‘I don’t talk about art – I paint if possible.’

Born on Christmas Day of 1898, Jimmy Floyd came from a family of Devon miners who emigrated to Northumberland via Yorkshire to work in the northern coalfields. Starting as a trapper at the Ashington Colliery at the age of fourteen, he would eventually spend the majority of his mining career as an onsetter, responsible for loading coal tubs onto the ‘cage’ which ascended the pit shaft to the pit head. Interested in drawing since his youth, Floyd joined the WEA course on Art Appreciation in 1934 and, along with Oliver Kilbourn, he was one of the few members of the Ashington Group who worked underground every day, therefore able to give accurate insight into the conditions at the coalface.

A regular and conscientious contributor to the Group, Floyd formed part of their core membership, and his paintings made up significant parts of their exhibitions, ranging from self-reflective works examining his own career (Trapping, My First Job and The Onsetter) to the pleasures of allotment life (Pigeon Crees). After his retirement from the pits, his focus shifted largely to colourful scenes of fairgrounds, travellers’ camps, and country landscapes, often painting many copies of the same compositions so that he could give them away to friends and family as seasonal gifts.

Floyd wrote regularly to the Ashington Group’s longtime mentors Robert Lyon and Helen Sutherland after their main correspondent within the Group, Arthur Whinnom, died in 1962. As per George Brown and Jack Harrison, he also became a frequent entrant into the annual Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (CISWO) arts competitions, winning several prizes in their painting and sculpting categories. Floyd was also honoured by the Morpeth Town Council in 1974 for his heroic efforts in rescuing an elderly miner from a burning building, just prior to his death at the age of seventy-five. He was, after Oliver Kilbourn, the second longest tenured member of the Ashington Group, consistently active for forty years.

Text from Museums Northumberland website

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Wallington Hall, Northumberland
Material: Oil on board
Artist: Jimmy Floyd (1898 – 1974)
Date: circa 1939

Image Details
Date: 10 September 2023
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 400
Licensing: Image of a North East Museums asset. © The Ashington Group Trustees. This image cannot be licensed.