Steam Engine Makers Society

Series 1: annual reports, 1858-1919

Series 2: rules

Series 3: schedules 1913, 1919

Series 4: Bury branch minute book

Series 5: other papers

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).

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Steam Engine Makers' Society, 1827-1953