posted on 17 Aug 2015

The Bonny Pit Laddie by Frederick Grice

Published in 1966 by the Oxford University Press and illustrated by Brian Wildsmith, this short novel feels like a very traditional children's novel - even old-fashioned in terms of the modern world of YA writing.

The story centres on Dick (Richard) Ullathorne, a 14 year old boy who is the second son of a miner who lives and works on the edges of the Durham coalfield. Dick is more suited to books and education than he is to the rough and tumble of life in the pit village but he is entranced by his derring-do  older brother, Kit. Kit has no time for education and will happily leave school to go down the pit but Dick - encouraged by a sympathetic teacher and an ambitious grandmother has visions of something more - although he doesn't know what this might be.

The action of the novel is set at a non-specific time before the nationalisation of the pits and Dick's father is a trade union activist who stands up to the dreadful pit overseer, Sleath, and his lackies. A strike is eventually called against the privations the workforce are forced to endure but despite the solidarity of the miners they are eventually starved back to work. Dick's father is then blacklisted and cannot work anywhere and this forces Dick to confront a terrible reality - he has to go down the pit to help the family survive. When he and his older brother are caught in a shaft collapse it looks as if they are finished but the brothers find a way out and become heroes of the community. But Dick has been damaged by his experience both physically and mentally and he resolves not to return to the pit. With the help of a visiting archeological academic who spots Dick's potential he is given the chance to build a career as an assistant apprentice to a chemist and the novel ends as his new life begins.

I said at the beginning that this feels like quite an old-fashioned book in many ways. The young boys are spirited but not anti-establishment; the villans have no redeeming characteristics; the parents are kind and understanding; Dick's brother is a scamp but not a lawbreaker; moral positions are very clear and drawn in black and white. I suspect if this book was written today the  story, motivations of the characters and their personalities would be considerably more complex. The theme of upward social mobility is actually quite a modern one but it's hard to imagine this book being written in quite this way today.

 

Terry Potter

August 2015