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Pitmen Wanted [Coal Mining Handbill].
Publisher: J Mitchell, Printer, Newcastle upon TYne;
Date of Publication: 1810
Stock Code: 5668
Handbill approximately 17 x 11 cm, laid on plain white paper approx 20 x 15 cm. Single sheet with titles printed in bold type. Slightly toned with single spot of foxing to extreme top edge (mainly on backing sheet) and a little minor creasing,otherwise clean. A Very Good copy. Recruitment advertisement for 30 workmen at an unspecified colliery in Scotland in December 1810, particularly for “Men of good Character”. The background to this is a shortage of manpower in Scottish mines, following the change in law of 1799 which resulted in the end of the bond system by which many Scottish miners were effectively enslaved to the mine owners and unable to leave their employment; it also ended the legal practice of rounding up beggars and itinerants and forcing them into servitude down the mines. £30.00