The National Coal Board (NCB) was the Statutory Corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in Britain. A Statutory Corporation is a corporation created by Statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction thus they might be ordinary companies/corporations owned by a government Nationalization, also spelled nationalisation, is the act of taking an industry or assets into the Public ownership of a national government Coal mining is the extraction or removal of Coal from the Earth by Mining. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on 'vesting day', 1 January 1947. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. In 1987 it was re-named the British Coal Corporation, whose assets were subsequently privatised. The British Coal Corporation was a Nationalised corporation in the United Kingdom responsible for the extraction of Coal.

History

Coal mines had been taken into government control during World War I and World War II. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including A Royal Commission in 1919 gave R.H. Tawney, Sidney Webb, and Sir Leo Chiozza Money the opportunity to publicly advocate nationalisation but this was rejected as a solution at that time. The term Royal Commission may also be used in the United Kingdom to describe the group of Lords Commissioners who may act in the stead of the Richard Henry Tawney (1880 - 1962 was an English writer Economist, historian social critic and university professor and a leading advocate of Christian Socialism Sidney James Webb 1st Baron Passfield PC ( 13 July, 1859 &ndash 13 October, 1947) was a British socialist economist and reformer Sir Leo George Chiozza Money ( 13 June 1870 &ndash 1944 was a British politician journalist and author

Coal reserves were nationalised in 1942 and placed under the control of the Coal Commission but the mining industry itself remained in private hands. The Coal Commission was a United Kingdom government agency created to own and manage coal reserves Many of the coal companies were very small, although consolidation was underway in the years running up to nationalisation.

The NCB was one of a number of public corporations created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government to run nationalised industries. Clement Richard Attlee 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC ( 3 January 1883 &ndash 8 October 1967 The Labour Party is a Political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the The Coal Industry Nationalisation Act received the Royal Assent on 12 July 1946 and the NCB was formally constituted on 15 July, with Lord Hyndley as Chairman. The granting of Royal Assent is the formal method by which a constitutional monarch completes the legislative process of Lawmaking by formally assenting to an Events 1191 - Saladin 's garrison surrenders ending the two-year Siege of Acre. Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1099 - First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final ^[1]

The number of companies taken over by the Board was about two hundred, at a cost of 338 million pounds. The headquarters of the Board were established in Hobart House, London.

Coal mining employed over 700,000 people in 1950 and 634,000 in 1960, but successive governments reduced the size of the industry. Closures were originally concentrated in Scotland, but then moved into North East England, Lancashire, and South Wales, and then into all the other coalfields in the 1980s. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. North-East England is one of the nine official Regions of England and comprises the combined area of Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea South Wales (De Cymru is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south and Mid Wales and West Wales By 1984, the British mining industry was the most productive in the world. Despite this, demand for British coal was frustrated by large subsidies that other European governments gave to their coal industries (West Germany subsidised coal by four times as much and France by three times as much in 1984) and the availability of lower cost, open-cast, coal mined in Australia and the United States. In Economics, a subsidy (also known as a subvention is a form of financial assistance paid to a business or economic sector West Germany ( Inf German: Westdeutschland or West-Deutschland) was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (

The NCB saw three major national strikes. The 1972 and 1974 strikes were both over pay and both saw success for the National Union of Mineworkers. See also the National Union of Mineworkers (South Africa. Template talkInfobox Union The miners' strike of 1984–1985 ended in victory for the government and is still bitterly resented in some parts of Britain that suffered from the aftermath of pit closures. The miners' strike of 1984 – 1985 was a major Industrial action affecting the British coal industry.

With the passing of the Coal Industry Act 1994, the industry-wide administrative functions of British Coal were transferred to a new Coal Authority. The Coal Authority is a Non-Departmental Public Body of the United Kingdom government. Its economic assets were privatised, the English mining operations being merged with RJB Mining to form UK Coal plc. UK Coal plc ( is the largest Coal mining company in Britain. The company is based in Harworth, Doncaster. By the time of privatisation, only 15 pits were left in production. Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of business from the Public sector (government to the Private sector (business

NCB railways

No 29 ready for duty at Philadelphia NCB shed

The NCB used many industrial locomotives, many of them bought from British Railways, including this ex-Great Western Railway 5700 Class pannier tank number 7754, which is preserved

The NCB operated extensive industrial railways at its collieries, employing steam traction until the late 1970s/early 1980s. An industrial railway is a type of private Railway used exclusively to serve a particular industrial site either entirely within a mine or Factory

Coal Research Establishment

The NCB's research establishment at Stoke Orchard in Gloucestershire was founded in 1950 with Jacob Bronowski as Director of Research. Stoke Orchard is a Village or hamlet north-west of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, England. History See also History of Gloucestershire Gloucestershire is a historic county mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the 10th century Jacob Bronowski ( January 18 1908 – August 22 1974) was a British mathematician and biologist of Polish-Jewish origin It closed following privatisation of the coal mining industry.

Other activities

NCB subsidiaries managed coal-based chemical products (Coal Products Division) and the production of helmets and other mining equipment (Tredomen Engineering Ltd). In the mid-1970s, the activities of Coal Products Division were transferred to two new companies; National Smokeless Fuels Ltd and Thomas Ness Ltd, although they remained wholly owned by the NCB.

In coalfield areas, the NCB was also a major landowner, both of colliery housing and of farmland originally acquired by private owners for its mining rights or to avoid subsidence claims.

See also Worton Hall Studios - Mining Research Establishment. Isleworth Film Studios also known as Worton Hall Studios were located in Worton Road Isleworth in the London Borough of Hounslow and this film studio mainly concentrated

See also

• Energy policy of the United Kingdom
• Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom

Sources

External links

• National Coal Mining Museum for England
• Durham Mining Museum list of pits in Northern England
• North Staffs pics
• Scottish Mining Museum
• Big Pit: National Coal Museum - Wales