Cambrian Combine strike

Cambrian Combine strike
Part of the Great Unrest
Plan of the Mid Rhondda Strike Area, taken from D.E. Evans' Labour Strife in the South Wales Coalfield 1910-1911 (1911)
Date	1 September 1910 – August 1911
Location	Rhondda, South Wales
Caused by	Wage dispute over difficult seam at Ely Pit; Lock-out in Penygraig
Goals	Higher wages (2s 6d per ton), better working conditions, recognition of dangerous working conditions
Methods	Strike action Picketing Rioting
Resulted in	Strike defeated; miners forced to accept original wage offer of 2s 3d per ton
Parties
South Wales Miners' Federation Employers Cambrian Combine Naval Colliery Company Glamorgan Coal Company Cambrian Collieries Ltd Britannic Merthyr Coal Company Police Glamorgan Constabulary Bristol Constabulary Metropolitan Police Service Armed forces British Army Lancashire Fusiliers 18th Royal Hussars Somerset Light Infantry
Lead figures
William Abraham ("Mabon") David Alfred Thomas (Lord Rhondda) F. L. Davis Captain Lionel Lindsay Winston Churchill General Macready
Number
12,000-30,000 miners at peak 400+ police, 1 company Lancashire Fusiliers, 1 squadron 18th Hussars
Casualties
Arrested	13 miners from Gilfach Goch

The Miners' Strike of 1910–11, also known as the Cambrian Combine strike was a major industrial dispute by coal miners in South Wales over wages and working conditions, culminating in violent confrontations with police and the deployment of military forces. The strike began as a dispute over payment rates for working a difficult coal seam at the Ely Pit in Penygraig but escalated into one of the most significant labour conflicts in Welsh history.

The strike formed part of the broader Great Unrest period (1910-1914), during which Britain experienced over 4,000 strikes involving approximately four million workers.^[1] This unprecedented wave of industrial militancy saw trade union membership grow by 62 per cent from 2.5 million in 1910 to 4.1 million in 1914, with workplace density increasing from 14.6 per cent to 23 per cent.^[1]

International Context

The Cambrian strike occurred within a broader pattern of international labour unrest that swept across the Atlantic world during 1910-1911. The period marked what economist Ernesto Screpanti characterised as a global strike wave occurring during the "upper turning-points" of long-term economic cycles.^[1] In the United States, the Industrial Workers of the World fully embraced the general strike concept in 1910-1911.^[1]

Continental Europe experienced similar upheavals: Portugal's October 1910 revolution was followed by a nationwide strike wave that saw Lisbon controlled by workers, whilst Italy witnessed major industrial strikes during 1911-1913 led by syndicalist activists.^[1] The international influence of French syndicalism and American industrial unionism spread through activist networks and translated pamphlets, with figures like Émile Pouget's writings available in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, German, and Swedish.^[2]

Background

Working conditions and safety

By 1910, the South Wales Coalfield had become one of the largest coal-producing regions in the world and one of the most dangerous working environments in Britain. The Rhondda Valley alone produced 56.8 million tons of coal in 1914, representing 19.7 percent of Britain's total coal output.^[3] The rapid industrial expansion of the late 19th century had transformed the economic and social landscape of the South Wales Valleys. Between 1881 and 1911, Glamorgan experienced inward migration of more than 330,000 people from elsewhere in Wales and neighbouring parts of England, drawn by employment opportunities in the expanding coalfield.^[4]

Despite producing 19.7 per cent of total British coal output in 1913, South Wales consistently accounted for between 20 and 30 per cent of total British colliery deaths from the 1870s through the 1930s.^[5] Between 1910 and 1914, 16.5 per cent of coal miners were injured annually, compared to 8.3 per cent of metal smelters, 5.3 per cent of railway workers, and 2 per cent of cotton industry workers.^[6]

