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The Lothian Coal Company: 1900-1920
1901 was a good year for the Lothian Coal Co. but for the
following five years demand for coal was poor and prices
low. There was a tax on coal exports and this affected the
Coal Co. as it exported a lot of coal to the Continent.
The company was tempted to reduce wages but since 1899 wages
had been controlled nationally by a Conciliation Board composed
of coal owners and miners. The profit for the year 1903
-1904 was £10,000. One of the directors commented
at the A.G.M. that "the balance is a miserable affair,
considering the large amount of capital in the company.
The company has done much for the comfort of the workers
and the workers in return ought to do all they could for
the company." (Dalkeith Advertiser, 6 October 1904)
Other ways were sought to reduce production costs and in
1905 electric coal cutting machinery was introduced to Newbattle
Colliery and this increased output and cut the average cost
of coal production. That year, the great seam was reached.
It was six feet of excellent steam coal and good household
coal. Newbattle Colliery was noted for the quality of its
cannel coal which was particulary suitable for the manufacture
of gas and was in demand in London, Europe and America.
In 1907 work was begun on a new project to replace the
old Bryans Pit. A drift mine was developed at Easthouses
and when opened it 1910 Bryans Pit was closed.
1907 was a good year for business and the minimum wage
rose to 7/6 a day, though it fell back the following year.
Part of the Dalkeith Advertiser report of the chairman's
speech at the 1908 A.G.M. went as follows "The advance
of the rate of wages was more serious for them than the
mere increase of wages, for they always found that when
colliers had high wages they worked a great deal less. He
hoped they would not have that difficulty to contend with
now that the wages were back to 6/3. They had no fear of
the exhaustion of the collieries; coal would last for many
more generations, and that was another reason why they were
anxious to build houses, and build them substantially, and
tempt the workmen by giving good accommodation." (Dalkeith
Advertiser, 24 October 1908)
1909 and 1910 were good years for the company with profits
around £20,000 each year and wage rates quite low.
On the outbreak of war in 1914 many miners enlisted and
coal production fell as a result. The government brought
out a Coal Emergency Act and took control of the coal industry.
Minimum wage rates rose continuously and at the end of the
war they stood at 13/- a day. There was a coal famine with
huge demand at home and abroad. At this time the miner's
leaders demanded that wages should be increased by 3/6 a
day, that the working day should be reduced from eight to
six hours and that collieries should be nationalised. The
Coal Controller, on the advice of the coal owners offered
I/- a day. A national strike was imminent and a Royal Commission
was hastily set up under the chairmanship of Sir John Sankey.
Of the twelve members, six were miners representatives and
three represented the coal owners. The main recommendations
of the Sankey Commission were: (1) An immediate increase
of 2/- a day, (2) The introduction of a seven hour day,
(3) Nationalisation of the pits as from 1922 and (4) One
penny per ton of coal produced to be set aside to provide
amenities in mining areas.
Three of these recommendations were accepted and acted
upon. Only the one concerning nationalisation was rejected.
The massive housebuilding programme of the Lothian Coal
Co. begun in 1896 had continued into the twentieth century.
Between 1901 and 1914 another 350 houses were built at Newtongrange
in the schemes of Dean Park, St. David's and Monkswood by
the Newbattle and Whitehill Building Co. (a subsidiary of
the Coal Co.). Shareholders in the Coal Company were given
first preference to purchase the £10 shares and a
dividend of 5% was assured. The whole project proved to
be extremely profitable for the shareholders. The Building
Company was able to secure government loans of up to half
to cost of the building programme at low interest rates
"...and the rents actually paid by the Coal Company
were sufficient to pay not only five percent dividends,
but to permit a sinking fund to redeem the whole capital
at the conclusion of the lease, to pay the interest and
repayment of Governement loans which were acquired, and
to permit heavy depreciation of the houses. The original
cost of the houses appears on the books as £59,893
but by 1913 their depreciated value was £4,262."
(Michael Cotterill: Mining Museum Research Paper No. 1).
The Lothian Coal Co. leased the houses from the Building
Co. for fifteen years from the date of completion and then
were able to buy the houses at a fraction of the actual
value. The Newbattle and Whitemll Building Co. built no
more houses after 1904 but was not wound up until 1914 to
ensure the maximum financial benefits could be reaped.
Meantime, another company, the Newtongrange and Easthouses
Building Co, had been formed in 1906. It operated in the
same way as the previous company erecting houses for the
Lothian Coal Co. It was wound up in 1930.
There were three separate districts in Newtongrange at
the turn of the century. The old village of Newtongrange
now came under the name of Abbeyland and there were the
two new schemes of Deanpark and Monkswood. There were no
street names (apart from the Loan in Abbeyland) and all
the houses were numbered in succession. Deanpark is still
like that but Monkswood was changed in 1912 when plans were
laid to extend housebuilding as far as the colliery railway
line to Easthouses. Part of Monkswood was re-named St. Davids,
one street was called Lingerwood Road and the other six
streets were named First to Sixth Street. Some larger houses
for colliery foremen were built around a large grassed area
in 1914. This was called The Square.
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