This miners payslip from 26th October 1889 was recently shared with me by Howard Wilson of the Skelton History Group, it’s for a William Butters who originated from Tattersall Lincolnshire before coming to New Marske to be an Ironstone Miner.
Notice that the miner has to pay for his own Gunpowder, House Rent and Doctor (No NHS and nothing provided by employers )
It’s also important to remember this is the pay for two men, the ‘miner’ would have needed to employ his own loader to put the ironstone into the tubs.
I thought it would be interesting to compare this to one from North Skelton from 1935.
The payslips are for different periods of time, the 1889 miner got out 85 tonnes in 6 shifts while the 1935 miner got out 29 tonnes in 1.5 shifts. So this suggests outputs had improved from about 14 tonnes per shift to 19 tonnes.
Take-home pay is basically £2 on the 1889 slip which works out about £250 per week for two men.
The 1935 slip is equates to about £500 per week for two men, but no House Rent is included which would presumably take a large chunk.
I found the top wage slip during renovations at 59 Arthur Terrace New Marske. I was pulling out the old fireplace and it was behind there that was in 1980/81. Strange to think it had hidden there for nearly 100 years.
I believe this is my great uncle Billy who came from Lincolnshire.My family lived at 59 Arthur Terrace. My Dad’s mother was named Butters
My dad’s father came from Devon. Both families came to the area to work in the mines.