Antedating of "Trade Union"

[Shapiro, Fred]

trade union (OED 1831)

1828 _The Co-Operator_ 1 July 1 (Making of the Modern World)  A Trade Union is a society of workmen uniting for the purpose of mutual self-protection on the subject of wages.

1829 _Quarterly Review_ Nov. 373 (British Periodicals)  At present, the working classes are in a state of perpetual hostility with their masters, and may be said in the _trade union clubs_ to keep a standing treasury for carrying on the war.

1830 _Liverpool Mercury_ 8 Jan. (19th Century British Library Newspapers)  _Bolton._ -- _Trades' Union._

1830 _Manchester Guardian_ 27 Mar. 4 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)  Prisoner ... belonged to the trades' union.  They had instructed him to stand up for wages.

1830 _Herald to the Trades' Advocate_ 4 Dec. 173 (JSTOR)  These papers ... will never be constituted, unless a Trades' Union throughout Scotland be instituted.

Fred Shapiro

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