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Bevin Boys – Chester-le-Street Heritage Group

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Over the years we have been asked if we had any information relating to the Bevin Boys, unfortunately official information is limited, and what does exist is spread far and wide. After extensive research by Group Member Dave Gardner in 2022 we published our latest booklet “The Bevin Boys”, and now hope to be able to assist anyone who is interested in the story behind this somewhat forgotten part of our mining history.

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In 1943 this country faced a crisis in coal production as there was only three weeks of coal stock available. This put the country's ability to win the Second World War in jeopardy.

The then Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, charged Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour and National Service to increase coal production.

Mr Bevin decided that from all 18 to 24 year old men conscripts drafted to serve in the armed forces one in ten were to be directed - on pain of imprisonment and irrespective of background or ability - to work underground in British coal mines.

Approximately 48,000 Bevin Boys (as they came to be known) undertook unskilled manual jobs to release more experienced miners to move on to coal production at the coal face.

The role played by Bevin Boys should not be lost to history.

Reproduced with the permission of
H.Parkes

The Bevin Boys

December 1943, the first ballot was drawn
With the optants and the volunteers
The Bevin Boys were born
You got 3 pounds 10 shillings, less 25 (shillings) for rent
You gotta buy your own pick & shovel, now that your days are spent

As The Bevin Boys
The Bevin Boys
The Bevin Boys

Miles away in Europe
Or a mile underground
Soldier or miner
You long to be homeward bound
Descending in that cage, risking your life everyday
Say hello to the pit pony, unlike him, you get out at the end of every day

As The Bevin Boys
The Bevin Boys
The Bevin Boys

Known as the underground army,.... 48,000 strong
An if you think they were treated like heroes, let me tell you brother... you'd be wrong

You were called up & you were sent down
To risk your life, underground

For you the war ended late, they wouldn't let you out till 1948
No recognition for 50 years, let me hear you give them 3 cheers

Let's hear it for the Bevin Boys
Let's hear it for the Bevin Boys
Let's hear it for the Bevin Boys

released May 20, 2019
Written, produced and played by Steve Jones (copyright control)

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Bevin Boys by Steve Jones, released 20 May 2019 The Bevin Boys December 1943, the first ballot was drawn With the optants and the volunteers The Bevin Boys were born You got 3 pounds 10 shillings, less 25 (shillings) for rent You gotta buy your own pick & shovel, now

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THOUSANDS of forgotten men who were called up to the coal face during the Second World War have been recognised with a commemorative exhibition.

The Bevin Boys - War's Forgotten Workforce, was officially launched at the Mining Art Gallery, at The Auckland Project, in Bishop Auckland yesterday.

It celebrates the efforts of the 48,000 men conscripted to the mines during the war, whose vital service went unacknowledged for decades.

Gallery curator, Angela Thomas said: "These men worked through gruelling conditions to fuel the fight and keep the country going during the Second World War.

"It's important that we commemorate their wartime service, and shed light on the artworks they created in response to those experiences."

The temporary exhibition at Mining Art Gallery features artworks from former Bevin Boys, David McClure, John Tipton, Tom McGuinness and Ted Holloway, as well as original artefacts such as a wage slip of a Bevin Boy.

John Tipton was sent from Oxfordshire to Dean and Chapter Colliery in Ferryhill, County Durham as a Bevin Boy in 1944, at the age of 18.

During his time in the mines, Mr Tipton enrolled at Darlington School of Art and submitted some of his characterful sketches capturing life underground to national publications. He went on to work as a graphic artist for The Observer newspaper.

His niece, Claire Daykin said: "When he left the mines he took it all with him, his life was shaped by it."

Similarly, David McClure discovered a passion for art during his time at the coal face. In 1944 he was in his first year of a degree in English and History at Glasgow University when he was conscripted into the mines as a Bevin Boy.

The pen and ink drawings on display in the exhibition follow on from a series he used in his application to the Edinburgh School of Art in 1947.