The dangerous conditions were exemplified by the Universal Colliery at Senghenydd, which suffered two major explosions—81 deaths in 1901 and 439 deaths in 1913, the latter being Britain's worst mining disaster.^[7]

Working conditions in the South Wales coal mines were notoriously dangerous and difficult. The coal seams were particularly challenging to work due to the dry, gaseous nature of Welsh coal, which made mines prone to explosion, and the presence of numerous geological faults that created layers of rock and shale.^[3] Contemporary accounts described miners working "away from the sunlight and fresh air, sometimes in a temperature of up to 90°C, every movement of the day, inhaling coal and shale dust, perspiring so abnormally... the roof perhaps 18 inches low, perhaps 20 feet high, ears constantly strained for movements in the strata on which his limbs or his life is dependent."^[3]

Prior to 1912, there was no minimum wage in the mining industry, and miners' pay was typically calculated by the weight of saleable coal extracted rather than by hourly rates or weekly wages.^[3] This piece-rate system created ongoing disputes between miners and owners over payment rates for different seams, particularly when geological conditions made extraction more difficult or dangerous. Approximately 1,000 serious accidents occurred annually in the South Wales Coalfield, with roughly 30,000 miners receiving injuries causing disability lasting seven days or more each year.^[6]

Industrial concentration and the Cambrian Combine

The period leading up to 1910 was marked by increasing concentration of ownership in the South Wales coal industry. The most significant example of this consolidation was the expansion of the Cambrian Combine under the directorship of D. A. Thomas (later Lord Rhondda). Thomas had inherited mining interests from his father Samuel, who had commenced sinking operations at Cambrian Collieries in Clydach Vale in 1871.^[8] Following Samuel Thomas's death in 1879, D. A. Thomas expanded the business substantially, forming Cambrian Collieries Limited with a share capital of £600,000 in 1895.^[8]

Between 1907 and 1910, Thomas systematically absorbed a succession of local collieries through the Cambrian Trust Limited, acquiring controlling interests in the Glamorgan Coal Company in 1907, 67% of the Naval Colliery Company in 1908, and bringing Britannic Merthyr Coal Company and Penrhiwfer Collieries under his control by 1910.^[8] By 1910, the Cambrian Combine employed a total workforce of approximately 12,000 miners and produced almost 3 million tons of coal annually, making it one of the largest mining operations in Wales.^[9]

Large companies like the Cambrian Combine were able to rely on the support of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coalowners Association (M&SWCA), which provided financial backing for individual companies to impose lock-outs as a disciplinary measure against workers who resisted wage reductions or changes to working conditions.^[4] This organised power of capital contrasted with the more fragmented structure of the South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF), which was a federation of autonomous districts rather than a centralised union, a form of organisation that often obstructed united action against the coalowners' offensive.^[4]

September 1910: The Ely Pit Dispute

Early logo of the South Wales Miners' Federation, which would later ballot for and financially support the Cambrian Combine strike, ultimately bankrupting the organisation's reserves.

The immediate cause of the 1910 conflict arose when the Naval Colliery Company opened a new coal seam at the Ely Pit in Penygraig.^[10] The approximately 70 miners working the seam argued that the new Bute seam was significantly more difficult and dangerous to work due to a substantial stone band running through it, making coal extraction both hazardous and less productive.^[10][3]

The Naval Colliery's wage structure was based on 1877 standard rates, with workers receiving 35 percent above these rates by 1910.^[11] After a test period to determine extraction rates, management claimed the miners were deliberately working slowly, while the miners disputed this assessment, citing the geological difficulties.^[10] When the company offered one shilling and ninepence per ton plus one penny for stone removal, the miners demanded two shillings and sixpence per ton, reflecting the dangerous working conditions.^[3]

When negotiations failed, D. A. Thomas imposed a lock-out on 1 September 1910, closing the entire Ely Pit to all 950 workers, not merely the 70 miners working the disputed seam.^[10] The Ely Pit miners responded by going on strike, and the Cambrian Combine brought in strikebreakers from outside the area.^[10]

