"banner, Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers" [NBS I/D 136]

Catalogue Number
NBS I/D 136

Object Name
banner

Title
AMALGAMATED SOCIETY OF WOODWORKERS CHATHAM DIST. 1917 CHATHAM DISTRICT

Place
Chatham & Kent & England & UK

People
Joseph of Nazereth; artisans; craftsmen; workers: wood workers: carpenters

Creator(s)
NBS National Museum of Labour HistoryNBS National Museum of Labour HistoryGeorge Tutill & Co. (Manufacturer)

Description
The union was formed in 1921. The banner is thought to be that of the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters & Joiners Union which amalgamated in 1921 with the ASW. Around 1927 the ASW returned the Carpenters' banner for reconditioning, when the present name and title were added. The design was based on an earlier emblem design for the membership certificate of the ASCJ, commissioned in 1866. It was designed by AJ Waudby, a well known artist of the time.

The banner was made by George Tutill, 83 City Road, London. Tutill was a renowned baner maker, whose banners were made of pure silk. He established his business in east London, where many French Huguenot refugees had settled and established silk weaving businesses, in neatby Spitalfields and Bethnal Green.

This is a rare survival of a 19th Century Tutill banner, as the company built in obselesence to their products, so that purchasers would return for new products in the fututre.

The banner was conserved at the museum's Textile Conservation Studio in 1992 with financial assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

Materials: Double sided single layer silk fabric banner. Ground of emerald silk rep, borders of cerise silk rep. Oil painted image on each side.

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