Trade union lives

Some extraordinary and dedicated people have passed through the trade union movement. The stories of their trade union lives are told here.

Robert Applegarth (1834-1924): general secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners.

Will Crooks (1852-1921), leader of the great London docks strike of 1889 and later a Labour MP.

John Gast (1772-1837), leader of the Thames shipwrights and a prominent figure in radical politics.

Philip Charles Hoffmann (1878-1959): shopworkers’ organiser and Labour MP.

Anne Loughlin (1894-1979), the first woman president of the TUC in 1943 and general secretary of the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers.

Mary Macarthur (1880-1921): shopworkers’ union activist and leading figure in women’s trade unionism.

Beatrice Webb (1858-1943): social reformer and historian of the trade union movement.