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Elizabeth Scott-Moore was born in Dartford, Kent, on 7 Oct 1904, the daughter of Henry Brier, inventor and engineer and his wife Victoria Mary (nee Curuthers) illustrator of childrens' books. Elizabeth began painting under her mothers' instruction, winning several medals from the Royal Drawing Society in her teens. She was educated at Gravesend School of Art, Goldsmiths College of Art where she trained under Edmund Sullivan, and the Southampton Row School of Arts and Craft.

At college, she was friend with Graham Sutherland and Kathleen Barry. She met her future husband John Scott-Moore during her journeys to college, he was 20 years her senior, married in 1937 and in they 1945 moved their home to Wentworth Golf Course, Virginia Water, Surrey. He died in 1947. She followed her mother working as a freelance childrens' book illustrator, working for Blackies, Nelsons and the Oxford University Press amongst others until 1947.

Her work was influenced by her brother Ronald Brier, and artist friend Alfred Hayward. She chiefly worked in the medium of watercolour, oil, gouache, pastel and pencil, and enjoyed depicting cats, cats in landscape, flowers, childrens' and adult portraits. Showing at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition for the first time in 1948, she became a regular exhibitor. She helds the Queen's Diploma, and a Gold Medal form the Paris Salon 1962, which she won for her portrait in oils of Alfred Hayward.

Initially belonging to the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, she resigned over the question of women's votes in the affairs of the society. Her friendship with Cosmo Clark led to her nomination for the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS) in 1966. She became an associate in 1966, and a full member in 1975. She was appointed the first woman trustee of the Society in 1986. Also past Lady Member and Council member of the Artists of Chelsea, and an honorary member of the New English Art Club.

On her death, 12 August 1993, she became one of the RWS major benefactors, enabling the archive of the society to be catalogued. She is also commemorated by the RWS award - The Elizabeth Scott-Moore prize - which is given to non-members for outstanding contributions to watercolours. Her work may be seen in the Museum of Transport, the Guildhall and the Royal Collection.

The system of "minuting" papers submitted to the Postmaster General by the Secretary to the Post Office for a decision (ie numbering the papers, and separately copying a note of the paper as a "minute" into volumes indexed by subject) was introduced in 1793. It remained in use by the Post Office Headquarters registry until 1973.

Until 1921, several different major minute series were in use with telecommunications and postal issues within the same filing system for England and Wales (POST 30), Ireland (POST 31) and Scotland (POST 32).

In 1921, the several different minute series were replaced by a single all-embracing series (POST 33). This was suspended in 1941 as a wartime measure when a Decimal Filing system came into use (POST 102), but was resurrected in 1949. In 1955 the registration of Headquarters files began to be decentralised under several local registries serving particular departments, although the "minuting" of cases considered worthy of preservation, and the assimilation of later cases with earlier existing minuted bundles, continued until 1973.

Following the decentralisation of the registry in 1955, the previous minuted papers sequence was closed and a new sequence set up for the listing of both the central registry's files and the decentralised registries' files from 1955 (POST 122). In addition, there are two classes which reflect later creations of classes to accomodate papers which had, for various reasons, not been assimilated into the main classes (TCB 2 and POST 121).

Until 1934, Post Office headquarters consisted of the Secretary's Office; the Solicitor to the Post Office's Office; The Chief Medical Officer's Office; three financial services (the Accountant-General's department; the Savings Bank and the Money Order Office); and two technical services (the Engineering Department and the Department of the Controller of Stores). The Secretary of the Post Office was the permanent head of the Post Office and the principal adviser to the Postmaster General. Assisted by the Second Secretary and the staff of the Secretary's Office, he was responsible for the policy and organization of the entire department and the efficient working of its various services. Control of the mail services and the telegraph, telephone and wireless services were the responsibility of the Director of Postal Services and the Director of Telegraphs and Telephones respectively, who reported directly to the Secretary. The Secretary's Office was divided into seven adminstrative divisions, each headed by an Assistant Secretary. These dealt with mail (inland and foreign); inland telegraphs; overseas telegraphs, including wireless services; telephones; establishments (ie the numbers, organization and pay of Post Office staff); staff (ie personnel matters); and buildings and supplies. The Secretary's Office also consisted of an inspectorate: the Chief Inspector of Postal Traffic, the Chief Inspector of Telegraph and Telephone Traffic and the Inspector of Wireless Telegraphy and their staffs. The office also included a small detective staff, known as the Investigation Branch, which investigated suspected offences against the Post Office.

In 1934, a new structure was introduced for the organization of the Post Office following the recommendations of the Bridgeman Committee. The new posts of Director General and Assistant Director General were created to replace the positions of Secretary and Second Secretary (who had been perceived as having too much autonomy), and the Secretary's Office was disbanded and replaced by three administrative departments: the Postal Services Department (comprising the Mails branch and the Postal Traffic Section); the Telegraph and Telephone Department (comprising Telephone, Inland Telegraph and Overseas Telegraph Branches, Telegraph and Telephone Traffic Section and Wireless Telegraphy Section); and Personnel Department (comprising the Chief Clerk's, Establishments, Staff, Medical, Investigation and Buildings Branches, Architectural Staff and Registry). In addition, a further Department called the Public Relations Department was set up comprising a Sales and Publicity Section and a Film Unit and Library. As part of this reorganisation, a Post Office Board was also established to direct the actions of the Director General, although the Postmaster General continued to have the power to overrule the Board in matters of policy. At the same time, the organisation of the Post Office was decentralised: regions were established, with their own Regional Directors and Boards.

The General Directorate oversaw the policy and general management of the Post Office. The Director General was responsible for carrying out the directions of the Post Office Board (which was first appointed in 1934), following the abolition of the position of Secretary. The Secretary had effectively been allowed to run the Post Office, dealing with all matters of policy as well as maintaining a general managerial control.

Sir Thomas Gardiner chaired a departmental committee tasked with the applying the increased decentralisation recommended by the Bridgeman Committee report of 1932 which advocated that the Post Office should be organised along more commercial lines. The Gardiner Committee's recommendations, published in its report of 1936, led to eight regions being established in the provinces, each in the charge of a Regional Director responsible for the control and co-ordination of all Post Office services within his region. Additional to these eight provincial regions, two further regions were set up in London - one for Posts and one for Telecommunications. The provincial regions were divided into Head Postmasters' districts for the management of the postal and the telegraph services (in practice these were already in existence).

