The Stirling Miners County Union was a

trade union 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 benefits ( ...

representing

coal miner Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...

s in the

Stirlingshire Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling, gd, Siorrachd Sruighlea) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration countyRegisters of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. of Scotland. Its county town is Stirli ...

area of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The union originated the Stirlingshire, Forth and Clyde Valley Miners' Association. Founded in 1886, it was initially led by

Chisholm Robertson Robert Chisholm Robertson (1861 - March 1930) was a Scottish political activist. Born in Limerigg, then in Stirlingshire, Robertson started working in a coal mine at the age of eight, but after the Mines Regulation Act 1872 prohibited children w ...

and in 1894 was a founder constituent of the

Scottish Miners' Federation The National Union of Scottish Mineworkers (NUSW) is a trade union in Scotland, founded in 1894 as the Scottish Miners Federation. It joined the Miners' Federation of Great Britain, and in 1914 changed its name to National Union of Scottish Minew ...

. However, it withdrew the following year after Robertson fell out with the leadership of the Federation over strike pay. William Webb took over as secretary, but membership fell from 3,000 to only 800 and in 1899 the Stirlingshire miners reconstituted their union separately from the Forth and Clyde Valley miners.Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, ''Historical Directory of British Trade Unions'', vol.II, p.253 Although the Stirling Miners County Union initially had only 342 members, it reached a peak membership of 7,500 in 1910. In 1945, it was merged with other unions to form the Stirling and Lothians Area of the National Union of Mineworkers.C. P. Snodgrass, ''The county of East Lothian'', p.162

Secretaries

:1886:

:1896: William Webb :c.1920: James Barbour

References

{{National Union of Mineworkers (UK) Mining trade unions National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain) 1886 establishments in Scotland Mining in Scotland Defunct trade unions of Scotland Trade unions established in 1886