| AdminHistory | In 1793 George Newton and Thomas Chambers, partners in the Phoenix Foundry, Sheffield, and Henry Longden, signed a 21-year lease from Earl Fitzwilliam for land at Thorncliffe, near Chapeltown in Sheffield. The land was used to build an ironworks and to mine coal and ironstone. The company also leased land from the Duke of Norfolk.
Newton, Chambers and Company Limited were registered as a public company in 1881.
The company worked the Rockingham, Thorncliffe, Smithywood and Grange Collieries.
In 1893 the company introduced 'Izal', a new non-poisonous disinfectant made from distilled coal tar.
In 1912 the Newton Fire Extinguisher Company was incorporated as a limited company to carry on the fire engineering department of Newton, Chambers and Company Limited. In 1920 the Rockingham and Thorncliffe coke oven and by-products works were put into a separate company, Thorncliffe Coal Distillation Limited. In 1929 the company amalgamated with Hoyland Silkstone Coal and Coke Company which owned seven pits.
In 1939, the Thorncliffe works came under the control of the Admiralty. A new workshop was constructed near the Thorncliffe works, which was used to build army vehicles and became the largest manufacturer of Churchill tanks for the war effort.
On 1 Jul 1945, N.C. Thorncliffe Collieries Limited was formed - a 100% subsidiary of Newton, Chambers and Company Limited - to break off the collieries from the remaining Newton Chambers business. The central offices of the colliery company moved from Thorncliffe to Skiers Springs.
The company worked the collieries under its management until nationalisation in 1947. Thereafer, the company remained involved in iron and steel founding and the production of chemicals from tar distillates. The engineering arm Newton Chambers continued to design and supply plant and equipment for the coal-gas, chemical and steel industries. |
| Description | A large collection in which the records of the following three collieries predominate - Grange, Rockingham and Thorncliffe Collieries. Records of Tankersley and Smithywood Collieries and the Hoyland Silkstone Coal and Coke Company Limited are also included. The Tankersley Rescue Station and the Thorncliffe and Rockingham Permanent Relief Society which were associated organisations, are also included here.
The collection includes a considerable amount of correspondence between Newton Chambers and other bodies, such as the South Yorkshire Coal Trade Association and its successor the South Yorkshire Coal Owners Association.
Thorncliffe Colliery, 1873 - 1947 (COAL/NC/1)
Rockingham Colliery, 1931 - 1946 (COAL/NC/2)
Grange Colliery (including Bradgate Drift), 1908 - 1952 (COAL/NC/3)
Smithywood Colliery, 1893 - 1896 (COAL/NC/4)
Tankersley Colliery, 1918 - 1926 (COAL/NC/5)
Thorncliffe and Rockingham Permanent Relief Society, 1903 - 1957 (COAL/NC/6)
Newton, Chambers and Company Limited (all collieries), 1872 - 1946 (COAL/NC/7)
Hoyland Silkstone Coal and Coke Company Limited, 1881 - 1927 (COAL/NC/8)
Thorncliffe Coal Distillation Company (including Smithywood Coking Works), 1929 - 1952 (COAL/NC/9)
Tankersley Mine Rescue Station, 1913 - 1955
St Lawrence Timber, Pulp and Steamship Company, 1916 - 1938 |