The union was founded in 1886 as the Accrington District Card and Blowing Room Operatives' and Ring Spinners' Association.
[1] By 1887, the Accrington Association had attracted members in various nearby towns, and restructured itself as a federal organisation named the North East Lancashire Card and Blowing Room Operatives' and Ring Spinners' Association.
In 1891, its affiliates included Accrington, Burnley, Church, Darwen, Haslingden and Oswaldtwistle.
These affiliates changed in number repeatedly over the years, and its membership varied from 2,000 in 1892, to 500 in 1904, then to a peak of 4,000 in 1920, before falling back to 1,566 in 1936.
[1] In 1961, the North Lancashire Card, Blowing Room and Ring Spinners' Association merged into the North East Lancashire Association, which renamed itself as the "Northern Textile and Allied Workers' Union".