2 replies to this topic

[Eve11]

I was wondering if anyone knows what happened to the workforce in UK collieries at the beginning of WW1? I have read that many men who volunteered c1914 were miners and mine workers so who was working to produce the coal?

[kenf48]

There was a recent thread on this topic here
http://1914-1918.inv...1

the short answer to your query as to who was producing the coal is the very young and those too old to enlist, which given the conscience of some recruiting officers wasn't many.  
The official recruitment age was 18 for the Regular Army and 19 for Kitchener's volunteers, and although many under age soldiers enlisted, many more boys aged 13 and up were working in the mines.    

Ken

[tharkin56]

Those that left the mines from Bedworth, many seem to have ended up in the Royal Engineers back down the tunnels