A Mile Of River

A Mile Of River

Wednesday 31 August 2011

Black Diamonds

by Catherine Bailey
Black Diamonds
This book has been one of my favourite reads this year. The book is non fiction and tells of the Fitzwilliam family who were coal mine owners. Tells of the rise and fall of this aristocratic family. There are lots of dark secrets that the family went out of their way to conceal. There is however, a lot more to this story of the Fitzwilliam family, its also a very interesting account of social history of the 20th century and the change in coal industry that had originally made their fortune.

Extremely well researched by Catherine Bailey, who tells how the Fitzwilliam family were well respected by their workers and how the family supported the miners through the general strike. The book tells of the awfull working conditions that the miners were exposed to for a very low wage.

Such a shame that so much of the documentation and letters were deliberately burnt but Catherine Bailey does a fantastic job in restructuring the history.










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