I’ve been reading through the January/February edition of Journalist, the official magazine for the National Union of Journalists.

The NUJ celebrated its centenary at the end of 2006. Here’s a summary of the union’s Manchester beginnings, from the NUJ website:

William Newman “Tommy” Watts, the union’s first general secretary until his early death in 1918, was a reporter at the Manchester Evening News and the first president was chief reporter at the Manchester Guardian.

Until 1912, Manchester was the largest NUJ branch and it has always played a big role in the union’s history – particularly during the years of “the other Fleet Street” when all national newspapers had offices in the city.

The NUJ’s first office was in Tommy Watts’ home in north Manchester and the first circulars to the “working journalists of the United Kingdom” were taken to the post box by Watts’ four children in baskets and his youngest son’s toy wheelbarrow.

The image above is of the delightfully-named Fatted Calf Hotel, off Market Street, where it is claimed that the NUJ was founded.