Strikebreaker Recruitment and Protection

The employment of external strikebreakers became a central strategy for the Cambrian Combine. The company recruited approximately 60 replacement workers who continued operations at the Glamorgan Colliery in Llwynypia, the only pit that remained operational during the dispute.^[12] These strikebreakers were provided with enhanced protection, as employers in some disputes offered wage increases ranging from 25 to 50 per cent to encourage workers to cross picket lines.^[12]

The Chief Constable of Glamorgan had assembled 200 imported police in the Tonypandy area by 6 November, transforming the colliery "into a near fortress" with extensive police protection for strikebreakers.^[12] The protective infrastructure included baton charges and "fierce hand-to-hand fighting" when miners attempted mass picketing to prevent safety officials and replacement workers from entering the mines.^[12]

October 1910: Strike Expansion

Mabon, whose conciliation approach was rejected by the workforce.

The miners established picket lines around the work site to prevent the employment of non-union labour.^[10] Attempts at conciliation were made through a conciliation board, with William Abraham (14 June 1842 – 14 May 1922), universally known by his bardic name Mabon, acting for the miners and F. L. Davis representing the owners.^[10] Although an agreed wage of 2s 3d per ton was negotiated, the Cambrian Combine workforce rejected this compromise, maintaining their demand for 2s 6d per ton to reflect the dangerous and difficult working conditions in the disputed seam.^[10][11]

On 1 November 1910, the South Wales Miners' Federation balloted the entire coalfield membership for strike action, resulting in all 12,000 men working for the Cambrian Combine going on strike.^[10] By winter 1910, approximately 30,000 miners were involved as the dispute spread to other collieries.^[3]

November 1910: The Riots

See also: Tonypandy riots

Police officers during the Tonypandy riots, 1910-11. The confrontations between striking miners and police forces resulted in hundreds of casualties on both sides.

By November 1910, strikers had shut down all local pits except the Glamorgan Colliery at Llwynypia.^[13] On 7 November, strikers picketed the colliery to prevent strikebreakers from entering, resulting in violent clashes with police that led to Glamorgan's chief constable requesting military support.^[14]

Home Secretary Winston Churchill's response to the crisis demonstrated the complex decision-making process surrounding military deployment. At 3:30 AM on 8 November, Chief Constable Captain Lionel Lindsay had telegraphed for military assistance, receiving confirmation that 200 cavalry and two companies of infantry were being dispatched from Tidworth on Salisbury Plain.^[11] However, Churchill learned of this deployment only after the troops had departed and controversially ordered them stopped at Swindon.^[11]

Churchill held urgent conferences with Mr. Haldane (Secretary of State for War), General Ewart (Adjutant General), Sir Edward Troup, and Sir Edward Henry before deciding his course of action.^[11] At 1:30 PM on 8 November, he telegraphed the Chief Constable: "We are holding back the soldiers for the present and sending only police."^[14] Instead, Churchill dispatched 200 Metropolitan Police officers, who did not arrive until 10:30 PM—just as the major rioting in Tonypandy was concluding.^[11]

During the evening of 8 November, what Evans termed "the Sack of Tonypandy" saw properties systematically damaged, with shops attacked and looting occurring.^[11] The rioting lasted several hours until Metropolitan Police arrived around 10:30 p.m.^[14] The scale of violence was unprecedented: Evans recorded that over 500 strikers were injured, with police casualties exceeding 50 per cent of those engaged—38 out of approximately 70-80 officers involved in the November 7th conflicts alone.^[11] Of the 18 mounted police, 16 required medical treatment for injuries sustained during the riots.^[11]

The sole fatality was Samuel Rhys of Partridge Road, Tonypandy, who died three days after the Llwynypia confrontation.^[11] At the inquest held at Porth on 15 December, medical evidence showed he had suffered three separate head injuries, but the jury concluded: "That we agree that Samuel Rays [sic] died from injuries he received on November 8th caused by some blunt instrument. The evidence is not sufficiently clear to us how he received those injuries."^[11]

