City of Bradford Clo/Operative Society Limited Jub Lee H Story

C ity of Bradf ord Clo / operative

Society Limited

JUB LEE ‘ H STORY

8 6 0— 1 9 0

C ompiled by

JOSEPH B E NNETT ( S ecretary)

and

J O HN BALDW IN ( Di rector)

BRADFORD

F r w r o e o d .

The following pages have been compiled under the instruction of the Jubilee Commi ttee of the City of — Bradford C o operative Society after a perusal of t he

ffi n h o cial records , containing early one hundred t ousand

s w s minute , together ith very many new paper reports

of the various public incidents referred to during the

ﬁ s i t s fty year of exi stence .

s i h s The tory w ll be found rat er di j ointed , owing to the difﬁculty of following three sets of records for

r a great po tion of the time covered , seeing the present

society is the result of two separate amalgamations . ffi l The di cu ty has not been want of material , but rather

its curtailment .

C ontents.

E ARLY BEGINNINGS TH E QU E E NS GATE SOCIETY B IOGRAPHI CAL E ARL Y PR OGR E S S METH ODS E AR L Y SUCCESSES A MEMORABLE Y EAR B OW L ING OLD L ANE SOCIETY CONGRATULATION AMAL GAMA TION PROPOSED INTERNAL CHANGES SHORTAGE OF CAPITAL A MEMORABLE PERIOD STEADY GROW TH MONEY BRINGS TROUBLE

C O - OPER ATIVE PRODUCTION

’ THE SOC IE TY S MAJORITY

TW ENTY- FIFTH Y EAR MODERN TIMES L ABOUR PROBLEMS

NE w OFFICIAL S

OVERLAPPING ANOTHER AMAL GAM ATION JUBILEE CELEBRATION

L IST OF OFFICIA LS FROM 1 8 6 0 TO L IST OF COMMITTEEME N

STATISTICS Illustrations .

PA G E

CE T A PRE MIS S S U NB R IDGE R AD Fr on ti s i ece N R L E , O p

’ W ILLIAM JE NNINc s S COTTAGE THE R OE BUCK INN

’ R OBERT BARKER S TICKET OF MEMBERSHIP

TH FI ST SH P MA CH ST R AD E R O , N E ER O THE SE AL OF THE SOCIETY

H W MR . JOHN O ARTH

W MR . E D ARD SCHOFIELD

C T A P MI S S B ID ST T EN R L RE E , R GE REE

OFFIC S A D C MMITT 1 8 6 ER N O EE , 9

O D C T A P MIS S IN B ID ST T W ITH L EN R L RE E R GE REE , GROCERY W ARE HOUSE BEHIND 5 7

PAST PR ESIDENTS 6 3

DIR E CT S 1 8 1 0 1 0 OR 7 , 7 7 , 5 , 9 3 , 3 , 9

DE PAR TME TA MA A S 1 1 1 2 N L N GER 9 , 7

AUDITORS AND SOLICITOR

’ BRADFORD W OME N S GUILD COO PERATIV E H OUSES BRANCH STORES E DUCATION COMMITTEE

’ W EST BOW LING W OMEN S GUIL D

W EST B OW LING CENTR AL PREMISES DRAPERY DEPARTMENT Early Begi n n i n gs

C HAPTER I .

C O - Op e rati on advo cat e d by t h e S o c i al S ci en ce C on gres s an d b L ou s an c t h e Fr en c S oc a R ef orm er —Th e y i Bl , h i l wor k er s of B r adf ord dec ide t o m ake t h e att em pt A S o c et y S art e —Th e s om m t i t d Fir t C it ee .

H E N an artist , in painting a picture , wishes to bring a certain ﬁgu re into prominence he will eff ect hi s obj ect by sketching that ﬁgure in bright

colours against a sombre background . Similarly , and ,

no doubt , governed by a like principle , the historian , anxious to Sh ow to the best advantage the particular cause he has at heart,will frequently depict the time immediately preceding that period he intends to bring out in relief as

Of s o one dark and gloomy days , that the good which may have resulted from the adoption of the particul ar poli cy he advocates may be the better appreciated and recognised . NO such artistic work will be necessary in this story of the

c - r birth and growth of o Ope ation in Bradford . Although it i s true that hard times had been

“f ar experienced , for the Crimean had left its mark on the

r i t s count y , and t—he years immediately following close 1 8 5 7 to I 8 sg were occupied in various attempts to t Historical S ouvenir a} a

improve the lot of the workers , on whom generally the

heavy burden of war falls most severely , yet at the moment of the Opening of our story matters were not quite so bad as they had been and the future outlook was

more promising . Certain schemes were publicly advocated with a view to the amelioration of the condition of the

working classes . The Social Science Congress which met in Glasgow had discussed the problem and had decided in favour of co - Operation as the most hopeful of all the proposed means whereby the condition of the working class might be raised , as it had within it a tendency to induce them to save and so prepare for such evil times as

Of had been experienced . The signs new life and activity were apparent on every Side , as a result of the many

suggestive articles in the press , magazines , and periodicals

of the day . men in B radford , as elsewhere , were awakening to a clearer sense of their own powers and M importance . . Louis Blanc , the French reformer , had fanned the ﬂame by an eloquent address in the Temperance ” C o—O Hall on peration , in which he related to a crowded

audience , chieﬂy composed of the working class , the steps taken by the workers of France to realise among them

Of co - O selves the principles peration , which he described as one of the most practical and permanent results Of the

1 8 8 French Revolution of 4 . It is no wonder , then , that the seed began to take root in Bradford , or rather that the question of ways and means for accomplishing such good results began to be discussed in many of the large work f shops and warehouses O the town . The idea of co - C operation therefore was not born in B radford , it ame as something that had already succeeded elsewhere , and ' meet n s w ere e d . J enn ings s C ottage where the first i g h l "S ee page 5 Historic al S ouve n ir J , J

s et w as the problem Bradford how , and where to begin , and like many other problems the solution was found in several directions . There is strong evidence that several

attempts had been made to establish societies , but beyond ref erences to such as failures and as warnings against it

y to those likel to be led in that direction , nothing of a

y ﬁ NO reall de nite nature can be gathered at this date .

earlv trace of these societies can be found , but the

o f remembrance them , according to Mr . P . T . Macaulay , was such as to strongl y prej udice those who had had an y connection with them against an y other attempt in a

similar direction . These fears , however , were gradually

f or being removed , at the time of the Social Science Congress in Glasgow it was stated that there were close

1 6 0 y O on societies alread formed and in active peration , and that they possessed among them capital amounting

to over a million pounds sterling .

\Vhi le these earlier attempts at co - Operation in B radford were failures and their shadowy history h as been

Of fﬁ lost in the dim uncertainty the past , no great di culty has been experienced in tracing the history Of the present

Docum en t arv society . and other evidence can be produced to Show that C O - Operation in this district took

its rise high up on the hills at Queensbury , then like a

S lowlv stream it trickled down to Great Horton . Some time afterwards it sprang up in two distinct places in

Bradford . Almost simultaneously , at any rate within a

on e few weeks of another , there became established the " Bradford Ind ustrial Society and also the Bradford

i s Provident Society . It interesting to notice how this

u i s came abo t , because it evident that both sprang from the ” " A 3 E arly B egi n ni ngs

rc d scou e . same Two individuals hailing from Har en , near

Bingley , where a society was already established , came to work in Bradford . They were respectively Tom Bower

ot and J ohn Howarth . After a time the former g a situation

at Queensbury , where he came in direct contact with the active workers of the successful society which had been

established there . What could be more natural than for

hi s Tom Bower to convey to J ohn Howarth , companion

and hi s from Harden , also to more immediate friends , the information thus derived ? It was on the 2 2n d of 6 ’ 1 8 0 . March , , then , according to Mr Bower s statement , that some half dozen men and three women were seated

a. in cottage in Wood Road , Bowling Old Lane , in which

a Mr . William J ennings lived , discussing the question of — how best to establish one of these co operative societies about which they had heard so much and which were

S O doing much for the working classes in other towns . The women took a prominent part in the discussion and promised to become subscribers themselves if a start was made . E ventually it was resolved that an attempt should be made and that each should commence paying Sixpence per week towards raising a fund for opening a shop . Most

’ Of these people were employed at Mitchell B rothers Mill ,

Manchester Road . A start was there and then made ; some took up two

was shares and some three shares . The money placed in

the savings bank and slowly accumulated . Meanwhile the weekly meetings still went on for the purpose of drawing up rules and regulations and receiving the contributions ,

ﬁ v e as well as to enrol new members . After about months

- the membership had grown to thirty one , which for ‘ Historical S ouve n i r J c}

- various reasons afterwards dropped to twenty eight . E xactly the same number as formed the Rochdale

Pioneer Society . About this same period another group of individuals after due consideration had come to a similar decision . These were mostly mechanics connected with the

Amalgamated Society of E ngineers , who held their

u meetings in the old Roe B ck Inn , which formerly stood I between the bottom of v eg at e and Market Street . Here

the Shining light was Mr . Robert Barker , of Bowling Iron

Mr works , who was ably assisted by . E dward Norton and

' ’ W r ll An d r n . . oo e e t o s a Mr William , of Swithin factory

All their logic seemed to be lost , however , for while many of their colleagues who decided to j oin actually did com

as mence to subscribe , they afterwards drew out again if the landlord Of the Roe Buck had stronger claims and attraction f or their money than t he desire to better their condition in

life , or it may be they lacked that inspiration which the other group had through the presence Of the women

members . When they found their efforts unavailing several of them j oined their forces with the group Of Mitchell

’

Brothers employees before mentioned , and thus strength ened , the place of meeting was changed from Wood Road

to Clayton Lane , Manchester Road . With this augmentation Of their numbers the spirits

Of of this band rose , and when several fered to increase their contributions if a shop could be Opened matters m began to look ore healthy and vigorous . E ncouraged

f s 1 0 by such o fers , but more e pecially when sums of £5 , £ ,

2 0 and even one of £ were brought , they decided to take

1 what was then No . 47 Manchester Road , at a rental of

Histo rical S ouve ni r J J

1 i s . l £3 per year This shop sti l standing , but the number ﬁ has been altered , and can be identi ed now as the shop

at the corner of Adelaide Street . To make certain of hi t s , however , was not so easy as one might suppose , for

directories were not regularly published at that period , and the testimony of several living witnesses was at such variance that it became necessary to secure more reliable ﬁ evidence . This was done , and authentic con rmation

O w btained , some of hich , however , was supplied outside the

- C O Operative Society altogether . On the same evening

t 1 8 6 z l s 0 . (September , ) it was also decided that Messrs

\Vi lli am Thomas Wilkinson , and Thomas Morte be ﬁt and proper persons to be a committee to manage

ﬁ ﬁ u so the tting up of the shop xt res , and eager were they now to get to business that they agreed to begin that duty

- the next dav , which was a Saturday , at half past three

’ o v clock . It was also decided to gi e notice to the Savings

Bank for the withdrawal of the money invested therein ,

was besides which , and as showing their faith , it agreed to

0 0 20 0 print 4 copies of the rules and contribution cards . Within a fortnight it was thought advisable to strengthen f the temporary committee by the addition O Messrs .

\Vi lli am Kitchenman , J ohn Paxton , David Helliwell , and

S uck wo rt h f u J oseph , and also to rnish the committee room (above the shop) with a table and eight chairs In a few days the Shop was Opened with Cornelius

8 0 0 Lumb as manager . Of the £ capital , £5 were Spent

ﬁ sho whi ch ﬁ sum in tting up the , left the magni cent of p ' £3 0 with which to provide a varied stock of all sorts of

eatables for the members . Immediately after Opening the Shop a general meeting ” 9 A 3 Early B egin ni ngs

of the members was called for the purpose of electing

Ofﬁ cers . The minutes of this meeting have been preserved and

t - l 6 t h 1 8 6 0 sta e that it was held on the of October , , and for the ﬁrst time the name of the society is given as The

Bradford Provident Industrial Society , and the following fﬁ were elected as o cers for the ensuing twelve months .

Pr esi d en t : Thomas Bower .

T eas ur er r E dwin Hopkinson .

ecretar S y J ohn Lockwood .

T u ee l ll r r st s : Wi liam VVOO e .

William Kitchenman .

J ohn Steel .

C ommi ttee A r m : E b . dwin Norton , Robinson , J ohn

o Savile , J ohn Paxton , David Wils n , William

J ennings , William Sykes , Thomas Peel .

4 r bi tr at0 rs : William Sugden , J ohn Mitchell , William

Rushworth , J ames Richards , J ohn Smith . C HAPTE R I I .

- f or Th e start o f a S eco n d C o—o p er at iv e S oc i et y i n B rad d A S y m pat heti c Edi t o r New sp aper C o rres po n den ce E arly S uggesti o n s as t o t h e best f o r m o f C O - operat i on

o s a o n - o Pr po al f or a N t i al C o o perat iv e S ci ety .

Having seen the Bradford Provident Industrial Society

us s ee f or established , let now how our other stream fared , although the two were entirely separated f or a number of years they after wards came together again and have ever since ﬂowed as one stream .

1 8 It was towards the close of the year 5 9 that , after lessons in a Mutual Improvement Class which was held in

’

Mitchell s Temperance Hotel , Union Street , J ohn Howarth proposed that the class resolve itself into a committee ” - to organise and establish a co operative society . This

was seconded by Mr . Hugh Watson and agreed to

unanimously . Mr . Craven J owett was appointed chair

man , and Mr . Howarth , secretary , about a dozen names being given in for membership , after which the meeting adj ourned till t h e following night . At ﬁrst these meetings seemed to be more in the nature of propagandist gatherings where discussions were

1 0

' Robert Bafker s Ticket o f Membership .

