The development of co-operative retailing in England and Wales, 1851–1901: a geographical study

Abstract

Between 1851 and 1901 the scale of co-operative retailing in England and Wales increased markedly, with a significant surge of foundations c1860. Success was not, however, geographically uniform. The degree to which societies were concentrated in south-east Lancashire and the West Riding declined, but co-operation remained strongest in parts of northern industrial England and the eastern midlands. Especial weakness in London epitomized difficulties experienced by co-operatives in the largest cities. Weakness was not necessarily a reflection of a lack of early efforts to establish societies—these were more numerous and widespread than previously acknowledged. Awareness of co-operative ideas spread widely and quickly, but they were often difficult to put into effect and some societies collapsed rapidly. This partly arose from inadequate understanding of the practicalities of retail trading. It also reflected differing local circumstances affecting the relative collective power and identity of workers and the employers and private retailers who opposed or competed with co-operation. Differences in spheres such as the adequacy of private retail provision, the occupational diversity of the workforce, the level and manner of wage payments, community and residential mobility mesh together with forces related to information diffusion to begin to explain the pattern of local variation in co-operative success underlying bold regional contrasts in its strength. This range of influences reflects the complicated nature of co-operation as both an exercise in working-class collectivism and a commercial operation.