Where is the bevin boys memorial

Bevin Boys were conscripted to work as miners while their friends and relatives fought, leading many people to assume they were cowards.

Former Bevin Boy Harry Parkes, from Nottinghamshire, has campaigned for official acknowledgement for decades. The memorial has been in place for over a year, but Mr Parkes said the dedication had given the Bevin Boys "back our dignity that says we served our country". The year-old, from West Bridgford, is on the committee for the Bevin Boys Association and designed the memorial.

Former Nottinghamshire county councillor Joan Taylor has supported the project to get a memorial for the 48, Bevin Boys. They were ill-treated, I think, by the public.

They didn't realise they were conscripted. They thought they were trying to get out of going to fight, but of course, they were fighting down below with the coal. Report an inappropriate record. Comments: Good condition. Submitted by:. Submitted date:. Submit a new comment. Submit a new link. Related link name:. Related link URL:.

Description: Historical and other information on the war memorial held by the War Memorials Register which may include a list of names if held by them. Edit information. Suggest information. Listing grade: Information Required. Unique listing reference number: Information Required. Conservation area: Information Required.

Claim Custodianship. Not many of these conscripts actually worked cutting coal, and the majority were employed maintaining haulage systems, be they roads or rails, and managing underground transport systems. The very lucky few who had some past electrical or mechanical engineering experience were allowed to use those skills.

These batteries of young men were thrown into an alien environment both on duty and off. The work was dangerous and to the uninitiated it was terrifying and claustrophobic. The accident rate for the period was of one serious incident for every four people employed. They were stopped on a regular basis by the police as they were mistaken for spies, and they had to field considerable abuse from locals because young, able-bodied men should have been in the army, not working in a coal mine.

They were regularly called cowards and found white feathers tucked into their hats. Painfully there was not even a badge to wear on our coats to show we were doing our bit in a world where the man in uniform was king.

Obviously, not everything was bad, and an amusing anecdote is recounted by Geoffrey Williams, who served at Alveley Wonder Pit. After holes have been bored in the coal face with a machine known as a tadger in readiness for shot firing, a peculiar gurgling noise comes from them, by subterranean water.

I asked in my ignorance what the sound was, and was told it was made by a coal frog. I peered into one of the holes, and it was immediately assumed I was looking for this mythical animal. Soon the whole coal face was echoing with Shropshire laughter. I had been christened the Coal Frog.

England still needed coal, and not all the miners had returned from the front, so it was not until , nearly three years after the cessation of hostilities, that the coal-workers were finally released.