Charles J. Drummond (30 July 1848 – 10 February 1929) was a British

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 ( ...

leader.

Drummond grew up in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

, where he became a compositor. In 1869, he moved to London, and immediately joined the

London Society of Compositors The London Society of Compositors was a British trade union, representing print workers in London. History The union was founded as the London Union of Compositors in 1834 by the merger of the London Trade Society of Compositors and the Londo ...

(LSC), also becoming active on the London Trades Council. He devoted much of his time to the LSC, and within a few years was elected to its committee and appointed as its chairman. In 1878, he was appointed as assistant secretary of the union, then in 1881 he succeeded as its general secretary.

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 C. J. Drummond", ''Annual Report of the 1929 Trades Union Congress'', pp.269-270 As general secretary, Drummond focused on arbitrating disputes, often finding in favour of the employers,"A printing trade 'umpire'", ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 21 December 1923 and also on an ultimately successful campaign for a nine-hour working day. He supported women joining the union, but only at the lower, journeyman, level, and proposed a resolution stating that "women are not physically capable of performing the duties of a compositor"."The Printing Trade", ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', 24 October 1886 In 1890, he was central to the formation 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 served as its first president. Unlike the large majority of trade unionists, Drummond was a supporter of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. This led to disputes between him and the majority of his union, and he resigned as secretary in 1892. After a period out of work, he found a job with the Labour Department of the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

, and remained in it until his retirement. In 1923,

Harry Levy-Lawson, 1st Viscount Burnham Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson, 1st Viscount Burnham, (18 December 1862 – 20 July 1933) was a British newspaper proprietor. He was originally a Liberal politician before joining the Liberal Unionist Party in the late 1890s. He sat in the Hous ...

hosted a lunch in Drummond's honour, at which he was given an annuity of £200 per year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drummond, C. J. 1848 births 1929 deaths General Secretaries of the London Typographical Association People from Ipswich