The London Trades Council was an early

labour organisation A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

, uniting London's trade unionists. Its modern successor organisation is the Greater London Association of Trades (Union) Councils

History

Leading figures in the London trade union movement convened occasional meetings of the "Metropolitan Trades Delegates" from 1848, meeting at the Old Bell Inn by the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

. The London builders' strike of 1859 required ongoing co-ordination, and it was determined to organise a

trades council A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of trade union, labour unions or local union, union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, ...

. The formation of the London Trades Council was organised at George Potter's Building Trades Conference and led by

George Odger George Odger (1813 – 4 March 1877) was a pioneer British trade unionist and radical politician. He is best remembered as the head of the London Trades Council during the period of formation of the Trades Union Congress and as the first Presid ...

Operative Bricklayers' Society The Operative Bricklayers' Society (OBS) was a UK, British New Model Trade Union based in London. History The society was founded in 1818 as the London Bricklayers' Society, but by 1829 had developed into a national operative union. By the 18 ...

. The unions agreed to demand a maximum working day of nine hours from their employers. The employers refused, resulting in strike action and a lockout. Eventually the unions conceded, but the

solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

built prompted the formation of a citywide body able to co-ordinate future action. The London Trades Council was founded at a meeting at Shaftesbury Hall on 18 May 1860, and it may well have been the fourth such organisation in the country, after the Sheffield Trades Council and Glasgow Trades Council (both founded in 1858) and the Edinburgh Trades Council (founded in 1859

The council charged affiliates two shillings per hundred members, and thereby covered its expenses. By 1862, it had a paid membership of 11,300, although attendees at its various meetings represented unions with a total of around 50,000 members. Through the early 1860s, many individuals who later became prominent in the national trade union movement won seats on the executive of the council: Heap (ASE), George Howell, Edwin Coulson, George Odger, Goddard (Bookbinders), Robert Applegarth, Daniel Guile, and later Robert Allan. It supported unions in numerous conflicts in London, with the builders' strike of 1861 proving particularly successful, but its support for the South Staffordshire Miners did not achieve success, and Potter's unilateral efforts to support North Staffordshire members of the National Association of Ironfounders in 1865 led to his isolation on the council. As the national

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...

(TUC) was not founded until 1868 (largely as a response by Trades Councils in

Northern England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...

to the perceived dominance of the London Trades Council), the London body initially provided a focus for many national campaigns, and its early leaders became known as the " Junta". It campaigned for the right of working men to vote, for legislation to improve working conditions, and for a Conciliation and Arbitration Act. It also supported the Glasgow Trades Council's campaign against the

Master and Servant Act Master and Servant Acts or Masters and Servants Acts were laws designed to regulate relations between employers and employees during the 18th and 19th centuries. The UK's Master and Servant Act 1823 described its purpose as "the better regulatio ...

. However, its support for the

United Kingdom Alliance of Organised Trades The UK Association of Organised Trades was founded in Sheffield in July 1866. It was an important predecessor organization to the Trades Union Congress. The organisation was largely inspired by William Dronfield, who was elected as its secretar ...

, founded just before the Sheffield Outrages, did not bear fruit, and the Council were not officially represented at the TUC until its second conference. The Council co-operated closely with the

International Workingmen's Association The International Workingmen's Association (IWA; 1864–1876), often called the First International, was a political international which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, social democratic, communist, and anarchist g ...

(sometimes referred to as the ''First International''), but voted against affiliating to the bod

With the growth of the TUC, the London Trades Council lost its national leadership role, but remained the most important trades council in the country. Odger devoted more time to the TUC, and George Shipton became the secretary of the council, launching the ''Labour Standard'' as its newspaper, giving particular support to the National Fair Trade League. London was the main centre of the New Unionism from 1888, but the council was dominated by

craft union Craft unionism refers to a model of trade unionism in which workers are organised based on the particular craft or trade in which they work. It contrasts with industrial unionism, in which all workers in the same industry are organized into the sa ...

ists, and initially had little to do with the movement. Despite this, in 1890, 38 new unions affiliated to the council, the largest being the dockers, almost doubling its membership to 59,192. More radical figures were elected to its executive: Fred Hammill, Tom Mann, James Macdonald, W. Pearson and H. R. Taylor. This led to serious disputes over strategy, with Shipton resigning in 1896, to be replaced by Macdonald. One complaint of the new unions was that the council was overly centralised, and in response, local trades councils formed across London, starting with the West Ham Trades and Labour Council in 1891. The new unions persuaded the London Trades Council to form a lecture bureau, and to campaign for an

eight hour day The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses of working time. The modern movement originated i ...

