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National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers

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National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers
AbbreviationNUAW
Merged intoTransport and General Workers' Union
(Agricultural Section)
Founded20 June 1906; 118 years ago (1906-06-20)
Dissolved1982; 42 years ago (1982)
TypeTrade union
Headquarters308 Gray's Inn Road, London
Location
Members
70,800 (1946)[1]
General Secretary
George Edwards (first)
Jack Boddy (last)
President
George Nicholls (first)
John Hose (last)
Treasurer
Richard Winfrey (first)
PublicationThe Landworker
AffiliationsLiberal Party (1906–1911), TUC, Labour Party

The National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers (NUAW) was a trades union representing farmworkers in the United Kingdom. The Union was founded in 1906 by trade union activist George Edwards. It was dissolved in 1982 when it merged into the Agricultural Section of the Transport and General Workers' Union.

In 1919, the union began publishing its journal The Landworker for its members. The journal remains in circulation, now published by the Agricultural Section of Unite the Union[2][3]

History

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The late 19th century saw the rise of the labour movement in the United Kingdom. As the movement grew in the agricultural sector, conflict increased between three main groups:[4]

In the early 1870s, British farmworkers began organising agricultural trade unions such as the Lincolnshire Labour League (later the Amalgamated Labour League), the Warwickshire Agricultural Labourers Union (later the National Agricultural Labourers' Union), and the Kent and Sussex Agricultural Labourers' Union. These unions initially achieved modest victories and growth, but a series of unsuccessful attempts to use collective action resulted in the decline and dissolution of early farmworkers' unions.[4]

In response to the victory of the Liberal Party in the 1906 UK general election, many farm owners took revenge against farmers suspected of radical views or of Liberal sympathies.[4]

In Norfolk, farm workers saught the help of Liberal counciller and trade union activist George Edwards, who had previously been involved with union organising in the late 1870s and 1880s. Despite initial hesitation, Edwards agreed and began using his connections within the Liberal Party to help set up a farmworker's union.[4] On 20 July 1906, the Eastern Counties Agricultural Labourers & Small Holders Union was established at a conference of Norfolk agricultural workers at the Angel Hotel, North Walsham.[4][5]

George Edwards was the union's inaugeral General Secretary, and was paid 13 shillings a week. Other leadership positions were held by George Nicholls, the union's first president, and Richard Winfrey, its first treasurer. The remainder of its Executive Committee consisted of J. Binder, J. Sage, William G. Codling, Herbert Day, J. Bly, C. Holman and J. Stibbins.[4][5] Much of the union's early leadership were trade union moderates associated with the Liberal Party, and shyed away from any actions they considered militant. George Edwards himself described strike action as a horror, and worked hard to prevent strikes.[6]

The first three branches of the union were in Norfolk, One in St Faith's (former stronghold of Joseph Arch's old National Agricultural Labourers Union), one in Kenninghall, and one in Shipham.[5] By the end of 1906, the union had established fifty-seven branches, and had a total of 1,600 members.[4]

In 1910 major strikes and disputes broke out in the Norfolk villages of Trunch, Knapton and St Faith's. At St Faith's, the 105 union men were on strike from May 1910 until February 1911 for 1 shilling a week extra.[5]

The organisation changed its name in 1910 to the National Agricultural Labourers and Rural Workers Union.[5] Edwards stood down as Secretary in 1913, but then took up the post of President.[7] In 1920, the union became the National Union of Agricultural Workers, and in 1968 the "National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers".[5][8]

The union not only fought for worker's rights but also provide social activities.[9]

The union's stronghold was in Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Dorset with over 90% of agricultural labourers being in membership.[citation needed]

William "Bill" Holmes, NUAW General Secretary once told an audience of American trade unionists: "In many of our villages, a man who joins a trade union is worthy of the Victoria Cross that's won on a battlefield. In many villages he dare not be known to be a member of the union. But to be a branch secretary! That is to risk one's livelihood every day in the week".

In 1982, the union was dissolved and became part of the Agricultural Section of the Transport and General Workers' Union.

The Dorset County Committee organises the annual Tolpuddle Martyrs festival along with the TUC.

Election results

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The union worked closely with the Labour Party from its early years.[10] Until 1945, it contributed election expenses to some candidates, but no ongoing expenses to those who won election, and therefore it is often not listed as a sponsor in this period.[11]

Election Constituency Candidate Votes Percentage Position
1918 general election[12] King's Lynn Robert Barrie Walker 9,780 49.1 2
South Norfolk George Edwards 6,536 35.7 2
1920 by-election Horncastle William Holmes 3,443 18.8 3
1920 by-election[12] South Norfolk George Edwards 8,594 45.7 1
1921 by-election[13] Taunton James Lunnon 8,290 38.9 2
1922 general election[14] King's Lynn Robert Barrie Walker 8,683 32.7 2
South Norfolk George Edwards 10,159 44.4 2
Stafford Bill Holmes 7,672 41.1 2
1923 general election Ormskirk Robert Barrie Walker 9,388 47.0 2
South Norfolk George Edwards 11,682 51.9 1
1924 general election Ormskirk Robert Barrie Walker 10,402 43.7 2
South Norfolk George Edwards 11,376 44.5 2
1929 general election[10] East Norfolk Bill Holmes 7,856 23.4 3
1931 general election East Norfolk Bill Holmes 6,562 20.2 2
1945 general election[15] Barkston Ash Bert Hazell 24,322 49.9 2
Holland with Boston Arthur Monks 21,263 44.1 2
North Norfolk Edwin Gooch 17,753 58.7 1
1950 general election[16] Barkston Ash Bert Hazell 18,626 42.5 2
North Norfolk Edwin Gooch 19,790 48.0 1
1951 general election[17] Central Norfolk John Lambley 17,270 44.1 2
North Norfolk Edwin Gooch 21,067 50.3 1
1955 by-election South Norfolk John MacLennan Stewart 14,254 48.5 2
1955 general election[18] North Norfolk Edwin Gooch 20,899 51.5 1
South Norfolk John MacLennan Stewart 17,215 47.9 2
Worcester Leonard Pike 19,508 43.2 2
1959 by-election South West Norfolk Albert Hilton 15,314 50.6 1
1959 general election[19] North Norfolk Edwin Gooch 19,784 50.9 1
South Norfolk John MacLennan Stewart 16,542 46.2 2
South West Norfolk Albert Hilton 16,858 50.1 1
Taunton Leonard Pike 16,182 35.3 2
1964 general election[20] North Norfolk Bert Hazell 19,370 50.1 1
South West Norfolk Albert Hilton 16,605 49.2 2
Taunton Leonard Pike 16,619 36.2 2
1966 general election[21] North Norfolk Bert Hazell 20,796 50.9 1
1970 general election[22] Ludlow David Nagington 12,800 31.7 2
North Norfolk Bert Hazell 19,903 44.7 2
1974 Oct general election[23] Sheffield Brightside Joan Maynard 18,108 49.7 1
1979 general election[24] Sheffield Brightside Joan Maynard 25,672 68.5 1

Leadership

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General Secretaries

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1906: George Edwards
1913: Robert Barrie Walker
1928: Bill Holmes
1944: Alf Dann
1953: Harold Collison
1969: Reg Bottini
1978: Jack Boddy

Presidents

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1906: George Nicholls
1911: Walter Robert Smith[25]
1924: Bill Holmes
1928: Edwin Gooch
1966: Bert Hazell
1978: John Hose

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Labour Party, Report of the Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, p. 77
  2. ^ Campbell, Amanda (13 September 2019). "Celebrating rural workers and 100 years of The Landworker journal". LabourList. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  3. ^ "'The Land Worker', 1919-1950". warwick.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Newby 1987, pp. 161.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Groves 1981.
  6. ^ Newby 1987, pp. 162.
  7. ^ "Edwards, Sir George (1850–1933), trade unionist and politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  8. ^ Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.2, pp. 300–301
  9. ^ The Museum of English Rural Life. "Berkshire darts tournament prize officiated by National Union for Agricultural Workers". www.reading.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  10. ^ a b Griffiths, Clare (2007). Labour and the Countryside. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199287437.
  11. ^ Parker, James (2017). Trade unions and the political culture of the Labour Party, 1931–1940 (PDF). Exeter: University of Exeter. p. 179.
  12. ^ a b Howkins, Alun (1985). Poor Labouring Men. Routledge. ISBN 1315447827.
  13. ^ Labour Party, Report of the Twenty-first Annual Conference of the Labour Party, p. 41
  14. ^ Labour Party, Report of the Twenty-second Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 255–272. Note that this list is of the sanctioned candidates as of June 1922, and there were some changes between this date and the general election.
  15. ^ Labour Party, Report of the Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 232–248
  16. ^ "List of Parliamentary Labour candidates and election results, February 23rd, 1950". Report of the Forty-Ninth Annual Conference of the Labour Party: 179–198. 1950.
  17. ^ "List of Parliamentary Labour candidates and election results, 25th October, 1951". Report of the Fiftieth Annual Conference of the Labour Party: 184–203. 1951.
  18. ^ Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 255–275
  19. ^ Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 179–201
  20. ^ Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 158–180
  21. ^ Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 308–330
  22. ^ Labour Party, Report of the Sixty-Ninth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 289–312
  23. ^ Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Third Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 391–411
  24. ^ Labour Party, Report of the Seventy-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp. 406–431
  25. ^ "DEATH OF MR. W. R. SMITH". Northampton Mercury. 27 February 1942. Retrieved 17 November 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.

Works Cited

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