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Thomas Sharples
Thomas Sharples (1819 – 1905) was a British trade unionist. Sharples completed an apprenticeship as a house painter and found work in Manchester with the London and North Western Railway. He was active in a local trade union, and in 1856 he persuaded both it and a rival painters' society in the city to join a new alliance, which became known as the Manchester Alliance of Operative House Painters. This rapidly spread across the country, and in 1860 Sharples became the union's treasurer. This involved little work, as almost the funds were held and administered by branches; only a small strike fund was centrally administered. In 1866, the union's general secretary, William MacDonald, was accused of neglecting his office, and sidelined in a new post of honorary secretary. Sharples was appointed as his replacement, and immediately began issuing regular reports on the progress of the society. However, he made no other changes to the very loose alliance, which resulted in lar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British People
British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs modern British citizenship and nationality, which can be acquired, for instance, by descent from British nationals. When used in a historical context, "British" or "Britons" can refer to the Ancient Britons, the indigenous inhabitants of Great Britain and Brittany, whose surviving members are the modern Welsh people, Cornish people, and Bretons. It also refers to citizens of the former British Empire, who settled in the country prior to 1973, and hold neither UK citizenship nor nationality. Though early assertions of being British date from the Late Middle Ages, the Union of the Crowns in 1603 and the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 triggered a sense of British national identity.. The notion of Britishness and a shared Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trade Unionist
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and Employee benefits, benefits (such as holiday, health care, and retirement), improving Work (human activity), working conditions, improving safety standards, establishing complaint procedures, developing rules governing status of employees (rules governing promotions, just-cause conditions for termination) and protecting the integrity of their trade through the increased bargaining power wielded by solidarity among workers. Trade unions typically fund their head office and legal team functions through regularly imposed fees called ''union dues''. The delegate staff of the trade union representation in the workforce are usually made up of workplace volunteers who are often appointed by members in democratic elections. The trade union, through an electe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London And North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) railway, and, in 1948, the London Midland Region of British Railways: the LNWR is effectively an ancestor of today's West Coast Main Line. History The company was formed on 16 July 1846 by the amalgamation of the Grand Junction Railway, London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. This move was prompted, in part, by the Great Western Railway's plans for a railway north from Oxford to Birmingham. The company initially had a network of approximately , connecting London with Birmingham, Crewe, Chester, Liverpool and Manchester. The headquarters were at Euston railway station. As traffic increased, it was greatly expanded with the opening in 1849 of the Great Hall, designed by P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manchester Alliance Of Operative House Painters
The Amalgamated Society of Painters and Decorators (ASPD) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1886 and 1970. History The union had its origins in the Manchester Alliance of Operative House Painters, founded in 1855, which loosely grouped together local unions based in Ashton-under-Lyne, Hyde, Macclesfield, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Stockport. The union had no executive committee and its general secretary, William MacDonald, did not attempt to control the actions or finances of the local societies, instead devoting his time to writing pamphlets espousing his views on trade unionism and the painting trade. The union claimed 3,980 members by 1867, but MacDonald's neglectful approach led him to be sidelined as honorary secretary, and replaced by Thomas Sharples, who began issuing regular reports, but made no other changes to the union's practices. The union underwent numerous name changes before emerging in 1886 as the more closely uni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ..., a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances O'Grady, Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway, Frances O'Grady became General Secretary of the TUC, General Secretary in 2013 and presented her resignation in 2022, with Paul Nowak (trade unionist), Paul Nowak becoming the next General Secretary in January 2023. Organisation The TUC's decision-making body is the Annual Congress, which takes place in September. Between congresses decisions are made by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress, General Council, which meets every two mont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Millar Jack
James Millar Jack (1847 or 1848 – 28 September 1912) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. Jack came to prominence as a member of the Associated Iron Moulders of Scotland (AIMS), and was elected as its general secretary in November 1879. He also represented the union at the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and was elected to the TUC's Parliamentary Committee in 1884. He chaired the committee in 1887, and was re-elected most years until 1896.''Annual Report of the 1913 Trades Union Congress'', p.164 Jack was also interested in the political representation of workers, and was appointed as a vice-president of the Labour Electoral Association. In 1890, he was elected to Glasgow Town Council, with the backing of the Glasgow Trades Council. He was only the second Liberal-Labour representative on the council. Harry McShane, ''Centenary brochure, 1858-1958: a hundred years of progress'' Under Jack, AIMS was a founding member of the Federation of Engineering and Shipbu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Sedgwick
