Colliery viewer

A colliery viewer or coal viewer was the manager of a coal mine or colliery. The term was mostly used in the late eighteenth to nineteenth centuries, in the UK. In modern use, the viewer would be the senior and responsible mining engineer at a site.[1][2][3]

Origins

The role began as a person to represent the owner of the land, often an aristocrat, who had leased the rights to mine there to another who would 'work' the mine.[4] One of the first formally recorded arrangements for such was at the Ironbridge Gorge in 1608, where Jesse Whittingham leased four adits from James Clifford,[5] at a rent of £200 a year for five years.[6] Clifford had acquired the lands of Wenlock Priory at Broseley in 1560, after the priory's dissolution in 1540.[7] Several such monastic lands moved from traditional tenant farming to entrepreneurial mineral exploitation at this time, spurring the early industrial revolution, particularly around the Gorge.[8]

Land at this time was rarely sold, the aristocratic estates were intent on preserving themselves intact, and so mining rights would usually be in terms of a long-term lease. As both of these gentlemen were affluent, if not titled, they would not be familiar with mining themselves and would not generally wish to become so. As mines grew larger and more complex into the nineteenth century, the role of the viewer shifted to representing the safe technical management of the mine, on behalf of the owner. Later, as mine safety laws were passed, the viewer had a duty to represent the interests of the miners as well.

The viewer was usually employed by the owner, but in some cases was also the owner, or part-owner, themselves. The New Hartley Pit, of the Hartley Colliery disaster, was owned by the Carr brothers, where one brother acted as viewer.[9]

An experienced viewer, known for their good judgement, was recognised as a skilled profession and in the North East they often became an independent contractor or consultant who would advise a number of mines on particular issues, such as sinking a new shaft, or making a new investment.[10] This represented the shift from the viewer as manager or agent, to the development of the modern mining engineer.[11] Even at the time, the distinction between managers, or 'agents', for the day-to-day operation of collieries, and consultant viewers, who advised on the development of new aspects, was never a clear one.[10]

The viewer would be responsible for deciding major expenditures, such as the purchase of a pumping engine or construction of a tramroad or railway. These new technical innovations were described in advisory guide books such as John Curr's The Coal Viewer and Engine Builder's Practical Companion (1797).[12]

Other roles

Overman

The overman is a deputy to the viewer and involved more directly with the daily work of the pit. When a colliery has a number of pits under a viewer, there is an overman to each pit. The overman has responsibilities for daily and hands-on tasks, such as inspecting the pit's safety each day and recording the work performed for piece work systems.[2][13]

An overman would be an experienced miner who has been promoted on the basis of experience.[14] [lower-roman 1] A viewer in the early years, in contrast, would often be a 'gentleman' from a social class comparable to that of the bourgeois owner. In later years, from the mid-19th century, it became more common for viewers to be skilled miners who had risen through the ranks.[15]

Wages in 1849 for an overman were 26 shillings to 28s. per week.[14] This was twice that of other skilled trades, such as blacksmiths, indicative of the responsibility. As for most jobs, down to the lowliest colliers, a house and free small coal were also provided.[lower-roman 2]

There was a distinction in a colliery between 'day wagemen', those such as overmen and engine drivers, who were paid a daily or weekly wage and 'oncostmen',[1] those such as coal cutters and loaders, who were paid according to a 'bargain', a form of piecework. The overman would keep the records of work done underground, so that on the Wednesday before a Friday payday he could 'reckon' with the men and agree the totals of work done.[13]

The overman would also have regular roles underground,[16] whereas the viewer would spend most of their time on the surface.

Back-overman

Pits in the 19th century worked a two shift system, with a morning or 'fore' shift (6am-2pm) and an afternoon or 'back' shift (2-10pm). Having an overman permanently on site was considered so important that a second deputy or 'back-overman' would work the second shift.[1] Depending on pit conditions, the fore shift might concentrate on winning coal and the back shift on the 'dead work' of timbering and propping roadways etc.

Under-viewer

The viewer's role, particularly with the development of parliamentary mining regulations in the mid-nineteenth century, was ultimately that of responsibility. Although not necessarily owning the mine or being the engineer engaged to direct it technically, the viewer would be held responsible for any accident.

The under-viewer, under-looker or steward,[11] was a deputy to the viewer. As well as being an assistant to them, their main role was to act as a locum if the viewer is away from the colliery, and to ensure that the responsible person was always present.[1][2][3]

Check-viewer

A viewer employed by the lessor to see that the provisions of the lease are duly observed.[1][3]

These provisions would include that the area being mined did not exceed the boundaries contracted for in the lease, that the amount of support left by stall and pillar working would be sufficient to avoid surface collapse, and sometimes also that surface waters were not polluted by run-off from mine drainage.

