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William Charles Stentiford and his brother Frank, the subjects
of this article, did not choose to go to Wales nor did they choose to
become coal miners. Their path in life was set out for them by the
Board of Guardians of the Workhouse at Totnes, who had total control of
all the young people in their care until they reached the age of 21 - a
system which offered no choice whatever to their charges and which
brought financial benefit to the Workhouse. In Issue 52, we told
how William Charles and Frank came to be in the workhouse after their
father deserted their mother. Now Huw Davies tell us the story of what
happened to them next:
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This
is an
account of
the early
years of
two young men ,
my Great Grandfather William Charles
Stentiford and
his younger
brother Frank,
in the
South Wales
coalfield.
After
surviving the hell
which must
have been
the Workhouse*
in Totnes,
William came
to South
Wales with
thousands of
others from
all points
of the
compass to
find
another
kind
of
Hell ,
somewhat
closer
to
the
original. |
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A
miner at the end of his shift
Courtesy
Stanford University
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Right,
where
do
we
start . . with
the
houses is a
good
beginning.
All
the
housing
in
the
coal mining areas
of
South
Wales
at
the
turn
of
the
nineteenth
century
(and well into the twentieth) was
appalling .
One of the dirtiest jobs in the world but no
indoor
facilities
i.e. - toilets
up
the
top
end
of
the garden
discharging
into
a
sump,
bathing
in
a
tin
bath
in
front
of
the
fire while
the
wife
poured
water,
heated on the fire,
into
the
bath
There
was
often
a queue
for
this
bath as
more
often
than
not,
the
entire workforce*
of the
family
worked
in the
pit , children
as
well!
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Miner bathing in front of
the cooking range
Courtesy
Stanford University
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Caerau
Road, Caerau c. 1900
The
Colliery lies behind the houses at the end of the street
Courtesy
Maesteg Library and Glamorgan County Council
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And
on top
of all this
misery was
the fact that
the Mine
owners also
had the
workforce under
the thumb
because they owned
these so-called
homes, so
if you
lost your
job, through
an
accident or ill
health,
then it was out
through the
front door and on to the
street.
It
was normal for the sleeping accommodation to be "hot bunks" -
that is to say, one in the bed, one out to work.
More
often than
not, the houses were damp
, so
you can imagine
what this
did for
people's general
health.
It's a wonder
anybody survived
in these
conditions, and more
often than not, to
everybody 's distress,
the children
didn’t .** |
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* The last two women to be employed in the British coal industry did not
retire until 1972. The Coal Mines Regulation Act of 1887 raised the
minimum age for children to work in mines to 12 and it remained at that
level well into the 20th Century in the UK. Throughout the world
however, countless thousands of women and children still work in mining,
above and below ground.
** Even as late as 1922, Aberdare had the highest infant mortality rate in
Britain (see map above). |
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