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Woodhorn Colliery: The Union
The Northumberland Miners' Mutual Confident Association was created in 1865. This arose after a decision was taken
in 1863 to split from a combined union with the Durham miners. The first secretary was William Crawford. He resigned
in 1865 and was replaced by Thomas Burt. Burt served as General Secretary for 27 years and was the union's first full
time agent.
The Union's headquarters were eventually established at Burt Hall, Newcastle upon Tyne, in 1895.
In 1907, Northumberland joined the Miners' Federation of Great Britain - an organisation that aimed to have all the
different coalmining trade unions united in a single body. In 1945, the MFGB became the National Union of Mineworkers
with a membership of 533,000 but, by the early 1980s, membership had fallen under 250,000.
Learn more about the Organisation of Mining or read letters from the Union.
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