First shipment of Coal from Argyll Colliery

“First shipment of coal from Argyll Colliery”, Campbeltown Courier, 16th February, 1950. From the Campbeltown Library Collection.

Letter to Argyll Colliery from Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.

Kenny  McMillan. Argyll Colliery. Photo courtesy of Morag McLean (nee McMillan) ©

The following letter was shared by Morag McLean (nee McMillan) whose father, Kenny McMillan, received it in 1951 from the then Labour Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.

Attlee’s government was responsible for the nationalisation of the coal industry in Britain in 1947. The newly established body for the nationalised industry, the National Coal Board, offered sick pay and holiday pay to miners and there were health and safety improvements as well as a better working relationship with the unions. Hours were reduced, wages rose and pithead baths became standard at collieries around Britain.