Banners of the Durham Coalfield

One of the proudest moments so far in my genealogical search has been learning about the role my Great Grandfather William Browell Charlton had in bettering the lives of his fellow man.

This was made all the more special this past week by Roy Lambeth, Chairman of the Durham Mining Museum who very kindly sent me these photos and even a movie of the 1900 and 1937 Durham County Colliery Enginemen’s and Boiler Minders’ Association banners being paraded through the streets of Durham as part of the Big Meeting, the annual Durham Miners’ Gala which he informs me is now the largest regular political gathering in Europe.

The photo above (click to view much larger) shows the 1937 Durham County Colliery Enginemen’s, Boiler Minders’ and Firemen’s Association banner arriving at the parade grounds.

W. B. Charlton was the Treasurer of the organization in 1901 and General Secretary in 1925 when he wrote A Fifty Years’ History of the Durham County Enginemen’s, Boiler-minder’s & Firemen’s Association. (photo is from the inset of that book)

William Charlton was only eight years old when he started work in the Edmondsley Pit in 1863. All I heard about him when I was growing up was that he was an agent for one of the coal companies, a position that he no doubt had to educate himself for and strive to achieve.

What wasn’t discussed was that he was also a dedicated union man with deep ties to an organization that was determined to build better lives for miners and their families and was responsible at least in part for helping establish child labour standards, education and health care and even assisted housing for the elderly.

His name and that of his daughter Amelia Browell Charlton appear on a pair of Aged Miners cottages which they must have had a hand in establishing. He is also listed in the 1925 Kelly’s directory as a magistrate.

The banners themselves provide fascinating glimpses into the past with my great grandfather’s image appearing on both the 1901 and 1937 banners along with his contemporaries. These and dozens of other union banners are proudly displayed at the Big Meeting which celebrates the struggle and triumph of life in the Durham coalfield.

Here they are:

1900 Banner (front) – The portraits from left to right show Mr. Nicholson, the President, W. H. Lambton, General Secretary from 1874 and W. B. Charlton of Hetton, Treasurer. Below them are portraits of George Stephenson (himself a colliery brakesman, who built the first public railway line) and James Watt (inventor of the improved steam engine which brought forth the Industrial Revolution). Underneath them, a picture of a steam engine and pit head and beneath that a steam engine and a beam engine. – Photo courtesy Roy Lambeth, Durham Mining Museum

1900 Banner (back) – The back of the 1900 banner features a hospital bed scene and underneath that, an engine on the left and a row of boilers on the right with two men (stockers) shoveling coal. – Photo courtesy Roy Lambeth, Durham Mining Museum

1937 Banner (Front) on Parade – The 1937 Durham County Enginemen’s, Boiler Minders’ and Fireman’s Association banner with portraits of the current and two past secretaries (left to right) W. B. Charlton, George Peart and W. H. Lambton. The banner also shows a winder house and pithead gear. Photo courtesy Roy Lambeth, Durham Mining Museum

1937 Banner (Back) on Parade – The back of the banner shows Conishead Priory which was bought in 1928 by the Durham Miners Welfare Committee for use as a convalescent home by patients from the Durham coalfields. Photo courtesy Roy Lambeth, Durham Mining Museum

Here is the video Roy sent me of the 1937 banner being paraded in 1993:

Note: Some references above were taken from Norman Emery’s excellent book The Banners of the Durham Coalfield

More About the Banners: Being made of silk, the banners were both costly to produce and fragile to maintain. To replace one now with the original materials would cost as much as £10,000. Fortunately, a move is on to replace some of the banners with modern equivalents which although made of modern synthetics, will last much longer and help preserve the imagery of the past.

Roy Lambeth tells me just how few banners have survived.

