Yorkshire Miners' Association



The Yorkshire Miners' Association was a British trade union. It is now an integral part of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

History
The union was founded in 1881 with the merger of the South Yorkshire Miners' Association, and the West Yorkshire Miners' Association, agreed only because both organisations were weakened by unsuccessful disputes. In order to save money, it moved away from its predecessors' focus on paying benefits to members who were unable to work, and instead aimed to improve working conditions. This proved immediately successful, as the union obtained a 10% rise in wages in 1882, and membership grew to over 20,000.

In 1994, the union's members were transferred to the national body, the NUM.

General secretaries

 * 1881: Benjamin Pickard
 * 1904: William Parrott
 * 1906: John Wadsworth
 * 1923: Samuel Roebuck
 * 1924: Joseph Jones
 * 1939: Ernest Jones
 * 1954: Fred Collindridge
 * 1964: Sid Schofield
 * 1973: Owen Briscoe
 * 1986: Sammy Thompson
 * 1988: Kenneth Homer
 * 2002: Steve Kemp
 * 2007: Chris Kitchen

Presidents

 * 1881: Edward Cowey
 * 1904: John Wadsworth
 * 1906: Herbert Smith
 * 1938: Joe Hall
 * 1952: Alwyn Machen
 * 1960: Sam Bullough
 * 1973: Arthur Scargill
 * 1982: Jack Taylor
 * 1990: Frank Cave?
 * 1990s: Steve Kemp

Vice presidents

 * 1881: George Cragg
 * 1889: John Wadsworth
 * 1904: Herbert Smith
 * 1906: John Guest
 * 1919: Edward Hough
 * 1945: Fred Collindridge
 * 1954: Sam Bullough
 * 1961: Jack Leigh
 * 1978: Jack Taylor
 * 1982: Sammy Thompson
 * 1986:
 * 1990s: Ken Capstick