Edward (Neddy) Rymer was a coal miner who worked at pits in Durham, Yorkshire, North Wales, Nottingham and Lancashire. He was a union activist and blacklisted from many coal mines and coalfields as a result of this. The following extract is from the above publication and it should be remembered that it is the account of someone who was there at the time these things were happening. It is not a story, not made up, but an eye-witness account of life in the1860’s in Thornley:
“The clouds of the American Civil War were lowering and the wave of slave emancipation seemed to strike both Europe and America in 1860. Several of the leading spirits in the local union were refused further employment when the time for binding came round in April 1860 and my previous action made me a ‘marked man’ at Spennymoor. This opened up to me the red epoch of my future life and struggles. Being refused work at three places, I travelled six miles to Thornley Colliery and got bound, my brother William having gone there before me. The first sight of Thornley Colliery made me stare. An awfully black and dismal place it was, with 4000 people depending on its plant and workings. In one row I counted nine huge heaps of filth lying near and around the pit hovels. Alas! What I saw and heard at Thornley in four years is almost beyond belief.
There were no visible signs of union at Thornley when I shifted into Quarry Row. The house had one room on the floor, with a loft above, reached by a ladder. The tiles were bare and daylight, rain, wind, sleet or snow came in through the crevices. The room was about 14 feet square and had to serve the purposes of bedroom, kitchen, cook-house, wash-house and coal-house. A large hole broken through the wall in one corner served to cool the place in hot weather. It was with difficulty that the ordinary decencies of life could be observed. There were three seams working in the mine, and a great amount of ‘back by work’ had to be done at the weekends. Not unfrequently (sic) 20 score or more of muck tubs were drawn on a Sunday. Joiners, Blacksmiths etc had to toil on Sundays. A huge fiery heap ran nearly the length of the village and it is safe to say that half a million tons of coal, broken wood, shale etc were burning at one time. The smoke and stench from the fiery mountain were often unbearable. In consequence of this state of things socially, drinking, gambling, fighting and reckless pastimes were universal and went unchecked.
At the office on pay Friday there used to be many hundreds of men who rushed, yelled and forced their way like savages to receive their wages. It was seldom that someone did not come away from the mob cut or bruised, leaving a cap or coat lap behind him. On the binding day the scenes were awful. As a bribe, a sovereign would be offered for the first man bound, ten shillings for the second, five shillings for the third, the rest receiving 2/6d each. I made the acquaintance of many of the best people at Thornley, including Bill Norman, one of the leaders in the strike of 1844 and William Beaney, the noted school-master and Primitive Methodist local preacher. From both of these men I received many valuable les-sons and much advice. Norman put me in the way of writing the first letter I ever sent to the Press and recommended me to a few good books which I needed in my after struggle.
“The Miners Advocate” published by W Whitehorn, London, appeared about this time and caused thousands of miners to read and think for the first time. The trenchant articles by John Towers opened men’s eyes to see the grave error of non-unionism. A flood of correspondence set in from all the mining districts and soon the spirit of combination was manifested. I put my whole soul into the struggle. The awakening brought all the best men at Thornley to the front eager to form a union of miners, but none seemed willing to take the lead and steer the ship.”