The Yorkshire Miners' Association was a British trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

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The union was founded in 1881 with the merger of the South Yorkshire Miners' Association, and the West Yorkshire Miners' Association, agreed only because both organisations were weakened by unsuccessful disputes. In order to save money, it moved away from its predecessors' focus on paying benefits to members who were unable to work, and instead aimed to improve working conditions. This proved immediately successful, as the union obtained a 10% rise in wages in 1882, and membership grew to over 20,000.

General Secretaries

1881: Benjamin Pickard

Benjamin Pickard

Benjamin Pickard was a British coal miner, trade unionist and Lib–Lab politician.-Early life and family:...

1904: William Parrott

William Parrott

William Parrott was a British coalminer, trade union official and Liberal–Labour politician.-Early life:...

1906: John Wadsworth

John Wadsworth

John Wadsworth was a British trade unionist and politician.Born in West Melton in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Wadsworth worked as a coal miner and was elected checkweighman...

1923: Samuel Roebuck

1924: Joseph Jones

Joseph Jones (trade unionist)

Joseph Jones was a British trade unionist.Born in St Helens, Jones studied at a technical college before becoming a coal miner. He moved to work at Thurcroft, and was elected branch secretary of the Yorkshire Miners' Association in 1914...

1939: Ernest Jones

Ernest Jones (trade unionist)

William Ernest Jones was a British trade unionist.Jones worked from the age of 13, initially repairing boots, then as a coal miner in Derbyshire. In 1918, he transferred to Rossington Colliery in southern Yorkshire, where he became active in the Yorkshire Miners' Association...

1954: Fred Collindridge

1964: Sid Schofield

1973: Owen Briscoe

19??: Kenneth Homer

1994:

Presidents

1881: Edward Cowey

Edward Cowey

Edward Cowey , often known as Ned Cowey, was a British trade unionist.Cowey was born in Longbenton, Northumberland, and began working in local coal mines at the age of seven, opening and closing a trapdoor for fourteen hours a day...

1904: John Wadsworth

John Wadsworth

John Wadsworth was a British trade unionist and politician.Born in West Melton in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Wadsworth worked as a coal miner and was elected checkweighman...

1906: Herbert Smith

Herbert Smith (trade unionist)

Herbert Smith was a British trade unionist and miner.Born in Kippax, Smith was orphaned at a young age and spent time in a workhouse before being adopted by a local couple, one of whom was a miner. Smith then studied in Glasshoughton and Pontefract, and began working as a miner at the age of ten...

1938: Joe Hall

1952: Alwyn Machen

1960: Sam Bullough

Sam Bullough

Sam Bullough was president of the Yorkshire region of the National Union of Mineworkers, its largest region.His unexpected death left the post of president vacant, to be taken by the compensation agent, Arthur Scargill.- External links :*...

1973: Arthur Scargill

Arthur Scargill

Arthur Scargill is a British politician who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers from 1982 to 2002, leading the union through the 1984–85 miners' strike, a key event in British labour and political history...

19??: Jack Taylor

19??: Steve Kemp

2007: Chris Kitchen