Union of Construction, Allied Trades & Technicians : Friendly Society of Operative...

• <corpname>Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians, 1971-</corpname>
• <corpname>Operative Society of Masons, Quarrymen and Allied Trades of England and Wales, 1919-1921</corpname>
• <corpname>Friendly Society of Operative Stone Masons, c 1831-1919</corpname>

The Webbs described this large collection as "perhaps the most valuable single record of the Trade Union Movement" (cited in W. S. Hilton, Foes to tyranny. A history of the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers, 1963, p.28). Certainly the long span of the Fortnightly Returns (1834-1910), and the democratic organisation of the society make its records invaluable for a wide range of subjects, national and local.

The date when the Stonemasons' society was formed is uncertain. Postgate gives it as March 1833 but W. S. Hilton as autumn 1831 (R. Postgate, The builders' history, NFBTO, 1923, p. 56; W. S. Hilton, op.cit., appendix A, pp.284-6). These records do not elucidate the question; it is not clear whether the Warrington lodge minute book mentioned by Hilton (MSS.78/OS/BR16/1/1/1 below) refers to a local or national association. Even the name of the society varied in its early years : the United Operate Masons of England and Ireland; the United Operative Masons' Friendly Society; the Friendly Society of the Operative Stone Masons; the Operative Stone Masons' Society (General Union). In 1919 it changed its name to the Operative Society of Masons, Quarrymen, and Allied Trades of England and Wales, in recognition of the wider range of its members. In 1921 it joined the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers.