Frank Masters (1916 - 1997)

FATHER:
MOTHER:
SPOUSE:
OFFSPRING:
Frank Masters (b.1893)
Mary Robson (b.1892)
Harriet Stephenson (b.1921)
Ann Masters (b.1942)
Frank Joseph Masters (b.1945)
Colin Masters (b.1951)
Alan Masters (b.1953)
BIRTH: 30 January 1916 - Ryhope, Sunderland
MARRIAGE: No Details
DEATH: 1 May 1997 - Sunderland
KNOWN ADDRESSES: Mariville West, Ryhope, Sunderland - 1950
Western Hill, Ryhope, Sunderland - 1995
BIOGRAPHY:
Frank Masters was born the eldest son of Frank and Mary Masters. He was born approximately one month before his parents married so consequently his birth certificate records his mother's maiden name (Robson) as opposed to their married name.

When he left school he followed his father into coal mining and worked at Ryhope Colliery, Sunderland all of his working life, as a Coal Hewer.

A Coal Hewer was described in 1825 as

"persons that hew or cut the coal from its natural situation."

In 1849 a Coal Hewer was described as

"A man who works coals. His age ranges from 21 to 70. His usual wages (1849) are from 3s. 9d. to 4s. 3d. per day of 8 hours working, and his average employment 4 or 5 days in the week. He also has, as part of his wages, a house containing two or three rooms, according to the number in his family, and a garden, of which the average size may be 6 or 8 perches ; also a fother of small coals each fortnight, for the leading of which he pays sixpence.

In 1892 a Coal Hewer was described as

"....the actual coal-digger. Whether the seam be so thin that he can hardly creep into it on hands and knees, or whether it be thick enough for him to stand upright, he is the responsible workman who loosens the coal from the bed. The hewers are divided into "fore-shift" and "back-shift" men. The former usually work from four in the morning till ten, and the latter from ten till four. Each man works one week in the fore-shift and one week in the back-shift, alternately. Every man in the fore-shift marks "3" on his door. This is the sign for the "caller" to wake him at that hour. When roused by that important functionary he gets up and dresses in his pit clothes, which consist of a loose jacket, vest, and knee breeches, all made of thick white flannel; long stockings, strong shoes, and a close fitting, thick leather cap. He then takes a piece of bread and water, or a cup of coffee, but never a full meal. Many prefer to go to work fasting. With a tin bottle full of cold water or tea, a piece of bread, which is called his bait, his Davy lamp, and "baccy-box," he says good-bye to his wife and speeds off to work. Placing himself in the cage, he is lowered to the bottom of the shaft, where he lights his lamp and proceeds "in by," to a place appointed to meet the deputy. This official examines each man's lamp, and, if found safe, returns it locked to the owner. Each man then finding from the deputy that his place is right, proceeds onwards to his cavel�, his picks in one hand, and his lamp in the other. He travels thus a distance varying from 100 to 600 yards. Sometimes the roof under which he has to pass is not more than three feet high. To progress in this space the feet are kept wide apart, the body is bent at right angles with the hips, the head is held well down, and the face is turned forward. Arrived at his place he undresses and begins by hewing out about fifteen inches of the lower part of the coal. He thus undermines it, and the process is called kirving. The same is done up the sides. This is called nicking. The coal thus hewn is called small coal, and that remaining between the kirve and the nicks is the jud or top, which is either displaced by driving in wedges, or is blasted down with gunpowder. It then becomes the roundy. The hewer fills his tubs, and continues thus alternately hewing and filling."

In 1939 Frank married Harriet Stephenson and they had four children; Ann, Frank, Colin and Alan.

In 1997 Frank died, aged 81, after a long battle against lung cancer. He was a grandfather of eight.

IMAGES: (click to enlarge)

Frank aged approximately twenty-five

An undated picture of Ryhope Colliery

A 1920 picture of Ryhope Colliery

A 1923 picture of Ryhope Colliery

Frank Masters (right) with his father (centre)
and brother, Jack (left)

