Findmypast which is available on the Digital Library now offers access to some historic Trade Union membership records, especially those for the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants (ASRS) and the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners (ASCJ).   Unfortunately it doesn’t include the other big craft Union, the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE).

Back in the day, I was asked for details on a carpenter who was active in Labour Party and Union politics in the early twentieth century in Auckland.  The family were unsure as to where he had first apprenticed and worked as a carpenter, but I happened to know that the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick in Britain had historical records of the ASCJ.   That Union, and others, acted as an international Union with branches worldwide, including within New Zealand.   The Centre in Warwick had no difficulty in tracing our carpenter and confirmed that he was a member of a Dublin Branch before moving to New Zealand, where he transferred to an Auckland ASCJ Branch. Members readily transferred from one Branch to another as they moved around the world for work.

Image of record from findmypast.

The example shows a page for the Mount Eden, Auckland, Branch of the ASCJ for 1911.   Note the Branch number was 892.



The particular carpenter I was looking for here was Tom (Thomas) Bloodworth who was a long time Labour Party, Trade Union and local body activist.  Note he is here just as ‘T. Bloodworth’, at number 10 on the page.

You can search by name, or drill down using Education & Work and then Record Set: Britain, Trade Union membership registers.  You can then select Image or Transcript.


David Verran

Recommended read

Holes by Louis Sachar (1998)

In this second post on young peoples’ fiction with a family history theme, I read the award winning novel, Holes  by Louis Sachar.

I’m not sure how it is I never really knew about this book before, when it’s been around for a while and has something of a cult following. This is seriously good fiction, with baddies, delinquent kids, a mystery, a curse, and a backstory to keep you guessing – the family history part of it. Whatever your age, child or adult, boy or girl, you should read this story. There’s a good chance you won’t be able to put it down.

Stanley Yelnats is our protagonist -  the loser kid we’ve probably all felt like at some time or another but poor Stan really does have bad luck, attributable to a family curse. He’s sent to a juvie camp out in the desert:

“A sign in front said, “You are entering Camp Green Lake Juvenile Correctional Facility.” Next to it was another sign which declared that it was a violation of the Texas Penal Code to bring guns, explosives, weapons, drugs or alcohol on to the premises. As Stanley read the sign, he couldn’t help but think, Well, duh!

Each day the boys must dig a massive hole - something to do with building character although if they find anything, they are given a day off. Hmmm. I won’t give anything away but a reviewer said that Holes is the kind of book that improves with each reading, showing you just how complicated it really is although as a read, this is simply a darned fine story that ties up at the end.  And there are nice bits, such as this at the end of a chapter after Stanley has taken the rap for stealing a bag of sunflower seeds:

He went over to his hole and to his surprise it was nearly finished. He stared at it, amazed. It didn't make sense. Or perhaps it did. He smiled. Since he had taken the blame for the sunflower seeds, he realized, the other boys had dug his hole for him.
“Hey, thanks,” he said.“Don’t look at me,” said X-Ray.Confused, Stanley looked around – from Magnet, to Armpit, to Zigzag, to Squid. None of them took credit for it.Then he turned to Zero who had been quietly digging in his hole since Stanley’s return. Zero’s hole was smaller than all the others.

Click here to grab a library copy though you might need to place a hold.

There are also formats from eBook to audio CD, and if the weather falls apart over the holidays, there’s the 2004 movie on DVD with young Shia LaBouef as Stanley.

Here’s the trailer. But go and read the book first!!

Joanne

Sir George Grey Special Collections, AWNS-19021113-2-1

In 1902 the SS Ventnor sank off the Hokianga coast with the remains of 499 Chinese people on board. It had left Wellington just two days before. The bodies were being returned on the Hong Kong bound vessel to their families to be buried in accordance with Chinese tradition.

The SS Ventnor had been hired by the Admiralty to carry a standard cargo of coal from Westport to Hong Kong but was also under charter to the Cheong Shing Tong Society. This Society was concerned with Chinese immigrants from the Poon Yue area in the Guandong Province of southern China, particularly the poor and the elderly, and operated under the leadership of prominent Dunedin businessman Choie Sew Hoy.

Choie Sew Hoy, about 1895

Choie Sew Hoy died in 1901. In 1883 the Cheong Shing Tong Society had exhumed and returned to China the bodies of 230 miners, so it was natural for his son Kum Poy Sew Hoy to arrange for the Society to return his father, along with many others, to his ancestral home.

The Auckland Star, 30th October 1902

Just after midday on the day of departure the SS Ventnor struck a submerged reef just off Cape Egmont. Wellington didn’t have the facilities to repair the vessel so it carried on to Auckland with water starting to enter the ballast tanks and at the entrance to Hokianga Harbour the order to abandon ship was given.

Nigel Sew Hoy, Great-Great grandson of Choie Sew Hoy wrote in 2007:

When Kum Poy Sew Hoy received the sad news, he immediately engaged people to search the area. A canvas bag of bones was found washed up on Ninety Mile Beach in the Far North. This was sent to China as the only remains. The rest of Ventnor's unusual cargo was not recovered. A court of inquiry ruled that the Captain had been negligent and incompetent and responsible for the wreck because of his poor navigation around Cape Egmont. (Bananas NZ Going Global International Conference 18-19 August).

Nigel and his family hoped to be able to carry out their grandfather’s dream to have the Ventnor salvaged, the bones identified and returned to China.

The location of the ship remained a mystery until December 2012 when, after a search of three years, it was found by documentary producer John Albert, assisted by charter boat owners John and Linda Pattinson and underwater explorer Keith Gordon. A recent article from the New Zealand Herald explains the story and highlights the importance of the find to ties between China and New Zealand.

For more on the SS Ventnor read the article 'The mysterious wreck of the coffin ship', pages 160-161, in Secrets & treasures: our stories told through the objects at Archives New Zealand, available for loan from Auckland Libraries.

Bridget