Coal Records Prior to the National Coal Board

Division within COAL

1926-1949

Coal Records relating to earlier government intervention in the coal industry prior to the establishment of the National Coal Board in 1947.

Comprises records of:

• Coal Mines Reorganisation Commission, COAL 12
• Central Valuation Board and of the Scottish and Yorkshire Regional Valuation Boards, COAL 7 and COAL 8
• Coal Commission, COAL 15-COAL 19
• District schemes under the 1930 act, COAL 4
• Mining Association of Great Britain records, COAL 11

For further records of pre 1946 government regulation of the coal industry see Ministry of Power,

Public Record(s)

English

12 series

Topics

Coal

Mining and quarrying

The Coal Commission was appointed under section 1 of the Coal Act 1938; its chairman throughout its existence was Sir Ernest Gowers. Its principal tasks involved the unification of coal royalties in the hands of the state and the compulsory amalgamation of colliery companies in order to further the more efficient organisation of the coal industry. For this purpose a Central Valuation Board was created to administer compensation to coal owners; it operated through a series of regional valuation boards.

Work on schemes of amalgamation was interrupted by the outbreak of the war. The task was finally completed, in a different way, by the National Coal Board which took over both the functions and the records of the Coal Commission on 1 January 1947.