National Union of Railwaymen

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The National Union of Railwaymen was a trade union of railway workers in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1913 as an amalgamation of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, the General Railway Workers' Union, and the United Pointsmen and Signalmen's Society^[1]. It catered for the majority of railway workers, including catering and maintenance, but not for members of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, (ASLEF), or the Railway Clerks' Association (RCA).

In 1914, the NUR joined forces with the National Transport Workers' Federation and Mining Federation of Great Britain to form the Triple Alliance - perhaps an unfortunate name, as the same year the Triple Entente of Britain, France and Russia would go to war with the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy (who did not actually go to war).

In 1990, it joined with the National Union of Seamen to form the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), and ceased to exist as a separate organisation.

[edit] General Secretaries

• 1871: George Chapman
• 1874: Fred W. Evans
• 1883: Edward Harford
• 1897: Richard Bell
• 1909: J. E. Williams
• 1916: Jimmy Thomas
• 1931: Charlie Cramp
• 1933: John Benstead
• 1948: Jim Figgins
• 1953: Jim Campbell
• 1957: Sidney Greene
• 1975: Sidney Weighell
• 1983: Jimmy Knapp

[edit] References