Henry Swift (1848 - 1891)

Born 1 Nov 1848 in Bickerstaffe, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah Anne (McLeod) Swift — married 16 Mar 1872 in Albion Mines, Pictou, Nova Scotia, Canada

Descendants

Died 21 Feb 1891 at age 42 in Springhill, Cumberland, Nova Scotia, Canada

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Michael Swift [send private message]

Biography

Henry Swift was born in 1848 in Ormskirk Parish, Lancashire, England. His mother's maiden name was Culshaw.^[1] He was the son of Edward Swift and Alice (Culshaw) Swift.

The 1851 Census of England and Wales, showed Henry (age 2) as the son of Edward (bp Bickerstaffe, age 25 occ agricultural labourer) and Alice (bp Rainford, age 28) Swift. William, their other son, was just born. Alice Culshaw (bp Burscough, mother-in-law, age 70) was also resident in the household. ^[2]

Henry's father died in 1852.

In the 1861 Census of England and Wales, Henry (bp Bickerstaffe, age 12) was a farm labourer for the household of Maximillian Pimbley (bp Melling, Lancashire, age 60, occ Land Owner 47 acres) and his wife, Mary Pimbley (bp Bickerstaffe age 54), with three children: James (bp Bickerstaffe, age 22), Benjamin (bp Bickerstaffe age 18) and Ellen (bp Bickerstaff, age 16). ^[3] His mother, Alice (bp Rainford, Lancashire, marital status widow, occ agricutural labourer, age 36) lived at Rimmers Cottages along with her other children: William (age 10), Margaret (age 8) and Robert (age 2), all born at Bickerstaffe.^[4]

Henry Swift (bp Lancashire, England, age 23, bachelor, occ Miner) married Sarah McLeod on March 16^th 1872 in the Church of Scotland, Albion Mines, Nova Scotia. Henry's parents were Edward (occ Labourer) and Alice Swift, Sarah's parents were Daniel (occ Farmer) and Sarah McLeod. Witnesses were John Matheson and John Douglas. Rev. Charles Dunn performed the ceremony. ^[5]

The Census of 1881 ^[6] indicated Henry Swift (age 32) married to Sarah (age 33). Children: Sarah (age 8) and John (age 9). Henry was a pit foreman of Springhill coal mines. He was born in England. Sarah's father Donald McLeod (age 82 b. Scotland) was widowed and resident with the Swift family.

Henry was killed in the 1891 Springhill mining disaster which occurred at approximately 12:30 pm on Saturday, February 21, 1891, in the Number 1 and Number 2 collieries, which were joined by a connecting tunnel at the 1,300-foot (400 m) level (below the surface) when a fire caused by accumulated coal dust swept through both shafts, killing 125 miners and injuring dozens more.^[7]

The census of 1891^[8] indicated Sarah was widowed (recently since Henry died on February 21 1891 and the family was enumerated 6 May 1891). Listed were 5 children: Sarah (age 18), John (age 9), Alice (age 7), Hamlet (age 4) and Lancelot (age 2).

Note that the John listed in the 1881 census was not listed in 1891 (he would have been age 19 in 1891). Presumably he died between 1881 and 1891. The couple also had three additional children who died early: Edward (1874 - 1879), William Shakespeare (1876 - 1879) and John William (1878 - 1879). Nova Scotia vital records only have death records from 1864 - 1877, 1908 - 1968 and City of Halifax 1890 - 1908, so I could not verify this.^[9]

The 'John' listed in the 1891 census was John Morrison Swift based on his marriage certificate ^[10]

Ian McKay published a PhD thesis on the Cumberland coalfields ^[11] which discussed Henry. He later published a short biography of Henry ^[12] Below is his entry:

SWIFT, HENRY, coal-miner, mine manager, and jp; b. 1 Nov. 1848 in Bickerstaffe, England, son of Edward Swift and Alice Culshaw; m. 16 March 1872 Sarah McLeod in Stellarton, N.S., and they had five children; d. 21 Feb. 1891 in Springhill, N.S.

Like many coal-miners, Henry Swift was following in his father’s footsteps when at the age of 12 he first went to work in the pit in one of the Lancashire mines operated by the Rainford Coal Company. In 1869 he emigrated to the United States, where he found work in the coal-fields of Pennsylvania and Maryland. About two years later he came to Nova Scotia, working first at the mines in Stellarton until 1874, and then at the new, thriving coal village of Springhill. An ambitious and diligent employee, he gradually rose in the mine hierarchy until, on 5 March 1890, he became manager of the colliery department (general manager) of the large Springhill mines. Swift was an active member of the Presbyterian Church and the masonic order, a justice of the peace, vice-president of the Nova Scotia Institute of Mine Officials, and president of the local relief fund for the benefit of sick and injured miners. On 21 Feb. 1891 a powerful explosion in the west side of the East Slope killed Swift along with 124 of the more than one thousand men and boys he supervised. An inquest found that the explosion was caused by an unusual flame from the shot used by miners to blast down the coal and attached no blame to the management.

