Bevin Boys Get Some of Their Due at Last

Coalmining in Britain has always been one of the more unpleasant ways to make a living. During World War II, Ernest “Nye” Bevin was Minister for Labour and National Service, and he managed to screw things up so badly that Britain was running our of coalminers by 1943. His solution was to draft men to work underground. Unlike those conscripted into the armed forces or who served as firemen and policemen, these men were denied the recognition they were due. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Gordon Brown awarded them commemorative badges in acknowledgement of what they did in the war. It isn’t enough.

The Right Honourable Mr. Bevin made a colossal blunder when he failed to declare coalmining a reserved occupation to protect the depletion of the workforce. Young miners were either in combat or had moved to better-paying and actually safer jobs in munitions factories. What was left was an aging and not-very-numerous workforce. The trouble was, coal had been the basis of the British economy (and its war machine) since the Napoleonic Wars.

Elizabeth Grice reported in the Telegraph, “In December [of 1943], Ernest Bevin, the minister for labour, devised a ballot scheme whereby men aged between 18 and 25 would be picked off for work in the mines as they registered for National Service. They were selected every fortnight, according to the last digit of their registration number. The penalty for non-compliance was a heavy fine or three months' imprisonment under the Emergency Powers Act. For 18 months, 21,800 men were conscripted in this way and the remainder opted to join, but the scheme was hugely unpopular. When Bevin was asked whether young recruits could have a psychological examination to see if they were temperamentally suited to coalmining, he replied simply: 'No’.”

Warwick Taylor, 81, the vice-president of the Bevin Boys Association, told her, “the Bevin Boys were unfairly dismissed as draft dodgers, deserters or conscientious objectors throughout the war. People called them cowards and put white feathers in their hats. They were often billeted with mining families whose own sons had joined the Services and who suspected that they would stay on and steal their jobs.”

The BBC reported, “Anyone who was conscripted directly into the mines, who joined the mines instead of the armed forces or who originally served in the armed forces and later volunteered to become a miner, is eligible to apply for a lapel badge. A government spokeswoman said it was a ‘survivor's badge,’ and in keeping with the Ministry of Defence’s policy on HM Armed Forces Veteran badges, it would not be awarded posthumously.”

Maybe The Right Honourable Mr. Bevin’s Department of Labour could step up where the military doesn’t seem to want to. There are few survivors, and they deserve more than a lapel pin. A vote of thanks in the House of Commons, having them lead the march to the Cenotaph next November 11, and a pension might not go amiss. Without coal, there would have been no victory.

© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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