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History of British trade unions since 1889/

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublication details: Oxford; Clarendon Press; 1964Description: 514 pSubject(s): DDC classification:
  • 331.880941 Cle V.1
Dissertation note: Volume I 1889-1910 Summary: IN 1956 the Leverhulme Trustees made a grant to Nuffield College for 'research into industrial relations and trade union studies'. It was under stood from the first that one of the major projects was to be a history of British trade unions, and work began during the following year. The Webbs published the first edition of their History of Trade Unionism in 1894, but the three additional chapters which they included in their 1920 edition to cover the intervening period are of little value. There would be little justification, however, for beginning our first volume in 1894, a year of no special significance in the history of British unions, whereas many new developments can be traced to 1889. Even so, we have had to include a substantial introductory chapter describing the main out lines of the movement before 1889, both to provide a background and because much of what the Webbs wrote, even in their first edition, now requires revision. Our first volume runs to 1910 because some of the strands in the story come to an end in that year, and a number of developments which had their origin about that time continued to affect the whole trade union movement until well after the First World War. A break at any point in time, however, must be untidy, and we have covered only briefly or entirely omitted those events of 1910 which we felt belonged to the next volume. We should like to record our thanks to Nuffield College and the Lever hulme Trustees for giving us the opportunity to carry out the work; to the officers of the Trades Union Congress and the many unions which have opened their records; and to several individuals who have helped us: Miss Barbara Jervis and Miss Penelope Harmsworth, both of whom worked as research assistants for a year; R. M. Hartwell, Reader in Recent Social and Economic History in the University of Oxford, who read the whole volume in draft and made valuable suggestions; and Mrs. Yates who typed draft after draft with speed, skill, and good humour.
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Volume I 1889-1910

IN 1956 the Leverhulme Trustees made a grant to Nuffield College for 'research into industrial relations and trade union studies'. It was under stood from the first that one of the major projects was to be a history of British trade unions, and work began during the following year.

The Webbs published the first edition of their History of Trade Unionism in 1894, but the three additional chapters which they included in their 1920 edition to cover the intervening period are of little value. There would be little justification, however, for beginning our first volume in 1894, a year of no special significance in the history of British unions, whereas many new developments can be traced to 1889. Even so, we have had to include a substantial introductory chapter describing the main out lines of the movement before 1889, both to provide a background and because much of what the Webbs wrote, even in their first edition, now requires revision.

Our first volume runs to 1910 because some of the strands in the story come to an end in that year, and a number of developments which had their origin about that time continued to affect the whole trade union movement until well after the First World War. A break at any point in time, however, must be untidy, and we have covered only briefly or entirely omitted those events of 1910 which we felt belonged to the next volume.

We should like to record our thanks to Nuffield College and the Lever hulme Trustees for giving us the opportunity to carry out the work; to the officers of the Trades Union Congress and the many unions which have opened their records; and to several individuals who have helped us: Miss Barbara Jervis and Miss Penelope Harmsworth, both of whom worked as research assistants for a year; R. M. Hartwell, Reader in Recent Social and Economic History in the University of Oxford, who read the whole volume in draft and made valuable suggestions; and Mrs. Yates who typed draft after draft with speed, skill, and good humour.

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