Labour and the Poor in England and Wales - The letters to The Morning Chronicle from the Correspondants in the Manufacturing and Mining Districts, the Towns of Liverpool and Birmingham, and the Rural Districts

Volume III: The Mining and Manufacturing Districts of South Wales, North Wales

J. Ginswick

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781315461991
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

The Morning Chronicle presented the state of the working classes of Britain before the public with clarity, insight and honesty. Consisting mainly of verbatim statements from the people themselves, it was a medium through which the previously inarticulate masses were able to speak with one firm voice.

First published in 1983, this book collates the letters from correspondents based in Wales. The letters improve our knowledge of working-class life in nineteenth century England and Wales and provide a unique insight into the impact of industrialization.

This book will be of interest to those studying the history of the working class, labour and poverty.

I
South Wales

The Iron and Coal Trade of South Wales

General Introduction

There exists but scanty and imperfect materials for a history of the rise and progress of the coal trade in South Wales. Indeed, I may say once and for all, that the information to be gleaned from books regarding the iron as well as the coal trade in the Principality is very scanty, often conflicting, always ill-arranged, and generally insufficient. Mr. Porter, though he gives several tables and much information relative to the north country collieries, is silent respecting the Welsh. However, I will do the best in my power to give an idea of the extent of the export trade; and when hereafter I write upon the iron works, I shall show, as far as I can, the rate of consumption in the manufacture of iron.

The ports of Newport and Cardiff are the principal points of outlet for the Welsh coals. Within the past ten years the export has been largely extended, owing in a great degree to the favour in which the Welsh coals are held for steam purposes. Now that a scientific inquiry by two of our most eminent geologists, at the instance of Parliament, has established their superiority over all others for the use of the steam navy, there can be no doubt that the demand, and consequently the trade, will be augmented. Immense quantities of coal are sent by sea to Somerset, Devon and Cornwall- while on the land side the counties of Cardigan, Brecon, Radnor, and Hereford are mainly supplied from the Welsh coalfields. The following will show the increase of the coal trade at the ports of Newport and Cardiff from 1829 to 1843, both inclusive:

1829	Coals sent to the ports of Newport and Cardiff	573,491 tons
1839	ditto	730,130 tons
1843	ditto	943,080 tons

I have been unable to obtain returns for both ports subsequent to 1843, but by a statement furnished to me by Mr. Forrest of the quantity of coals sent down the Glamorganshire Canal to the port of Cardiff in 1848, the amount was then 436,981 tons. It would seem that the rate of increase in the export of coal during the above interval of fifteen years has been much greater at the port of Cardiff where it was not less than 269,379 tons, while at Newport it was only 100,165 tons. This may in part be accounted for by the superior accommodation now afforded to shipping in the magnificent sea-docks at Cardiff, as compared with that of Newport. The increase calculated up to last year, as regards Cardiff, was from 83,729, which was the quantity in 1829, to 436,981, making a total increase of 353,252 tons in the export of 1848, as compared with that of 1829. Large shipments of coal are also made from the ports of Swansea, Neath and Porthcawl, of which I can obtain no account; but the quantity shipped in the various Welsh ports of the Bristol Channel may safely be set down at 2,000,000 tons a year.

I have said that a Government Commission had been charged with the duty of inquiring what coals are best suited for the purposes of the steam navy. This task was confided to Sir Henry de Ia Beche and Dr. Lyon Playfair, whose second report is now before me. The" calorific value" of Welsh coals, as compared with the Lancashire and Newcastle coals, is shown as follows:

Welsh Coals	102.52
Newcastle	93.82
Lancashire	89.68

Their relative" economic value", as tested by the number of pounds of water evaporated by equal quantities of coal stands thus:

Welsh coals	29.87
Newcastle	25.93
Lancashire	25.78

I should here explain that in making this table I took the aggregate of the highest three numbers given as the result of the experiments on the several varieties of coal- thinking it a fairer mode of showing their relative worth than simply to select the return set against the best colliery of each of those great divisions of our coal-fields. It may be useful to the public to learn that the five Welsh collieries whose coals stand highest in value in the above cited report are:

• Thomas's Merthyr
• Nixon's Merthyr
• Hill's Plymouth Work, Merthyr
• Aberdare Company's, Merthyr
• Gaily's Nine-feet seam, Merthyr

By this statement it will be seen that the best steam coals existing in this country are found in the immediate neighbourhood of Merthyr.

On the subject of iron smelting, and the quantity of coals consumed in the process, we are more fully informed, though the returns for the whole of the Principality have not been brought down later than 1840. In that year there were made in South Wales 505,000 tons of iron, in the smelting of which there were used 1,436,000 tons of coal, being something less than three tons of coal for every ton of iron produced; whilst in Staffordshire there were made 427,650 tons of iron at a consumption of 1,665,000 tons of coal. It is interesting to observe by this comparison how the comparatively limited experiments made under the superintendance of de la Beche and Playfair as to the value of coals for rough purposes, are corroborated by the practical results of working on a stupendous scale, as in the iron works. The higher calorific value of the Welsh coal could not be more satisfactorily shown than by the number of tons used in smelting given quantities of iron in South Wales, compared with Staffordshire as contrasted in the above statement. In fact, the Staffordshire coals appear not to have been admitted to the competition for the supply of the steam navy. The balance in favour of quantity and cost of production is largely in favour of Wales. It may be interesting to observe in this place that the united produce of the iron works in England and Wales is 1,155,400 tons a year. Of this, the share contributed by South and North Wales is 531,500- that by Staffordshire, 427,650 tons. Adding these amounts together, and subtracting the product from the total made in England and Wales, it will be found that the quantity made in Wales and Staffordshire comes within 196,250 tons of the total smelted in the remaining iron districts. The value and importance of the Welsh coalfields, and the desirableness of perfecting their economy and further developing their immense resources, are, I think, abundantly shown by the facts and figures above given.

