Dartmouth Lumpers going to war, 1915.


Coal Lumpers vs Dartmouth Coaling Companies - A STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL


Dartmouth Museum has a large collection of photos of river workers including the Coal Lumpers, who were a distinctive group with unique ways of working and a strong community spirit. Jonathan Turner is a member of the Museum Archive team and used images and documents from the archives to write this article. If you’d be interested in joining the team please contact him on marketing-media@dartmouthmuseum.org.uk


B y the end of the 19th century, Dartmouth


had established itself as the leading coal port on the South Coast. At its


peak, over 40 ships a week called in to be topped up with coal (bunkered) by crews of Lumpers. Tis was hard, dirty, dangerous and unhealthy work for the men who depended on this trade for their living. It was piece work: 2d a ton, shiſted by hand with the help of a winch or crane. Organised in gangs of 6-8 men, the Lumpers waited by the harbourside for a new ship to enter, when they’d race other gangs in their gig to be first to the ship and secure the job. Dartmouth was noisy and dirty: shrill train


whistles, deafening foghorns and the grinding of cranes and winches, at all hours, day and night. All the while a thick layer of black dust settled everywhere, on the sheets drying in the courtyards, and the gentlemen’s yachts in the Bight. Dart Harbour Commission had licenced 4


coaling companies and for years competition kept refuelling costs low. But by 1912, Evans &


Coal Lumpers on Bayards Cove waiting for a ship to come in.


Reid, a Welsh national coal business, had acquired Dartmouth Coaling Company (DCCo) which acquired the other companies and Evans & Reid had a monopoly. Evans & Reid also owned operations in Weymouth and Portland, and this gave them the power to set wages and working practices. At that time, there were 200-300 Lumpers in Dartmouth and


Image courtesy of Dartmouth Museum


Image courtesy of Dartmouth Museum


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