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National Agricultural Labourers Union (NALU) Established 1872
National Agricultural Labourers Union (NALU) Certificate of John Mitchell, Kingston, Dorset 1877
The agricultural workers' first national union was formed in 1872.
No banners of that earlier union have come to light, but they did exist. The founder of the union, Joseph Arch, recalled how, on the seventh anniversary of the Union in 1879, thousands of workers congregated in Wellesbourne, (Warwickshire) as:
"...from the top of a Chestnut Tree a Union flag floated like a banner in the poem 'Excelsior'..."