The Mining Art Gallery part of The Auckland Project and the first in the country dedicated to Mining Art, is holding the exhibition to mark 75 years since the launch of the Bevin Boys scheme and ten years since Bevin Boys were formally acknowledged with commemorative badges from the Government.

Entry to the exhibition is included with gallery admission at £4 for adults, £3 for concessions and free for under 16s, carers and Art Pass/ Historic Houses members. Doors open daily from 10am until 4pm. For more information visit aucklandcastle.org

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Exhibition shines light on the forgotten Bevin Boys

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THOUSANDS of forgotten men who were called up to the coal face during the Second World War have been recognised with a commemorative exhibition. The Bevin Boys - War's Forgotten Workforce, was officially launched at the Mining Art Gallery, at The Auckland Project, in Bishop Auckland yesterday.

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Ted Holloway. Bevin Boys. Date unknown. Oil. 690mm x 840mm x 25mm. Photograph: Colin Davison. Copyright: Gemini Collection, Zurbarán Trust. Courtesy of The Auckland Project.

The Bevin Boys - War's Forgotten Workforce is a new exhibition of artworks by four former Bevin Boys Ted Holloway, Tom McGuinness, David McClure and John Tipton. Running from 28 March until 30 September 2018 at The Mining Art Gallery in Bishop Auckland, the show commemorates 75 years since the scheme began.

It also marks the 10th anniversary of the Bevin Boys' formal acknowledgement by the UK government. In 2008, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown awarded commemorative badges, featuring a pithead and profile of a miner, to 27 men who were conscripted to work as miners during the Second World War. This is where the title of the exhibition takes its name.

If you don't know the history, In 1943, Great Britain had been at war for four years, the mining industry had lost 36,000 men to the armed forces or other wartime industries, and coal supplies began to significantly decrease. The government estimated that there were only three weeks of vital coal supply left. Minister for Labour Ernest Bevin tried to persuade workers to sign up for a job at the coalface, but when they did not respond he was forced to set up a compulsory conscription scheme.

Every month, for 20 months, Bevin's secretary drew numbers from his distinctive homburg hat. If the number drawn matched the last digit of a man's National Service number, he was sent into the mines. Four out of every 10 men appealed against their assignment, with some even choosing a prison sentence in protest, only to find they were still sent underground once their prison sentence was over.

By the end of the scheme, 48,000 men from all walks of life had been thrust into the dark and dangerous world of coal mining. In response to their experiences, some Bevin Boys created art. Drawing and painting the underground world, which was unlike anything they had known before. While the war ended in 1945, many Bevin Boys were not demobilised until 1948 because of the continuing coal shortage. They went unrecognised until a national campaign saw them finally acknowledged by the government for the vital role they played in the war effort.

The Bevin Boys - War's Forgotten Workforce runs from 28 March until 30 September 2018 at at The Mining Art Gallery in Bishop Auckland.

David McClure. Head of a Miner. 1948. Pen and ink on paper. 225mm x 235mm. Photograph: Richard Hawkes. Copyright: The David McClure Estate. Courtesy of The Auckland Project.

Ted Holloway. Timber Leader. Date unknown. Graphite pencil on paper. 170mm x 272mm. Photograph: Colin Davison. Copyright: Gemini Collection, Zurbarán Trust. Courtesy of The Auckland Project.

David McClure. Tunnel End with Miner. 1947. Pen and ink on paper. 207.5mm x 265mm. Photograph: Richard Hawkes. Copyright: The David McClure Estate. Courtesy of The Auckland Project.

John Tipton. Doggie. 1945. Pen and ink on paper. Photograph: Richard Hawkes. Copyright: The artist's niece. Courtesy of The Auckland Project.

David McClure. Head of a Miner. 1948. Pen and ink on paper. 225mm x 235mm. Photograph: Richard Hawkes. Copyright: The David McClure Estate. Courtesy of The Auckland Project.

