Durham Mining Museum - Newspaper Articles (original) (raw)

17th August 1911

Whitehaven Colliery Strike

Has the hot weather anything to do with it? It must admitted that this is not weather when much physical excretion is pleasant, and that a day or two or cool retreat would not come amiss to any of us. Whatever the reason, or want of reason, the Whitehaven colliers came out on strike yesterday at noon. There had been some intimation received from somewhere to look out for coal being shipped from Whitehaven as bunker for Liverpool ships; and between eleven and twelve o'clock yesterday, some men from the pits went to the harbour and called out the shippers and trimmers who were loading the ships in the harbour, and the back shifts refused to go down the pits, so that the whole colliery was thrown idle, at a moment's notice. The Colliery Company denied that they were loading coal for Liverpool. There were four steamers in — the Cumbria, the Norman, the Walnut and the Tyrconnel. The Walnut was loading coal for the Isle of Man, and the Tyrconnel was awaiting loading also for the Isle of Man. The Cumbria was about to make her ordinary sailing to Dublin and the Walnut was loading for Newry. But the colliers were persuaded that coal was being sent to Liverpool. Therefore they stopped the coal shipment and the Colliery Company had had to send and tell their customers that it is no use sending ships as their men are out on strike. Of course, it ships were not to be laden, it was not much use going to hew more coal. Coal is not much use without a market for it; and so the three pits stand idle, in the name of the solidarity of labour. The men had a meeting on their Recreation Ground yesterday evening at which Mr. J. Hanlon presided, and Mr. A. Sharp was present; and the employers are to be asked to receive a deputation to-day (Thursday) and another mass meeting is to follow the interview, when it takes place, to announce the result.

Newspaper transcript kindly provided by
West Cumbria Mines Research.