Stuart Uttley (1837 – 27 November 1911) was a British trade unionist. Born in Sheffield, Uttley became an apprentice file cutter at the age of fifteen.''Report of the 1912 Annual Conference of the Trades Union Congress'', p.90 In 1869, he left the trade to work at the Atlas Steel Works, but when the economy picked up, he returned to file cutting, became active in the Sheffield Hand File Cutters Society, and was elected as its general secretary in 1877. Through this, he also became active on the Sheffield Federated Trades Council, and served as its secretary from 1883. Uttley represented the Sheffield Trades Council at the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and served on the Parliamentary Committee of the TUC in 1886, and again in 1889. At the TUC, he championed high quality industrial work, and proposed that marks were introduced so that the country of manufacture of items could be determined; this led to the introduction of trademarks through the Merchandise Marks Act 1887.J. Mendelson, W. Owen, S. Pollard and V. M. Thornes, ''The Sheffield Trades and Labour Council 1858–1958'' Uttley's interest in working-class representation in politics led him to stand for

Sheffield Town Council Sheffield City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors. It is currently under No Overall Contr ...

as a Liberal-Labour candidate. He was elected for the St Philip's ward in 1886, and persuaded the council to introduce the country's first "fair contracts" clause. He also championed the municipalisation of the city's tramways, against the wishes of many other Liberals on the council. Uttley was opposed to more radical political movements, outside the Liberal Party. At the 1885 general election, he was critical of Mervyn Hawkes, candidate of the United Committee of Radical and Labour Organisations, claiming that Lib-Lab candidate

Samuel Plimsoll Samuel Plimsoll (10 February 1824 – 3 June 1898) was a British politician and social reformer, now best remembered for having devised the Plimsoll line (a line on a ship's hull indicating the maximum safe draught, and therefore the minimum fr ...

"represented the great majority of working men electors". In 1886, he became a representative of the

Labour Electoral Association {{Short description, Political motive of the Labour Electoral Association The Labour Electoral Association was a political organisation in the United Kingdom which aimed to get working men elected to Parliament. Foundation The issue of political re ...

's Midland district. When the Independent Labour Party (ILP) emerged in the 1890s, Uttley remained strongly supportive of the Liberals, although he tried to use ILP support on the trades council to persuade the local Liberals to put forward more Lib-Lab candidates.David Howell, ''British Workers and the Independent Labour Party, 1888–1906'', pp.268-269 In 1907, Uttley stood down from his trade union roles, taking a post on the council of the Hearts of Oak Friendly Society. When the TUC visited Sheffield in 1910, he was seated on the platform as an honoured visitor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uttley, Stuart 1837 births 1911 deaths British trade union leaders Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress Trade unionists from Sheffield