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The Bevin Boys: War's Forgotten Workforce celebrates miners through art

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The Bevin Boys - War's Forgotten Workforce is a new exhibition of artworks by four former Bevin Boys Ted Holloway, Tom McGuinness, David McClure and John Tipton. Running from 28 March until 30 September 2018 at The Mining Art Gallery in Bishop Auckland, the show commemorates 75 years since the scheme began.

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The soot-black testimony of a forgotten band of brothers - the so-called Bevin Boys, who served in Britain's coalmines during and after the second world war - is to go on display in Bishop Auckland on 28 March in a stark illustration of the vital national work they carried out.

Powerful artwork created by four former Bevin Boys will form the core of War's Forgotten Workforce, an exhibition at Britain's new Mining Art Gallery, which hopes to remind visitors of the conscripted miners' wartime efforts. It is also timed to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the controversial government scheme that put them down the mines.

The striking art of Ted Holloway, Tom McGuinness, David McClure and John Tipton was created in response to their life-changing experiences in the mining industry. Each artist drew or painted an underground world unlike anything they had seen before and which, for many of their fellow conscripts, was second choice to a place on the frontline.

In 1943, four years into the second world war, the British government had to face up to the damaging loss of 36,000 miners who had been drafted into the armed forces. Coal supplies had dwindled and it was estimated they might not last beyond three weeks. Yet the public had failed to respond to a call from Ernest Bevin, the minister for labour, for volunteers to sign up at the coalface. So compulsory conscription began.

Each month Bevin's secretary drew a series of numbers from his homburg hat. If they matched the last digit of a man's national service number, he was destined for the mines. By 1948, 48,000 young men had been sent to serve in British coalmines. They worked alongside "optants" who had volunteered for work in the pit, and 41 conscientious objectors, but mining was not generally a popular choice. Four out of every 10 men appealed against their fate, with some going to prison in protest.

Holloway, from rural Hampshire, was sent 300 miles north to live in a prefabricated hut in Annfield Plain, County Durham, after his number was picked from Bevin's hat. His sketches were made between 1983 and 1987 and they record his awe at the strength of his fellow miners. McGuinness was also sent for training in Annfield Plain and was then assigned to Fishburn Colliery, where he took up formal art tuition, eventually enrolling in art classes at Darlington School of Art and joining a sketching club at the Spennymoor Settlement arts community. His etchings and oil paintings feature hunched, distorted figures.

Drawing alongside McGuinness at Darlington School of Art was his fellow miner Tipton, who went on to work as a graphic artist at the Observer. Based at Dean and Chapter Colliery in Ferryhill, he trained new Bevin Boys and spent his spare time sketching and painting the surrounding countryside, as well as landmarks such as Durham Cathedral.

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Tunnel End with Miner, 1947, by David McClure. Photograph: Courtesy of The Auckland Project

The fourth artist on show, Glasgow University student McClure, was forced to swap his mortar board for a standard issue pressed cardboard pit helmet in 1944. Training at Townhill Colliery in Dunfermline, Scotland, he quickly learned that getting the right quota of coal was the top priority. He also once had to spend a shift alone in the dark, pumping water from the pit. The selection of his pen-and-wash drawings on show follow on from earlier works he submitted in his application portfolio to Edinburgh College of Art, where he went on to study.

Bevin Boys were not demobilised until 1948 due to the continuing coal shortage. Their work was largely unrecognised until a national campaign finally made their case in 2008. The show at the Mining Gallery marks the 10 years since the Bevin Boys won a formal acknowledgment from the government, which saw prime minister Gordon Brown award commemorative badges to 27 surviving mining conscripts.
The Bevin Boys - War's Forgotten Workforce, opens on 28 March and runs until 30 Sept 2018. Mining Art Gallery Market Pl, Bishop Auckland DL14 7NP Topics

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Deep, dark art of the Bevin Boys who powered wartime Britain

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The soot-black testimony of a forgotten band of brothers - the so-called Bevin Boys, who served in Britain's coalmines during and after the second world war - is to go on display in Bishop Auckland on 28 March in a stark illustration of the vital national work they carried out.

