John Buddle (1773 - 1843) agent and entrepreneur in the north-east coal trade

Abstract

The name of John Buddle is well known to historians interested in the coal-mining industry, or in the history of Northumberland and Durham, in the first half of the nineteenth century. The present study is, however, surprisingly the first to make him the subject of an academic monograph rather than a' source for occasional references in research on associated topics. The thesis is based on Buddle's correspondence, diaries and working papers in the Durham and Northumberland County Record Offices and the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers. It examines the background to Buddle's career - the viewers, agents and entrepreneurs in the north-east coal-field; Buddle's training; and his character, and leisure and business interests. It then investigates Buddle's work: as a colliery viewer on an occasional or consultant basis (without, however, attempting any detailed consideration of engineering); as manager or agent of two Tyne collieries; as an entrepreneur in his own collieries on the Tyne; and as colliery agent for twenty-four years to the third Marquess of Londonderry, one of the great coal-owners on the River Wear. This latter topic embraces the management structure of the Londonderry collieries; the policy and tactics pursued in mining and shipping the coal, and acquiring colliery land; the building of Seaham Harbour; relations with the Coal Trade organisation on its regulation of the vend; and Londonderry's financial affairs. A further chapter considers Buddle's attitude to labour relations, including the 1831-2 pitmen's strike. An examination of Buddle's intimate involvement in all these areas sheds light on topics such as the role of agency in general, the state of the north-east coal trade in the first half of the nineteenth century, and management in the age of new industrialisation.