Trade Union Ancestors

Discover your family history in the trade union movement

Further research

This page offers a guide to the many resources available for further research into trade union history and your trade union ancestors.

Trade union history is a massive subject area. A website such as this can only hope to introduce family historians to the vast array of archive material, artefacts and resources that will help them to understand the working lives of our ancestors. So having got this far, where do you go next.

If you have managed through this site to identify one or more trade unions to which your ancestors belonged, the next step should be to try to confirm whether or not they were a member. Even if they were not, however, the fact that a union organised in the same industry and among the same groups of workers to which they belonged means that there may still be material that will illuminate your family’s history.

Five steps to finding your trade union ancestor.

About this site – a note of caution.

Websites – useful resources

Warwick University modern records centre
Warwick University holds the foremost collection of trade union archives in the country. The official archives of the TUC and hundreds of individual trade unions can be found here, along with personal papers deposited by a number of prominent individuals associated with them. Most of the individual union entries contain a historical note giving the union’s dates and fate (usually merger into a larger organisation) along with details of the centre’s holdings. The website also offers a guide to genealogy at the modern records centre, organised by occupation.
Family history at the modern records centre
Listing of main archive collections including:
Browsable collection of trade union collections
Research guides

People’s History Museum
Based in Manchester, the People’s History Museum collection of trade union and political banners is the largest and most important of its type in the world. Other trade union material includes sashes and a vast collection of emblems from a wide range of organisations, and the museum’s conservation studio is a national centre of excellence. PHM is also home to the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, and the records of the Labour Party and other organisations are held here. The museum is a great place to visit.

Society for the Study of Labour History
Founded in 1960, the Society is the UK ‘s principal organisation dedicated to the study of labour history, organising events and publishing the academic journal Labour History Review. Among the many free resources on the website, are:
Annual guides to new labour history accessions in UK archives
Topic guides to archive resources, eg on strikes general strikes and lockouts and on the miners’ strike of 1984-85
A complete index to Labour History Review since 1960 and to Historical Studies in Industrial Relations since 1996
Profile pages for the many UK archives in which labour history collections can be found

Working Class Movement Library
A collection of English language books, periodicals, pamphlets, archives and artefacts, concerned with the activities, expression and enquiries of the labour movement, its allies and its enemies, since the late 1700s. The library is based at 51 The Crescent, Salford, M5 4WX. Of particular interest is the collection of papers donated by the GMB from its own and its predecessor unions’ archives.

TUC Library Collections 
The TUC Library is the major research library for the study of all aspects of trade unions and collective bargaining. The emphasis is on Britain, but many other countries are represented. The TUC Library was established in 1922 and was run as a joint library with the Labour Party until 1956. In September 1996, the Collections have been at the London Metropolitan University Holloway Road Learning Centre. The core areas of the collection are reference and historical works on the trade union movement, union publications, documents relating to working conditions and industrial relations and material collected from the wide-ranging campaigns and policy areas in which the TUC has been involved since its foundation in 1868.

The Union Makes Us Strong
Based on material held in the TUC Library Collections held at London Metropolitan University, this is an impressive site with masses of original documents and images – and it is free to access. Highlights of the site include a complete run of conference reports from TUC gatherings since 1868 – all of which, of course, include lists of union delegates and other officials. Other sections focus on the famous Bryant & May matchgirls strike of 1888, the General Strike of 1926, and the home front during the second world war. The site also hosts images of Robert Tressell’s complete handwritten manuscript of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.

Irish Labour History Society
Founded in 1973, the ILHS publishes a regular journal titled Saothar, and provides a number of invaluable resources on its website, including the Historical Directory of Trade Unions in Ireland, and houses an archive in its offices at Beggar’s Bush, Dublin.

The National Archives
Registrar of Friendly Societies
Catalogue entry for the Registrar of Friendly Societies
The Trade Union Act of 1870 gave the Registrar of Friendly Societies responsibility for maintaining a list of trade unions. Registration was not compulsory, but in practice almost all unions of any substance signed up in due course because doing so gave certain tax advantages when they paid out membership benefits. From that date until the Industrial Relations Act 1971 created the Chief Registrar of Trade Unions and Employers Associations as a successor body, registered unions were required to submit annual returns setting out

All of these records can be found in the FS series. Statutory documents submitted by trade unions are in FS 7 , FS 11 , FS 12 , FS 26 , FS 27 and FS 28 . These include lists of individuals applying to register the union and annual returns, many which include details of national and branch officials.ists, indexes and copies of certificates of registration are in FS 25 . Correspondence and certification files are in FS 24 and FS 29 , with registered files in FS 33 . Unsuccessful applications for registration as trade unions are in FS 34 .

