An Illustrated History of Old Sutton in St.Helens

Part 11 (of 41) - Sutton Manor Colliery Part 1 (1906 - 1959)

Researched & Written by S.R.Wainwright ©MMX Contact Me

Sutton Manor Colliery Photo Album #1 | Photo Album #2 | Photo Album #3 | Photo Album #4

Sutton Manor Colliery History Part 2 Header image: Sutton Manor Colliery headgear winder

Of all the old pits in St.Helens, Sutton Manor Colliery probably evokes the most passionate reminiscences. One reason is that it's still in the recent memory of many Sutton folk and the mine's closure in 1991 with much coal still underground, caused considerable bitterness with management and unions arguing over its economic viability.

Sutton Manor Colliery was the only St.Helens pit to be opened during the twentieth century and it was the last to close (apart from Parkside). It dates back to May 1906 when no.1 shaft with a diameter of 18 feet was sunk by local coal proprietor Richard Evans. This was completed in December 1909 when the shaft was extended to a depth of 1,823 feet.

The sinking of no.2 shaft at Sutton Manor began in July 1906 with a shaft diameter initially measuring 22 feet. This was completed in 1912 and extended to a depth of 2,343 feet (one source claims a depth of 2107'). The two shafts were inter-linked and it became one of the largest pits within the Lancashire coal field.

Accounts for the financial year of 1907-8 have survived and reveal that the colliery had a budget of £35,000 of which £1200 was spent on a boiler, £2,175 on winding engines, £1000 on railway and siding and £4000 was expended on wages. However, the creation of the new pit had more than a financial cost. In July 1908, 34 year-old Fred Tiplady was fatally injured by a falling girder whilst attempting to erect a new headgear and he was far from being the last casualty at Sutton Manor.

The first known photograph of Sutton Manor Colliery c.1915 - contributed by Sutton Historic Society

times newspaper report 1914 about sutton manor colliery

In fact more than 60 people were killed working at Sutton Manor Colliery throughout its 85-year-history and over 270 injured, mainly during its earlier years when working conditions were less safe. There were three deaths during 1913 and in the following year on 18th March, John Lowton, aged just 15 lost his life. He was crushed to death by runaway tubs of coal and was the youngest worker to die at the pit. However, despite the accidents and the onset of the Great War, it was an exciting time in the district. The pit had only began production in 1912 but by 1914 was already achieving an output of 700 tons of coal per day. The Times reported that building firms were also profiting as the newly-recruited Manor pit men and their families required housing:

A town has sprung up where a few months ago there were only fields, and the builders are unable to keep pace with the demands for the erection of sufficient houses to accommodate the miners and their families.

(The Times 4/2/1914)

A third shaft with a diameter of eighteen feet was also started in 1914, but with the outbreak of the first world war, sinking was suspended at a depth of 180 feet and the shaft was subsequently filled in.

There were three deaths during 1915 and three in 1919 and three Manor men also lost their lives in 1920. The most common causes of accidents were explosions of firedamp - the flammable gas found in coal mines - plus roof falls as well as haulage accidents which were sometimes caused by youthful exuberance. On April 17th, 1923 18-year-old haulage hand William Gee was also killed by runaway tubs of coal at Sutton Manor. The divisional inspector of mines said at Gee's inquest, held at St.Helens Town Hall on the 19th before veteran coroner Samuel Brighouse (1850-1940), that he'd probably been riding an empty box down a brow when the accident happened and so the coroner ruled misadventure. He had quite a busy day, as he also conducted an inquest at the Clock Face Hotel on the death of Alfred Davies, who was a foreman at Clock Face Colliery.

The St.Helens Reporter's article on the death of William Gee 19th February 1935

The St.Helens Reporter's article on the death of William Gee 19/02/1935

The 1926 strike hit the community in Sutton Manor hard. A soup kitchen was set up in the Wesleyan Mission Church in Milton Street where wives of striking miners prepared hot midday meals for the men. People donated food and vegetables and a jazz band was formed that toured neighbouring towns to raise funds for the soup kitchen. Police were billeted in the colliery workshop and mining institute and in a lodging house in Jubits Lane and paraded round the Manor in pairs challenging any small group. For a short time the strikers and their families were allowed to gather coal from the colliery spoil heap but this became prohibited and the police were constantly on the look-out for offenders.

A large of number of miners worked during the strike causing considerable bitterness within the community. The institute became known as the 'scab club' because the strikers were denied access to it during the strike, so most of the patrons were the so-called 'blacklegs'. Consequently an alternative club was built in Walkers Lane out of two ex-army huts.

tennyson street, sutton manor sthelens
A view of Sutton Manor Colliery from Tennyson Street - photograph by Ian Lally

During the 1930s, Sutton Manor Colliery's safety record improved, leading to less business for Sir Samuel Brighouse. He was highly experienced at inquiring into the deaths of colliers during his 55-year-long tenure as coroner for South West Lancashire. As a consequence he developed considerable knowledge of mining practice and understood that accidents were inevitable in such a hazardous occupation. In 1935 when 37-year-old colliery haulage hand John Abbott Almond, who was employed at the Florida Mine of Sutton Manor's No.1 pit, was crushed to death by a six feet-long stone, Coroner Brighouse holding Almond's inquest praised the colliery management:

These men work down mines in a dangerous occupation....There is one great thing in favour of these employers. I have been told they have never had an accident at this pit since the year 1929. That is a very great record.

