The Lanarkshire Miners, A. Campbell: Hardback: 1st Edition: Mining History

The Lanarkshire Miners

By Alan B. Campbell.

Published by John Donald, Edinburgh, 1979. First edition. Hardback cover with dust jacket (unclipped), 354 pages. Black & white illustrations.

CONDITION
Overall good condition, fading to spine of dustjacket, see photos. No names or writing.

In the 19th century, the Lanarkshire coalfield fuelled the heavy industries of the West of Scotland. Its importance in Scotland's industrialisation has been widely recognised by the economic historians, yet the social history of the miners and their trade unions has been strangely neglected. In this new study, the central focus is on the colliers themselves.

The author traces the emergence of the culture of the 'Independent Collier' in the years after the miners' emancipation from serfdom at at the end of the 18th century. Employing previously unused sources, Dr Campbell demonstrates that the early miners' combinations - the colliery 'Brotherhoods'- drew upon this work culture to build up trade unions in the
1820's and 30's which were among the most powerful in Scotland. From the 1830's onwards, the Lanarkshire miners bargaining position was eroded by the rise of large mining and iron smelting companies, and by a rapid influx of new labour, especially Irish immigrants. The core of the book is a detailed
comparative analysis of the impact of these forces in two mining districts. Coatbridge and Larkhall. Through the double prism of these two communities the changes in the work situation of the Lanarkshire colliers, and in the sociology and culture of their communities, are examined. The development of trade union organisation and policy is then analysed within this broad social context.

By drawing upon a wide range of primary sources, including the national and local press, Home Office papers, criminal records, census enumerators books and marriage registers, this study combines the techniques of conventional labour history with those of historical sociology. The book will be of interest not only to specialists in the period, but also to those interested in the sociology of the labour movement and in social and local history.

(Bindery red B;2)