The Court Officers' Association was a

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 ( ...

representing staff in the British

county court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...

system. The union described itself as having been founded in 1885 as the County Court Association, although a union of this name existed as early as 1881. It renamed itself as the County Court (Clerical and Officers) Association in 1912, and as the County Court Officers' Association in 1921. The union represented clerks, bailiffs, ushers and typists working in the county courts, and was the only union recognised by the government to negotiate on their behalf. In 1924, county court staff officially became

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

s, and the union thereafter worked closely with other civil service unions. It joined the Civil Service Confederation, and then in 1939 became a founder member of its successor, the Civil Service Alliance. It joined the

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 ...

in 1966, at which time it had 5,190 members. From 1969, it was represented on the staff side of the

Whitley Council Whitley may refer to: Places ;United Kingdom *Whitley, Berkshire, a suburb of Reading *Whitley, Cheshire, a village near Warrington *Whitley, Coventry, a suburb of Coventry, West Midlands *Whitley, Essex, near Birdbrook * Whitley, Wigan, Greater M ...

for the civil service.{{cite book , last1=Marsh , first1=Arthur , last2=Ryan , first2=Victoria , title=Historical Directory of Trade Unions , volume=1 , date=1980 , publisher=Gower , location=Farnborough , isbn=0566021609 , page
71–72
, url=https://archive.org/details/historicaldirect0004mars/page/71 In 1974, the union merged into the

Civil and Public Services Association The Civil and Public Services Association (CPSA) was a trade union in the United Kingdom, representing civil servants. History The union was founded in 1921, when the Civil Service Clerical Union and the Clerical Officers' Association merged ...

References

Trade unions established in 1885 Trade unions disestablished in 1974 Defunct trade unions of the United Kingdom Public sector trade unions