The telephone service regions were divided into telephone Areas under Telephone Managers, of which there were ultimately 57 for the provinces and nine in London. Telephone Managers, with Head Postmasters acting as their agents on certain matters, were to be responsible for the day-to-day control of all aspects of the telephone service (engineering, traffic, sales and accounts). They were also to be accountable to the Regional Director for the overall efficiency of the telephone service in their territory.

The first two regions (Scotland and North East) were set up in 1936, followed by the two London regions (Telecommunications and Postal), and the changes throughout the country were in place by 1940. (The records note that Midlands telecommunications region was due to be established in 1940 but its formation was formed in haste on 2 September 1939, the day before the declaration of the Second World War.)

Bohm was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA on 20 December 1917. He studied at Pennsylvania State University, graduating in 1939, then moved to the California Institute of Technology for post-graduate work, completing his Ph.D. in 1943 at the University of California at Berkeley under J R Oppenheimer. He then worked on the Manhattan Project at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory. In 1947 he was appointed Assistant Professor at Princeton University. He worked there until 1950, when Princeton refused to renew his contract after he had fallen foul of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. While working at the Radiation Laboratory during the war Bohm had been active in the Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians (FAECT) trade union. In 1949, as Cold War tensions increased, the Committee on Un-American Activities began investigating staff who had been working there. As a member of FAECT and as a former member of the Communist Party Bohm came under suspicion. He was called upon to testify before the Committee but pleaded the Fifth Amendment refusing to give evidence against colleagues. After the USSR tested its first atomic device in September 1949 it was thought that atomic bomb secrets must have been passed to the USSR. It was alleged that members of the FAECT had been in a Communist cell working at Berkeley during the war. In 1950 Bohm was charged with Contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions before the Committee and arrested. He was acquitted in May 1951 but Princeton had already suspended Bohm and after his acquittal refused to renew his contract. Bohm left for Brazil in 1951 to take up a Chair in Physics at the University of São Paulo. In 1955 he moved to Israel where he spent two years at the Technion at Haifa. Here he met his wife Saral, who was an important figure in the development of his ideas. In 1957 Bohm moved to the UK. He held a research fellowship at University of Bristol until 1961, when he was made Professor of Theoretical Physics at Birkbeck College London. He retired in 1987.

Bohm made a number of significant contributions to physics, particularly in the area of quantum mechanics. As a post-graduate at Berkeley he discovered the electron phenomenon now known as 'Bohm-diffusion'. His first book, Quantum Theory published in 1951, was well-received by Einstein among others. However, he was unsatisified with the orthodox approach to quantum theory and began to develop his own approach, expressed in his second book Causality and Chance in Modern Physics published in 1957. In 1959, with his student Yakir Aharonov, he discovered the 'Aharonov-Bohm effect', showing how a vacuum could produce striking physical effects. His third book, The Special Theory of Relativity was published in 1965.

Bohm's scientific and philosophical views were inseparable. In 1959 he came across a book by the Indian philosopher J Krishnamurti. He was struck with how his own ideas on quantum mechanics meshed with the philosophy of Krishnamurti. The two first met in 1961 and over the following years had many conversations or dialogues. Bohm's approach to philosophy and physics are expressed in his 1980 book Wholeness and the Implicate Order, and in the book Science, Order and Creativity, written with F D Peat and published in 1987. In his later years, partly through his connection with Krishnamurti, Bohm developed the technique of Dialogue, in which a group of individuals engaged in constructive verbal interaction with each other. He believed that if carried out on a sufficiently wide scale these Dialogues could help overcome fragmentation in society. Bohm led a number of Dialogues in the 1980s and early 1990s, the most well-known being those held at Ojai Grove School in California. Bohm was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1990. He died in 1992. See B J Hiley, 'David Joseph Bohm', Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 43, 105-131 (1997).

The City Polytechnic was formed in 1891 by a Charity Commissioners' scheme linking Birkbeck Institute, The City of London College and a proposed Northampton Institute in Finsbury (now City University), to facilitate funding for these institutions by the City Parochial Foundation. Whilst each institute was to be managed by its own governing body, the institutes were to organise their educational and recreational work cooperatively to economise on resources and avoid duplication. There was to be a Council of twelve for the City Polytechnic comprising three members from the Trustees of the London Parochial Charities and three members from each of the constituent institutes' governing bodies, all serving a six year term of office. However, no real links were ever established between the three institutions and the name "City Polytechnic" was rarely used by the individual institutions on their prospectuses and annual reports. The Technical Education Board of the London County Council noted that Birkbeck Institute and The City of London College acted as though no formal federated structure existed and the Board itself treated the Northampton Institute as an independent polytechnic in the later 1890s. Efforts to dissolve the City Polytechnic were eventually successful in 1906.

Assistant Lecturer in Latin, Victoria University, Manchester, 1927; Assistant Lecturer in Classics, University College, London, 1927-1930; Lecturer in Greek, University College, London, 1930-1940; Reader in Classics and Tutor to Arts Students, University College, London, 1940-1945, Professor of Latin, UCL, 1945-1951; Dean of Faculty of Arts, University of London, 1950-1951; appointed Master of Birkbeck College, 1951; Public Orator, University of London, 1952-1955; Chairman of Collegiate Council, 1953-1955; Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of London, 1954-1955; Vice-Chancellor, 1955-1958; appointed Member of Court of University of London, 1955; Chairman of following: Secondary School Exams. Council, 1958-1964; Working Party on Higher Education in East Africa, 1958; Grants Committee on Higher Education in Ghana, 1959; West African Examinations Council, 1960-1964; Voluntary Societies' Committee for Service Overseas; Committee on Development of a University in Northern Rhodesia, 1963; Committee on Univ. and Higher Technical Education in Northern Ireland, 1963-1964; Member of following: US Education Commission in UK, 1956-1961; Commission on Post-Secondary and Higher Education in Nigeria, 1959-1960; Council of Royal College of Art, 1960; Council of Overseas Development Institute, 1960-1965; University of Wales Commission, 1960-1963; Council of Royal College, Nairobi, 1961-1965; UNESCO-International Association of Universities Study of Higher Education in Development of Countries of SE Asia, 1961-1965; Provisional Council, University of Zambia, 1964.

