Rose Petal - My great great grandfather worked in the coal mines of England, and that's what drove him to take his family to Canada for a better life--it didn't get better very quickly as the family almost died in a shipwreck. I guess the conditions in the coal mines were just terrible in the 19th century. Don't know what part of England it was, but maybe the north.
How big of a Cookson fan are you? I've read over 30 of her books. I need to know how to send pm's