Worker Gallery

The iron worker and King Solomon

The iron worker and King Solomon. Print showing a blacksmith sitting on a stool next to the throne of Solomon, thought to be a usurper, the crowd rushes forward to remove him. The man explains to Solomon that the temple could not have been built without tools made by blacksmiths (iron workers), whereupon Solomon grants him a seat of honor. Relates to quote from Isaiah, 54.16 and text from a Jewish legend. Date c1889

© Mary Evans / Library of Congress

Trades union membership certificate

A trades union membership certificate for the United Operative Plumbers Association of Great Britain and Ireland, with Defence and Defiance as their motto. Two noble-looking workmen stand with heraldic shields on either side of Britannia, flanked by the British Lion and Unicorn.
circa 1860s

© Mary Evans Picture Library / Grayhams Collection

1860s, Allegorical, Allegory, Association, Britain, Britannia, British, Certificate, Defence, Defiance, Dome, Employment, Great, Heraldic, Heraldry, Idealised, Idealistic, Industry, Ireland, Lion, Membership, Motto, Noble, Operative, Organisation, Plumber, Plumbers, Plumbing, Rights, Shield, Solidarity, Stand, Standing, Symbol, Symbolism, Trade, Trades, Unicorn, Union, United, Victorian, Work Men, Worker, Workers, Workman

Lloyd Georges Munition Girls

Front cover of a book describing women's experiences in a munitions factory during the First World War with a detailed account by an anonymous female shell-maker. Cover shows a woman in work uniform holding a finished shell against the backdrop of a dark factory with belching chimneys. Date: 1918

© The March of the Women Collection/Mary Evans Picture Library