Henry Slatter (15 October 1830 – 5 July 1902) was a

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trade union leader. Born in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, Slatter moved with his family to

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when he was five years old, and was educated at a Unitarian Mutual Improvement School. He completed an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

as a printer before relocating to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, where he worked for the ''

Manchester Examiner and Times The ''Manchester Examiner'' was a newspaper based in Manchester, England, that was founded around 1845–1846. Initially intended as an organ to promote the idea of Manchester Liberalism, a decline in its later years led to a takeover by a group w ...

''."Mr Henry Slatter, J.P.", ''

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 ...

'', 5 July 1902 Slatter was a founder of the

Typographical Association The Typographical Association (TA) was a trade union representing typographers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. History The National Typographical Association collapsed in 1848, and delegates from across Yorkshire and Lancashire met at Angel ...

, and joined its executive after its headquarters moved to Manchester in 1863. In 1869, he was elected as the union's general secretary. Under his leadership, the union began offering benefits to members who could not find work, and started a pension scheme. He also represented the union at 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 ...

(TUC), serving on the

Parliamentary Committee of the TUC 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 ...

for many years, as its chairman in 1879 and its treasurer from 1886. He resigned from the Parliamentary Committee in 1890, in protest at the victory of the supporters of New Unionism in that year's votes. In 1883, Slatter was appointed as a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

, one of the first working-class magistrates in Manchester. He was also a founder of the Co-operative Printing Society. Slatter retired in 1897, and his union awarded him a pension of £100 per year. He died in 1902.Annie Ravenhill-Johnson, ''The Art and Ideology of the Trade Union Emblem, 1850–1925'', p.110

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slatter, Henry 1830 births 1902 deaths English trade unionists Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress People from Cheltenham