Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The National Society was founded in 1889 as the Printers' Labourers' Union, "to protect the interests and wages of printers' labourers ... and to afford them a means of mutual support". In 1899 it was renamed the Operative Printers' Assistants Society, and in 1904 it became the National Society of Operative Printers' Assistants.
In recognition of the skilled managers as well as assistants among its membership, its title was altered again in 1912 to the National Society of Operative Printers and Assistants (NatSOPA). In 1965 the union merged with the National Union of Printing, Bookbinding and Paper Workers to form the Society of Graphical and Allied Trades (SOGAT).
The union was organised on a branch (chapel) basis, each chapel being presided over by its "father".