The Associated Blacksmiths, Forge and Smithy Workers' Society (ABFSWS) was a trade union representing metalworkers in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
History The union was founded in 1857 in Glasgow as the Scottish United Operative Blacksmiths Protection and Friendly Society. In 1872, it became the Associated Blacksmiths of Scotland, but then decided to organise throughout the UK, in 1885 becoming the Associated Blacksmiths' Society. Around 1910s, it became the Associated Blacksmiths and Iron Workers' Society.John B. Smethurst and Peter Carter, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, vol.6, pp.314-320
Membership was around 3,000 for many years, but grew rapidly under the leadership of John Thomson in the 1910s. He focused on mergers with smaller unions, bringing in the Combined Smiths of Great Britain and Ireland, the Co-operative Society of Smiths, the National United Society of Smiths and Hammermen, and the United Smiths Trade Union of Ireland."Obituary: Mr J. Thomson, OBE, JP", Annual Report of the 1919 Trades Union Congress, p.205 This brought membership up to 13,500 by 1915, and made it the largest union of blacksmiths in the country, ahead of the Amalgamated Society of Smiths and Strikers.
In 1963, the union merged with the Shipconstructors' and Shipwrights' Association into the United Society of Boilermakers, Shipbuilders and Structural Workers, which renamed itself as the "Amalgamated Society of Boilermakers, Shipwrights, Blacksmiths and Structural Workers".
Election results The union sponsored a Labour Party candidate in 1929.
Election Constituency Candidate Votes Percentage Position 1929 general election Chorley 18,369 42.4 2
General Secretaries 1857: James M'Lean 1859: David Stuart 1863: John Inglis 1907: John Thomson 1919: William Lorimer 1948: William J. Michael 1960: Jimmy Jarvie
References
External links Catalogue of the ABFSWS archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick