Welsh Coal Strike Scenes at Aberaman

Beautifully-photographed scenes of industrial beauty, bleakness and jollity in Aberaman, in the Rhondda, South Wales.

Striking miners are all smiles in this beautifully-photographed film of Aberaman, South wales. The strike began when the colliery manager withdrew the miners' right to take home firewood - and escalated to include 18 grievances. Charles Butt Stanton, the most conspicuous figure among the sea of cloth-capped men and boys , was a local miner who became a labour leader and later, Independent Labour Party MP, representing Merthyr Tydfil from 1915-22.

The 1910 Miners' Strike in South Wales lasted for several months and was notably bitter - there were violent protests in Aberaman and the notorious Tonypandy Riots took place nearby. Eventually the hardship of the strike took its toll and the miners were forced back to work in January 1911.