, with the first May Day demonstration taking place in Hyde Park in 1890. The trades council supported the formation of the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

, and initially supported the Progressive Party, with John Burns and F. C. Baum of the upholsterers winning early seats on the council. It led a large campaign in 1892, which saw

Ben Cooper Ben Cooper (September 30, 1933 – February 24, 2020) was an American film and television actor who won a Golden Boot Award in 2005 for his work in Westerns. Stage Cooper appeared on Broadway in '' Life with Father'' (1939). He debuted in th ...

, Will Steadman and Henry Robert Taylor elected. However, by 1895 it felt the Progressive Party was insufficiently radical, and in 1897 it began working with the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

(ILP) and

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James ...

(SDF). The SDF opposed all non-socialist candidates, and so for the 1898 elections, the trades council ended up putting together its own recommended list, a mixture of trade unionists and ILP members. In 1901, the council appointed a political committee, consisting of W. B. Cheesman, Cooper, A. E. Holmes, Charles Jesson, J. Jones (brassworkers), Sam Michaels and Harry Orbell. In 1903, the council affiliated to the national Labour Representation Committee, although it initially continued to support some other candidates; at the 1906 UK general election, it supported nine candidates including Harry Quelch of the SDF and C. Norton of the Liberal Party. This changed in 1914, when it played a leading role in establishing the

London Labour Party London Labour is the devolved, regional part of the Labour Party in Greater London. It is the largest political party in London, currently holding a majority of the executive mayoralties, a majority of local councils, council seats and parli ...

, which affiliated to the Labour Party. The council was divided over support for

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, but agreed in its opposition to conscription. After the war, it became increasingly radical; in 1926, A. M. Wall defeated the leading

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Wal Hannington for the secretaryship by only 102 votes to 82. It led the organisation of workers in London during the 1926 UK general strike. In 1953, the council was derecognised by the TUC, which was seeking to purge Communist Party influence in the Trades Councils nationally. A new London Trades Council (1952) was founded, alongside a London Federation of Trades Councils.http://www.glatuc.org.uk/history.html

Leadership

Secretaries

:1860: Tom JonesJulius Jacobs, ''London Trades Council, 1860-1950'', p.155 :1861: George Howell :1862:

:1872: George Shipton :1896: James MacDonald :1913: Fred Knee :1914: John Stokes :1917: Duncan Carmichael :1926: Alfred M. Wall :1938: Robert Willis :1945: Julius Jacobs

Chairs

:1860: John D. Nieass (Plasterers) :1862:

:1863: Mildred (Carpenters and Joiners) :as of 1867: Robert Danter (Engineers) :as of 1869: John Jeffery (Bricklayers) :as of 1873: T. Warren (West End Boot Closers) :as of 1885: Thomas Abrey (Perseverance Carpenters) :as of 1893-1894: George Courtenay :1896:

(Cigar Makers) :1899: Joe Gregory (Masons) :1904: Harry Quelch (Compositors) :1906: Harry Gosling (Watermen) :1910: Harry Quelch (Compositors) :1913: John Stokes (Glassblowers) :1914: Edward Friend (Bookbinders) :1940: George Lindgren (Railway Clerks) :1942: Jock Tiffin (Transport Workers) :1948: Geoffrey Collings (Railway Clerks) :1950: Ted Sheehan (Transport Workers) :1951: Fred Tonge (Transport Staff) :1952: M. Bass (Fire Brigades)

Treasurers

:1860: John Heap (Engineers) :1870s: H. R. King (Bookbinders) :by 1892: W. C. Steadman (Barge Builders) :1910s:

(Cigar Makers) :1917: John Stokes (Glassblowers) :1942: Harry Hynd (Railway Clerks) :1946: Henry Levitt (Insurance Officials) :1951: W. N. Chellingworth (Bookbinders) :1952: David Henry Lewis (Medical Practitioners)

References

External links

Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Political organisations based in London Political history of London Trades councils 1860 establishments in the United Kingdom Trade unions established in 1860 Trade unions disestablished in 1953 Socialist organisations in the United Kingdom