New Perspectives on Welsh Industrial History , livre ebook

NEW PERSPEC TIVE S ON
WELSH INDUSTRIAL HIST ORY
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 1 29/11/2019 11:41UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS
2019
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 2 29/11/2019 11:41NEW PERSPEC TIVE S ON
WELSH
INDUSTRIAL
HIST ORY
Edited by Louise Miskell
UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS
2019
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 3 29/11/2019 11:42© Te Contributors, 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in an y
material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium
by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to
some other use of this publication) without the written permission o f
the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of t he
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Applications for the copyright
owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication
should be addressed to Te University of Wales Press, University Registry,
King Edward VII Avenue, Cardif CF10 3NS
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78683-500-0
e-ISBN 978-1-78683-501-7
Te rights of Te Contributors to be identifed as authors of this w ork
have been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Typeset by Chris Bell, cb design
Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Melksham
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 4 29/11/2019 11:42CONTENTS
Acknowledgements vii
List of Abbreviationsix
List of Tables and Figures xi
Notes on Contributorsxiii
Introduction Industrial Wales: Historical Traditions an d
Approaches
Louise Miskell 1
1 Welsh Copper: What, When and Where?
Chris Evans25
2 Enumerating the Welsh-French Coal Trade c.1833‒1913: ,
Opening Pandora’s Box
Trevor Boyns47
3 Hidden Labours: Te Domestic Service Industry in
South Wales, 1871–1921
Carys Howells 75
4 From Paternalism to Industrial Partnership: Te Evolution
of Industrial Welfare Capitalism in South Wales, c.1840–1939
Steven Tompson103
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 5 29/11/2019 11:425 Te Afuent Striker: Industrial Disputes in the Port Talbo t
Steelworks, 1945–1979
Bleddyn Penny 127
6 From Margam to Mauritania: Te Steel Company of Wales
and the Globalisation of Iron Ore Supplies, 1952–1960
Louise Miskell155
7 Te Age of Factories: Te Rise and Fall of Manufacturin g
in South Wales, 1945–1985
Leon Gooberman and Ben Curtis 181
8 Te Welsh Development Agency: Activities and Impact,
1976–2006
Leon Gooberman and Trevor Boyns207
Bibliography 235
Index257
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 6 29/11/2019 11:42A CKNO WLEDGEMENTS
his book started its life at a workshop event held at the National
Waterfront Museum in Swansea in June 2015. Participants ranged
from senior academics to the authors of recently completed PhD T
theses. All shared a sense of commitment to the task of bringing
together a volume that would refect some of the recent directions in
the historical study of industrial Wales. Papers delivered at the wo -rk
shop, all based on new research, covered more than two centuries of
Welsh history. A number of recurring themes emerged, including the
global interconnectedness of Welsh industry; the complexity of
identities and relations in the workplace; the need for a better understan-d
ing of the products and markets for Welsh goods; the relative absence
of the employer and the company from the historical literature; and
the important role of the State in the economic life of Wales, especially
since 1945. While attempting to address some of these themes, part
of the intention of this volume is to highlight these as areas ripe for
further historical scholarship.
A number of debts have been incurred in the preparation of this
book. Te original workshop event was co-organised by Dr Steven
Gray and was generously sponsored by the Economic History Society.
In addition to the contributors to this volume, scholarly presentations
and contributions to discussions on that day were also made by David
Selway, Adam Godfrey and Daryl Leeworthy. Dr Steven Gray read and
commented on drafs of all of the chapters, while Martin Johnes and
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 7 29/11/2019 11:42viii | Acknowledgements
Sam Blaxland ofered helpful comments on the volume introduction.
Ongoing support and interest in this venture has also been forthcoming
from Professor Huw Bowen and Professor Pat Hudson, whose work on
copper and on the woollen industry, respectively, has helped open up
new perspectives on industrial Wales.
