Note 320 — Chapter IV

In this document we may perhaps trace the hand of T. J. Dunning, one of the ablest Trade Unionists of his time. Born in 1799, he became Secretary of the Consolidated Society of Bookbinders in 1843. In 1845 he joined the National Association of United Trades, but left that body after a few years. The Bookbinders’ Circular, which he started in 1850, was, during the rest of his life, largely written by himself, and contains many well-reasoned articles on Trade Union matters. In 1858 Dunning joined the celebrated Committee of Inquiry into Trade Societies which was appointed by the Social Science Association. He contributed a history of his own society to the Report, and frequently took part in the subsequent annual congresses. His chief literary production is the essay entitled, Trades Unions and Strikes; their philosophy and intention(1860, 50 pp.), which he wrote for the prize instituted by his own Union for the best defence of the workmen’s organisation. This essay, which no publisher would accept, and which was printed by his society, remains, perhaps—apart from George Howell’s historical researches in Conflicts of Capital and Labour, and Labour Legislation, Labour Movements and Labour Leaders—the best presentation of the Trade Union case which any manual worker has produced. He died in harness on the 23rd of December 1873.