A succession of societies grew and then collapsed, but there appears to have been a union in continuous existence from at least 1842, and in 1848 it was reformed as the United Operative Cotton Spinners and Self-Actor Minders' Association of Bolton and District.
[1][2] The union was affiliated to the Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton Spinners, but it retained control over the welfare benefits it paid members, and over wage negotiations.
The Amalgamation led on trade disputes and strike benefits payments, but the Bolton District was allocated an automatic majority of seats on its executive.
In 1914, they split away to form the United Piecers' Association, significantly reducing the union's membership to below that of the Oldham Spinners.
[1] The outlying districts of Wigan and Hindley were dissolved in 1941, and the decline in the Lancashire cotton industry began to hit the union.