title: Typographical Association
text: # Typographical Association
  
  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. 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 | George Henry Roberts | 11,059 | 37.5 | 1 |
  | 1910 Jan general election | Norwich | George Henry Roberts | 11,159 | 28.7 | 2 |
  | 1910 Dec general election | Norwich | George Henry Roberts | 10,003 | 35.8 | 2 |
  | 1917 by-election | Norwich | George Henry Roberts | unopposed | N/A | 1 |
  | 1918 general election | West Bromwich | Frederick Roberts | 11,572 | 54.0 | 1 |
  | 1922 general election | Buckingham | Owen Connellan | 7,343 | 26.3 | 2 |
  | 1922 general election | West Bromwich | Frederick Roberts | 14,210 | 50.6 | 1 |
  | 1923 general election | West Bromwich | Frederick Roberts | 12,910 | 44.8 | 1 |
  | 1924 general election | West Bromwich | Frederick Roberts | 15,384 | 51.6 | 1 |
  | 1929 general election | West Bromwich | Frederick Roberts | 19,621 | 52.1 | 1 |
  | 1931 general election | West Bromwich | Frederick Roberts | 17,204 | 44.4 | 2 |
  | 1935 general election | Blackburn | George Henry Walker | 34,423 | 23.8 | 4 |
  | 1935 general election | West Bromwich | Frederick Roberts | 19,113 | 51.3 | 1 |
  | 1945 general election | Bristol South | William Wilkins | 24,929 | 58.8 | 1 |
  | 1945 general election | Rossendale | George Henry Walker | 15,741 | 43.6 | 1 |
  | 1950 general election | Bristol South | William Wilkins | 23,456 | 59.9 | 1 |
  | 1950 general election | Woodford | Seymour Hills | 18,740 | 30.0 | 2 |
  | 1951 general election | Bristol South | William Wilkins | 24,444 | 63.3 | 1 |
  | 1955 general election | Bristol South | William Wilkins | 24,954 | 64.1 | 1 |
  | 1959 general election | Bristol South | William Wilkins | 27,010 | 60.8 | 1 |
  
  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
  