RETIREMENT AND FUNERAL OF JOHN WILLIAMS
John Williams was appointed as the full-time trade union official for the Forest of Dean Miners in 1922 and held this post until he retired in 1953. On Friday 6 November 1953 the Dean Forest Mercury carried this announcement:
It is with regret that most of our readers will learn that with the retirement of Mr John Williams, the post of Miners’ Agent for the Forest of Dean will lapse. Forest miners have been lucky in that during nearly 70 years there have been but three holders of this key post in what is still our major industry Mr G H. Rowlinson, Mr Herbert Booth and Mr Williams. Mr Booth’s tenure of the office was comparatively short and Mr Rowlinson and Mr Williams each served for 31 years.
Both these gentlemen had a very hard struggle in their first, few years. When Mr Rowlinson was appointed in 1886, out of 5000 miners in the Forest only 50 belonged to the Union; when Mr Williams started in 1922 the position was better, but still, only one-third were in membership. In other respects, Mr Williams had an even rougher passage than his famous predecessor, for his period of office covered the black days of mining between the wars, including the lockout and general strike of 1926 and the depression of the early 1930s. He leaves his ship, however, in calmer waters, though with a much-depleted crew, now that the mines are nationalised and there is a ready sale for every ton of coal produced.
The retiring Miners’ Agent is a man of strong convictions and on that account has not always found it too easy to work with his Executive, particularly in the first few years after his appointment. No one, however, has ever doubted his sincerity or his desire to be of the utmost service to the men whom he represents and miners and the general public alike will join in wishing him health and happiness in his well-earned retirement.
On November 17, when he becomes 65 years of age, Mr John Williams of Cinderford, Miners Agent for the Forest of Dean since 1922, will retire. He leaves behind him a series of experiences gained in a very hard school that tell the story of working-class progress from penury to comparative plenty. His career has been, that of a missionary and it has had all the elements of struggle and frustration and achievement and adventure that make the story complete.
Since Mr Williams has been Miners’ Agent, he has seen the manpower of Forest of Dean coalfield fall from 7000 when he came to the present 3000. Because of those diminishing figures, no fresh appointment of a Miners’ agent will be made. Mrs W. J. Jewell, Mr Williams’s assistant will continue as Finance Officer and Compensation Secretary for this district and she will be closely associated with the secretaryship of the Forest of Executive of the National Union of Mineworkers.
The Forest of Dean was now a shrinking part of the South Wales district of the NUM, and so there was no replacement agent. However, Birt Hinton who worked at Cannop colliery now helped to take on responsibility for local matters as chair of the Forest of Dean branch of the NUM.
In the same edition, John Williams told the Dean Forest Mercury his thoughts on the future of the coal industry in the Forest of Dean:
that if rearmament ceased there would be a glut of coal for commercial purposes as was the case between 1921 and 1939. While we need coal, the nationalised industry is made to stand up to the losses which this district is suffering, but with a glut of coal and the high local costs of production, I doubt if the industry would be expected to stand it. But I believe that there is a prospect of the coalfield carrying on longer than is generally thought. The National Coal Board are making plans at Cannop colliery and Princess Royal in particular for more extensive operations and a more up-to-date system of mining than exists at present.
Retirement Dinner
On Saturday evening 7 November, Williams was Guest of Honour at a dinner at the Unlawater Hotel Newnham arranged by Mrs Jewell on behalf of the Forest of Dean Miners to celebrate his career and retirement. Guests included a large number of his fellow union members and also representatives from most sections of the industry who offered praise “for his wisdom, his ideology and his ability”. The Dean Forest Mercury reported:
Since he came to the Forest in the early twenties Mr Williams, the son of a miner in the Garw Valley of South Wales and himself a miner, has endured storms and struggles that rocked the industry in those distant days, and among the large gathering at the dinner were many who have been with him through it all and they rose to acknowledge a respected leader and to wish him a long and happy retirement.
Father Morrison offered grace and the proceedings were presided over by the chairman of the Forest Miners Executive, Mr B. B. Hinton, who said that it had been a pleasure to work with Mr Williams for the past 13 years, during seven of which he had been chairman and he was able to appreciate the ability with which the agent had worked for the Forest miners. He had done much to raise the conditions of the men from those which existed when he came 30 years ago. “He has been the Father of the Forest Executive”, said Mr Hinton “and if we carry on in the way he has already led us, I don’t think the Dean miners will suffer”.
Proposing a toast to Mr Williams, Mr Will Paynter, president of the South Wales Miners’ Federation said that Mr Williams had been an outstanding character in the miners’ movement for many years. In days of the most acute depression which affected the Forest of Dean as much as South Wales, he secured a job as secretary agent in the Forest coalfield. From that time forward he had been a leading personality not only in the affairs of the miners but generally in the social life of the Forest.
With Mr Williams’s retirement, Mr Paynter went on, he was satisfied that the work he had done and the work he could continue to do would leave its mark for all time on the Forest mining community.