"S ee page 6 " 9 s 5 The Q ueen sg ate S o ciety

i t s A from very inception . In this article he said short time ago a few working men resolved upon starting a co - operative association in this town and were not long before they had rules drawn out and registered according to Act of Parliament . This form of industrial economy

ff to a ords facilities for the poorest become members , as

ﬁ v e u on shares , being the lowest n mber granted , the sum

-— d . weekly to be paid is only 3 g , which includes a fraction

that goes to the management fund , while to those who are better off it off ers great encouragement for the investment of savings , as 5 per cent is paid for every pound of capital invested , not to speak of the bonus which the members ﬁ receive on dividing the pro ts . These and other induce ments are causing numbers to take advantage of the opportunity at present held out to them , and we under stand that the association now numbers upwards of

0 0 an d seventy members , who have taken up between 5

6 1 t o 0 0 shares of £ each . The committee expect be able to open a store in as central a situation as possible in the course of a few weeks . Some idea of the n ature of the discussions which

co - occupied the attention of these early operators , who

met week by week to pay their contributions , can be

by . formed from a paper written Mr J oshua Clarkson , ffi Hall Lane , Bradford , and serves to Show the di culties

y f with which the were aced , and also accounts to some extent for the long time that elapsed between the ﬁrst f meeting and the opening o the stores . Mr . Clarkson claimed to have been a co - operator before coming to

h ad a Bradford , and also that he had experience and

' knowledge of the causes which led t o so many failures in

1 3 Histo rical S ouven i r J J

the past . He was anxious therefore that there should be no risk run in this instance . Reading the signs of the

was ev e times , he said it was evident the country on the

co - n of a great operative development . Worki g men were mentally realising the possibility of becoming the masters instead of the slaves of capital . The low seething sound of the great tidal wave of public opinion so conﬁdently expected and waited for by all Shades of Social Reformers was y then clearl and distinctly heard in the distance , and he advised the sai d ref ormers to prepare without delay to harness the new and mighty power which was approaching

to the conditions of success . Strong arms , stout hearts , and clear heads alone were wanted to inaugurate this mighty revolution in which all would be gainers and none

“ ” losers . Hereditary bondsmen , he cried , know ye not , ” who would be free themselves must strike the blow . His ﬁrst argument was that it was of the greatest importance that it Should be really co - operative and not a number of small competing societies scattered through

u the co ntry . Here we have a forecast of the scheme

- promulgated by Mr . J . C . Gray at the Birmingham C o opera “ 1 tive Congress in 9 0 6 . He said if the working men split themselves up into small competing companies very little

would be gained , for the same evils as exist at present would speedily creep in and great waste and unnecessary

expense in distribution would be the consequence . To avoid anything so fatal to the co - operative idea he suggested that all the di fferent companies which were being formed into societies in Bradford should be called together and amalgamated so as to form branches of the Leeds

- C o operative Flour Mill Society . By such means these

1 4 ad . Sho Manchester Ro The First p ,

"S ee page i Histo rical S ouve n i r J J

u societies wo ld at once avail themselves of the prestige ,

the business experience , the assistance and success of an

com arat i v elv old established and p wealthy society , which was an ad v antage to a new beginner that could hardly be

- o ver estimated .

His next point was that they Should not form extravagant expectations as to what co - operation would

do for them , they must not expect to get great riches out

“ of it , at least not such as take unto themselves wings

ﬂy y u and awa . If they co ld aid in introducing a state of things which wo uld bring peace and competence and security against po verty to themselves and their children they would ha ve done a far nobler work than if they had

u u spent their li ves in b ilding p the most princely fortune .

Mr y t o . an The repl this came from Malcolm Ross ,

o — engraver and c pper plate printer in Well Street , who said — the fail ures o f the early attempts at co operation were d ue t o u u ntoward and mischievo s causes . the action of which was common to all movements where there was a deﬁcienc y

u y o f . an j udgment , foretho ght , and calculation Not to deﬁciency in the principle but to a combination of adverse arrangements where perhaps speculative meanness had

u occupied no small space . Such fail res he suggested were

the price paid for experience , and anyone who shrank from attempting to improve his position because someone else

u hi s had missed his way , wo ld regret weakness when he

could not help himself . With regard to the proposal to j oin the Leeds Flour Mill Society as a branch he was

entirely opposed . It would be a grievous blunder to sacriﬁce the independence of the new association from any cowardly fear of its not being able to weather the

1 6 " 9 s 3 The Q uee nsg ate S o ciety

storm . If the men at the head were to be frightened from their manly position by lame advices of that ki nd his

u interest wo ld quickly subside , but he had far more faith v in them than that . He belie ed all who had thrown in their lot in this matter were every whit as earnest as he

i l i d i ﬂﬂcult was himself , and as w l ng to help it through any y which it might have to contend with . Bradford had a popul ation larger than many places where co- operation

u as was S cceeding , such Rochdale , B acup , and Stalybridge ,

‘ s ee of t h em and he could not why it should not rival any , as the identical means to do so were as plentiful here as there . The monthly meeting of the Industrial Society following

s aw this discussion an addition of ten members , which

1 0 0 0 brought the total to , and the share capital to £7 , but at the next after that it was stated that the share capital

1 0 1 0 amounted to £ 5 , and the membership to 3 , and further that a Shop was being ﬁtted up in the centre of the l town and wou d be Shortly opened .

was 0 ueen s at e This shop at 3 Q g (next door to Mr .

ll was Hipwe , the hatter) . A committee appointed to

fi ul purchase the necessary goods , but a dif c ty presented ﬁ h itself then for the rst time . W ere were they to get a ? reliable shopman After much discussion it w as decided f H to o fer the position to Mr . J ohn owarth , who up till then

as . . had acted Secretary Mr Howarth , however , being a

Shoemaker by trade , knowing nothing about groceries , stipul ated that he shoul d be allowed a fortnight in which

ff i to become e cient . This was granted . Bi ographi cal

CHA PTE R I ”.

H ow o n How ar s o em ak er r e a e m se f t o se J h— th , h , p—p r d hi l ll g ro ceries An early S am pl e O r de r Th e First M i n utes o f ’ t h e C om m ee—W c w as t h e F s S oc e ueen s at e itt hi h ir t i ty , Q g ? o r Bridge S treet — As present day co operators owe very much to the self - sacri ﬁci n g individuals who well and truly laid the foundation upon which the present superstructures have

m ay been raised , it be of some interest to know what kind

of men they were , and as Mr . Howarth became a very prominent one among them he m ay be taken as a sample of the grit and determination that characterised many of

I st 1 8 2 them . He was born on the 3 J anuary , 7 , at Harden ,

hi s near Bingley , where he spent early youth . The only

ﬁ v e schooling he had was between the years two and , at which age he commenced to work . His father and mother being hand loom weavers , he became an expert at bobbin

1 5 6 d . winding , for which he received . per week and his

' meals , having to walk a distance of a mile morning and

- evening . At nine years of age he became a hand loom

weaver , and continued at that occupation till the advent of the power loom , which destroyed the manual labour

1 8

Historical S ouve ni r J J

so eight days , which included two Saturdays , for nothing

long as he received an insight into the business . At the

hi s end of the period , during which he worked like a slave , ﬁt master said he was to go into any Shop in the country . On this recommendation the committee of the society at

u y their next meeting d l appointed him manager , and on

1 1 8 6 0 by Saturday , December 5 th , , the shop was opened ﬁ ’ him , with Mrs . Howarth as his assistant , the rst day s takings amounting to £2 5 . Wh at these shops contained on the day of their opening

we do not know , certainly it would be interesting if we did , but there is a fairly complete list of articles ordered on the ﬁrst committee night after the opening of the store in

Manchester Road . The original spelling is maintained , not with any idea of belittling or showin g up the lack of

co - education in these pioneers of operation , for it rather redounds to their credit that , knowing their limitations

in that direction , they bravely undertook duties

u - which many wo ld shrink from to day . First of all it was decided to have a Seale with the Title of the Society on the Margen and in the Center a Bee Iv e ” in accordance with the Pass Book . Then 5 Packs of Best Flower ; 2 Packs thirds ; 3 Packs of Q ate Meal ; 1

Pack of Crushed W eat e 1 Quarter of Malt half pale and

lb 2 . so heigh coloured ; and 5 . of Hops ; cwt common p ;

1 ce lb ff gg of Kean Butter 4 . Co ee , each ground and Bean

1 1 Acwt . Currans B agg Carb Rice ; Roule each of Beef N o and B acken . ext f llows ordinary business Proposed and Caried that all Flower be reduced two Pence per stone . That all Persons Must be up Standing while Speaking

” “ B usn s During es hours . That No Smoking be aloud

20 9 9 s 3 Biog raphic al

i B u n es s s e 2 s . dur ng hours . That the Store Keep r has 4 ” per week until the house be ready for him . That the Store Keeper be paid on the W en s d ay Committee

Meetings . That the Check Book be laid on the Table d ” every We nesday E vening . That a Note be Sent to the Landlord Requesting him to make the Required ” so - alterations , and on for twenty one resolutions passed

that evening .

From the foregoing it wi ll have been gathered that while the Bradford Industrial Society , or , as it became

ueen s at e more famili arly known afterwards , the Q g Society , was the ﬁrst of the two to be registered ; the B radford

wa Provident Society , or the Bridge Street Society as it s

ﬁ AS afterwards called , was the rst to commence business .

w as already mentioned , there only a space of a few weeks fﬁ between them certainly , yet j ust su cient time to give colour to the statement that the fact of the opening of the Manchester Road store spurred on the more slowly moving

2 1 Historical S ouve n i r J J committee of the other society into taking action ; also

to bear out the idea that , to a slight extent , there was a i little friendly r valry between them . It has been said the diff erence between the two committees was that the one

contained all the talkers and the other all the workers , w hence the rapid gro th of the one to that of the other . At any rate if all the talkers belonged to the Queen sg at e

i s Society it certain the Provident possessed a poet , for Shortly after opening the store in Manchester Road it was decided by the committee That the four verses com posed by Abraham Robinson (a member of the committee)

be printed on our Tea Papers , with an ornamental border ,

together with the address of the society , also one half of — the number to be printed with the six points of co operation ” w on them . What the six points ere we have not been

able to learn , nor can we trace any copy of the four verses , which must have been thought very highly of .

ueen s at e Again , if the Q g Society had an advantage in h av i n g Mrs . Howarth to assist her husband , the Provident

did the next best thing , they ordered That two Harden Slips be purchased for the use of committeemen assisting ” i s in the weighing . Probably this would be for what known

as the ﬂour corner , and it was taken in turns , but before the year 1 8 6 0 ended E dward S ch oﬁ eld was engaged permanently to assist on Friday and Saturday evenings . E arly Progre ss

V C HA PTE R l .

S u ccess w b o h so c et es ea s t o S em es f or ran c n — —ith t i i l d ch B hi g Out C o op er at iv e M i ssi on ari es s en t out i n Oppos ite rec on s —Th e e n n n Of r en R a r — rs di ti B gi i g F i dly —iv l y Fi t B alan ce S heet s an d Fi rst G en er al M eet i n gs Wh i t e Abb ey — ' S to re Open ed Prem i ses taken at Vvi b sey an d B o wlin g f or

o er s th .

Business seemed to prosper with both societies , for in a few short months both were on the look—out for planting branches . The Provident authorised the Secretary and m John Saville , and as many of the committee as could ake

it convenient , to attend at the Perseverance Hotel , Lumb

u Lane , with a view to sec ring new members in that s direction , and they must have meant busines , for the Secretary was entrusted by a special minute with the h t e . custody of twenty copies of rules On the other hand , the Queen sg at e Society sent their missionaries in the

opposite direction , to Dudley Hill .

u It is well to notice this manoe vre . The Provident

i t s Society , with headquarters in Manchester Road ,

ueen s at e j ourney towards Manningham , while the Q g

Society , the bulk of whose members belonged to

i s Manningham , invade Dudley Hill , which in the direct opposite direction . E ither may have been chosen at

J Hi sto rical S ouve ni r J J

haphazard or they may have been the result of skilful

planning , but whichever was the reason it was bound to

lead to friction in the end .

1 8 6 1 E arly on next year , , the results of the business

o n I st done by the Provident was made known , for the February the general meeting of the members was held in

the Borough West School , with Mr . Thomas Bower in the 6 chair . The sales of goods had amounted to £79 , on ﬁ which a pro t of £3 3 had been realised . This meant that in ten weeks ’ time a dividend of one shilling in the pound had been earned . Of course the amount of j ubilation

caused by this news may well be imagined . The

membership was j ust one over the two hundred , while

8 was the capital amounted to £5 8 . It no wonder that such a record of success carried them away with excite

ment , for they decided forthwith that the committee should receive sixpence each per week for their services and that they should have power to open branches ﬁ wherever they could enrol fty members . The amount

of wages to be paid to the secretary and treasurer ,

however , was too delicate for a public meeting and these

were referred to the committee to award . Another item of business was “ that the meeting thought the com ” mi t t ee ﬁ were quite j usti ed in the exchange of secretary .

’

No reason is given , but J ohn Lockwood s name disappears f ' rom the list and J oseph Womersley takes the vacancy . The only other alteration in the management was that J ohn Thompson was substituted in place of William

J ennings , who had resigned . At the next committee meeting it was decided to give the auditors . 25 . each for

their services , and in regard to the secretary and treasurer

Hi sto r lc al Souve n i r J J it was decided that they h av e a vote with the com mi t t ee so , that was something after all . Later on in

“ the year , however , it was agreed that the services of the

- secretary for the half year were worth £5 , while those of the treasurer were valued at £2 .

ueen s at e ﬁ Coming back to the Q g Society , their rst

I st balance sheet was presented on April , and contained ﬁ ’ the record of the rst quarter s business . Here the

ueen s at e meeting was held in the room over the shop in Q g , and it is remarkable how close the two societies were in membership . In this society the number given at the end o f the quarter , which was in March , was that there were

y 2 0 0 o r exactl members , one less than in the other

societ y . Another notable item is that while the total 8 trade was higher than the other , viz . , £ 9 7 as against

6 y et 8 6 . £79 , only £4 of this was to members On this turn

r ov e a proﬁt of £3 0 was made . This enabled a dividend o f 1 5 d o f . 3 . in the pound to be paid , which , course , was threepence more than had been paid by the Provident

n o o Society , and d ubt called forth comparative con

gratulatory comments , which ended with unanimous approval and the giving of powers to the committee to negotiate for the opening of branches . There is one other f eature worth noticing , the share capital only amounted

2 2 8 8 . to £3 , against £5 in the Provident Now it has generally been supposed that the Queen sg at e Society ﬁ possessed the better class of members , nancially , seeing many of them were men in business , and besides it con t ai n ed on the committee a number of semi - public men in the town whose ' purchasing power might reasonably be expected to be far greater than the ordinary worker .

Me thods

V C HAPTE R . — T u esd ay h alf - h oliday ﬁ rst establish ed i n Bradf o rd B ran ch C om m t ees A o n e — a O er a n D s u e i t pp i t d E rly v l pp —i g i p t G n e a ee n i n o rou W es S ch oo The em b ers e r l M ti g B gh t l M— re ceive t h ei r First L es so n i n Red uced Divid en ds D ark coloured Flour n o t n eces sa—r ily i n f eri or i n quality Qu arterly M eeti n gs Adopted Dudley Hill Bran ch caus es d i h n f or h e ueen s at e em r a r o of n t e e t e s . d p 4 . Divid d Q g M b

2 t h 1 8 6 1 On March 7 , , there is a memorable minute Resolved that we give all our shopmen holiday on

’

Tuesday afternoon , to close at two o clock , and that Abraham Robinson be authorised to purchase stuff to ” 6 1 d 0 . the amount of £ os . Thus we have embodied in a few words the establishment of what eventually developed into the half - day closing system and at the ﬁ same time the beginning of a new department . The rst

- portion of the minute gave rise to the rumour that C o op . had shut up for ever , which gave delight to the private

traders , which , however , was speedily changed when next morning the store was opened as usual . In this connection h it is only fair to state t at Mr . Howarth lays claim to have

ﬁ - been the rst to close on Tuesdays for the half day , asserting that he adopted that practice from the very

2 8 ” 9 A 3 M ethods

" so commencement . If that is , the Provident were some what behind in this respect , but not for long . It seems to have been a custom at this time too that when a new branch was being arranged for that a new committee was selected from the residents in the locality , and thus we have for the White Abbey B ranch Messrs .

Thomas Cousin , J ohn Wallis , George Dalton Binns ,

as Duncan Macdonald , and Duke Fearnley appointed such

a committee .

Who the sub - committee for the other stores were at

this particular time we do not know , but Shortly after

os wards it was agreed that J . Wilby , William Culpan ,

sub - J ohn Holroyd , and David Helliwell be the committee

B ut h ri e for the Manchester Road Store ; that George ,

TOrd off William Norton , Robert Stocks , and William be

sub - the committee for Wibsey ; that George Newhill ,

f sub Nathaniel Sutcli fe , and Thomas Wood be the committee for Bowling store . It Should be noted here that these committeemen were outside the general

th e committee , and their duties were to confer with store manager and submit a weekly report to the Board every

Monday evening . All was not plain sailing , however , in connection with fﬁ the opening of new branches , for it seems some di culty arose in connection wi th the Wibsey store between the

society and the Great Horton society , and a committee was appointed to submit the trouble to arbitration at a

’ meeting held in Tweed s Temperance Hotel . The result

i s of such conference not given , but the committee went on with their arrangements , so it looks as if some agree

ment was arrived at . Historical S ouve ni r J J

With regard to the Bowling store , it would seem as if ﬁ the society took over the shop and xtures of a Mr . George

Adamson and kept him on as manager , for a minute settles hi s ﬁ 6 0 appointment and that the value of the xtures , £ ,

hi s u ﬁv e should stand as g arantee , he to be allowed per

cent . interest thereon . the general meeting came round again it was

u \ held in the Boro gh Vest School , with Mr . T . Bower in

the chair . From the report presented it was seen that the membership had more than doubled ; the capital was

y 1 slightl less , but the sales had increased to £3 7 4 . The proﬁt w as less in proportion to the turnover of the previous

y ear y 6 half and onl amounted to £9 , which , in place of

u 8 d Is . d o y . divi end . w ld onl allow This , then , was the ' ﬁ members rst lesson , and the President took the

“ o u . pport nity of teaching the moral The decrease , he

“ d d ue off sai , was to a temporary falling in the demand

u o f for ﬂo r caused by some them foolishly supposing , because it was darker in colour it was inferior in quality . ”

This was a mistake , he assured them , as the nutritious

u u q alities were act ally better . How often a similar statement has had to be made is known best to those who

but have attended regularly at the meetings since then , it must be observed that at this time it was private millers ’

ﬂour that the complaint had been made against . The

but report was adopted , whether the next resolution had anything to do with the drop in the dividend is not clear .

an y i y At rate , it was dec ded to have quarterl meetings in

- future in place of half yearly , The reason for this may have been j ust because the Industrial Society had quarterly meetings and there might have been a suspicion that such

30 9 " s 5 M ethods

1 d enabled them to Secure their 5 . 3 . dividend through W having a tighter hold on the management . hatever was

the reason , the idea does not seem to have been long in e force , as only one quarterly me ting was held afterwards

h av e and that does not seem to been minuted . There Was one thing done at the above meeting which should

- ﬁ not be over looked . It was decided to con rm the

proposal that the secretary , treasurer , and trustees should

have a vote along with the committee on all occasions , which practically meant an increase in the number of committee of management .

Wh at v ery probably operated in the minds of the members of the Provident Society to suggest quarterly

ueen s at e meetings was the report of the Q g Society , which

had been held a few weeks previously , and which Showed

y but not onl , an increase in the sales also a rise of a penny

i I S d . . d in the dividend , bring ng that to 4 in the poun .

0 0 y Their membership too had reached over 3 , with ever

prospect of a Speedy augmentation , seeing they were about to open their ﬁrst new branch in Dudley Hill and already had held a tea—party in the locality in honour of the occasion .

’ But if that was the idea of the Prov i d en t s members

it did not last long , for at the very next quarterly meeting

ueen s at e of the Q g Society , which was their third , and corresponded nearly to the half - yearly of the Provi dent

Society , a different tale had to be told . The Chairman

u had the npleasant task of explaining away a drop of 4d .

“ i n . y the dividend This , he said , was due to the Dudle Hill branch yielding considerably less percentage of proﬁt than that made at the central also there had been a less H istoric al S ouve nir J J

ﬁ pro table return from the sale of ﬂour at the central , besides which checks to the value of £20 had been brought in that quarter which should have been returned in the

previous quarter . The meeting , however , accepted the l explanation , especial y when a promise was given that h better results would be Shown the next time . W at the

i s new branch had done not known , but the total sales were shown to have been £1 5 6 0 as against £1 29 0 for the ﬁ previous quarter , while the pro ts showed only one pound

was more for the increased turnover . The membership given as about 3 5 0 . Early S uccesses

E R V l C HAPT .

— ’ Kn owledge C om es with Ex per i en ce M i ch ael D owli n g s S ho i n an c es t e R oa d T aken —P r e ar at on f or st p M h r —p i Fir Tca P ar w t h th e Pro d en S oc e Th e ueen s at e ty i vi t — i ty Q g S oc i ety also hold a Tea P arty R ep orts of S p eeches at o e n b th M eti gs .

It is diffi cult after fifty years to fi n d out the actual fi causes which led to certain actions being taken , rstly , r because the minutes rarely give such , being merely a reco d

of proposals carried and no doubt acted upon , and ,

all secondly , the real actors in the scenes have passed away so we are compelled to draw our own conclusions from the

be actions related . We may right or we may be wrong in our surmise , but it seems a reasonable assumption that when the directors of the Provident Society took the shop in Manchester Road they had no experience and took the ﬁ f rst that was o fered . Since then other three had been t aken , an d we presume the committee must have gained

a certain amount of knowledge by their transactions .

i s ﬁn d mi dl Therefore , it not strange to them , about the d e

1 8 6 1 of , already beginning to look out for a better bargain ﬁ than they had made in their rst attempt , or it may have

as i s s been that the landlord , the cu tom of their class ,

3 3 Historical S ouve n ir J J

ﬁ nding them succeeding so well wanted to raise the rent .

Of course these are only surmises . What did happen was that early in J une it was decided that a party wait upon

’ Mr . Padget to see if he is willing to let Michael Dowling s

shop to this society . Then , a week later , that we take Michael Dowling ’ s shop if we can come to an agreement

with the landlord . It was not , however , till September

1 8 w as ﬁ th that it nally decided to take the shop , when it is minuted “ that the trustees take the shop at the rent ” 2 1 of £ 5 per year , whereas they were paying £3 where they were . In the meantime the society had parted with

as . s Cornelius Lumb , who had acted manager Thu it

1 came to be that the No . branch was transferred to the opposite side of Manchester Road and only a little higher up than it had been previously . It could not be because

as the position of the store was in a wrong place , there is so little diff erence between the two places that it must be

either the rent or the accommodation . We do know that

as the rent was less , but are entirely in the dark to convenience of the one place over the other .

There was another change before the end of the year .

VVom ersle Mr . Joseph y resigned his position as secretary , and it was decided by the monthly meeting of the members that the committee choose their . own secretary till the

- half yearly meeting . At this meeting too Mr . Ben

B roadbent appears on the scene , taking the place of Mr .

Sykes on the committee , while Mr . George Butl er

as . succeeded Mr . J ohn Sutcli ffe one of the auditors The remaining portion of the year was taken up with prepara tion for a great tea party and concert , for which the

’ s Oddfellows Hall was engaged . By this mean it was

3 4

Historical S o uve ni r J J

Provident was gradually forging ahead in spreading the

co - blessing of operation among the community . Hard work was beginning to tell in this friendly race for

supremacy , for it was nothing else , as the only mention of the Queen sg at e Society in the minutes of the Provident up

s to this date is for conferences between the two committee ,

with a view to j oint purchasing and of helping one another . é ’ To return , then , to the Soir e in the Oddfellows Hall , the account of which is fully given in the B r adf ord

Observer at the time . From this we learn it was held on

t h 1 8 6 2 Saturday , J anuary 4 , . The hall was tastefully

decorated for the occasion , small ﬂags bearing inscriptions commendatory of forethought and providence were scattered over the room .

The report of the meeting says nearly 6 0 0 well - dressed persons ﬁrst partook of tea . Why they should be thus

s a specially described is hard to y , unless it was in bearing out the idea of the inferior social position of the members of the one society compared with the other , or it may h av e been that the reporter had suspicious ideas of his own with regard to the class of individuals who had banded themselves together for the purpose of bringing about that great social revolution of which so many had

been speaking . At any rate he pays them this compli

- ment , that they were well dressed , for which we must be

for ever grateful . There is one thing , however , that this

- was lynx eyed reporter missed , and that the tea itself .

a so Preparation had been made for certain number , but great was the crowd that it was seen before long that there would not be enough to go round . Messengers were therefore despatched to Wh ite Abbey and to

36 " " s 3 Ea rly Succ esses

s i i as ul Manche ter Road stores for add tional suppl es , it wo d

cr was not do to go to a private shop . —Still the y for more S ﬁ and more , and the last itting down had to be satis ed

. u with biscuits in place of bread . He says , f rther , that a public meeting was subsequently held at which the numbers were greatly augmented . The Mayor was

l - k supported by many we l nown friends of social progress ,

MI di . . inclu ng the Rev Dr . Burnet (the Vicar) , Alderman

l c . . . . & . Brown , Mr J ohn Holmes (Leeds) , and Mr S C Ke l ,

l Mrs There was an exce lent glee party , consisting of . t Hartley , Miss Charlesworth , Mr . T . Har ley , Mr . Senior ,

as and Mr . Pennington , with H . Fearnley pianist , who added greatly by their performances to the pleasure of the

entertainment .

- The Mayor , in op ening the proceedings , said they had not met to lay the foundation - stone of a mill or buildi ng

r ul for the purpose of car ying on business , though this wo d

be the case one day , but they had met to give their “ i —coun tenance and support to this most valuable nstitution an institution of which he was sure every E nglishman

w as a i n . ought to be proud . This step the right direction Let their fellow countrymen once feel that they had got a

i n 4 — position the world that they had a stake in the hedge , and they mi ght rely upon it that their progress would be i sure . Indeed , let a man once acquire £5 by the sav ng l ﬁ i i habit , and he wou d never be satis ed t ll he—had real sed 1 0 20 l £ and £ . No doubt it required great se f denial at the u outset to save a few pounds , but the habit , once beg n ,

wh o became easier , and the man practised the saving habit had hi s reward i n the knowledge that hi s circumstances

a was were alw ys growin g better . This the obj ect the

3 7 Historic al S ouve n i r J J

B radford Provident h ad in v—iew . It sought to improve the material condition of men to place them , if possible , beyond the reach of poverty by securing for them a con

dition of comparative independence . The members applied thei r own s av i ngs to the pu rchase of the articles of daily use and consumption , and they thereby not only secured

u to themselves the best and p rest articles for their money , but t h e ﬁ u they divided pro ts which accr ed from retailing .

They had thus several advantages , to say nothing of the

moral and social advantages arising from a good habit .

They had the advantage of having unadulterated food , and th ey had the proﬁts which belonged to themselves as

u s a distrib tors . The Mayor went on to y that it was impossible to foretell the great beneﬁts which would ﬂow to society from the formation of societies such as the

Provident Industrial Society .

Mr . J . Holmes , of the Leeds Society , next addressed the meeting , in which he specially commended thrift and said a movement should not be j udged by the number of

persons who espoused it , and in proof of his contention pointed out that some persons were attracted to

see Baildon Moor to a knur and spell match , while only some 1 70 0 persons attended a great Reform Demonstration at Leeds a short time previously . He then entered into a comparison between the healthy conditions of life enj oyed by the wealthy classes and the unfavourable condition

which prevailed among the working classes , and urged the latter to save their money and utilise it through C O- opera

tion to better these conditions , and if they were true and ﬁ faithful to one another they could not fail to realise pro ts , as had been done at Rochdale and elsewhere , which

38 " " s 5 Early S uccesses would probably be the foundation of independence and comfort . w Mr . Thomas Bo er , President of the Society , next

C entra Pre m ses Br d e S tr eet l i , i g . related the story of the formation of the society as given in the preceding pages , and expressed himself as highly

‘ ﬁ - grati ed with the progress made , and appealed to the working men of the town to come and j oin them .

39 H istoric al S ouve nir J J

Alderman Brown congratul ated the gathering on their large numbers and exp ressed hi s pleasure at the statement

was j ust made by the President . He said he happy to hear the society was ﬂourishing and that the principle of co - operation had taken such root in the good town of

was hi s Bradford as to be permanent . It sincere hope that

so 0 s it would be . T have a membership of 45 0 in o short a period showed that the society had made great progress among the working men . They had opened four shops in diff erent parts of the town in order to meet the demands of

be their mem rs . He had attended the meeting of the

B ritish Association , which had been held at Manchester ,

R ev and was greatly interested in a paper by the . W . N .

Molesworth , in which the story of the formation of the

’ Rochdale Pioneers Society had been told . He expressed the hope that if they succeeded as the Rochdale Society had done they would follow their example in providing a library and a large news - room for the beneﬁt of the members .

The Rev . Dr . Burnet also addressed the meeting , and expressed his great gratiﬁcation at the prosperous con

dition of the society . For a long time he had felt it to be

so l so a disgrace to a population inte ligent , industrious ,

so as and , for the size of the town , sober the working people of Bradford were that Rochdale should have out stripped them i n such remarkable manner in regard to a society of this kind . Some years before he had the honour ,

s and also a little of the anxiety , of being a tru tee of the i ll t Flour M Society tha had been established in Bradford .

Unfortunately , it had not been managed properly and it became a total failure . He had great hopes of the

4 0 " 7 s 3 Early S uc c esse s work ing men when he found them taking their affairs into

fi n d l their own hands . They would plenty ready to he p fi them when they got rmly established on their legs . He knew of no finer way in which working men could help

s co- them elves than by adopting the principle of operation ,

Dr . Burnet concluded a splendid address by commending this principle as involving purity in the article and economy

in the supply , promoting the health of their families and

s a ﬁ an economical expenditure , to y nothing of the pro ts to be realised . He wished it abundant success .

