Abstract
IT is remarkable, indeed perhaps unique in historical studies, that a work which was originally published in 1894 (though later extended to 1920) still remains the standard textbook in its field. That the Webbs’ great History of Trade Unionism still holds its place is a tribute to the immense research and interpretative insight on which it was based, but also perhaps an indication of the relative inferiority of later labour-historical scholarship. Twenty years ago, John Saville was deploring the decline in working-class history since the days of the Webbs, Cole and Beer in the early decades of this century [14]; he viewed the publication of Cole and Filson’s British Working-class Movements: Select Documents, 1789–1875 (1951) as a belated but glorious sunset to this great era. Today, the Webbs’ History still stands as a monumental piece of historical scholarship. There has meanwhile been a great deal of specialised research on particular aspects or periods — on many points the Webbs’ evidence and interpretations have been revealed as inadequate — but no one has yet emerged with comparable breadth as well as depth of scholarship to rewrite the whole history of trade unionism over the past two centuries on the same academic level.
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Original Documents
A. Aspinall, The Early English Trade Unions (1949).
G. D. H. Cole and A. W. Filson, British Working-Class Movements: Select Documents, 1789–1875 (1951).
E. Frow and M. Katanka, 1868: Year of the Unions (1968).
J. B. Jefferys, Labour’s Formative Years, 1849–1879 (1948).
M. Morris, From Cobbett to the Chartists, 1815–48 (1948).
S. Pollard, The Sheffield Outrages (1971).
General Labour Histories
M. Beer, A History of British Socialism, 3rd ed. (2 vols, 1953).
A. Briggs and J. Saville (eds), Essays in Labour History, vol. i (2nd ed., 1967).
W. H. Chaloner, The Skilled Artisan during the Industrial Revolution, 1750–1850 (Historical Association pamphlet, 1969).
G. D. H. Cole, A Short History of the British Working Class Movement (1948).
J. L. and B. Hammond, The Skilled Labourer, 1760–1832 (1919).
E. J. Hobsbawm, Labouring Men (1964).
W. H. Marwick, A Short History of Labour in Scotland (1967).
J. Saville, ‘A Note on the Present Position of Working Class History’, Yorkshire Bulletin of Economic and Social Research, iv 2 (Sep 1952).
J. Saville (ed.), Democracy and the Labour Movement (1954).
E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, rev. ed. (1968).
J. T. Ward (ed.), Popular Movements c. 1830–1850 (1970).
R. F. Wearmouth, Methodism and the Working-Class Movements of England, 1800–1850 (1937).
Works on the General History of Trade Unionism
V. L. Allen, ‘A Methodological Criticism of the Webbs as Trade Union Historians’, Labour History Society Bulletin, no. 4 (spring 1962).
R. V. Clements, ‘British Trade Unions and Popular Political Economy, 1850–1875’, Economic History Review, 2nd ser., xiv 1 (Aug 1961).
G. D. H. Cole, ‘Some Notes on British Trade Unionism in the Third Quarter of the Nineteenth Century’, International Review for Social History, ii (1937), reprinted in E. M. Carus-Wilson (ed.), Essays in Economic History, vol. iii (1962).
G. D. H. Cole, Attempts at General Union, 1818–1834 (1953).
S. W. Coltham, ‘George Potter, the Junta, and the Beehive’, International Review of Social History, ix (1964) and x (1965).
I. Garbati, ‘British Trade Unionism in the Mid-Victorian Era’, University of Toronto Quarterly, xx (1950–1).
M. D. George, ‘The Combination Laws Reconsidered’, Economic History (supplement to Economic Journal), no. 2 (May 1927).
M. D. George, ‘The Combination Laws’, Economic History Review, vi (1936).
R. Y. Hedges and A. Winterbottom, The Legal History of Trade Unionism (1930).
E. J. Hobsbawm, ‘Trade Union Historiography’, Labour History Society Bulletin, no. 8 (spring 1964).
H. W. McCready, ‘British Labour and the Royal Commission on Trade Unions, 1867–9’, University of Toronto Quarterly, xxiv (1955).
H. W. McCready, ‘British Labour’s Lobby, 1867–75’, Canadian Journal of Economic and Political Science, xxii (1956).
A. E. Musson, ‘The Webbs and their Phasing of Trade-Union Development between the 1830s and the 1860s’, Labour History Society Bulletin, no. 4 (spring 1962).
A. E. Musson, The Congress of 1868: The Origins and Establishment of the Trades Union Congress (1955; rev, ed., 1968).
H. M. Pelling, A History of British Trade Unionism (1963).
B. C. Roberts, The Trades Union Congress, 1868–1921 (1958).
M. I. Thomis, The Luddites (1970).
S. and B. Webb, The History of Trade Unionism, rev. ed. (1920).
S. and B. Webb, Industrial Democracy (1920).
Histories of Trade Unions in Particular Industries: Agriculture
J. P. D. Dimbabin, ‘The “Revolt of the Field”: The Agricultural Labourers’ Movement in the 1870s’, Past and Present, no. 26 (1963).
R. Groves, ‘Sharpen the Sickle!’: The History of the Farm Workers’ Union (1949).
E. J. Hobsbawm and G. Rudé, Captain Swing (1969).
A. J. Peacock, ‘The Revolt of the Field in East Anglia’, in L. M. Munby (ed.), The Luddites and Other Essays (1971).
R. C. Russell, The ‘Revolt of the Field’ in Lincolnshire (1956).
Trades Union Congress, The Book of the Martyrs of Tolpuddle, 1834–1934 (1934).
Brushmaking
W. Kiddier, The Old Trade Unions (1930).
Building, woodworking, etc.
T. J. Connelly, The Woodworkers, 1860–1960 (Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers, 1960).
J. O. French, Plumbers in Unity: History of the Plumbing Trades Union, 1865–1965 (1965).
S. Higenbottam, Our Society’s History (Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers, 1939).
W. S. Hilton, Foes to Tyranny: A History of the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers (1963).
R. Postgate, The Builders’ History (1923).
Coal mining
R. Challinor and B. Ripley, The Miners’ Association: A Trade Union in the Age of the Chartists (1968).
N. Edwards, History of the South Wales Miners (1926).
E. W. Evans, The Miners of South Wales (1961).
F. Machin, The Yorkshire Miners: A History, vol. i (1958).
A. J. Taylor, ‘The Miners’ Association of Great Britain and Ireland, 1842–48’, Economica, n.s., xxii (1955)
S. Webb, The Story of the Durham Miners, 1662–1921 (1921).
E. Welbourne, The Miners’ Unions of Northumberland and Durham (1923).
J. E. Williams, The Derbyshire Miners (1962).
A. J. Youngson-Brown, ‘Trade Union Policy in the Scots Coalfields, 1855–1885’, Economic History Review, 2nd ser., vi 1 (Aug 1953).
Iron and engineering
H. J. Fyrth and H. Collins, The Foundry Workers (1959).
J. B. Jefferys, The Story of the Engineers, 1800–1945 (1946).
Pottery
W. H. Warburton, History of Trade Union Organisation in the North Staffordshire Potteries (1931).
Printing and bookbinding
E. Howe, The London Compositor: Documents (1947).
E. Howe and H. E. Waite, The London Society of Compositors: A Centenary History (1948).
E. Howe and J. Child, The London Society of Bookbinders, 1780–1951 (1952).
A. E. Musson, The Typographical Association: Origins and History up to 1949 (1954).
Textiles and clothing
D. Bythell, The Handloom Weavers (1969).
N. H. Cuthbert, The Lace Makers’ Society: A Study of Trade Unionism in the British Lace Industry, 1760–1960 (1960).
F. W. Galton, Select Documents Illustrating the History of Trade Unionism, vol. i: The Tailoring Trade (1896).
N. J. Smelser, Social Change in the Industrial Revolution: An Application of Theory to the British Cotton Industry (1959).
M. Stewart and L. Hunter, The Needle is Threaded (1964).
H. A. Turner, Trade Union Growth, Structure and Policy: A Comparative Study of the Cotton Unions (1962).
Transport and docks
G. W. Alcock, Fifty Tears of Railway Trade Unionism (1922).
P. S. Bagwell, The Railwaymen: The History of the National Union of Railwaymen (1963).
P. W. Kingsford, Victorian Railwaymen: The Emergence and Growth of Railway Labour, 1830–1870 (1970).
J. Lovell, Stevedores and Dockers (1969).
Histories of Trade Unionism and Trades Councils in Particular Towns
G. Barnsby, The Origins of Wolverhampton Trades Council (1965).
J. Corbett, The Birmingham Trades Council, 1866–1966 (1966).
A. Fox, ‘Industrial Relations in 19th century Birmingham’, Oxford Economic Papers, n.s., vii (1955).
W. Hamling, A Short History of the Liverpool Trades’ Council, 1848–1948 (1948).
I. MacDougall, The Minutes of Edinburgh Trades Council, 1859–1873 (1968).
S. Pollard, A History of Labour in Sheffield (1959).
S. Pollard et al., Sheffield Trades and Labour Council, 1858–1958 (1958).
C. Richards, A History of Trades Councils (1920).
J. Saville, ‘Trades Councils and the Labour Movement to 1900’, Labour History Society Bulletin, no. 14 (spring 1967).
G. Tate, The London Trades Council, 1860–1950 (1950).
Trade-Union Relations with the Owenite-Socialist, Radical and Chartist Movements
A. Briggs (ed.), Chartist Studies (1959).
G. D. H. Cole, Robert Owen (1925).
M. I. Cole, Robert Owen of New Lanark (1953).
W. H. Fraser, ‘Robert Owen and the Workers’, in J. Butt (ed.), Robert Owen (1971).
B. Harrison and P. Hollis, ‘Chartism, Liberalism and the Life of Robert Lowery’, English Historical Review, lxxxii (1967).
