Leaving a young family behind

[Colin Cruddace]

Cell and Stan, thanks for your very helpful posts.

Red Tape can be hard to unscramble and I am inclined to say that in 1842 females, and boys under 10 were forbidden to work within or in a mine (below ground).
In 1882 it refers to children under 12 working in, on or about coal mines, but strangely, it only gives rules for those working overground.

I suppose that somewhere along the line, anyone under 12 was forbidden from working below ground.

Regards,
Colin

[stanmapstone]

Under the 1842 Act  the employment of Women and Girls, and boys under ten below ground (i.e. within any mine or colliery) was absolutely forbidden.
The Coal mines regulation act, 1887
Part 1.
Employment of Boys, Girls, and Women.
No boy under the age of twelve years, and no girl or woman of any age, is to be employed in, or allowed to be for the purposes of employment in, any mine below ground. 


Stan

[coombs]

Yes my 3xgreat grandad moved from Durham, England to Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 1886 to work in the coal mines. His wife died in 1885 and all his children were grown up and he went to join a daughter who went out 6 years before. Seems a lot of British miners went to the New World to work in the mines.

[stanmapstone]

Apparently many settlers decided to return, it had never been their intention to stay for ever. As many as 1 in 4 of those who emigrated to America from Europe in the early twentieth century did not settle there permanently. In the 1901 Census there were 1,497 people in County Durham who had been born in the United States.

Stan

[coombs]

My ancestor was one of those who settled there permanently and is on the 1900 US census. He did make short return to England but then went back to the States again. His daughter emigrated in 1880 with her family and stayed there forever until her death in 1911.

[stanmapstone]

The regulations for the employment of boys, girls, and women under the 1911 Coal Mines Act are at http://www.dmm.org.uk/books/cma11-11.htm

91. No boy under the age of fourteen years, and no girl or woman of any age, shall be employed in or allowed to be for the purpose of employment in any mine below ground. Nothing in this section shall apply to any boy who has been lawfully employed in any mine below ground before the passing of this Act.

Stan

[coombs]

My great grandad was born in 1891 in Durham. So he wouldn't have started work in the mines until perhaps 1903 when he turned 12. He was a coal miner in the 1911 census, joined the Army then returned to Durham in 1919 with his London born wife, my great gran. He resumed work in the mines.

[stanmapstone]

The 1900 Mines Regulation Act (Prohibiting of Child Labour Underground) (63 & 64 Vict., c 21.)
"A boy under the age of thirteen years shall not be employed in, or allowed to be for the purposes of employment in, any mine below ground."

Stan

[coombs]

Thanks for the info.