National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives

The union was founded in 1873, when many riveters and finishers left the Amalgamated Society of Boot and Shoe Makers. They were dissatisfied by their low status within the old union, and instead formed the National Union of Boot and Shoe Rivetters and Finishers (NUBSRF)."[http://www.unionancestors.co.uk/bootmakers.htm National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives]", Trade Union Ancestors Membership in Leicester grew rapidly, with the next largest branches being Glasgow, London and Stafford. In total, by 1877, the union had about 4,000 members.{{cite book |last1=Fox |first1=Alan |title=A History of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives: 1874-1957 |date=1958 |publisher=Basil Blackwell |location=Oxford |pages=75, 102–103}}

A few women joined the union in the late 1880s, making it the first union outside the textile trades to admit both men and women. At this point, membership in the important shoe making centre of Northampton was low, with only about 600 of 15,000 shoe workers in the town holding union membership. That year, a five-week lock-out of members resulted in a settlement favourable to the union. This brought in hundreds of new members, and by the end of the year, its national membership reached 10,000. The General Union of Clickers and Rough-stuff Cutters merged into the NUBSRF in 1892, but most of its members left again in 1895.

During the late 1880s and early 1890s, socialists came to prominence in the union. They led campaigns against sweatshop working and outworking, where people worked from their own homes and were paid by item completed.{{cite book |last1=Fox |first1=Alan |title=A History of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives: 1874-1957 |date=1958 |publisher=Basil Blackwell |location=Oxford |pages=105–117}} Under their influence, the union organised a 34-week strike in 1897, in support of a minimum wage and a 54-hour week, but this was unsuccessful.

In 1897, the union renamed itself as the "National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives", and joined the General Federation of Trade Unions the following year. Membership rose over 100,000 by 1920, although it soon fell to around 80,000. Members in the Republic of Ireland left in 1953, to form the Irish Shoe and Leather Workers' Union.John B. Smethurst and Peter Carter, Historical directory of trade unions, vol.6, p.101

A major decline in the British shoe-making industry led the union to merge with the Amalgamated Society of Leather Workers, the National Union of Glovers and Leather Workers and the National Union of Leather Workers and Allied Trades in 1971, forming National Union of Footwear, Leather and Allied Trades.

The union was affiliated to the Labour Party, and sponsored numerous Parliamentary candidates, many of whom won election.

:1874: Thomas Smith

:1878: George Sedgwick

:1886: William Inskip

:1899: W. Boyd Hornidge

:1908: Edward L. Poulton

:1930: George Chester

:1949: Lionel Poole

:1960: Richard Gregson

:1968: T. A. Moore

:1878: Edward Kell

:1890: T. Horrabin

:1892: Jabez Leedham

:1892: John Judge

:1893: W. Boyd Hornidge

:1899: Charles Freak

:1910: Thomas Frederick Richards

:1930: W. R. Townley

:1938: Len Smith

:1944: James Crawford

:1957: Sydney Robinson

{{Reflist}}

• [https://mrc.epexio.com/records/NBS Catalogue of the NUBSO archives], held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick

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Category:Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom

Category:Footwear industry trade unions

Category:1873 establishments in the United Kingdom

Category:Trade unions established in 1873

Category:Trade unions disestablished in 1971

Category:Trade unions based in Northamptonshire