Cambrian Combine strike

Cambrian Combine strike
Cambrian Combine strike
Part of the Great Unrest
	Plan of the Mid Rhondda Strike Area, taken from D.E. Evans' Labour Strife in the South Wales Coalfield 1910-1911 (1911)
Date	1 September 1910 – August 1911
Location	Rhondda, South Wales
Caused by	Wage dispute over difficult seam at Ely Pit; Lock-out in Penygraig
Goals	Higher wages (2s 6d per ton), better working conditions, recognition of dangerous working conditions
Methods	Strike action; Picketing; Rioting;
Resulted in	Strike defeated; miners forced to accept original wage offer of 2s 3d per ton
Parties
South Wales Miners' Federation	Employers Cambrian Combine Naval Colliery Company; Glamorgan Coal Company; Cambrian Collieries Ltd; Britannic Merthyr Coal Company; ; Police Glamorgan Constabulary; Bristol Constabulary; Metropolitan Police Service; Armed forces British Army Lancashire Fusiliers; 18th Royal Hussars; Somerset Light Infantry; ;
Lead figures
	William Abraham ("Mabon") David Alfred Thomas (Lord Rhondda); F. L. Davis; Captain Lionel Lindsay; Winston Churchill; General Macready;
Number
12,000-30,000 miners at peak	400+ police, 1 company Lancashire Fusiliers, 1 squadron 18th Hussars
Casualties
Arrested	13 miners from Gilfach Goch

Coal miners in South Wales staged a major strike in 1910-1911 over wages and working conditions, culminating in violent confrontations with police and the deployment of military forces. The strike began as a dispute over payment rates for working a difficult coal seam at the Ely Pit in Penygraig but escalated into one of the most significant labour conflicts in Welsh history.

The strike formed part of the broader Great Unrest period (1910-1914), during which Britain experienced over 4,000 strikes involving approximately four million workers. This unprecedented wave of industrial militancy saw trade union membership grow by 62 per cent from 2.5 million in 1910 to 4.1 million in 1914, with workplace density increasing from 14.6 per cent to 23 per cent.