[2] It recruited Northumberland miner William Whitefield as its first agent and secretary.
He was immediately successful, winning a 10% pay increase for members,[3] leading to membership rising to 3,035 in 1892.
This proved to be the union's high point; the gradual closure of local mines reduced membership to 2,167 by 1910.
[4] Whitefield retired in 1921 and was succeeded by the union's treasurer, Charles Gill.
[5] By 1945, when the Somerset Miners' Association became the West Country Area of the National Union of Mineworkers, there were fewer than 400 members in the Bristol district.