United Patternmakers' Association

{{Infobox union

|name = United Patternmakers' Association

|members = 6,842 (1907{{cite book|title=Report on Trade Unions in 1905-1907|date=1909|publisher=Board of Trade|location=London|pages=82–101}})
9,571 (1980){{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=101–102}}

|image =

|founded = 1872

|dissolved = 1984

|merged = Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers-Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section

|key_people = George Buchanan

|headquarters = 15 Cleve Road, West Hampstead

|publication = Patternmaker

|footnotes =

}}

The United Patternmakers Association (UPA) was a trade union in the United Kingdom.

History

The association was founded in 1872 to represent skilled patternmakers in England, following a strike by patternmakers along the River Tyne and River Wear for a nine-hour day. Originally based in London, it transferred its headquarters to Manchester in 1896, to Leeds in 1903, then to Eccles in 1908, returning to London in 1912.John B. Smethurst and Alan Carter, Historical Directory of Trade Unions, Volume 6, pp.204-205

The Associated Patternmakers of Scotland union merged into the UPA in 1912. In 1918, the union balloted its members on joining the new Amalgamated Engineering Union, but this was not approved.{{cite book |last1=Jefferys |first1=James B. |title=The Story of the Engineers |date=1970 |publisher=Reprints in Social and Economic History |location=Edinburgh |page=193}}

During the 1930s, George Buchanan was the union's president, and the union focussed considerable attention on anti-fascist activity. It was initially sympathetic to the Independent Labour Party's split from the Labour Party, although by 1935 Buchanan's union backing was withdrawn.Matthew Worley, Labour's Grass Roots, p.61 It retained a strong craft unionist approach, and resisted the prevailing trend of admitting workers in allied trades.Hugh Armstrong Clegg, Trade Union Officers, p.16

In 1969, the union renamed itself the Association of Patternmakers and Allied Craftsmen.Arthur Ivor Marsh, Concise Encyclopedia of Industrial Relations, p.224 By 1979, its membership stood just under 10,000, mostly in the English Midlands. Only three members were women.Arthur Ivor Marsh, Trade Union Handbook, p.260 In 1984, it merged into the Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Section.

Election results

The union sponsored candidates in numerous Parliamentary elections between 1909 and 1974, most of whom were elected. Almost all ran as Labour Party candidates, the exception being Buchanan in 1931 who was refused Labour Party endorsement, and instead stood for the Independent Labour Party. He ran for that party again in 1935, on this occasion without official backing from the union, although it did set up a voluntary fund for his support, to which members could choose to donate. By 1945, he had returned to the Labour Party.{{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}}

class="wikitable sortable" ! Election !! Constituency !! Candidate !! Votes !! Percentage !! Position
1909 by-election	Sheffield Attercliffe	{{sortname\|Joseph\|Pointer}}	3,531	27.5	1
1910 Jan general election	Sheffield Attercliffe	{{sortname\|Joseph\|Pointer}}	7,755	56.1	1
1910 Dec general election	Sheffield Attercliffe	{{sortname\|Joseph\|Pointer}}	6,532	55.0	1
1922 general election	Glasgow Gorbals	{{sortname\|George\|Buchanan\|George Buchanan (politician)}}	16,478	54.5	1
1923 general election	Glasgow Gorbals	{{sortname\|George\|Buchanan\|George Buchanan (politician)}}	17,211	67.2	1
1924 general election	Glasgow Gorbals	{{sortname\|George\|Buchanan\|George Buchanan (politician)}}	19,480	65.9	1
1929 general election	Glasgow Gorbals	{{sortname\|George\|Buchanan\|George Buchanan (politician)}}	25,134	74.8	1
rowspan=2\| 1931 general election	Glasgow Gorbals	{{sortname\|George\|Buchanan\|George Buchanan (politician)}}	19,278	58.1	1
Stoke	{{sortname\|Ellis\|Smith}}	13,264	30.3	2
1935 general election	Stoke	{{sortname\|Ellis\|Smith}}	20,992	52.7	1
rowspan=2\| 1945 general election	Glasgow Gorbals	{{sortname\|George\|Buchanan\|George Buchanan (politician)}}	21,073	80.0	1
Stoke	{{sortname\|Ellis\|Smith}}	29,551	69.1	1
1950 general election	Stoke-on-Trent South	{{sortname\|Ellis\|Smith}}	34,339	64.5	1
1951 general election	Stoke-on-Trent South	{{sortname\|Ellis\|Smith}}	35,261	65.8	1
1955 general election	Stoke-on-Trent South	{{sortname\|Ellis\|Smith}}	31,003	63.6	1
1959 general election	Stoke-on-Trent South	{{sortname\|Ellis\|Smith}}	29,578	59.3	1
1964 general election	Stoke-on-Trent South	{{sortname\|Ellis\|Smith}}	28,928	60.6	1
1974 Feb general election	Stretford	{{sortname\|Kenneth\|Anthony\|nolink=1}}	19,641	35.2	2

Officials

=General Secretaries=

:1872: R. C. Douglas{{cite book |last1=Mosses |first1=William |title=The History of the United Pattern Makers' Association |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofunitedp00mossiala |date=1922 |publisher=United Patternmakers' Association |location=London}}

:1872: R. Reay

:1884: William Mosses

:1917: Alan Findlay

:1941: Wilfred Beard

:1967: Samuel McLaren

:1969: Gerry Eastwood