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The Keelmen of Tyneside
Labour Organisation and Conflict in the North-East Coal Industry, 1600-1830
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2011
About this book
A comprehensive account of the everyday lives of the keelmen of Tyneside, and their struggles and industrial disputes.
For hundreds of years the keelmen, the "keel lads o' coaly Tyne" celebrated in the north-east folk song "The Keel Row", ferried coal down-river to the estuary and cast it aboard ships bound for London or overseas. They were "the very sinews of the coal trade" on which the prosperity of the region depended.
This book charts the history of the keelmen from the early seventeenth century to the point where technological advances made them redundant in thecourse of the nineteenth century. It describes how the importance of their work placed them in a strong position in industrial disputes, especially since they could shut off the coal supply to London. It examines their numerous turbulent battles with rapacious employers and unsympathetic magistrates (often themselves involved in the coal trade), their struggles against poverty and eventually against redundancy, and their attempts to gain redress in Parliament and in the law courts. The book also describes the squalid conditions in Sandgate where, as recounted in the folk song, many keelmen and their families lived with a reputation for independence and savage roughness but exhibited impressive solidarity both as an early industrial labour organisation and as a tightly-knit, mutually supportive, and highly self-reliant community.
The book will be of interest to social and economic historians, labour historians, maritime historians and all interested in the history of the North East.
JOSEPH M. FEWSTER was, until his retirement in 1997, Senior Assistant Keeper in Durham University Library.
For hundreds of years the keelmen, the "keel lads o' coaly Tyne" celebrated in the north-east folk song "The Keel Row", ferried coal down-river to the estuary and cast it aboard ships bound for London or overseas. They were "the very sinews of the coal trade" on which the prosperity of the region depended.
This book charts the history of the keelmen from the early seventeenth century to the point where technological advances made them redundant in thecourse of the nineteenth century. It describes how the importance of their work placed them in a strong position in industrial disputes, especially since they could shut off the coal supply to London. It examines their numerous turbulent battles with rapacious employers and unsympathetic magistrates (often themselves involved in the coal trade), their struggles against poverty and eventually against redundancy, and their attempts to gain redress in Parliament and in the law courts. The book also describes the squalid conditions in Sandgate where, as recounted in the folk song, many keelmen and their families lived with a reputation for independence and savage roughness but exhibited impressive solidarity both as an early industrial labour organisation and as a tightly-knit, mutually supportive, and highly self-reliant community.
The book will be of interest to social and economic historians, labour historians, maritime historians and all interested in the history of the North East.
JOSEPH M. FEWSTER was, until his retirement in 1997, Senior Assistant Keeper in Durham University Library.
Author / Editor information
Contributor: Joseph Fewster
The late JOSEPH M. FEWSTER had an almost life-long interest in the keelmen of Tyneside, culminating in his definitive monograph The Keelmen of Tyneside; Labour Organisation in the North-East Coal Industry, 1600-1830 (2011), to which the present volume provides a valuable supplement.
Topics
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Frontmatter
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Contents
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List of illustrations
vi -
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Acknowledgements
vii -
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List of abbreviations
viii -
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Glossary
ix -
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Introduction: The Keelmen and their Masters
1 -
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1 Early Troubles, 1633–99
12 -
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2 The Keelmen’s Charity, 1699–1712: Success, Conflict and Collapse
21 -
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3 The Keelmen’s Charity: Attempts at Revival, 1717–70
40 -
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4 The Charity Established
50 -
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5 Combinations and Strikes 1710–38
61 -
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6 The ‘Villainous Riot’ of 1740 and its Aftermath
87 -
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7 The Strikes of 1744 and 1750
98 -
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8 The Appeal to Parliament
109 -
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9 A New Threat
117 -
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10 The Impressment of Keelmen
124 -
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11 The Strike of 1809: The Keelmen Prevail
132 -
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12 The Strike of 1819: A Partial Victory
140 -
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13 ‘The Long Stop’ of 1822: The Keelmen Defeated
149 -
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14 The Keelmen go to Law
167 -
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15 The Decline of the Keelmen
177 -
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16 The Magistrates and the Keelmen
187 -
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17 The Keelmen and Trade Unionism
197 -
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Bibliography
205 -
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Index
213
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
February 5, 2024
eBook ISBN:
9781846159503
Original publisher:
Boydell Press
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781846159503
Keywords for this book
Keelmen; Tyneside; Coal industry; Labour organization; Industrial disputes; Coal trade; Poverty; Parliament
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
