Records of the Liverpool Trades Council and Labour Party

Liverpool and Vicinity United Trades and Labour Council

1. Trades Council Minute Books, 12 vols., 1877-1901, 1906-1913, 1916-1921

2. Correspondence, 133 docs., 1862-1868, 1872, 1887-1897, 1901, n.d.

3. Annual Reports, 18 pamphlets, 1890/91, 1892/93, 1908/09

4. Rule Books, Price Lists, 7 pamphlets, 1 doc., 1852-1901

5. Miscellaneous items, 18 docs., 1 booklet, 1891-[1920]

Liverpool Labour Representation Committee and Labour Party

6. Minute Books, 9 vols., 1903-1920

7. Labour Representation Committee: Executive Committee Minute Books, 1 vol., 1912-1913

8. Annual Reports and Accounts, 15 pamphlets, 3 docs., 1906-1917 1919, 1920

9. Labour Party, etc. periodicals and publications, 16 items, 1895, 1913-1920

10. Miscellaneous items, 1 vol., 4 docs., 1900-1918

Liverpool Trades Council and Labour Party

11. Minutes, 2 vols., 5 docs., 1921-1930

12. Political Committee Minute Books, 1 vol., 1921-1924

13. Correspondence, 148 docs., 1925, 1926, 1930, 1938, 1944, 1945, 1950

14. Newscuttings, 2 vols., 1924, 1925, 1930

15. Papers relating to the General Strike, 1926:

15/1. Bulletins received by the T.U.C. General Council, 7 docs., May 1926

15/2. Circular letters sent out by the T.U.C. General Council, 4 docs., Feb., May 1926

15/3. Correspondence (including messages and draft letters) between the T.U.C. General Council and the Merseyside Council of Action, 12 docs., May - Nov. 1926

15/4. Bulletins issued by the Merseyside Council of Action, 9 docs., May 1926

15/5. Merseyside Council of Action: Statements, Instructions, etc., 13 docs., May 1926, n.d.

15/6. Merseyside Council of Action: Correspondence with local Trade Union Branches, 63 docs., Mar., May - June 1926

15/7. Merseyside Council of Action: Correspondence with Trades Councils, Action and Strike Committees, etc. in other towns and districts, 27 docs., Mar. - May 1926, n.d.

15/8. Merseyside Council of Action: Correspondence relating to permits for the carriage or distribution of goods, etc., 13 docs., May 1926, n.d.

15/9. Trade Union Internal Memos, 14 Docs., May 1926

15/10. Miscellaneous bulletins, handbills, etc., 8 docs., May 1926

15/11. Miscellaneous papers, 33 docs., 2 gatherings, 1 photograph, Jan., Mar., May 1926

16. Rules and Standing Orders, 3 leaflets, 1 doc., [1923]-1934

17. Miscellaneous periodicals, posters and handbills, 14 items, 1921-c.1947

18. Miscellaneous Reports, etc., 12 docs., 1930, 1948, n.d.

19. Miscellaneous items, 6 vols., 4 docs., 1 photograph, 1923-1948, n.d.

• <corpname>Liverpool Trades Council</corpname>
• <corpname>Liverpool Labour Party</corpname>
• <corpname>Liverpool Trades Council and Labour Party, 1921-</corpname>

(Copies can be taken using a microfilm reader-printer.)

Acc. 761

Acc. 1581

Acc. 1677

At some time prior to 1957 the records of the Liverpool Trades Council and Labour Party were deposited in this library. In 1957 these records were returned to the Trades Council for "the purposes of an exhibition". On the opening of this library's enlarged Record Office and Local History Department, the "records of the Liverpool Trades Council" were again deposited in this library on premanent loan by Simon Fraser, J.P., Secretary to the Liverpool Trades Council and Labour Party, in October 1960 (Acc. 761). In February 1966 the Trades Council, etc. minute books listed below at 331 TRA 1/11, 331 TRA 1/12, 331 TRA 11/1, 331 TRA 6/7 - 331 TRA 6/9 and 331 TRA12/1 were passed to this library on behalf of the Trades Council by a Mr. Sidney Maddock of the Registrar's Office, University of Liverpool, to whom they had been lent by the Trades Council for purposes of research (Acc. 1581). Later in the same year, in October 1966, the Secretary to the Trades Council deposited further minute books here (Acc. 1677), those listed below at 331 TRA 1/1 - 331 TRA1/7. It should be noted that not all the records deposited here prior to 1957 have been returned to this library. The records listed below, however, do consist of all the Trades Council records held by this library at present (1973).

