Horden Colliery Heritage Centre

An exhibition of the art work of Horden miner Jimmy Kays (1886-1951) will run from 12th June 2015 until 31st July 2015.

 

James (Jimmy) Kays was born 4th January 1886 in Easington lane, Co. Durham. His family had come from the west of Ireland, possibly escaping the famine (1845-1852), and seeking work in the Durham coalfield. At the age of 15 he was already working as a miner and married Mary Ann in 1908. By 1911 he was living in Hetton-le-Hole with their one year old daughter, Dorris. By the outbreak of war in 1914, he and Mary Ann had two more Children - James and Violet. Like other mining families of the time, they were moving within Co. Durham, following the best mining seams and the best work. 

 

Two men by the name of James Kays from Co. Durham were entitled to First World War Servoce Medals. One was his first cousin from Silksworth. However, with the lack of detail in the war records it has been impossible to establish how the artist spent those years. Two of his brothers, Thomas and Bernard Penman were killed within two days of each at Hooge, Belgium in May 2015, and Jimmy produced a moving memorial drawing for his mother which is still in possession of the family. One month after the end of the war, in December 1918, Mary Ann died and at some point in the following five years, Jimmy moved to Horden Colliery. In 1925 he married Margaret (Peggy) Daley from Ryhope and the couple went on to have two children, Mary and Colin, but three weeks after Colin was born in January 1939 Peggy died of mastitis.

 

James Kays was a union activist, and his family believe that his politics cost him his job as a miner, possibly during the troubled 1920s. As 'The Horden Miner' he had been publishing cartoons in a local paper, the 'Weekly Star' but that work seems to have ended by the mid-1920s and no copies can be found of the newspaper, which seems to have been associated with the 'Hartlepool Mail'. He subsequently found work emptying dustbins, and then as a watchman, the occupation recorded on his death certificate in December 1951. During the 1940s, his artistic attention was focused on his family and friends for whom he produced lino-cut greetings cards and calendars using the press he kept at his small home in Horded.

 

The art work reveals a natural artistic talent. We do not know for certain if Jimmy Kays received any formal art training, but he was known locally as a scholar as well as an artist, and people came to him for help and advice. He tried his hand at writing, and there is an extant text of a piece he wrote entitled 'Death Stock' - a satirical take on the cost of dying to the working man and his kin.

 

What we do know is that Jimmy Kays never sought fame or fortune. He derived no significant or regular income from his art, but nevertheless continued to draw and print until his death. He was a modest man, deeply loved by his family and respected in his community. His art reveals a deep understanding and sensitivity to the local people and East Durham mining culture. He was particularly alert to the responses of men to conditions they faced in the pits, using their pitmatic language and humour to enhance his drawings. His depictions of childhood show an empathy with children, again deploying a sense of humour that is irrepressible. There is less focus on women, but they are ever present, particularly in the newspaper cartoons, and perhaps the most sensitive drawing of all in the collection is the portrait of his first wife, Mary Ann.

 

James Kays deserves to be remembered as a talented artist who has left a body of work which significantly contributes to our historical knowledge of East Durham.

 

Jean Spence, May 2015

​