Alfred Evans (1851 or 1852 – 17 August 1918) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

organiser. Evans was general secretary of the Printers' and Stationers' Warehousemen, Cutters and Assistants' Union from its formation in 1899.

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

, "Obituary: Mr A. Evans", ''Annual Report of the 1918 Trades Union Congress'', p.139 He took the union through a series of mergers; notably, the National Bookfolders' and Kindred Trades Union joined, giving the union a significant female membership.Arthur Marsh and John B. Smethurst, ''Historical Directory of Trade Unions'', vol.5, p.50 Evans became a keen advocate of women's trade unionism. In 1914, Evans took the Warehousemen and Cutters into a further merger, forming the

National Union of Printing and Paper Workers The National Union of Printing and Paper Workers was a trade union representing workers in the printing industry in the United Kingdom. The union was founded in 1914 by the merger of the National Amalgamated Society of Printers' Warehousemen and ...

, and he again became general secretary of the new union. In this role, he promoted the construction of a large convalescent home for workers in

Carshalton Carshalton () is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated south-southwest of Charing Cross, in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalton ...

, which was completed before the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Evans also held various posts in the broader union movement: he was a member of the

Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

from 1911 until 1915, served on the executive of the

Printing and Kindred Trades Federation The Printing and Kindred Trades Federation (P&KTF) was a trade union federation in the United Kingdom. History The federation was established at a conference in Manchester on 8 September 1890, organised on the initiative of George D. Kelley. Th ...

, and also as its London District Secretary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Alfred 1850s births 1918 deaths British trade union leaders Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress