Coal merchant explained

A coal merchant is the term used in the UK and other countries for a trader who sells coal and often delivers it to households.^{[1] [2]} Coal merchants were once a major class of local business, but have declined in importance in many parts of the developed world due to the rise of alternative heating methods, including central heating, gas, oil and electric heating.^[3] The men who carried the coal to households were called coal men.^{[4] [5]}

The mass of coal homes burned was large; the UK government estimated in 1975 that the average household burning solid fuel used about 4.7 tons per year.^[6]

History

According to J. U. Nef, the term "coal merchant" originally meant "the owner, or part owner, of an east-coast collier [ship]; but in the eighteenth century the word was applied to all kinds of London coal traders, including small retailers", while the shipper came to be called a coal dealer, although the terms were "seldom applied consistently" in this period.^[7]

From the coming of the railways, coal merchants in the UK were typically based at railway stations in the goods yard, with coal delivered by train.^{[8] [9]} Other possibilities were delivery by canal boat or by collier ship,^[10] or direct sale from the colliery in areas close to one, known as "landsale".^{[11] [12]} The coal would then be transferred by cart or truck to local homes and businesses, sometimes into a coal hole, a hatch leading down to the cellar.^{[13] [14]}

Coal merchants in the railway era were typically small local businesses, although larger dealers did exist, and might buy their coal from a coal factor, also called a coal broker.^[15] According to John Armstrong, in London there was a "rough implicit division" with coal consignments to individual local coal merchants coming by railways while large power stations and factories, often near the Thames, received it by collier ship.^{[16] [17]}

There was a risk of occupational injury from the back-breaking work of carrying the heavy sacks of coal. Liz Barclay reports that in Gelderland in the Netherlands it was common for deliveries to be done in summer when it was dry to stock up for winter to reduce dirt coming into the house.^[18]

Post-war period

During the post-war austerity period the nationalised National Coal Board promoted poor-quality "nutty slack" coal for consumer use so that higher quality coal could be exported or used elsewhere.^[19] The Clean Air Act 1956 attempted to switch UK consumption away from this towards smokeless fuel.^[20] In 1962 the NCB and traders set up a Coal Trade Code and promoted an "Approved Coal Merchant" mark, which continues to exist as of 2022.^[21]

From the 1950s, British Railways reduced wagonload freight to individual railway stations as part of the Beeching cuts, with supply to UK coal merchants often switching to delivery by road from large "coal concentration depots" where coal was unloaded from block trains.^{[22] [23] [24]} However, coal merchants often stayed trading in station yards.^{[25] [26]}

Decline of rail shipment of coal generally led to the closure of concentration depots around the 1990s.^{[27] [28]}

Coal merchants have declined due to new heating methods. Explaining his decision to sell his business in Swindon in 2015, one commented "business was good but it wasn’t growing any more. With the introduction of natural gases to Swindon and electric cookers, demand was slowing."

