Exploitation, Lockouts, and Violence: The Glamorgan Colliery Strike and Tonypandy Riots

By Charlotte Emanuel, Second Year English

Before 1912, coal mining wages in South Wales were determined by how much coal a miner cut during a shift. Coal extraction was an arduous process and difficult to conduct at a fast-pace.The problematic nature of coal extraction meant that coal mine owners frequently supplemented miners’ wages with an allowance. If a miner failed to extract enough coal to earn the minimum living ‘wage’, they would be given an allowance by coal management. The allowance system was abused by coal mine owners and colliers did not always receive payment. 

Additionally in 1910, the Naval Colliery Company opened a new coal seam in the Ely Pit and reduced the price for cutting coal. The miners argued that the new price was inadequate, as the large stone band running through the seam made it much more difficult to work in.This resulted in back-and-forth disputes between the coal owners and miners until management organised a lockout. The lockout took place on 1 September 1910 and an estimated 800 miners were unable to work. 

The lockout provoked outrage among miners in other parts of South Wales who voted for a strike through the South Wales Miners’ Federation trade union. On 1 November 1910, twelve thousand  miners in South Wales went on strike. The coal mine owners were also supported by the Glamorgan Constabulary and law enforcement from Bristol, which resulted in physical conflict between police and strikers. Hoping to end the strike, coal mine owners brought in strikebreakers, with little success. By 6 November , the strikers had successfully ceased work in almost all of the pits in the area, except for one in a town called Llwynypia. 

The dispute quickly escalated on 6 November 1910 when miners at the Glamorgan Colliery discovered that strikebreakers had been brought in to replace them. The next day, a group of striking miners surrounded the Glamorgan Colliery and attacked the police. In the nearby town of Tonypandy, physical combat between police and miners broke out, with police using truncheons against miners and their families. Thousands took to the streets in the Rhondda Valley area to protest against the unfair working conditions of miners. Miners returned to coal mines to make conditions unworkable for any strikebreakers. This came to be known as the Tonypandy Riots. As a result of these,  the Glamorgan Constabulary sought greater reinforcement and intervention. 

The chief constable of Glamorgan, Lionel Lindsay,  requested military reinforcement from the War Office. Home Secretary Winston Churchill  thought the local authorities in South Wales were overreacting about the conflict’s severity and obstructed the request for military support. Churchill and the Home Office eventually agreed to send military troops to the Glamorgan Colliery on 8 November 1910. The presence of military troops at the Tonypandy riots was  one of the only times British troops have been sent to intervene in a strike. The riots at Tonypandy were violent, with reports of physical fights, property damage and looting. Eye witnesses claimed to see military troops shooting strikers, however there were never any official police reports of a shooting. 

The state intervention in the conflict also ensured that strikers and involved miners would be tried and prosecuted in 1911 which made Churchill’s decision even more unfavourable. Thirteen miners were trialled in 1911 for their involvement in the conflict. Several strikers on trial were prosecuted with jail time from two to six weeks whilst others were released with a fine.  Churchill’s decision to accept Lindsay’s request for military support angered those living in South Wales so much that animosity towards Churchill in these areas is still felt today. 

The riots eventually subsided without force but the strike did not officially end until August 1911. Miners and their families began to financially suffer without pay so they were forced to accept a small, but unsatisfying pay increase and return to work almost a year later.

Edited by Sofia Lambis