Labour history research guide.
This is a useful National Archives guide to labour history research sources.

Nationalised industries
With the creation of the National Coal Board and British Railways in the wake of the second world war, government departments took over many of the business records held by the companies that were nationalised. In addition, certain industries had been regulated to ensure safer working conditions and to exclude women and young people since the mid Victorian era. Some of these records have made their way to the National Archives, while others are held elsewhere.

Certification Officer
Certification officer
The certification officer performs many of the functions previously discharged by the Registrar of Friendly Societies from 1871 to the 1970s, including receiving annual returns from trade unions and certifying their independence. Annual returns are broadly similar today to those submitted a century ago, so if you are not familiar with these documents, it is useful to look at modern examples (available online) before heading for the archives.

Union of Shop Distributive and Allied Workers
A Century of Service (booklet)
They Also Serve by PC Hoffman Written in the 1950s by former shopworkers’ official PC Hoffman (see biography), this book includes some fascinating memories of early 20th century trade unionism in the retail sector.

Books
Many of the volumes listed here have been out of print for many years. However, if you cannot find them in a library or bookshop, you may be able to track down second-hand copies on Abebooks.

  • The Historical Directory of Trade Unions appeared in six volumes over a period of nearly thirty years.
    • Arthur Marsh & Victoria Ryan, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, Volume 1, Non-Manual Unions (Gower, Farnborough, 1980), pp. 228;
    • Arthur Marsh & Victoria Ryan, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, Volume 2, Including Unions in Engineering, Shipbuilding & Minor Metal Trades, Coal Mining & Iron & Steel, Agriculture, Fishing & Chemicals (Gower, Aldershot, 1984), pp. 379;
    • Arthur Marsh & Victoria Ryan, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, Volume 3, Including Unions in Building & Allied Trades, Transport, Woodworkers & Allied Trades, Leather Workers, Enginemen & Tobacco Workers (Gower, Aldershot, 1987), pp. 525;
    • Arthur Marsh, Victoria Ryan & John B. Smethurst, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, Volume 4, Including Unions in Cotton, Wool & Worsted, Linen & Jute, Silk, Elastic Web, Lace & Net, Hosiery & Knitwear, Textile Finishing, Tailoring & Garment Workers, Hat & Cap, Carpets & Textile Engineering (Scolar Press, Aldershot, 1994), pp. 558;
    • Arthur Marsh & John B. Smethurst, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, Volume 5, Including Unions in Printing & Publishing, Local Government, Retail & Distribution, Domestic Services, General Employment, Financial Services, Agriculture (Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot, 2006), pp. 586;
    • John B. Smethurst & Peter Carter, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, Volume 6, Including Unions in, Building & Construction, Agriculture, Fishing, Chemicals, Wood & Woodworking, Transport, Engineering & Metal Working, Government, Civil & Public Services, Energy & Extraction in the United Kingdom & Ireland, Shipbuilding (Ashgate Publishing, Farnham, 2009), pp. 696.
  • Banner Bright: an illustrated history of trade union banners, by John Gorman (Scorpion Publishing, new edition 1986)
  • The History of Trade Unionism 1666-1920, by Sidney and Beatrice Webb (1920)
  • Sharpen the Sickle! the history of the farm workers’ union, by Reg Groves (Porcupine Press, 1959)
  • The Story of the Transport and General Workers Union, by (TGWU, 1975)
  • The Builders’ History, by RW Postgate (National Federation of Building Trade Operatives, 1923)
  • The Lancashire Weavers’ Story: a history of the Lancashire cotton industry and the Amalgamated Weavers’ Association, by Edwin Hopwood (Amalgamated Weavers’ Association, 1968)
  • They Also Serve: the story of the shopworker, by PC Hoffmann (Porcupine Press, 1949)
  • A History of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives 1874-1957, by lan Fox (Basil Blackwell, 1958)
  • The Lighted Flame: a history of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, by Norman McKillop (Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1950)
  • The Foundry Workers: a trade union history, by HJ Fyrth and Henry Collins (Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers, 1959)
  • Our Society’s History, by S Higenbottam (Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers, 1939)
  • The Clerks: a history of Apex 1890-1989, by Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan (Malthouse Publishing, 1997)