Coal In The Blood

Bentley Colliery. Courtesy of Jill Lowe.

The Story Of A Mining Family

Sometimes I come across something on Facebook and I know I just have to find a place for it on Bentley Village, A History. So when I spotted a post on the Looking Back At Doncaster group which detailed how one family depended on, and gave back to the coal mining industry, I just knew it needed to be shared. What made it all the more remarkable was that the story was the work of a ten year old schoolgirl!

Contents

• A Job For Life
• The Hardisty History Of Mining
• Molly's Story
• A Moving Account

A Job For Life

Coal mining was one of those jobs that instilled a certain pride among the workforce. Yes, they often hated the shift patterns, the heat, the dirt and the health risks, but mining was a good job. It was a hard job but it came with perks. It was (on the whole) fairly paid and once you were a miner, you had a job for life. Not only your life, but your sons and their sons too if they wanted it. Mining belonged to the miners and when it came under threat they fought hard to save it. 

Our country needed coal miners. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution it was recognized that automation needed fuel - lots of fuel, so the reliance on men risking their lives to obtain this fuel was crucial to keep the country going.

For over a century this country ran on coal, and with rich seams of it in Yorkshire. The Yorkshire coalfield attracted many mining companies to the area, so it came as a bitter blow in the early 1980's when the industry faced changes that would devastate the miners' livelihoods. The Miners' Strike of 1984-85 was bitterly fought but it couldn't stop the eventual closure of every single coal mine in the country. 

To today's generation of children, coal mining is something rarely encountered, and it seems sad that the industry is already fading into history. Therefore, it is so important to tell our children about the proud coal mining heritage their ancestors once had before it becomes confined to the history books.

The Hardisty History Of Mining

Molly Hardisty was a pupil at Bentley High Street School in 2013 and was learning about coal mining. She knew her father Colin and many of her ancestors had worked in the mines so she asked her father to help her put together a piece on the Hardisty mining history. 

Colin was working voluntarily at the school on the day that Molly handed her work to the teacher. As the teacher read her work tears streamed down her face, much to the surprise of the rest of the class. The teacher made every one of the children read Molly's story and explained to them that stories like this were why we should never, ever forget what the coal mining industry did for our country.

An original page from Molly's story

Molly's Story

'My Dad Colin left school in May 1978 and started his training at Bentley Colliery on the 11th December, the same year. Only three weeks earlier seven men had lost their lives on an underground train (a paddy) accident. A close friend of Dad's, who was just 18 years old died in that tragedy.'

Colin Hardisty in 1984

'Grandma Hardisty begged him not to go to the pit but something just drew him down the pit 

Dad's eldest brother Les was at Bentley pit and had been there since the late sixties. When Bentley closed in 1993 he went to [the] Selby coalfield until the late 90's when he retired from mining.'

Les Hardisty, brother of Colin

'Also at Bentley was Dad's Uncle Lloyd, who was born in 1934 and started his mining career at Bullcroft Colliery in 1948. Moving to Bentley Colliery in the late sixties because of Bullcroft's closure, he retired in 1993 after nearly 50 years down the mines.'

Lloyd (left) with other members of the Hardisty family

'My Dad's mining career wasn't so long. 1984 brought the bitter year long miners' strike. Dad's staunch support of the strike and his activities on the picket line cost him his job and he was sacked in 1985.

My Grandad Les Hardisty also had a long mining career. He was born in 1930 and started at Bullcroft in 1946. when Bullcroft closed in the late sixties Grandad moved briefly to Brodsworth, then Bentley. In 1970 he had to retire from mining through ill health. He [had] given 38 years to the black stuff.'

'Grandad' Les Hardisty with a young Colin

'Great Grandad James was born in Cumbria in 1901 and worked at Aspatria Colliery from the age of 12. He and my Great Grandma came to Doncaster during the Great Strike of 1926, as his pit had shut. He worked at Bullcroft until ill health forced him out of the pit in 1962, the year of my Dad's birth. He didn't have long to enjoy his retirement as his lungs were severely damaged from all his years in the mine. He passed away in 1963, not even a year after he finished at the pit. He gave nearly fifty years to mining.' 

'Great Grandad' James Hardisty 

'My 2nd Great Grandad John was born in Cumbria in 1881. He also worked at Aspatria Colliery from the age of 12. He also came to Doncaster during the Great Strike of 1926. He worked at Bullcroft Colliery until the end of the Second World War (1945). He died in 1952 having given 53 years of his life to [the] pit. 

His father was William, born 1863, in Cumbria. He also worked at Aspatria Colliery from the age of 12. On the 13th of May 1884 he was caught in some machinery in the pit bottom. The report said he was mangled and died instantly. He was 19 years old and left a widow and two young boys.

William's father was John, born 1842 in Cumbria and also worked at Aspatria Colliery. He started work at ten years of age as a trapper (opening air doors underground).

A year after William's death John was buried by a massive fall of coal while he was hewing coal on the coal face. His workmates dug him out but he was too badly injured and died two days later, on the sixteenth of April 1885. He was 43 years old and had given 31 years and ultimately his life in the pursuit of coal. He left six children and a wife.

My Dad helped write and research this brief history of Hardisty mining, and as you have read, the price of coal has been costly to my ancestors.'

Molly Hardisty

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A Moving Account

As you can see from Molly's moving account, this one family were so dedicated to the coal industry that they clocked up 216 years of work between them over the course of around 145 years. Coal certainly ran in their blood as it must have in thousands of other families who worked for generations keeping the country running on the fuel they risked everything for. 

My thanks go to Molly Hardisty for her beautifully written piece, and to her Dad Colin Hardisty for allowing me to reproduce it here.

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Alison Vainlo 

First written 2018, updated 2020