Pioneers Display

To promote the newly refurbished Rochdale Pioneers Museum there is a display of photographs with text at the Unicorn Co-Operative Grocery store in Chorlton.

It captures scenes from Toad Lane through the ages. The Pioneers only traded from this store for 23 years but it has become the shrine to the birthplace of co-operation.

You can probably give credit to George Jacob Holyoake for immortalising the Pioneers struggle and achievements with a book in 1857.

Fortunately the Co-operative Union had the foresight back around 1925 to buy the property when it was a pet shop and turn it into a museum.

Since then the story has been the subject of two films, in 1944 and 2012, several books and hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles.

Anyway it is a good display and many of the photographs will be new to a lot of people. A good example of co-operation between co-operatives.

Early Co-operatives Ancoats

Alright it's not Chorlton, we're still in Ancoats in the 1860's which is where the M&SE Co-op Society opened in 1859. Seventy years of expansion later they reached Hardy Lane.

Classified adverts in 19th Century newspapers are full of property transactions and from these you find parcels of land up for sale and how much rent was payable. By order of the trustees under the will of the late James Thompson four lots of property in Salford, Ardwick and Ancoats in Manchester went up for auction in May 1862. One lot took my eye as there was a co-operative store on the land. Also the Indigo Street Independent Chapel, schoolroom, butchers, the Royal Hen & Chickens Brewery and twenty five cottages.  Cottages is describing back to back one up one down small terrace houses. All packed into 1,750 square yards with the River Medlock as the northern boundary. If the census was checked we could find how many souls resided in this block.

It is a small area. A mere 20 per cent of a football pitch, about two penalty areas and the semi-circle in front of it. I've seen plenty of football pitches so have this area of land fixed in my mind - Old Trafford is 1.82 acres and City's pitch 1.84 acres. This plot of land is 0.36 acres. I doubt if there was a tree, garden or blade of grass in sight.

But what was the co-operative store? It wasn't the Equitable Society, and I think it is the Industrial Society. "The society commenced operations on a small scale in 1856, in Bridge Street" - report by Mr. H. R. Bayley the Secretary, at the 7th annual tea party of the Industrial Society at the Free Trade Hall. Can't be sure which Bridge Street in Manchester that was, there were several before streets were renamed in the 1960's to stop confusion with postal addresses. He goes on to say "another store had been erected in Stockport Road during the last year at a cost of £1,020. " - Manchester Courier Wednesday 1st February 1865.

"There was an earlier Manchester and Salford Industrial Society before 1859. It had a shop at 519, Ashton Old Road, Openshaw, and one in Ardwick, with a stone beehive over the door. The beehive was still there in 1878, but over a toffee shop." George Jacob Holyoake in his "History of Co-operation" Chapter 16.

Still can't be absolutely certain. Yet all this is typical of the start of modern consumer co-operation, that began with the Rochdale Pioneers in 1844. On grimy back streets, in sooty industrial cities. All this area has been swept away in slum clearance, the Mancunian Way was built nearby and a small industrial estate put in place.

Photo of Indigo Street, Gable of No. 18, m11739 taken in 1901 courtesey of Manchester City Libraries Image Collection.

Earlier post on Manchester & Salford Industrial Co-op Society - here.

Civic Pride

Manchester Civic Week was 2nd - 9th October 1926. It featured a pageant through to Albert Square, concerts and you could visit factories in Trafford Park to see how products were produced. A full programme of pride and propaganda. The "Manchester Guardian" had a supplement and this is a colour advert from it.

This advert shows four co-operative societies that traded within the boundaries of the city - Manchester & Salford Equitable Co-operative Society, the Failsworth Industrial Society, Beswick Co-operative Society and the Blackley Co-operative Society. Just over the city limits would be the Prestwich, Eccles Provident, Pendleton, two Oldham societies, Bury, two Rochdale societies and etc.

Co-op Societies were fiercely independent, accountable to their local membership. The downside was they overlapped, and the Beswick opened stores in M&SE territory. Eventually the local strength proved to be a weakness when the multiples got their act together in the 1950's and had stores across the regions of England and with mergers and takeovers became national players.

There is all the symbolism of the sun's rays, a banner being hoisted by strong men above the Manchester coat of arms. The observant will notice that the ship only has two sails, currently it has three and in earlier 19th Century styles it came in full rigging of about 15 sales.

The quote is by George Jacob Holyoake and is a shortened version from which appears in his "The history of co-operation in England: its literature and its advocates" published in 1875.

There is some great silent newsreel footage shot of the parade into Albert Square, Manchester. Stealing the show is the visit by Sir Alan Cobham who was a celebrated air pioneer. Silent footage and copyright restricted but you can view it here.

Photo credits : Mickey Ashworth Flickr Photos

George Jacob Holyoake's book is in the Internet Archive. The quote is on page 5

Origins of M/c and Salford Co-op

"Manchester and Salford Society.—Few are aware that there is a Sunrise store in Manchester. The great Co-operative Society of the City and Salford situated in Downing Street is of this class. Mr. Charles Wright calls it the "Acorn" store, which —owing in no mean measure to his services as its secretary—is now an Oak store. The "Acorn" was sown at 169, Great Ancoats Street, in June, 1859. It began more hopefully than most stores. It had 111 members and a capital of £289. Its sales in the first week were £32. The rent of their shop was only £13, yet its receipts for the first complete year were £7,687."
The History of Co-operation by George Jacob Holyoake - taken from Chapter 12 published 1875 and revised 1906.

George Jacob Holyoake (1817–1906), atheist and freethinker, self-proclaimed 'agitator', champion of the working class, and co-operator, was born at Birmingham on 13 April 1817. There is an excellent website of Holyoake's writings.

He classifies Co-ops in the following ways :
"Co-operative Stores may be regarded as divisible into Dark Stores, Twilight Stores, and Sunrise Stores. The "Dark" Stores are those which give no share of profits to those they employ—give credit—which keeps up the habit of indebtedness in their members—and have no education fund in their rules. The "Twilight " stores are those which have some features or others of a "Sunrise" Store, but not all. "Sunrise" Stores are those which have the cardinal features of ready-money dealing, provision for intelligence, and who give the same dividend on the wages of all their employees as they give to the consumer who purchases at their counter, If "Sunrise" Stores increase it will be owing to the Women's Guilds, when they understand what true Co-operation means."

The website starts with the work of the Chartist, poet, author, and free thinker, Gerald Massey and has writings from other contemporaries besides G.J. Holyoake.