The National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants (NATSOPA) was a British trade union.
History Formed as part of the New Unionism movement in September 1889, the union was originally named the Printers' Labourers' Union and was led by George Evans. In 1899, it was renamed the Operative Printers' Assistants Union, and in 1904 it became the National Society of Operative Printers' Assistants, taking the acronym NATSOPA for the first time. In 1911, it assumed its long-term name, the "National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants". By this point, it had 4,722 members, and it grew rapidly, having 25,000 members in 92 branches by 1929.
In 1966, the union merged with the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers, becoming Division 1 of the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT), but in 1970 the failure to agree a common rulebook led to Division 1 leaving to become the National Society of Operative Printers and Media Personnel. In 1972, it merged with the Sign and Display Trade Union,Catalogue of the Natsopa archives and in 1982 it again merged with SOGAT, on this occasion the merger proving successful.
Election results The union sponsored George Isaacs as a Labour Party candidate in each general election and two by-elections between 1918 and 1955.
Election Constituency Candidate Votes Percentage Position 1918 general election Southwark North 2,027 22.4 3 1922 general election Gravesend 7,180 35.6 2Labour Party, Report of the Twenty-second Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp.255-272. Note that this list is of the sanctioned candidates as of June 1922, and there were some changes between this date and the general election. 1923 general election Gravesend 9,776 43.4 1 1924 general election Gravesend 10,969 41.6 2 1927 by-election Southwark North 6,167 36.9 2Labour Party, Report of the Annual Labour Party Conference (1927), pp.9–13 1929 general election Southwark North 9,660 45.8 1 1931 general election Southwark North 7,053 35.1 2 1935 general election Southwark North 8,007 49.8 2 1939 by-election Southwark North 5,815 57.4 1Labour Party, Report of the Annual Labour Party Conference (1945). Affiliations are those as of mid-1945; it is possible that some MPs may have had different sponsors at the time of their election. 1945 general election Southwark North 5,943 69.0 1Labour Party, Report of the Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp.232-248 1950 general election Southwark 35,049 68.3 1 1951 general election Southwark 36,586 72.3 1 1955 general election Southwark 28,174 70.3 1Labour Party, Report of the Fifty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Labour Party, pp.255-275
Leadership General Secretaries 1889: George Evans 1890: Thomas O'Grady 1897: Michael Vaughan 1898: Eddie Smith 1909: George Isaacs 1948: Harry Good 1951: Richard Briginshaw 1975: Owen O'Brien
Presidents 1889: James Keep 1891: Frederick Quinn 1893: James Keep 1898: Eddie Smith 1899: Harry Cook 1901: J. B. Sullivan 1904: George Cullen 1905: J. B. Sullivan 1907: James Keep 1910: A. Bispham 1917: J. C. Mead 1920: George T. Bevan 1929: William Plunkett
Footnotes
References Arthur Marsh, Victoria Ryan and John B. Smethurst, Historical Directory of Trade Unions James Moran, Natsopa: Seventy-five Years
External links Catalogue of the Natsopa archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick