Annual Report Data Tables

The following tables hold the raw data from the Annual Reports:


Table 'members'

Function: This holds all information taken from the membership lists and the footnotes, together with a number of fields needed by the linkage process. Note that many of the fields contain numerical codes pointing to other records in the same table.
Coverage:All branch membership lists appearing in the SEM Annual Reports between 1835 and 1876.
Size:93,910 records.

Notes:

  1. The table also includes synthesised membership lists covering the 1849, 1857 and 1870 reports, to replace missing data (see database overview).

Field Name ContentsUsage
reportReport The report from which the record comes.
branchBranch The branch from which the record comes.
sysgen_numberInteger The member's actual ranking within the list, generated automatically by system.
numberInteger The member's number as printed in the list; NB this is usually identical to sysgen_number', but not always.
[name]Name The member's name, as it appears in the list.
codeText (1 char.): legal options are:

A Abroad
B joined other Branch
C drew Clearance
D Dead
E Excluded
L 'Left' (ambiguous)
M Member of other branch
P Proposition
S Superannuated
T drew Travel certificate
X Miscellaneous

A code selected by the operator to summarise the footnote entry.
placeText (50 chars.): a place name Usually the destination given in a footnote.
commentText (512 chars.) Other text from the original footnote; not needed where the footnote is of a very standard type.
returnedText (1 char.): either blank or 'R' Flag indicating that the member was footnoted as having returned.
r_number3-digit integer (should be <null> unless RETURNED set) New membership number for the same member on returning to the branch.
mem_seqInteger Unique accession number, generated by data entry system.

'members' table (cont.)

These additional fields hold values added during the linkage process:

Field NameContents Usage
record_idRecord_ID The ID of the record itself, constructed from BRANCH, REPORT and NUMBER.
nsb_idRecord_ID (NEXT_SAME_ID) The ID (if any) of the membership record of the same man in the following year's report of the SAME branch.
lsb_idRecord_ID (LAST_SAME_ID) The ID (if any) of the membership record of the same man in the previous year's report of the SAME branch.
nob_idRecord_ID (NEXT_OTHER_ID) The ID (if any) of the membership record of the same man in another branch which he moved to from the present one (which might be in same year or the following year's report). [At present, always null]
lob_idRecord_ID (LAST_OTHER_ID) The ID (if any) of the membership record of the same man in another branch which he moved from to the present one (which might be in same year or the previous year's report). [At present, always null]
clusterRecord_ID The ID of the first membership record in a clear sequence of membership records relating to the same man. This would be initially set as identical to mem_rec.
memberRecord_ID The ID of the first membership record in a set of clusters that are ultimately grouped together as referring to the same man. It would initially be set to be identical to mem_rec. [At present, this will always be identical to 'cluster'.]
l_statusInteger (single digit code) Linkage status: used in linking footnote data. [At present, always null]
moveText (1 char.): legal options are:

A Abroad
B joined other Branch
I Inferred move to branch
N No evidence
S Switch

Indicates type of move; generated later in the linkage and used for analysis. 'I' covers moves where nothing is footnoted but a move is inferred from the linkage; 'N' cases where a move is footnoted but there is no evidence it actually happened; 'S' changes of branch due to openings or closures. [At present, always null]

Table 'widows'

Function: From 1861 onwards, some branch membership lists ended with a list of members' widows who were entitled to funeral benefit, and this information is held here. NB the fields used are a sub-set of those in the 'members' table, but the data are held separately as separate linkage operations will be needed to use these data.
Coverage:All widows listed in branch membership lists in SEM Annual Reports between 1861 and 1876. It also includes synthesised lists covering the 1870 report, to replace missing data (see above), which make some use of information from the Monthly Reports for the relevant period.
Size:441 records.

Field NameContents Usage
reportReport The report from which the record comes.
branchBranch The branch from which the record comes.
numberInteger, generated automatically by system. The widow's number within the list; NB not present in original but lists seem to be in seniority order.
cnameText (60 chars.) The widow's forename, usually not given.
snameText (40 chars.) The widow's surname, as listed.
codeText (1 char.): legal options are A, B, C, D, E, L, M, P, S, T and X (see definitions in 'members') As for the 'members' table, but the only entries used are D, E, L and X.
placeText (50 chars.): place name The destination given in a footnote, but currently always empty as no widows are listed as moving.
commentText (512 chars.) Other text from the original footnote; e.g. re-marriage.
wid_seqInteger Unique accession number, generated by data entry system.
record_idRecord_ID The ID of the record itself, constructed from BRANCH, REPORT and NUMBER.
nsb_idRecord_ID (NEXT_SAME_ID) The ID (if any) of the membership record of the same widow in the following year's report of the branch.
lsb_idRecord_ID (LAST_SAME_ID) The ID (if any) of the membership record of the same widow in the previous year's report of the branch.
clusterRecord_ID The ID of the first record in the sequence for this particular widow. This is currently set as identical to record_id but will be changed through linkage.
memberRecord_ID The ID of the first record in the sequence for this particular widow. This is currently set as identical to record_id but will be changed through linkage.

Table 'payments'

Function: This holds the bulk of the benefit payment data, the TYPE field indicating the particular type of benefit.
Coverage:All payments of sickness benefit to named members listed in the SEM Annual Reports from 1835 until 1876; all payments of unemployment benefit starting in 1837; all payments of superannuation from 1842; and all payments of strike pay from 1875. Items of miscellaneous expenditure are also included wherever there is a named beneficiary.
Size:40,955 records.