A i . fter Mr . Rawl nson , of Bury , and Mr Wood , of

co - Sowerby Bridge , had related the history of operation in

h ch ﬁ eld . S o their respective localities , Mr Jo n proposed a

was vote of thanks to the Mayor , which seconded by Mr . E dwin Norton and carried unanimously , and a Similar

e was vot passed to Dr . Burnet , after which the National

Anthem concluded the ﬁrst great co - operative meeting i n

B radford . A few days later the Queen sg at e Society held their ﬁrst

al annu tea and concert in the Temperance Hall , Leeds

. 0 0 sat Road About 5 down to tea , and after the tables

had been cleared away the concert and meeting was held , i l l w th Council or Po lard in the chair . In opening the pro ceedi ngs he expressed the hope that the working classes woul d continue to keep their eyes open to the fact that such movements were a means of elevating themselves and of enabling them to feel their own power by doing their

own work . He congratulated the society , in conclusion , upon having 3 0 0 full beneﬁt members although there were

0 0 0 0 s from 4 to 5 name on the books , which was a good ﬁ record for the rst year .

4 I , Histo ric al S ouve nir J J

Mr . Malcolm Ross reviewed the history of the society , in which he said the capital had almost doubled in the fi fourth quarter compared with the rst . The sales had more than doubled and the profit made in the fourth fi quarter was treble that made in the rst , although the dividend was a penny less . li Mr . E Carter followed and alluded to the social and domestic benefits as well as home and material comforts

to be derived from a membership in the society .

Mr . E lias Thomas gave three reasons why he became a co - : ﬁ operator rst , because it paid well ; secondly , it

a use t ught the value of money ; and thirdly , it made of

small savings . Councillor J oseph Hudson proposed a vote of thanks

to the ladies , which was seconded by Mr . E lliott . In pro posing thanks to the chairman Mr . J . Rawlinson , of Bury , gave an account of the success of co- operation in w as . Lancashire . The vote seconded by Mr John Howarth ,

store manager , and heartily accorded .

4 2

H istoric al S ouvenir J J mentioned after the arrangements were made The

’ Ne ot i a committee s hands were full enough , however . g tions had been proceeding for some time between the committee of the Provident and the Leeds Flour Mill Society with reference to the supply of ﬂour and other mill pro

ch ﬁ ld . . . S o e ducts Letters had passed between Mr E , who

had been acting j ointly with George Adamson as secretary , and Mr . J ames Prentis (secretary of the Leeds Society) , and even tually it was decided to make purchases through a Mr . Furness , who was a member of b—oth societies . In this we have an instance of that inter - co operative trading which has done so much to advance the movement from a number of small scattered competing societies into an

- ﬁ f organisation with world wide rami cations . It also a fords an illustration of the di fﬁ culties co - operators had to over

come , some of which had even been imposed by the

legislature . This was at a time when the law prohibited a co- operative society from selling its productions to anyone outside its own members . In proof of this it may be

mentioned that Mr . J ohn Holmes , one of the speakers at the second annual festival of the Provident Society ,

hi s l stated that society, The Leeds Corn Mi l Society ,

s as which supplied the Bradford societie with ﬂour , had much as £6 0 0 worth of bran in their store - houses which they could do nothing with . The bran had been made

u s in the prod ction of the ﬂour , but becau e the members

did not eat bran , nor had they any other use for it , there fore they had either to give it away for nothing or store

it up . They dare not sell it . To overcome this it was

arranged that Mr . Furness , being a member of the Leeds

s u Society , ho ld order the ﬂour required by the Bradford

4 4

Historical S ouveni r J J

Provident Society in his own name , and the account was

paid through him . It should be remembered that these

were the days before the advent of the C o - operative

h C o - W olesale Society and the operative Union . By this

time the Provident Society owned four shops , each with a set of committeemen who were under the Board of manage

ment , therefore it became necessary that some system

should be devised for the proper control of the business .

It is with no surprise , therefore , that one reads of the appointment of Thomas C ous en and John S t ai n cli ff e as a committee to compile a code of Regulations to be

- observed by the Sub Committees and the Shopmen . These are very elaborate and provide for everything necessary to

good management and control , from the provision of a slate on which the shopman shall enter what goods he shall require for the week not later than six o ’ clock every

” '

Monday night , to the arranging among themselves as to whose turn it should be to assist in the shop on busy nights when the shopman should require extra aid .

Shortly after the great tea development , it was

2 indicated by a resolution that No . Room be shelved

round for drapery goods , and that the secretary and

treasurer come into the committee room to do business . It was also decided to organise a series of monthly meetings l to be held at the different stores , and fol owing these there is the commencement of the trading in coal . It is

— I z os . 1 interesting to notice the prices Best coal , od . ;

Ad walt on 8 s 6 d Seconds , Blocks , . . ; and Thirds , d S 6 . 7 . There is no quantity mentioned for these

but rates , two days after accepting this offer of

Joshua Clegg , coal merchant , Ben Broadbent proposed

46 9 M e o a e Ye r 5 i s, A m r bl a

f or 2 that parties ordering coals Shall pay 4 cwt . ” before delivery .

1 8 6 2 There are other reasons , however , why the year

co - should be remembered by operators , for in that year ﬁ the movement received its rst serious check . The cotton

u famine and the nsettled political atmosphere in America ,

which resulted in the war between the North and South , f had their e fect on the trade of Lancashire , and caused h t ousands of workers to be out of employment . The co - - operative stores , as well as the ordinary shop keepers , ff su ered in consequence . The people had no money to spend , therefore the takings at the stores were considerably

reduced , but those who had left their dividend in the

off society to accumulate were better than the others , for they had something to draw on to tide them over such fﬁ di cult times . Churches and chapels throughout the country had special collections on behalf of the suffering

workers of Lancashire , and to this fund Bradford con

T co - tributed its Share . his advantage , which operators l had over their fellow workers , of being able to fa l back

upon their savings in the stores . was not lost sight of by co- operative advocates , with the result that in those districts unaffected by the depression in the cotton industry there was a large increase in the membership of co - operative societies . There is yet another reason why this particul ar year

should not be forgotten , and that is because of the interest taken in the movement by Parliament . It had been recognised as a power likely to produce great results in

' the way ofi en abli n g the working classes to help them

selves , and therefore an Act was passed which removed

47 Historical S ouve nir J J certain restrictions which previously had hindered their

progress . Writing on this Mr . E . V . Neale says : It must not be forgotten how the law of E ngland has aff ected the working classes , that the privileges given them for the

ﬁ 1 8 6 2 rst time in were also granted in the same year , for ﬁ the rst time to the commercial classes . It seems that having granted the protection of limited liability to one C lass of persons it could not in j ustice be withheld from another class . The new law enabled one Society to take

up shares in another society , and therefore did away with the d i flflcult y which had been experienced by the Bradford Provident in regard to the purchase of flour from the

Leeds Corn Mill Society already mentioned . It is also d ue to this Act that the C o - operative Wholesale Society became possible as well as such institutions as the

C o - C o - operative—Union , the operative Newspaper Society , o and the C operative Insurance Society . At one time a co - Operative society could not purchase or hold more than

an acre of land , and that not as house or farm land , but only such as could be used for premises in which the

’ society s business could be transacted . The agitation and discussion in Parliament about the passing of this Act must

a co- h ve had its inﬂuence on all operative committees .

Something of the kind , at any rate , seems to have occurred with the Provident Society for the minutes about this period have a legal colouring about them . One of them h ﬁ ld . . S c o e states that it was proposed by Mr E , seconded

. h by Mr J ohn Field ouse , that all agreements for the security of shopmen in future be drawn up on a stamped

paper in proper legal manner . Then follows a Memorandum ” f t e o Papers and Documents in the care of the Trus es .

48 " 7 a s A M emorable Y ear

e was s s s Th re no safe in the pos es ion of the ociety as yet , and the method of placing all important documents in the

s s s care of re pon ible individual was the only feasible way ,

s in their opinion , of securing perfect safety . Thu we read

ﬁ r 1 6 0 0 e . that the policy for No Shop , insured for £ ;

2 0 0 . for No . shop , insured for £4 No 3 shop , insured for

20 0 W ooller £ , be in the care of William , also the agree

s ment between the Trustees and J o eph Tempest , for the

1 old Wibsey shop , No . 74 also the contract entered into

s by the Trustee and Benj amin Town , butcher , Manchester ” — z W ooller . Road . Another minute reads holds Chas

’ m I W ooller 2 OS 0 d . Roberts pro issory note for £ . also

’ holds Wm . Hardy s policy ; Sowerby Bridge Share Book

’ ’ the Registrar s Certiﬁcate ; Settle s security note for ” d i rli n t n 1 5 . 0 . G o £ 5 and g lease . (This was the site for

s a proposed new tore) . William Ki t chi ngm an held the guarantee policy of

ﬁ s Cornelius Lumb , the rst grocery manager , al o the agree

ment of J oseph Womersley , with reference to his security

s for the ituation of secretary .

ﬁr e J ohn Steel held the policy for the Bowling shop ,

20 0 which was insured for £ .

- was I The half yearly meeting , which held on the st of

s aw s August , the re ignation of Mr . Thomas Bower , as

President , who was succeeded by Mr . George Butler .

On . After the adoption of the report , the motion of Mr

was John Bentley , seconded by Mr . J ohn Saville , it

decided to commence an action against B . Town , the

. n butcher Following this Mr . Thomas C ouse proposed

f was that the butcher a fair be given up . This seconded

. s by Mr David Lambert and carried . Whether this mean

E 49 Histo rical S ouveni r J J

n that the selling of butcher meat was to be give up , or the

was case against Mr . Town to be dropped , is not very clear , di it is , however , an in cation that here as elsewhere the society was meeting with difﬁ culty in the butchering

u business . It sho ld be noted before leaving this period

u C that altho gh Mr . Bower vacated the hair and a seat on the Board he did not give up all oversight over the affairs

o f y . 1 the societ , for he was made representative of No M Store ( anchester Road) , and in that capacity he exercised a certain amount of control and was able to offer suggestions to the Board as to present and future steps to be taken for

the welfare of the society . \Vhen this memorable year closed the Provident 6 Society had a membership numbering 77 , being a gain of

20 6 0 during the year . The sales amounted to £77 3 for the

- 2 2 half year , being an increase of £ 9 9 , and the dividend

w 1 d as 5 . . paid 3 in the pound .

Historical S ouve ni r J J and the soci ety regi stered as the Bowling Old L ane

C o - O 1 1 perative Society , and a cottage house , No . 9

s . Bowling Old Lane , was rented at 5 per week from

B x nd all Abraham a e . The present tailoring shop at the \Vest Bowling Branch is the identical building in which this start was made . The shop was only opened in the

evenings . The back portion of the premises was let off

2s 2 d to a Mr . Sawley for . . per week , which reduced their

- expenses by nearly one half , and it was not until nearly the end of 1 8 6 4 that the trade became so large as to

necessitate the employment of the whole of the premises .

ﬁ - ou At rst the Committee waited themselves , taking turns at the counter , and one of the earliest minutes

decides that not less than two should open the shop . One recoils in dread from the thought of the passing of such a

- d a resolution to y, and yet these old worthies were made f of sterling stu f , as the travellers of that day soon found

out . Seemingly these gentry had a habit of calling in the

shop and asking what the committee were paying for an

f s article , and then o fering to cut it a bit lower ; but thi

u s did not suit the Old La er , for it is recorded that no traveller receive an order unless he ﬁrst gives 11 1 8 pri ce ” without inquiring our price . That there was no friction between the Bowling Old

Lane Society and the neighbouring societies is evident , for there are many entries of goods purchased from Horton ” ” - C o o . p and also from the Central Stores , by which

name the Provident seems to have been indicated . By

’ the end of the ﬁrst six months the work of waiting - on

seems to have become too much for the committee , for we

ﬁn d Ki t chi n m an Mr . David g moving to have a shopman

5 2 ” ” s 3 Bow li n g Old Lane S ociety

t . appointed , and hat he be paid by poundage When we note that the takings for the ﬁrst Six months amoun ted to

6 1 2 i s £ 5 , or an average of over £ 5 per week , there no need ﬁ for surprise at the step proposed to be taken . The rst general half - yearly meeting seems to have been of a

peculiar , if not a humorous , character , for not only was

u there a vote of cens re passed on the committee , but the very next resolution they decided to ‘ adopt the report and also that the present committee remain in ofﬁ ce while — ” their time be expired while J anuary next . From the early orders we get an idea of the magnitude of the society l one small chest of black tea and about 7 bs . of green tea

2 . 2 . 2 . cwt of Bristle (Bristol) sugar , lbs of coffee , and lbs of tobacco ; and from the early minutes an idea of the

: class of men who managed the society That Messrs .

S t ai n t h or e T W . p and J ames aylor be appointed to—look af ter the best coffee mill and to lay a report on the same

before the committee After submitting their report , the

nature of which , unfortunately is not recorded , the same

1 gentlemen were empowered to buy one from about 5 s .

s b i mu t be a n ew on e 2 . ut t s . to 5 , There was a true ring about this last instruction—there was to be no second

i off hand article palmed on to them . It shows the com mi t t ee meant well but on referring to the accounts that

1 coffee mill cost £ 9 5 . There is no record of this committee

being censured for exceeding their instructions . After

l o was deciding to have a regu ar sh pman , a special meeting

“ ' held to consider as to the best man as shopman , the

result being the appointment of Nicholas Broadley , at the

" 6 d : wage of . in the pound , but within a few months it was

1 5 decided that Nicholas receive 4 . per week while the

5 3 Historical S ouve ni r J J

0 income exceeds £4 per week . Income in this cas e

an d ﬁ si x evidently meaning sales , as the rst months only

2 showed an average of £ 5 per week , it seemed as if he would h av e to wait some considerable time before he need hi expect a rise in s wages .

u ﬁ as It is rather doubtf l who was the rst secretary , the

u min tes are not signed , but there is some evidence to point

h av i n to a Mr . J oseph Robinson as g occupied that position . fﬁ V h . V ood ad He was followed in the o ce by Mr William e .

u fﬁ The treas rer , being a more responsible o cer , was required by 0 special rule to throw in £3 (presumably as capital) ,

ﬁn d 0 Ki t chi n an and to security for £4 . Mr . David gm

fﬁ u 0 accepted this o ce and was bo nd for £5 , but soon after

Mr 1 0 5 wards . Henry Heaton took his place and received .