Mr Paynter referred to the happy relations which had existed between the miners in South Wales and the Forest and said it was not their intention to replace Mr Williams with another Miners’ Agent because they had to face the fact that the Forest was a contracting coalfield; manpower was not what it had been when Mr Williams became Agent and they had now made arrangements, in conjunction with the Forest Executive, to maintain the closest contact and leadership between South Wales and the Forest miners’ organisation. They hoped that this new arrangement would function without decreasing the services which Mr Williams had given the coalfield or lowering the high standards he had set.
Paynter said Mr Williams was a leader who was capable of relating the small things which happened in working class life to the larger events – of being able to explain a wages dispute in relation to the general problems of our society, and of being able to give an answer to the wages dispute and the general problems that faced society.
“We have too few in the leadership of the Labour and Trade Union movement off this country”, Mr Paynter said. “who are capable of giving that perspective to events. I am glad to be able to demonstrate in this way tonight our affection for Mr Williams and to express the hope that he will have a long and happy retirement during which he will continue his association with this movement, for I believe he will recognise that this association will be essential to happiness in his retirement.”
Mr Williams replied with an early reference to the help his late wife had given him. “Forest miners will never know how much they owe to her,” he said. “She was counsel for the defence of miners’ rights while she lived and few knew of her work though many benefited from it”. Mr Williams went on to refer to the valuable reforms that had occurred in the movement in his recollection and the two most important, he considered, excluding nationalisation, were the establishment of the eight-hour day and the Minimum Wages Act of 1912. He spoke from personal experience of the long hours that miners often worked to make a living, but that situation ended with the operation of the eight-hour day.
The Minimum Wage Act had far-reaching ameliorating effects, he continued, before its operation colliers working in abnormal conditions received only what was stated on the price list. One of his oldest friends, Mr W. E Parsons, could tell of working at Crump Meadow as a stoker at 2s 6d a shift.
Mr Williams then turned to members of parliament and candidates for parliament he had known in the Forest of Dean, the first of them Mr James Wignall – the most loved of them all. But of all the members and candidates who had come to the Forest in the past 30 years, none could approach their present member, Mr Philips Price, as an intellectual and a scholar.
This present generation is different from his, added Mr Williams, if only because it contained a high percentage of very clever people; his generation produced a small number of great men, and he listed some of them. His generation was concerned largely with ideals and ideas, the present generation was concerned largely with facts. Facts were subordinated to ideas because ideas embraced facts and gave birth to them. There was an ideological struggle prevailing today, but he thought that many of the differences were artificial. If the differences which divided the world today were purely ideological things would not be so bad.
Mr D Evans vice-president of the South Wales Miners Federation added his tribute to Mr Williams, who, he said was born at a time when the movement turned out great men, but he doubted whether we had advanced very much since those days for the forward march of the movement had to be measured not by the steps it had taken but by the steps it could have taken. Today the movement was inclined to turn out men as sausages come out of a machine. Mr Williams’s generation faced realities as they saw them and expressed their conclusions fearlessly – and they were not thought less of doing so. Mr Williams had served the coalfield well during the past thirty years and now they wished him a happy retirement.
Mrs Jewell read messages from several personal friends and colleagues who were unable to attend and each sent a message of admiration and best wishes. These included Sir William Lawther (General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers), Mr Harold Forest, MP for Bedwelty, Mr W H Crews (Secretary of the South Wales area of the NUM), Mr S L Dorrington (Secretary of the Forest Overmen’s, Deputies and Shotfirers’ Association) and Dr W H Tandy of Coleford.
Mrs Jewell then made the “staff presentation” to Mr Williams of “her own gift of an extending lamp “for being such a wonderful boss for the past 13 years”. Expressing his thanks, Mr Williams said the Forest miners were fortunate that Mrs Jewell had been in their service and would continue to be in their service and was grateful to the South Wales Executive for making their excellent arrangement.
On behalf of the Forest Executive Mr Hinton presented Mr Williams with a cheque for £51 with the wish that he would buy himself a bed. Mr Williams thanked the Executive for their gracious kindness.
Tributes to Mr Williams then came from all parts of the room – The first from Mr M Price Philips MP who said he remembered Mr Williams as Miners’ Agent since his first official connection with the parliamentary constituency. He remembered how much Mr Williams had done to build the Trade Union Movement among the Forest miners.
He recalled that an old Mr Miles of Berry Hill had once told him of the first beginnings of the miners’ movement in the Forest in 1870, and Mr Williams had since consummated what he and his colleagues fought for while those on the political side of the movement had helped in their sphere. It was vital that the political side and the industrial side of the movement should work together.
Mr Williams had seen tragic times – the lockout of 1926 at a time when coal was a drug on the market and conditions were anything but favourable for miners to get what was their due. Today coal was as precious as gold and Mr Williams must now feel gratified and thankful for the progress that had been made.
