12th Sep 2023
It is rare to hear from the bal maidens, or mining women, of Victorian Cornwall. Few contemporary records and first-hand accounts exist of their lives. This makes Salome Hocking's novel Norah Lang, or The Mine Girl, a precious jewel in Cornwall's crown.
SACRIFICE AND RESILIENCE
Hocking grew up in a tumultuous time for Cornish tin mining. She was born in St Stephen-in-Brannel in the mid-nineteenth century to a mine agent and his wife. The cost of tin had plummeted, while the mines were starting to run dry. Hocking and her family took on the grief of a village built on a crumbling industry. It is this rural reliance on tin mining that carves out the paths of her characters in The Mine Girl.
The mines afford nineteen-year-old Norah Lang the chance to care for her sister. Instead of going into service, she accepts the lower pay and social standing for Flipsy. The mine is full of hazards for a young woman, from injury to indecency.
When a mine shaft collapses, Norah agrees to marry Captain Phil to secure the safety of her father. Though many of the girls swoon over the Captain, Norah is far from impressed by his lifestyle:
'…she had not thought of marrying him, for he was neither a Christian nor a teetotaler […] [Captain Phil] cared more for wrestling, cricketing, and hunting, than for all the books that were ever written'
With this indictment of contemporary masculine ideals, centred on the hunter-gatherer stereotype that rewarded physical accuity, Hocking establishes a new vision for female desire towards men of moral value and education. It suggests that young women like Norah were starting to ask what masculinity could look like outside of traditional expectations, and that they were recognising their hopes for spiritual and intellectual equality in marriage.
Nonetheless Hocking realised the realities for women at the time and that marriage was too often the result of circumstances rather than choice. Many women were expected to put their dreams and desires aside for the greater good of the family. As the tin trade slumps, Norah's fiancé loses his job and migrates overseas like so many men for work. Hearing nothing from him, Norah remains faithful to the promise she made to him and fights through the bitter winter months. She sacrifices her health and standing to harvest turnips for the sake of her family.
THINKERS AND DREAMERS
Norah and her sister Flipsy are complex, intelligent and independent thinkers. They trust in their opinions and are not afraid to express their thoughts and ambitions:
'Poor people have no right to be sensitive. That is a luxury reserved for the rich? […] But enough. I shall wait until I am twenty-one before I am married; and I shall work at the mine'
The title may be Norah Lang, but Flipsy is the star of this story. Her health issues make her reliant on others for her physical care but nothing else. Hocking's own experiences with her health fueled rather than dampened her creative ambitions. It is refreshing to hear Flipsy's fearless confrontation of ableist prejudices and assumptions, something that no doubt was part of Hocking's daily experience.
Flipsy has a will and a voice that is all her own. Her wit, humour and spirit dispel any ignorance about Flipsy’s capabilities. She is not afraid to expose the ridiculousness of gender imbalances. Instead of being a saint, Flipsy is a fully-formed human being with talent, dreams and fears. She can be kind, funny and charming, or she can be impatient, harsh and self-critical. Yet she has the greatest growth of anyone in the book, forging a successful writing career and family life. Both guarantee her lasting independence and liberty from the constraints of social judgement.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Hocking makes sure that women’s voices are heard rather than silenced. Even when they face prejudice and uncertainty, Hocking’s women have a natural right to agency:
'It takes all sorts of people to make a world, you know; so we must satisfy ourselves with the thought that we help to make the variety'
The Mine Girl acknowledges the continuing social limitations for Victorian women. Yet it also celebrates women who seize those boundaries, shape their own lives and make their dreams come true.
Further Reading
Goodman, Gemma. Salome Hocking: A Cornish Woman Writer. Hypatia Trust, 2004
Hocking, Salome. Norah Lang: The Mine Girl. Andrew Crombie, 1886
Kent, Alan M. Pulp Methodism: The Lives and Literature of Silas, Joseph and Salome Hocking, Three Cornish Novelists. Cornish Hillside Publications, 2002
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