(Dipton and Burnopfield Community History Pilot Project)

JOHN SWAN was born on 11th June 1877 at Tanfield Village in North-West Durham - his Father was George Swan, an Engineer - his Mother was Isobel Alice Swan (formerly Burdon).

When he was a child the family moved to Dipton and it was at the local Collierley Board School that he was educated.

According to one account, he started work at the age of 11 as a farm-worker, herding cattle, but within a year he had began working at the local colliery. This was not surprising, since coal mining was virtually the sole form of employment available in mining communities and, indeed, it was generally expected by Colliery Management that boys, on leaving school, would follow in their "father's footsteps" into the mines.

He lived most of his early life in what could best be described as a typical miner's home of this period: a small house, situated in long rows of streets of back-to-back houses with "T"- fall bedrooms, one room and kitchen downstairs, basic and sparsely furnished throughout. Sanitation was primitive to say the least: open drains with ashpits across the back yard which doubled up as a "nettie" (a toilet as it would be called today) for the miner and his family. Indoor bathrooms were non-existent - a bath consisted of a long bath-shaped tin which was brought into the house, placed in front of the fire, filled with hot water and after use was emptied in the open drain in the back yard or road and then hung back up on the outside wall of the house to await its next call for duty!

John was obviously an intelligent man who had many interests, including a great love of literature and learning, dealing with such diverse topics as social reform, philosophy, horticulture, geology and poetry to name but a few. He also had an intense love for the beauty of nature, for it is recorded that he was often seen out walking in Dipton Woods with a book as his constant companion during these rambles. It is worth mentioning that in 1988 the Derwent Valley, in which Dipton Wood is situated, was declared an area of outstanding natural beauty and protected as such by legislation.

It was not all work and no play for him, however, because he was also a keen sportsman with strong family links with football: John, played in goal for Dipton Wanderers, described locally as the "team of many talents", whilst two of his brothers, Tom and Jim, played professionally for Grimsby and Newcastle United respectively.

It was at about this period of his life that he studied at Cambridge, as a winner of a Co-operative Union Scholarship on Economics. Whilst at the University he was presented with a book which became one of his literary treasures, entitled From Religion to Philosophy and which was presented to him by Mr T.M. Cornforth who, incidentally, was married to one of Dr. Francis Darwin's daughters, who was consequently a granddaughter of Charles Darwin, the English Naturalist who formulated the theory of evolution by natural selection.

John, although a man of many talents, nevertheless had developed an overriding interest in politics, the Co-operative Movement and Trade Union affairs in all of which he was destined to take important roles.

It is stated that he had a hatred, if it could be described as such, of the conditions in which miners were compelled to work and live, which led to him being known at mineworkers' union meetings for the force with which he urged the need to struggle for improvement in both their working and housing conditions. He became thereby increasingly unpopular with the Colliery Management, but conversely more popular within the mining communities. In addition, he was by this time an ardent Socialist who became one of a small group of Independent Labour Party pioneers, whose early attempts to establish socialism in the district met with little apparent success. It was such men and women, like John, who marked the emergence of a new force in politics which was to grow into a mighty democratic movement. This small group of socialists held their meetings out of doors near "the big lamp" at Dipton Front Street corner ends with only a few listeners. Undaunted, he travelled to other surrounding villages preaching the same message for those who wished to listen.

In 1904 he became secretary of the Dipton Independent Labour Party and in the same year he was chosen to be checkweighman at East Howle Colliery; and in 1912 took up a similar post at the Delight Colliery at Dipton.

He played a full part in local affairs, serving on the Lanchester Board of Guardians from 1907 where he worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for the most deprived and impoverished members of society in the region.

People today cannot comprehend the severity and hardship which prevailed in this era at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, so perhaps the following article from a local newspaper which was published at this period, may assist in giving an insight into what life could mean for a section of the underprivileged:-

SPENT HALF HIS LIFE IN PRISON

"An old man, named William Robason, well known in Durham City and who is said to be 90 years old, was brought up on a charge of vagrancy. Supt. W D Murphy stated that the man had been going about the district begging and even stealing since June last; and the only difficulty now was what was best to be done with him. Robason had spent half of his life in prison. He had been sentenced to penal servitude, and had three or four times been committed to terms of 12 and 18 months, for all kinds of offences. He was a very old man and the police did not want to be hard upon him, but he solicited alms quite openly, and was becoming a nuisance to the neighbourhood.

Inspector Smallwood said that the accused told him that he had spent over 40 years in prison.