There is evidence that football games have been played in England since the 11th century. During the early 19th century, football games became a popular recreation in English public schools. Various schools developed their own rules for the game. The rules of the game developed by Rugby School were gradually taken all over Britain and the rest of the world.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) was founded 1871 for the purpose of standardising the rules of the game worldwide, to facilitate inter-club competitions. A committee was formed and three former Rugby School pupils were invited to write a set of laws, which were approved in Jun 1871. The first international match was played between Scottish and English members of the Union in March 1871, and ended in a Scottish victory.

National Rugby Unions were gradually formed with the Scottish Rugby Union being the first in 1873, the Irish Rugby Union in 1879 and the Welsh Rugby Union in 1881.

The English RFU continued to be the law making body for the game. In 1886, an International Rugby Board was formed by Scotland, Ireland and Wales, which challenged English rulemaking pre-eminence. It was not until 1890 that England agreed to send representatives to this Board. The International Board gradually took over more responsibility for making the laws and running the game.

In 1893, the strict amateur code of the game was challenged by reports of some players in the North of England were being paid for playing. The Union set up an enquiry, and the club concerned was suspended. The dispute was not entirely settled however and in 1895, twenty-two clubs seceded from the RFU and formed the Northern Union (later known as the Rugby League).

RFU was responsible for the management of the England side, whose games were played on various club grounds. In 1906, the RFU Committee asked the Finance Sub-Committee to investigate the feasibility of purchasing land and building a stadium for the exclusive use of playing Rugby. A site at Twickenham was purchased in 1907, and in 1909 the first match was held there, between the Richmond and Harlequin clubs, with the first international match taking place there in 1910 (England v Wales).

There are a number of trophies for which matches are played, including the Calcutta Cup - a trophy donated by the Calcutta Rugby Football Club, 1878, and given to the winner for an annual England Scotland match, first played in 1879; the Millennium Trophy, presented by the City of Dublin on its millennium year - 1988, for the winner of an annual Ireland England game; the Six Nations' Trophy (formerly the Five Nations Trophy) involving teams from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, and Italy, inaugurated in 1993. One of the oldest annual fixtures is however the Oxford University versus Cambridge University match first played in 1872.

In 1995, the International Rugby Board agreed that the amateur game become open, despite the opposition of the RFU. The RFU itself has since revised its management structure, and now consists of a Council, a Chief Executive Officer and a Management Board.

English Schools Rugby Union (ESRU) was formed in 1904 to coordinate the game played by those under the school leaving age (at that time 14 years at the beginning of the Autumn term). From 1948 to 1970, the age limit was set at 15 years.
The English Public and Grammar Schools Union (EPGSRFU) formed in 1948, to coordinate the game played by pupils older that the statutory school leaving age. In 1949, the EPGSRFU and RSRU amalgamated to form the English Schools Rugby Football Unions (ESRFU) with two groups - the ESRFU (Under 15 group) and the ERFU (over 15 Group). By 1960, the groups had changed to become the ESRFU (15 Group) and the ESRFU (19 Group). After a slow start, cooperation between the two groups was improved by the production of a handbook, an England Tie, the coordination of trials and International Match fixtures and the sending of minutes of both groups to all County Secretaries.

In 1984, the Rugby Football Union for Women was formed as the official governing body. Run by an executive committee of volunteers, it is recognised by the RFU and holds associate status. Matches are played from club to international level, and the England women's side compete in a Six Nations Championship, as well as a Rugby World Cup.

John Jeavons-Fellows was a member of the International Rugby (Football) Board, (IRB), representing England.

The International Rugby Football Board was formed in 1886. It gradually assumed more responsibility for the running of the game and making of its laws. In 1995, the Board announced the game would become 'open', and players could be paid for playing, effectively abolishing the amateur status of the game.

The Aeronautical Engineers' Association (AEA) was founded in 1943. It was formerly part of the Amalgamated Engineering Union.
J H Stevenson (b 1915) was General Secretary of the AEA, 1944-1958.

Wilfred Blackwell Beard: born Manchester, Jan 1891; educated at Ardwick Higher Grade School, Manchester and Manchester School of Technology; worked as apprentice and journeyman pattern maker in Manchester, Bradford and Newcastle; joined United Patternmakers' Association (UPA), 1912; full-time area official, United Patternmakers' Association, Lancashire and Cheshire, 1929-1941; General Secretary, UPA, 1912-1966; Member, Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Council, 1947-1967 (Chairman 1955-1956, Vice-Chairman, 1956-1957); Chairman, TUC Educational Committee and Educational Trust, 1950-1967; President, Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, 1958-1959 . Died Dec 1967.

Margaret Bondfield was born in Chard, Somerset, the 14th child of William and Anne Bondfield. Her father worked in the textile industry and was known for his radical political views. She was educated at the local school but by 1887 she was working as an apprentice in a draper's shop in Brighton where she met Louisa Martindale, a champion of women's rights. In 1894 Bondfield moved to London, there she again worked in a shop, joined the National Union of Shop Assistants, Warehousemen and Clerks, of which she was Assistant Secretary for ten years from 1898, and began contributing articles to The Shop Assistant. In 1898 she published a report, commissioned by the Women's Industrial Council, on the pay and conditions of shop workers. This established her as an authority and she gave evidence to Select Committees in 1902 and 1907. In 1908 Bondfield became Secretary of the Women's Labour League and was also active in the Women's Co-operative Guild. In 1910 she served on the Advisory Committee on Health Insurance and was instrumental in getting maternity benefits included. In 1910 and in 1913 she stood as an Independent Labour Party candidate for the London County Council in Woolwich. As Chairperson of the Adult Suffrage Society she supported universal suffrage for women.

Bondfield was opposed to the 1914-1918 war and supported a negotiated peace. Her first post-war assignment was as a member of the joint delegation of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Labour Party to the Soviet Union in 1920 with which she travelled widely in Russia. The delegation's report covered all aspects of social and political life and, whilst critical of the system, remained opposed to Western intervention there and had an important impact on shaping attitudes to Russia.

