An etching by W. Fordyce of Hetton Colliery in Country Durham, around 1820, the first colliery in the world designed for the use of steam locomotives: see The Hetton Railway. The coalfields of the North East were the primary source of London’s ‘sea coal’ (the early term for mineral coal as opposed to wood charcoal) and especially badly hit by the environmental regulations and taxes piled on by successive Governments as a screen for revenue-raising. The obvious economy of sea coals, the London Journal observed, “seems to have forced their introduction in spite of everything, or otherwise the hypocritical pretences advanced against their use must have prevailed — pretences which, with shame be it said, are not wanting in the present day.”
Introduction
Coal-burning was heavily regulated as early as 1306 by Edward I — ostensibly on environmental grounds, though the powerful charcoal lobby was not at all displeased to see this new competitor hobbled by Parliament. Yet supplies of wood for charcoal dwindled, and coal could no longer be ignored; so from Elizabeth I onwards, the coal industry was less regulated, but more taxed.
WITH her usual cupidity, Queen Elizabeth not only imposed additional taxes but subjected it [the coal industry] to the most shameful monopolies.* In consequence of this the trade gradually languished, until, during the civil wars of Charles the First,* the price of coals, from one cause or another, had risen in the port of London to £4 per London chaldron; the king, meantime, exporting coals to Holland in exchange for gunpowder and bullets wherewith to shoot his rebellious subjects. The great fire of London, in 1666, gave occasion for fresh imposts upon the coal trade, and these were accordingly laid on to assist in building the present St Paul’s Cathedral and fifty other churches, which had been destroyed by that conflagration.
The success of this unjust tax seems to have roused the profligacy of Charles the Second into a belief that any amount of spoliation might be employed with impunity,* and, consistently with such an opinion, the notorious Richmond shilling was imposed, in the shape of a royal grant of “one shilling per chaldron of coals shipped, to be paid to Charles Lennox and his heirs for ever.”
* It was not merely cupidity. In 1578, London brewers presented Parliament with a petition asking to be allowed to burn ‘sea coal’ rather than wood charcoal, but sparing the neighbourhood of the Palace of Westminster during Parliamentary sessions, as “Her Majesty findeth hersealfe greatly greved and anoyed with the taste and smoke of the se cooles.” Not that Elizabeth was exactly opposed to sea coal: she owned a large number of collieries herself.
* Historians tend to speak of the civil wars in the plural, recognising that the Bishops Wars between England and Scotland (1639-1640), the English Civil War (1642-1648), the ‘Second’ Civil War engulfing England and Scotland (1648-1652) and the Civil War in Ireland (1641-1653) each had their own dynamics. Charles I was executed in 1649, and his son Charles II regained the throne in 1660.
* This was in 1667. Once more, it was not merely greed. Environmental issues were again in view, and Charles had been very interested in a paper presented to him by Sir John Evelyn in 1661 entitled Fumifugium, in which he suggested ways to improve the air of London: some were by his own admission impractical, such as importing wood from Scandinavia, but others were very sensible, such as moving heavy industry out of residential areas, developing smokeless fuels (at that time an emergent technology), improving chimneys and planting trees. But as with his predecessors, Charles seems to have tut-tutted over the environmental problems and then — despite the opportunity presented by the Great Fire — done nothing except raise a new tax.
Précis
From the time of Queen Elizabeth I, coal was taxed so heavily that the industry was all but crushed by rising prices. Nonetheless, the revenue was welcome and following the Great Fire of London, Charles II placed yet another levy on coal, dubbed the Richmond Shilling, for the benefit not of the Treasury but of one Charles Lennox. (58 / 60 words)
From the time of Queen Elizabeth I, coal was taxed so heavily that the industry was all but crushed by rising prices. Nonetheless, the revenue was welcome and following the Great Fire of London, Charles II placed yet another levy on coal, dubbed the Richmond Shilling, for the benefit not of the Treasury but of one Charles Lennox.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, just, must, or, ought, until, whether.
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