Pony driver

Pony driving was often one of the first jobs for young lads, usually aged around 14, who were starting work in the shale mines. Boys would normally work as a pony driver for 1 or 2 years before being moved on to heavier work.

Pony drivers were in charge of a horse or pony hauling empty hutches to the different working areas in the mines and bringing hutches filled with shale to the pit bottom. Especially in pits without an ostler, pony drivers were also responsible for maintaining the underground stables, feeding and grooming the ponies and looking after their general welfare.

Pit ponies were well looked after in proper stables with lighting and beds of moss litter. The roads for the pit ponies were usually well made, often laid with bricks, to ensure a good, safe surface for the horses. Despite the introduction of underground diesel locomotives around 1940, ponies remained in use at many mines until the industry closed in 1962.

Wages & Working Hours

According to The Board of Trade Census of Wages conducted in 1886, boys under 15 earned an average weekly wage of 13s 3d with boys over 15 earning an average of 15s 0d. The report states that most underground workers, with the exception of miners and drawers, worked between 54 and 60 hours per week.

In 1925, the Report of a Court of Investigation Concerning the Wages Position in the Scottish Shale Oil Industry, records that an average 5.77 day week was worked by underground workers with around 7.5 hours per day spent underground. Average weekly earnings for boys under 18 years of age working underground were 26s 10d, youths aged between 18 and 21 earned 31s 6d and men earned £2 13s 0d.

By 1958, an Agreement Between the Scottish Shale Oil Companies and the National Union of Shale Miners and Oil Workers records that boys and youths working underground earned (per shift) 16s 7d at age 15, 17s 5d at age 16, 18s 6d at age 17, 26s 1d at age 18, 16s 9d at age 19 and 27s 3d at age 20. They worked an average of 40.5 hours per week over an 11 day fortnight.