[1] Shortly after his marriage, Normansell moved to Derbyshire, then on to Silkstone in South Yorkshire, where in 1857 he was elected as checkweighman.
The following year, he was a founding member of the South Yorkshire Miners' Association (SYMA), which proved immediately successful.
In 1863, Normansell fell into dispute with the owner of his mine, who sacked him, but the union supported him and, after seven months out of work, he won a court case for his reinstatement.
[1] A nineteen-week-long lock-out of miners in 1864 greatly weakened the SYMA, membership fell, and the union sought a new secretary.
Normansell took up the post, working with his assistant, Philip Casey, and within ten years, membership had increased tenfold to more than 20,000.