George Sedgwick (28 October 1846 – 24 March 1934)Ned Newitt, ''A People's History of Leicester'', p.18 was a British trade union leader. Born in Ironbridge in Shropshire, Sedgwick was educated in Birmingham before becoming a boot closer. He joined the Birmingham Rivetters' And Finishers' Society and served firstly as its president, then as its secretary. He left the trade to join the British Army, serving the Worcester Rifle Corps, but soon returned to bootmaking, settling in Stafford.Ned Newitt,The Who's Who of Radical Leicester In Stafford, Sedgwick joined the Amalgamated Society of Cordwainers, but he felt that a new national union was needed, so he worked with Thomas Smith to found the National Union of Boot and Shoe Rivetters and Finishers. When it was established, in 1874, he became its full-time agent and, when Smith stepped down as general secretary in 1878, he took over the post. As leader of the union, Sedgwick focused on its role in arbitration, describing its ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Shorrocks
Peter Shorrocks (8 April 1834 – 9 January 1886) was an early British trade union leader. Born in Manchester, Shorrocks attended the Oldham Blue Coat School before following his father into the tailoring trade. Influenced by Chartism in his youth, Shorrocks was always involved in trade union activity, and in 1860 he joined the recently founded Manchester Society of Journeymen Tailors. The society suffered from low membership and a lack of funds; Shorrocks was elected as its secretary in 1863, and attempted to increase its activity.Barbara Nield and John Saville, "Shorrocks, Peter (1834-86)", ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.VI, pp.242-245 In 1865, the Manchester Society tried to negotiate an agreed price list with employers, but faced hostility and was unable to reach agreement. Shorrocks organised a strike which quickly achieved most of the union's aims. Enthused by this, he called a national conference of local tailors' societies, held in Manchester in March 1866 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Ashton (cotton Spinner)
Thomas Ashton (15 August 1841 – 15 September 1919) was a British trade union leader. Life Ashton was born in Oldham, to William Ashton and his wife Sally Mellor, who were cotton workers. His mother became ill after his birth, and he was mainly brought up by an aunt. He did not attend school, and began working in a cotton mill at the age of eight. He undertook various jobs in the mill before replacing his father as a spinner. During this time, he attended evening classes in a wide variety of subjects, with a particular focus on statistics, and when he was 27, he left the cotton industry to set up a school."Mr. Thomas Ashton", '' Manchester Guardian'', 17 September 1919 In 1868, Ashton was invited to stand for the general secretaryship of the Oldham Operative Cotton Spinners' Association, beating five other candidates in an election. Under his leadership, the union soon won a half-day on Saturdays, a standard wage scale, and overall increases in wages. Ashton was a found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Wilson (Mid Durham MP)
John Wilson (1837 – 24 March 1915) was an English coal miner, trade unionist, and a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for more than 25 years. Early life Born at Greatham, near Hartlepool, his mother Hannah died when he was four. After his father, Christopher (b. 1807 at Greatham), died of cholera when Wilson was ten, he worked in the mines, spent four years as a merchant seaman, and return to Durham as a miner in 1860. Married in 1832 to Margaret (''née'' Firth), the couple emigrated to the United States in 1864, where Wilson worked the mines in Pennsylvania and Illinois. They returned to Durham in 1867; the first two of their five children had been born in America. Wilson was one of the founders in 1869 of the Durham Miners' Association (DMA), which led to him being denied employment, but in 1878 he became a full-time union organiser, rising to become the DMA's general secretary in 1896. Political career The Reform Act 1867 had extended the vote to working-class m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Judge (trade Unionist)
John Judge (died October 1916) was a British trade unionist, who was prominent in the Leeds labour movement, and briefly served as president of his union. Biography Judge worked as a shoemaker, and by 1883 was secretary of the Leeds branch of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Rivetters and Finishers (NUBSRF). That year, the union planned to require members to be paid for piece work, and to expel any who accepted day wages. Judge successfully argued that day wages were common in Leeds, and that the union should only prohibit members from moving from piece work on to day wages. In 1890, he persuaded the union to accept day pay as the norm for all lasting- and finishing-machine workers. Judge was long a supporter of the Liberal Party. In 1887, he was put on trial, charged with intimidation, and the experience led him to move away from the Liberals, and describe himself as a political independent. By 1888, many members of the NUBSRF were concerned that the union was dominated b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benjamin Pickard
Benjamin Pickard, usually Ben Pickard (26 or 28 February 1842 – 3 February 1904), was a British coal miner, trade unionist and Lib–Lab politician. Early life and family Pickard was born in Kippax near Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire the son of a collier. He started work as a pit-boy at the age of twelve years. He earned a reputation as a studious boy and attended Kippax School. He also received religious training as a Wesleyan, becoming a local preacher and was connected with the Lord's Rest Day Association throughout his life. He was associated from an early age with the trade union movement becoming lodge secretary at the age of sixteen. In 1864 he married Hannah Elizabeth Freeman of Kippax and they had four sons and four daughters. His wife died in 1901. Trade union official In 1873 Pickard was appointed assistant secretary of the West Yorkshire Miners' Association and in 1876 he became secretary. He was responsible for uniting the West and South Yorkshire Miners' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
