Arthur Marsh was a Fellow in Industrial Relations at St. Edmund Hall Oxford. He read Modern History and PPE at Oxford University, before joining the Oxford University Agricultural Economics Research Institute; later he became a staff tutor at the Oxford Delegacy for Extra Mural Studies, where he specialized in trade union education. He was elected Senior Research Fellow at St. Edmunds Hall in 1964. Mr Marsh served on various commissions and acted as a consultant to many government bodies. He was the author of many books and papers and began to publish the Historical Directory series in 1984. He died on 2 August 1999. John B. Smethurst is a retired electrical engineer and a graduate of Sheffield and Warwick Universities. He was a founder member of the Eccles and District Local History Society and the Lancashire Federation of Local History Societies. The author of numerous papers and articles on the Labour movement, he is the membership secretary of the North West Labour History Group and a well known collector of Labour, co-operative and trade union memorabilia.