Three years later, Richard Bebbington (1909-1938) died after an accident at Sutton Manor, leaving a wife and three young daughters. The inquest, conducted as usual by Sam Brighouse, heard from James Holland, a colliery fireman who lived in Sutton's Alice Street. Holland said that on January 3rd, 1938, Bebbington was loading coal brought along by conveyors when the accident happened:

Witness agreed with the coroner that something caused the top coal to topple over but he could not account for it

(St.Helens Newspaper 21/01/1938)

Richard Bebbington, miner at Sutton Manor Colliery, pictured with wife Caroline (contributed by Mel Moran)

Not knowing precisely what caused an accident in a pit was quite common and wasn't something that usually troubled Coroner Brighouse, who explained to the jury how miners weren't able to hear the pit roof crunching and about to fall, because of the noise made by electrically-driven coal cutters. Such things didn't exist when Sam Brighouse first began conducting inquests on deceased miners. However, improvements in technology and practice were, in general, making the mines a safer workplace as the 88 year-old coroner stated at Richard Bebbington's inquest:

There is one consolation. We are not holding two inquiries every week into men killed in the mine, like we are in connection with road fatalities.

This was probably very little consolation, indeed, to widow Caroline Bebbington and her three young children who'd lost their father. Later in 1938 on October 19th, John Fazakerley at 70 years of age became the oldest Sutton Manor pitman to lose his life.

mary ludden at sutton manor colliery
Mary Ludden on the coal belt at Sutton Manor Colliery's screens (contributed by daughter Jane Mines)

Screens girls at Sutton Manor colliery pit brow

Women and girls played their part at Sutton Manor Colliery and often had demanding jobs, especially in the pit's early years. Many worked in the lamproom or as 'pit brow lasses' in the screens plant, picking out rock and dirt from the coal belts along with the men. In February 1980, when Betty Lees retired after 47 years service, she revealed to Coal News that she had begun work in 1933 as a fourteen year old screens girl:

It was hard work for a young girl and the conditions were not very comfortable, but I've enjoyed being with the industry because of the companionship you get with fellow workers. When I started here there were 48 girls on the screens, but when I became an office cleaner in 1968 there were only two of us doing the job

Women played their part in other ways, including organising the annual Rose Queen Walking Day. The children would often be dressed as sweeps or soldiers and the under 8's had a Fairy Queen, who was accompanied in the procession by six fairies. All of their costumes were made by the women of the Sutton Manor village.

The procession began from a field at the side of the Miners Institute (which opened in 1922) and was led by a banner, followed by small children and then the colliery band. On a float came the Rose Queen with her ladies in waiting, followed by children in costumes and more floats decorated with paper flowers. The procession would end on a field at the side of what is now The Smithy Manor pub.

For the first twenty years of the colliery's life, women played a major role in the home in washing their man's filthy clothes and with hot water already prepared, helped to get their blackened husband clean upon arriving home from the pit. A major advance as far as both sexes was concerned was the opening of the pithead baths on September 21st, 1931. Jennie Lancaster's father worked as a blacksmith at the colliery and told the pupils of Sutton Manor Primary in 2006 how he bathed in a tin bath in the corner of their washhouse which her mother filled with hot water from a fire boiler. Then the baths opened:

I remember the day the Baths opened. Mum and I went with Dad to the grand opening. We walked in with all the white tiles everywhere. We walked around and then the water was turned on to show us how they worked. The place was so big, it was like a palace to us.

sutton manor colliery baths
The showers in the baths at the colliery during demolition in 1992 (contributed by Mel Moran)

However, there was no provision for the women who worked in the coal screening plant and who became covered in coal dust. By the end of their shift they were as black as the men who worked underground! Married women were not employed and when a girl got married, she automatically lost her job!

During the Second World War, many colliery staff were recruited into the armed forces and quite a number of 'Bevin Boys' took their places. These were young men, mainly chosen at random from conscripts for the armed forces, who were diverted into the pits. The government had made the mistake of conscripting far too many coal miners into the services which had created a shortage of experienced mineworkers.

The so-called Bevin Boys were named after Ernest Bevin, the Minister for Labour and National Service who had initiated the programme that began in late 1943. Many stayed on well after the conflict ended in 1945 and their non-union status created tensions with the heavily unionised workforce at Sutton Manor. So the lads went out on strike, only returning to work on November 5th, 1946 when the Bevin Boys agreed to join the NUM. The Times briefly mentioned the story, under news that pregnant women were having their soap rations increased. Well coal mining and soap do have a certain synergy!

