Description: A group of workers at the Hartington Pit, owned by the Staveley Coal and Iron Company and opened in c 1875. The Staveley Coal and Iron Company bought George Hodgkinson Barrow's extensive foundries and collieries in the Staveley area for £600000 in 1863. (Barrow's Family had owned blast furnaces and collieries in the area since 1786. Charles Markham became the Managing Director of the company for a period of at least five years from the formation. At this time the company employed 3,000 workers, the collieries raised some 1,000,000 tons of coal per annum and the foundries and furnaces produced 20,000 tons of castings. Charles Markham made the company expand rapidly and by 1878 the company had paid up capital of £1326000 owning outright and in partnerships several collieries, iron works and housing ventures around the country. His sons and grandsons were to continue the traditions of Charles Markham into the twentieth century. The name, 'Walter Barker' is written on the back of the postcard, and is possibly the name of one of the men in the photograph.