Does anyone know whether membership records exist for the first coal miners' unions? My Strachan family were coal miners in the Kilmarnock area when the Ayrshire Coal Miners Union was formed. This union employed a young local man as their first secretary - James Keir Hardie, who went on to found the Parliamentary Labour Party. I feel rather proud that my ancestors may have helped to give Keir Hardie his first step on to the political ladder, and wondered whether records of the formation years of the trade unions still exist. Regards Judy Strachan (I guess election day has turned my genealogy thoughts to politics!)