Operative Society of Masons, Quarrymen and Allied Trades of England and Wales
May 04, 2024
The Operative Society of Masons, Quarrymen and Allied Trades of England and Wales was a trade union representing stonemasons and related workers in the United Kingdom.
Operative Society of Masons
Operative Society of Masons, Quarrymen and Allied Trades of England and Wales
The union was founded in 1833 as the Friendly Society of Operative Stonemasons of England, Ireland and Wales. Initially a loose federation of local unions, it expanded rapidly, reaching 4,000 members and one hundred branches by 1835, and gradually increased its national activity. However, its involvement with the Operative Builders Union led to difficulties, with funds running out and membership dropping to only 2,000. 1836 proved far more successful, membership rebounding and finances settled, but ran into difficulties again in 1842 after disputes relating to the construction of the Houses of Parliament.[1]
The union grew slowly through the 1840s, focusing on local disputes and absorbing the remaining local unions - the last being the Bristol Operative Stonemasons' Society, which joined in 1849. However, ite constantly suffered from financial problems. From 1847, it banned masters from membership, limiting itself to employed workers. In 1859 and 1860, it led a one year strike in opposition to "The Document", and it also held a leading role in the Nine Hours Movement. As a result, by the 1860s, it was the second largest union in the UK, after the Amalgamated Society of Engineers.[1]
In its early years, a key objective for the union was banning worked stone from being transported to another town without its consent. After several unsuccessful attempts to introduce this rule in parts of Lancashire, it was successful in Sheffield in 1862, and by 1867 was able to apply the policy nationally. As a result, by the start of the 1870s, it was the most influential union in the building trades. However, an 1877 strike for a wage increase of 10d per hour was defeated, leading to a drop in membership, which fell from 27,200 to 12,600, and there were subsequent wage cuts and increases in hours instituted by employers.[1]
operative, society, masons, quarrymen, allied, trades, england, wales, trade, union, representing, stonemasons, related, workers, united, kingdom, operative, society, masonsmerged, intoamalgamated, union, building, trade, workersfounded23, march, 1833, 1833, d. The Operative Society of Masons Quarrymen and Allied Trades of England and Wales was a trade union representing stonemasons and related workers in the United Kingdom Operative Society of MasonsOperative Society of Masons Quarrymen and Allied Trades of England and WalesMerged intoAmalgamated Union of Building Trade WorkersFounded23 March 1833 1833 03 23 Dissolved1921LocationUnited KingdomMembers19 682 1899 Key peopleRichard Harnott Gen Sec The union was founded in 1833 as the Friendly Society of Operative Stonemasons of England Ireland and Wales Initially a loose federation of local unions it expanded rapidly reaching 4 000 members and one hundred branches by 1835 and gradually increased its national activity However its involvement with the Operative Builders Union led to difficulties with funds running out and membership dropping to only 2 000 1836 proved far more successful membership rebounding and finances settled but ran into difficulties again in 1842 after disputes relating to the construction of the Houses of Parliament 1 The union grew slowly through the 1840s focusing on local disputes and absorbing the remaining local unions the last being the Bristol Operative Stonemasons Society which joined in 1849 However ite constantly suffered from financial problems From 1847 it banned masters from membership limiting itself to employed workers In 1859 and 1860 it led a one year strike in opposition to The Document and it also held a leading role in the Nine Hours Movement As a result by the 1860s it was the second largest union in the UK after the Amalgamated Society of Engineers 1 In its early years a key objective for the union was banning worked stone from being transported to another town without its consent After several unsuccessful attempts to introduce this rule in parts of Lancashire it was successful in Sheffield in 1862 and by 1867 was able to apply the policy nationally As a result by the start of the 1870s it was the most influential union in the building trades However an 1877 strike for a wage increase of 10d per hour was defeated leading to a drop in membership which fell from 27 200 to 12 600 and there were subsequent wage cuts and increases in hours instituted by employers 1 The union s membership rose again in the 1890s peaking at 19 682 in 1899 but fell to only 7 055 by 1910 By this point its policy was in favour of a single union for the building trades At the start of 1921 it merged with the London Order of Bricklayers and the Manchester Unity of Bricklayers to form the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers 1 General Secretaries edit1833 George Bevan 2 1834 Angus McGregor 2 1836 James Rennie 2 1838 Thomas Shortt 2 1843 Thomas Carter 2 1847 Richard Harnott 2 1872 James Edward Dyer 2 1883 William Hancock 2 1910 William Williams 2 References edit a b c d Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan Historical Directory of Trade Unions vol 3 pp 6 11 a b c d e f g h i Trade Union Ancestors Friendly Society of Operative Stonemasons Archived 2016 10 06 at the Wayback Machine External links editCatalogue of the Society archives held at the Modern Records Centre University of Warwick Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Operative Society of Masons Quarrymen and Allied Trades of England and Wales amp oldid 1139998173, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