Sergt. Carruthers gave evidence of finding the man begging alms at various shops in Church Street at noon on the previous day. Some of the tradespeople complained to witness, who warned the old man to desist. He also advised Robason that he would be better in the Workhouse. Defendant stated that he had not broken his fast that morning. He had, he stated, been in Lanchester Workhouse a month and would not go back again. Twenty minutes later the officer found the man begging again on the streets and was obliged to take him into custody.

Defendant said that if the magistrate would only let him off he would go down to Lanchester Workhouse and stay there. He did not expect he would have long to live now.

Supt. Murphy: We have heard that story many a time. You told Mr John Lloyd-Wharton at Durham Quarter Sessions 20 years ago that you had not long to live and he committed you for 12 months. You are still alive. On another occasion you told a bench of magistrates that if they would only let you go you would return straight to Lanchester Workhouse and remain there. The magistrates paid your train fare from Durham to Lanchester and yet when you arrived there you did not go to the Workhouse, but recommenced begging. You have also spun yarns of having served through the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny.

The magistrate said that the defendant seemed half starved and he would be far better in the Workhouse.

Defendant: I know that. Give the Lanchester people their due, I got more food than I could eat when I was in Lanchester Workhouse. The master and matron were also very kind to me. People will not part with money now-a-days. Not one in a hundred will give a copper to an old man begging.

Mr Lowes sentenced the accused to 14 days hard labour and strongly advised him, after his release, to go to the Workhouse for the rest of his life".

John Swan was a Councillor on Annfield Plain Urban District Council for three years, but gratitude is not a strong feature in either local or national politics, for at the end of his three year term of office, he was defeated, although he had been the leading figure in the implementation of much needed housing schemes throughout the whole of the Urban District including the Dipton area. He never ran again for re-election onto the Council

John was a member of the Executive Committee of Durham Miners' Association from 1909 to 1911 and again from 1916 to 1918. He had now become a well-known figure throughout the Durham Coalfield and was chosen as the miners' candidate to contest the Barnard Castle Parliamentary Division. He successfully contested the seat and his success here was all the more remarkable, because it is recorded that he not only virtually single-handed ran his own election campaign but he defeated J E Rogerson, the Coalition Unionist candidate, who had wide business interests in the County and consequently was able to put a great deal more money and resources into his campaign.

DURHAM BARNARD CASTLE DIVISION
J E Swan (Labour)	5468
Capt J E Rogerson    (Conservative Unionist)	3837
E H Hilary (Liberal)	2180
O Monkhouse (Farmers)	1275
Labour Majority	1631

His residence is recorded in the electoral register as:-

PONTOP DIVISION

NUMBER  1076
Swan, John Edmund
13 Swinburn Terrace
(freehold house)

His election recorded the fact that Dipton now had two Labour Members of Parliament living within a few hundred yards of each other in the village. Possibly the first time in the history of Westminster that such an event had occurred, certainly within the Labour Movement. It could have been even more remarkable because at the time of these two members being elected, a report stated "but for a near chance Dipton would have claimed three". Unfortunately no name or further information was recorded, consequently the third man remains a mystery to this very day.

His Parliamentary term lasted until 1922, but in the subsequent election that year he was narrowly defeated by 219 votes and it does not appear from the records that he made any further attempt to re-enter Parliament. This was surprising, because it had been predicted that his term in Westminster was a prelude to a brilliant parliamentary career, as he was acclaimed not only for his gifted oratory but also for his fearless outspokenness on matters of principle such as land nationalisation and the partitioning of Ireland, upon which he said

"The members of the Labour Party desire to utilise the resources of wealth which are at our disposal rather than giving unemployment grants. We want to initiate schemes which will have the effect of providing work for our people under conditions which will enable them to provide for their families and when their day's work is done, to have leisure and recreation ....

I hope that a new policy will be initiated by the Government that instead of trying to crush the spirit of freedom of the Irish people, they will initiate a policy which will win them to us and secure their co-operation".

The mines were nationalised in 1947, but, sadly, the Irish problem still remains unresolved to this day. History has indeed proved that he was a man of vision!

In 1923 he became Financial Secretary of Durham Miners' Association and in 1935 he became its General Secretary, a position which he retained until his retirement in 1945.

He was also on the National Executive of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1941.

In 1933 he had a novel published called The Mad Miner - a saga of the North. It gave a fictitious but realistic and accurate picture of life in a mining village like Dipton.

He then wrote a further novel in 1937 of mining life entitled People of the Night and in 1939 he wrote a play called On the Minimum but there is no record of its being performed.

John Swan died on 9th February 1956 aged 78 years, having spent a lifetime in the service of others, endeavouring to promote the Trade Union and Labour Movements in an attempt to improve the living and working conditions of the Working Classes of this region in particular and the country in general.