Drawing from a variety of libraries and archives, this collection brings together material to illustrate the history of the development of trade unionism and industrial relations. It spans the period from the early journeymen's trade societies as they emerged in the 18th-Century through to the end of the First World War. Part I, Volume 3 spans 1826-1839.

Volume 3: 1826-1839 These years saw a explosion of trade union activity with attempts to create nationwide organisations among cotton spinners. John Doherty was at the forefront of these as he was in the creation of the National Association for the Protection of Labour in 1830. Others came under the influence of Owenite ideas and sought to make trade unions the basis for a co-operative alternative to the emerging capitalist systems of production. Disputes proliferated, but so too did debates about the kind of economy and kind of society that industrial change was creating. These are well-illustrated in accounts from both employers and their supporters and trade unions and their sympathisers. Articles of the Friendly Society of Journeymen Bookbinders of London and Westminster, agreed upon at a General Meeting of the Lodges, April 21st 1828 (1828); Address of the Committee of Associated Spinners in Glasgow to their Fellow-Tradesmen in Scotland and Ireland, on the Propriety of more effectually assisting the Spinners of Manchester, in their present important struggle (1829); A Report of the Proceedings of a Delegate Meeting of the Operative Spinners of England, Ireland and Scotland, Assembled at Ramsey, Isle of Man, on Saturday, December 5, 1829 and three following days (1829); 'Trade Unions', United Trades' Cooperative Journal (1830); 'General Union', United Trades' Cooperative Journal (1830); 'National Association', United Trades' Cooperative Journal (1830); A Reply of the Journeymen Bookbinders to Remarks on a Memorial Addressed to their Employers, on the effects of a Machine, introduced to supersede manual labour, as appeared in a work published by the Society for the Diffusion of useful knowledge, with observations on the influence of Machinery on the Working Classes in General (1831); 'An Address to the Journeymen Turners in and Around Glasgow', Herald to the Trades' Advocate (1831); 'Meeting of the Operative Turners of Glasgow', Herald to the Trades' Advocate (1831); Lecture delivered by G. Kerr, Member of Trades' Committee of Greenock in Cartsdyke Secession Church, 26 December 1832, on the Nature and Advantages of Trades' Unions. Respectfully dedicated to the Working Classes (1831); A Brief History of the Proceedings of the Operative Builders' Trades Unions in Manchester and the consequent Turn-out of the Journeymen Masons, Bricklayers, Joiners, Slaters and other Trades, with copies of Letters, Placards, Union Rules and Other Particulars (1833); An Impartial Statement of the proceedings of the members of the Trades Union Societies, and of the Steps taken in consequence by the Master Tradesmen of Liverpool with the correspondence between the Parties and other Particulars (1833); Statement of the Master Builders of the Metropolis in Explanation of the differences between them and their Workmen respecting the Trades' Unions (1834); To the Operative Mechanics. The Dispute between the Mechanics and their Employers placed in its True Light. By a Friend of Both Parties (1834); Rules and Regulations of the Grand National Consolidated Trades' Union of Great Britain and Ireland; instituted for then purpose of the more effectually enabling the Working Classes to secure, protect, and establish the Rights of Industry (1834); Trades' Triumphant or Unions' Jubilee!! A Plan for the Consolidation of Popular Power, and Restoring to the People their long lost Rights (1834?); Report of the Trade Council of the London Union of Compositors, on the Mode of Working on the Times Newspaper, with regulations for Casual Employment and Establishment Hours, adopted at Special General Meetings held on the 15th and 22nd of September 1835, in the theatre of The London Mechanics Institute (1835); Rules and Orders to be observed by the Members of the Journeymen Carpenters' and Joiners' Society in Manchester (Manchester, 1835); The Victims of Whiggery; being a Statement of the persecutions Experienced by the Dorchester Labourers; their Trial, Banishment, &c, &c. Also Reflections upon the present system of Transportation; with an account of Van Dieman's Land, its customs, laws, climate, produce, and Inhabitants. (Dedicated (without permission) to Lords Melbourne, Grey, Russell, Brougham, and Judge Williams) by George Loveless, One of the Dorchester Labourers (1837); An Inquiry into the Origin, Progress, and Results of the Strike of Operative Cotton Spinners of Preston, from October 1836 to February 1837, read at Liverpool, before the Statistical Section of the British Association, September 14, 1837. By Henry Ashworth (1838); A Vindication of the Principles, Objects, and Tendencies of Trades Unions, or Associations of the Working Classes. By a Unionist. (1838); An Address from the London Trades' Committee, appointed to watch the Parliamentary Inquiry into Combinations, to the Working Classes (1838)