Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Workers' Union of Great Britain and Ireland

Executive Council minutes, 1900-1910, 1921; minutes of Delegate Meetings, 1890-1921; Finance Committee minutes, 1920-1922; Emergency Committee minutes, 1900-1922; annual reports, 1890-1919; 'The Dockers' Record', 1901-1921; minutes and report of Inquiry into Draft Regulations Affecting Docks made under the Factory and Workshop Act 1901, 1904; minutes of Court of Inquiry into Wages, Rates and Conditions of Men Engaged in Dock and Waterside Labour, 1920.

The Tea Operatives' and General Labourers' Association was founded in 1887 after a wage reduction was imposed on the tea workers employed by the East and West India Dock Company at their warehouse in Cutler Street, London. After the great dock strike of 1889 it was renamed the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union of Great Britain and Ireland. It was renamed the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Workers' Union of Great Britain and Ireland in 1899. It was often known simply as the Dockers' Union, although by 1922 it was far more of a general union. It initiated the fourteen union amalgamation which resulted in the formation of the Transport and General Workers' Union on 1 January 1922.

Prior written permission to consult unpublished records in this archive is required. Details are given in the full catalogue. Subject to permission being granted, the archive is available to researchers by appointment at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. See http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/using/

Link to full catalogue: http://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/DWR

The collection was deposited in the Centre by the TGWU, which inherited it from the creating union.

The Labour History Archive and Study Centre, Manchester, and the TUC Library at London Metropolitan University also hold printed material.