In 1923 she was elected Member of Parliament for Northampton and became Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour, in the following year she lost her seat in the general election, but was again elected in 1926 for Wallsend. In 1929 she was appointed Minister of Labour becoming the first woman Cabinet Minister but in the 1931 crisis she supported Ramsey MacDonald's National Government and lost her seat in the general election. Bondfield retired from full-time trades union work in 1938 but chaired the Women's Group on Public Welfare between 1939 and 1945. Margaret Bondfield died in London in 1953.

The National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers was the product of a complex series of amalgamations. The Vellum Binders Society was founded in 1823, and the Bookbinders Consolidated Union and the London Consolidated Lodge of Journeymen Bookbinders were founded in 1840, these merged to form the National Union of Bookbinders and Machine Rulers in 1911. The National Amalgamated Society of Printers' Warehousemen and Cutters was formed in 1900, and the National Union of Printing and Paper Workers in 1914. These merged with the National Union of Bookbinders to form the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding, Machine Ruling and Paper Workers in 1921. This became the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers in 1928 and the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT) in 1972. SOGAT merged with the National Graphical Association to form the Graphical, Paper and Media Union (GPMU) in 1991.

Fred Bramley: born Peel, near Otley, Yorkshire, 1874; 'practically self educated'; served apprenticeship as cabinet maker; lecturer on social and economic quesions; Organising Secretary, Furnishing Trade Association; member, Parliamentary Committee, Trades Union Congress (TUC), 1916-1917; Secretary, TUC, 1923-1925; died Sep 1925.

Born in 1840; educated at Littlemore Village School, Oxfordshire; worked in a blacksmith's shop, then as a stonemason until 1872; Secretary, Labour Representative League, 1875; Secretary, Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress, 1875-1890; MP for Stoke-on-Trent, 1880-1885, Bordesley, 1885-1886, Nottingham, 1886-1892, and Leicester, 1894-1906; Under-Secretary of State, Home Department, 1886; served on Royal Commissions, including Reformatory and Industrial Schools, Housing of the Working Classes, and the Condition of the Aged Poor; offered and refused Inspectorship of Factories and Workshops, 1882, and the Inspectorship of Canal Boats, 1884; JP and Alderman, County of Norfolk; Poor Law Guardian, Erpingham Union; member of Cromer Urban District Council; Chairman, Lifeboat Committee; founder of Tooting Common Club; founder of the Golf Links, Cromer and Sheringham, Norfolk; died 1911.
Publications: Henry Broadhurst, M.P: the story of his life from a stonemason's bench to the Treasury bench told by himself (Hutchinson & Co., London, 1901); Handy book on household enfranchisement (1885).

The Painting Brush Makers Provident Society was an unregistered union, established as the Brushmakers Benefit Society in 1842. It changed its name to the Painting Brush Makers Provident Society in 1868, and was wound up in 1952.

In November 1971 the National Union of Mineworkers began an overtime ban following the breakdown of pay negotiations. The Union held a strike ballot, and gave the National Coal Board (NCB) four weeks notice of strike action to begin on 9 Jan 1972. The NCB's final offer of a pay rise of 7.9% was rejected by the NUM, which also rejected arbitration. In the first few days of the strike the miners successfully concentrated on securing the support of the transport unions, and stopping the movement of coal. The weak spot was road transport, which was not fully unionised, and there were considerable numbers of hauliers willing to cross picket lines. There were serious clashes, particularly at the Coalite Smokeless Fuel plant at Grimethorpe in Yorkshire, where road tankers moving fuel had been pelted with coke. Some 300 miners had were involved in the Grimethorpe picket, and the tactic of the mass picket became the standard tactic of the Yorkshire miners.

After three weeks of industrial action the miners were having an impact beyond their wildest expectations. There were over 1000 'flying pickets' in East Anglia, and every pit, coal dump, port and coal installation in the country was covered by NUM pickets. With the movement of coal halted the pickets then concentrated on the movement of oil and other supplies to power stations. The arrival of colder weather at the end of January forced increasingly frequent power cuts, and lay offs in industry. Solidarity with the miners was undamaged, and they enjoyed a considerable degree of public sympathy. The Government declared a state of emergency to deal with the crisis.

All attempts at a settlement foundered on the NUM's demand for more on basic pay rates, which required Government approval. In February the Government appointed a Court of Inquiry under Lord Wilberforce, to find a settlement. The Wilberforce report recommended a 'general and exceptional' pay increase for miners, this was accepted by all parties, and picketing ended on 22 February 1972.

The Daily Herald was set up by striking printers in 1911 as a temporary newssheet to publicise their cause. It remained in publication after the end of the strike and was taken over by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Labour Party. It ran as an independent newspaper supporting the workers of Britain. It survived until taken over by Odhams Press in 1929. In 1964 it changed ownership again and immediately changed its name to The Sun.

In 1923 the Daily Herald observed that there `had not yet been established a method of recognising the bravery of the toilers, though scarcely a day passes without some example of valour or self-sacrifice in the industrial field.' In an effort to address this omission, the newspaper took the decision to establish its own award, The Daily Herald Order of Industrial Heroism.

The award, designed by Eric Gill, and popularly known as the `Workers' VC' was always given for the highest levels of bravery, many of the awards being given posthumously. In many cases the recipients also received medals from the Crown, such as the George Medal, Sea Gallantry Medal, British Empire Medal as well as awards by the Royal Humane Society, Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society and the Society for the Protection of Life from Fire.The Order was awarded on 440 occasions between 1923 and 1964, and was discontinued after the sale of the TUC's interest in the Daily Herald.