It is a happy coincidence, and worthy of remark, that the iron ore, the limestone and coal, each being a necessary element in the manufacture of iron are found together, being raised from the same pits. With these may be enumerated the red sandstone and peculiar clay from which the fire-bricks are made, for lining the furnaces; no other materials being capable of enduring the intense heat employed without fracture or fusion. It might have been that the ore, like that of copper, was to be found nowhere but at a distance from the fuel necessary for smelting it; in which case, as all our manufactures repose on our iron and coal, the expense of smelting being greater by the cost of transport than it is now, our productive industry would have been proportionally obstructed, and the national wealth would have been far less than it is at present.

A short sketch of the history and statistics of the iron trade, as it illustrate~ the advance of one of the most important and thriving branches of our manufactures, will hardly be considered out of place. In the year 1740, when charcoal was the only fuel used for the purpose of smelting iron, there were in England and Wales 59 furnaces of which the annual produce was 17,350 tons. At that time the consumption so far exceeded the home manufactures that it was computed that England imported annually 20,000 tons of foreign iron, of which 15,000 tons were from Sweden, and the remainder from Russia. For this we paid, mostly in money, £150,000. Petitions were presented to Parliament at that time, in which it was stated, as a reason why pig-iron from the American colonies ought to be admitted to the British market, that we "could not increase the quantity of bar-iron we made, by reason of our woods being so far exhausted as to greatly have enhanced the price of cord wood; but were we to import more pig-iron from America, and make less of it at home, we should be able with the same quantity of wood we now consume, to make more bar-iron at home". About 1750, owing to the scarcity of wood, pit-coal came into use for smelting; but the imperfect method of "blasting", which operation was then performed by rude bellows, seldom permitted the produce of each furnace to exceed ten tons weekly, while in summer it fell below seven. In 1788 the number of tons made in England, Wales and Scotland, had increased to 68,300, of which quantity 55,200 were smelted with coke, and the remainder with charcoal. At that time the number of furnaces had risen to 85.

From that period, owing to the improvements in the steam engine and the substitution of cylinders for bellows in blasting, the advance was rapid. In 1796, there were in England, Wales and Scotland, 121 furnaces, producing yearly 124,879 tons. The increase in 1806 was to 173 furnaces, yielding 258,206 tons; there were then in existence 233 furnaces, of which 60 were out of blast. In 1823 there were at work in Great Britain 259 furnaces, producing 442,066 tons. In seven years from 1823, the furnaces increased upwards of 100, about one third of the total number. This differs, indeed, from a statement of Sir John Guest before a Parliamentary Committee to the effect that the manufacture remained nearly stationary between 1823 and 1831, when it again advanced. But according to the returns, there were at work in 1830 not fewer than 360 furnaces in England, Wales and Scotland, the make from which was 678,418 tons- showing an increase of 101 in the number of furnaces, and of 236,351 tons of manufactured iron during the interval between 1823 and 1830. The quantity of iron made in 1836 was estimated at 1,200,000 tons.

In 1840, as appears by a statement drawn up by an iron master named Jessop, there were in this country 402 furnaces in blast of which 162 used the last improvement - hot blast. The annual make of these furnaces was then 1,396,400 tons. Since that year no data, comprehending the whole of Great Britain, are furnished, by which the advance may be estimated; but taking into consideration the impetus given to the trade by the vast extension of railways at home and abroad during the past four years, it may be safely computed at one third. Through the kindness of Mr. Robert Crawshay, and the obliging assistance of Mr. Forrest, of Navigation House, Cardiff, I am enabled to show the increase which has taken place between 1840 and the present time, in eight of the ironworks, of which five are among the most important in the Principality. In the year 1840 there were conveyed down the Glamorganshire Canal to Cardiff, the place of export, the following quantities of iron, from the several works as under:

W. Crawshay	35,507 tons
Pen-y-darran Iron Company	16,130 tons
Plymouth Forge Company	12,922 tons
Aberdare Iron Company	10,327 tons
Gadly's Iron Company	1,345 tons
Brown, Lennox and Co.	2,476 tons
Taff Vale Iron Company	4,902 tons
R. Blakemore (now Booker and Co.)	3,175 tons
	86,784 tons

In the year ending the 31st of December, 1848, there were carried down the same canal to the place of export from the above works the subjoined quantities:

W. Crawshay	67,498 tons
Pen-y-darran Iron Company	21,180 tons
Aberdare Iron Company	19,652 tons
Gadly's Iron Company	297 tons
Brown, Lennox, and Co.	1,499 tons
Taff Vale Iron Company	13,694 tons
T. W. Booker and Co.	5,500 tons
	155,012 tons

By these particulars it appears that the increase in the make of iron at the above works in the year 1848, as compared with the quantity being produced in 1840, is not less than 68,228 tons, being something more than 75 per cent; and this notwithstanding the fact that the interval from 1841 to 1844 was one of great depression in the iron trade. I am sorry that I cannot render this account complete by the addition of the "make" of the Dowlais Iron Company, which is conveyed to the Port of Cardiff by the Taff Vale Railway- since up to writing, I have not been favoured with the returns.

I have already stated that the amount con...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Original Title
• Original Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations and Maps
• Preface
• I THE MINING AND MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS OF SOUTH WALES
• II NORTH WALES
• Index