Research Projects

by Garry Dawson

1723		The story begins – Daniel Defoe reports that ‘scarce anything above 4 years old but its hands were sufficient for its own support’. In other words children as young as 4 were expected to contribute to the family income
1800’s		The demand for coal increases – the employment of children of all ages in the mines becomes worse as the need for coal increases. The work is arduous and involves long hours
1842		The Coal Mines Act 1842 - this act prohibited all female labour in coal mines and the employment of boys in mines under the age of 10 years. Many parents lied about the ages of their children to get them to work making the law difficult to enforce
1860		The Mines Inspection Act 1860 – this required boys between the ages of 10 and 12 to have a school certificate before they could be employed
1900		The minimum age for entry into the coal industry was raised to 13 years
1908		The Eight Hours Act for mineworkers was brought into being
1909		The Stanley Burns Disaster – at 3.45pm on Tuesday 16th February an horrific explosion took place at the Stanley Burns’ Pit which resulted in 168 men and boys losing their lives. This included 6 at 20 years, 8 at 19 years, 10 at 18 years, 14 at 17 years, 10 at 16 years, 10 at 15 years, 6 at 14 years, and 3 at 13 years
1914		That the cream of the Durham youth enlisted was no doubt a reflection of the dreadful conditions of life and work in the coalfield
1918		The Education Act 1918 – This required all children to be schooled in the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic until they reached the age of 14 years. At this age a boy ceased to be a mouth to feed and became a working man

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