Andrew Knowles and Sons was a coal mining company that operated on the Manchester Coalfield in and around Clifton near Pendlebury, in the historic county of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England. Robert Knowles who died 1780, started pits in Eagley Bank and Sharples, north of Bolton. The pits were inherited by his descendants, Andrew (1735–1810), Robert (1756–1819) and Andrew (1783–1847), his great grandson. The family had an interest in this area until 1870. Andrew Knowles was born in 1783 into a family whose mining interests began in

Elizabethan times The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

and whose descendants dominated the industry at the end of the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. Before 1810 Knowles operated in Bolton,

Darcy Lever Darcy Lever is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester, England. Historically part of Lancashire, the area lies on the B6209 (Radcliffe Road), between Bolton and Little Lever. Its history dates to the time of William ...

and

Great Lever Great Lever is a suburb of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is south of Bolton town centre and the same distance north of Farnworth. The district is served by frequent buses running to Bolton town centre, Farnwo ...

and subsequently bought leases in the

Irwell Valley The Irwell Valley in North West England extends from the Forest of Rossendale through the cities of Salford and Manchester. The River Irwell runs through the valley, along with the River Croal. Geology Shallow seas covered most of south-east ...

near Clifton. In the late 1830s Knowles took his four sons into partnership. Andrew Knowles died in 1847 and a son, John, died in 1852 leaving Robert, Thomas and James Knowles to continue the business. Little Bolton Colliery on Slater Lane near the

River Tonge The River Tonge is a short river, splitting Bolton from contiguous Tonge, both in Greater Manchester, England. The Tonge is formed at the ''Meeting of the Waters'', where Astley Brook, from Smithills in the west, meets the Eagley Brook draw ...

in Bolton was owned by the company between 1853 and 1863. The third generation joined the firm after a disagreement in 1872 and Andrew Knowles and Sons Limited was formed in 1883. The firm grew to be the largest on the Manchester Coalfield by the end of the 19th century when it had almost 4,000 employees. The company sank the first

Agecroft Colliery Agecroft Colliery was a coal mine on the Manchester Coalfield that opened in 1844 in the Agecroft district of Pendlebury, Lancashire, England. It exploited the coal seams of the Middle Coal Measures of the Lancashire Coalfield. The colliery ha ...

which operated until 1928. The output of Knowles' collieries was initially for local use and was moved by road transport. Some collieries were close to the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal on which the company operated a fleet of boats and by 1850 some pits had access to the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

's Manchester to Bolton line. Clifton Moss Colliery employed up to 300 men before 1891 when it closed. In 1896 the company owned Clifton Hall Colliery in Lumns Lane, Clifton, Foggs Colliery in Darcy Lever, Wheatsheaf Colliery in Pendlebury and

Pendleton Colliery Pendleton Colliery was a coal mine operating on the Manchester Coalfield after the late 1820s on Whit Lane in Pendleton, Salford, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. John Fitzgerald era John Purcell Fitzgerald, Member of Pa ...

in Pendleton,

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

. By then Rivin Colliery in

Little Lever Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

and Allens Green and Green Lane in

Radcliffe Radcliffe or Radcliff may refer to: Places * Radcliffe Line, a border between India and Pakistan United Kingdom * Radcliffe, Greater Manchester ** Radcliffe Tower, the remains of a medieval manor house in the town ** Radcliffe tram stop * ...

had been abandoned. In 1929 the company became part of

Manchester Collieries Manchester Collieries was a coal mining company with headquarters in Walkden formed from a group of independent companies operating on the Manchester Coalfield in 1929. The Mining Industry Act of 1926 attempted to stem the post-war decline in coal ...

. In 1866 all workers who had joined the forerunner of the

Miners' Federation of Great Britain The Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) was established after a meeting of local mining trade unions in Newport, Wales in 1888. The federation was formed to represent and co-ordinate the affairs of local and regional miners' unions in Engla ...

were locked out of the Knowles pits and the company defeated attempts to unionise the workforce. The company's intransigence towards unions continued up to 1891 when a strike left miners little better off but the firm was forced to negotiate with a union it had up to then refused to recognise.

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