“ as his wage for six months . Among the principal workers in the early stages of the Bowling Old Lane

Society may be mentioned J oseph Robinson , Benj amin

Ki t chi n m an Robinson , Henry Denning , David g , Abram

\Vi lli am Thornton , Taylor , William Wroe , Henry Heaton ,

l S t ai nt hor e . E . Wil iam p , A Butterworth , Nicholas Broadley ,

m sle y Samuel E y , Henr Wilkinson , J ames Taylor , J ohn

\V oodhead Kershaw , William , Isaac Naylor , Nathaniel ﬁ ’ Birkby , and Richard Scholey . The rst year s sales ﬁ 6 amounted to £1 29 7 and the pro t to £7 .

5 4 1 8 6 8

C on gratulati on

C HA PTE R lX .

U n u e R easo n s f or Tak n S h ar es i n t h e S ow er b iq — i g y B r idge Flour S o c iety Th e New A ct of P arli am en t i n ’ er a on —Th e An n u a es a s i n S t eo r e H a O . G s p ti l F —tiv l g ll an d Tem er an ce H a I n t er es t n Record s p ll i g .

The satisfactory features mentioned at the close of the previous chapter were commented on in the committee ’ s

report , which also contains an interesting item worth

“ quoting in these days . It being an almost indisputed — fact that th e staple of human food ﬂour w i s grossly

u ad lterated with ingredients destructive to life and health , induced your committee to take up £ 1 0 in shares in the

Sowerby Bridge Union Flour Mill Society . The ﬂour being such as to recommend itself to lovers of good and whole

i n fi some bread , besides bringing a pro t of Here we have the committee j ustifying the step taken on the fi fi basis of the physical and nancial bene t to the members , while the next paragraph indicates a further step forward yet fails to convey the information that the one step was It dependent on the other . says , The last session of Parliament having passed an Act amending the laws

5 5 Historic al S ouve n ir J J

I relating to ndustrial and Provident Societies , your society

has been registered under its provisions . The society is now able to supply nearly every description of drapery ” goods . Not the slightest suggestion that it was the new Act which enabled them to take up shares in another co- operative society .

28 t h The annual festival , which was held on the

’ 1 8 6 February , 3 , in St . George s Hall , also bears ample t estimony to the progress made during the previous year .

8 0 0 e Some persons w re present at the tea in the afternoon ,

after which a meeting was held with Ald . Brown in the

chair . He was accompanied by the Rev . William Nassau

Molesworth , of Rochdale , who had given evidence before

the Royal Commission , and on whose report the new Act

B urﬁeld l was framed , Rev . H . J . , Rev . T . W . Freck eton , u Mr . J ames Law , and Co ncillor Rawson . The choir of St .

’

J ames , led by Mr . Barker , sang during the evening .

ch ﬁ ld . S o e The secretary , Mr . E , read letters of apology

from several who could not be present , including Dr . M P . E . . . Burnett (the Vicar of Bradford) , W Forster , , and

Mr . J ohn Holmes , of Leeds . The Vicar wrote that he could not give better advice to the people of Bradford than to urge them to j oin the society .

Ald . Brown having read the report for the previous

- l half year , said he wished a copy cou d be circulated in

’ - s every working man s home in Bradford . He was ure if they could but peruse it and consider it in all i t s bearings they would ﬁ n d something worthy of their notice . The turnover for the past twelve months had amounted to he knew many a manufacturer who would be very

ul h thankf to do as much in one year . W at pleased

5 6

Historical S ouve n ir J J him most was that all this had been accomplished by

1 5 working men whose weekly wages ranged from 5 . to 25 5 . per week . By putting their wage savings together they had become capitalists . During the past two years they ﬁ had realised over a thousand pounds clear pro t , and had

1 a capital of £ 5 0 0 . The next speaker was the Rev . —W . N . Molesworth , who once more told the story of co operation as it had developed at Rochdale . Being stationed there he had

i t s wa every opportunity of observing progress . That it s

was causing a stir in the world perfectly evident , he said , for among his visitors was a Professor from a Russian College who was seeking information about the social con d i t i on s f of working people of the di ferent nations of E urope . He had also been visited by the architect of the French

E mperor who had come to learn all about co - operation and had expressed himself as never more gratiﬁed with a

j ourney in his life . Before concluding , Mr . Molesworth — related how the co operative societies in Lancashire had been the means of preserving many homes that otherwise would have been broken up owing to the distress caused

by cotton famine .

a This address occupied over an hour , and still the l rge

audience never wearied , for they listened eagerly to other three addresses ; but now in the twentieth century a speaker is instructed to cut his remarks short at ﬁfteen

co - minutes . These early operators , however , were seeking social salvation and meant to secure it by their own means .

B urﬁ eld e The Rev . H . J . , commenting on the abov address , said he had not listened to one so full of valuable

5 8

Historic al S o uve ni r J J

premises , which were neat and commodious , contained accommodation for the store manager to live thereon . The

plans were drawn by Mr . W . C . Atkinson , architect , and as showing the value of property at that period the total

s 0 0 . cost of the building , including the land , was only £7

This was probably t h e ﬁrst real co- operative property

co— in Bradford , as up till then all the operative stores

was were rented premises . The opening celebrated on

Shrove Tuesday , by a Soiree in the National School ,

0 0 Manningham . About 3 persons partook of tea in the

was afternoon , and in the evening a public meeting held ,

over which Mr . J oseph Hudson , President of the Society ,

R ev presided . Among the Speakers were the . Welbury

Mitton , and Messrs . D . Green , of Leeds , B . Wainwright , J .

Tweed , C . J owett , G . Roberts , F . Pellett , and J . Horsfall . Strong sympathy with the obj ects of the society was

expressed , besides which the successful operations of the same furnished abundant testimony to the perseverance and determination of the members to work out their own economic and social salvation .

An important change , however , had taken place in con n ect i on with the society which deserves Special mention . The opening of branches led to the separation of the ofﬁ ces

ﬁ wa previously held by Mr . Howarth . At rst he s secretary

and manager , now Mr . E dmund Gilyard became secretary ,

and Mr . Howarth having had a good offer outside the movement took it and left their Service . The position of the society was about this time

very prosperous , and we learn from the annual festival ,

was which held in the Temperance Hall , much later ,

0 0 , that there were 5 members , with a capital of

6 0 ” " s s C ong ratulation

£1 2 8 5 the trade amounted to £3 43 2 and £1 9 0 had been paid in dividend . t e Mr . Hudson , who presided , said the socie y had gon

whch from prosperity to prosperity , of the members could

ueen s at e bear testimony . Besides their headquarters in Q g dl they had two branches , one at Du ey Hill and the other h ﬁ at Carlisle Road . W ile they had hitherto con ned them selves to the provision trade they intended to do a little in d drapery , but only to a limite extent . The society was

now duly registered under the new Act of Parliament ,

which not only gave legal protection to members , but

limited the liability of each . He further explained how it was possible to eat one ’ s way into the society by i 1 5 . 2 d means of the d vidend which averaged . in the pound

per quarter .

co Councillor Pollard , who followed , remarked that

operation was no new thing , for it existed in various forms

for generations past . He remembered in his earlier days how it used to be common for a number of working men to unite in the purchase of a barrel of herrings and divide

wa them among the subscribers . In the same y chests of

hi s tea had been purchased , but in opinion this later form

co - was ﬁ of operation by far the best , for the bene ts to be

derived were personal , domestic , and social , and before

long they would be found to be national .

. . . E Mr T C Farn , of ccles , also addressed the meeting

d co - at some length , and showe how operation afforded

more important advantages than any other movement , besides which i t s success had rested entirely on the class ﬁ n a for whose bene t it had bee st rted .

Mr . B . Wainwright and Mr . George Roberts also

6 1 Historical S ouve ni r J J

addressed the meeting , pointing out the obstacles which had prevented the success of co - operative societies in their earlier d ay s and urging upon the workers of the country their duty to make the present attempt more effective by

giving it their undivided support .

The trend of business in the Provident Society may be gathered from a few extracts from the minute book of

1 8 6 \Vhi t e 3 . That the Abbey shop be made into a

—u — lock p shop as soon as possible . This may mean i n the absence of the true reason being minuted—that either the business had so increased that it was necessary to

u s occ py the whole of the premises for business purpose , or that for other reasons it was desirable to remove the

hi s manager and family from the premises .

s s 1 0 m Then That the hops all clo e at p . . on Saturdays ought to convince our present employees that

s the good old time are best left behind .

off 1 0 That the dead stock be taken at per cent . shows lack of courage . It should have either been buried or cremated at once . That committee have power to open a store in the vicinity of Bolton Road when they obtain a guarantee of

” ' Thi i n di cat e 8 0 . S s members progress , and to ensure that

guarantee a meeting was held , within a month , in College

Chapel School , over which Mr . G . Butler presided . In explaining the reason for the meeting Mr . Butler said it was to gi ve the inhabitants of the locality the opportunity

- of becoming capitalists and shop keepers . Mr . Geo . Shutt

followed with an instructive address , in which he showed that the co- operative movement was the one destined to

raise the working man . Other speakers were Messrs .

6 2 PAST PR ES I DENTS .

W illiam C ockrof t . S t ead .

J o n W so n . Matthew H opw oo d . h il

6 3 Historical S o uve n i r J J

Tom Bower and J esse Stephenson , while Mr . J ohn Bentley so captivated the audience with a co - operative song that suﬂi ci ent names were secured to form a local committee to

canvass the neighbourhood . Another minute illustrates the point that it is much f easier to make laws than to carry them into e fect . It — ’ reads : That members buy ing non members checks be f excluded from the society , and that notice to that e fect ” be placed in the stores . How many thousands of pounds worth of checks h av e been purchased Since that rule was

n ev er fﬁ passed will be known , but it would not be di cult to state the number of members who have been excluded

from the society for purchasing such checks . Then it is well to know that the same committee who were so strict in regard to checks were also strictly fair

in their dealings with others . For instance , it was Mr .

\ ll r Voo e who proposed that Mrs . Pell have what she

cl charges for washing the Slips and usters . No attempt

here to Shirk responsibilities . Having set the machinery in motion at one end of the

“ town it was Mr . Bentley who proposed to take the Gi rli ngt on friends into the society and open a store for

as h them early as possible , but of course subj ect to t e ” approval of a general meeting . This stirred up the

“ Bolton Road friends , who got it passed that Messrs . J . W ooller Clark , W . , and David Wilson take a shop for the ”

Bolton Road Store , besides throwing some light on the

roc ed ure AS mode of p e . Mr . Clark was not a member of the committee or an ofﬁ ci al of the society it looks as if he were chosen so that it would not be suspected that the

- al shop was wanted by the C o operative Society . E ventu ly

6 4 " " s s C ong ratulation

a shop belonging to a Mr . J ohn Illingworth was taken for

ﬁ 1 v e . years at a rent of £ 5 per year , clear of rates This affords some idea of the growth and importance of the

city since then , for the rates of the now Bolton Road Store will be more than both rates and rent together at that time . Another minute enables us to see what an advance has e been made in regard to the mployees , for it was decided to close all the shops at one o ’ clock on Whit Monday W ” and also at the same time on hit Tuesday . The following i s the only minute recorded for a par t i cular date , but can hardly be taken as the only business

alOn e done on that occasion , and yet it stands duly signed

by the President . Proposed by B . Broadbent , seconded

by George Horner , that large placards be placed in the ” stores with No Smoking Allowed printed on . Whether this can be taken as applying to the customers or the

employees is not clear , still the maj ority of customers

would be females , and surely it could not be for them .

It may , however , have been to Show that a meeting had

l as been he d , this is the only indication that such was the w case . There is yet another vie that may be taken of it , and that is that it is an indication that all was well with

the society , and there was nothing of importance to record .

as If matters were very quiet mentioned above , it was

e - not for long , for great changes follow d the half yearly

t h 1 . 8 6 meeting This was held on August , 7 , 3 , in the

’ H e Mechanics Institute . Mr . George Butler presided . expressed his pleasure and satisfaction on being able to congratulate the members on t hehigh position the society had attained in the borough .

6 S Historic al S ouvenir J J

ch ﬁ ld wh . S o e . o . Mr E , along with Mr Geo . Shutt had

as been acting secretary , read the report , which showed that 2 72 new members had j oined since the December

quarter , and as only four had left there were now 9 3 5 on

1 8 2 the books . These held 9 shares . Two new stores had been opened in the growing neighbourhoods of Gi rli ngt on h and Otley Road , and a boot department added ; thoug .

the foundation of the society had been widened an tl‘ strengthened it should not be forgotten that this could not have been done without some degree of self—denial at

the time . The committee h ad made a point of supplying ﬁ the best articles in the market , so that if the pro ts were less according to the sales they had reaped a beneﬁt in the

u improved q ality of the goods . The sales had amounted

8 2 ﬁ 0 0 v to £ 44 , and the pro ts to £4 , which allowed a di idend

I s . of . in the pound , 5 per cent had been paid for interest and 1 0 per cent . taken for depreciation . After the

s adoption of the balance sheet Mr . J ohn Haigh propo ed

that the Trustees be retained . It had , at the previous

meeting of the committee , been decided to ask that they be dispensed with , but the members decided otherwise .

It was next decided to have a permanent secretary . Mr .

was J ohn Bentley elected President , and Mr . David Wilson

Treasurer , while the Auditors , Mr . J . Womersley and Mr .

- . E . re . J Allison , were elected

It was decided , at the following meeting of the com mi t t ee 6 5 2 . to appoint Mr . J ohn Cheetham as secretary at

2 0 0 per week , with a guarantee of £ , his duties being to

' keep to his books un t i l t h ey were in such a state as he

d ﬁ was Shoul be satis ed with them , then he to help in the transfer of goods on transfer days .

6 6

1 8 6 4

Amalgamati o n Proposed

C HAPTE R X .

s P o os a s t o w a s Am a am at on —R eas on f or i t s Fir t r p— l rd lg i R ej ecti o n A n n u al R epo rt o f t h e Pr o vid en t S oc i et y Poli t i c al Power advi s ed as N ecess ar y Pro m i n en t

- — C o O e a o an d o cs a C o s n o f s p r t rs P liti E rly l i g S hop .

ooll r J ust before the close of the previous year Mr . W e proposed a resolution which was the beginning of a long

- drawn out series of resolutions and meetings , both ordinary

and special , and which eventually led to one of the most

important steps in the history of the society . The exact wording was as follows “ That this committee recognises the desirability of an amalgamation of this society with ” n s at uee e . the Q g Society Having been seconded by Mr .

