Download or read book The Pit Brow Women of the Wigan Coalfield written by Alan Davies and published by Tempus Publishing, Limited. This book was released on 2002-09-30 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This illustrated book tells the story of the female colliery surface workers, or pit brow women, of the Wigancoalfield. The numbers of women working in mines grew vastly after the expansion of the coal industry in the mid- to late eighteenth century. The practice continued until the Children's Employment Commission 1842 outlawed women working below ground, leading to many families suffering huge losses of earnings. In Lancashire, many women soon started working the colliery surface, grading the coal on conveyors or acting as general labourers. Illustrated newspapers fostered great interest in them from 1840, and Wigancoalfield employed more than any other area. In the 1840 a a hugephotographic collection studying the women was created by A.J. Munby, which forms a major source for this detailed study. The women themselves remain a fascinating and unique feature of both local and industrial history.