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British Pathe, the world's leading multimedia resource with a history stretching back over a century. The finest and most comprehensive archive of fabulous footage and stunning stills.

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British mining industry in WW2/ part one of four

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British mining industry in WW2/ part one of four

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The Forgotten Conscript, the story of the Bevin Boys - The Forgotten Conscript

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This is the personal home page of Jacqueline Swift from Llantwit Major, GLA.

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The Wartime Memories Project - Bevin Boys

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Collecting preserving and researching photographs and memories of the Bevin Boys during World War Two.

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Form

Application form for a Bevin Boys veterans badge and guidance on the application process.

You can get a Bevin Boys veterans badge if you worked in the coal mines under the Bevin Boys scheme - widows of Bevin Boys may also be eligible.

Fill in the application form and send it by email or post to the Coal Liabilities Unit.
Christine.Mower@beis.gov.uk

Coal Liabilities Unit
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Level 3, Orchard 2
1 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0ET

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Bevin Boys veterans badge: application form

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Form Application form for a Bevin Boys veterans badge and guidance on the application process. You can get a Bevin Boys veterans badge if you worked in the coal mines under the Bevin Boys scheme - widows of Bevin Boys may also be eligible.

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"At the end of my five years with the Air Training Corps I could recognise every aircraft in the sky but I found myself working hundreds of feet underground," says Sir Jimmy, now 81, He was unusual: he liked the work. Many Bevin Boys nursed a deep sense of grievance, compounded by their shabby treatment after the war.

While the civilian defence medal was awarded to police, fire, ambulance and even WRVS workers at the end of the war, they received nothing. It was 50 years before they were even allowed to march to the Cenotaph with other veterans on Remembrance Day.

The Bevin Boys were a panic measure to cover an official blunder. Young miners had either been called up or gone to work in munitions factories for better pay because the Government had failed to make mining a reserved occupation.

So, by 1943, with the country running out of coal to keep the factories in full production, miners were an ageing, depleted, strike-prone bunch.

In December, Ernest Bevin, the minister for labour, devised a ballot scheme whereby men aged between 18 and 25 would be picked off for work in the mines as they registered for National Service.

They were selected every fortnight, according to the last digit of their registration number. The penalty for non-compliance was a heavy fine or three months' imprisonment under the Emergency Powers Act.

For 18 months, 21,800 men were conscripted in this way and the remainder opted to join, but the scheme was hugely unpopular. When Bevin was asked whether young recruits could have a psychological examination to see if they were temperamentally suited to coalmining, he replied simply: "No."

Warwick Taylor, 81, the vice-president of the Bevin Boys Association and long-time campaigner, had trained with the ATS, like Savile, and was a fully qualified radio operator when he was sent to a colliery in South Wales just before his 18th birthday.

He lived in a Nissen hut - freezing in winter, stifling in summer - and worked underground on conveyor belts, keeping the walkways clear of coal spillage.

"I was devastated by being sent down," he recalls. "All my buddies were going into the RAF. We appealed. But it was no good. It just fell on deaf ears. The descent into the lift that took you into the mine was known as the initiation drop and none of us will ever forget it. You went into the cage with trepidation. It was supposed to descend at 30ft per second, but they let it go at 70ft per second.

It was supposed to be a bit of fun, but the pressure on the eardrums was intense. The mine was nearly 3,000ft deep and, at the bottom, you were completely disorientated. Some of the lads got nosebleeds on the way down. Most of us couldn't wait to get out."