Duke Fearnley it was agreed to . With the advent of the New Year this was followed by another very essential resolution to the following effect : That a meeting be called of our members to see if it be agreeable to amalgamate with the ” Queen sg at e Society . But when this special meeting

was was was held , and the question considered , it

6 8 ‘l 9 s s Am alg amatio n P ro posed

“

seen that there were two sides to the matter , and

' i t was - so _ adj ourned to the next half yearly meeting . Before this came round the committee discussed the matter

ff ueen s at e again , and decided to make an o er to the Q g Society to take all their goods at a fair market price

“ ﬁ including xed stock . That these terms be offered if it was found that amalgamation could not be done legally t without dissolving one or bo h societies .

At the half - yearly meeting it was agreed that the two societies Should amalgamate if it could be done on fair and

equitable terms , and also that the committee be empowered

to carry out the same . After further consideration it was wisely agreed: that a suggested tea party to celebrate the event Should be left over till the amalgamation was an

accomplished fact .

Negotiations would certainly follow , but the minutes

t wo throw very little light upon them . There are

references , one stating that the rules agreed upon by a

maj ority of both committees should be accepted , then the

other is a surprise , for it declares that no notice should be

n b take of a letter received y Mr . Shaw (a member of the

committee) with reference to the amalgamation , which had

n ueen s at e bee sent by Mr . Hudson , President of the Q g

Society .

There is , however , a letter in existence which throws

some light on the matter . It is from Mr . J ohn Howarth ,

stating that Mr . E dmund Gilyard , secretary of the Queens

gate Society , called upon him in York to discuss matters

‘

appertaining to the Queen Sg at e Society . It seems the committee were having some difﬁ culties in regard to the

management . Mr . Howarth says he advised amalgamation

6 9 Histo rical Souve ni r J J

ueen s at e as the best solution , with the result that the Q g Society obtained a proper valuation of the affairs of the

society , when it was found that the society was above

£ 1 0 0 to the good after paying 20 5 . in the pound . This put so much heart into the committee of this society that they decided to go on as they were and drop

all idea of amalgamation , while the Provident decided not to entertain the question again for six months . \Vhen the committee of the Provident Society found there was no likelihood of amalgamation taking place they

decided to go on with their annual festival , which had been

’ delayed until the two societies became one . St . George s

was Hall being engaged as a theatre at the time , it decided

to take Horton Lane Schools . After the usual tea in the

a afternoon public meeting was held in the evening , over w u hich Co ncillor Whitehead presided . Accompanying him f on the plat orm were the Rev . Dr . Campbell (Congrega t i n al o . . . Minister) , the Rev G Onions , Ald Carter , and

Councillor Gaunt , of Leeds , and Mr . J ames Wood (Sowerby

Bridge Flour Society) .

Mr . J . Bentley (Secretary) read a statement Showing the progress of the society during the three months previous .

6 0 2 8 0 There were 9 members , with a capital of £ 3 , while 8 the trade for the period amounted to £5 5 0 . A letter was read from the Rev . H . Leach expressing his regret at absence and stating the opinion that all who wished well to the working classes would rej oice in any plan which

had a tendency towards prudent and thrifty habits , and which enabled men to derive some of the advantages of l— capital from the investment of wel earned wages , and which would give that yet deeper interest in the national

H istorical S ouve ni r J J

welfare which a substantial stake in the country naturally produces .

R v e . . ﬁ The G Onions warned the —members , rst , that in seeking to extend the principle of co operation they would have against them nearly all the aristocratic inﬂuence of

the country , therefore he urged them to seek political

power in order to cope with that opposition ; secondly ,

he warned them against intoxicating drink , which was

their enemy .

as u The Chairman said ; an employer of labo r , there was not the slightest j ealousy on their part with co - opera tion or any institution which sought to improve the lot of

the workers . m Dr . J . R . Ca pbell , in an eloquent address , pointed out that co - operation was as much a law of nature as self

preservation , and that it was calculated to teach man

u y ind stry , forethought , and econom and his duty to his

neighbour .

The other speakers followed on familiar lines , but not a word was said about amalgamation . It was not necessary to wait long for an illustration of

how the advice of the Rev . G . Onions was taken , and it

— - may be interesting to present day eo operators to learn that the affairs of their society did not absorb the whole

of the time of the committees of that day , and that they ff took no little part in public a airs of the times . An instance of this is given when on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of the E xchange Buildings , in

Market Street , the working class held a meeting to protest against the choice of Lord Palmerston to perform that

duty . Finding they were too late to stop that , a public

72 ” 9 s s Am alg amation Pro posed meeting was held for the purpose of brieﬂy reviewing

’ Palm erst on s Lord representative policy , and of considering in what manner the unenfranchised working class of this great manufacturing community ought to recei v e him on hi s t o t i u approaching visit , and de erm ne what steps Sho ld be taken by them to undeceive him as to the supposed apathy and carelessness of the people on the important question of Parliamentary Reform . — At this meeting a number of prominent co operators

took a leading part , and agreed with the proposal to pledge

ﬁ ﬁ abst i n themselves to observe a digni ed , but signi cant

ence from all enthusiastic cheering , but when it was pro

posed to present an address , couched in respectful but

ﬁ r m tone , embodying their dissatisfaction at his political immorality and inj ustice to the workers in regard to the R OSS franchise , Mr . Malcolm proposed an amendment with

see reference to the address , stating it would be better to that they sent men to Parliament who would not betray

e them . The am ndment was defeated , but the civic authorities and of ﬁcials of the Chamber of Commerce f re used permission for the presentation of the address . The main fact to notice i s the prominent part taken by co - operators in What was a burning poli t cal question of

d ay the , without any danger to the societies represented by them . Among the remaining items recorded before the close of the year were the closing of the Shops at half—past eight

- y on Thursdays , and at half past nine on Frida s and the

VVhi t e - 6 S taking of a new shop for Abbey at the rent of .

per week without rates , the society to pay for the necessary

e - alterations . B sides which the half yearly report for

73 Historical S o uve ni r J J

1 5 t 1 8 6 December 3 , 4 , congratulates the members on the

y position of the societ . The sales had amounted to

ﬁ 1 5 . and the pro ts were £5 9 3 , which allowed a dividend of

in the pound . It refers to the want of adequate shop

Gi rli n t on accommodation at g , to obviate which land had 8 been purchased at a cost of £9 , on which a store and cottages would be erected and probably be ready for

occupation the following May . They also point out that

Since the society started , four years previously , the members had received no less than a sum of £3 0 8 8 in

return for their loyalty , which , of course , was part of an

u appeal for f rther loyalty .

Histo rical S ouve nir J J

In the meantime the Provident Society had received

u additional strength thro gh the return of Mr . Tom Bower

on the committee , and various matters began to receive f attention which had a material e fect on the society . The

u q estion of Leakage came to the front , the system of

- Cheek boy was adopted , and a demand for a revision

u f of the r les given e fect to . The Manchester Road Store

was also made into a Central Store , for a period no doubt ,

while the Bridge Street Stores were being erected . Special committees were appointed to visit the various stores at any time they chose and afterwards to report to ﬁ the full committee . In place of the shopman nding a security or bond through a guarantee society it was decided that the names of two respectable householders

ffi s ub— would be su cient . The old sectional committees were

- done away with , and the sub secretary given power to receive contributions and to p urchase checks from the

members . Whether it was that the new leakage regulations were felt to be oppressive on the e mployees or not is not

but u e clear , q ite an xceptional numbe r of vacancies occurred on the staff j ust after the raising of the question . Another matter referring to the employees at this period

a was the gre t number of changes which occurred , and also the fact that these vacancies were ﬁlled by men from

ﬁ . Manchester , Rochdale , Hudders eld , and Sowerby Bridge If the committee were more alive to their duties in regard to the e mployees at this p eriod they did not forget to

v legislate for themsel es , for they passed a resolution that

’ no new business Should be taken af ter 1 0 o clock and also

m . that the roll should be called at p . Among the

Historic al S ouve nir J J

numerous changes noted is that of J ohn Bentley from

secretaryship to manage the Otley Road Store , from which he was later removed to the Manchester Road Store to

assist Mr . Settle . Then J ohn Normington was made clerk

to the society ; no doubt this is simply the ﬁlli n g - up of

b . the post occupied y Mr Bentley . This arrangement did

not last above a month , for a minute states that Francis

S ch oﬁeld n 2 5 was appoi ted clerk to the society at 4 . per

but week , before the end of the year the position was

again given to George Shutt , who had held the post in con

E S ch oﬁ eld j unction with dward some time previously .

Besides these there were changes almost all round .

The new rules also made changes : the committee were ﬁ in future to be known as directors , and the meeting xed d their fees at 6 . per night . In trade matters it was arranged that the large room above the Wh ite Abbey Store should be ﬁtted up as a drapery store .

All these changes had their effect on the society , and in one of their reports during the year the directors expressed their regret that the withdrawals of capital had exceeded the contributions . This they had no hesitation in

u attrib ting to the changes among the servants , but which h t ey maintained could not be avoided , however wishful

o they might have been to do s .

w as The report for the close of the year , however , in a

much more hopeful tone , and afforded the directors pleasure

y and indicated marked progress and prosperit . This time the contributions exceeded the withdraw als by a large

amount , which the directors took to be a mark of con

ﬁd ence . The sum standing to the credit of the members

78 9 B 5 Internal Cha ng es

had increased by nearly a thousand pounds during the year ,

hi ﬁ u w le the dividend , which in the rst half only amo nted

n to ninepence in the pou d , once more reached the shilling therefore they had every reason to feel that the tide which seemed to be setting against them had turned at

last , and they looked forward to the new year with ﬁ con dence . The year 1 8 6 5 seems to have been rather uneventful with the young Bowling Old Lane Society . It made

prog ress , it is true , but on lines of their own devising . One of the ﬁ rst resolutions agreed to in the year was That the

off Committee be chosen the book , and those who will not

fi fin e stand be ned a shilling , and that the goes to the ” n Committee for wages . At the commenceme t of the Society it had been decided that the Committee should give their services gratuitously . E vidently there must have been a diffi culty in getting individuals to act on the l Committee , sti l it seems rather a novel way of selecting

persons to manage a commercial undertaking , for if the ﬁrst ten names called accepted ofﬁ ce then there woul d be no wage for any of them . This seems to have been found

was sum out , for after a trial it upset and a lump was d d grante to be ivided among them . The main business

seemed to be the arranging of tea parties , for they had several in the year , and j udging by the entries in the cash

e 1 book would have an av rage attendance of about 5 0 .

Nothing is mentioned about where they were held , but it i s almost without doubt that the old school room , which stands immediately opposite the tailoring department in

Bowling Old Lane , would be the place . If these old walls e could sp ak what a tale they would unfold , for not only the

79 Historical S ouve ni r J J

teas , but all the general meetings of the district were held there . The min utes supply some information as to how these teas were conducted . The one at the beginning of the

l ﬁ rst — year was cal ed a class tea , and for which the tickets

ﬁ v e were charged 9 d . There were to be trays under the E charge of Ada Tho rnton , mma Denning , Hannah

Butterworth , Mary Birkby , and Sarah Taylor . The list

of speakers , however , fairly staggers , especially bearing in

t oo mind that one is often considered many in these days . — R ev . These were the Vicar of Bradford (the Dr . Burnett) ,

- k l n V . rec et o . . . Rev . T . F (Unitarian) , Rev T A Stowell (Vicar

’ \Vi lk i nson of St . Stephen s) , J ames , and C . Pollard .

\Vhether this combination was t he result of broad - minded views on the part of the Committee , or whether it was that e ach de nomi natio n was represented o n the Com mittee

and each wanted his own parson , or whether it was with

u a view to attract a large a dience , the minutes do not

indicate , but whatever the reason it shows the cosmopolitan — co . nature of operation One thing the records do show , and that is that a proﬁt was made . It is true it was a

1 5 . small one , only still that was on the right side of

- l the ledger , and many societies to day wou d be pleased

even with a similar result , for somehow they are not f w expected to pay now , and the di ference bet een income and expenditure is looked upon as an investment in

propagandism . An indication of growth , however , may be seen in the fact that early in the year the Society l decided to j oin the Ha ifax Corn Mill Society , and also to occupy the whole of the cottage house which had been

shO taken as a p , and to utilise it in selling drapery and

8 0 ” 9 s 3 Inte rn al Cha nges

hardware . It has already been mentioned that a Mr . m Sawley occupied the back room of the pre ises , and that

only the front room was used for the shop . The report at the end of the year stated that the sales had amounted

1 6 6 1 1 to £ 7 , and the bonus and interest paid to £ 3 .

8 1 1 8 6 6

Shortage of C apital

CHAPTE R X I I .

C o n ﬂi c i n g R eso lut i o n s E d w a d S ch oﬁ eld appo in t ed t — r S ecr et a r y M et ho d s Ad o pted t o I n crease C ap ital S h a res taken u p w i t h t h e No rt h of E n gl an d C o

o e a oc t — Am l am o n a n p r t ive S i e y a g ati ag i R ej ect ed . an d Wh y

W ith the New Year 1 8 6 6 there seems to have been no slackening down from the activity commenced the previous

u u u year , j dging by the n mber of resol tions passed at each

v u u ﬁ meeting . Pre io sly a Single min te often suf ced for a w but hole meeting , now anything from a dozen to over a

are score recorded each evening . It may be true that they

have not all the same relative value , or that they do not

indicate real progress , for several times a resolution was passed at the beginning of a meeting only to be rescinded

before the close , leaving the question where it originally

stood . Still it was something gained to have had the

us matter disc sed . An instance of this character , and also of the di fﬁculty of ﬁnd ing out where the society stood

with regard to certain questions , occurred at this time , and f is recorded as ollows : Proposed by Mr . Thomas Bower ,

8 2

0 Historical S ouve ni r J J

One thing stands out prominently during the maj or

“ ” v i z of portion of the year , . , shortage capital , which

by was caused , no doubt , the erection of the stores and

Gi rli n t on at f cottages at g and White Abbey , the ormer of

ov er 1 0 0 0 l 0 0 which cost £ , and the atter over £9 . Various

d fﬁ u methods were attempted to get over the i c lty . The

members were asked to increase their shares , and to encourage them to do so the interest was ﬁxed at 6 per

cent . , while loans were asked for at 5 per cent . Although fﬁ a certain amount came in this way it was not su cient ,

u and several resol tions bear on the matter , one of which

a uthorised a s ub - committee to raise £6 0 0 on the Gi rli n gt on

u E state thro gh the Building Society . E ventually a

ff \Vom ersle private mortgage was e ected with a Mr . y for

0 0 £5 , which relieved the pressure for the time being . About this time the annual festivals of both societies

v seem to ha e been discontinued , and in their place district

teas and meetings were held . Two are recorded , one for

each society . That for the Provident was held in the

but Bowling district , seemed to have been a failure ,

ﬁ u nancially , for a min te states that it was decided to make ﬁ up the de ciency out of the funds of the society . The

tea - party in connection with the Queen sgat e Society was

i st erhi lls held in the Independent School , L , and was

\V u presided over by Mr . H . . L sh (president of the society) .

