Reference number
  • SEM
Date
  • 1827 - 1953
Level
  • Collection
Description
  • Contributions Book, 1827-1837; Registration Books, 1831-1914; Annual Reports, 1874-1919; Monthly Reports, 1907-1918; Schedules, 1913-1919; Registration Books, 1831-1953; papers of John Foden (Chairman of the Society 1871-1903); Wigan Branch Minutes, 1844-1890.
Extent
  • 9 boxes
Admin history
  • The Steam Engine Makers' Society was founded in Liverpool on 2nd November 1824. The original members of the Union included fitters, turners and steam engine erectors but the Union broadened its scope in 1847 to include millwrights, steam-engine patternmakers and the makers of tools used in the manufacture of steam engines. Its membership was very similar to that of the Journeymen Steam Engine, Machine Makers' and Millwrights' Friendly Society. The Union grew steadily and refused to amalgamate into the Amalgamated Society of Engineers in 1851. By 1891 the Union had over 6000 members and was one of the founding members of the Federation of Engineering and Shipbuilding Trades. By the beginning of the First World War the Union had grown to 17800 members. The society finally amalgamated with the Amalgamated Society of Engineers to form the Amalgamated Engineering Union in 1920. Reference: Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan Historical Directory of Trade Unions Volume 2( Gower Publishing Company, 1984).
Appraisal
  • This collection has been weeded for duplicates.
Access status
  • Open
Related material
  • A minute book of the Blackburn branch of the Steam Engine Makers Society, 1916-1931, is held by Lancashire Archives (reference DP/539).
Physical description
  • This collection is in good condition.