It was arising from the generous bequest made to the TSSA’s Political Fund by the late John Seabridge, an organiser of the Liverpool Street branch, that the Executive Committee decided that a political history of the Association should be written.
When I was approached by Richard Rosser to undertake the task I had no idea just how rewarding the next three years would be and as so much of the railway industry is linked to legislation, it quickly became apparent that the Association's industrial work could not be separated from politics; the result is, to a large extent, a general history.
No doubt some will argue, with justification, that there is nothing more political than pay. However, in view of the complex nature of pay negotiations and the number of undertakings with which the Association has negotiated since its formation, I decided not to go too far down this particular path.
As the Association has members in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, it has been necessary to travel extensively to complete my research. Fortunately the TSSA had taken the wise decision to place its documents at the Modern Records Centre, Warwick University, and Richard Storey, the archivist, and his staff, have been most helpful in guiding me through the mass of documentation accumulated over the years.
I have spent many rewarding hours at the TUC, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Irish Labour Party, Scottish Labour Party, Marx House, the International Transport Workers' Federation and the Gallacher Memorial Library, and I wish to thank their staff who have given so generously of their time. I would also like to thank Lew Adams, the General Secretary of ASLEF, for allowing me access to his union's library.
I am also indebted to the librarians at the following centres for their assistance: Bishopsgate Institute, London; British Library, Colindale; Cambridge University Library; Chelmsford Library; Co-operative Union Archives, Manchester; CWS Library, Manchester; Guildhall Library, City of London; House of Commons Library; Irish Labour History Museum; Irish Railway Record Society; Labour Research Department; London School of Economics; London Transport Library and Archives; Linen Library, Belfast; National Archives, Republic of Ireland; National Graves Association, Dublin; Museum of Labour History, Manchester; Marx House, London; Public Records Offices and Archives in Belfast, Dublin, Dundee, Nottingham and Kew; Ruskin College; Thomas Cook Travel Archive; Workers' Educational Association.
In writing this history I have been privileged to have the advice of many of the Association's former activists, and in particular I would like to thank Jim Mills and Percy Coldrick for their comments. Sadly, four people I interviewed, John Bothwell, Annie Caldwell, Edward Wilson and Ralph Whitehead have since died.
At some stage, almost everyone employed at Walkden House and at the Association's Irish and Scottish offices has given me assistance and encouragement in some form or other and I wish to record my thanks to them all. I am particularly grateful to Jim Cobley and Jean Perry for reading the manuscript and for allowing me to share their office at Walkden House. Margaret McDonald has also been of constant assistance over the past three years. Acknowledgement is also due to Richard Ramsay for providing me with a comprehensive list of the Association's Parliamentary candidates, and to Chris Dart for his interesting series of articles on the Association's history published in the Transport Salaried Staff Journal during 1987.
Valuable information and comments on the Irish scene have been provided by John Sullivan, (CIE's Employment Manager), Joe Deasy, Dominick Murphy and the Association's Irish Executive Committee member, John Bowen.
Throughout the past three years there have been four people whose views and comments have been sought repeatedly. Albert Gosnall, Richard Rosser's Personal Assistant, and David Porter, the Executive Committee Member for North-West London, have read and reread the manuscript and have made invaluable contributions at every stage; Sybil Olive BA, a former President of Chelmsford Trades Council, who, along with David Porter, assisted me with an earlier history, provided a much appreciated political input from outside the industry.
To these I am deeply grateful as I am to my wife Jan, who has assisted with research, corrected the text, and has given me constant support during the production of this history.
Malcolm Wallace
1st June 1996
Transport Salaried Staffs' Association Registered Head Office: Walkden House, 10 Melton Street, London, England © 1996-2008 TSSA. All rights reserved.