Emilia Frances Dilke: Born Ilfracombe, Devon, 2 Sep 1840, daughter of Major Henry Strong; educated privately; married firstly Mark Pattison, Rector of Lincoln College Oxford (d 1884) in 1862, secondly Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke Bt, MP, in 1885; contributed articles and reviews on art history to many periodicals including to The Westminster Review, The Saturday Review, Academy, The Art Journal and the Gazette des Beaux Arts.
In 1876 she joined the Women's Protective and Provident League (later the Women's Trade Union League) which had been founded by Emma Patterson in 1874. She spoke at annual meetings of the League in 1877 and in 1880, when she urged the need for technical education for women. She founded a branch in Oxford and was also an active member of the Women's Suffrage Society at Oxford. From 1889-1904 she attended the Trades Union Congress as a representative of the League, and frequently spoke at meetings throughout the country on labour questions affecting women, particularly the cause of unskilled workers in dangerous trades. She died at Pyrford Rough, Woking, 24 Oct 1904.
Publications: Renaissance of Art in France (1879); a critical biography of Lord Leighton in the series Dumas' Modern Artists (1881); Art in the Modern State or the Age of Louis XIV , (1884); Claude Lorrain, d'apres des documents inedits (1884); French Painters of the Eighteenth Century(1889); French Architects and Sculptors of the Eighteenth Century (1900); French Engravers and Draughtsmen of the Eighteenth Century (1902) and two volumes of short stories The Shrine of Death, and other Stories (1886) and The Shrine of Love, and other Stories (1891).

The National Union of Domestic Workers was established on 29 June, 1938. It was administered by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Women's Officer, and never really operated as an independent union. The policy body was a Joint Board, with representatives from the TUC and lay members. The membership reached a peak of 805 in June 1939. The last meeting of the Joint Board was held in May 1953.

Dorothy Elliott: born 1895; educated at Reading University College (BA Modern Languages); munitions work at Kynoch's Aston, Birmingham, 1916-1917; Organiser, National Federation of Women Workers, Woolwich Arsenal, 1918-1921; Organiser, General and Municipal Workers Union, Lancashire, 1921-1924; London, 1924-1938; Chief Women's Officer, GMWU, 1938-1945; Chairman, National Institute of Home Workers, 1945-1959.

In 1925 the Coal Owners Association announced that they intended to reduce the miner's wages. The General Council of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) responded to this news by promising to support the miners in their dispute with their employers. The Conservative Government, decided to intervene, and supplied the necessary money to restore miners' wages to their previous level. The Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, stated that this subsidy to the miners' wages would only last nine months. In the meantime, the government set up a Royal Commission under the chairmanship of Sir Herbert Samuel, to look into the problems of the Mining Industry. The Samuel Commission published its report in March 1926. It recognised that the industry needed to be reorganised but rejected the suggestion of nationalisation. The report also recommended that the Government subsidy should be withdrawn and the miners' wages should be reduced.

The final offer to the miners offered a national settlement based on an increase of hours to 8 per day, and a wage cut of 13%. The Government declared a state of emergency on 1 May. When the TUC General Council met on 1 May the coal miners were already locked out of the pits. The TUC proposed a National Strike from midnight on 3 May, the only major union which voted against the proposal was the National Union of Seamen. The TUC continued to negotiate with the government. To their surprise Baldwin informed them that the negotiations were over and that there must be a withdrawal of the strike threat. The TUC expressed 'surprise and regret' at the Prime Minister's action and the strike went ahead.

The TUC proposed to call out workers in a systematic manner, starting with workers in transport, the docks and railways, heavy industries, building trades, power stations and printers. The response to the strike call was remarkable, about 1.5 million workers joined the million coal miners on strike. The TUC set up various sub-committees to direct the strike, there was considerable anxiety to retain central direction of the strike. In some places it was necessary to restrain groups of workers, who had not been called out. Throughout the country trades councils acted as focal points for co-ordination and leadership. The TUC published its own Strike Bulletin The British Worker, and there were also many local publications.

There were discussions between the TUC and Sir Herbert Samuel, who stressed that he was acting in a personal, unofficial capacity, from 7-10 May. Samuel offered the guarantee of re-organisation, and the TUC Negotiating Committee accepted this as a basis for further negotiations. On the evening of 10 May the miners' leaders rejected Samuel's proposals, and the following day the TUC General Council effectively gave the miners an ultimatum - accept the Samuel memorandum or carry on alone. The miners' Executive replied that they could not accept the memorandum. On 12 May the TUC told the Prime Minister that the strike was over. Ernest Bevin, General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union tried to press Baldwin for a 'just settlement', but got little satisfaction.

In some industries men were only taken back on a selective basis, this led to the temporary resumption of strike action by railwaymen. In the mining areas there was a definite sense of betrayal. The miners strike/lockout continued for several months, and there was a great deal of suffering. By October, while the will to continue still remained, the feeling of a battle lost provided the need for a return to work. The final decision was left to local ballots, and district leaders arranged the return to work with local employers. To the very end, the vote of the Durham miners was against the settlement. By late November, such miners as were required were back at work.

The H G Wells Society was founded in 1960, to promote widespread interest in the life, work and thought of Herbert George Wells, to encourage active implementation of his ideas, and generally to stimulate a Wellsian outlook on the many old and new problems facing humanity. The society produces an annual Journal The Wellsian, and a quarterly Bulletin.The Collection also contains papers relating to an earlier H G Wells Society, founded in 1934, for the discussion, study, research and propaganda of the sciences of social biology and the effective application of their principles. The society grew out of the Federation of Progressive Societies and Individuals, founded in 1930. In November 1934 the name was changed to the Open Conspiracy, and in November 1935 to Cosmopolis. By 1936 there were nearly 500 members, a central office and a paid full-time secretary.

The TUC Library was established in 1922 and was based on the integrated collections of the TUC Parliamentary Committee, the Labour Party Information Bureau, and the Womens Trade Union League. It was run as a joint library with the Labour Party until the TUC moved to Congress House in 1956. The collection was developed for the use of the TUC and affiliated unions, but its specialisation has led to its parallel development as a major research library in the social sciences. In September 1996, the Collections moved to their new home in the London Metropolitan University. The Library includes several archives. The majority of these were held in the TUC Museum Collection and transferred to the University in 1998.

