The Pitman
The ‘outward man’ distinguishes the pitman from every other operative. His stature is diminutive, his figure disproportionate and misshapen; his legs being much bowed and his chest protruding, while his arms are long and oddly suspended. His countenance is not less striking than his figure, his cheeks are generally hollow, his brow overhanging and his forehead low and retreating.
‘I have seen’ says Mr Morrison ‘ agricultural labourers, blacksmiths, carpenters and even those among the wan and distressed stocking weavers of Nottinghamshire, to whom the term ‘jolly’ might not be aptly applied, but I never saw a jolly looking pitman’.
This was the report of a Gentleman who travelled the Country inspecting the ‘lower classes’ and was included in the County Palatine of Durham book of 1894.
The same Gentleman goes on to partly trace this to the fact that the whole of the pitmen have been pitboys at an early age, during which the form is injured by the cramped positions occupied by the boys in the mines. He also attributes the lack of jolliness to the fact that all pitmen live in pit communities and ‘associate among themselves even their amusements are to seek their coally fortunes’.
Before anyone takes umbrage over the snobbish over exaggeration of this text, I have below added a picture of John Thomas Lambert, taken at Stanley in 1909, some 15 years after the report. Remarkable, isn’t it, poor souls.
‘I have seen’ says Mr Morrison ‘ agricultural labourers, blacksmiths, carpenters and even those among the wan and distressed stocking weavers of Nottinghamshire, to whom the term ‘jolly’ might not be aptly applied, but I never saw a jolly looking pitman’.
This was the report of a Gentleman who travelled the Country inspecting the ‘lower classes’ and was included in the County Palatine of Durham book of 1894.
The same Gentleman goes on to partly trace this to the fact that the whole of the pitmen have been pitboys at an early age, during which the form is injured by the cramped positions occupied by the boys in the mines. He also attributes the lack of jolliness to the fact that all pitmen live in pit communities and ‘associate among themselves even their amusements are to seek their coally fortunes’.
Before anyone takes umbrage over the snobbish over exaggeration of this text, I have below added a picture of John Thomas Lambert, taken at Stanley in 1909, some 15 years after the report. Remarkable, isn’t it, poor souls.
John Thomas Lambert
John Thomas Lambert, who lost his son James in the disaster, pictured outside his house in Kettledrum Street, Stanley, in 1909.
This postcard was one of a number sold to help the families of those who lost their lives in the Burns Pit Disaster.
John Thomas Lambert, who lost his son James in the disaster, pictured outside his house in Kettledrum Street, Stanley, in 1909.
This postcard was one of a number sold to help the families of those who lost their lives in the Burns Pit Disaster.