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Archiver > CORNISH > 1999-03 > 0921387944


From: "John Storm Roberts" <>
Subject: Re: Miners and Masonic Lodges
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 1999 21:05:44 -0800


I don't know either., G.B. Pearce was, commercially speaking, arrived. His
grandfather was a plain old miner so it was his father Richard Donald Pearce
who made the big leap from pick and shovel to mine captain.

I'm a bit vague as to what a mine captain actually did. There seem also to
have been mine managers, and even separate surface and underground managers.
I do remember my mother claiming that the mine captains were relatively
un-class-bound for Victorian times, on reasonably equal terms both with the
minor county and the miners. But I have to say that while having a good
memory she also tended to put an optimistic spin on things.

Best,

JSR
-----Original Message-----
From: Sandy <>
To: John Storm Roberts <>
Cc: <>
Date: Saturday, March 13, 1999 5:54 PM
Subject: Re: Miners and Masonic Lodges

>John Storm Roberts wrote:
>>
>><sniped>
>>
>> I suggest that miners abroad may also have found Masonry a good
networking
>> tool, both within their own community and as a way of making contacts
>> outside it.
>>
>
>John,
>I quite agree and this is precisely the line of thought our discussion
>was taking!
>We began to become curious, however, as to whether we could discover if
>this form of "networking" more likely began before or after emigration
>from Cornwall.
>Your post is quite helpful, however...as it certainly well establishes
>the presence of the Masonic Order in Cornwall....although whether this
>was something "ordinary miners" might've become part of in say the early
>to mid 1800s, I do not know.
>
>I also don't know whether being a Mason involved a certain level of
>financial ability...i.e. to pay membership dues or something of that
>nature? ...if so, it would seem unlikely many miners in Cornwall could
>have afforded this?
>
>Sandy
>

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