Editing Ceramic and Allied Trades Union (section)

==Predecessors==
The first significant union in the pottery trades was founded in 1827 as the '''National Union of Operative Potters''', affiliated to the [[National Association for the Protection of Labour]].  Based in [[the Potteries]], it was the first union to actively recruit members from outside the area, and focused its efforts on building its strength, and opposing the worst [[truck shop]]s.<ref>John Thomas, ''The Rise of the Staffordshire Potteries'', p.191</ref>  While the union collapsed in 1837, a loose federation named the '''United Branches of Operative Potters''', which had been founded by some of its members three years before, ensured trade unionism survived in the industry.<ref>John Thomas, ''The Rise of the Staffordshire Potteries'', p.197</ref>

The United Branches initially thrived, and in 1845 it was a major shareholder in the [[National Association of United Trades for the Employment of Labour]], but this led to disputes which in 1846 led the union to collapse.  Secretary William Evans formed the controversial Potters Emigration Society, taking up fears around mechanisation to encourage potters to move to [[Pottersville, Wisconsin]], although that scheme also foundered by 1848.<ref>Martin Crawford, "Back to the Future? The Potters' Emigration Society and the Historians", ''Labour History Review'', vo.76 no.2, p.81</ref><ref name="warburton">{{cite book |last1=Warburton |first1=W. H. |title=The History of Trade Union Organisation in the North Staffordshire Potteries |date=1931 |publisher=George Allen & Unwin |location=London |pages=123&ndash;223}}</ref>

From the 1840s until the 1900s, workers in the industry, if unionised at all, were part of very small, sectional unions.  Only the United Overmen's Society, with 700 members in 1866, and the Hollow-ware Pressers' Society, which peaked at 1,400 members in 1873, were of any size.<ref name="warburton" />