The company was founded in 1889 by
Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge, a
Northumberland born mine owner, who secured a lease from the
Duke of Portland for land at
Bolsover in
Derbyshire and started shaft sinking to reach the coal in 1891. The general manager of the company at this time was
John Plowright Houfton, who was knighted for his work for the local community in 1929. Bainbridge secured the rights to mine coal at
Creswell in 1894 and shaft sinking for Creswell Colliery began under the direction of J. P. Houfton in September that year. Coal was reached at 450 yards and production began in 1897. The colliery had two shafts and access to between three and four square miles of coal reserves. By 1901 the colliery was producing 2700 to 3000 tons of coal daily and in the July, 3001 tons was delivered to the surface in one day, a world record for coal production at the time. A
model village was built to accommodate some of the workforce. In 1899 Bainbridge secured a further lease from the Duke of Portland for land at Crown Farm near
Mansfield in
Nottinghamshire: coal was reached in 1905. ==Demise of the business==