Taylor, author of The Forgotten Conscript, says the Bevin Boys were unfairly dismissed as draft dodgers, deserters or conscientious objectors throughout the war. People called them cowards and put white feathers in their hats. They were often billeted with mining families whose own sons had joined the Services and who suspected that they would stay on and steal their jobs.

"Understandably, the Bevin Boy was looked upon with suspicion by regular miners. They were suddenly faced with this invasion of young, inexperienced men who had never got their hands dirty in their lives and were forced into an industry where they had no wish to be," he says.

Welsh-speaking miners would often refuse to talk to Bevin Boys in English or would make them work with pit ponies that only understood orders given in Welsh. Those in digs with mining families would be last in the queue for the tin bath.

Barry Ainsworth worked in a South Yorkshire colliery and recalled having to provide his own tools made from bits of wood and scrap iron. "It was dangerous, dark, dirty, greasy. When I entered the mines, a lot of my friends thought I was a conscientious objector. Definitely not. We wanted to fight for our country in the Armed Forces, but were chosen to do something closer to home.

"After the war, when the other Service personnel were recognised for their war effort, we got neither uniforms nor medals. We just disappeared." Victor Wheale described his two years in the Mexborough mine, South Yorks, as "the worst and most dangerous conditions I could ever have imagined". He was a carpenter from Brighton who loved the open air and he had tried to enrol as an airman.

Instead, he found himself working a mile underground, in rat-infested tunnels with unsafe machinery. "Often we worked in the pitch dark after power failures, struggling to carry on by the light of a Davis lamp," he wrote on the BBC's WW2 People's War website. "Many men were injured, sometimes fatally."

No account was taken of whether the men were suited to the work. Geoffrey Rose, from Fakenham, Norfolk, was accepted by the Royal Navy in January, 1944, but three days later was directed to report to Doncaster colliery.

He appealed, claiming that he lived in agricultural country at least 100 miles from any coal mine, but lost his case. The alternative was prison. "Some Bevin Boys did choose prison," he said. "It was a complete change of life. We worked in the depth of the earth in cramped, damp conditions. Travelling on leave, we were not even allowed a cup of tea on the train because we had no uniform. Some Bevin Boys were much abused because it was thought we had run away from the Services."

Some of the men were psychologically scarred by their experiences. Maurice Sheppard, of Durham, recalled: "In 11 months in the mines I lost three stone in weight. I was sent home to see a specialist and diagnosed with 'inward claustrophobia'."

He was given a special boot allowance because his boots rotted away so quickly in the wet pit, and his digs were so damp that his clothes acquired a green mould.

Jimmy Savile, who went to the South Kirby mine in Yorkshire, admits he was " very peculiar" in having adapted so well. Most of his comrades were appalled by the conditions. Ronald Griffan, a Birmingham boy, was balloted in 1944 and sent to a pit at Newport.

"Each day down the mine got worse," he recalled. "The stale air caused a burning sensation in my lungs and the heat and heavy work drained all my strength away. One morning, I was heaving coal on to the conveyor when something told me to move my position. A split second later, there was a tremendous crash followed by clouds of grey dust and a great pile of rubble. Almost a goner."

If a Bevin Boy was killed in a mining accident his family received no compensation and those invalided out had no pension. Some were not demobilised until 1948 because the country was still short of coal.

In 1998, they were represented for the first time at the Cenotaph but the badge awarded by Gordon Brown yesterday - featuring a pithead and a profile of a miner - is the first tangible sign of a nation's appreciation.

"This is wonderful news for a brave group of men who have been forgotten and shelved for years," says Taylor. "We have finally surfaced in the national consciousness. My boys are delighted. This has been a long struggle on behalf of a very under-appreciated group of men. The one disappointment for some families is that the badge will go only to survivors. I will encourage them to wear it in public and to be proud."

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Bevin Boys: 'Most of us couldn't wait to get out'

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"At the end of my five years with the Air Training Corps I could recognise every aircraft in the sky but I found myself working hundreds of feet underground," says Sir Jimmy, now 81, He was unusual: he liked the work. Many Bevin Boys nursed a deep sense of grievance, compounded by their shabby treatment after the war.

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The underground front
The story of the Bevin Boys miners has been largely untold; those many men who spent their war on the so-called 'underground front' went unrecognized for almost half a century.
When Britain declared war in 1939, thousands of experienced miners left the mines to join the armed services or transfer to higher-paid 'war industries'. By the summer of 1943 over 36,000 men had left the coal industry. The British government decided that it needed around 40,000 men to take their places.

Ernest Bevin

In December 1943, Ernest Bevin, the wartime Minister of Labour and National Service, devised a scheme whereby a ballot took place to put a proportion of conscripted men into the collieries rather than the armed services. Every month, ten numbers were placed in a hat; two numbers were drawn out, and those whose National Service registration number ended with those numbers were directed to the mining industry.
These "ballotees" became known as "Bevin Boys".

Alongside the ballotees were the "optants", men who had volunteered for service in the coal mines rather than the armed services. Between 1943 and 1948, 48,000 young men were conscripted for National Service Employment in British coal mines. Contrary to a common belief at the time, only 41 of them were conscientious objectors.

Bevin Boys, therefore, came from all social classes and regions in Britain, not just the mining areas. Many had only been vaguely aware of the mining industry before being drafted. Most had set their sights on a career in the armed services and were horrified to be sent to the collieries instead.

Punishment

In April 1944 the Colliery Guardian reported that 135 ballotees had been prosecuted for failing to comply with the direct labour order. Thirty two went to prison, although 19 of them were released when they eventually agreed to go into the mining industry.

Picks and shovels

Unlike the ordinary miners, who wore their own clothes, Bevin Boys were issued with overalls, safety helmet and working boots. However, they still had to pay for their own tools and equipment, which led to complaints that the infantry were not expected to supply their own rifles so why were they expected to buy picks and shovels!

Only a small proportion of Bevin Boys were actually employed cutting coal on the coal face, although some worked as colliers' assistants filling tubs or drams. The majority worked on the maintenance of haulage roads, or generally controlled the movement of underground transport. A small number who had previous electrical or engineering experience were given similar work in the collieries.

Bevin Boys suffered from resentment from local mining families who had seen their own children drafted into the armed services only to be replaced by "outsiders". In addition, just being young men out of uniform could lead to abuse from the public or attention from the police as possible deserters, "army dodgers" or even enemy spies. It is not surprising that they suffered from high absentee rates. A very small number stayed in mining after the war, but most couldn't wait to leave.

Official records destroyed

The ballots were suspended in May 1945, with the last Bevin Boys being demobbed in 1948. Unlike other conscripts, they had no right to go back to their previous occupations, they received no service medals, "demob" suit or even a letter of thanks. Because the official records were destroyed in the 1950s, former Bevin Boy ballotees cannot even prove their service unless they have kept their personal documents.

The first official Bevin Boys reunion was held at the former Chatterley Whitfield Mining Museum in 1989. More have been held at various venues since then. However, it was not until 1995, 50 years after Victory in Europe Day, that the British government finally recognized their service to the war effort and former Bevin Boys are now officially allowed to take part in the Remembrance Day service at Whitehall.

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Remembering the Bevin Boys in the Second World War

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The story of the Bevin Boys miners has been largely untold; those many men who spent their war on the so-called 'underground front' went unrecognized for almost half a century. When Britain declared war in 1939, thousands of experienced miners left the mines to join the armed services or transfer to higher-paid 'war industries'.

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Britain's Underground Army - BBC Radio 4

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Three surviving Bevin Boys reflect on the ways the experience changed them forever.

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The Wartime Memories Project - Bevin Boys

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Collecting preserving and researching photographs and memories of the Bevin Boys during World War Two.

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Bravery of the Bevin boys/ Vo