Author: ian wright

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.

Joseph Holder (1874 -1937) started working in a mine as a boy. In 1899, he was elected as a checkweighman at Crump Meadow, remaining in this role until his retirement. He married Louisa Simmonds in 1898 and had two children. He was a governor of the Gloucester Infirmary and on the management committee of the Cinderford Co-operative Society. He also represented the mining community on social, welfare and organisations such as the Forest of Dean General Accident and Health Insurance Society, Gloucester Royal Infirmary and the Forest of Dean Council of School Managers. He was a long-standing and active member of the FDMA and a member of the FDMA Executive Committee. He was also treasurer of Cinderford Miners Welfare Hall. He suffered from miners’ lung disease in later life.

Jesse Hodges (Jnr) (1907 – 1990) was born in Cinderford.  He worked as an errand boy and then a hodder at Crump Meadow in the early 1920s for his father, Jesse Hodges Snr. In the early 1920s, he moved to Pontefract to work in the Yorkshire coalfield. In 1925 he married Naomi Hodges and had one son.

In about 1937, he moved back to Cinderford and worked in the Forest coalfield. Naomi died in 1949 and in 1952 he married Lucy Ackman in Bridgend.

Jesse Hodges (Snr) (1880 – 1964) was born in Nailbridge, near Cinderford and was a son of a miner. He married Annie Matthews in 1901 and continued to live at Nailbridge. They had nine children, one of whom died from laryngitis. As a boy, he worked in an iron mine. He then moved to Crump Meadow colliery where he became a buttyman. In 1920-1922, he was elected as a Labour representative on East Dean District Council.  In 1925, he was elected as an assistant part-time checkweighman at Crump Meadow colliery.[1] He represented Crump Meadow on the FDMA Executive during the 1926 lockout and was the joint secretary of the Cinderford Strike Committee with Albert Meek. He was blacklisted for seventeen months after the end of the lockout.[2]

[1] Interview with Jesse Hodges’ son also called Jesse Hodges (born 1907)  by Elsie Olivey on 16 May 1983, Gage library.

[2] Interview with Albert Meek by Elsie Olivey on 6 April 1983, Gage library.

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 in childbirth. Hoare then moved back to live with his mother’s family in Bream and worked 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 and then gained work at Cannop Colliery. 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.

Birt B Hinton (1918 -1998) was born on Palmer’s Flat the son of a quarryman. He then lived in Berry Hill and worked at Cannop. He married Florence Hook in 1939. He represented Cannop on the FDMA Executive and was associated with the communist party in the 1940s. In 1949, he was elected as a Labour Councillor for Broadwell for the West Dean Rural District Council and Vice Chairman of West Dean Parish Council.  After the retirement of John Williams Hinton took responsibility for local matters as chair of the Forest of Dean branch of the NUM.

Albert Hoare (1886-1967) was born in Bream, the son of a miner. He worked at Princess Royal colliery and married Amelia Johns in 1916.