Stevenson, Jacques and Co. were not out of the woods following the subsidence in 1883.
In February 1886 a substantial feeder of water was struck, which flooded parts of the workings. Higher capacity pumps would be needed to cope with the extra water, the mine owners asked the royalty owners for help to fund this but from the news report below this was not forthcoming and production ended and the mine abandoned in March 1887 as the level of the water continued to increase.
Joseph Toyn, president of the Cleveland Miners association said :-
“The apathy of the royalty owners interested in the Messrs Stevenson, Jaques, and Co.’s mines in not attending the conference convened by the mineowners to consider whether any means could be adopted to get the water pumped out of the Boosbeck Mines is discreditable, unchristian, and un-English, in as much as the closing of the mines will lead to untold misery to the miners and their families, who for years, through their industry, have contributed to the coffers of the royalty owners and to the wealth of the district. We therefore call upon the royalty owners, in the name of justice and fair play, to assist the mineowners in their efforts to keep the workmen together.”
Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough – Tuesday 08 March 1887
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough – Tuesday 08 March 1887
Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
If you converted the royalty payments made to landowners into todays money, hundreds of thousands of pounds (probably millions) were made by land owners for very little investment, and repeated over a period of many years. I have always thought that some of those enormous profits should have been offered back into the community to address the water pollution issues we are faced with today, to clear up the problems that were left as a result of their profits. Apathy of the royalty owners indeed !
Just what you would expect, land owners who want plenty for nothing, mine owners again wanting plenty for nothing and always pleading to the land owners for reduction in rents, tonnage and way-leaves. Then you have the miners, paid a pitance, living on or below the bread line, health and safety eat your heart out. They can’t do anything to help except know the don’t have a job if the mine isn’t pumped out. There’s a really informative little pamphlet published as part of the Cleveland Ironstone Series describing the struggles of mining life for a family living in California and working in the Eston Mines (biggest most famous and undoubtably the richest mine in Cleveland).
My maternal grandfather lived in Magra with his life and either 11 or 12 off-spring (I can never get the number right) and worked in Stanghow mine and possibly some of the others around Magra. On a miners wage how did they survive?