During the Second World War, a governmental committee, chaired by Violet Markham was set up to examine the implications of the severe shortage of domestic help, particularly where professional women were carrying a 'double burden.' Shortly after the war, Markham established the National Institute of House Workers to promote domestic service as a skilled craft. (Lewis 1984)

The National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW) was formed in 1906 by Mary Macarthur. The Federation had close links with the Women's Trade Union League, with Gertrude Tuckwell serving as president of both organisations from 1908. The NFWW saw strikes as the chief means of unionising unorganised workers and probably did more than any other organisation (including trade unions) to unionise women especially during the mass strike wave of 1910-1914. The Federation was entirely unself-seeking, in that its efforts were purely for the benefit of the unions rather than its own prestige. Although its membership had risen to 20,000 by 1914, its leaders never intended that the NFWW should remain permanently as a women's union. In fact in 1921 it quietly merged with the National Union of General Workers (now the GMB). The Federation, along with many of the other women's organisations, campaigned to expose the evils of the sweated trades. Their propaganda was very effective and played a major part in inducing the Liberal government to pass the 1909 Trade Boards Act which was an attempt to fix minimum wages in certain of the most exploitative trades, usually the ones in which women predominated. (This administrative history was written by Professor Mary Davis, Centre for Trade Union Studies, London Metropolitan University c 2008.)

The International Federation of Workers' Education Associations (IFWEA) officially started in October 1947 when its first official conference was held in London and its constitution was adopted. It developed from an initiative of Ernest Green, General Secretary of the UK WEA who had organised a conference for representatives of workers educational associations worldwide. It was at this conference that the decision was taken to develop a formal international body to promote cooperation. The functions of IFWEA were to coordinate experience in adult education and to stimulate the expansion of voluntary workers' education in other countries. It now holds triennial conferences, international seminars and participates in research and special projects.

The archive was begun by the Irish in Britain History Group, and was donated to the Irish Studies Centre at the University of North London in 1991, who have continued to develop and expand the collection. The aim is to create a representative record of the experiences of the Irish in Britain.

The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area.It had a number of sub-committees. The Women's Committee was set up in 1982 under Ken Livingston's administration. The first Chair was Valerie Wise appointed 11 May 1982.

Born Yvonne Mayer, 1903; educated at King's College London; married the artist, Edmond Kapp, 1922; joined Communist Party of Great Britain, 1936, following a visit to the Soviet Union; worked with Basque and Jewish refugees, 1937-1938; Assistant to Director, British Committee to Refugees from Czechoslovakia, dismissed from her post by the Home Office, 1940, and wrote pamphlet British Policy and the Refugees, 1941; Research Officer, Amalgamated Engineering Union, 1941-1946; worked for Medical Research Council, undertaking field work in the East End of London, 1947-1953; editor and translator, Lawrence and Wishart (publishers), 1953-1957; died 1999. Publications: four novels under the pseudonym Yvonne Cloud, including Nobody Asked You, 1932 and The Houses in Between, 1938; Eleanor Marx, (2 vols 1972, 1976).

The London Trades Council (LTC) was founded in 1860 as one of the first Trades Councils in the country. It was instrumental with other Trades Councils, particularly Manchester and Salford, in setting up the Trades Union Congress. It had a prominent role in the various working class struggles in the capital and nationally. In the 1860s it assisted in the set-up of the International Working Men's Association (the "First International"). It became closely involved in the struggles of New Unionism - particularly in the docks, the match girls, and gas workers. It took a leading role in opposing the use of troops in industrial disputes.

Through all the struggles of the 1900s, the LTC took a leading role - including the period of intense struggle from 1919 to the General Strike of 1926 - and on in to the 30s, 40s and 50s. In the Second World War it campaigned for equal pay for women workers mobilized for the war effort. It promoted increased production in combination with a greater say for workers in organizing production. In 1941 it organized a rally in Trafalgar Square supporting the Soviet Union, thus laying the foundations for the Second Front campaign. In the post-war period it campaigned for the nationalization of the mines, electricity supply and transport. In the 1950s the LTC was in conflict with the TUC and the London Federation of Trades Councils was set up.

The Greater London Association of Trade Union Councils was formed in 1974 to succeed the London Federation, and remains active.

In June 1888, Clementina Black gave a speech on Female Labour at a Fabian Society meeting in London. Annie Besant, a member of the audience, was horrified when she heard about the pay and conditions of the women working at the Bryant & May match factory.

The next day, Besant went and interviewed some of the people who worked at Bryant & May. She discovered that the women worked fourteen hours a day for a wage of less than five shillings a week. However, they did not always receive their full wage because of a system of fines, ranging from three pence to one shilling, imposed by the Bryant & May management. Offences included talking, dropping matches or going to the toilet without permission. The women worked from 6.30 am in summer (8.00 in winter) to 6.00 pm. If workers were late, they were fined a half-day's pay.

Annie Besant also discovered that the health of the women had been severely affected by the phosphorous that they used to make the matches. This caused yellowing of the skin and hair loss and 'phossy jaw', a form of bone cancer. Although phosphorous was banned in Sweden and the USA, the British government had refused to follow their example, arguing that it would be a restraint of free trade.

On 23rd June 1888, Besant wrote an article in her newspaper, The Link. The article, entitled White Slavery in London, complained about the way the women at Bryant & May were being treated. The company reacted by attempting to force their workers to sign a statement that they were happy with their working conditions. When a group of women refused to sign, the organisers of the group were sacked. The response was immediate - 1400 of the women at Bryant & May went on strike.

William Stead, the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, Henry Hyde Champion of the Labour Elector and Catharine Booth of the Salvation Army joined Besant in her campaign for better working conditions in the factory. So also did Sydney Oliver, Stewart Headlam, Hubert Bland, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw. However, other newspapers, including The Times, blamed Besant and other socialist agitators for the dispute.

Besant, Stead and Champion used their newspapers to call for a boycott of Bryant & May matches. The women at the company also decided to form a Matchmakers' Union and Besant agreed to become its leader. After three weeks the company announced that it was willing to re-employ the dismissed women and would also bring an end to the fines system. The women accepted the terms and returned in triumph. The Bryant & May dispute was the first strike by unorganized workers to gain national publicity. It also helped to inspire the formation of unions all over the Country.

