Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The main aim of this study was the reconstruction of the life histories of the members of the Steam Engine Makers' Society during the period August 1835 to December 1876, to permit the analysis of labour mobility, unemployment, sickness, ageing, retirement, death and the interaction of these states and events over the life course.
Main Topics:
The Steam Engine Makers' Database is a relational database, which contains information from the records of the Steam Engine Makers' Society (SEM) about inter-branch transfers, payments of travel benefits to members seeking work, unemployment benefit payments, sickness benefit payments, superannuation payments and funeral benefit payments. It is particularly useful for the analysis of labour mobility, unemployment, sickness, ageing, retirement, death and the interaction of these states and events over the life course. The database consists of 10 tables: The Reports table contains information about each SEM Annual Report published between 1835 and 1880. The Br_names table provides alternative versions of branch names which appear in any Annual Report up to 1879. Also handles any text strings used to identify a branch. The Branches table holds information about every SEM branch which existed up to those listed in the 1878 Annual Report. The Members table holds information taken from the branch membership lists and the footnotes in the SEM Annual Reports from 1835 until 1876. It also includes synthesised data covering the 1849, 1857 and 1870 reports, to replace missing data. The Widows table holds information about members' widows who were listed as entitled to funeral benefits at the end of the branch membership lists in the SEM Annual Reports from 1861 until 1876. It also includes synthesised lists covering the missing 1870 report. The Payments table holds all payments of sickness benefits to named members listed in the SEM Annual Reports from 1835 until 1876; all payments of unemployment benefits starting in 1837; all payments of superannuation from 1842; and all payments of strike pay from 1875. Items of miscellaneous expenditure are also included wherever there is a named beneficiary. The Travelling table holds payments of travel benefits to members seeking work. The only benefit provided under the SEM's initial 1827 rules was travelling relief, whereby a member seeking work could claim from each branch visited 'his supper, one pint of beer, one night's lodging, his breakfast in the morning, and one penny for every mile he may have travelled since last relieved'. This benefit formed part of the 'tramping system', which declined in importance after 1850. The union supplemented it by the payment of members' train fares when travelling to known vacancies. The Funerals table holds information on the deaths of members, their wives and widows and the payment of funeral benefits taken from the Annual Reports up to the end of 1876. Gaps in the Annual Reports have been filled using data from the Monthly Reports. The Reg_book table holds information taken from the SEM's manuscript Registration Books, containing information on the age, trade and marital status of members on their admission to the union. The Rb_event table holds information concerning subsequent events listed in the SEM Registration Book. The Ase_reg table holds information taken from the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE) Registration Book. Many members of the SEM transferred to the ASE on the creation of the latter union in 1851, and in principle, this table includes all such ex-members of the SEM, plus a selection of men joining the ASE by other routes. The D_cert table holds information taken from the death certificates of SEM members, including age and cause of death.
No sampling (total universe)
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