The Amalgamated Textile Warehousemen's Association was a trade union representing workers in the textile industry in the United Kingdom, principally in Lancashire.
The union was founded in 1894 as the Amalgamated Society of Clothlookers and Warehousemen, and initially had just 203 members across five autonomous branches. These branches were in Blackburn, Burnley, Bury, Colne and Nelson, Great Harwood and Padiham. Early in the 1900s, these branches established greater co-ordination and the organisation was renamed the General Amalgamation of Clothlookers and Warehousemen. New district associations were established in other towns in Lancashire and Cheshire on the initiative of the amalgamation, and by 1910 it had 21 branches with 2,790 members.Arthur Marsh and Victoria Ryan, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.4, pp.186-187
Union Founded Affiliated NotesArthur Marsh, Victoria Ryan and John B. Smethurst, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.5, pp.182–209 Accrington 1906 1906 Dissolved 1950s Ashton 1901 1901 Dissolved 1960s Bacup 1906 1906 Merged into Rochdale Blackburn 1894 1895 Dissolved 1976 Bolton 1906 1906 Burnley 1890s 1895 Bury 1890s 1895 Chorley 1907 1907 Dissolved 1978 Clitheroe ? ? Dissolved about 1970 Colne 1903 1903 Colne & Nelson 1891 1895 Split into Colne and Nelson in 1903 Darwen 1919 1919 Dissolved about 1970 Farnworth & Hyde 1900 1900 Merged into Bolton 1907 Great Harwood 1894 1895 Merged into Blackburn 1940s Haslingden 1907 1907 Dissolved 1970s Horwich ? ? Dissolved about 1960 Hyde 1900 1900 Macclesfield 1910 1910 Dissolved 1910s Manchester & Salford 1920 1920 Merged into Bury 1950s Nelson 1903 1903 Oldham 1907 1907 Dissolved 1970s Padiham 1890s 1895 Preston 1906 1906 Dissolved 1970s Rawtenstall 1919 1919 Dissolved 1930s Rochdale 1902 1902 Dissolved 1970s
In 1913, the association took its best-known name, the "Amalgamated Textile Warehousemen's Association", and membership rose rapidly, to a peak of 11,000 in 1921. By the 1970s, it was losing members rapidly due to redundancies in the industry. It changed its name again to the Amalgamated Textile Warehouse Operatives Association, and developed strong links with the Amalgamated Textile Workers Union, the two sharing a general secretary.
Most of the association's branches amalgamated or left the association in the early 1980s. The Amalgamated Textile Workers' Union itself merged into the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union (GMBATU) in 1985,Gary N. Chalson, Union mergers in hard times: the view from five countries, pp.91-92 and the Warehouse Operatives was dissolved the following year. Two remaining affiliates, in Bolton and Hyde, then merged into GMBATU,Jurgen Hoffman et al, A Comparison of the Trade Union Merger Process in Britain and Germany, p.55 while Colne merged into GMBATU only in 1990, Nelson dissolved in 1991, and Padiham continued in existence.
General Secretaries 1896: W. Riley 1900s: Edward Strong 1926: John Lee 1950: Thomas Ashe 1971: Frank Walker 1972: A. Birtwistle 1970s: Jack Brown
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