Annie Besant, William Stead, Catharine Booth, William Booth and Henry Hyde Champion continued to campaign against the use of yellow phosphorous. In 1891 the Salvation Army opened its own match-factory in Old Ford, East London. Only using harmless red phosphorus, the workers were soon producing six million boxes a year. Whereas Bryant & May paid their workers just over twopence a gross, the Salvation Army paid their employees twice this amount. William Booth organised conducted tours for MPs and journalists round this 'model' factory. He also took them to the homes of those "sweated workers" who were working eleven and twelve hours a day producing matches for companies like Bryant & May.The bad publicity that the company received forced the company to reconsider its policy. In 1901, Gilbert Bartholomew, managing director of Bryant & May, announced it had stopped used yellow phosphorus.

Marjorie Nicholson was born in 1914. She attended Oxford University in the 1930s and, after graduating, taught before becoming an extra-mural organising tutor with Ruskin College. Whilst on a working trip to Nigeria in 1949 she became convinced that to help develop democratic self governing institutions she had to work full time from within the labour movement. Firstly, she worked as secretary at the Fabian Colonial Bureau. Here she was involved in producing pamphlets and memoranda and editing its monthly journal Venture. The Fabian Society took a special interest in the Colonies, founding its Colonial Bureau in 1940, thanks to the knowledge and enthusiasm of Nicholson and Rita Hinden. They not only provided expert advice to members of both Houses of Parliament, but befriended many young colonials, mainly students, on their first visits to London. Through her work at the Bureau Nicholson met and assisted India's Jawaharlal Nehru and Krishna Menon, Eric Williams from Trinidad, Hugh Springer from Barbados, Siaka Stevens from Sierra Leone, Tom Mboya from Kenya, Lee Kuan Yew from Singapore and Kwame Nkrumah from Ghana, who were to become leaders of the National movements in their own countries. During this period she also stood three times, unsuccessfully, as the Labour candidate for Windsor. From 1955 she worked in the International Department of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), one of the few women working in policy development employed by the trade union movement. After her retirement in 1972, she began writing up the history of the TUC's involvement overseas from her own papers and cuttings collection. The first volume, The TUC overseas: the roots of policy, was published in 1986 and she was still working on a second volume at the time of her death in July 1997. Publications: The TUC overseas: the roots of policy, London (1986).

The origins of the Northern Polytechnic lie in the Charity Commissioners' scheme of the 1880s to develop a network of polytechnics modelled on the Regent Street Polytechnic (now part of the University of Westminster). The Northern Polytechnic Institution in Holloway, North London opened on 5 October 1896. Its mission was 'to promote the industrial skill, general knowledge, health and well-being of young men and women....(and)... the means of acquiring a sound General, Scientific, Technical and Commercial Education at small cost.' In the first year, a thousand students enrolled on courses ranging from English, mathematics and chemistry to machine construction, plumbing, dressmaking and millinery, mostly in evening classes. By 1900 the number of students had doubled, and by 1911 five-year evening degrees were available, recognised by the University of London. It changed its name to the Northern Polytechic c1931.
The Northern Polytechnic introduced polymer science courses at the turn of the 20th Century and developed an expertise in rubber technology. In 1948 the Northern Polytechnic was appointed as the National College of Rubber Technology, where it enjoyed a strong reputation for teaching and research. In 1982 the College merged with the Polytechnic of the South Bank's Polymer School to form the PNL (later UNL) School of Polymer Technology.
On 26 January1971, as more polytechnics were designated, it was decided that the Northern and North Western polytechnics should merge to form the Polytechnic of North London (PNL), which then had its degrees awarded by the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA). The PNL became the University of North London (UNL) in 1992, and in 2001 the UNL annonced that it would be merging with London Guildhall University to form London Metropolitan University.

The North Western Polytechnic (NWP) - founded in 1896 - opened in Prince of Wales Road, Kentish Town, NW London, in 1929. It had more than 2200 students, mainly in evening classes, and an academic staff of 150, concentrating on social sciences, humanities and arts. By 1967 the NWP was the largest polytechnic in London. On 26 January 1971, as more polytechnics were designated, it was decided that the Northern and North Western polytechnics should merge to form the Polytechnic of North London (PNL), which then had its degrees awarded by the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA). In 1992 the Polytechnic won the right to the title of 'University' and to award its own degrees and diplomas as the University of North London, rather than those of the CNAA. In December 2001, the University announced that it would be merging with London Guildhall University, to create London Metropolitan University, London's largest unitary university and one of the country's largest higher education institutions.

The Amalgamated Society of Operative House and Ship Painters was founded in Manchester in 1856. It became the National Union of Painters in 1941, and the Amalgamated Society of Painters and Decorators in 1961. The Society's engagements were transferred to the Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers in 1970, (now part of the Union of Construction and Allied Trade Technicians).

The National Society of Plate Glass Silverers, Siders, Cutters and Fitters was established in 1891, and had 236 members by 1892. In 1893 it amalgamated with the National Plate Glass Bevellers Trade Union to form the Amalgamated Plate Glass Workers' Trade Union. The partnership between the two organisations lasted only until 1895 when they agreed to separate and resume their former independent existence. The Union resumed with 313 members in 1895, numbers fell to 201 by 1902. The organisation was dissolved in 1903.

The Polytechnic of North London was the result of a merger of the Northern and North Western Polytechnics in 1971. Its degrees were awarded by the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA). In 1992, the Polytechnic gained University status (by the Further and Higher Education Act of the same year) and with that the power to award its own degrees and diplomas. In 2002, the University of North London merged with London Guildhall University to form the institution as it is known today, London Metropolitan University.

The Post Office Engineering Department was created in 1870. As a consequence, many local linesmen's associations developed. In 1886 a number of the associations merged to form the Postal Telegraphs Linesmen's Movement. In 1896 the name was changed to the Amalgamated Association of Postal Telegraphs, and the union opened its ranks to unskilled workers, construction hands and storemen. In 1901 it changes its title again, to the Post Office Engineering and Stores Association. In 1915 the Association merged with the Amalgamated Society of Telephone Employees to form the Amalgamated Engineering and Stores Association. The title of Post Office Engineering Union (POEU) was adopted in 1919. In 1985 the Union amalgamated with the Post and Telecommunications Group of the Civil and Public Servants Association fo them the National Communications Union (now the Communication Workers Union).

The TUC Library was established in 1922 and was based on the integrated collections of the TUC Parliamentary Committee, the Labour Party Information Bureau, and the Womens Trade Union League. It was run as a joint library with the Labour Party until the TUC moved to Congress House in 1956. The collection was developed for the use of the TUC and affiliated unions, but its specialisation has led to its parallel development as a major research library in the social sciences. In September 1996, the Collections moved to their new home in the London Metropolitan University. The Library includes several archives. The majority of these were held in the TUC Museum Collection and transferred to the University in 1998.

Robert Tressell: born 18 Apr 1870, Dublin; son of Mary Noonan and Samuel Croker; emigrated to South Africa, 1890; married Elizabeth Hartel, Cape Town, South Africa, 1891; daughter Kathleen, born 1892; his wife died c 1895, and he and his daughter moved to Johannesbug, where he worked as a signwriter, and was also involved in pro-Irish groups; moved to Hastings, Sussex, 1901, where he worked as a house painter and interior decorator; he wrote The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, a novel about the destitute and poor of 'Mugsborough', in his spare time.

After completing the manuscript, in about 1910, he gave it to his daughter, Kathleen, and left Hastings for Liverpool, possibly in an attempt to emigrate to Canada. Tressell died of tuberculosis in Liverpool on 3 February 1911, aged 40.

The National Federation of Shop Workers and Clerks was formed in 1907, as an amalgamation of the Amalgamated Union of Cooperative Employees, the National Amalgamated Union of Shop Assistants, Warehousemen and Clerks, and the National Union of Clerks. It was formed with the principal aims of promoting fraternisation, acting as a united group at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and supporting the policies affecting each section. The Federation was wound up in May 1914. During its lifetime the National Federation did little beyond discussing various schemes of amalgamation, but it did achieve some understanding of the need for clerical worker unions to work together for an objective.

The Union was founded in 1906 as the Eastern Counties Agricultural Labourers and Smallholders Union. Its objects were to enable the agricultural labourer to secure 'proper representation on all local bodies...protection from political persecution and better conditions of living', and by 1910 it had 4000 members. In 1912 the name was changed to the National Agricultural Labourers' and Rural Workers' Union. It had 180,000 members by 1920 and the name was changed yet again, to the National Union of Agricultural Workers. It became the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers (NUAAW) in 1968 in recognition of its interest in industries ancillary to agriculture. In 1981 the NUAAW amalgamated with the Transport and General Workers Union.

Gertrude Tuckwell was born in Oxford in 1861, and educated at home by her father, a master at New College School, before training to be a teacher. She went to London in 1885 to start her career but became secretary to Emily Dilke (1840-1904), her aunt, wife of Sir Charles Dilke, and a writer, suffragette and trade unionist. Through this association Gertrude Tuckwell became interested in politics, becoming an early member of the Labour Party, and active as a trade union organiser and campaigner for women's rights. In 1891 she became involved with the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL), working as its secretary and editor of its journal, the Women's Trade Union Review before becoming president of the League in 1905. In 1908 she also became president of the National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW) which had been founded in 1906 through the WTUL. She remained active in both organisations until 1918 when she announced her retirement and withdrew effectively from January 1921 when the WTUL merged its work with that of the Trades Union Congress. Tuckwell was one of the first women to be a Justice of the Peace and in 1926 served on the Royal Commission on National Health Insurance. Tuckwell also became involved in the struggle for protective legislation in the international arena and joined the executive committee of the International Association for Labour Legislation in 1906. She also maintained the Christian Socialist tradition of her family and from 1898 was secretary of the Christian Social Union Research Committee. A life-long philanthropist, Gertrude Tuckwell died in 1951. Publications: The State and its Children (1894).

The Workers' Educational Association (WEA) was founded in 1903 under the title Association to Promote the Higher Education of Working Men following a scheme proposed by Albert Mansbridge (1876-1952). He became its general secretary in 1905 when the name was changed to The Workers' Educational Association and the first constitution was established in the following year. After a conference on the WEA and Oxford University in 1907, the WEA Central Joint Advisory Committee was established and three year university tutorial classes were started with the close involvement of R H Tawney (1880-1962). The WEA was also linked to the trade union movement and formed the Workers' Education Trade Union Committee in 1919 to strengthen and give cohesion to the educational work with trade unions. The WEA was closely involved in campaigns for better state education and in particular the campaign preceding the 1944 Education Act. The WEA is now a national voluntary organisation existing primarily to provide adults with access to organised learning. It is a registered charity and is non-party in politics and non-sectarian in religion. The WEA is one national organisation in England and Scotland, organised into 13 districts in England and a Scottish Association. It has over 650 local branches and 28 local organisations including 23 national trade unions are affiliated at national level.

The Central Labour College was established in 1909 following a strike at Ruskin College, Oxford. It was in opposition to Ruskin College and had the proclaimed aim of providing "an organisation for the training of workers for the organised labour movement controlled democratically by the representatives of organised workers". It ceased to exist in 1918.

The Workers Educational Association (WEA) was founded in 1903 under the title Association to Promote the Higher Education of Working Men and in 1905 the name was changed to The Workers Education Association. The Central Organisation of the Association dealt with its executive functions, various committees and the general administration as well as the organisation of the annual and national conferences.

The Central Joint Committee was formed after a Conference held by the Workers' Educational Association and Oxford University in1907 which produced a report Oxford and Working Class Education in the following year. The Joint Committee comprised 7 people nominated by the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University and 7 by the WEA Executive Committee. It was dissolved in 1957.

The Workers' Educational Association (WEA) was founded in 1903 under the title Association to Promote the Higher Education of Working Men and in 1905 the name was changed to the Workers' Educational Association. Although the WEA is a single national organisation, locally it is organised into 13 English Districts and a Scottish Association.

Ernest Green (1885-1977) was Secretary of the Yorkshire District of the Workers' Education Association (WEA) from 1923 to 1928 when he moved to London to take up the post of national Assistant General Secretary. In 1931 he became the Organising Secretary with responsibility for dealing with WEA districts, branches, affiliated societies and the Workers' Education Trade Union Committee (WETUC). He was appointed General Secretary in 1934 and retired in 1950.