'New unions'

The unions of the 1840s were small, and most of them did not last long. But in the 1850s the first of the 'new unions' were set up. Like the early unions, they were for skilled workers, such as engineers, iron founders, and joiners. They were 'new' in that they were national - their members came from all parts of Britain.

The new unions helped their members when they were ill or unemployed. They looked after former members' widows and orphans. They tried to persuade employers to pay higher wages. They tried to get the government to give more rights to unions and their members. They had some success – the 1867 Reform Act gave the vote to working men in towns. And an act in 1875 said that strikes were legal, so long as pickets were peaceful.

By the 1870s, most skilled trades had unions. The next step was unions for unskilled workers. And there were strikes for better wages. The London match girls won their strike in 1888, and so did the London dockers in 1889. But a miners' lock-out in south Wales in 1898 ended in defeat.

In 1874, for the first time, two working men took their seats in the House of Commons - as Liberal M.P.s. The first independent Labour member was elected in 1892. But it was only in 1900 that the trade unions decided to set up their own party. Even then, it did not become the Labour Party until 1906.

Walter Robson: Britain 1750 – 1900; Oxford University Press, 1993/2002, page 67