I have a list of over 200 original lodge banners that survive in County Durham, where as in other mining areas the outlook is bleak with known surviving banners as follows:-

North Wales – None
Kent – None
South Wales – about 30
Somerset – None
Staffordshire – about 6
Nottinghamshire – quite a few but they were taken away by court order during the 84 strike and given to the UDM who will not tell anyone if they survive.
Derbyshire – 2
Yorkshire – 10
Lancashire – 2
Cumbria – 1
Northumberland – 20
Scotland -13

In Durham, Beamish Museum have about 50 in very poor condition which have been conserved and stored for posterity. The NUM HQ have about 20 which are also mainly in poor condition which will be conserved in the new year plus about another 12 which we borrow occasionally for display. The other 100 or so are in the community where they belong, usually in custom made display cases in the local welfare, village hall, council office or school.

In a subsequent email he reports more specifically on the banners viewable by the public in their respective communities.

There are 105 banners that can be seen by the general public. Banners in the community are an integral part of those particular communities. How long that will continue is anybody’s guess since the youth of today do not remember the pits and so of course have very little interest in them. Beamish Museum now has an education department with a group who dress in WWI vintage clothing and go into Junior Schools to try and get them interested in their past. It only seems to be working where if it were not for the pit, the village would not exist.

To give you an idea of how many banners are on display for everyone to see, here is a list as we know it at the moment:

