The Apostrophe Protection Society is a UK society with "the specific aim of preserving the correct use of this currently much abused punctuation mark". It was founded in 2001 by John Richards, a retired

sub-editor Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material ( copy) to improve readability and fitness, as well as ensuring that text is free of grammatical and factual errors. ''The Chicago Manual o ...

, in response to his observations of widespread incorrect use of the

apostrophe The apostrophe ( or ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for two basic purposes: * The marking of the omission of one ...

. The original members of the society were Richards and his son, Stephen. By June 2001, following an article in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', there were 257 members. Initially, the society's work focused on the town of

Boston, Lincolnshire Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Boston is north of London, north-east of Peterborough, east of Nottingham, south-east of Lincoln, south-southeast of ...

, where Richards lived. Its first successful correction was getting the local library to write "CDs" instead of "CD's". The society's website includes many claimed examples of apostrophe "abuse"; it says it is intended to help correct, rather than chide, offenders. Richards said he had a standard, polite letter that explained the basic rules for apostrophe use, which he sent to supporters to forward to offending businesses and other organisations. One issue that the society intervened in more than once was the tendency of businesses originally named after people not to include apostrophes in their names. In 2006, the society called for apostrophes to be used in the names of

Harrods Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to ot ...

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridg ...

, and

Currys Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones. E ...

. In 2012,

Waterstones Waterstones, formerly Waterstone's, is a British book retailer that operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and also other nearby countries. As of February 2014, it employs around 3,500 staff in the UK and Europe. An average-sized Wa ...

decided to remove the apostrophe it had used until then, a move to which Richards objected, saying "It's just plain wrong. It's grammatically incorrect. If

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...

and

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

can get it right, then why can't Waterstone's?". Place names and signage also came in for criticism. In 2009, when Birmingham City Council decided to remove apostrophes from all its street signs, the Apostrophe Protection Society objected in strong terms. Richards described the move as "a terrible example", "retrograde", and "utter chaos". In 2013, the society objected to a similar change being made by

Mid Devon Mid Devon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in Tiverton, Devon, Tiverton. The district was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the boroug ...

District Council and the council reversed its decision a week later. Following that apparent success in May, in June Richards backed a campaign begun by "The Apostrophe Vigilante" to have the apostrophe reinstated in the name of

Princes Street Princes Street ( gd, Sràid nam Prionnsan) is one of the major thoroughfares in central Edinburgh, Scotland and the main shopping street in the capital. It is the southernmost street of Edinburgh's New Town, stretching around 1.2 km (thr ...

in Edinburgh, from which it had been removed in the 1830s. As of 2019, that campaign has not been successful. Other complaints involved the renaming of Dundee Council's Children and Families' Service to remove the apostrophe, and a temporary road sign in Hartlepool that read "Parking Bay's Suspended". In 2001, Richards won the satiric

Ig Nobel Prize The Ig Nobel Prize ( ) is a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. Its aim is to "honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." The name o ...

for "his efforts to protect, promote, and defend the differences between plural and possessive". In December 2019, when Richards was 95, he announced that the society was shutting down, saying that, despite its efforts, "fewer organisations and individuals are now caring about the correct use of the apostrophe". John Richards died on 30 March 2021, aged 97. A tribute appeared on the legacy Apostrophe Protection Society website. The ownership of the Apostrophe Protection Society and its website transferred to Bob McCalden on 5 February 2022.

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References

{{reflist 2001 establishments in the United Kingdom Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2001 Punctuation of English

See also

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