Midland Counties Miners' Federation
# Midland Counties Miners' Federation

The Midland Counties Miners' Federation was a trade union, representing coal miners in the West Midlands region of England.

## History

The union was founded in 1886. It initially had seven affiliates, including the North Stafford Miners' Association, the Old Hill and Highley District Miners, Enginemen and Surfacemen's Association, the Pelsall District Miners, the Shropshire Miners' Association, and the West Bromwich District Miners. It affiliated to the Miners' Federation of Great Britain.

By 1893, the federation's affiliates also included the Bristol Miners' Association, Forest of Dean Miners' Association, Somerset Miners' Association, and Warwickshire Miners' Association. The first three of these accepted reductions in wages which went against federation policy, and therefore left in 1894, recombining as the South-Western Federation.

In 1945, the union became the Midland Area of the National Union of Mineworkers, with less autonomy than before. It dissolved in 2011.

## Affiliates

| Name | Founded | Joined | Members (1907) |
| - | - | - | - |
| Cannock Chase Miners', Enginemen's and Surfacemen's Association | 1876 | 1886 | 7,500 |
| North Stafford Miners' Association | 1869 | 1886 | 16,709 |
| Old Hill and Highley District Miners', Enginemen's and Surfacemen's Association | 1870 | 1886 | 1,116 |
| Pelsall District Miners' Association | 1887 | 1887 | 6,120 |
| Shropshire Miners' Association | 1886 | 1886 | 1,600 |
| Warwickshire Miners' Association | 1885 | 1890s | 9,000 |
| West Bromwich Miners' Association | 1869 | 1886 | 2,300 |

## Leadership

### Presidents

    1886: Enoch Edwards
    1912: Samuel Finney
    1930s: F. J. Hancock
    1941: John Blakemore?
    1950s: Arthur Baddeley
    1963: Jack Lally
    1983: John Connon

### Secretaries

    1886: Samuel Henry Whitehouse
    1888: Benjamin Dean
    1890: Albert Stanley
    1915: John Baker?
    1930s: George Henry Jones
    1948: J. H. Southall
    1963: A. M. Jones
    1983: Jim Colgan
    1990s: Joe Wills