The use of firearms during the riots remains disputed. While official records state no shots were fired by military forces,^[15] persistent local accounts claimed troops fired on miners, contributing to lasting Welsh resentment towards Churchill.^[16][17] Thirteen miners were arrested and received sentences ranging from two to six weeks.^[13]

The November 21st Riots

The most serious confrontation occurred on the evening of 21 November 1910, when strikers attempted to prevent the operation of essential services at the collieries. Evans described these as "more sustained, if not also more desperate, than on any other occasion since the beginning of the strike."^[11] The violence began at Tonypandy railway station, where strikers had been informed that strikebreakers were arriving by train from Pontypridd.^[11]

When the 8:30 p.m. train arrived, intense fighting broke out between strikers and police. The conflict spread simultaneously to Penygraig, where "fierce and sustained street fighting" continued for over four hours.^[11] General Macready immediately dispatched 50 Metropolitan Police from Pontypridd and ordered Major Freeth to proceed from Llwynypia to Penygraig with half a company of Lancashire Fusiliers.^[11] Additional troops, including the West Riding Regiment and 18th Royal Hussars, were rushed to the scene by both rail and road.^[11]

The official casualty list recorded 50 police officers injured in the November 21st riots, with Evans noting that "most of the police engaged in the suppression of the riot were struck with stones or some other missile."^[11] The violence was eventually suppressed without direct military intervention, though troops remained positioned throughout the area.

December 1910 – July 1911: The Long Strike

Community Hardship and Women's Role

Following the November riots, the Cambrian Combine strike continued through the harsh winter months of 1910-11, causing significant hardship for mining families.^[18] With approximately 12,000 miners without wages for nearly a year, the burden of survival fell heavily on miners' wives and families, who had to endure what one contemporary described as living "like the inhabitants of a besieged city" under military occupation.^[19]

Religious and Social Responses

The strike occurred during a period when Welsh nonconformist chapels wielded considerable influence in industrial communities. By 1910, nonconformist bodies numbered 550,000 members compared to 193,000 in the established Church of England, making Wales predominantly a nonconformist country.^[20] The chapels had traditionally provided moral leadership and social cohesion in Welsh industrial areas, with their ministers having "considerable influence within working class networks."^[20]

However, the violence and civil unrest challenged this religious authority. The social disruption revealed what historian Dai Smith described as "a community fracture inimical to the self-image cherished by Liberal and Nonconformist Edwardian Wales."^[21] The strikes exposed tensions within the broader nonconformist community that had traditionally provided stability in Welsh mining areas, with the chapels having formed "almost a kind of unofficial established religion" in the industrial valleys.^[20]

Women played an active role in the conflict, with local newspapers reporting that "Women joined with the men in the unequal combat" during confrontations with police.^[22] The community solidarity extended to the December 1910 trials, where up to 10,000 miners and their families marched the five miles to court each day for six days to support the thirteen arrested miners.^[13]

The South Wales Miners' Federation imposed a levy on all working miners to provide relief for those on strike.^[18] The military presence remained in the area throughout this period, with troops ensuring that prosecutions of rioters and strike leaders proceeded in Pontypridd during 1911.^[14]

In December 1910, the trial of the thirteen arrested miners occupied six days and was supported by demonstrations of up to 10,000 men, who were refused entry to the town.^[13] Parliamentary debates during February and March 1911 addressed the ongoing strike and the government's use of military forces, with supplementary funding of £15,000 requested for Metropolitan Police expenses.^[23]

The strike became "a bitter war of attrition" with continued sporadic confrontations.^[18] In April 1911, disturbances occurred in Blaenclydach involving shop looting as economic pressures intensified.^[18] The prolonged dispute caused immense suffering, hardship, and privation for mining families throughout the South Wales valleys.^[24]

