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Social and economic change in the south east
Northumberland coal(cid:28)eld from the early 18th century
Harpur, Alan
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2
TITLE:- SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE IN THE SOUTH
EAST NORTHUMBERLAND COALFIELD FROM THE
EARLY 18TH CENTURY.
AUTHOR'S NAME:- ALAN HARPUR
PRESENTED FOR THE DEGREE OF:- M. Phil.
INSTITUTION:- UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM
DEPARTMENT:- GEOGRAPHY
YEAR OF SUBMISSION:- 1993.
The copyright of this thesis rests with the author.
No quotation from it should be published without
his prior written consent and information derived
from it should be acknowledged.
;-;,It FEB 1994
The subject of this thesis is social and economic change in the
south-east Northumberland coalfield. A historical perspective is
I. •
taken and class fonnation is examined from the early 18th century.
During this early period the working class develops separately but
under the rule of capital. Despite resistance the working class is
contained and absorbed into the institutions of capital.
In the inter-war period capital pursues a policy of reaction before
elaborating new policies and setting up regional development
organisations incorporating significant trade unionists and labour
party members.
While Nationalization was at first resisted the eventualo
Nationalization of coal provided a way of restructuring the coal
industry in the interests of capital in general. In the innnediate
post second world war years the policy of the N.C.B., underlined in
various planning documents, was to retain labour in the coalfields.
However, the modernisation of the pits led to local job losses
resulting in the development of Cramlington New Town in order to
diversity the areas economy.
I therefore evaluate the New Town's objectives and conclude that
they have been met to only a limited extent. The town relying upon
branch plants to sustain its manufacturing base.
An analys"is of the New Town in the 1980's showing a polarisation
a
between central workers and reserve surplus with both populations
located in separate localities. The contraction of the economic base
in Blyth Valley differentially effecting these core and peripheral
workers.
Lastly, the development of Cramlington can also be seen.as class
restructuring and I then go to the consider the relationship between
housing, class and party vote.
TABLE OF <nlrENTS
Page lb.
Preface i
Chapter One Class and Class Formation in the
Northumberland Coal Field 1
Chapter Two From Reaction to Incorporation 67
Chapter Three Aspects of Modernisation 117
Chapter Four Cramlington, Its Early Development
and Social Structure 178
Chapter Five South East Northumberland in the 1980's 280
Chapter Six The Dispossessed and the Comfortable 375
Chapter Seven Conclusion 397
Bibliography 409
'IHESIS
Preface
The focus of this thesis is social and economic change in a
particular locality. However, I have tried to set change in a
historical and national context. Indeed I would contend that it is
impossible to talk about local change processes without reference to
the past and to phenomena which transcend locality.
As a stranger to the North Fast and coming from a place
(Northern Ireland) with a distinct and different politics, I have had
much learning to do. In some measure this thesis represents a first
attempt by me to familiarise myself with unfamiliar territory.
Inevitably this has involved description as a means to understanding.
Much sociology and social policy traditions have concentrated on
defining the working class and worrying about the condition of that
class, its level of class consciousness and the implications of
condition and consciousness for action. These are important and
legitimate concerns but the result is the relative absence of any
consideration of the dominant class. On the other hand when the
working class does appear in sociology it is often in the abstract or
in the guise of cardboard cut out ideal types. In both instances the
working class lacks a voice. However, in trying to recover a working
class voice we are faced with a major problem. For although leading
actors may record their thoughts and feelings the reflections of the
'man or woman in the street' are hardly ever sought and remain lost to
posterity.
In my first chapter I concentrate on the early development of a
dominant class and its relationship to the working class. This phase
is a story of resistance and defeats. The working class developing
- i-
separately but subordinately before it is contained and absorbed into
the institutions of capital.
In the inter-war period, which I cover in Chapter Two, capital
attempts to escape crisis by carrying out and advocating a policy of
lay offs together with wage and social benefit cuts. The effect of
this being to make a bad situation worse. Consequently a new policy
direction was sought and elaborated and finds reflection in the
setting up of regional development organisations illlder the sway of
capital but incorporating leading trade union and labour party
figures.
Chapter Three deals with aspects of modernisation concentrating
on the politics of Nationalisation and the re-ordering of the space
economy as revealed in planning documents. In this context
Nationalisation is viewed as a product of class struggle but it comes
after the defeat of the General Strike when Fabian notions of public
ownership held dominance in the Labour Party. The form of
Nationalisation therefore provides a mechanism for the restructuring
of the coal industry in the interests of capital. Cramlington New
Town only coming on to the development agenda when it was clear that
the consequences of modernisation and efficiency in the coal industry
would mean local job losses in South East Northumberland.
Chapter Four examines a number of early surveys for what they
contain about the objectives and social structure of the New Town.
Broadly my conclusion is that the objectives of the town, as far as
they can be ascertained, have been met to only a limited degree. From
the beginning the town relied upon branch plants to sustain its
manufacturing base and I provide a number of case studies together
with census of employment figures to illustrate trends and processes
involved.
- ii -
Chapter Five takes the reader up to the 1980's and contains an
analysis of Cramlington localities. What this reveals is a growing
polarisation between central workers and the reserve surplus
population. At the same time the 1980's saw the closure of the last
pit in Blyth Valley. An event which I consider in all too brief
detail. The decline of manufacturing employment provoking the County
Council to adopt economic development policies which I find to be
limited and contradictory. Lastly the class theme is re-opened by
looking at the relationship between housing, class and party vote. A
preoccupation which underpins the interviews in Chapter Six.
As is customary at this point my thanks are due to a m.nnber of
people for their support. Firstly to Ray Hudson for his patience and
to David Byrne for his encouragement and for providing survey material
which formed a basis for Chapter Five. Second, to Leo, Robin and
Francis for their tolerance and finally to Kevin, Julie and Loreli for
their ever open door.
- iii -
CIJAPIER ONE
THE
CLASS AND CLASS FORMATION IN NORTHDMBERLAND COAL FIELD
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter I intend to consider regional economic
development as a process of class formation. The area I intend to
look at is Blyth and Cramlington, now subsumed under the
administrative unit of Blyth Valley Urban District Council and
Northumberland County Council. Reference will also be made to other
areas particularly Newcastle. More specifically, I will be concerned
to identify an elite, whose ownership of capital or control over the
use to which private capital is put, is both a source of its power and
a factor .constituting that elite as a class as well as enabling its
reproduction over time.
Secondly, since I am interested in class formation as a process, an
historical approach is essential, for as Gramsci put it;
"It is not enough to lmow the ensemble of relations as
they exist at any given time as a given system. They
must be lmown genetically, in the movement of their
formation. For each individual is the synthesis of not
only existing relations, but of the history of these
1
relations. He is a precis of all the past." ( )
Moreover, while adopting a historical perspective I will, in the
first instance, focus on the economic aspect of class formation
b~cause as Poulantzas notes;
"In the complex organisation of a class, it is the
economic which holds the dominant role, in addition to
determination in the last instance" (Z)
- 1-
This is not to deny that class includes economic, political and
ideological class practice but simply to insist that it is important
to distinguish different features in order to analyse them. Lastly,
the method employed to understand class formation and class interest
has been to concentrate, in the first instance, on individuals and
family dynasties. What is significant is their reaction to a changing
economic and political environment which they both shape and by which
they are shaped. It is important to co~ider concrete individuals and
examples in order to test any general theory about capitalist
development, the capitalist system, class formation and the
relationship between classes.
MASTERS OF CAPITAL
Following the Jacobite rising of 1715 the Plessey and Newsham
estates, of which Blyth was a part, passed to the Crown and in 1727
they were purchased by Richard Ridley of Newcastle who took over the
working of the Plessey pits. By 1728 the Ridleys had bought the West
Hartford collieries so that by 1730 they commanded the whole of the
coal trade from the Plessey and Hartford pits. At the same time they
owned the only shipping quay at Blyth and had secured from the Bishop
of Durham all of the beach on the south side of the River Blyth.
The closing years of the century brought with them competition
in the coal trade. A small colliery was opened in the vicinity of the
Ridley workings and a shipping quay built on the north side of the
River Blyth. The venture proved a failure and the colliery and quay
were purchased by Sir Matthew White Ridley.
In 1793 further competition took place with the commencement of
a colliery on the adjoining Cowpen estate. The speculators involved
included various Newcastle merchants. Soon after, in 1799, another
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