The union was the first in the Lancashire cotton industry to appoint a woman as its full-time leader.
The union was founded in 1865 as the Excelsior Friendly Society of Toilet and Marseilles Quilt Weavers by Power, with the aim of regulating who was able to start working in the industry.
[1] In 1884, the union was a founder member of the Amalgamated Weavers' Association, but it left in 1885, and did not rejoin until 1892.
In 1888, it was able to appoint its first full-time general secretary, William Melling, who was succeeded by Cephas Speak.
She eventually succeeded Speak in 1948, becoming the first woman to become the full-time secretary of a cotton industry trade union.