August 1911: Resolution

The Cambrian Combine strike finally concluded in August 1911 after nearly a year of industrial action. The miners, exhausted by the prolonged dispute and facing severe economic hardship, were compelled to accept the original wage offer of 2s 3d per ton that had been negotiated by Mabon prior to the strike's commencement.^[13][18] Workers began returning to the pits sporadically in early September 1911, having failed to achieve their original wage demands and returning on terms that were arguably worse than before the dispute began.^[24]

The contrast between the strike's beginning and end was stark. Evans observed that the August 17, 1911 meeting at the mid-Rhondda Grounds presented a dramatically different scene from the defiant gathering of September 18, 1910: "Then the demeanour of the thousands of miners who assembled in front of the platform was one of vociferous defiance of their employers and one of whole-hearted determination to fight the issues to a triumphant end; now their demeanour was one of sullen dejection, and of a suppressed anger against those whom they considered responsible for their defeat, and of a greatly weakened, if not lost, faith in the power of orthodox trades unionism to redress wrongs."^[11]

By September 1911, only 80 per cent of the original strikers had obtained re-employment, leaving approximately 2,400 men permanently displaced.^[11] The strike's conclusion marked a significant defeat for the miners, with the prolonged action having "petered out in despair" after the immense suffering endured during the winter months.^[24]

Aftermath for Displaced Miners

The military occupation ensured that trials of strike leaders would take place successfully in Pontypridd during 1911, contributing to the miners' defeat.^[25] Thirteen miners from Gilfach Goch were prosecuted for their involvement, receiving custodial terms of two to six weeks, whilst others were discharged or fined.^[25] The prosecutions, combined with the presence of troops, effectively prevented further strike action and contributed to the "marginalisation of the liberal wing of the trade union movement."^[25]

The defeat marked the downfall of Mabon and traditional conciliation-based leadership, whilst simultaneously contributing to demands for a national minimum wage, which Parliament passed a year later.^[25] However, the immediate aftermath left many mining families in dire circumstances, with the 2,400 permanently displaced miners facing uncertain futures in an industry that had demonstrated its willingness to use replacement workers and military force against organised labour.^[11]

Analysis and Impact

Economic Costs

The financial toll of the strike was devastating for all parties involved. Evans calculated that by September 1911, the Cambrian Combine workmen had lost nearly £800,000 in wages, while accumulated debts exceeded £90,000 based on an estimated debt accumulation rate of 4 shillings and 6 pence per week per person receiving strike pay.^[11] The South Wales Miners' Federation paid out over £300,000 during the 20-month period ending September 1911, with the Cambrian Combine strikers receiving approximately £200,000, averaging over £22 per strike member in benefits.^[11]

Regional Economic Impact

The strike's impact extended far beyond direct wage losses, affecting the entire regional economy of the Rhondda Valley. The Rhondda supplied a third of all coal extracted in the United Kingdom, and the Cambrian Combine supplied fifty per cent of the Rhondda's total output.^[26] The ten-month shutdown of this significant portion of Britain's coal production had national economic implications.

Local businesses suffered severe disruption, with striking miners attacking shops that had placed families on credit blacklists, preventing them from purchasing adequate food supplies.^[26] The prolonged nature of the dispute meant that local commerce faced nearly a year of reduced purchasing power from the 12,000-30,000 miners and their families who were without wages.

