| Administrative History | Derbyshire Miners' Association (DMA), 1880-1945
The Derbyshire Miners' Association (DMA) was formed in 1880. Miners employed at collieries in north-east Derbyshire had previously been represented by branches affiliated to the South Yorkshire Association, which had been founded in 1858. As early as 1861 the Association attempted to extend its influence into the East Midlands region, supporting striking miners at pits owned by the Wingerworth Colliery Company and establishing branches in Chesterfield and Grassmoor. Membership of the South Yorkshire Association in Derbyshire reached a peak on 20,000 in 1874 but by 1876 there was dissatisfaction with the Association among Derbyshire miners. Delegates from Derbyshire struggled to attend meetings at the Association's headquarters in Barnsley, the membership was unhappy with centralised funding arrangements, benefit schemes and the lack of strike pay, and there was criticism of the Association's attempts to negotiate with colliery owners.
There were two attempts at creating an independent union in the region, the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Miners' Association, in 1865 and 1872-1875, before the founding of the DMA in early 1880 by James Haslam, William Harvey, Richard Bunting, John Smith and J Catchpole. In the early days of the DMA, meetings were held at the Sun Inn, a pub in Chesterfield, and at the Falcon Temperance Café in Low Pavement, Chesterfield. In May 1889 the DMA established a building fund and its constituent branches were asked to collect money that would allow it build its own premises. The DMA's new headquarters was opened on 24 June 1893 on Saltergate, where it remained until the closure of the DMA's successor, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Derbyshire Area. The DMA represented mineworkers employed at collieries in north-east Derbyshire; mineworkers at collieries in South Derbyshire were represented by other organisations.
Authority within the DMA was vested in a Council, and in an Executive Committee responsible for making recommendations and acting on decisions reached by the Council. The DMA's rules were first published in 1880 and were thereafter subject to various amendments. Officials - such as the President, Secretary and Treasurer in the beginning, and later a Compensation Agent - were employed full-time from 1881, and were nominated and elected by the branches whom the DMA represented. The branches, or lodges as they were also known, were regulated by the Council; new branches could not be formed without the permission of the Council, and existing branches were not allowed to strike until a dispute had been referred to the Council, a District Committee and other branches for discussion. Each branch had its own elected officials and held regular meetings, which usually preceded those of the Council. By 1908 there were ninety branches in north-east Derbyshire, and membership of the DMA increased steadily, despite the 1893 lock out of Derbyshire collieries and a strike in 1912, reaching a peak of 59,000 in 1920.
In 1890 the DMA joined the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB), which had been created the previous year, and from the 1880s was active in the Trades Union Congress. More locally, DMA participated in the formation of a Trades Council in Chesterfield in 1893.
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Derbyshire Area, 1945-2015
On 1 January 1945 the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) was renamed the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). Since the 1930s, there had been attempts to reform the MFGB, to formalize its financial and political relationship with the area unions of which it was composed, and strengthen its authority to participate in bargaining with government and across the coal industry. In 1943-1944 reform was approved by the area unions, who renamed themselves after the new body. The DMA became the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) Derbyshire Area in 1945, one of twenty-one area bodies. The NUM Derbyshire Area, like other area unions, retained considerable autonomy, particularly in relation to its own rules and finances.
The organisation of the NUM Derbyshire Area was unchanged, and the Area Council and Area Executive Committee continued as the union's main decision-making bodies. The Coal Industry Nationalization Act 1946 brought the coal industry into state hands from 1 January 1947 and created the National Coal Board (NCB). Collieries in north-east Derbyshire became part of the NCB's East Midlands Division until the formation of a North Derbyshire Area in 1967. Representatives from the NUM Derbyshire Area and the East Midlands Division of the NCB sat on various committees and bodies between 1947 and the early 1990s overseeing and negotiating on various aspects of the coal industry: colliery closures, industrial relations, industrial injury benefit, health and safety, productivity, wages and welfare. The NUM Derbyshire Area continued to advise and represent its members and their families in compensation cases, and manage the Derbyshire Miners' Welfare Convalescent Home in Skegness, opened by the DMA in 1927, and holiday centres in Skegness and Rhyl.
Membership of the NUM Derbyshire Area reached 36,000 in 1954 but the colliery closures brought a significant reduction in the late 1950s and 1960s. In 1987 the NCB became the British Coal Corporation and the North Derbyshire Area was amalgamated with the South Midlands Area creating the Central Area. The NUM Derbyshire Area participated in the affairs of the Central Area until the closure of Markham Colliery in 1994, the last colliery to close in north-east Derbyshire.
The NUM Derbyshire Area closed in 2015. |
| Custodial History | Acquired by Derbyshire Record Office in 1978. Additional records were deposited in March 2015 and September 2015 (see D1920/UL). |