In the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth centuries, a number of trade societies were formed in Liverpool by operatives such as the Housepainters, Carvers and Guilders, Steam-Engine Makers, Coopers (see also 331 COO Records of the Liverpool Coopers' Friendly Society, 1842-1902) and Boilermakers, etc. Opposition by employers to trade union activity was so great that by the mid-19th century the idea of federation or amalgamation for mutual protection and support between trade societies on a local scale was gaining favour. In 1848, therefore, the Liverpool Trades' Guardians Association was formed '... with the "object of protecting Trade Unions from suppression by the employers' use of criminal law"' (see William Hamling A Short history of the Liverpool Trades Council, 1848-1948, 1948, p. 15). Affiliated societies included those of the Bricklayers, Tin-plate workers, Glassworkers, Brassfounders, Sawyers, Upholsterers, etc.

By 1860 the number of societies affiliated to the Trades' Guardians Association had dropped and in 1861 the Association was "replaced" by the Liverpool United Trades' Protection Association. According to Hamling, op. cit., p. 16 "... the old body was merged into the new ... the new organisation having purchased the effects of the Trades' Guardian Association ...".

In 1868 or thereabouts Liverpool United Trades Protection Society changed its name to Liverpool and Vicinity Trades Council. In 1892 or 1893 this became Liverpool and Vicinity Trades and Labour Council (see Annual Reports, 331/TRA 3/1, 331 TRA 3/2, et seq. below).

In the 1890s the question of political affiliations became an important one for the Trades Council. Sometime during the year 1894/1895 a Labour Representation committee was formed in Liverpool. According to the Trades Council Annual Report, 1894-95 (331 TRA 3/4 below), p. 10, "... the last twelve months have witnessed an extraordinary amount of activity in connection with the Labour Movement in Liverpool. With the object of further promoting this activity, and calling attention to the advantages to be gained by the workers generally, through direct representation on all Public Boards and Councils, a large number of Labour Clubs and Associations were formed in different parts of the City ... our Council ... being the leading organisation, collectively, of working-class opinion in Liverpool, it was thought advisable, in the interest of Labour, to take the initiative in this ... work. From this desire sprung [sic] the Labour Representation Committee ...". According to Hamling, op. cit., p. 28, the Trades Council withdrew its membership from the Labour Representation Committee in 1896, a fact confirmed by the Trades Council minutes of 28 Oct. 1896 (see Minute Book, 1894-1901, 331 TRA 1/6 below) and Annual Report, 1896-97 (331 TRA 3/6 below), p. 1. The Labour Representation Committee appears to have continued as a separate body and the Trades Council Annual Report 1902/03 (see 331 TRA 3/12) again lists two members representing the Trades Council on the Labour Representation Committee and gives the sum donated by the Trades Council in the half-year ending March 1903 for local Labour representation. The Labour Representation Committee was affiliated to the National Labour Party and the Lancashire and Cheshire Federation of Labour Parties and from Oct./Nov. 1917 this body ceased to be known as the Liverpool Labour Representation Committee and was hence forward known simply as the Liverpool Labour Party (see Labour Party Minute Book, 1917-18, 331 TRA 6/6 below, for meetings of 3 Oct. - 7 Nov. 1917, also Annual Reports, 1916 and 1917, 331 TRA 8/11, 331 TRA 8/12 below).

On 7 Feb. 1921 a Conference was held to consider the question of an amalgamation between the Liverpool Trades Council and the Liverpool Labour Party (for minutes of this conference see 331 TRA 11/1, pp. 6-7). The Conference decided in favour of such an amalgamation and the two bodies combined to form the new organisation, the Liverpool Trades Council and Labour Party, which came into being officially as from 31st March 1921. Its first meeting took place on 6 Apr. 1921 (see Minute Book, 1921-1930, 331 TRA 11/1 below).

For details of the activities and involvements of the Trades Council throughout most of its history see Hamling, op. cit. A number of papers listed below relate to the Trades Council's participation in the General Strike of May 1926, and Hamling describes this, with the setting up of the Merseyside Council of Action on pp. 44-46.

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