CarlisleCityRMT

NUR banner picture kindly supplied by Tullie House, see more like this in the ' PICTURES' section.

In 1872 the first General Delegate meeting of the ASRS (Amalgamated Society of Railway servants) took place, however there is no one from Carlisle at this meeting. The first records we have of Carlisle City Branch appear in 1884 but this does not mean there was not a Branch set up before then, just there are no records going back any further than 1884. Back then Carlisle City Branch had 63 members and meetings were to take place on the third Monday of the month (we presume) at the Railway Hotel (now the Lakes Court Hotel) which itself was designed in 1852.

The first mention of any branch secretary appears in 1884 as an AGM delegate and his name is given as an A.Mear. At that AGM, Carlisle Branch proposed the following motion which was successfully carried.

'That this Congress of Railway Servants desires to impress on the Board of Trade the necessity for the adoption of an Automatic Continuous Brake upon passenger trains, and considers it essential to the efficiency of such brake that it should comply with the whole of the conditions laid sown in the circular of the Board of Trade, addressed to the companies on this subject in 1877.'

By 1892 it was noted the membership of Carlise City Branch had almost doubled, now containing 120 members and that Branch meetings were now held at the Cocoa Rooms on Botchergate, again on the third Monday of the month. The branch secretary at this time is H.Hall of 7 Blackhall Street in the city in the parish of St.Cuthbert's.

In 1892 there is mention of a Carlisle City No 2 Branch and this branch had 28 members. There is no mention in any records of who the branch secretary was or where any branch meetings were held. This branch would have been set up sometime between 1888 and 1892. In 1893, Carlisle City No 2 Branch closed.

In the history of the ASRS/NUR (National Union of Railwaymen) by Philip Bagwell ‘The Railwaymen’ there is mention of a drivers strike on the North Eastern Railway between 9 April and 30 April 1867 (before the formation of the ASRS). The strike was over poor terms and conditions and broken management promises. The strike was solidly supported on the NER but management brought in scab drivers from other companies to break the dispute. The strike went down to defeat, with many of the strikers losing their jobs. At Carlisle some strikers had been arrested, along with drivers form Leeds, Darlington and York. All charges were eventually dropped. The union that organised the strike was called the Engine Drivers and Firemen’s United Society. After the defeat of the dispute the union was broken and ceased to function.

In 1913 the ASRS and the GRWU (General Railway Workers Union) and the UPSS (United Pointsmen's and Signalmen's Society) merged to create the NUR (National Union of Railwaymen).

Still in 1913 and Carlisle NUR (National Union of Railwaymen) has six branches which are listed as follows...

* Carlisle City No 1 - 668 members
* Carlisle City No 2 - 435 members
* Carlisle City No 3 - 825 members
* Carlisle City No 5 - 122 members
* Carlisle City No 6 - 131 members


There was a Carlisle City No 4 Branch but bizzarely had no members.

There was a future MP for Carlisle working on the railways in the workshops, his name was Ron Lewis, the Labour MP for Carlisle from 1964 to 1987, he was an NUR sponsored MP. We believe he left the railway to become Carlisle's MP but still held stong links.

In 1990 the NUS (National Union of Seamen) and the NUR joined forces and the RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers) was formed. The first General Secretary of the RMT was Jimmy Knapp who held the post from 1990 to 2001 when Bob Crow took over, he holds the post to this day.

Now in 2008 we only have one branch, Carlisle City No 1 Branch, which has almost 500 members in such places as St.Helier in France, Cockermouth, and Glasgow to name but a few, working for such companies as EWS, Northern Rail, Virgin Trains and Jarvis. The current Branch Secretary is Mark Eilbeck, the Branch Chairman is Craig Johnston. Branch meetings are held at the Kings Head Pub on Fisher Street in Carlisle on the first Tuesday of every month.

Many thanks to Sean Geoghegan for supplying information regarding the history of the union.
Many thanks to Tullie House and in particular Edwin Rutherford (keeper of social history) for providing the photo of the NUR banner.