| History | The company was formed in 1890 by Mr. Emerson Bainbridge, who was a director of the company until his death in 1911. The coalfield that served the company's mines was locally called ‘The Dukeries’, as it covered land from several local noble and gentry landowners, with the largest of these being the Duke of Portland on the Welbeck estate. By 1933 the company employed over 9,000 men and was extracting 4.5 million tons of coal.
During the initial years of the company, they wished to promote the welfare of their employees, especially in terms of recreation and housing. This meant that all the sites provided housing, social clubs and recreation. Brass bands were a major part of this and served all the company's colleries The company was a major funder of the Bolsover branch of the St John’s Ambulance Brigade, whose inaugural meeting was held on 20th July 1910. This eventually became the Bolsover Colliery Division in 1949.
The head offices for the company were at Bolsover Colliery. These were taken over by the National Coal Board on Nationalisation and remained in their control until 1987.
Owned Bolsover and Creswell collieries in Derbyshire and Clipstone, Mansfield, Rufford and Thoresby collieries in Nottinghamshire |
| Source | 'Bolsover Colliery', https://www.oldminer.co.uk/bolsover.html
'Bolsover Colliery: 25th anniversary of closure', http://www.miningheritage.co.uk/bolsover-colliery-closure-25th-anniversary/
‘Bolsover Spitfire’, http://www.oldminer.co.uk/spitfires.html
Bolsover Colliery Company Limited, Bolsover: Jubilee Souvenir, 1889-1939 (1939)
Bolsover Colliery Company Limited, Bolsover: The Company and its Coal (1940)
Bolsover Colliery Company Limited, The Monthly News: A Social Magazine for the Employees of the Bolsover Colliery Company Limited, no 5 (May 1923)
Bolsover Parish Council, Mining and Bolsover Church leaflet (2015)
Brettle, R., ‘The Centenary of the Mansfield Colliery Branch’, Midland Railway Society Journal, 28 (Summer 2005), pp. 16-17.
Bridgewater, A. N., North Derbyshire Collieries (2009) https://www.aditnow.co.uk/documents/Doe-Lea-Coal-Mine/North20Derbyshire20Collieries20Small20Update.pdf
Creswell Colliery, Extract from Transactions of the Institute of Mining Engineers, Vol. 26 (193-1904), pp. 603-604.
Haigh, B., One Hundred Years of Mining, Bolsover Colliery, 1889-1989 (1989)
Northern Mine Research Society, Bolsover Colliery, https://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-mining-in-the-british-isles/derbynotts/chesterfield/bolsover/
Northern Mine Research Society, Clipstone Colliery, https://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-mining-in-the-british-isles/derbynotts/mansfield/clipstone/
Northern Mine Research Society, Cresewell Colliery, https://www.nmrs.org.uk/mines-map/coal-mining-in-the-british-isles/derbynotts/mansfield/creswell/
Pegge, B., Challenge and Change: Reflections by Members of the Community and Visitors on the Demise of the Colliery and the Process of Regeneration in Bolsover, 1984-2007
Weiss, M., Coal Mines Remembered 2 (2011) |