People Australia

Wilfred Joseph (Bill) Ratcliffe (1857-1930) compositor and trade union official

Birth: 30 May 1857 at Chippendale, Sydney, New South Wales, son of Joseph Ratcliffe (1826-1907), a contracting carrier, born at Cotton, Staffordshire, England, and Phillipina, née Metzler (1828-1906), born at Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany. Marriage: 17 February 1879 at Pyrmont, Sydney to Sydney-born Catherine Gertrude Meaney (1859-1938). They had three daughters and seven sons. Death: 29 November 1930 in his usual residence at Ryan Street, Leichhardt, Sydney. Religion: Catholic. 

• Bill was brought up in Pyrmont, Sydney, where in the early sixties his mother was “a prominent figure where goodness and charity were to be dispensed”. In his early days he was an all-round cricketer “of some merit” playing for the Ivanhoe (Pyrmont), Eureka (North Shore) and Leichhardt Clubs.
• He served an apprenticeship with Freeman's Journal. Initially employed in the Evening News office as a hand compositor in about 1880. From about 1895 to 1930 (until his death) he worked as a linotype operator.
• Foundation member of NSW Typographical Association, later merging into the Printing Industry Employees’ Union of Australia (PIEUA). Member of Board of Management from its inception in 1897 until 1929; vice-president 1901-1905, president 1905-1911, 1920-1921 and treasurer 1913; councillor 1920-1921.
• Attended the Australasian Typographical Union (ATU) conferences in Hobart 1907, Brisbane 1910 and Perth 1913 and the annual meetings of PIEUA in Sydney 1917 and Brisbane 1921.
• “A great stickler for Arbitration”, he was an employee representative on the Metropolitan and Country Wages Board in 1910, in which capacity he played a prominent role in negotiations with the Sydney daily newspaper proprietors. Assisted in securing an admission of principle of payment for holidays for piece-workers.
• Retired from union activities in 1929 due to ill-health.
• Cause of death: arteriosclerosis (5 years), angina pectoris (3 months) and gangrene of left leg and foot (10 days).
• His son Wilfred Joseph Ratcliffe (1880-1935), a tram-driver, and trade union official, was a member of the Legislative Assembly for the seats of Botany in 1922-1927, Alexandria in 1927-1930 and Barwon in 1930-1932. He was Minister for Public Works and for Railways from May to October 1927.
• Two of his sons were leading cricketers, one of whom, Andrew Thomas (Andy) Ratcliffe (1891-1974), was an interstate cricketer as a wicket-keeper batsman between 1913 and 1928, toured New Zealand with the Australian team in 1920-1921 and was a State selector.
• Another son Henry Joseph (Harry) Ratcliffe (1889-1957) was a well-known musical comedy singer and actor.

Sources
Printing Trades Journal, 12 July 1927, pp 162-163, 8 January 1929, pp 5-6, 13 January 1931, p 5; Printer, 21 December 1928, p 155, 5 December 1930, p 117; Australasian Typographical Journal, October 1911, pp 12, 14.