Cambrian Combine strike
in South Wales staged a major strike in 1910-1911 over wages and working conditions, culminating in violent confrontations with police and the deployment of military forces. The strike began as a dispute over payment rates for working a difficult coal seam at the Ely Pit in Penygraig but escalated into one of the most significant labour conflicts in Welsh history.
The strike formed part of the broader Great Unrest period, during which Britain experienced over 4,000 strikes involving approximately four million workers. This unprecedented wave of industrial militancy saw trade union membership grow by 62 per cent from 2.5 million in 1910 to 4.1 million in 1914, with workplace density increasing from 14.6 per cent to 23 per cent.
International Context
The Cambrian strike occurred within a broader pattern of international labour unrest that swept across the Atlantic world during 1910-1911. The period marked what economist Ernesto Screpanti characterised as a global strike wave occurring during the "upper turning-points" of long-term economic cycles. In the United States, the Industrial Workers of the World fully embraced the general strike concept in 1910-1911.Continental Europe experienced similar upheavals: Portugal's October 1910 revolution was followed by a nationwide strike wave that saw Lisbon controlled by workers, whilst Italy witnessed major industrial strikes during 1911-1913 led by syndicalist activists. The international influence of French syndicalism and American industrial unionism spread through activist networks and translated pamphlets, with figures like Émile Pouget's writings available in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, German, and Swedish.
Background
Working conditions and safety
By 1910, the South Wales Coalfield had become one of the largest coal-producing regions in the world and one of the most dangerous working environments in Britain. The Rhondda Valley alone produced 56.8 million tons of coal in 1914, representing 19.7 percent of Britain's total coal output. The rapid industrial expansion of the late 19th century had transformed the economic and social landscape of the South Wales Valleys. Between 1881 and 1911, Glamorgan experienced inward migration of more than 330,000 people from elsewhere in Wales and neighbouring parts of England, drawn by employment opportunities in the expanding coalfield.Despite producing 19.7 per cent of total British coal output in 1913, South Wales consistently accounted for between 20 and 30 per cent of total British colliery deaths from the 1870s through the 1930s. Between 1910 and 1914, 16.5 per cent of coal miners were injured annually, compared to 8.3 per cent of metal smelters, 5.3 per cent of railway workers, and 2 per cent of cotton industry workers.
The dangerous conditions were exemplified by the Universal Colliery at Senghenydd, which suffered two major explosions—81 deaths in 1901 and 439 deaths in 1913, the latter being Britain's worst mining disaster.
Working conditions in the South Wales coal mines were notoriously dangerous and difficult. The coal seams were particularly challenging to work due to the dry, gaseous nature of Welsh coal, which made mines prone to explosion, and the presence of numerous geological faults that created layers of rock and shale. Contemporary accounts described miners working "away from the sunlight and fresh air, sometimes in a temperature of up to 90°C, every movement of the day, inhaling coal and shale dust, perspiring so abnormally... the roof perhaps 18 inches low, perhaps 20 feet high, ears constantly strained for movements in the strata on which his limbs or his life is dependent."
Prior to 1912, there was no minimum wage in the mining industry, and miners' pay was typically calculated by the weight of saleable coal extracted rather than by hourly rates or weekly wages. This piece-rate system created ongoing disputes between miners and owners over payment rates for different seams, particularly when geological conditions made extraction more difficult or dangerous. Approximately 1,000 serious accidents occurred annually in the South Wales Coalfield, with roughly 30,000 miners receiving injuries causing disability lasting seven days or more each year.
Industrial concentration and the Cambrian Combine
The period leading up to 1910 was marked by increasing concentration of ownership in the South Wales coal industry. The most significant example of this consolidation was the expansion of the Cambrian Combine under the directorship of D. A. Thomas. Thomas had inherited mining interests from his father Samuel, who had commenced sinking operations at Cambrian Collieries in Clydach Vale in 1871. Following Samuel Thomas's death in 1879, D. A. Thomas expanded the business substantially, forming Cambrian Collieries Limited with a share capital of £600,000 in 1895.Between 1907 and 1910, Thomas systematically absorbed a succession of local collieries through the Cambrian Trust Limited, acquiring controlling interests in the Glamorgan Coal Company in 1907, 67% of the Naval Colliery Company in 1908, and bringing Britannic Merthyr Coal Company and Penrhiwfer Collieries under his control by 1910. By 1910, the Cambrian Combine employed a total workforce of approximately 12,000 miners and produced almost 3 million tons of coal annually, making it one of the largest mining operations in Wales.
Large companies like the Cambrian Combine were able to rely on the support of the Monmouthshire and South Wales Coalowners Association, which provided financial backing for individual companies to impose lock-outs as a disciplinary measure against workers who resisted wage reductions or changes to working conditions. This organised power of capital contrasted with the more fragmented structure of the South Wales Miners' Federation, which was a federation of autonomous districts rather than a centralised union, a form of organisation that often obstructed united action against the coalowners' offensive.
September 1910: The Ely Pit Dispute
The immediate cause of the 1910 conflict arose when the Naval Colliery Company opened a new coal seam at the Ely Pit in Penygraig. The approximately 70 miners working the seam argued that the new Bute seam was significantly more difficult and dangerous to work due to a substantial stone band running through it, making coal extraction both hazardous and less productive.The Naval Colliery's wage structure was based on 1877 standard rates, with workers receiving 35 percent above these rates by 1910. After a test period to determine extraction rates, management claimed the miners were deliberately working slowly, while the miners disputed this assessment, citing the geological difficulties. When the company offered one shilling and ninepence per ton plus one penny for stone removal, the miners demanded two shillings and sixpence per ton, reflecting the dangerous working conditions.
When negotiations failed, D. A. Thomas imposed a lock-out on 1 September 1910, closing the entire Ely Pit to all 950 workers, not merely the 70 miners working the disputed seam. The Ely Pit miners responded by going on strike, and the Cambrian Combine brought in strikebreakers from outside the area.
Strikebreaker Recruitment and Protection
The employment of external strikebreakers became a central strategy for the Cambrian Combine. The company recruited approximately 60 replacement workers who continued operations at the Glamorgan Colliery in Llwynypia, the only pit that remained operational during the dispute. These strikebreakers were provided with enhanced protection, as employers in some disputes offered wage increases ranging from 25 to 50 per cent to encourage workers to cross picket lines.The Chief Constable of Glamorgan had assembled 200 imported police in the Tonypandy area by 6 November, transforming the colliery "into a near fortress" with extensive police protection for strikebreakers. The protective infrastructure included baton charges and "fierce hand-to-hand fighting" when miners attempted mass picketing to prevent safety officials and replacement workers from entering the mines.
October 1910: Strike Expansion
The miners established picket lines around the work site to prevent the employment of non-union labour. Attempts at conciliation were made through a conciliation board, with William Abraham, universally known by his bardic name Mabon, acting for the miners and F. L. Davis representing the owners. Although an agreed wage of 2s 3d per ton was negotiated, the Cambrian Combine workforce rejected this compromise, maintaining their demand for 2s 6d per ton to reflect the dangerous and difficult working conditions in the disputed seam.On 1 November 1910, the South Wales Miners' Federation balloted the entire coalfield membership for strike action, resulting in all 12,000 men working for the Cambrian Combine going on strike. By winter 1910, approximately 30,000 miners were involved as the dispute spread to other collieries.
November 1910: The Riots
By November 1910, strikers had shut down all local pits except the Glamorgan Colliery at Llwynypia. On 7 November, strikers picketed the colliery to prevent strikebreakers from entering, resulting in violent clashes with police that led to Glamorgan's chief constable requesting military support.Home Secretary Winston Churchill's response to the crisis demonstrated the complex decision-making process surrounding military deployment. At 3:30 AM on 8 November, Chief Constable Captain Lionel Lindsay had telegraphed for military assistance, receiving confirmation that 200 cavalry and two companies of infantry were being dispatched from Tidworth on Salisbury Plain. However, Churchill learned of this deployment only after the troops had departed and controversially ordered them stopped at Swindon.
Churchill held urgent conferences with Mr. Haldane, General Ewart, Sir Edward Troup, and Sir Edward Henry before deciding his course of action. At 1:30 PM on 8 November, he telegraphed the Chief Constable: "We are holding back the soldiers for the present and sending only police." Instead, Churchill dispatched 200 Metropolitan Police officers, who did not arrive until 10:30 PM—just as the major rioting in Tonypandy was concluding.
During the evening of 8 November, what Evans termed "the Sack of Tonypandy" saw properties systematically damaged, with shops attacked and looting occurring. The rioting lasted several hours until Metropolitan Police arrived around 10:30 p.m. The scale of violence was unprecedented: Evans recorded that over 500 strikers were injured, with police casualties exceeding 50 per cent of those engaged—38 out of approximately 70-80 officers involved in the November 7th conflicts alone. Of the 18 mounted police, 16 required medical treatment for injuries sustained during the riots.
The sole fatality was Samuel Rhys of Partridge Road, Tonypandy, who died three days after the Llwynypia confrontation. At the inquest held at Porth on 15 December, medical evidence showed he had suffered three separate head injuries, but the jury concluded: "That we agree that Samuel Rays died from injuries he received on November 8th caused by some blunt instrument. The evidence is not sufficiently clear to us how he received those injuries."
The use of firearms during the riots remains disputed. While official records state no shots were fired by military forces, persistent local accounts claimed troops fired on miners, contributing to lasting Welsh resentment towards Churchill. Thirteen miners were arrested and received sentences ranging from two to six weeks.