Swift was seen by his fellow engineers and by commentators in the local Trades and Labour Journal as the epitome of the self-made man, whose determination and discipline had carried him to the top. However, he was regarded by others as an autocratic and inconsistent boss. Criticism of him began in earnest when he was underground manager in 1888 at a time when the new management was intent on introducing sweeping changes in the mines. His detractors were particularly vocal during a bitter strike in 1890 that the coal-miners won by bringing out all the workers in the mine and thus causing its lower levels to flood. Both interpretations of Swift are borne out by his remarkable letter-books; the letters are most frequently to his superior, John R. Cowans, concerning the daily life of the mine. Swift’s great preoccupation was with systematizing and making scientific the entire underground operations of the mine. On 20 Jan. 1890 he wrote, “What we want about the Colliery is a good Code of Rules & Regulations for the guidance of all parties and those strictly enforced.” His letters show that he also demanded a rationalization of the recording of information in the mine, and he compiled an impressive account of the physical assets of its owners, the Cumberland Railway and Coal Company, with a note on future problems. He also kept careful track of the “standing orders” of the pit, attempted to introduce a system of bonuses and deductions to give colliers an incentive to produce R more coal of better quality, and dealt with the entrenched union, Pioneer Lodge of the Provincial Workmen’s Association, according to his philosophy that “the Management reserves the right to employ and discharge who they think proper.”

His admirers and detractors captured the two sides of Swift: the conscientious and dedicated mining man who walked many miles every day and at night found the time to compile his detailed letters and to negotiate with the frequently rebellious colliers and pit-boys, and the ruthless innovator who undermined time-honoured pit traditions, helped to create a polarization of classes in Springhill that would lead eventually to a 22-month strike in 1909–11, and failed to act on the mounting evidence that something was seriously amiss in the shot-firing methods used in the mines under his supervision. Swift’s letter-books not only document these two views but also reveal the strains and anxieties that beset individuals involved in building industrial capitalism. “My Mind is at all times fully occupied with thoughts to Make the Work a Success enough of worry to Kill a Man,” Swift wrote to his superior in November 1890. In another environment, Swift’s capitalist program of scientific management might have succeeded. In the mine it could be defeated by the miners, by the difficulties of bringing into one comprehensive design the wide range of processes required in underground work, and by the sheer uncertainty to which Swift’s letters bear eloquent witness. “All in order So far as I Know,” wrote Swift to Cowans on 20 Feb. 1891. They were his last written words; he died the next day in the great Springhill explosion. ' Ian Mckay

Other publication of interest:

R. A. H. Morrow, Story of the Springhill disaster: comprising a full and authentic account of the great coal mining explosion at Springhill mines, Nova Scotia, February 21st,1891. Saint John, New Brunswick 1891. ^[13]

Reference Notes

Stellarton, Nova Scotia, was once known as Albion Mines, named by the General Mining Association (GMA), an English coal mining company that created a coal town here in the late 1820s ^[14]

Sources

1. ↑ GRO Reference 1848 D Quarter in Ormskirk Vol 21 Page 520.
2. ↑ England and Wales Census, 1851. Database with images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 12 August 2020. From 1851 England, Scotland and Wales census. Database and images. findmypast. http://www.findmypast.com : n.d. Citing PRO HO 107 Page 19 Piece/Folio 2196/67. The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.
3. ↑ "General Register Office: 1861 Census Returns database, FreeCEN (https://www.freecen.org.uk/search_records/590352e4e9379091b15dc251 : viewed 14 Apr 2021), Henry SWIFT in household of Maximilian PIMBLEY, Lancashire, England; from 1861 "England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images; citing The National Archives RG 9/2756, Folio 12, Page 17, Schedule 75, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
4. ↑ "General Register Office: 1861 Census Returns database, FreeCEN (https://www.freecen.org.uk/search_records/590352e4e9379091b15dc2b5 : viewed 14 Apr 2021), household of Alice SWIFT, Rimmers Cottages, Lancashire, England; from 1861 "England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images; citing The National Archives RG 9/2756, Folio 13, Page 19, Schedule 85, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
5. ↑ Nova Scotia Archives. Nova Scotia Births, Marriages, Deaths. Henry Swift married Sarah McLeod in 1872 at Pictou County, Registration: Year: 1872 Book : 1831 page: 73 number: 24 https://archives.novascotia.ca/vital-statistics/marriage/?ID=34905
6. ↑ Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1881. District 22 - Cumberland Sub-district I Maccon. Microfilm C13177 Image No e008124586.
7. ↑ Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springhill_mining_disaster.
8. ↑ Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1891. District 22 - Cumberland Sub-District Town of Springhill, Image No 30953_148114-00129.
9. ↑ Nova Scotia Historical Vital Records - Deaths
10. ↑ See Marriage Certificate of John Morrison Swift married to Mary Ethel Dewar
11. ↑ Ian McKay, "Industry, work and community in the Cumberland coalfields, 1848-1927" PhD thesis, Dalhousie University, Halifax, 1983
12. ↑ Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume XII (1891-1900) Edited by Francess Halpenny. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press 1990 1305 pp. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/swift_henry_12E.html
13. ↑ https://stfx.cairnrepo.org/islandora/object/stfx%3A11034
14. ↑ Museum of Industry Nova Scotia. https://museumofindustry.novascotia.ca/collections-research/archaeology/albion-mines-and-gma-iron-foundry