The year 1871 had witnessed the passage of a government bill into law which gave legal recognition to trade unions and enabled them to protect their funds under the Friendly Society Acts. No difficult provisos regarding the division of funds for benefit and funds for strike purposes remained, although unions were still liable to criminal prosecutions under the 1825 Act for picketing and obstruction. Despite the passing of the Act, very little agitation occurred until the winter which followed. The harvest of 1871, which proved to be a bad one, and caused prices to rise, also contributed to the sudden upsurge of activity in the opening weeks of 1872.

The initial focus of attention was in Warwickshire at Wellesbourne where on 14 February the celebrated union meeting was held on the village green under the great chestnut tree. Yet, almost simultaneously, scattered villages from all over the southern counties where agricultural wages were lower, began to join the action as the down-trodden workers started to take to their feet. In the first weeks of February and March 1872, the picture was one of numerous small local unions springing to life. These were often clustered around one of the larger market towns.

By the spring of 1872 these local unions had become so numerous that some kind of umbrella organisation was called for in order to facilitate coordinated action and protest. The Warwickshire Union led by Joseph Arch (1828–1919), a champion hedge-cutter and a sturdy independent individual who was also a Methodist local preacher, proved to be the most influential among these local unions. On 19 May, Arch's union called a conference of delegates representing twenty-six counties.