National Union of Bookbinders and Machine Rulers

Rules, minutes, trade reports and cuirculars, accounts, membership register, journals and branch records.

The National Union of Bookbinders and Machine Rulers had its origins in local societies that came together in 1835 as the Bookbinders' Consolidated Relief Fund for the relief of tramping. This developed into the Bookbinders' Consolidated Union with a network of branches throughout the United Kingdom. London maintained its own societies despite the Bookbinders' Consolidated Union establishing a branch there in 1857. In order to reflect changes in the membership, the title of the union was changed in 1872 to the Bookbinders and Machine Rulers' Consolidated Union (BMRCU). From the turn of the century co-operation between the London societies and the Bookbinders and Machine Rulers' Consolidated Union increased, leading to amalgamation and the National Union of Bookbinders and Machine Rulers (NUBMR) in January 1911, modelled on the Bookbinders and Machine Rulers' Consolidated Union. The National Union of Bookbinders and Machine Rulers continued until January 1921 when it joined with the National Union of Printing and Paper Workers to form the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding, Machine Ruling and Paper Workers (NUPBMRPW)

This collection 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/BKM

See also: Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT) (MSS.39/SO); Amalgamated Society of Papermakers; National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers; National Union of Printing and Paper Workers (NUPPW)