The addresses were given by Messrs . Wainwright and

George Roberts . It is probable that these district teas were only sub

st i t ut es on a small scale pending the great tea which was to celebrate the amalgamation whenever it came off or it

r may be that both societies , being somewhat short of

8 4

Historical S o uveni r J J

capital , were in a mind to be content with local speakers , thus s av i n g the expense of bringing leaders in the move

ment from either Manchester or Rochdale .

There is one important matter , however , which stands

y out prominentl and must not be omitted . At a special

meeting , held after the quarterly meeting at which the arbitrators were appointed , the question arose as to whether the society should j oin the North of E ngland

C o - operative Society (now known as the C o - operative

Wholesale Society) . Mr . J ohn Haigh proposed , and Mr .

\Vomersle Joseph y seconded , that the question should

ov er stand for three months . This having been defeated ,

Mr , B radley proposed , and Mr . Lightfoot seconded , that t w E enty shares be taken in the North of ngland Society ,

which was agreed to . The next resolution decided that

S choﬁeld . E . Messrs Blakey (president) , (secretary) , and

' Ay e ard Bower , Waddington , and y (directors) be nominated to take four shares each for the Provident Society in the

y North of E ngland Societ . Thus showing the method which had to be adopted in those days with regard to the investment of co - operative capital in a eo - operative

concern . D uring the whole of this year the question of the amalgamation of the t wo societies kept cropping up from

time to time . At the May quarterly meeting of the Pro vident Society it was decided that the amalgamation was

desirable , and that it be left in the hands of the committee

s i ts In accordance with thi resolution , and with a View to

ﬁx accomplishment , the committee had the property and ed stock of the society valued by competent authoriti es and requested a large attend ance of members at the August

8 6 " ” s A Sho rtag e o f C apital

ﬁ quarterly meeting , so as to come to a nal decision on the

y matter . It was accordingl arranged that both societies

but should meet on the same evening , not together . Con

sequently both meetings were held on Tuesd ay evening ,

u t h Aug st 7 . The Industrial Society ’ s members met at their central

ueen s at e premises in Q g . The report , stating that the

8 6 0 u w as sales amounted to £3 , and contrib tions to £5 3 ,

w as adopted , and it thereupon decided to pay a dividend

25 1 1 d of . . in the pound on the purchases , and to place

0 £5 in reserve for the new society , and also that the

u amalgamation with the Provident be carried thro gh .

ueen s at e While this was going on in Q g , the Provident members were discussing their own report in the Mechanics ’

’

Institute . The quarter s sales were stated to have

6 0 8 amounted to £ 3 , but the dividend recommended by the ‘ d directors only amounted to 9 . in the pound . Whether the latter fact had an y thing to do with it or not cannot

but be stated now , the fact remains that the members

decided to rej ect the scheme for amalgamation .

Now , then , this information having been conveyed

ueen s at e across to the Q g members , they immediately rescinded their previous resolution and decided that the

I S dividend to be paid should only be . and that the balance

1 5 1 1 d u of . . in the po nd be placed . to the reserve fund .

Thus ended another attempt at amalgamation .

n Before the end of the year , and in response to a application from a number of persons residing in the New

Leeds district , a new store was opened there at a rent of

2 u ﬁ £ 4 per year , which more than f l lled expectations , as the

n business done amou ted to £5 0 per week . There were now

8 7 Historial S ouve n ir J J

n sev e branch stores in existence . The trade for the whole year amounted to the White Abbey store

of 1 8 1 a heading the list with a turnover £ 3 for the qu rter . The average dividend for the fo ur quarters works out to

I I d A . in the pound

8 8 1 8 6 7 —6 8

A Memorable Pe ri od

C HAPTE R XI I I .

New Cen r al Pr em ses a so New S au h er house an d t i , l l g t S ab es— em b e s Take Poli ca A c on b ut Re ec t l M r ti l —ti , j t Pr o o sa f or C o - o er at e uc a on O eni n of New p l p iv Ed ti —p g C ent r al Prem—i ses i n Bridg e S tr eet Am alg am ati on om le n l o A n C p t ed B owli g O d L an e S c iety dv a ces .

1 8 6 The next year , 7 , owing to the increase in the c i h t o . l t number of bran hes , brought g the necessity for a central store from which the branches could be supplied

with goods . The members had already given their sanction

u l to the proposal , but stip lated that they shou d be con sult ed before a purchase was made . In due course some property in Bridge Street w as offered and accepted by the

wa st ore whi le . s members The front portion made into a , the back was ﬁtted up as a warehouse with accommodation

for weighing , checking , and storing goods ready for transfer

to the branches . About the same time the s ale of butcher ’ s meat was

so once more introduced into the stores , and successful did it become this time that Soon the society was selling from two to three beasts and about a dozen sheep or pigs per

8 9 Historical S ouve ni r J J

week . The next step in this direction was a demand for a slaughterhouse . This , combined with the necessity of having the stables nearer to the new central warehouse

than Marshall Street , where they were , led to the pro

posal to provide accommodation for both together , which

matured in the purchase of land in Upper Sturgess Street ,

s on which a slaughterhouse , stables , and two cottage were

erected at a cost of £5 0 0 . ff Other changes were e ected , such as the issue of half

yearly balance Sheets in place of quarterly , also the redue

’ tion in the amount of the members ﬁrst contribution from ~

s 1 5 5 . to one of . Although it had been decided some months previously

C o - y s to j oin the North of E ngland operative Societ , it eems

out such had never been carried , and the matter was again f placed on the agend a . A ter discussion it was agreed ,

1 0 0 0 this time , to take up shares , the previous resolution

y i s was fo r twent shares , and it evident the meeting thought the Shares were of one pound each , but now it had been

ﬁv e found the shares were shillings each , hence the

on increased investment . It therefore appears the next

balance Sheet as an investment of £5 0 . I t is interesting to note that politics were not always t abood at t he meetings of the members and active spirits a h in connection with the society . This year affords not er

as instance . The period may be recalled by older persons P one of extreme political feeling . arliamentary Reform

was the burning question of the d ay , and leading co - operators were not afraid of letting their position be known in regard to the matter . The advice given by the

Rev . G . Onions , and previously referred to , was taken on

9 0

Historical S ouve nir J J

B ridge Street . Tea was provided in the large room over f . . i the store , a ter which , Mr C Blakey took the cha r and l congratu atory addresses were delivered . The Chairman

emphasised the fact that a long felt want had been supplied ,

and Mr . Tom Bower recounted the story of the history

and progress of the society , a theme he was never weary ﬁ of . He summed up the position by stating that the pro ts

6 0 which had been distributed amounted to a sum of £ 3 3 , and besides which the members had received in interest a sum which exceeded the total Share capital of the society b 2 y £4 4 .

co— Mr . Samuel Northam (director) Showed how opera tion could be carried on with advantage in all kinds of

u manufacturing industries , and by s ch means the blessings of wealth and education be more widely diffused among

the industrial classes . The other speakers included Messrs . \ J . Bentley (employee) , D . Vilson (treasurer) , and J .

Shackleton (auditor) . A full account of the proceedings appears in the

B rad ord Obser ver f of that d ate , to which we are indebted

for this report , otherwise the only references in the minutes

ff y to the a air are of a preliminar character , such as the

u u decision to hold s ch a meeting , and who sho ld be

invited to it . I t may be interesting to note , however , the “ keen business ability ” exhibited even in such a

Simple affair , for it was decided that each person coming to the tea - party would be expected to contribute their share towards the expenses and f urther that tickets be sent to the local papers inviting them to the tea party so

as to secure a report of the proceedings . E vidently it was intended that the opening of the new premises Should

9 2

Historical S ouve ni r J J

was not cost the society anything . It rather the other

- way , for they secured a half column advertisement free . The year ended with a record of sales amounting to

1 1 d and an average dividend of . in the pound . Such success was regarded by the directors in their report

and as not only satisfactory but remarkable , they were fully j ustiﬁed in so doing when it i s remembered the few y ears that had elapsed since the society started . “ Another memorable period must be the description

1 8 6 8 given to the year which , following the old adage though

as s aw beginning badly still had a good ending , it the com plet i on of the long - looked - for and much - discussed amal g am at i on between the Queen sg at e and the Provident

\ - Societies . Vith regard to the last named society itself , while steady progress w as made in the shape of increased sales and membership (the latter showing an addition of

8 8 u 3 ) during the year , the dividends wo ld nowad ays be

ﬁ - considered very unsatisfactory , seeing the rst half year

y 8 d - d onl paid . in the pound and the second half year 9 .

in the pound .

The story of the amalgamation is a long one . By the preceding pages it will be found that at diff erent times ﬁrst one society decided in its favour while the other

rej ected the scheme , then later on the positions were

reversed , and so the question was kept dragging slowly

ov er along years in place of weeks . At length on Mond ay

2 n d 1 8 6 8 u evening , November , , a dep tation consisting of

Messrs . J . Howarth , J . Hudson , and Charles Greening attended before the Board of the Provident Society and

said that owing . to the aff ai rs o f the Queensgat e Society

being in a serious condition they , the deputation , had

9 4

Historical Souveni r J J

ﬁ their de ciencies , at which Mr . Howarth , who had f engineered the whole a fair throughout , said they were

off so thankful to get with little . The papers were duly

Signed by the two presidents , J oseph Helliwell and J ohn

S choﬁ eld Howarth , and E dward and Titus Hall , the two ~

secretaries . Thus the two streams that had run Side by

Side for eight years became merged into one . There was

still the Bowling Old Lane Society outside , but it was a long time before an y thought of amalgamation was raised

“ t u with hem . The Old La ers were a class unto them selves and only came into B radford on Saturdays and

was holid ays , so it said . But for all that the Old L an ers were making progress ;

m old dl they had outgrown their pre ises , and Nicholas Broa ey

1 5 had had his wages increased to 9 . per week , besides having

- the assistance of a Committee man on two nights a week .

ort i on whi eh ﬁ s E ven with the addition of that p . at r t had

been let to Mr . Sawley , they were cramped for room at nights and the members were complaining of being

who daubed with ﬂour when a customer , had been

purchasing that necessary commodity , passed them . Another reason for taking action was that capital had

an d m grown as well as trade , the Co mittee were exercised d what to do with it . In this dilemma they followe their usual course and arranged a tea party at which the matter

was discussed . The momentous question was settled by David Ki t chi ngm an proposing That we build a Shop for ”

use . our own This was seconded by old Nicholas , and

Ki t chi n man agreed to . Messrs . D avid g , Isaac Naylor , and William S t ai n t horpe were appointed to look out for a con

n n v e i e t place . ” 9 s 3 A M emorable P eriod After a ‘ h lasting several months some old property t e “ was discovered across h way from their own Shop . After the mmi t t ee give n their report a res oluti on was ch shows the cautious character of these

bu all Old t we y the four houses if possible , but if not th at we buy the three lowest with s ufﬁ cient

u u gro nd , and inq i re if we are to make the other property go od if we only get the three It was e v idently old

e a h property , and thes c utious men were afraid that if t ey

a u l n u d beg n p l i g down the three ho ses which they neede , the fourth mi ght come down of its own accord and s o land ﬁ the n in dif culties . Between the date of this resolution and the ac the s che me there were many

‘ n are interesti g in their way , as they i fﬁ c ult i es which pres ented the mselves but bei ng met resol utely by these old

dyers and we avers were one by one overcome .

' -To purchase the houses alone would not have been

ufﬁ n s cie t for their purpose therefore , in addition , they a secured twenty yards of lan the b ck of the houses .

’ It was a portion of an est ate kn own as Nine Days Work

d E m VVh eat le m E s and belonge to dward Bal e y B al e , q , of Dewsbury} The ide a e mbodied in the name given to the ﬁeld was that it re quire d nine days to mow it ; one

- u ﬁ . looks in vain for s ch a eld to day The present No . 3 9 w branch stands upon the site of the cottages , which ere in

a line with the present old school in Bowling Old Lane .

t ai nt h or e Ki t chi n m an Messrs . S p and g were despat ched t o

r d 1 8 6 Dewsbury on October 3 , 7 , to make the best bargain ” they could with regard to the conveyance of the deeds . n They soo found , however , that their troubles were only

H 9 7 Histo rical S ouve nir J J

‘ - f or of - beginning , the legal advisers the p roperty owners

out . u t he pointed that , according to the r les of the Society , Committee had no power to purchase land in the name of the Society . A special meeting of the members was called to consider the matter , and it was decided to write Tidd Pratt , f o . Registrar Friendly Societies , for advice The answer received w as that it wo uld be necessary to revise an d

t h e u amend r les , taking power to purchase land in the

d on e w new r ules . this was being they rote to the

So o u y i i . ff licit rs at Dewsb r expla n ng the position of a airs , and that they were taking the necessary steps to amend t r" i ules That they had n o doubt as to their ability to

e h fﬁ u m u . overcom t eir di c lty see s ab ndantly clear , for they

’ immediately g ay e the tenants of the fou 1 houses six months

i an d u i not ce to quit , d r ng the time they were to pay their ‘ w rents fo rtnightly . Other steps taken Sho that they meant

u their ed cation in this matter to be complete , for they pur

‘ chased a copy o f the Landlord and Tenant Act galso a

f o r be Seal the Society , to in readiness to stamp the deeds

. t h when they got them . But it was not until October 9 ,

1 8 6 8 . w , that the purchase was completed , exactly t elve months af ter t h e ﬁrst deputation had gone to Dewsbury

0 1 1 d that errand . This second eputation con sisted of Timothy Fell (President) and J ohn Rushforth Besides

f o r u 1 a m s m 2 5 . d 2 . p y g the property , they had a of £ 5 to pay as interest due for the time occupied in altering th e o r ules . By this time the S ciety was doing a trade of over £20 0 0 per year

Histori c al S ouve ni r J J

w near the centre of the to n . The exodus to the outskirts had already commenced and has been going on ever

since , having only been accelerated by the advent of the

n trams more rece tly , therefore as it was not required it was

y promptl closed . The other three branches , Carlisle Road ,

i st erhi lls E L , and llen Street , were added to the eight branches of the P rovident So ciety and were numbered n nine , ten , and eleven respectively . Beyond the painti g o f v er the new name y little else was done to the premises . ﬁ A serious dif culty arose , however , with the older

w u w as employees , hich no do bt increased , for the time

u being . by the s dden addition of the new employees . It was through an attempt to ﬁx a scale of wages based 0 1 1

“ ” the adoption of a Leakage System under a bond .

