Mining The Seams

Warwickshire’s coal collections comprise of 80 linear metres of paper records, as well as approximately 750 plans. Our focus is the creation of searchable catalogues and the physical preservation and conservation of damaged material. ‘Mining the Seams’ will provide easier and greater access to three collections and make them available to researchers for years to come. The new comprehensive catalogues will be available to search on Warwickshire’s Past Unlocked. 

Warwickshire Miners’ Association (WMA)

Warwickshire Miners’ Association (later known as the National Union of Mineworkers, Warwickshire District) was the trade union for mineworkers in the Warwickshire Coalfield. Established in 1885, the WMA fought for better wages and working conditions. The collection came to the record office as three separate deposits, and contains records relating to pay disputes, reportable accidents, and compensation claims. 

National Coal Board (NCB)

The National Coal Board archives document the collieries of North Warwickshire from nationalisation in 1947 to the demise of the industry in the 1990s. This material was deposited at Warwickshire County Record Office as 16 separate deposits, which has meant that the collection is listed in a way that makes it difficult to navigate and understand as a whole. The existing finding aids will be combined, and with the addition of previously unlisted material, will create one comprehensive catalogue that will enable researchers to locate information in relation to particular collieries more easily. The collection also contains the records inherited from the former colliery companies which date back as far as 1759. 

Midland Colliery Owners’ Mutual Indemnity Company (MCOMIC)

Within the NCB collections are the records of the Midland Colliery Owners’ Mutual Indemnity Company. MCOMIC was the pre-nationalisation employers’ insurance company, and by 1932 provided insurance cover for 60 collieries across Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. We are working to digitise the ledgers in order to create a searchable database of compensation claims for extraordinary accidents and industrial disease between 1899-1940.