Author: ian wright

Frank Matthews (1878 – 1946) was born in Coalway, the son of a carpenter. He married Alice Burford in 1904 and had six children. In 1901 and 1911, he was working as a hewer in the mines and was living at Broadwell. By 1919, he was working at Cannop colliery as a checkweighman and was elected as the Cannop representative on the FDMA Executive and continued in this role during the 1926 Lockout. He was expelled from the FDMA in October 1926 after returning to work before the end of the strike. However, the expulsion was rescinded and he continued in his role as a checkweighman at Cannop  until his retirement.

Charles Mason (1889-1945) was born in Brierley and started work in the mines soon after leaving school. He married Margaret Daniels in 1909 and had seven children, including the celebrated Forest author Winifred Foley. In 1922 he was elected to East Dean District Council and in 1923 he was elected as a Poor Law Guardian on the Westbury Board of Guardians. He was elected to the FDMA Executive Committee in 1919.  He was killed in an accident at Cannop colliery in 1945.

Charles Luker (1885 – 1970) was born in Chepstow where his father worked as a fish dealer. By 1901, the family had moved to Whitecroft where his father sold fish from the back of his cart. As a boy, Luker started work as a trammer in the mines and by 1911 he had started working as a hewer at the Crown Colliery. He married Esther Phipps in 1912 and had two children. In 1919, he was elected as Secretary of the FDMA and as an FDMA representative on the Gloucester Employment Committee. The following year, the post of Secretary and Treasurer of the FDMA were combined to form the role of Financial Secretary and Thomas Etheridge took over the role. In 1921, Luker was working as a hewer at Princess Royal Colliery and was elected to the political committee of FDMA Executive whose job was to liaise with the labour party.

In October 1922, he was appointed as election agent and secretary of the Forest of Dean Labour Party which were paid posts and he continued in the role until the 1950s. In the 1920s, Luker also worked part-time as an insurance agent and became active within local government.

In 1922, he was elected to the board of the Forest of Dean School managers.  In March 1922 he was elected as a County Councillor, in which role he continued up to the 1950s. In 1923 he was elected as a West Dean Rural District councillor and by 1926, he was Chairman of West Dean Rural District Council, a role he held up to the 1950s.

Richard Kear (1876 – 1949) was born in Oldcroft, West Dean, the son of a miner. In 1891, at the age of 15, he was working as a general labourer and then started work at New Fancy as a hewer. He married Martha James in 1900 and went on to have eight children. In 1921, he was working as a hewer at New Fancy Colliery and he represented New Fancy on the FDMA Executive where he fulfilled the role of auditor for several years. He was a Primitive Methodist preacher who was “known in the Forest as a clear, earnest and intelligent local preacher”.[1]

[1] Dean Forest Guardian March 1914 quoted in Averil Kear, Bermuda Dick, (Lydney: Lightmoor, 2002) 146.

Raymond S Jones (1885 – 1967) was born in Yorkley, the son of a miner. He married Susan Watkins in 1912 and had two children and lived in Pillowell. He started work at New Fancy in 1897 and worked at New Fancy until the pit closed in 1944. He was a member of the FDMA Executive from 1924.

He was a member of the Forest of Dean Coal Production Committee during World War Two and worked at New Fancy until the pit closed in 1944. In 1950 he was a member of the Forest of Dean School Managers.

William David Jenkins (1903 – 1973) was born in Staunton near Coleford, the son of a miner. He married Winfred Bloxham in 1933 and worked as a miner at Cannop. He was Vice-Chairman of the FDMA in 1939 and 1940 and a member of the Forest of Dean Coal Production Committee during World War Two. In 1943 he was appointed as the Regional Investigation Officer working for the Ministry of Labour tracking absenteeism under the Essential Work Orders (EWO). In 1946, he was chair of the Coleford Branch of the WEA. In 1949, he was a member of West Dean Rural District Council representing the Labour Party for Broadwell and also elected onto Gloucestershire County Council in 1949 representing the Labour Party for Coleford. In 1950 he was the Labour Officer on the local NCB and a member of the Forest of Dean School Managers. He lived at 30 Woodville Avenue, Mile End.

George Thomas Dyer Jenkins (1898 – 1966) was born in Parkend when his father George Dyer (Snr) was 20 and his mother Nellie was 16 years old. George Dyer (Snr) did not stick around and emigrated to America.  Nellie married Frank Beddis, a coal miner, in 1900 and the couple went on to have ten children. George Jenkins married Hilda Watkins in 1919 and had four children. Jenkins represented Princess Royal and Parkend on the NUM/FDMA Executive. He was a member of West Dean District Council from 1946 and 1949? He was a member of the Forest of Dean Trades Council (1947). He was President of the West Gloucestershire Labour Party in March 1949 and Forest of Dean delegate on the South Wales Executive of the NUM in 1950.

Horace Jones (1874 – 1967) was born in Yorkley, the son of a miner.  He started work at one of the Parkend pits as a teenager. In February 1889, he helped found the Pillowell brass band and was a playing member until 1903 when he helped found the Yorkley Onward band. He married Cora Biddington in 1901, but sadly she died two years later. In 1904, he married Florence Nelmes and went on to have six children.  In 1901 he was working as a hewer. However, by 1911 was working as a checkweighman at New Fancy colliery and represented New Fancy the on the FDMA Executive. He continued in these roles until his retirement.

Reuben James (1870 – 1948) was born in Pillowell, the son of a miner. He started work in the mines at fourteen. He married Alice Charles in 1890 and went on to have six children and worked as a haulier and a hewer at Princess Royal Colliery. He soon became active in the FDMA and joined a group of miners from West Dean who opposed the existing policies of conciliation and moderation promoted by the FDMA agent George Rowlinson. He was elected President of the FDMA from February 1918 to February 1919 and then represented Princess Royal Colliery on the FDMA Executive. He was blacklisted after the 1926 Lockout but returned to work at Princess Royal in November 1936 at the age of 65.  He was elected as Chairman of the Whitecroft branch of the Communist Party in 1944.