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 8 29/11/2019 11:42LIST OF ABBREVIA TIONS
AEU Amalgamated Engineering Union
BA Birmingham Archives
BISF British Iron and Steel Federation
BNS British Nylon Spinners
BOS basic oxygen steelmaking
BoT Board of Trade
BSC British Steel Corporation
CCL Cardif Central Library
EEC European Economic Community
FDI foreign direct investment
GFS Girls Friendly Society
GA Gwent Archives
ICI Imperial Chemical Industries
IDC industrial development certifcate
ISTC Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (former ly
BISAKTA: British Iron, Steel and Kindred Trades
Association)
LG Lucky Goldstar
LSE London School of Economics
MIFERMA Société Anonyme des Mines de Fer de Mauritanie
PP Parliamentary Papers
RBA Richard Burton Archives
SCOW Steel Company of Wales
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 9 29/11/2019 11:42x | List of Abbrevia tions
SRC Shotton Record Centre
SWCA South Wales Coal Annual
SWCC South Wales Coalfeld Collection
TNA Te National Archives
WDA Welsh Development Agency
WET Welsh Economic Trends
WINtech Wales investment and technology
WINvest Wales investment location
WMIE Wales and Monmouthshire Industrial Estate
Corporation
WMR Warwick Modern Records
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 10 29/11/2019 11:42LIST OF T ABLE S
AND FIGURE S
T ables
2.1 Destination of British coal exports, 1830‒1913 (%) 51
2.2 Major ports for the importation of British coal into Fran ce,
1913 (tons) 55
2.3 Exports of coal to France from diferent groups of Brit ish
ports, 1895‒1913 (%) 58
2.4 Shipments of coal, cinders and culm from Welsh ports t o
France, 1840‒7 (tons) 61
2.5 Exports to France from various south Wales ports, 1911 65
3.1 Te size of the servant workforce in Wales, 1871–1921 81
3.2 Birthplaces of servants in Aberdare, Bridgend and
Carmarthen (selected years) 86
5.1 Chronology of industrial disputes at Port Talbot steelworks,
1952–77 139
6.1Share of total iron ore usage by principal UK consumer s,
1958 (%)158
6.2West African iron ore production, 1960–5 (in thousand s
of metric tons)171
8.1Derelict land clearance funded by the WDA, 1978–9 to
2005–6213
8.2 WDA business support, 1977–8 to 1989–90 221
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 11 29/11/2019 11:42xii | List of T ables and Figures
Figures
2.1 Coal exports, UK and south Wales, 1833–1913 (000 tons) 50
2.2 British and Welsh exports to France, 1833–1913 (tons) 53
2.3 Map of British coal consumption bdépay rtement, 1879 53
2.4 Major importers of British coal, Frencdépah rtements,
1847–1911 (000 tons) 54
2.5 Te growth of coal exports from the main Welsh por ts,
1833–1913 (tons) 60
2.6 Coal exports to France from various Welsh ports,
1895–1913 63
3.1Te butler’s pantry, Tredegar Housec, .1890 87
3.2Te housekeeper’s room, Tredegar Housce.1890, 87
6.1Location of iron ore deposit and proposed railwa y
in Mauritania162
6.2 W. F. Cartwright, assistant general manager, Steel Company
of Wales, c.1947164
7.1 Manufacturing employees in south Wales, 1939–2000 183
7.2 Te ‘spinning tower’ at British Nylon Spinners,
Pontypool, 1948 190
7.3 Numbers employed at BNS/ICI Pontypool, 1945–2000 191
7.4 Enfeld Cables/Dunlop Semtex, Brynmawr 198
8.1 WDA property activity, 1976–7 to 1989–90 211
8.2 Parc Mine, Llanrwst, before reclamation 214
8.3 Parc Mine, Llanrwst, afer reclamation, 1978 214
8.4 Foreign direct investment in Wales, 1984–5 to 2005–6 217
8.5 Jobs claimed as created or safeguarded by WDA activities,
1990–1 to 2005–6 226
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 12 29/11/2019 11:42NO TE S ON CONTRIBUT ORS
Trevor Boyn iss Professor of Accounting and Business history at C- ar
dif University. He has a long-standing interest in the history of the
south Wales coalfeld and has written a number of articles relating to
various aspects thereof, most recently focused on the pre-First World
War export trade. He has also published widely on the history of cost
accounting and is the joint author oA Hf istory of Management
Accounting: Te British Experience (Routledge, 2013).
Ben Curtis is a historian of modern south Wales, the coal industry,
industrial disability, and de/industrialisation. He is currently a research
fellow at the University of Wolverhampton, working on th“On Be ‘ ehalf
of the People”: Work, Community and Class in the British Coal Ind-us
try 1947–1994’ project. He is the author of Te South Wales Miners,
1964–1985 (University of Wales Press, 2013), as well as numerous other
academic journal articles and book chapters.
Chris Evans teaches history at the University of South Wales. Recent
publications include ‘“ Voyage iron”: an Atlantic slave trade cur -
rency, its European origins, and West African impactP’, ast & Present
(2018) (co-authored with Göran Rydén), and ‘Te plantation hoe: th e
rise and fall of an Atlantic commodity’T, e William and Mary
Quarterly (2012).
NEW PERSPECTIVES 00i–xvi-Prelims.indd 13 29/11/2019 11:42xiv | Notes on Contributors
Leon Gooberman is a lecturer in employment relations at Cardif
Business School, Cardif University. His research interests include gover -n
ment intervention in the economy, the evolution of employer collective
organisations, and deindustrialisation. His recent publications include
From Depression to Devolution: Economy and Government in Wales,
1934–2006 (University o