Lanarkshire Miners' County Union

The Lanarkshire Miners' County Union, later the Lanarkshire Mineworkers' Union, represented coal miners in the Lanarkshire district of Scotland.

The union was founded in 1893 as the Lanarkshire Miners' Federation, bringing together local miners' unions based in Bellshill, Blantyre, Hamilton, Larkhall, and elsewhere. In 1896, the local unions merged completely to form a unitary trade union, the "Lanarkshire Miners' County Union".

The members of the early federation were:

Union	Founded	Members (year)
Bellshill Miners' Association	1890
Blantyre Miners' Association	1890
Hamilton Miners' Association	Unknown	1,200 (1894)
Holytown Miners' Association	1894
Larkhall Miners' Mutual Protection Association
Motherwell Miners' Association	1894
Shotts Miners' Association	1894

The union was initially led by Robert Smillie and William Small, both close associates of Keir Hardie, and both were founding members of the Independent Labour Party. In the 1920s, the two leading officials were Andrew McAnulty and William Allan, both members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. However, they were both suspended in 1928, and left to found the rival United Mineworkers of Scotland the following year.

The union affiliated to the National Union of Scottish Mineworkers, which in turn became an affiliate of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB). In 1944, the MFGB became the National Union of Mineworkers, and the County Union became its Lanarkshire Area, with less independence than before. In about 1962, it was dissolved into the Scottish Area.

Presidents

1893: Robert Smillie

1900s: Joseph Sullivan

1920: Andrew McAnulty

1929: Alexander Hunter

1940: William Pearson

Secretaries

1893: William Small

c.1896: David Gilmour

1918: Duncan Macgregor Graham

1922: William B. Small

1927: William Allan

1929: William B. Small

1937: James McKendrick

References

Arthur Ivor Marsh and Victoria Ryan, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.6, pp.496-497
John B. Smethurst and Peter Carter, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.6, pp.496-497
E. Eldon Barry, Nationalization in British Politics: The Historical Background, p.115
Matthew Worley, Class Against Class: The Communist Party in Britain Between the Wars, p.72
Matthew Worley, Class Against Class: The Communist Party in Britain Between the Wars, p.163
Chris Cook, The Routledge Guide to British Political Archives: Sources Since 1945, p.356

v t e Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
Presidents	1889 Pickard 1904 En. Edwards 1912 Smillie 1922 Smith 1929 Richards 1931 Eb. Edwards 1932 Lee 1934 J. Jones 1939 Lawther 1954 E. Jones 1960 Machen 1960 Ford 1971 Gormley 1982 Scargill 2002 Lavery 2012 Wilson
Vice-Presidents	1889 Woods 1909 Smillie 1912 Harvey 1914 House 1917 Smith 1922 Walsh 1924 Richards 1929 Eb. Edwards 1931 Lee 1932 J. Jones 1933 Davies 1934 Lawther 1939 Bowman 1950 E. Jones 1954 T. Jones 1961 Collindridge 1963 Bullough 1969 Schofield 1973 McGahey 1987 Thompson 1989 Vacant 1992 Cave 2002 Stanley 2010 Wilson 2012 Thomas
General Secretaries	1889 Ashton 1919 Hodges 1924 Cook 1932 Eb. Edwards 1946 Horner 1959 Paynter 1968 Daly 1984 Heathfield 1992 Scargill 1992 Vacant? 2002 Kemp 2007 Kitchen
Treasurers	1889 En. Edwards 1904 Abraham 1918 Robson 1921 Richardson
Affiliates and areas	Bristol Cleveland Cokemen Colliery Officials and Staffs Cumberland Derbyshire Durham Forest of Dean Kent Lancashire and Cheshire Leicestershire Midland Counties (Cannock Chase North Staffordshire Old Hill Pelsall Shropshire Warwickshire West Bromwich) Northumberland North Wales Nottinghamshire Scotland (Ayrshire Fife and Kinross Lanarkshire Mid and East Lothian Mid and West Lothian Stirling) Somerset South Derbyshire South Wales Yorkshire
Strikes	1893 1912 1926 1969 1972 1974 1984–1985

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