The financial burden extended beyond direct costs. Federation members were levied £1 each during the 13 months ending September 1911 to support the strikes, but response was so inadequate that the Executive Council was forced to instruct lodges to pay outstanding strike levies from their local funds.^[11] Evans noted that the strike cost represented funds "which it had taken a 13 years' chequered effort to accumulate," effectively bankrupting the organisation's reserves.^[11]

Political Ramifications and Leadership Crisis

The strike's failure precipitated a major crisis in Welsh labour leadership. Evans observed that the defeat exposed "the greatest possible defeat" the Federation had encountered, fundamentally undermining confidence in traditional trade union methods.^[11] The prolonged dispute revealed deep tensions between established leaders like Mabon and emerging socialist factions who advocated more militant approaches.^[11]

The strike demonstrated what Evans characterised as "a struggle for supremacy in leadership and in policy more prolonged and embittered than in any previous struggle in the history of organised labour in the coalfield."^[11] The traditional conciliation-based approach of the older leadership was discredited, creating space for the rise of more radical voices who would later author The Miners' Next Step and advocate for direct industrial action.^[4]

Historiographical Perspectives

Welsh historian Dai Smith, born in Tonypandy in 1945, has argued that the strike represented a pivotal moment in Welsh political development, marking "the passing away within a decade of the Wales of David Lloyd George" and ushering in "the Wales of Aneurin Bevan, Churchill's profoundest opponent."^[21] Smith contends that the Cambrian strike "exposed the myth of State neutrality asserted by Churchill," fundamentally altering the relationship between government and organised labour.^[27]

Modern historiographical analysis has emphasised the strike's role in the broader Great Unrest period, with scholars noting its significance as both a catalyst and exemplar of the unprecedented labour militancy that characterised British industrial relations between 1910-1914.^[1] The influence of syndicalist activists organised in the Unofficial Reform Committee during the strike has been identified as crucial in nurturing militant direct action that would later manifest in The Miners' Next Step (1912).^[28]

Lessons and Long-term Consequences

Evans' analysis identified several critical factors in the strike's failure. The miners' strategy of preventing maintenance work—particularly pumping and ventilation—while tactically sound, proved impossible to sustain against determined employer resistance and police protection.^[11] The strikers recognised early that "if labour were regularly and plentifully available for the working of the ventilating and pumping machinery the colliery owners could hold out against them indefinitely, and that in the end they (the strikers) were bound to be defeated."^[11]

The failure to maintain solidarity beyond the immediate strike area, combined with the loss of support from the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, isolated the South Wales miners and made their position untenable. Evans noted that the Federation's "conduct alienated the sympathies of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain to such an extent as to forfeit the moral and financial assistance of that great organisation."^[11]

Aftermath and Legacy

The Rise of Syndicalism

The Miners' Next Step (1912), the influential syndicalist pamphlet that emerged directly from the lessons of the Cambrian strike defeat, rejecting traditional conciliation methods in favour of militant direct action.

The defeat of the Cambrian strike directly catalysed the emergence of syndicalist thought in South Wales. The Miners' Next Step (1912), written by a group of young socialists from the Rhondda led by Noah Ablett, represented "one of the high points of syndicalist organising in the UK."^[28] The document emerged directly from the Cambrian Combine experience, rejecting the moderate policies of the South Wales Miners Federation under Mabon and advocating for direct industrial action over parliamentary politics.

Ablett, who had been influenced by Daniel De Leon and Marxist theory during his time at Ruskin College, led unofficial classes that challenged traditional trade union approaches. The syndicalist manifesto "occupies a prominent place in the revolutionary traditions of the British labour movement" and marked a fundamental shift away from the conciliation-based methods that had failed during the Cambrian strike.^[28]

Political Transformation

The confrontation represented what historians have characterised as "a decisive moment in the development of the consciousness of the working class," marking an ideological shift toward more militant approaches to industrial relations.^[24] The defeat contributed to the eventual ousting of Mabon from Federation leadership and the rise of more radical voices who would dominate Welsh labour politics through the interwar period.

The strike's legacy extended beyond labour relations to influence government policy on industrial disputes. Evans observed that the events provided important "lessons" for future military deployment in civilian disturbances, with the government learning from what he termed "the lessons of Tonypandy" about the complex relationship between civil and military authority during industrial conflicts.^[11] The controversy over Churchill's handling of the crisis would continue to influence his political reputation, particularly in Wales, for decades.

References

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