ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to expand traumatic impact of the Great Depression upon the western part of the county analysis in two ways, firstly by locating the 1930s in the context of employment trends in mining over the last 50 years and secondly by looking briefly at some of the social consequences of unemployment, particularly in the 1920s, and 1930s. The overall employment picture in mining in County Durham since 1913 is summarised. It shows a period of declining employment between 1924 and 1934, relative stability from 1934 to 1957, and very rapid decline ince then. The Pilgrim Trust's nationwide study of unemployment included Crook in West Durham among towns investigated in detail. The consequences of the disappearance of mining in the western part of the coalfield are further considered in and, by means of case studies in Spennymoor. The government also affected the price at which coal was sold by the financial protection it gave the industry.
