Patience Kershaw
17 years old
Halifax Mine worker
“All my sisters have been hurriers, but three went to the mill. Alice went because her legs swelled from hurrying in cold water when she was hot. I never went to day-school; I go to Sunday-school, but I cannot read or write;
I go to pit at five o'clock in the morning and come out at five in the evening; I get my breakfast of porridge and milk first; I take my dinner with me, a cake, and eat it as I go; I do not stop or rest any time for the purpose; I get nothing else until I get home, and then have potatoes and meat, not every day meat.
I hurry in the clothes I have now got on, trousers and ragged jacket; the bald place upon my head is made by thrusting the corves; my legs have never swelled, but sisters' did when they went to mill; I hurry the corves a mile and more under ground and back; they weigh 300 cwt.;
I hurry 11 a-day; I wear a belt and chain at the workings, to get the corves out; the getters that I work for are naked except their caps; they pull off all their clothes; I see them at work when I go up;
Sometimes they beat me, if I am not quick enough, with their hands; they strike me upon my back; the boys take liberties with me sometimes they pull me about; I am the only girl in the pit; there are about 20 boys and 15 men; all the men are naked;
I would rather work in mill than in coal-pit.
Hurriers, Bearers and Corves
In 1841, 2,350 women were employed in coal mines across Britain. They are part of a largely forgotten story of womens labour and exploitation.
In coal mines women and young girls worked deep underground as hurriers or bearers, harnessed by heavy leather belts and chains tied around their waists to haul or pull heavy coal carts - corves - through narrow, low-ceilinged underground tunnels.
In 1842, the Coal Mines Act banned females of any age from working underground and required boys who worked underground, to be no younger than ten years old. This law was in response to an inquiry, which was ordered by Queen Victoria.
The testimony that Patience Kershaw gave to the Parliament committee set up to examine coal mines contributed to the national outcry at the working conditions in the mines and who did the labour.
Parliaments Response to Patience’s Testimony
The official response to Patience’s testimony was as follows:
“This girl is an ignorant, filthy, ragged and deplorable-looking object, and such a one as the uncivilised natives of the prairies would be shocked to look upon.”
Kaye Jones has noted two things in this comment. “The first is that Patience is physically judged. Even though she’s giving evidence about her work, her physical appearance still matters. Secondly, note the racialised judgement in this comment. The commissioners would expect a Black or Brown woman to look this way but not a white woman.”
Huskar Pit disaster, 1838
Queen Victoria had been on the throne for just two years “she was said to have been distraught to find that women and children were employed in mines.
An enquiry was set up in 1842 to gather evidence as to the extent of this employment practice and PK gave evidence to the committee.
We only get a few glimpses of Patience’s life from the records, often leaving us with more questions than answers.
The Unthanks
English folk group the Unthanks were inspired by a song that Liverpool artist Frank Higgins wrote in 1972 based very literally on the actual evidence given by the young Patience Kershaw before the Government Commission of Enquiry into Child Labour in 1842. Folk singer Hilary Simpson has also recorded this song.
