Wigan Miners' Association

The Wigan Miners' Association represented coal miners in parts of Lancashire, in England.

The union was established in 1862, as the Wigan Miners' Provident Benefit Society. During the 1860s, it was one of the strongest miners' unions in the UK. It joined the National Association of Coal, Lime and Ironstone Workers in 1863, and then in 1869, it joined the Amalgamated Association of Miners. It was led by William Pickard.^[1]

In the 1870s, the union suffered a large number of splits: the Skelmersdale District Miners' Association, and the Tyldesley Miners' Association in 1874, and then the Aspull and District Miners' Association, Blackrod Miners' Association, Hindley Miners' Improvement Benefit Society, Leigh and District Miners' Association, Platt Bridge Miners' and Checkweigh Association, and Standish District Miners' Association in 1877. It was a founding affiliate of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation (LCMF) in 1881, by which point its membership was down to 2,000. It dissolved itself into the LCMF in 1908.^[1]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b Smethurst, John B.; Carter, Peter (June 2009). Historical Directory of Trade Unions. Vol. 6. p. 520. ISBN 9780754666837. LCCN 80-151653.

[smethurst-1] Smethurst, John B.; Carter, Peter (June 2009). Historical Directory of Trade Unions. Vol. 6. p. 520. ISBN 9780754666837. LCCN 80-151653.

[1]

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