General Union of Lancashire and Yorkshire Warp Dressers' Association
- England
The General Union of Lancashire and Yorkshire Warp Dressers' Association was a trade union representing workers involved in preparing warp yarn for weaving who were based in northern England.
History
The origins of the union lay in the Federated Society of Warpdressers, founded in 1891. Three years later, it was reformed as the "General Union", with local unions in Bradford, Chorley, Halifax, Manchester, Nelson, Preston, Rochdale and Skipton affiliating. Unusually for a textile union, it covered workers in a variety of materials, including cotton, wool and worsted. It was also unusual in that it did not provide any support for industrial action, but instead saw its principal purpose as an employment exchange, helping unemployed members find work in other mills. Within Yorkshire, it also recruited twisters and drawers, but those workers in Lancashire instead joined the Amalgamated Association of Beamers, Twisters and Drawers (Hand and Machine).[1]
Affiliates of the union included:
Union[1] | Founded | Affiliated | Membership (1907)[2] | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bradford and District | 1887 | 1891 | 700 | Merged into Yorkshire Society of Textile Craftsmen 1952 |
Chorley and District | 1890 | 1891 | 46 | Merged into Nelson and District 1930s |
Halifax and District | 1887 | 1891 | c.100 | Merged into Yorkshire Society of Textile Craftsmen 1952 |
Huddersfield and District | 1907 | 109 | Merged into Yorkshire Society of Textile Craftsmen 1952 | |
Leeds and District | 1898 | 120 | Merged into Yorkshire Society of Textile Craftsmen 1975 | |
Manchester and District | 1882 | 1891 | 417 | |
Nelson and District | 1886 | 1891 | 1,171 | |
Rochdale and District | 1890 | 1891 | 164 | Dissolved 1930s |
Skipton and District | 1891 | 1891 | c.200 | Dissolved 1920s |
On formation, the union had only 1,179 members, but this steadily increased until 1914, when it peaked at 3,362. It affiliated to the Northern Counties Textile Trades Federation. It lost members when the Chorley and Preston societies disaffiliated, but these later rejoined; however, membership did not recover, and by 1949 was down to only 1,040. Faced with this decline, the Bradford and Halifax societies merged with two unaffiliated bodies: the Leeds Warpdressers and the Textile Daymen and Cloth Pattern Makers, forming the Yorkshire Society of Textile Craftsmen, the new organisation maintaining its affiliation.[1]
In 1970, the union dissolved, its remaining constituents gradually merging into the Association of Preparatory Workers.[1]
General Secretaries
- 1891: W. Clayton
- 1899: James White
- 1928: Cameron W. Doodson
- 1962: Walter Rothwell
References
- ^ a b c d Marsh, Arthur; Ryan, Victoria; Smethurst, John B. (1994). Historical Directory of Trade Unions. Vol. 4. Farnham: Ashgate. pp. 212–220. ISBN 9780859679008.
- ^ Report on Trade Unions in 1905-1907. London: Board of Trade. 1909. pp. 28–29.
- v
- t
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- David Bellhouse
- Bradshaw Gass & Hope
- F.W. Dixon & Son
- Edward Potts
- Stott
- Stott and Sons
- Sidney Stott (later Sir Philip)
- Daniel Adamson
- Ashton Frost
- Ashworth & Parker
- Bateman & Sherratt
- Boulton & Watt
- Browett, Lindley & Co
- Buckley & Taylor
- Carels Frères
- Earnshaw & Holt
- Fairbairn
- W & J Galloway & Sons
- Benjamin Goodfellow
- B. Hick and Sons / Hick, Hargreaves & Co
- John Musgrave & Sons
- J & W McNaught
- Petrie of Rochdale
- William Roberts & Co of Nelson
- George Saxon
- Scott & Hodgson
- Urmson & Thompson
- Yates & Thom / Yates of Blackburn
- Willans & Robinson
- J & E Wood
- Woolstenhulmes & Rye
- Brooks & Doxey
- Butterworth & Dickinson
- Curtis, Parr & Walton
- Dobson & Barlow
- John Hetherington & Sons
- Joseph Hibbert
- John Pilling and Sons
- Harling & Todd
- Howard & Bullough
- Geo. Hattersley
- Asa Lees
- Mather & Platt
- Parr, Curtis & Madely
- British Northrop Loom Co
- Pemberton & Co
- Platt Brothers
- Taylor, Lang & Co
- Textile Machinery Makers
- Tweedales & Smalley
- T. Wildman & Sons
- Elkanah Armitage
- Henry Ashworth
- Hugh Birley
- Hugh Hornby Birley
- Joseph Brotherton
- James Burton
- Peter Drinkwater
- Nathaniel Eckersley
- John Fielden
- William Gray
- Hannah Greg
- Samuel Greg
- Richard Howarth
- William Houldsworth
- John Kennedy
- George Augustus Lee
- Charles Macintosh
- Hugh Mason
- Samuel Oldknow
- Robert Peel
- John Rylands
- Thomas Whitehead and Brothers
- Oldham Limiteds
- Fine Spinners and Doublers
- Lancashire Cotton Corporation
- Bagley & Wright
- Combined Egyptian Mills
- Courtaulds
- James Burton & Sons
- Amalgamated Cotton Mills Trust
- Amalgamated Association of Beamers, Twisters and Drawers (Hand and Machine)
- Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners
- Amalgamated Textile Warehousemen's Association
- Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union
- Amalgamated Weavers' Association
- Cardroom Amalgamation
- General Union of Lancashire and Yorkshire Warp Dressers' Association
- General Union of Loom Overlookers
- Lancashire Amalgamated Tape Sizers' Friendly Society
- North East Lancashire Amalgamated Weavers' Association
- Northern Counties Textile Trades Federation
- The Textile Institute
- United Textile Factory Workers' Association
- Richard Arkwright
- Samuel Crompton
- James Hargreaves
- Thomas Highs
- John Kay (flying shuttle)
- John Kay (spinning frame)
- Robert Owen