The Operative Bricklayers' Society (OBS) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

New Model Trade Union based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

History

The society was founded in 1818 as the London Bricklayers' Society, but by 1829 had developed into a national operative union. By the 1840s the union had about 1,400 members, roughly 2% of the total number of bricklayers in the country at the time. In 1848, twelve former members of the Operative Bricklayers refounded the organisations as the London Order of Operative Bricklayers' Society. They led a strike in 1851 which won an early finish on Saturdays, and in 1854 succeeded in gaining a wage increase for bricklayers in the capital.Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions'', vol.3, pp.38-39 In 1859 the union became embroiled in a dispute with employers over the introduction of a nine-hour working day, and the consequential

London builders' strike London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

was led by George Howell. The OBS was defeated, and subsequently only developed very gradually outside London. In 1867, the union increased contributions from 3d to 10½d a week, and membership dropped from 5,000 to 2,000. However, in the long run, this improved the union's financial position and strength, and by 1877 it had 6,749 members. By 1900 the union had 38,830 members, but roughly half were based in London. In 1921 the OBS merged with the

Manchester Unity of Operative Bricklayers' Society The Manchester Unity of Bricklayers, also known as the Manchester Unity of Operative Bricklayers Society (MUOBS) and the United Operative Bricklayers' Trade Protection Society, was a trade union representing bricklayers in the United Kingdom. Th ...

and the Operative Society of Masons, Quarrymen and Allied Trades of England and Wales to form the

Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers The Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers (AUBTW) was a British trade union. History The AUBTW was founded in 1921 when the Operative Society of Masons, Quarrymen and Allied Trades of England and Wales, the Operative Bricklayers' Socie ...

(AUBTW). The

People's History Museum The People's History Museum (the National Museum of Labour History until 2001) in Manchester, England, is the UK's national centre for the collection, conservation, interpretation and study of material relating to the history of working people i ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

holds the original emblem painting of the Operative Bricklayers' Society. It was painted in 1869 by Royal Academician

Arthur Waudby Arthur Waudby (1821–1872) was an English painter of the nineteenth century who specialised in carrying out work for the trade union movement. He published his first book ''Sketches on the Wye'' in 1839 when he was 18 and by 1844 he exhibited ' ...

, and hung in the Bricklayers' Head Office in London. It shows the society's work, proudly depicting the bricklayers' trade along with symbols of truth, architecture and science.

Secretaries

:1848: Henry Turff :1860:

Edwin Coulson Edwin Coulson (1828 – 25 June 1893) was a British trade unionist. Born in Cambridge, Coulson came to prominence in 1861, when he took a leading role in a strike on the Great Northern Railway, representing the workers in meetings with empl ...

:1891:

John Batchelor John Calvin Batchelor (born April 29, 1948) is an American author and host of ''Eye on the World'' on the CBS Audio Network. His flagship station is New York's 710 WOR. The show is a hard-news-analysis radio program on current events, world his ...

:1919:

George Hicks George Hicks may refer to: * George Hicks (trade unionist) (1879–1954), British trade unionist and politician * George Hicks (footballer) (1902–?), English footballer * George Elgar Hicks (1824–1914), English painter * George Hicks (RAF off ...

References

External links

Catalogue of the OBS archives
held at the

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collecti ...

1818 establishments in the United Kingdom Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Bricklayers' trade unions Craft unions Trade unions established in the 1810s Trade unions disestablished in 1921 {{UK-trade-union-stub