Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation
Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation | |
Merged into | National Union of Mineworkers |
---|---|
Founded | 1881 |
Dissolved | 1945 |
Headquarters | Bridgeman Place, Bolton, Lancashire |
Location |
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Members | 70,000 (1907) |
Affiliations | Miners' Federation of Great Britain |
The Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation (LCMF) was a trade union that operated on the Lancashire Coalfield in North West England from 1881 until it became the Lancashire area of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1945.
Background
Colliery owners fended off unions until well into the 19th century and trade unionism was slow to take a hold on the Lancashire Coalfield. Wages were poor and employers arbitrarily fined men for minor reasons, disallowed wages on false pretexts and victimised perceived radicals. Bonds, a system of hiring that legally tied miners to their job for a year, were used to enforce discipline. Miners protested about poor wages in 1757 when bread prices rose and some marched from
Strikes in the first quarter of the 19th century generally failed to improve pay and conditions. In 1830 miners formed the Friendly Society of Coal Mining with headquarters in Bolton. The organisation was based on local branches with delegates attending quarterly meetings.[2] The coal owners were not sympathetic and when the men went on strike to assert their right to organise, William Hulton issued a pamphlet condemning his workforce who he considered had: "wantonly injured me to the fll limits of your ability, in my purse, and you have much farther wounded my feelings".[3]
The
Federation
The Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation was founded in 1881 in the aftermath of a bitter seven-week strike that was frequently violent. Thomas Ashton, secretary of the Ashton-under-Lyne area, organised a meeting at the old Manchester Town Hall that led to the merger of several district unions on the Lancashire Coalfield.[7] Not all the district unions joined and a further meeting was arranged in Wigan later in the year. The federation was plagued with rivalries, between different areas and the personalities that emerged in its leadership.[8] In the aftermath of the strike, funds were exhausted and its organisation chaotic. Sam Woods was elected the miners' agent and needed to unite the districts so that the fledgling union did not disintegrate. Robert Isherwood, secretary and agent for the Tyldesley Miners' Association, was its first treasurer.[9]
Member union | Founded | Affiliated | Membership (year) |
---|---|---|---|
Ashton, Haydock and Bolton Miners' Trade Union | 1882 | 1882 | 9,346 (1897)[10] |
Ashton-under-Lyne Miners' Association | 1865 | 1881[7] | 3,625 (1897)[10] |
Aspull and District Miners' Association | 1890 | 419 (1897)[10] | |
Bank Hall Miners' Association | 1899 | 409 (1911)[11] | |
Blackrod Miners' Association | 1881 | 308 (1897)[10] | |
Hindley Miners' Improvement Benefit Society | 1878 | 1881[7] | 624 (1898)[10] |
Leigh and District Miners' Association | 1878 | 2,400 (1897)[10] | |
Manchester Miners' Association | 1886 | 3,229 (1897)[10] | |
North Stafford Miners' Association | 1869 | 1883[7] | |
Oldham and District Miners' Association | 1894 | 121 (1897)[10] | |
Pemberton and District Miners' Association | 1881 | 810 (1897)[10] | |
Radcliffe, Bury and Kearsley Miners' Association | 1879[12] | 1881[7] | |
St Helens Colliery District Federation of Miners | 1880 | 1881[7] | 1148 (1897)[10] |
Skelmersdale District Miners' Association | 1873 | 1881[7] | 722 (1897)[10] |
Standish and District Miners' Association | 1862 | 851 (1897)[10] | |
Tyldesley Miners' Association | 1874[13] | 1887 | 3,351 (1907)[13] |
Westhoughton Miners' Association | 1877[14] | ||
Wigan Miners' Association | 1862 | 1881[7] | 2,000 (1897)[10] |
Worsley Miners' Association | 1863[15] | 1881[7] |
In 1888, the union called a national conference, which led to the formation of the
Membership rose rapidly, reaching over 70,000 by 1907.
The Lancashire miners were not considered as militant as their counterparts on other coalfields but were involved in disputes both locally and nationally.[22]
Post nationalisation
After the formation of the
Officers
Presidents
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General Secretaries
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Treasurers
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References
Notes
- ^ Challinor 1972, pp. 20–22
- ^ Challinor 1972, p. 26
- ^ Challinor 1972, pp. 26–27
- ^ The Mines Act, 1842, University of Paris, archived from the original on 21 July 2011, retrieved 12 May 2010
- ^ Challinor 1972, p. 31
- ^ Challinor 1972, p. 35
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Challinor 1972, p. 177.
- ^ Challinor 1972, p. 178
- ^ a b c Carter & Smethurst 2013, p. 497.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Marsh & Ryan 1984, pp. 201–258.
- ^ Carter & Smethurst 2013, p. 485.
- ^ Marsh & Ryan 2009, p. 509.
- ^ a b Marsh & Ryan 2009, p. 515.
- ^ Carter & Smethurst 2013, p. 519.
- ^ Carter & Smethurst 2013, p. 521.
- ^ Challinor 1972, p. 193
- ^ "Miners' National Conference at Newport. Formation of a Miners' Federation". Leeds Mercury. British Newspaper Archive. 27 November 1889. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
- ^ a b Clarke 2007, p. 320
- ^ Hill 1981, p. 115
- ^ Grand old building needs plenty of TLC, The Bolton News, retrieved 13 April 2011
- ^ John 1984, p. 227.
- ^ Davies 2010, p. 33
- ^ Stephen Catterall, "Hammond, James ('Jim')", Dictionary of Labour Biography, vol.XIV, pp.145–159
Bibliography
- Carter, Peter; Smethurst, John B., eds. (2013), Historical Directory of Trade Unions: Volume 6, Ashgate Publishing, ISBN 1-4094-8031-3
- Challinor, Raymond (1972), The Lancashire and Cheshire Miners, Frank Graham, ISBN 0-902833-54-5
- Clarke, P.F. (2007), Lancashire and the New Liberalism, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-03557-6
- Davies, Alan (2010), Coal Mining in Lancashire & Cheshire, Amberley, ISBN 978-1-84868-488-1
- Hill, J (1981), "The Lancashire Miners, Thomas Greenall and the Labour Party, 1900–1906", Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol.130, The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire
- Marsh, Arthur; Ryan, Victoria (1984), Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.2, Ashgate Publishing, ISBN 978-0-566-02161-9
- Marsh, Arthur; Ryan, Victoria (2009), Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.6, Ashgate Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7546-6683-7p=515
- John, Angela V. (1984), By the Sweat of Their Brow: Women Workers at Victorian Coal Mines, Routledge & Kegan Paul, ISBN 0-7102-0142-7