View source for National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants

{{short description|Former trade union of the United Kingdom}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox union
| name         = NATSOPA
| location_country= [[United Kingdom]]
| affiliation  = [[Trades Union Congress|TUC]], [[Printing and Kindred Trades Federation|P&KTF]], [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| members      = 20,877 (1946)<ref>[[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], ''Report of the Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party'', p.77</ref><br/>54,464 (1980)<ref name="eaton">{{cite book|last1=Eaton|first1=Jack|last2=Gill|first2=Colin|title=The Trade Union Directory|date=1981|publisher=Pluto Press|location=London|isbn=0861043502|pages=171–176}}</ref>
| full_name    = National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants
| image        = NATSOPA logo.jpg
| founded      = 1889
| dissolved    = 1982
| merged       = [[Society of Graphical and Allied Trades]]
| headquarters = Caxton House, [[Borough Road]], London
| publication  = ''NATSOPA Journal and Graphic Review''<ref name="eaton" />
| key_people   = [[George Isaacs]], [[Richard Briginshaw]]
| footnotes    =
}}
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]],<ref>[http://dscalm.warwick.ac.uk/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=DServeadv.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Reference_Code%3D%27nsp%27%29 Catalogue of the Natsopa archives]</ref> 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 (UK)|Labour Party]] candidate in each general election and two by-elections between 1918 and 1955.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=James |title=Trade unions and the political culture of the Labour Party, 1931-1940 |date=2017 |publisher=University of Exeter |location=Exeter |page=125 |url=https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10871/32856/ParkerJ.pdf}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Election !! Constituency !! Candidate !! Votes !! Percentage !! Position
|-
| [[1918 UK general election|1918 general election]] || [[Southwark North (UK Parliament constituency)|Southwark North]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 2,027 || 22.4 || 3
|-
| [[1922 UK general election|1922 general election]] || [[Gravesend (UK Parliament constituency)|Gravesend]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 7,180 || 35.6 || 2<ref name="lab22">[[Labour Party (UK)|Labour 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.</ref>
|-
| [[1923 UK general election|1923 general election]] || [[Gravesend (UK Parliament constituency)|Gravesend]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 9,776 || 43.4 || 1
|-
| [[1924 UK general election|1924 general election]] || [[Gravesend (UK Parliament constituency)|Gravesend]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 10,969 || 41.6 || 2
|-
| [[1927 Southwark North by-election|1927 by-election]] || [[Southwark North (UK Parliament constituency)|Southwark North]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 6,167 || 36.9 || 2<ref name="lab27by">[[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], ''Report of the Annual Labour Party Conference'' (1927), pp.9&ndash;13</ref>
|-
| [[1929 UK general election|1929 general election]] || [[Southwark North (UK Parliament constituency)|Southwark North]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 9,660 || 45.8 || 1<ref name="lab29">{{cite journal |title=List of Labour Candidates and Election Results, May 30th, 1929| journal=Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party  |date=1929 |pages=24&ndash;44}}</ref>
|-
| [[1931 UK general election|1931 general election]] || [[Southwark North (UK Parliament constituency)|Southwark North]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 7,053 || 35.1 || 2<ref name="lab31">{{cite journal |title=List of Endorsed Labour Candidates and Election Results, October 27, 1931|journal=Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party |date=1931 |pages=11&ndash;27}}</ref>
|-
| [[1935 UK general election|1935 general election]] || [[Southwark North (UK Parliament constituency)|Southwark North]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 8,007 || 49.8 || 2<ref name="lab35">{{cite journal |title=List of Endorsed Labour Candidates and Election Results, November 14, 1935 |journal=Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party |date=1935 |pages=8&ndash;23}}</ref>
|-
| [[1939 Southwark North by-election|1939 by-election]] || [[Southwark North (UK Parliament constituency)|Southwark North]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 5,815 || 57.4 || 1<ref name="45by">[[Labour Party (UK)|Labour 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.</ref>
|-
| [[1945 UK general election|1945 general election]] || [[Southwark North (UK Parliament constituency)|Southwark North]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 5,943 || 69.0 || 1<ref name="lab45">[[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], ''Report of the Forty-Fifth Annual Conference of the Labour Party'', pp.232-248</ref>
|-
| [[1950 UK general election|1950 general election]] || [[Southwark (UK Parliament constituency)|Southwark]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 35,049 || 68.3 || 1<ref name="lab50">{{cite journal |title=List of Parliamentary Labour candidates and election results, February 23rd, 1950 |journal=Report of the Forty-Ninth Annual Conference of the Labour Party |date=1950 |pages=179&ndash;198}}</ref>
|-
| [[1951 UK general election|1951 general election]] || [[Southwark (UK Parliament constituency)|Southwark]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 36,586 || 72.3 || 1<ref name="lab51">{{cite journal |title=List of Parliamentary Labour candidates and election results, 25th October, 1951 |journal=Report of the Fiftieth Annual Conference of the Labour Party |date=1951 |pages=184&ndash;203}}</ref>
|-
| [[1955 UK general election|1955 general election]] || [[Southwark (UK Parliament constituency)|Southwark]] || {{sortname|George|Isaacs}} || 28,174 || 70.3 || 1<ref name="lab55">[[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], ''Report of the Fifty-Fourth Annual Conference of the Labour Party'', pp.255-275</ref>
|}
==Leadership==
===General Secretaries===
:1889: George Evans
:1890: Thomas O'Grady
:1897: Michael Vaughan
:1898: [[Eddie Smith (trade unionist)|Eddie Smith]]
:1909: [[George Isaacs]]
:1948: Harry Good
:1951: [[Richard Briginshaw]]
:1975: [[Owen O'Brien]]
===Presidents===
:1889: James Keep<ref name="sutherspres">{{cite book |last1=Suthers |first1=R. B. |title=The Story of "NATSOPA" |date=1929 |publisher=NATSOPA |location=London |pages=16&ndash;17}}</ref>
:1891: Frederick Quinn<ref name="sutherspres" />
:1893: James Keep<ref name="sutherspres" />
:1898: [[Eddie Smith (trade unionist)|Eddie Smith]]<ref name="sutherspres" />
:1899: Harry Cook<ref name="sutherspres" />
:1901: J. B. Sullivan<ref name="sutherspres" />
:1904: George Cullen<ref name="sutherspres" />
:1905: J. B. Sullivan<ref name="sutherspres" />
:1907: James Keep<ref name="sutherspres" />
:1910: A. Bispham<ref name="sutherspres" />
:1917: J. C. Mead<ref name="sutherspres" />
:1920: George T. Bevan<ref name="sutherspres" />
:1929: William Plunkett<ref name="sutherspres" />
==Footnotes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
*Arthur Marsh, Victoria Ryan and John B. Smethurst, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions''
*James Moran, ''Natsopa: Seventy-five Years''
==External links==
*[https://mrc.epexio.com/records/NSP Catalogue of the Natsopa archives], held at the [[Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick]]
[[Category:1889 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1975 disestablishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Printing trade unions]]
[[Category:Trade unions established in 1889]]
[[Category:Trade unions disestablished in 1982]]
[[Category:Trade unions based in London]]
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