WORKING PAPERS OF FREDERICK G. MEACHEM, MINING ENGINEER

The deposit consists of the papers of Frederick G. Meachem, mining engineer, of Wall Heath, Kingswinford. The papers, which date from the late 19th century until ca 1920, relate almost entirely to Meachem's professional consultancy work. Meachem was called in to advise mining companies on proposed new ventures and on the suitability of plant. In addition, he advised many of the local authorities and public bodies in the Black Country on the effect of subsidence and underground fires on roads, sewers, reservoirs and water pipes, proposed sites for schools, etc., and he was retained by public bodies and individuals in lawsuits resulting from mining operations, usually claims for damages from subsidence. Most of Meachem's activity was in the Black Country but he was occasionally employed in Mid and North Staffordshire, especially on the seeking of coal on the Wolseley estates at Colwich, Shropshire (the Highley/Billingsley area) and in Wales, in particular in the winding up of the Deeside Colliery, Flintshire.

Meachem gave evidence to governmental enquiries, e.g. the Home Office enquiry on spontaneous combustion in mines, 1913, and prepared papers for the Institute of Mining Engineers and the British Association.

The papers comprise mainly correspondence but also plans and sections of coal workings, notes, reports, and newspaper cuttings (e.g. illustrating the sinking of Cradley Heath High Street in 1914 caused by subsidence). They illustrate not only the workings of mines and colliery companies but the effect of mining on the community, particularly the physical effect of a multiplicity of small scale, shallow workings in a highly populated area.

The papers are listed in the order of Meachem's original Boxes. These are numbered 1-96 but Boxes numbered 15, 17, 21, 47, 48, 57, 59, 78, 88 and 91 are missing from the series.

Deposited by the National Coal Board, Berryhill House, Stoke-on-Trent