The General Union of Lancashire and Yorkshire Warp Dressers' Association was a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

representing workers involved in preparing

warp Warp, warped or warping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Books and comics * WaRP Graphics, an alternative comics publisher * ''Warp'' (First Comics), comic book series published by First Comics based on the play ''Warp!'' * Warp (comics), a D ...

yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. '' Thread'' is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern ...

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 Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

, Halifax,

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, Preston,

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

and

Skipton Skipton (also known as Skipton-in-Craven) is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historically in the East Division of Staincliffe Wapentake in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is on the River Aire and the Leeds ...

affiliating. Unusually for a textile union, it covered workers in a variety of materials, including cotton, wool and

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead (from Old English ''Wurðestede'', "enclosure place"), a village in the English county of Norfolk. T ...

. It was also unusual in that it did not provide any support for

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increas ...

, 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). Affiliates of the union included: 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 Yorkshire Society of Textile Craftsmen (YSTC) was a trade union representing workers in a variety of textile work in Yorkshire. History The union was established in 1952, when the Bradford and District Association of Warp Dressers, the Halif ...

, the new organisation maintaining its affiliation. In 1970, the union dissolved, its remaining constituents gradually merging into the Association of Preparatory Workers.

General Secretaries

:1891: W. Clayton :1899: James White :1928: Cameron W. Doodson :1962: Walter Rothwell

References

{{Lancashire cotton Trade unions established in 1894 Trade unions disestablished in 1970 Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom 1894 establishments in the United Kingdom Textile and clothing trade unions Trade unions based in West Yorkshire