The Price of Coal

In the years between the wars, it wasn’t unusual for working class lads of 14 to join their fathers and uncles in the coal mines of Scotland. The work was dirty, dangerous and demanding and as the price of coal fell, mine owners sought to continue profitability by cutting miners’ wages. In the space of a few years in the 1920s, miners in Scotland would see their pay drop from £6 to £3.90 per week. The ongoing industrial slump of the 1920s saw wages and conditions suffer...