National Coal Board
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Removed category "Public bodies and task forces of the United Kingdom government"; Quick-adding category "Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom" (using [[WP:HOTCAT|HotCat]])
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The '''National Coal Board''' (NCB) was the [[Statutory Corporation]] created to run the [[Nationalization|nationalised]] [[coal mining]] industry in [[United Kingdom|Britain]]. Set up under the [[Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946]], it took over the mines on 'vesting day', [[1 January]] [[1947]]. In 1987 it was re-named the [[British Coal|British Coal Corporation]], whose assets were subsequently privatised.
== History ==
Coal mines had been taken into government control during [[World War I]] and [[World War II]]. A [[Royal Commission]] in 1919 gave [[R.H. Tawney]], [[Sidney James Webb, 1st Baron Passfield|Sidney Webb]], and Sir [[Leo Chiozza Money]] the opportunity to publicly advocate nationalisation but this was rejected as a solution at that time.
Coal reserves were nationalised in 1942 and placed under the control of the [[Coal Commission]] but the mining industry itself remained in private hands. Many of the coal companies were very small, although consolidation was underway in the years running up to nationalisation.
The NCB was one of a number of public corporations created by
[[Clement Attlee|Clement Attlee's]] post-war [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] government to run nationalised industries. The Coal Industry Nationalisation Act received the [[Royal Assent]] on [[12 July]] [[1946]] and the NCB was formally constituted on [[15 July]], with Lord Hyndley as Chairman.<ref>Whitaker's Almanack 1948</ref>
The number of companies taken over by the Board was about two hundred, at a cost of 338 million pounds. The headquarters of the Board were established in Hobart House, London.
Coal mining employed over 700,000 people in 1950 and 634,000 in 1960, but successive governments reduced the size of the industry. Closures were originally concentrated in [[Scotland]], but then moved into [[North East England]], [[Lancashire]], and [[South Wales]], and then into all the other coalfields in the 1980s. By 1984, the British mining industry was the most productive in the world {{Fact|date=October 2007}}. Despite this, demand for British coal was frustrated by large [[Subsidy|subsidies]] that other European governments gave to their coal industries ([[West Germany]] subsidised coal by four times as much and France by three times as much in 1984) and the availability of lower cost, open-cast, coal mined in Australia and the United States.
The NCB saw three major national strikes. The 1972 and 1974 strikes were both over pay and both saw success for the [[National Union of Mineworkers]]. The [[UK miners' strike (1984–1985)|miners' strike of 1984–1985]] ended in victory for the government and is still bitterly resented in some parts of Britain that suffered from the aftermath of pit closures.
With the passing of the [[Coal Industry Act 1994]], the industry-wide administrative functions of British Coal were transferred to a new [[Coal Authority]]. Its economic assets were privatised, the English mining operations being merged with [[RJB Mining]] to form [[UK Coal]] plc. By the time of [[privatisation]], only 15 pits were left in production.
== NCB railways ==
[[Image:No 29 ready for duty at Philadelphia NCB shed.jpg|thumb|right|No 29 ready for duty at Philadelphia NCB shed]]
[[Image:GWR 5700 Class 7754 at York Railfest.JPG|thumb|right|The NCB used many industrial locomotives, many of them bought from British Railways, including this ex-Great Western Railway 5700 Class pannier tank number 7754, which is preserved]]
The NCB operated extensive [[industrial railway]]s at its collieries, employing steam traction until the late 1970s/early 1980s.
== Coal Research Establishment ==
The NCB's research establishment at [[Stoke Orchard]] in [[Gloucestershire]] was founded in 1950 with [[Jacob Bronowski]] as Director of Research. It closed following privatisation of the coal mining industry.
== Other activities ==
NCB subsidiaries managed coal-based chemical products (Coal Products Division) and the production of helmets and other mining equipment (Tredomen Engineering Ltd). In the mid-1970s, the activities of Coal Products Division were transferred to two new companies; National Smokeless Fuels Ltd and Thomas Ness Ltd, although they remained wholly owned by the NCB.
In coalfield areas, the NCB was also a major landowner, both of colliery housing and of farmland originally acquired by private owners for its mining rights or to avoid subsidence claims.
See also [[Worton Hall Studios]] - Mining Research Establishment.
== See also ==
*[[Energy policy of the United Kingdom]]
*[[Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom]]
== Sources ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.ncm.org.uk/ National Coal Mining Museum for England]
* [http://www.dmm.org.uk/company/n000.htm Durham Mining Museum list of pits in Northern England]
* [http://www.staffspasttrack.org.uk/exhibit/coal/organization/ncb.htm North Staffs pics]
* [http://www.scottishminingmuseum.com/ Scottish Mining Museum]
* [http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/bigpit/ Big Pit: National Coal Museum - Wales]
[[Category:Mining in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct mining companies]]
[[Category:Companies established in 1946]]
[[Category:Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom]]