The Expansion of the South Yorkshire Coalfield and the Wharncliffe Silkstone Colliery Partnership, 1847–1879

The south Yorkshire coalfield, located between Barnsley to the north and Sheffield on the south, was not fully exploited until its opening up to new markets by the expanding railway network from the early 1850s. The Wharncliffe Silkstone Coal Company was established in 1853 as a partnership to exploit these newly-viable coal seams and was one of the first of its size in this newly-enlarged coalfield. The partnership was converted into a limited liability company in 1879. Uniquely for a colliery business in this coalfield there are partnership minutes and accounts which cover most of these early years of the coalfield. The colliery was established as a result of the railway schemes in which Robert Baxter, one of the partners and the solicitor to the Great Northern Railway Co., was a major influence. The unforeseen geological problems of the mine and the indifferent quality of the much of the coal created difficulties for the partners in achieving the potential profitability they would have expected.