Overview

The recollections of a coal miner and soldier who survived both the Senghennydd pit explosion and the horrors of the World War I trenches, told through the medium of a conversation between him and his grandson, the author. -- Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru

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9780862436124

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The experience of individuals often offers a wealth of evidence that contradicts the sweeping generalisations that historians provide for periods, places and people. Alf Gordon’s life story is one fascinating example of this tendency. It provides a wealth of insights into the more complex reality of mining life in South Wales in the twentieth century. Alf Gordon was born into rural poverty in the Welsh border country in the late nineteenth century. Before his twentieth birthday, he moved to work in the mining community of South Wales, survived the Senghennydd pit disaster, enlisted in the army, was quickly promoted to colonel, and survived the Somme, several other battles and the First World War. After an action-packed introduction to the horrors of life, everything that came afterwards could be seen to have been an anticlimax. But he returned home to the depression and distress of the 1920s and 1930s and a determination that he would devote his life to helping others survive the dangers of their workplace through his dedicated involvement in mine safety. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Alf Gordon went to church and had as his hero, not a propaganda propounding socialist, but Charles Steward Rolls, pioneer aviator and member of the elite. His life experience, therefore, in so many areas, runs against the common grain of his society. The Black Mountains is the fruit of Alf Gordon’s conversations with his grandson David Barnes in the 1960s. Accordingly, the book has something of the feeling of the oral testimonies collected so lovingly by the staff of the South Wales Miners' Library and the Welsh Folk Museum. It is unknown, however, as to when the conversations were recorded. Thus, it poses questions as to how we should use the material. Is it an oral testimony or the fruit of a historical reconstruction? Whichever, the book offers a fascinating account of a world we have lost. -- Russell Davies @ www.gwales.com

The experience of individuals often offers a wealth of evidence that contradicts the sweeping generalisations that historians provide for periods, places and people. Alf Gordon's life story is one fascinating example of this tendency. It provides a wealth of insights into the more complex reality of mining life in South Wales in the twentieth century. Alf Gordon was born into rural poverty in the Welsh border country in the late nineteenth century. Before his twentieth birthday, he moved to work in the mining community of South Wales, survived the Senghennydd pit disaster, enlisted in the army, was quickly promoted to colonel, and survived the Somme, several other battles and the First World War. After an action-packed introduction to the horrors of life, everything that came afterwards could be seen to have been an anticlimax. But he returned home to the depression and distress of the 1920s and 1930s and a determination that he would devote his life to helping others survive the dangers of their workplace through his dedicated involvement in mine safety. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Alf Gordon went to church and had as his hero, not a propaganda propounding socialist, but Charles Steward Rolls, pioneer aviator and member of the elite. His life experience, therefore, in so many areas, runs against the common grain of his society. The Black Mountains is the fruit of Alf Gordon's conversations with his grandson David Barnes in the 1960s. Accordingly, the book has something of the feeling of the oral testimonies collected so lovingly by the staff of the South Wales Miners' Library and the Welsh Folk Museum. It is unknown, however, as to when the conversations were recorded. Thus, it poses questions as to how we should use the material. Is it an oral testimony or the fruit of a historical reconstruction? Whichever, the book offers a fascinating account of a world we have lost. -- Russell Davies @ www.gwales.com

Author Information

David Barnes is a freelance journalist who specialises in rugby. Having been forced to retire from the game because of a knee injury he has covered club, pro-team and international rugby for Scotland on Sunday, The Sunday Herald, Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.

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