How you can use this image

This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).

Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.

The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.

Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.

Notes

Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.

Thomas Burt was born in the colliery village of Murton Row in Northumberland on 12 November 1837. His father, Peter Burt, a miner, was an active trade unionist and a Primitive Methodist. After a bitter mining strike, Peter Burt was victimized and the family were forced to move from their tied cottage. After two years of schooling, Thomas Burt, aged only ten, became a trapper boy in Haswell Colliery. Thomas Burt worked in a wide variety of pits, and like his father, was forced to move because of his union activities. In 1852, Thomas Burt was employed at Seaton Delaval Colliery Northumberland where he stayed for thirteen years. Burt's knowledge of politics and economics impressed his fellow miners and in 1863 he was elected secretary and agent of the Northumberland Miners Association (NMA).