Bearpark – 1951 NUM – Durham Heitage Centre
Bearpark – 1963 NUM – St. Edmund’s Church Bearpark
Blackhall – 1980 NUM – Blackhall Miners Welfare
Blackhall – recent replica – Blackhall Miners Welfare
Boldon – aquired Tudhoe Mill Drift banner in 1977- North Road Social Club, Boldon Colliery
Bowburn – 1915 DMA “Edith Cavell” – Bowburn Community Centre
Bowburn – 1959 NUM – Bowburn Community Centre
Bowburn – 2006 replica – Bowburn Community Centre
Brandon – 1963 NUM recovered from Brandon, Manitoba, Canada – Brandon Community Centre
Byers Green – 1920s DMA – High Street Methodist Church Byers Green
Chester Moor – 1950s NUM – Chester-le-Street Civic Centre
Chilton – 1961 NUM – Chilton Junior School
Chopwell – 1935 DMA – Moscow, Russia
Clara Vale – 1954 NUM – Clara Vale Community Centre
Craghead – 1970s NUM – Craghead Village Hall
Craghead – 2003 Replica – Craghead Village Hall
Crook Drift Lodge (Hole in the Wall Colliery) – undated NUM – behind glass in Wear Valley Council foyer, Crook
Crookhall – 1930s DMA – local school
Crookhall – 1954 NUM – local community centre
Crookhall – Brand new replica December 2007 – Delves Lane Junior School
Dawdon – 1980 NUM – Dawdon Welfare Hall
Dawdon – recent replica – Dawdon Welfare Hall
Deaf Hill – 1892 DMA (centre panel only) – under restoration for public display
Deaf Hill – 1930s DMA – Deaf Hill Community Centre
Deaf Hill – July 2007 replica – Deaf hill Community Centre
Dean & Chapter – 1955 NUM – Ferryhill Town Hall
Dean & Chapter – recent replica – Ferryhill Town Hall
Easington – 1959 NUM – Easington Welfare Hall
Easington – 1977 NUM – Thomas Hepburn Community School, Heworth
Easington – recent replica – Easington Welfare Hall
East Hetton (Kelloe) – 1963 NUM – Cassop Junior School
East Hetton (Kelloe) – 1977 ex Langley Park – St. Paul’s Methodist Church, Kelloe
Eden – 1962 NUM – St. Ives Church, Leadgate
Elemore – NUM ex Sherburn Hill – Hetton Methodist Church
Eppleton – 1981 NUM – All Saint’s Church Eppleton
Eppleton – 2007 replica – Hetton Centre
Fishburn – 1959 NUM – Fishburn WMC
Fishburn – recent replica – Fishburn WMC
Greenside – 1950 NUM – Greenside Parish Church
Greenside – 1958 NUM – Greenside & District Social Club
Greenside – 2007 replica – Greenside & District Social Club
Hamsterley – ex South Moor No.2 Lodge – Derwentside Civic Centre
Handon Hold – 1938 DMA – Grange Villa WMC
Handon Hold – NUM – under restoration for display
Harraton – 1960s NUM – Harraton & Dist. Community Centre
Harraton – recent replica – Harraton & Dist. Community Centre
Haswell – 1893 DMA – South Transept, Durham Cathedral
Horden – 1952 NUM – Horden Welfare Hall
Horden – 1966 NUM -Horden Welfare Hall
Horden – 1981 NUM – Horden Welfare Hall
Hylton – 1940s NUM – Sunderland Museum
Hylton – 1960 NUM – Hylton Comprehensive School
Kibblesworth – 1961 NUM – Kibblesworth Community Centre
Leasingthorne – 1950 NUM – Leaholm Community Centre
Mainsforth – 1951 NUM – Ferryhill Town Hall
Mainsforth – recent replica – Ferryhill Town Hall
Monkwearmouth – NUM – Stadium of Light (Sunderland Football Ground built on site of pit)
Monkwearmouth – 1986 NUM – Parlimentary Office, House of Commons
Morrison Lodge (North & South pits) – 1956 NUM – Stanley Town Hall
Morrison Busty (East & West pits) – 1955 NUM – Derwentside District Council
Murton – 1925 DMA – The Glebe Centre, Murton
Murton – 1955 NUM – The Glebe Centre, Murton
Murton – 1977 NUM – The Glebe Centre, Murton
Murton – 1990s NUM – The Glebe Centre, Murton
New Herrington – 1955 NUM – Herrington Parish Church
Ravensworth – NUM – Gateshead Central Library
Sacriston – 1919 DMA – Chester-le-Street Civic Centre
Sacriston – 1931 DMA – Durham County Council, County Hall
Sacriston – 1957 NUM – Sacriston WMC Concert Hall
Sacriston – 1983 NUM – Sacriston WMC
Seaham – 1929 DMA – Christ Church, Seaham
Seaham – 1949 NUM – County Hall, Durham County Council
Seaham – NUM Area – New Seaham Welfare
Seaham – recent replica – New Seaham Welfare
Shotton – 1956 NUM – Parish Council Meeting Room, Shotton
South Hetton – 1956 NUM – Blackpool Trades Council
South Hetton – 1980 NUM – South Hetton Welfare Hall
Springwell – 1915 DMA – Bowes Railway, Springwell
Tanfield Lea – 1950s NUM – Tanfield Lea Community Centre
Thornley – Greenwood 1 NUM – Thornley Community Centre
Thornley – Greenwood 2 NUM – Grrenwood Homes Centre
Thornley – 2003 replica of 1872 banner – Durham Mining Museum, Thornley Community Centre
Thornley – 2007 banner – under manufacture display site to be decided Thrislington – post 1930 DMA – West Cornforth Community Centre
Trimdon Grange – 1963 NUM – Community Centre
Trimdon Grange – 1996 replica – Church Hall
Tudhoe – ex Ouston ‘E’ in 1950s – Spennymoor Town Hall
Usworth – 1938 DMA – Uswoth Gardener’s Club
Usworth – 1954 NUM – Usworth & Dist WMC
Vane Tempest – pre 1947 NUM – Eastlea Community Centre, Seaham
Vane Tempest – 1982 NUM – Vane Tempest Miners Lodge
Washington ‘F’ Pit – 1950s NUM – Washington ‘F’ Pit Museum
Waterhouses – 1951 NUM – Waterhouses Community Centre
Westoe – 1992 NUM – South Shields Town Hall
West Stanley – 2007 replica of DMA – GMB union offices, Market Place Durham
Wheatley Hill – DMA – Heritage Centre
Whitworth Park – ex New Shildon Lodge – Spennymoor Town Hall
Wingate – pre 1947 NUM – Wingate Community Centre
Witton Lodge – 1950 NUM – Findoun School Sacriston
Bradley Workshops – 1959 – Consett Civic Centre
Westoe Mechanics – 1984 – St Hilda’s Chuch South Shields
Production Bannerettes:
- No 1 1949-1965 – Durham Mining Museum
- No. 2 1965-1981 – Durham Mining Museum
- No. 3 1981-1983 – Eastlea Community Centre, Seaham

Gone But Not Forgotten