Ron Davis Collection

Ronald Davis (1920-1996) was a typographer and labour councillor.  He studied at Margaret Street, Birmingham School of Printing in the late 1930’s and was serving an apprenticeship as a printer-compositor when the second world war began. From 1940 Ron served in the British Army returning to his former apprenticeship in 1946 once the war was over.

Ron worked as a printer compositor at Frank Juckes in Camp Hill, Birmingham from the 1940s to 1980’s. While working here, he joined the Birmingham Typographical Association (later the National Graphical Association) and became active in the unions , representing the union within the labour party and serving as the president of the Birmingham Typographical Society. 

In 1966  Ron stood for election and was elected to be a Labour Councillor for Warely Council.  He lost his seat in 1968 but in 1970  he won the seat for Soho Ward, Smethwick, a seat that he held for the rest of his life. In his political career he would go on to server a term as Mayor of Sandwell and leader of the council.

The collection contains material relating to Ron Davis’ political and professional careers. The typographical collection contains books about printing techniques, examples of his own work, some sketches, printers union paraphernalia, and samples of printed media collected by Ron throughout his life, as well as some biographical notes. The smaller political collection includes a selection of campaign leaflets and a Labour party proposal for action in the 1980’s.