United Pointsmen's and Signalmen's Society

Annual reports, 1892-1913; and report on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Signalmen's wages and hours movement, 1905-7.

The United Pointsmen's and Signalmen's Society was founded in 1880 as the United Pointsmen and Signalmen's Mutual Aid and Sick Society. The name was shortened in 1908. The United Pointsmen's and Signalmen's Society was never a large organisation, when it amalgamated with the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and the General Railway Workers' Union in 1913 to form the National Union of Railwaymen it had just 4,101 members.

Reference: P.S. Bagwell, 'The railwaymen. History of the National Union of Railwaymen' (George Allen and Unwin, 1963) and P.S. Bagwell, 'The railwaymen. Volume 2: Beeching era and after' (George Allen and Unwin, 1982).

This collection is available to researchers by appointment at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. See http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/using/

Link to full catalogue: http://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/UPS

The United Pointsmen's and Signalmen's Society papers form part of the archive of the National Union of Railwaymen. The initial deposit relating to this archive was made in April 1976 and accruals are listed under the entry for the National Union of Railwaymen (MSS.127/NU).

[A list of all UPSS members admitted to the National Union of Railwaymen at amalgamation in 1913 is incorporated in the NUR membership register (reference: MSS.127/NU/OR/2/31)].