| Administrative History | The National Union of Sheet Metal Workers and Braziers was formed in July 1920, upon amalgamation of a large number of the local and national sheet metal unions and societies that existed in Britain at that time. Included in this process were the National Amalgamated Association of Sheet Metal Workers and Braziers, the Scottish Tin Plate Workers' Trade Union, and the Aberdeen and District Sheet Metal Workers' Society. In July 1959, the union amalgamated with the National Society of Coppersmiths, Braziers and Metalworkers to form the National Union of Sheet Metal Workers, Coppersmiths, Heating and Domestic Engineers.
The Aberdeen branch of the union developed from the Aberdeen and District Sheet Metal Workers Union branch of the National Amalgamated Association of Sheet Metal Workers and Braziers, that had existed in the city since 1912. Aberdeen and District Sheet Metal Workers' Society was a separate, local, independent group, formed in 1890 as the Aberdeen Operative Tin Plate Workers' Protecting and Friendly Society.
Archibald T. Kidd, 'History of the Tin Plate Workers' and Sheet Metal Workers' Braziers Societies' (London: National Union of Sheet Metal Workers and Braziers, 1949) contains more details about the organisation and its activities.
Further information about the development of the trade union movement and the history of individual trade unions in Aberdeen can be found in William Diack, 'History of the Trades Council and the Trade Union Movement in Aberdeen' (Aberdeen: Aberdeen Trades Council, 1939), and in Kenneth D. Buckley, 'Trade Unionism in Aberdeen 1870 - 1900' (Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, 1955). Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, 'Historical Directory of Trade Unions', 4 vols (Aldershot: Gower, 1980 - 1984) also contains useful information about the development of individual unions, at both the national and local level. Summarised details from each of these sources has been used in compiling this collection level description. |