Mr D. N. Lang, who has known Mr Williams in his capacity as a colliery manager and lately Area General Manager for the National Coal Board from which he recently retired, spoke of his admiration of the Miners’ Agent from the days when coal was lying about the collieries and could not be sold at 5s a ton and small coal at 9d a ton. They had always “agreed to differ” and now, on behalf of the colliery managers and the Group Manager (Mr J. R Tallis), Mr Lang presented Mr Williams with a cheque with the suggestion that he should use it to buy a pillow for the bed. Mr William expressed his gratitude.
A tribute to Mr Williams’s leadership in difficult times and as a strategist of unusual ability was paid by W D Jenkins formerly of the Executive and now Labour Officer of the NCB in the Forest. Similarly, and now as chairman of West Dean Rural District, Mr Albert Brookes spoke appreciatively of Mr Williams’s good work in the Forest and his ability to reason clearly which had enabled the Forest miners to benefit from his leadership.
A tribute to Mr Williams’s honesty of purpose to his work for the sick and maimed of the industry and for the Cinderford Miners’ ‘Welfare Hall as president was paid by Mr W. T. B. Nelmes, chairman of Cinderford Parish Council, who was for many years the secretary of the Hall Committee. Finally, Mr W E Oakey (manager of Eastern United colliery) spoke for the colliery managers in warm terms of a well-esteemed Miners’ Agent.
After the. speeches the room was cleared for dancing to Mr Arthur Pope’s orchestra with Mr and Mr L C Upton as MCs.
Williams continued to involve himself in the political, social and cultural life of the Forest of Dean. He remained chairman of Cinderford Miners’ Welfare Hall and was a regular visitor to the union offices on Belle Vue Road which remained open until the end of 1961.[1] In October 1961, Williams was interviewed by R PageArnot at the miners’ union offices. Also present were Birt Hinton and Bryn Williams. On 23 November Williams sent a statement of his experiences as the agent for the Forest of Dean miners from 1922 – 1953 to Arnot. In July 1963 Dai Francis and Arnot visited Williams and he told them that his main interest at the moment was combatting the danger represented by the Catholic Church. He also enjoyed conversing with Francis in Welsh, a language he had not used for forty years.[2]
Williams died on 15 March 1968 three years after the last deep mine in the Forest of Dean was closed. Williams was much more than a politician and trade union activist. He was a family man and a lover of the arts and music. He also had a fondness for horse racing. His brother, Emlyn, was a gifted violinist and his daughter, Nest, studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He loved the cinema, and he used to take Nest with him whenever he could.
Death
John Williams died in March 1968. His obituary in the Lydney Observer reveals a man whose contribution to society was extensive:
We have received some further details of the life of Mr John Williams who rendered distinguished service to the miners of the Forest of Dean during the 30 years he was their agent, and who died at the Dilke Memorial Hospital on Wednesday of last week. Mr Williams had been present at the foundation of this hospital and had rendered years of service to it and the Gloucester Royal Infirmary. Many years later, as a patient in both hospitals, he was grateful for the excellent nursing given to him.
During his life, he was responsible for many reforms. Before the existing National Health Service, he organised a pilot scheme in South Wales, which anticipated to some extent the benefits enjoyed today. It is believed that he was solely responsible for establishing the means by which miners could convalesce by the sea, a unique experience for many of them. His work at the Gloucester Court of Referees was particularly successful owing to his innate ability to put the points at issue, difficult though they often were, in clear, simple language.[3] For this reason, he will be remembered with gratitude by many ex-miners.
In many spheres, he was ahead of his time. He knew both Sylvia Pankhurst and Annie Besant and was an active supporter in the agitation to get women the vote. On one occasion he was struck by a baton during a Trafalgar Square demonstration. He was a lifelong freethinker and was not afraid to offend the religious susceptibilities of his contemporaries. His activities in the political and trade union movements brought him into contact with many colourful personalities including the young Jeanie Lee and Aneurin Bevan, Sir Stafford Cripps, Sir Richard Ackland, James Griffiths, Hewlett Johnson the “Red” Dean of Canterbury and Professor J. B S Haldane.
Although a left-winger in the Labour movement, he admired and liked Ernest Bevin and considered Ramsey Macdonald to be head and shoulders above other labour leaders in intellectual attainment and defended him under attack. An admirer of Churchill’s speeches, he shared with him his love for Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”. As a young boy, he would travel from South Wales to London to see the first performance of a play by Bernard Shaw and until his last illness kept his love of the arts.
Through all his vicissitudes he was loyally supported by his wife Margaret, who was of invaluable help to this remarkable man. Cremation took place at Cheltenham on Saturday morning. Mourners were Mr Dennis Williams (son), Mrs Margaret Nest Sinnott (daughter), Mr Emyln Williams (brother), Mr David Jones of Pillowell and close associates. The service was conducted by a member of the Cheltenham Humanist Society.
[1] Western Mail 18 February 1954.
[2] John Williams Interview with Arnot 25 July 1963.
[3] The Court of Referees is charged with considering the rights of a petitioner to make a challenge against a Private Bill. Private Bills are usually promoted by organisations, like local authorities or private companies, to give themselves powers beyond, or in conflict with, the general law.