William Hoare

William Hoare (1883 – 1959) was born in Bream, the son of Thomas Hoare, a stone cutter, and Sarah Pace. They had eight children including William. Sarah Pace had two other children, born in the Monmouth workhouse before marrying Thomas Hoare in 1873. Two of William’s siblings died as children. Thomas Hoare died in 1888. In 1890 Sarah married Joseph James, a hewer and moved to Drybrook. The family went on to have three more children and moved back to Bream.

In 1901 William Hoare, at the age of 17, was living with his family in Bream and working as a hewer. He then moved to work in the South Wales coalfield and, in October 1907, he married Ann Jones from Pontypool. In April 1908, Ann died, possibly while giving birth to their son Arthur. William then moved back to Bream with Arthur and lived for a while with his mother and stepfather, and family.

William gained work as a hewer at Princess Royal colliery. In July 1918, he married Beatrice Morgan and had seven children. At this time, he was working at Norchard colliery but was sacked after a dispute with the management. He then gained work at Cannop Colliery and moved to Broadwell.. In 1919, he was sponsored by the FDMA to attend a two-year course at the Central Labour College in London.

After the 1921 Lockout, he was unemployed and helped set up the Coleford and West Dean Unemployed Committee with Tom Liddington. He then returned to work at Norchard and/or Princess Royal Collieries and was elected to the FDMA Executive. In 1925, he joined the Miners’ Minority Movement. After the 1926 lockout, he was blacklisted and then possibly moved to work in the Kent coalfield and then back to Bream to work as a road sweeper.[1]

[1] Thanks to Andrew Davies-Hoare, William Hoare’s grandson, for providing additional information.