Percy Cottrell (1881 – 2 February 1948) 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 unionist. Born in

Delph Delph (Old English ''(ge)delf'' a quarry) is a village in the civil parish of Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies amongst the Pennines on ...

, Cottrell began working at the Delph Co-operative Society at the age of ten. He joined the

Amalgamated Union of Co-operative Employees The Amalgamated Union of Co-operative Employees (AUCE) was a trade union representing retail and related staff of co-operative businesses in the United Kingdom. The union was founded in 1891 at a meeting in Romiley and was originally named the Ma ...

(AUCE) and in 1902 became the founding president of the Saddleworth

Trades Council A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of labour unions or union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, region, or provincial or ...

. He received a

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 ...

scholarship to study at

Ruskin College Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is an independent educational institution in Oxford, England. It is not a college of Oxford University. It is named after the essayist, art and social critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) an ...

, receiving a diploma in economics and political science. Cottrell gradually rose in the Delph Co-op, until in 1923 he became president of the society. The AUCE became part of the

National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers The National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers (NUDAW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded in 1921, when the Amalgamated Union of Co-operative Employees merged with the National Union of Warehouse and ...

, and Cottrell came to serve as the Manchester divisional representative on its executive. In 1942, he was elected as its president. He remained in post when, in 1947, it became part of the new

Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) is a trade union in the United Kingdom, consisting of around 360,000 members. Usdaw members work in a variety of occupations and industries including: shopworkers, factory and warehouse wo ...

, but died early in 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cottrell, Percy 1881 births 1948 deaths Alumni of Ruskin College People from Saddleworth Presidents of British trade unions