Shortly after its formation, the National Coal Board made a long-term commitment to commissioning artists to record the newly nationalised industry. The first was H. Andrew Freeth, a professional portrait painter and Official War Artist. As part of his commission Freeth travelled throughout the English, Scottish and Welsh coalfields making numerous on-the-spot drawings of working miners, usually in charcoal, chalks and in pen line overlaid with watercolour. Of equal importance to Freeth was talking to these men about their lives within and outside of the colliery. These anecdotal stories were then published unaltered alongside the portraits in the NCB’s monthly magazine 'Coal' from 1947 to 1952. At the heart of Freeth’s work was a desire to capture not only the men’s physical attributes, but also the very essence of their characters.