Frank, with wife Harriet, at their Golden Anniversary
HISTORICAL EVENTS:
1916 � DAVID LLOYD GEORGE (Liberal) becomes Prime Minister.
1917 � GEORGE V CHANGES THE NAME OF THE ROYAL HOUSE FROM SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA TO WINDSOR.
1918 � UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE ACT PASSED giving the vote to women over thirty years old.
1918 � WORLD WAR I ENDS.
1920 � GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT PASSED, superseding an earlier unacceptable act. Six of the nine counties of Ulster are to be known as Northern Ireland while the other three and the provinces of Connaught, Munster and Leinster are to form the Irish Free State. Northern Ireland is given its own parliament and permitted to send representatives to Westminster while the Irish Free State is given a similar status to that of Britain�s commonwealth. The Irish Free State ceases to be part of the United Kingdom from early 1922.
1922 � ANDREW BONAR LAW (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister.
1923 � ALBERT EINSTEIN�S THEORY OF RELATIVITY discards the concept of absolute motion and instead treats only relative motion between two systems or frames of reference. One consequence of the theory is that space and time are no longer viewed as separate, independent entities but rather are seen to form a four-dimensional continuum called space-time. Einstein also sought unsuccessfully for many years to incorporate the theory into a unified field theory valid also for subatomic and electromagnetic phenomena.
1923 � STANLEY BALDWIN (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister.
1924 � JAMES MACDONALD (Labour) becomes Prime Minister.
1926 � DECLARATION MADE AT THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE stating that all the nations of the British Commonwealth of Nations, notably UK, Canada, Australia, the Irish Free State, South Africa, New Zealand and Newfoundland, were equal in status, each independent of the others but uniting under a common crown.
1928 � UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE FINALLY ACHIEVED IN 1928, when women were given exactly the same voting rights as males.
1929 � GREAT DEPRESSION EFFECTS BRITAIN after a long period of economic stagnation after the war.
1935 � STANLEY BALDWIN (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister.
1936 � EDWARD VIII ASCENDS THE THRONE following the death of his father George V.
1936 � EDWARD VIII ABDICATES THE THRONE TO MARRY MRS SIMPSON. Edward becomes the Duke of Windsor.
1936 � GEORGE VI ASCENDS THE THRONE following the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII.
1937 � ARTHUR NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister.
1939 � GERMANY INVADES POLAND AND GREAT BRITAIN ENTERS WORLD WAR II.
1940 � WINSTON CHURCHILL (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister.
1940 � BATTLE OF BRITAIN FOUGHT.
1941 � ATLANTIC CHARTER SIGNED OFF NEWFOUNDLAND whereby the United States gave �all aid short of war�.
1941 � JAPANESE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR precipitates American entry into the war.
1941 � BRITAIN LOSES MANY OF IT�S PACIFIC STRONGHOLDS TO THE JAPANESE, most notably Singapore, Burma, Malaya and the British Western Pacific Islands.
1942 � ANGLO-AMERICAN LANDINGS IN NORTHWEST AFRICA start to increase the pressure on German forces. Similar landings in Sicily in 1943 have the same affect.
1944 � D-DAY LANDINGS IN NORMANDY, FRANCE, pushes the Germans back.
1945 � WORLD WAR II ENDS as Germany surrenders in May 1945 and Japan in September 1945.
1945 � CLEMENT ATTLEE (Labour) becomes Prime Minister.
1945 � GREAT BRITIAN IS SEVERELY AFFECTED BY THE WAR. It has lost 360,000 servicemen, 60,000 civilians, 4.5 million dwellings and 3/5 of its merchant fleet.
1946 � NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE ACT nationalizes hospitals and provides free medical and dental care for all.
1947 � INDIAN INDEPENDENCE IS GRANTED, sparking a religious war between Pakistan and India.
1949 � THE GOVERNMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN IS FORCED TO RADICALLY DE-VALUE THE POUND by decreasing its value against the US dollar from $4.05 to $2.80. This has the dramatic effect of stimulating exports (as UK goods are cheaper) and stifling imports (as overseas goods are more expensive).
1949 � IN THE HEIGHT OF THE COLD WAR, BRITAIN JOINS WITH THE UNITED STATES, FRANCE, ITALY AND EIGHT OTHER NATIONS TO FORM THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO), which provides for common defense in the event of Russian aggression.
1949 � THE IRISH FREE STATE SEVERS ALL COMMONWEALTH TIES WITH GREAT BRITAIN and becomes the Republic of Ireland.
1951 � WINSTON CHURCHILL (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister for the second time.
1952 � ELIZABETH II ASCENDS THE THRONE following the death of her father, George VI.
1955 � SIR ANTHONY EDEN (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister.
1956 � SUEZ CRISIS. Egypt, occupied by Britain since 1882, nationalizes the Suez Canal, hitherto controlled by the British, in response to an Anglo-American refusal to assist in the building of the Aswan Dam. The canal is vital to British shipping in providing a sea route to the oil of the Middle East and trade with India. British and French forces attempt to seize the canal but are halted abruptly when world opinion, and lack of US support, become apparent.
1957 � HAROLD MACMILLAN (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister.
1961 � GREAT BRITAIN APPLIES FOR MEMBERSHIP OF THE EUROPEAN COMMON MARKET. However, they are told they will have to cut trade ties with the commonwealth. Great Britain does not join.
1963 � SIR ALEC DOUGLAS-HOME (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister.
1964 � HAROLD WILSON (Labour) becomes Prime Minister.
1969 � MAN LANDS ON THE MOON. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon on July 20th, 1969, the first time man has set foot on another planetary body.
1973 � GREAT BRITAIN ENTERS THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY after a poll of the population narrowly votes in favour.
1979 � MARGARET THATCHER (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister.
1991 � JOHN MAJOR (Conservative) becomes Prime Minister.
1994 � TONY BLAIR (Labour) becomes Prime Minister.

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