The Associated Shipwrights' Society was formed in 1872, through amalgamation of many of the small and long-established local shipwrights' societies that existed in Britain at this time. In the later nineteenth century, a separate Ship Constructive Association was formed by shipwrights working in the Royal Naval Dockyards. The two organisations co-existed until the period c.1900 - 1910, between which dates they joined with the National Society of Drillers, and the Amalgamated Society of Drillers and Hole Cutters, to form the Ship Constructive (later, Constructors') and Shipwrights' Association.
The association merged with the United Society of Boilermakers, Shipbuilders and Structural Workers, and the Associated Blacksmiths, Forge and Smithy Workers' Society, to form the Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers, Blacksmiths, Shipbuilders and Structural Workers, in January 1963.
The Associated Shipwrights' Society is one of 12 organisations which formed the Confederation of Engineering and Shipbuilding Trades in 1891. The confederation was formed in response to a large number of demarcation disputes which were occurring in the industry at this time.
David Dougan,
This collection contains the records of the Aberdeen branch of the Shipconstructors' and Shipwrights' Association, 1916 - 1965, but there is some inconsistency, with the minutes for 1940 - 1941 still describing the society under its original name, the Associated Shipwrights' Society.
Minutes, 1940 - 1941 and 1952 - 1965; ' collector' or ' yard-committeeman's ' books (for A. Hall & Co, Hall Russell, John Lewis &Son, and Point Law yards), 1944 - 1954; members' contribution record books, 1939 - 1944; vacant book, 1939 - 1953; correspondence, 1945 - 1951; printed papers, 1916 - 1953 (including rules and regulations, 1943, 1950; annual reports, 1933 - 1953, and proceedings and annual reports of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, 1947 - 1952)
Arranged by record type, and chronologically therein
Deposited in the University in April 1968.
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Very brief collection level description available on Aberdeen University Library Catalogue, accessible online
GB 231 MS 2669: Records of the United Society of Boilermakers, Shipbuilders and Structural Workers (Aberdeen Branch), 1920 - 1961
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