See also

• Coal-tax post

Notes and References

1. Book: Emm . Adele . Tracing Your Trade & Craftsman Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians . 30 April 2015 . Pen and Sword . 978-1-4738-2362-4 . 46–51 . en.
2. Web site: Coal Deliveries . Croxley Green History Project . Croxley Green History Group . 3 May 2023.
3. Web site: Buckland . Eve . Swindon's only remaining coal merchant to close after 114 years . Swindon Advertiser . 3 May 2023 . en.
4. Web site: Martinelli . Terry . The work of coalmen when coal was the nation's main fuel . 1900s.org.uk . 7 May 2023.
5. Web site: Cryer . Pat . Coal delivery to houses and flats mid-20th Century . 1900s.org.uk . 7 May 2023.
6. Web site: Eadie . Alex . Alex Eadie . Coal Consumption . Hansard . 5 May 2023 . 3 March 1977 . The total number of solid fuel consuming households in the United Kingdom in 1975 was estimated to be 3·3 millions and the total solid fuel disposals to the domestic sector in the same year was 15·5 millions tons, giving an annual average of about 4·7 tons per solid fuel consuming household..
7. Book: Nef . J. U. . John Ulric Nef (economic historian). The Rise of the British Coal Industry . 11 January 2013 . Routledge . 978-1-136-23529-0 . 84. en.
8. Book: Yorke . Trevor . Tracing Lost Railways . 19 March 2020 . Bloomsbury Publishing . 978-1-78442-372-8 . 44 . en.
9. Book: Richards . J. M. . James Maude Richards . The Castles on the Ground: The Anatomy of Suburbia . 18 August 2011 . Faber & Faber . 978-0-571-28160-2 . en.
10. Book: Knowles . L. C. A. . The Industrial and Commercial Revolutions in Great Britain During the Nineteenth Century . 3 November 2005 . Taylor & Francis . 978-0-415-37918-2 . 251–252 . 5 May 2023 . en.
11. Web site: Boardman . E. Lloyd . Glossary of Mining Terms . Apedale Heritage Centre . 5 May 2023.
12. Book: Wain . Ken . The Coal Mining Industry in Barnsley, Rotherham and Worksop . 15 September 2014 . Amberley Publishing Limited . 978-1-4456-3977-2 . en.
13. Cowan . Rob . Iron, glass and wood underfoot . Context . 2017 . 152 . 18–22 . Institute of Historic Building Conservation.
14. Book: Hall . Marshall . Blimey, I'm Knackered!: An American's Survival Guide to British English . 31 August 2021 . Imbrifex Books . 978-1-945501-50-0 . ar.
15. Book: Winter . Jay . Robert . Jean-Louis . Jay Winter . Capital Cities at War: Paris, London, Berlin 1914-1919 . 8 July 1999 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-66814-9 . 348–349 . en.
16. Book: Armstrong . John . Daunton . Martin . Martin Daunton . The Cambridge Urban History of Britain . 2000 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-41707-5 . 233 . https://books.google.com/books?id=BAqM4Aadb1MC&pg=PA233 . 5 May 2023 . en . From Shillibeer to Buchanan: Transport and the Urban Environment.
17. Book: Batten . Malcolm . Shipping on the Thames and the Port of London During the 1940s – 1980s: A Pictorial History . 5 May 2022 . Pen and Sword Transport . 978-1-3990-1843-2 . 96–100 . en.
18. Book: Barclay . Liz . The Farmer, the Coal Merchant, the Baker: A Personal Impression of the Development of the Gelderland Horse World . 2016 . YouCaxton Publications . 978-1911175285 . 79-87.
19. Book: Thorsheim . Peter . Inventing Pollution: Coal, Smoke, and Culture in Britain since 1800 . 16 April 2018 . Ohio University Press . 978-0-8214-4627-0 . en.
20. Book: Paxman . Jeremy . Black Gold: The History of How Coal Made Britain . 2021 . William Collins . 9780008128364 . 266.
21. Web site: approved coal & wood merchants . Solid Fuel Association . 5 May 2023.
22. Book: Bennett . Patrick . The Architecture and Infrastructure of Britain's Railways: Northern England and Scotland . 15 June 2018 . Amberley Publishing Limited . 978-1-4456-8140-5 . en.
23. Book: Mitchell . David . Devon's Railways: North and East of the County . 30 June 2022 . Key Publishing . 978-1-80282-119-2 . en.
24. Book: Brandon . David . Upham . Martin . Ernest Marples: The Shadow Behind Beeching . 30 March 2022 . Pen and Sword Transport . 978-1-5267-6021-0 . 200 . en.
25. Web site: Lewis . Ron . Ronald Lewis (British politician). Fraser . Tom . Tom Fraser. Coal Depots (Closure) . Hansard . 11 May 2023.
26. Book: Thomas . David St John . David St John Thomas. The Country Railway . 6 February 2014 . Frances Lincoln . 978-1-78101-164-5 . en.
27. Book: Hodge . John . Railways and Industry in the Western Valley: Newport to Aberbeeg . 31 May 2016 . Pen and Sword . 978-1-4738-7023-9 . en.
28. Book: Rhodes . Mike . MGR Coal Trains . 15 February 2023 . Amberley Publishing Limited . 978-1-3981-0889-9 . The Deepdale Coal Concentration Depot in Preston was one of the last in the UK to receive coal by rail...1994...was the last year in which the train ran.. en.