Field NameContents Usage
reportReport The report from which the record comes.
branchBranch The branch making the payment.
typeText (1 char.): legal options are:

B Benevolent Fund (MR data)
C Contingent (strike pay)
M Miscellaneous
P Pension = Superannuation
S Sickness
U Unemployment

The type of payment; NB each type of payment appears in a separate list in the original reports, and these codes are inserted by the data entry system. No benevolent fund data has yet been entered.
[date]Date The date of the payment.
[name]Name The name of the member receiving the payment.
weeksInteger The number of weeks covered by the payment.
daysInteger The number of days covered by the payment (additional to weeks).
rateText (1 char.): legal options are:

<null> Standard rate
3 At 3/6
4 At 4/0
5 At 5/0
F Full pay
H Half pay
L Lowest rate
R Reduced rate

Code indicating the rate at which the benefit was paid (unemployment and sickness benefits dropped to a lower rate after a certain number of months; NB the codes provide for the variety of actual statements in the source and need to be translated to provide the actual weekly rate. Always null for post-1849 data but can be inferred from duration and value.
commentText (512 chars.) Other information which appears; mainly necessary for miscellaneous payments.
[payment]Money The sum of money paid.
pay_seqInteger Unique accession number, generated by data entry system.
mem_recRecord_ID The RECORD_ID of the entry in 'members' to which the payment is linked.
memberRecord_ID Unique ID for member, added by linkage.

Table 'travelling'

Function:This table holds payments of travelling benefit, which differ markedly from the data in the 'payments' table firstly because this benefit usually involved an origin or destination, and secondly because most payments were to non-members of the paying branch, greatly complicating linkage.
Coverage:All payments of sickness benefit to named members listed in the SEM Annual Reports from 1835 until 1876; all payments of unemployment benefit starting in 1837; all payments of superannuation from 1842; and all payments of strike pay from 1875. Items of miscellaneous expenditure are also included wherever there is a named beneficiary.
Size:36,039 records.

Notes:

  1. This table in practice contains two rather different types of records. Most records coded as 'Accommodation', 'From' or 'Miscellaneous' are payments under the traditional 'tramping' system, whereby the union supported members as they moved around the country on foot seeking work. During the first twenty years of records, payments for members to go 'To' a destination were rare, and mainly concerned branch officials travelling on union business. However, from the mid-1850s the union paid a growing number of train fares for members being sent by their branch to a vacancy somewhere else. 'To' records will usually be straightforward to link, as they involve members of the paying branch, but even in 1876 were a minority of travelling benefit payments.
  2. The table contains a large number of fields, currently unused, designed to support linkage; not all may prove necessary. The objective in linking tramping payments is to construct sequences of moves and this process must work backwards, using the value of 'origin' to determine the previous branch visited and then searching for a payment to the same member made by that branch: the two payment records will then be linked by the 'next_rec' and 'prev_rec' fields. The 'sequence' field identifies all records in the same sequence, and the 'seq_no' field provides the order (NB the date given for the payment is not a totally reliable guide to timing). The initial value of 'seq_no' for all entries will be 255, not 1 and as entries are joined on to the beginning of sequences they get lower numbers. The 'l_status' field is needed because there will need to be multiple passes through the data, the first finding obvious matches and later passes adding less obvious ones: 'l_status' will record whether a record has already been linked, but also what attempts have already been made to link it.

Table 'travelling':

Field NameContents Usage
reportReport The report from which the record comes.
branchBranch The branch making the payment.
[date]Date The date of the payment.
numberInteger Number added by data entry system indicating record's position within a particular branch's list of payments.
[name]Name The name of the member receiving the payment; NB this is normally not a member of the paying branch.
codeText (1 char.): legal options are:

A Accommodation
F From
T To
X Miscellaneous

Type of payment; see notes.
placeText (80 chars.) The previous town visited (e.g. 'Newton')
stayText (1 char.): legal options = <null>, digits 1-9, S. Length of stay in days ('S' indicates 'Sunday included')
commentText (512 chars.) Any other text from report.
[payment]Money Amount of benefit paid.
tra_seqInteger Unique code identifying the sequence that this record is linked into; to be added.
record_idInteger Unique code identifying the record.
next_recInteger Value of RECORD_ID for next payment in sequence; to be added.
prev_recInteger Value of RECORD_ID for previous payment in sequence; to be added.
sequenceInteger Value of RECORD_ID for final record in sequence; to be added.
seq_noInteger Number of record within sequence; to be added.
mem_recRecord_ID Pointer to entry in membership list in branch where journey began; to be added.
memberRecord_ID Unique ID for member, to be added prior to analysis.
l_statusInteger (single-digit code) Linkage status: used later in linkage.

Table 'funerals'

Function:Holds information on the deaths of members, their wives and widows taken mainly from the Annual Reports.
Coverage:All funeral benefit payments in the Annual Reports up to the end of 1876. Gaps in the Annual Reports were filled using data from the Monthly Reports.
Size:1,423 records.

Notes:

  1. Age and cause of death were generally only listed from c. 1860 onwards.

Field NameContents Usage
reportReport The report from which the record comes.
branchBranch The branch making the payment.
[date]Date The date of the payment.
f_statusText (1 char.): legal options are:

M Member
F Wife
D Widow

Category of person dying.
wnameText (70 chars.) Wife's christian name.
[name]Name The name of the member receiving the payment, or of the husband in case of wives and widows.
ageInteger The age of the dead person.
causeText (70 chars.) Cause of death.
commentText (512 chars.) Any other text from report; the operator will need to use their judgment to distinguish this from 'cause'.
[payment]Money Sum paid to members
fun_seqInteger Unique accession number, generated by data entry system.
mem_recRecord_ID The RECORD_ID of the entry in 'members' or 'widows' to which the payment record is linked.
memberRecord_ID Unique ID for member, added later in linkage; NB in the case of widows and wives identifies the husband.

(c) Humphrey Southall, 1997


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