"a fairly runty little bloke who was scared half out of his wits by the thought of going down the mine, and then had to go down anyway"
describes my dad quite well .When he got down ,he'd be crawling through 3 foot seams having to buy his own explosives - if a shot misfired the miners had to take it out themselves.
At least they had some protection compared to the near slave conditions of the nineteenth century

"Robert North, who worked in a coal mine in Yorkshire, told an inspector: 'I went into the pit at seven years of age. When I drew by the girdle and chain, my skin was broken and the blood ran down … If we said anything, they would beat us.' "

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1312764/Britains-child-slaves-New-book-says-misery-helped-forge-Britain.html#ixzz3oTniSe