the last explosion an apparition, dressed in a black oilskin suit, ascended from the shaft by the side of a tram of coal on the cage, and walked across the yard to a building that was to be afterwards used as a deadhouse; and immediately after the explosion one of the officials of the colliery, dressed in the same manner, did exactly as the apparition had done.
By way of reassuring them, Mr. Robson, the Government Inspector, Mr. Grey, the chief manager, and a small party of men went into the mine on Tuesday to make a strict examination; but as the explorers found nothing changed, the scare continues.
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 13th December 1895.
The Superstitious Miners At Morfa Colliery.
Everything at the pit was at a standstill on Tuesday. Mr Robson (the mines inspector) and Mr Isaac Evans are making a careful and minute inspection of the workings, which are so extensive that it will take several days to accomplish. Meanwhile the colliers meet with a good deal of ridicule for their superstitious notions.
South Wales Daily News, Wednesday 11th December 1895.
The Morfa Colliery, six years ago the scene of an explosion, has been deserted in superstitious terror by the miners and for some days past they have been gathered about the pit bank, deaf to all persuasions to resume work. Some of them have heard, or think they have heard, strange sounds in the workings, cries, groans, and a "twittering music," a heavy door in one of the roadways has been seen to open and shut of its own accord; and, direst sign of all, on Sunday night a dove was found perched on a coal truck in the weigh-house.
It is conceivable that a seismic tremor, or a settling of strata over the older workings, caused the sounds and movements thus described; and in either case there might be danger. Such sounds were heard a little while before the disaster of 1889. But the Welshmen will not have it so; they say that at such times the pit is haunted; and in proof of this they tell a gruesome story.
Before the last explosion an apparition, dressed in a black oilskin suit, ascended from the shaft by the side of a tram of coal on the cage, and walked across the yard to a building that was to be afterwards used as a deadhouse; and immediately after the explosion one of the officials of the colliery, dressed in the same manner, did exactly as the apparition had done.
By way of reassuring them, Mr. Robson, the Government Inspector, Mr. Grey, the chief manager, and a small party of men went into the mine on Tuesday to make a strict examination; but as the explorers found nothing changed, the scare continues.
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 13th December 1895.
The Superstitious Miners At Morfa Colliery.
Everything at the pit was at a standstill on Tuesday. Mr Robson (the mines inspector) and Mr Isaac Evans are making a careful and minute inspection of the workings, which are so extensive that it will take several days to accomplish. Meanwhile the colliers meet with a good deal of ridicule for their superstitious notions.
South Wales Daily News, Wednesday 11th December 1895.
Trimsaran mine, Carmarthenshire
Fortune Teller Creates a Strange Panic.
A Llanelly telegram states that the colliers in the mining village of Trimsaran, which was the scene of a terrible fatality about twelve months ago, resulting in the death of ten men, are panic-stricken, and decline to enter the pits, in consequence of the statement of a fortune-teller, who stated that the mines would be flooded and many men drowned. The pits are now idle.
Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 14 January 1908.
The refusal of the Welsh colliers of Trimsaran to enter the pits in consequence of warnings of a fortune-teller may seem at first sight a case of grossest superstition. The miners have probably been superstitious from one generation to another, but an incredibly large number of educated classes, in the reaction against utilitarianism and the doctrines of hard fact, have fallen back upon old fancies and myths, if only for their romantic interest. -- "Tribune".
Belfast Telegraph, 15 January 1908.
Scaring the Miners.
A Clairvoyant fined.
At Llanelly yesterday, a professional clairvoyant named Madame St. Leonard was fined £5 and costs amounting to about the same sum for fortune telling. It appears that the seeress, among other things, predicted a colliery accident at Trimsaran, a village outside the town, and the superstitious miners refused to go down the pit, which gives employment to 200 men. Some workmen, it was stated, had been idle a month, while others had left the place for good. The village has, however, regained its normal state.
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, 18th Februry 1908.
A Llanelly telegram states that the colliers in the mining village of Trimsaran, which was the scene of a terrible fatality about twelve months ago, resulting in the death of ten men, are panic-stricken, and decline to enter the pits, in consequence of the statement of a fortune-teller, who stated that the mines would be flooded and many men drowned. The pits are now idle.
Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 14 January 1908.
The refusal of the Welsh colliers of Trimsaran to enter the pits in consequence of warnings of a fortune-teller may seem at first sight a case of grossest superstition. The miners have probably been superstitious from one generation to another, but an incredibly large number of educated classes, in the reaction against utilitarianism and the doctrines of hard fact, have fallen back upon old fancies and myths, if only for their romantic interest. -- "Tribune".
Belfast Telegraph, 15 January 1908.
Scaring the Miners.
A Clairvoyant fined.
At Llanelly yesterday, a professional clairvoyant named Madame St. Leonard was fined £5 and costs amounting to about the same sum for fortune telling. It appears that the seeress, among other things, predicted a colliery accident at Trimsaran, a village outside the town, and the superstitious miners refused to go down the pit, which gives employment to 200 men. Some workmen, it was stated, had been idle a month, while others had left the place for good. The village has, however, regained its normal state.
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, 18th Februry 1908.
Lancashire miners
Many colliers in Lancashire were working on Monday in consequence of briskness in the coal industry, including those of two of the three large firms in the Manchester district. A large number of miners however, absented themselves, many being superstitious as to the danger of working underground on the last day of the century. On the same ground many abstain from working on the opening day after a holiday.
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 5th January 1901.
Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 5th January 1901.
Glyncorrwg, Nr. Port Talbot, Glamorganshire
So firmly convinced are the men employed at the Glyncorrwg Mine, near Port Talbot, Glamorganshire, that the workings are haunted, that on Monday between two hundred and three hundred of them refused to descend. They declare that during the latter part of last week they heard sounds and saw visions which they regard as portents of evil. They solemnly assert that a mysterious figure waving a lighted lamp was seen, and that screams, apparently from a woman, were heard in various parts of the mine. Welsh miners are singularly superstitious, and some difficulty is expected.
Grantham Journal, 19th July 1902.
The miners of the Glyncorrwg Colliery, near Port Talbot, who refused to resume work on Monday morning because they thought that the mine was haunted, were seen yesterday by their agent, Mr. John Williams. The plans of an adjoining abandoned colliery, from which danger by flooding is feared, were scanned, and the whole situation was fully discussed. The men unanimously declined to return to work.
St James's Gazette, 17th July 1902.
Grantham Journal, 19th July 1902.
The miners of the Glyncorrwg Colliery, near Port Talbot, who refused to resume work on Monday morning because they thought that the mine was haunted, were seen yesterday by their agent, Mr. John Williams. The plans of an adjoining abandoned colliery, from which danger by flooding is feared, were scanned, and the whole situation was fully discussed. The men unanimously declined to return to work.
St James's Gazette, 17th July 1902.
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