{{Short description|Trade union}} {{Infobox union |name = United Patternmakers' Association |location = United Kingdom |affiliations = TUC, CSEU, LMTU, Labour |num_members = 6,842 (1907<ref>{{cite book|title=Report on Trade Unions in 1905-1907|date=1909|publisher=Board of Trade|location=London|pages=82–101}}</ref>)<br/>9,571 (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=101–102}}</ref> |image = |founded = 1872 |dissolved = 1984 |merged_into = 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,<ref name="marsh" /> following a strike by patternmakers along the River Tyne and River Wear for a nine-hour day.<ref name="encyc" /> 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.<ref name="smethurst">John B. Smethurst and Alan Carter, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions, Volume 6'', pp.204-205</ref>

The Associated Patternmakers of Scotland union merged into the UPA in 1912.<ref name="smethurst" /> In 1918, the union balloted its members on joining the new Amalgamated Engineering Union, but this was not approved.<ref name="aeu">{{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}}</ref>

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to the Independent Labour Party's split from the Labour Party, although by 1935 Buchanan's union backing was withdrawn.<ref>Matthew Worley, ''Labour's Grass Roots'', p.61</ref> It retained a strong craft unionist approach, and resisted the prevailing trend of admitting workers in allied trades.<ref>Hugh Armstrong Clegg, ''Trade Union Officers'', p.16</ref>

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

==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.<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 |archive-date=2018-08-17 |access-date=2018-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817161444/https://ore.exeter.ac.uk/repository/bitstream/handle/10871/32856/ParkerJ.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{| 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<ref name="mosses">{{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}}</ref> :1872: R. Reay<ref name="mosses" /> :1884: William Mosses<ref name="mosses" /> :1917: Alan Findlay<ref name="mosses" /> :1941: Wilfred Beard :1967: Samuel McLaren :1969: Gerry Eastwood

===Presidents=== :1872: N. Charlton<ref name="mosses" /> :1876: C. Mothersdale<ref name="mosses" /> :1880: S. T. Taylor<ref name="mosses" /> :1884: R. Brown<ref name="mosses" /> :1884: T. Souter<ref name="mosses" /> :1885: John Livingston<ref name="mosses" /> :1888: George E. Wilson<ref name="mosses" /> :1891: Thomas Goodall<ref name="mosses" /> :1892: Joseph W. Field<ref name="mosses" /> :1893: Joseph Taylor<ref name="mosses" /> :1894: William Williams<ref name="mosses" /> :1895: Fred W. Kent<ref name="mosses" /> :1896: John Mills<ref name="mosses" /> :1897: Ed Appleby<ref name="mosses" /> :1899: J. M. Whittaker<ref name="mosses" /> :1900: Thomas Battison<ref name="mosses" /> :1901: J. M. Whittaker<ref name="mosses" /> :1902: A. Mackenzie<ref name="mosses" /> :1903: Arthur Pearson<ref name="mosses" /> :1909: John Mills<ref name="mosses" /> :1913: Albert E. Wardale<ref>United Patternmakers' Association, "Obituary", ''Annual Report'' (1963)</ref> :1932: George Buchanan :1946: Ellis Smith :1966: Victor MacDonald :1977:

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://mrc.epexio.com/records/UPA Catalogue of the UPA archives], held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick

{{Authority control}}

Category:United Patternmakers' Association Category:1872 establishments in the United Kingdom Category:Engineering trade unions Category:Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Category:Trade unions established in 1872 Category:Trade unions disestablished in 1984 Category:Patternmakers (industrial) Category:Craft unions Category:Trade unions based in London