You can't tell a miner - St.Helens Newspaper October 14th, 1949

In fact the extensive use of the baths at Sutton Manor and other pits was causing problems for bus conductors as miners were too clean! Under a heading "You can't tell a miner these days", the St.Helens Newspaper of October 14th, 1949 reported how the St.Helens Corporation had successfully applied to the Liverpool Traffic Commissioners' Court for permission to cease colliers' day work return bus tickets after 9am. This was because bus conductors were unable to distinguish between miners and other workers as they were taking "full advantage" of the pithead baths.

This short story was placed on the front page of the newspaper, adjacent to a lengthy account of the death of Peter Fitzhenry at Sutton Manor. The coroner at his inquest, C.M. Bolton, described it as "...the old, old story all over again of bolting the door when the horse has gone."

Inquest on Peter Fitzhenry - St.Helens Newspaper October 14th, 1949

The sixty-seven years-old haulage hand from Milton Street died in St.Helens Hospital just over two weeks after being injured in No. 2 Pit. He was struck down on September 24th, 1949 by a runaway empty tub that young inexperienced Thomas Maher of Sutton Road had failed to secure. Since the accident, a warrick (or warwick) safety device had been installed by the management to prevent unbalanced loads from running away at that location.

This was too late for elderly Irishman Peter Fitzhenry, who'd worked at Sutton Manor for many years despite only having one arm. The man who C. Tyrer, the President of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners Federation, described as a "grand type of worker", lost an arm in 1917 as a result of injuries sustained in the Battle of Arras, after volunteering to fight for the British in the first World War.

Miners down Sutton Manor Colliery changing the cutter picks on the road heading machine
which cut the coal then transported it back down the shaft - contributed by Sutton Historic Society

sutton manor miners released from Walton prison

Despite Fitzhenry's death, Sutton Manor Colliery was becoming a safer place to work as a consequence of improvements to working practices and technology. Although on 23rd February, 1950, the pitmen were reminded that their job could be hazardous when a bar of iron mysteriously fell down a shaft, striking and killing 32-year-old William Sweeney who was in a descending cage. Two others miners were also killed that same year and three more died in 1954. There were eight black years within the life of the colliery when as many as three miners perished within the year (1913, 1915, 1919, 1920, 1928, 1941, 1950 & 1954). Thankfully 1954 was the last.

There were a number of industrial disputes at Sutton Manor during its lifetime. In 1950, twenty-five miners at the pit and twenty-six at Bold Colliery were each ordered to pay £10 damages for breach of contract as a result of an unofficial strike that they'd undertaken in March. Most of the miners refused to pay, so in September the Coal Board returned to court and obtained committal orders against 21 men at Sutton Manor. A miner called Horrocks was the first to be arrested and was imprisoned in Walton and then Preston jail. This outraged the miners at Sutton Manor and Bold pits, who held meetings and voted to go out on strike once again.

A deal was struck between the employers and the general secretary of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation in which Horrocks would be released from prison and the miners would return to work. However, the Sutton Manor lads weren't consulted and although Horrocks was duly released, they opted to stay out. So on September 16th, twelve more Manor miners who hadn't paid their breach of contract fines were despatched to Walton.

The Sutton Manor branch of the National Union of Mineworkers held a meeting and decided to pay the imprisoned men's fines. They were told that £117 was needed which was a substantial sum in those days and there wasn't enough in the kitty. So they ended up borrowing from family and friends to make up the shortfall and get their colleagues released. The disgusted NUM members in Sutton Manor also passed a resolution calling on the Lancashire president of the union to quit.

During 1952-7, the colliery was re-organised and no.1 shaft was deepened by 683 feet (one source states 494') and no.2 shaft was deepened by a further 183 feet, with new pit bottoms constructed. New screens were also installed and a new winding drum was added to No.2's winder. Provision was also made for locomotive haulage. The reorganisation also led to changes in the mining geography, with operations expanding and concentrating on areas around large faults that ran in a general west to east direction.

During these post-war years, Sutton Manor Colliery was in its heyday with output rising and innovative methods employed to produce coal. In 1956 the colliery began diverting the deadly gas methane to fire its boilers and three years later it recorded its highest number of men on its books, 1682 workers in total. The long-term future of the colliery looked bright. However, it wasn't to last.

Next: Part 12) Sutton Manor Colliery Part 2 (1960 - 1991); | Research Sources

          Click Here for Sutton Manor Colliery Photo-Album #1   (46 pictures)    Slideshow
          Click Here for Sutton Manor Colliery Photo-Album #2   (45 pictures)    Slideshow
          Click Here for Sutton Manor Colliery Photo-Album #3   (38 pictures)    Slideshow
          Click Here for Sutton Manor Colliery Photo-Album #4   (26 pictures)    Slideshow
          Click Here for a plan of Sutton Manor Colliery (courtesy Mel Moran)

I am continuing to research Sutton Manor Colliery. If you have any
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