Western Miners' Association

For the American trade union, see Western Federation of Miners.

The Western Miners' Association was a trade union representing coal miners in parts of South Wales, centred on Neath.

Western Miners' Association

Western District Miners' Association of South Wales
Merged into	South Wales Miners' Federation
Founded	February 1872
Dissolved	1898
Headquarters	Bridge House, Bryncoch, Neath
Location	Wales
Members	4,500 (1891)
Parent organization	Amalgamated Association of Miners (1872–1875)

History

The union originated in February 1872, when about 100 local coal miners met at the King's Head Inn and agreed to form a lodge of the Amalgamated Association of Miners (AAM). Membership grew rapidly, and by October, it claimed 1,223 members. The AAM began to struggle, and dissolved in 1875, but the Neath District survived on an independent basis.

Isaac Evans became prominent in the union, and in 1876 took a leading role in the negotiations which founded the Sliding Scale Joint Committee, to determine coal miners' wages. Two years later, he was appointed as secretary and agent for what became known as the Neath District of Miners, resigning as secretary in 1881, but remaining as agent. During the 1880s, the union was known as the Neath and Swansea Miners' Association, and by the 1890s, as the Neath, Swansea, and Llanelly District of Miners. In 1891, its membership reached 4,500, but by the end of 1892, it was down to only 2,400.

Evans and the union remained strongly supportive of the sliding scale, a position shared with some other local miners' unions, but not with the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB); it therefore did not join the MFGB. In 1895, it changed its name again, becoming the Western Miners' Association of South Wales. Evans died in 1897, and was replaced by John Williams, and in 1898 the union became part of the new South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF).

Western District

The union became the Western District of the SWMF, and retained a high level of autonomy. Williams won election as a Member of Parliament, and was replaced as agent by W. E. Morgan. Morgan died in 1916, and was replaced by David Grenfell and then D. J. Williams. In 1934, the district was merged with the Anthracite District to form Area No.1.

Leadership

Agents

1878: Isaac Evans

1897: John Williams

1906: W. E. Morgan

1916: David Grenfell

1922: D. J. Williams

General Secretaries

1870s: William Hill

1878: Isaac Evans

1889: David John Morris

1895: W. E. Morgan

1906: William Jenkins

1910:

1916: D. J. Williams

1922:

1920s: Gwilym Davies