Hannah Hodge

Hannah Hodge
Hannah Hodge
	A hazard of hauling coal by basket illustrated by David Rorie. Coal mining by woman was outlawed by the Mines and Collieries Act 1842
Born	6 January 1751; Lochgelly, Fife.
Died	c. 1833
Occupation	Coalminer

Hannah Hodge (6 January 1751 to c.1833) was a coalminer from Lochgelly in Fife, Scotland and one of the few notable coalmining women about whom anything is documented.^[2]

Biography

Hodge was born in Lochgelly in Fife, Scotland on 6 January 1751. She was the daughter of William Hodge and Bessie Adamson, coalminers.^[2]

Her husband was William Cook; they had five children. Upon his death, however, Hodge was compelled to take up her husband's job and work down the coal mine to make ends meet.^[2] The older children would carry the waste matter from the pit out on their backs and Hodge would work, shoulder-to-shoulder, with the men at the coal face with her two youngest with her in a basket she had brought them in.^[2] Her husband had died shortly after their fifth child had been born so Hodge would take breaks from mining at the coalface to breastfeed her youngest.^[2]

Hodge was acknowledged to be a hard worker and "brought more coal to the bank than any other miner."^[2]

Much of what we know about her life and working conditions were recorded from her conversations overheard by her grandson, Archibald (born 1833).^[2] Her recollections included competing with another female coalminer to see who was the strongest by carrying over four hundredweight (448 pounds (203 kg)) of coal.^[2] They also included memories of the air quality being so bad at the coalface that no lamp would burn^[2] and the light would come from 'fish heads'.^[2]

Hodge is thought to have died around 1833 or shortly after.^[2]

References

^ David Rorie (1914), "The Mining Folk of Fife", County Folk-Lore, 7, The Folklore Society: 382–4
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Ewan, Elizabeth, ed. (2018). The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-1-4744-3629-8. OCLC 1057237368.

[1] David Rorie (1914), "The Mining Folk of Fife", County Folk-Lore, 7, The Folklore Society: 382–4

[:0-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Ewan, Elizabeth, ed. (2018). The new biographical dictionary of Scottish women. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-1-4744-3629-8. OCLC 1057237368.

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