Centenary of the British Cooperative Movement

Abstract

Although British experiments in consumer cooperation date back to I767, successful cooperation in Britain began on December 21, I844, when the Equitable Pioneers Society opened a shop in a back street, called Toad Lane, in the industrial weaving town of Rochdale.1 Twenty-eight poor men had accumulated, by saving a few pence weekly over the preceding year, the original capital of $I12, to which the largest single contribution was $2o.t With this capital, a stock consisting of 50 pounds of butter, 56 pounds of sugar, six hundredweight of flour, one hundredweight of oatmeal, and two dozen candles was purchased, and a small shop was rented for $50 a year. At