Notable viewers

References
  1. "The old distich of the northern coalfield 'Trapper, Trimmer, Hewer, Under-Overman, and then Viewer' shows how common it has been for generations for a Northumbrian miner to work up from the lowest to the highest grade of his vocation" said the Athenaeum in 1862.[15]
  2. This was often less generous than it might seem, as these tied cottages were dependent on employment at the pit, and so anyone leaving employment would also make them and their family homeless.
  3. His son, George Baker Forster, also became a well-known mining engineer, but had first read Mathematics at Cambridge, and indeed rowed for them against Oxford at Henley.[21]
  1. "Mining Occupations". Durham Mining Museum.
  2. E. Mackenzie (1825). Overman. A brief enumeration of the employments, and a few technical terms peculiar to coal-miners of the Northumberland coal mines. One who inspects the state of the mine every morning before the men go to work. He also keeps a daily account of the men's labour
  3. G. C. Greenwell, F.G.S., M.Inst.C.E., Colliery Viewer, Past President of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers ; Past President of the Manchester Geological Society ; Author of "A Practical Treatise on Mine Engineering," (1888) [1849]. Overman. A Glossary of Terms used in the Coal Trade of Northumberland and Durham (Third ed.).CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Colliery viewer. The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia. 1891. In mining, a person employed to attend to the interests of the one to whom the royalty is payable, or of the person who works the mine.
  5. Catherine Clark (1993). Ironbridge Gorge. B T Batsford. pp. 26–27. ISBN 0-7134-6737-1. all coal and ironstone 'digged within ffower insetts or pitts alreadie begunne by the saied James Clifford'
  6. A P Baggs; G C Baugh; D C Cox; Jessie McFall; P A Stamper (1998). G C Baugh (ed.). Broseley. A History of the County of Shropshire. Volume 10, Munslow Hundred (Part), the Liberty and Borough of Wenlock. London. pp. 257–293.
  7. Clark (1993), p. 21.
  8. Clark (1993), p. 26.
  9. "The Hartley Pit Disaster". The Illustrated London News (1129). 25 January 1862. p. 81.
  10. Michael W Flinn (1984). The History of the British Coal Industry. 2: 1700-1830. OUP. ISBN 0198282834.
  11. William Stukelby Gresley (1883). Viewer or Coal Viewer. A Glossary of Terms used in Coal Mining. Spon. The general manager or mining engineer of one or more collieries, who has control of the whole of the underground works, and also generally of those upon the surface. Underground surveys and plans are generally made and kept up by him, and the Manager acts under his authority and directions. A word not much used now, and is giving place to Mining Engineer and Agent.
  12. John Curr (1970) [1797]. The Coal Viewer and Engine Builder's Practical Companion. OCLC 637327681.
  13. J. R. Boyle, F.S.A. (1892). History of the County of Durham. Overman: The duties of the overman consist in visiting the workings every morning, receiving the reports from the deputies, making observations on the air currents, and general management of the underground work. To his office is sent an account of all the work done in the pit, and on the Wednesday before the "pay" he "reckons" with the men - i.e., he compares the account received of their work with that kept by themselves.
  14. Greenwell (1849) Overman: The person who, beneath the viewer, has the charge of the workings of a colliery where there is no under-viewer. He sets the pit to work each morning, and attends to all the detail of arranging the work, and getting the coals each man works to the shaft bottom. It is also his duty to see that each working place is properly ventilated and in a safe state. He also keeps a daily account of the work wrought, and of the whole of the underground expenses and wages, and gives the colliery office a fortnightly account of the same, the bill containing the amount earned by each man, or set of men if in partnership, and boy during that time. There is one overman to a pit, so that if there are two or three pits at a colliery, there are two or three overmen. An overman is almost invariably a man who has passed through all the graduations of pit work, from the trapper upwards, and who has been raised to his situation on account of his ability and steadiness. His wages in 1849 were 26s. to 28s. per week, with house, garden, and coals gratis.
  15. In a piece on 'The Pitmen and "The Drama of Hartley Colliery"' reprinted as "The Pitmen of Durham and Northumberland". Durham County Advertiser. 21 February 1862. p. 6.
  16. Mines Inspectors Annual Report - appendix. 1894.
  17. Samuel Smiles (1875). "V: Examples of Thrift". Thrift.
  18. Samuel Smiles (1862). "Chapter III: Engineman at Willington Quay and Killingworth.". Lives of the Engineers: George and Robert Stephenson. 5: The Locomotive – George and Robert Stephenson. p. 43.
  19. "Death of Mr. T. E. Forster, Mining Engineer". Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough. 9 March 1875. p. 3.
  20. "The duties of a colliery viewer, in which Mr. Forster was so largely engaged, were such as none but the most vigorous and laborious men could execute. Sometimes at midnight, or at the early hours of two or three o'clock, he was subject to be called upon to travel many miles, to descend deep pits, to traverse underground works, and, not unfrequently, to penetrate into parts of a mine where nothing but the most careful judgment could preserve him from extreme risk of explosion or other accident. The commander, as it were, of many thousands of miners, he not only directed their labours, but gained their friendly confidence. In the mine he was thoroughly at home. He affected only such habits and modes of speech as were perfectly understood by the pitman ; and to this peculiar tact his usefulness and success were in a great measure owing. In dealing with those of elevated rank, a respectful deference was never allowed to interfere with the most plain and freely spoken expression of opinion; and thus he maintained at all times a consistency of character, and a large amount of influence with all parties he met, or for whom he was concerned in professional business." "Mr. Thomas Emerson Forster". Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. ICE. 1875.
  21. "Obituaries: Mr. George Baker Forster". Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 143. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
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