Coombes, Bert Lewis: These Poor Hands; the Autobiography of a Miner Working in South Wales DOB: 1894 DOD: Unknown He grew up in Herefordshire in a poor household with his father. In 1912 aged 18, he left Herefordshire to work in a coalfield in South Wales. It was mentioned he was the first “local” miner to use a mechanical coal-cutter in 1914. He went into a lot of detail regarding the wage-payment system prior to the First World War. The book excerpts are typed with a total of 19 pages, and have a few annotations. Colliery, Miners, [Poverty], [Wages], Wales, [Trade], Machinery. 1939