The Typographical Association (TA) was a trade union representing typographers in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
History The National Typographical Association collapsed in 1848, and delegates from across Yorkshire and Lancashire met at Angel Street in Sheffield to found the Provincial Typographical Association, intended to recreate the former Northern Typographical Union and to focus on paying benefits to members on strike. The union grew gradually from 481 members at the end of 1849 to 5,300 in 1877. In that year, it merged with a related relief association and dropped "Provincial" from its title.
Based in Manchester, the union focussed on demanding members serve a seven-year apprenticeship. In 1894, it began admitting women. In the 1910s, the Association established a branch in London, but the Trades Union Congress instituted arbitration which restricted it from a fifteen-mile radius of central London, the rival London Society of Compositors having rights to organise in the city.
By 1946, membership had reached 13,958.Labour Party, Report of the Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, p.78 In 1964, the Association merged with the London Typographical Society to create the National Graphical Association.
Election results The union sponsored Labour Party candidates in several Parliamentary elections, many of whom won election.
Election Constituency Candidate Votes Percentage Position 1906 general election Norwich 11,059 37.5 1 1910 Jan general election Norwich 11,159 28.7 2 1910 Dec general election Norwich 10,003 35.8 2 1917 by-election Norwich unopposed N/A 1 1918 general election West Bromwich 11,572 54.0 1 1922 general election Buckingham 7,343 26.3 2 West Bromwich 14,210 50.6 1 1923 general election West Bromwich 12,910 44.8 1 1924 general election West Bromwich 15,384 51.6 1 1929 general election West Bromwich 19,621 52.1 1 1931 general election West Bromwich 17,204 44.4 2 1935 general election Blackburn 34,423 23.8 4 West Bromwich 19,113 51.3 1 1945 general election Bristol South 24,929 58.8 1Labour Party, Report of the Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp.232-248 Rossendale 15,741 43.6 1 1950 general election Bristol South 23,456 59.9 1 Woodford 18,740 30.0 2 1951 general election Bristol South 24,444 63.3 1 1955 general election Bristol South 24,954 64.1 1Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp.255-275 1959 general election Bristol South 27,010 60.8 1Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp.179-201
In both the 1910 elections, Roberts was elected by taking second place in a two-seat constituency.
Leadership General Secretaries 1849: Josephus Speak 1865: Henry Roberts 1869: Henry Slatter 1897: Richard Hackett 1900: A. W. Jones 1900: Herbert Skinner 1934: John Fletcher 1942: Harry Riding 1955: F. C. Blackburn 1957: John Bonfield
General Presidents 1852: William Dronfield 1855: 1886: Owen Connellan 1888: Daniel Bird 1889: 1891: Richard Hackett 1892: 1893: Richard Hackett 1897: 1899: O. Waddington 1902: H. Matthewman 1908: John H. Boothman 1913: Jimmy French 1934: Hugh Inglis 1949: F. C. Blackburn 1955: John Bonfield 1957: Fred Simmons
References Arthur Marsh, Victoria Ryan and John B. Smethurst, Historical Directory of Trade Unions Albert Edward Musson, The Typographical Association: Origins and History Up to 1949
Specific
External links Catalogue of the TA archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick