The Hospital and Welfare Services Union (HWSU) was established in 1918 as the Poor Law Workers Trade Union. It recruited from all ranks in the poor law service. Within a year it claimed 10,000 members.[1]
In 1922 changed its name to Poor Law Officers Union, in 1930 to the National Union of County Officers (NUCO), and in 1943 to the Hospital and Welfare Services Union.
It was Vincent Evans (1889–1946), a deputy clerk at the Paddington Board of Guardians, who in 1918 was responsible for convening the first meeting of Poor Law staff to consider forming a union. The first General Secretary was Archibald Milne, an Assistant General Relieving Officer at Willsden Board of Guardians, but he was soon replaced by Vincent Evans.