National Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers and Braziers and predecessors

Minutes, 1876-1917; Management Committee/NEC minutes, 1912-27; annual reports, 1901-16; Swindon branch minutes, 1915-40; letterbook, 1898-1900; balance sheets, 1889-99, 1902-11 (incomplete); reports of annual and biennial delegate meetings, 1898-1902, 1910 (incomplete); quarterly reports and membership returns, 1909-1912 (incomplete).

The Amalgamated Tin Plate Workers of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and District was formed in 1876 by the federation of the Wolverhampton Operative Tin-Plate Workers' Society, the Wolverhampton Co-operative Tin Plate Workers' Society and the Birmingham Operative Tin Plate Workers' Society, which all kept their individual identities. In 1889, the Amalgamated Society formed the basis for the National Amalgamated Tin-Plate Workers of Great Britain, when it extended its membership outside the West Midlands. This also acted as a loose federation of a number of local societies and was renamed the National Amalgamated Tin and Iron Plate, Sheet Metal Workers and Braziers in 1902 and the National Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers and Braziers in 1908. In 1920 the affiliated societies fully amalgamated to form the National Union of Sheet Metal Workers and Braziers, which merged in July 1959 with the National Society of Coppersmiths, Braziers and Metalworkers to form the National Union of Sheet Metal Workers and Coppersmiths.

Reference: Ted Brake, Men of Good Character: A history of the National Union of Sheet Metal Workers, Coppersmiths, Heating and Domestic Engineers( Lawrence and Wishart: London, 1985).

The records form part of the archive of Manufacturing, Science, Finance (MSS.101) and within that are a constitutent of the archive of the National Union of Sheet Metal Workers, Coppersmiths, Heating and Domestic Engineers (MSS.101/SM).

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/

This archive was transferred to the Modern Records Centre from the National Museum of Labour History in October 1989 and April 1990.

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

There are no restrictions on the use of this archive, apart from the requirements of copyright law.

This collection has been weeded for duplicates.

Further deposits are not expected.

The records of the National Union of Sheet Metal Workers, Coppersmiths, Heating and Domestic Engineers and many of its other predecessors are also held at the Modern Records Centre (MSS.101/SM). These include further records of the National Union (MSS.101/SM/NU) and the National Amalgamated (MSS.101/SM/NAT). The Modern Records Centre also holds additional records of the National Union (MSS.411/SM) and the National Amalgamated (MSS.411/NA).