Durham Strike (Durham Lockout)

DESCRIPTION: "In our Durham County I am sorry for to say, That hunger and starvation is increasing every day." The mine is shut down; "the masters have behaved unkind." The miners face great hardship but hope to prevail if others will support them.
AUTHOR: probably Tommy Armstrong (1848-1919)
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Lloyd, "Come All Ye Bold Miners")
KEYWORDS: mining strike hardtimes
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1892 - the Durham Strike
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
MacColl-ShuttleAndCage-IndustrialFolkBallads, p. 14, "The Durham Strike" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DURHLOCK*
NOTES [211 words]: This song refers to the great Durham Coal Strike of 1892. The company wanted to impose a pay cut of 10%. The miners -- who, naturally, were already living on next to nothing -- went on strike. But coal is easy to come by; after two months, the miners were forced to return to work -- and to take an even larger pay cut.
Tommy Armstrong seems to have devoted his energy to mining and labour poetry; the three songs by him listed in Granger's Index to Poetry are "The Oakey Street Evictions," "The Row Between the Cages," and "The Trimdon Grange Explosion."
Armstrong was a miner who used songwriting and entertaining to supplement his meager earnings. He needed this especially because he had a large family (supposedly fourteen children) and a taste for drink. I've seen his death date listed as 1920 rather than 1919.
His songs in the Index are "The Collier's Rant," "Durham Strike (Durham Lockout)," "The Oakey Strike Evictions," and "Durham Gaol." Peter Davison, Songs of the British Music Hall, Oak Publications, 1971, pp. 41-45, prints another one, "Wor Nanny's a Mazer," Roud #42142.
The Digital Tradition lists this to the tune of "Tramps and Hawkers/Paddy West," but the tune in MacColl/Shuttle is not that though it looks like it might be related. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: MacCS014

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography