Amalgamated Weavers' Association

The Amalgamated Weavers' Association, often known as the Weavers' Amalgamation, was a trade union in the United Kingdom. Initially, it operated in competition with the North East Lancashire Amalgamated Weavers' Association in part of its area, and it was therefore nicknamed the Second Amalgamation.

History
The union was founded in 1884 as the Northern Counties Amalgamated Association of Weavers, with the participation of thirty-four local trade unions:

The majority of the union's members were female: in 1894, 45,000 of its 80,000 total membership were women. This was unusual; outside the cotton industry, very few women were members of trade unions. By 1937, membership had risen to 94,000, and the proportion of women had grown further, to a total of 75,000 of its members.

For many years, the union campaigned against the practice of steaming in cotton mills.

The union took its final name in 1923. In 1974, it merged with the National Union of Textile and Allied Workers to form the Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union.

Affiliated membership
The total membership of the union's affiliates grew steadily, peaked in 1922, then fell almost continuously until the union was dissolved.

General Secretaries

 * 1884: Thomas Birtwistle
 * 1885: William Henry Wilkinson
 * 1906: Joseph Cross
 * 1925: John C. Parker
 * 1927: Andrew Naesmith
 * 1953: Lewis Wright
 * 1968: Harry Kershaw
 * 1971: Fred Hague

Presidents

 * 1884: David Holmes
 * 1906: David Shackleton
 * 1911: John William Ogden
 * 1930: James Hindle
 * 1937: James Bell
 * 1947: Carey Hargreaves
 * 1949: Lewis Wright
 * 1954: Harold Bradley
 * 1960: Ernest Thornton
 * 1964: Fred Hague
 * 1970: Hilda Unsworth