The first division, comprising all the numerous ramifications of the engineering, metal-working, and shipbuilding trades, was then characterised by old-established and highly developed national Unions, with large membership, centralised administration, and extensive friendly benefits. The 287,000 Trade Unionists in this division were enrolled in over 260 separate societies, but almost one-half belonged to one or other of four great national organisations, the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (established 1851), the United Society of Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders (established 1832),[583] the Friendly Society of Ironfounders of England, Ireland, and Wales (established 1809), and the Associated Society of Shipwrights, a belated amalgamation formed in 1882 by the many ancient local Unions of wooden shipbuilders. Of these great Unions, that of the Boilermakers, with 39,000 members, was incomparably the strongest, having no rival for the allegiance of its trade and including practically the whole body of skilled workmen engaged in iron shipbuilding and boilermaking from one end of the United Kingdom to the other. The great Unions of Ironfounders and Shipwrights, with respectively 15,000 and 14,000 members, were not quite so universal as the Boilermakers. The Associated Society of Ironmoulders (Ironfounders) of Scotland (established 1831), with 6000 members and a few minor Unions of less skilled ironfounders, maintained separate organisations; whilst the Shipwrights’ Provident Union of the Port of London (established 1824, 1400 members), the Liverpool Trade and Friendly Association of Shipwrights (established 1800, 1400 members), and a few other old-fashioned port Unions still held aloof from the Shipwrights’ amalgamation.[584] The Amalgamated Society of Engineers, the largest centralised Trade Union in the kingdom, with 66,000 members at home and 5000 abroad, towered over all its rivals, but had to compete with compact sectional or local Unions, admitting one or more of the numerous classes of workmen in the engineering and machine-making trade.[585] Among the actual producers of iron and steel, the British Steel Smelters’ Association (established 1886), with 2400 members, originally a Scotch Union, was extending all over the kingdom; whilst the Associated Society of Iron and Steel Workers (established 1862), with 1250 members.

7800 members, occupied a unique position in the Trade Union world from its long and constant devotion to the sliding scale. The tin and hollow-ware workers,[586] the chippers and drillers, the Sheffield cutlers, and the craftsmen in precious metals were split up into innumerable local societies, with little federal union.

It is interesting to notice the large proportion which this division of Trade Unionists in Scotland bore to the total for that country. Whilst in England and Wales it formed only one-sixth of the aggregate number, in Scotland it measured nearly one-third, almost entirely centred about Glasgow.

Table showing the approximate number of Trade Unionists in each group of the Engineering and Shipbuilding Trades.

Trade.England
and Wales.		Scotland.Ireland.Total.
Engineers and Machine Makers74,0008,2502,75085,000
Smiths and Farriers7,3502,2503009,900
Brass and Copper Workers13,3502,00015015,500
Sheet Metal Workers16,0001,30020017,500
Ironfounders and Core-makers15,5007,25050023,250
Shipbuilding and Boiler making45,50013,2503,60062,350
Iron and Steel Smelters.23,5001,500...25,000
Workers in Precious Metals3,500......3,500
Sundry Metal Workers34,7509,50075045,000
——————————————
Totals233,45045,3008,250287,000

The organisation of Builders and Furniture Makers resembled in many respects that of the Engineers and Shipbuilders. The 148,000 Trade Unionists in this division were sorted into 120 separate Unions; but again we find one-half of them belonging to one or other of three centralised Trade Friendly Societies of national scope. Of these the Friendly Society of Operative Stonemasons (established 1832, 16,000 members) was the most powerful, having practically no rival throughout England or Ireland, and maintaining friendly relations with the corresponding United Operative Masons’ Association of Scotland (established 1831, 5000 members). But the largest and richest Union in this division was the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners (established 1860, 34,000 members at home and 4000 abroad). Although this Society could count but a small proportion of the total number of carpenters in the kingdom, it included three-fourths of those who were Trade Unionists, the remaining fourth being divided between the Associated Carpenters and Joiners of Scotland (established 1861, 6000 members), the old General Union of Carpenters and Joiners of England (established 1827, 4000 members), and a few tiny trade clubs in the Metropolis which had refused to merge themselves in either of the national organisations. The Bricklayers were in much the same position as the Carpenters. The Operative Bricklayers’ Society (established 1848, 22,000 members) included three-fourths of the Trade Unionists, the remainder being found either in the United Operative Bricklayers’ Trade, Accident, and Burial Society (established 1832, 2500 members), or in a few isolated local trade clubs in Scotland and Ireland. Of the other Unions in the Building Trades, the United Operative Plumbers’ Association of Great Britain and Ireland (established 1832, reorganised 1865, 6500 members) was by far the most effective and compact, and was specially interesting as retaining practically the federal constitution of the Builders’ Union of 1830-34. With the exception of the United Operative Plumbers’ Association of Scotland (established 1872, 700 members), a small society resulting from a secession, no rival organisation existed. On the other hand, the Painters, Slaters, Packing-case Makers, Upholsterers, and French Polishers were split up into numberless small Unions, whilst the Cabinetmakers and Plasterers had each one considerable organisation[587] and several smaller societies, which, however, included but a small proportion of the trade.

Table showing the approximate number of Trade Unionists in the various branches of the Building and Furniture Trades.

Trade.England
and Wales.		Scotland.Ireland.Total.
Stonemasons16,7508,25025025,250
Bricklayers24,0007002,30027,000
Carpenters33,0007,8503,25044,100
Cabinetmakers7,2002,0003009,500
Sawyers and other Wood-workers4,2503501504,750
Plasterers7,5001,0005009,000
Painters12,4002,1501,00015,550
Plumbers5,4001,2004007,000
Upholsterers and French Polishers2,5004503003,250
Sundry Building Trades1,5001,0001002,600
——————————————
Totals114,50024,9508,550148,000

The Miners and Quarrymen, comprising about sixty-five societies, were in 1892 the best organised of the eight great divisions into which we classified the Trade Union forces. Among the coalminers the “county,” or district Union, without friendly benefits, was the predominating type. Nearly two-thirds of the whole 347,000 Trade Unionists in this division were gathered into the Miners’ Federation of Great Britain (established 1888), a federal Union comprising about twenty independent organisations, some of which, like the Yorkshire Miners’ Association (established 1858, 55,000 members), were highly centralised, whilst others, like the Lancashire Miners’ Federation (established 1881, 43,000 members), were themselves federal bodies. The Miners’ Federation, whilst not interfering with the financial autonomy or internal administration of its constituent bodies, effectively centralised the industrial and Parliamentary policy of the whole army of its members from Fife to Somerset. Outside the Federation at this date stood the powerful and compact Northumberland Miners’ Mutual Confident Association (established 1863, 17,000 members), and Durham Miners’ Association (established 1869, 50,000 members), together with the solid little Mid and West Lothian Miners’ Association (established 1885, 3600 members), and the loose organisations of Sliding Scale contributors which then figured as Trade Unions in South Wales.[588] The coal and iron miners of the West of Scotland had scarcely got beyond the ephemeral pit club and occasional Strike Union. Among the tin, lead, and copper miners Trade Unionism, as far as we can ascertain, was absolutely unknown.

Table showing the approximate number of Trade Unionists among the persons engaged in or about Mines and Quarries.