J. F. C. Harrison, Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America (1969).
M. Hovell, The Chartist Movement (1918; 3rd ed., 1966).
A. Jenkin, ‘Chartism and the Trade Unions’, in L. M. Munby (ed.), The Luddites and Other Essays (1971).
H. Maehl, ‘Chartist Disturbances in Northeastern England, 1839’, International Review of Social History, viii (1963).
F. C. Mather, Chartism (Historical Association pamphlet, 1965).
A. E. Musson, ‘The Ideology of Early Co-operation in Lancashire and Cheshire’, Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society Transactions, lxviii (1958).
R. S. Neale, ‘Class and Class-Consciousness in Early Nineteenth-Century England: Three Classes or Five?’, Victorian Studies, xii (1968).
W. H. Oliver, ‘Robert Owen and the English Working-Class Movements’, History Today, viii (1958).
W. H. Oliver, ‘The Consolidated Trades’ Union of 1834’, Economic History Review, 2nd ser., xvii 1 (Aug 1964).
F. Podmore, Robert Owen (2 vols, 1906).
S. Pollard and J. Salt (eds), Robert Owen: Prophet of the Poor (1971).
I. Prothero, ‘Chartism in London’, Past and Present, no. 44 (Aug 1969).
I. Prothero, ‘London Chartism and the Trades’, Economic History Review, 2nd ser., xxiv 2 (May 1971).
D. J. Rowe, ‘The Failure of London Chartism’, Historical Journal, xi (1968).
D. J. Rowe, ‘Class and Political Radicalism in London, 1831–2’, Historical Journal, xiii (1970).
G. Rudé, ‘English Rural and Urban Disturbances on the Eve of the First Reform Bill, 1830–1831’, Past and Present, no. 37 (1967).
Trade Unions, Politics and Society, 1850–75
C. F. Brand, ‘The Conversion of the British Trade-Unions to Political Action’, American Historical Review, xxx 2 (Jan 1925).
A. Briggs, ‘Robert Applegarth and the Trade Unions’, in Victorian People (1954).
H. J. Collins and C. Abramsky, Karl Marx and the British Labour Movement: Tears of the First International (1965).
H. J. Collins, ‘The English Branches of the First International’, in Briggs and Saville [8].
H. J. Collins, ‘The International and the British Labour Movement’, Labour History Society Bulletin, no. 9 (autumn 1964).
F. E. Gillespie, Labor and Politics in England, 1850–1867 (1927; reprinted 1968).
R. Harrison, Before the Socialists: Studies in Labour and Politics, 1861–1881 (1965).
A. W. Humphrey, Robert Applegarth (1913).
F. M. Leventhal, Respectable Radical: George Howell and Victorian Working Class Politics (1971).
J. Saville, Ernest Jones: Chartist (1952).
J. Saville, ‘The Background to the Revival of Socialism in England’, Labour History Society Bulletin, no. 11 (autumn 1965).
J. Saville, ‘Some Aspects of Chartism in Decline’, Labour History Society Bulletin, no. 20 (spring 1970).
Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration
V. L. Allen, ‘The Origins of Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration’, International Review of Social History, ix (1964).
R. A. Church, ‘Technological Change and the Hosiery Board of Conciliation and Arbitration, 1860–1884’, Yorkshire Bulletin of Economic and Social Research, xv (1963).
J. R. Hicks, ‘The Early History of Industrial Conciliation in England’, Economica, x (1930).
A. J. Odber, ‘The Origins of Industrial Peace: The Manufactured Iron Trade of the North of England’, Oxford Economic Papers, n.s., iii (1951).
J. H. Porter, ‘Wage Bargaining under Conciliation Agreements, 1860–1914’, Economic History Review, n.s., xxiii 3 (Dec 1970).
I. G. Sharp, Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration in Great Britain (1950).
Trade Unions and Emigration
R. V. Clements, ‘Trade Unions and Emigration, 1840–80’, Population Studies, ix (1955).
C. Erickson, ‘The Encouragement of Emigration by British Trade Unions, 1850–1900’, Population Studies, iii (1949–50).
W. S. Shepperson, ‘Industrial Emigration in Early Victorian Britain’, Journal of Economic History, xiii (1953).
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© 1990 The Economic History Society
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Musson, A.E. (1990). British Trade Unions, 1800–1875. In: Clarkson, L.A. (eds) British Trade Union and Labour History A Compendium. Studies in Economic and Social History. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10939-5_1
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