ABSTRACT
The New Unionism cannot be properly analysed without reference to the variety found in the development of different industries in the years around 1889-92 when the British explosion of New Unionism occurred. The late Victorians were, and were conscious of being, on an upward trend along all economic indicators of any significance: national production, exports, real wages, education, and many more. If the history of trade unions reflects the work experience of wage- and salary-earners, as historians frequently assume, then unionization will take different forms, and proceed at vastly different speeds, with differing peaks and troughs, in each industry. The confused struggle between London and the provinces which had Northampton as their main centre, and between the hand-made, high-class sector, the machine-made medium sector and the sweated outwork low-quality sector occurred in the years of the New Unionism and may be accounted part of it.
