ABSTRACT
Historians of the coal industry seem largely unaware of or uninterested in coalminers' attempts to insure themselves against workplace accidents. The few scholars who have considered miners' efforts to protect themselves in this way tend to examine financial rather than medical provision, and to emphasize the failings, rather than the benefits, of the schemes which were available. But what is most striking is that they are all inclined to agree that it was the coal industry's combination of high risks and high earnings that explained miners' desire, and ability, to insure themselves and their families against the risks of industrial injury. This chapter explores these issues by examining the reasons, that late nineteenth-century English coalminers decided to insure or not to insure against the risk of being injured during the course of their employment. It examines two coalfields, Northumberland and Durham, and North Staffordshire, and provides a comparison of the miners' permanent relief fund membership.
