Forest of Dean Miners' Association

The Forest of Dean Miners' Association was a trade union for coal miners in the Forest of Dean area of England.

The union was founded in 1870, based in Cinderford in Gloucestershire. It initially prioritised calling for waste ground to be sold cheaply to miners so they could set up their own works, and for workers to be represented on the local Board of Guardians. A strike in 1871 at Parkend Colliery was successful in raising wages and led to the appointment of a checkweighman.

The association became part of the Amalgamated Association of Miners (AAM) in 1872, but the AAM refused strike pay to local miners during a long dispute from 1874 to 1875, and so the union left and again became independent. This dispute was less successful, with only a concession of wage being reduced by 5% instead of 10%.

From 1873 to 1877, the union published a weekly newspaper, the Forest of Dean Examiner. In 1877, the general secretary, Timothy Mountjoy, was discharged, and the union became moribund until 1882, when it was reconstituted.

The union later joined the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, and from 1894 until 1904, it participated in the loose South Western Counties Miners’ Federation with the Bristol Miners' Association and the Somerset Miners' Association. In 1940, faced with falling number of miners in the district, it merged into the South Wales Miners Federation.

Henry Rowlinson served as agent and secretary of the union from the 1880s until 1917, when his support for World War I became unpopular. He was replaced by Jack Williams, soon to become a sympathiser of the Communist Party of Great Britain and prominent figure in the National Minority Movement, and the union began working frequently with the South Wales Miners Federation in supporting left-wing motions.

General Secretaries

1870: Timothy Mountjoy

1877: Post vacant

1886: George Henry Rowlinson

1918: Herbert Booth

1922: Jack Williams

References

^ Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, Historical Directory of British Trade Unions, vol.II, pp.218-219
Humphrey Phelps, The Forest in old photographs: a second selection, p.52
University of the West of England, "Trade unions Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine", Bristol Historical Resource
Kevin Morgan, Roads to Freedom, p.86

v t e Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
Presidents	1889 Pickard 1904 En. Edwards 1912 Smillie 1922 Smith 1929 Richards 1931 Eb. Edwards 1932 Lee 1934 J. Jones 1939 Lawther 1954 E. Jones 1960 Machen 1960 Ford 1971 Gormley 1982 Scargill 2002 Lavery 2012 Wilson
Vice-Presidents	1889 Woods 1909 Smillie 1912 Harvey 1914 House 1917 Smith 1922 Walsh 1924 Richards 1929 Eb. Edwards 1931 Lee 1932 J. Jones 1933 Davies 1934 Lawther 1939 Bowman 1950 E. Jones 1954 T. Jones 1961 Collindridge 1963 Bullough 1969 Schofield 1973 McGahey 1987 Thompson 1989 Vacant 1992 Cave 2002 Stanley 2010 Wilson 2012 Thomas
General Secretaries	1889 Ashton 1919 Hodges 1924 Cook 1932 Eb. Edwards 1946 Horner 1959 Paynter 1968 Daly 1984 Heathfield 1992 Scargill 1992 Vacant? 2002 Kemp 2007 Kitchen
Treasurers	1889 En. Edwards 1904 Abraham 1918 Robson 1921 Richardson
Affiliates and areas	Bristol Cleveland Cokemen Colliery Officials and Staffs Cumberland Derbyshire Durham Forest of Dean Kent Lancashire and Cheshire Leicestershire Midland Counties (Cannock Chase North Staffordshire Old Hill Pelsall Shropshire Warwickshire West Bromwich) Northumberland North Wales Nottinghamshire Scotland (Ayrshire Fife and Kinross Lanarkshire Mid and East Lothian Mid and West Lothian Stirling) Somerset South Derbyshire South Wales Yorkshire
Strikes	1893 1912 1926 1969 1972 1974 1984–1985

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