Mr Cowburn

Left school at 14 and went to work on a pump inside the mine, keeping a man dry, because there was no room on the screens. Terrified to start with, so different, hard work, small spaces, and hadn't been told about it by father or in school. Men made you work hard, but weren't cruel. At least lived close to pit, others had long journey home and some fell asleep by the roadside. Some other boys went to potato picking for low wages. 1926 strike, reduction in wages. Siblings. Saw local lads going to world war one, a brother in law joined up at 17, sergeant deliberately misheard his age, would see women calling out to the soldiers. Whickham was tiny then, and isolated. Elder sister had the first cat's whisker wireless in the area. Possing and hanging clothes out to dry. Streets dirty, children might catch disease, diphtheria - treatment. Un qualified midwife in the village. Children would scuttle out the way of the local policeman. No danger of traffic or muggers, elder children cared for younger ones. Sometimes didn't have shoes. Got job as putter, had to buy own candles. Using candle to check air quality. Picking stone out of the tub in the dark, management wouldn't accept difficulty of this. Some pits more mechanised than others. Treatment of pit ponies, worked too hard sometimes and made ill. Miner's punished for smoking in the mine and other offences. Older men might bend rules but were very experienced and safety-conscious

Location: Whickham, Dunston
County: Tyne and Wear
AUD1983-219

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