Scarcel y a meeting passed for many months without some

reference being made in some form or other . It was a

fﬁ an d di cult problem and required tact patience . Meeting

after meeting , the bulk of the time was taken up with

u vario s store managers and their bonds , who resented the

innovation . Some signed at once , but there were others

who obj ected to particular clauses , and each came before

u the Board to arg e the point . E ventually matters were

arranged , but not before leaving a mark on the personnel f of the sta f .

Other matters , too , occupied the attention of the

co - Directors , not exactly of a operative character . These

were stirring times politically , it should be remembered , and Bradford had become notorious through the unseating of u Mr . Ripley , who had been s ccessful in the Parliamentary

election a few months previously . The Commission which

u tried the case fo nd that there had been bribery .

IOO 9 s 9 s Steady Gro w th

was - Mr . Ripley therefore unseated , and a new election

ﬁ re followed . The of excitement , which had scarcely

had time to di e out , burst out afresh , involving the fi fi whole community in a erce and angry ght . It could scarcely be imagined that the men who were in the forefront of social reform would pass through the fray \ a fin d without taking some action in it , and their n mes a

s B ut place in the newspaper record of the times . this , of

course , was in their individual capacity . It did not end ﬁ there by any means . The rst intimation , from a co - i s operative standpoint , contained in a minute stating the fact that the Directors had let off the room over the

’ Gi rli n gt on branch to Mi all S Committee for three nights

5 each week at 4 . per night . In case any of the supporters of the other candidate (Mr . M . W . Thompson) were dis satisﬁed they were to be informed that they could have

the other three nights each week at the same price .

Whether they accepted or not is not stated , but the balance sheet has an item Rent of room at Gi rli ngt on so it

does not look as if they did . That is not the only action taken by the Directors as

a body in this election , for they ordered all the stores to

’ d 1 1 2 m be close from o clock to p . . for the purpose of allowing the storemen the opportunity of attending the

i n Peck ov er public nomination of the candidates Walk , which turned out to be such a rowdy affair that the meeting was broken up and ended in a general melee ,

et in which sticks and stones were freely used . And y , although it was made very plain as to which Side the

an Directors leaned , they were never called in question at y u of the s bsequent meetings of the members for their action .

IO I Historical S o uve ni r J J

Can anyone say what would be the outcome of such a

proceeding to - day Several references in the minutes duri ng the year relate

’ to work done for the society by the Industrial Painters

s was - a- d Society , but whether thi j ust epartment of the recently amalgamated Queen sg at e S oCi et y ; the proper

r ' i name of which was the Bradford Indust ial Soc ety , or whether is was an entirely separate society organised by the Bradford painters on Similar lines to the more recent

“ ’ C o - Joiners and Builders operative Society , is not now

see known . It is satisfactory , however , to that the Provident Society gave them a deal of work for the new

ai st erd k e stores at L y and Bridge Street , and several of the

' re- t hi s t i m e old stores were done by them at . This y ear is noted as being that ' in ‘ t h the ‘ ﬁ rst

C o - o d a perative Cong ress was hel . The pl ce of meeting

S oci ety ' of Ad el hi ond on Was being the Arts Hall , p f L , it

thought too far to send a delegate to , so the Directors did t h e next best thing by trying to get someone to go W ho ﬁ would not require any expenses . The rst motion agreed

“ ‘ s to was that J acob Behrens , E q , be waited upon and C ” asked to attend the ongress for them . Before the meeting concluded this was rescinded and a resolution

Mi all — carried that Mr . , the newly elected Member of Parlia

ment for Bradford , should be written to and asked to

undertake the duties . It is probable the change was made ﬁ on reading the programme of the proceedings , as the rst ’ M P d ay s chairman was to be Tom Hughes , . . , the second M P Mun M . d ella P . . A . J . , and the third day W Morrison , Seeing all the leading men were Members of Parliament no

’ doubt the Prov i d ent s Directors felt justiﬁed : in calling

Hi storlcaI S ouve n i r J J upon their representative in the House of Commons to

s Mi all undertake this duty al o . Whether Mr . ever came

not t r to give his report is stated , but some time af e wards a minute refers to a letter received from him which g av e

every satisfaction .

an If there was no tea to celebrate the amalgamation ,

innovation was made in the shape of a trip . In this affair the committee ’ s recommendation to arrange a trip was

rej ected by the meeting , but permission was given that if any number of the Directors cared to run one on their

so own they could use the name of the society to do . The

off u u t h trip came in due course on A g st 7 , when about

25 0 members went by Midland train for a half - day to

Ripon and Studley Park , and had a glorious time of it .

As the balance Sheet for the half - year shows a proﬁt of about three guineas on the excursion it would seem not only to have been successful but that the society took the ﬁ pro t while disclaiming any share of the risk . It seems that the land purchased for the store at L ai st erd y k e was more than was necessary for their require

ments , therefore the Directors became , for the time being , h landholders wishing to sell , and it is noteworthy that t ey

rose to the height of their position as social reformers , for there is a minute which reads as follows That we allow

ai st erd k e 5 8 d Mr . Burnley to have the land at L y at 4 ; .

but beersho per yard , that no p be erected thereon be a ” u stip lation . It was during this year also that the drapery and the l tailoring departments became established on a permanent footing by having responsible managers appointed for each .

“7 ﬁ rst - 6 0 Mr . . Fielden received the named position at £

1 0 4 9 " s s Ste ady Grow th

2 8 5 per annum , and Mr . J . W . Mason the latter at . per week . The society was now able to supply the members r ’ with g oceries , drapery , clothes , boots, butchers meat ,

and coals , and possessed twelve stores , a general ware

a house , slaughterhouse and stables , and these two new

departments . At the annual meeting it was Shown that the sales for the year had amounted to on which the proﬁts

l d u were such as to a low a dividend of 9 . in the po nd for

ﬁ si x 1 5 the rst months , and . in the pound for the latter

- half year . The share capital now stood at In the discussion on the balance sheet it was suggested

that the society was getting too large to be well managed ,

and that the Directors were changed too frequently , in fact

j ust when they had got used to the business . A further suggestion was thrown out that it would be advisable to ’ a increase the secretary s salary and give him an assist nt , so that he could devote more time to real management of

the business .

Replying on the discussion the chairman (Mr . J . Helli well) said the Directors had already considered the u wisdom of appointing a competent b yer , after which the

balance sheet was passed . No further mention is made of the competent buyer for several years .

’ The tenth year of the society s exi stence 1 8 70 was a marked by a ste dy growth . The Directors were more

concerned to attend to internal arrangements , consoli dating and strengthening rather than extending by

Ah breaking up new ground . early minute shows that

of the Directors had their own j okes , for one them

u a thorises Mr . Shutt to sell Mr . Peel as dear as

1 0 5 Histo rical S ouve ni r J ' J

Mr of u r i possible , . Peel , co rse , being one of thei owr

' l « u e was t hat col eagues . What the nat re of the articl

’ w as i n - of Mr . Peel need is not stated . Certainly the

“ - al u a minute , reading liter ly , wo ld convey the ide that

m t i n - it was Mr . Peel hi self tha was the market , but

: that seems to be only a clerical error . It is j ust

e possible Mr . Peel expr ssed a wish to purchase something

u Mr r S hut t which came under the p rview of , hence the

u et u Out o instr ction to g as m ch of him as p ssible .

Having accomplished his o bj ect in brmgmg about the

H yvar h o t . amalgamation Mr . now retired from the scene . 1 On April 3 th he sent in his resignation to his colleagues ,

u y m which was regretf ll accepted by the , and Mr . Joseph

\V alk er who , had lost his seat at the previous election , was

t o t he asked take vacant place .

o u o o f u Another vacanc y cc rred in the m nth J ly , caused by u o f wh o v er the s dden death Mr . Shutt , had been a y active member of the B oar d ‘ f o r a number of years : This seems t o be the ﬁrst case on record in the - society Of a

Director passing awa y while in harness ; The Directors passed a resolution t h at ' all who could make i t ‘ con v en i en t f e should attend the uneral , and furth r closed all the

. stores to enable as many of the employees to d o s o as at possible . By this time several of the older members were beginning to drop out of the front rank and to leave the s work to younger men . One such caused several change ff ﬁ l to be made in the sta . Mr . D avid Wilson had l ed the

i o be i n n i n of 1 8 6 2 positi n of treasurer since the g g , but now

‘ “ Mt E S ch oﬁeld tendered his resignation . . dward was

o u app inted his s ccessor under the new title of cashier , and

1 0 6

Histo ric al Souven i r J J

how far they had prospered in the meantime . A letter was sent to the Sowerby Bridge Flour Society asking if they

u 20 0 0 0 1 1 co ld negotiate a loan of £ , the deeds of Bridge

Street , Hirst Street , and Manningham properties . The

f 0 0 reply was an immediate o fer of £3 0 . Although money was easily obtainable at this time it does not follow that the Directors thought it should be

f o r allowed to go as easily , we read that the cashier received instructions to see the assessor of rates and taxes with

respect to the assessment of the Bridge Street property , but whether he was successf ul in getting a reduction or not

does not appear .

This ability to get money , however , may have made the

Directors think more of themselves than formerly , for they

decided to cover the ﬂoor of the Board Room with linoleum ,

’ h av e and to the chairs , after ten years service , repaired , and while going t o this expense they no doubt thought

y o f o r the might g the whole length , they ordered a new chair for the President which was to be six inches higher

than the rest . B ut if they showed Signs of extravagance in this they made up for it by passing a resolution to bring into use the old tin checks which had been used by the Queens

u gate Society , th s saving the price of new ones . In the light o f later events it is interesting to note

v z W i . . that two delegates , . , Messrs . H . Naylor and H

u C o - W . L sh , were sent this year to the operative Congress

at Birmingham , with special instructions to use their

best inﬂuence to get the following Congress to Bradford .

n That they were unsuccessful we k ow , for the Lancashire h town of Bolton carried t e day , but the minutes do not

1 0 8 BANKS .

ENNE T C . B T MELI R . H . O ‘ Histo ric al S ouve ni r J J

tell us so . All that is recorded is a Special vote of thanks for their faithful discharge of their duties to the

d ay two delegates . A or two afterwards the Board

records its satisfaction in having one of its number , viz . ,

u Tit s Hall , elected on the Board of the North of ' E C o - W ngland operative holesale Society , and shortly after

u 0 1 1 that Mr . L sh was elected the Congress Board . At this time the butchering trade seems to have been

giving some trouble . First the committee received power to buy meat in Bradford Market on a month ’ s trial next the cashier received similar instructions ; then it was decided to offer the C o - operative Wholesale Society a weekly order of two beasts and si x sheep if they would

“ enter the cattle trade ; ﬁnally a minute records That ” out d 8 d Australian mutton be sent at 7 . and beef at . There is another minute which would be more interesting i f we l knew the seque , but that is j ust where we are let d y t o own , man items are mentioned , but never referred

u again . This partic lar minute states That if the cashier

’ ﬁnds our butcher s story about having been assaulted by

. E Mr lsworth and others , on Monday last , a reliable one , then he shall have power to give the matter into the hands

of Mr . Hutchinson (solicitor) to take proceedings .

A notable fact this year was the engagement of Mr . ﬁ Lloyd Jones to give three lectures in Bradford . The rst

was held in the Temperance Hall , and was presided over

. E by Mr . Crabtree Chairman of the North of ngland — J ( C o operative Wholesale Society) .

’

Mr . Jones , who was listened to very patiently for over

an hour , dwelt on the present condition of working men ,

and inquired whether it was satisfactory or not . Had they

I IO

Histo rical S ouve ni r J J

t o Manningham dis rict , and it is quite p ssible it was the

o a w cause of a prop s l by Mr . S . C . Lister (after ards Lord

d 0 11 co - Masham) to erect a store , to be worke operative

a lines , in Silk Street , ne r to the celebrated Manningham

On a n Mills . he ring this the Board se t Messrs . T . Hall ,

\V own en d . H . Hillas , and William T to interview Captain

t h e Lepper on matter . They were informed that the

u story was q ite true , and the cost of the same would be

1 about £ 0 0 0 . They then suggested that the Provident

y n ﬁ a Societ should be allowed to re t it , the rst ye r at 5 per

0 1 1 6 cent . the cost , the second year at per cent . , and the

third year at 7 per cent . After that , if both sides were

a o a agree ble , the s ciety should take a le se . The

a d propos l seeme acceptable , and ally the store

became the property of the society .

c Besides the above , the Provident So iety took its share

m n in the work of the move ent ge erally . The Directors call e d a conference of Yorkshire Societies to consider the quarterly report of the North of E ngland C o - operative

Society , and also to see what action could be taken about

n a the selectio of candidates as directors of the s me . This

a m may re d more like odern history than ancient , for similar meetings were held a few years ago with the

a t same obj ect in view , and yet has it not been s id tha history te nds to rep eat itself

n s The Confere ce was duly held , when repre entatives ﬁ attended from Hebden Bridge , Hudders eld , Guiseley ,

W i n d hi ll Barnsley , Chapel Allerton , Batley Carr , , and f d Keighley . The Brad ord elegates were Messrs . Naylor ,

W ooller . Lush , Leech , , Angus , and Hall The decision

“ of arrived at was that Mr . Hall , Bradford , and a

1 1 2 9 ” s s Steady Grow th

Huddersﬁeld delegate be nominated for seats on the

Board of the North of E ngland C o- operative Wholesale ” Society . Other indications that the Directors were alive to their growing importance in the movement may be gathered from their action in increasing their shares in the Wholesale

26 0 0 C o - Society to , also their weekly supply of the opera

1 20 was tive News to copies , which something in those

days , and a better supply , proportionately , than is the

case in these days , proving they were alive to the need of keeping the members posted as to how the cause progressed

in other parts of the country . The position of affairs at the end of the year was that

the society possessed nine freeholds , all situated in

improving localities , the last purchase being a substantial

block in E llen Street . The sales for the year amounted to

1 5 and the dividend paid was . in the pound . The capital of the society stood at Besides growth in

s this direction the Director showed progress in another , for they shortened the hours of labour by three in addition

l - to maintaining the now long standing ha f holiday . 1 8 7 2—1 8 7 8

Mo ney Bri n gs T rouble

V CH APTE R X . — C a t a r a I n c eas n G en er a an a er A o n e pi l pidl—y r i g l M g pp i t d H i s D u es P r o osa t o P u chase a C or n at —ti p l r M ill W ak eﬁ eld I n cr eased C apital b ecom es a Di fﬁ cult y

- — I n vestm en t s i n C o operative P r od uct i on Th e S o ciety b ecom es P ar Pr o r e o rs i n a C o a n e—S u es t p i t — l M i ppli r a f o r C o r o r a on w t C o a r s P r o os a t o B d d p ti i—h l Fi t p l com m en ce B re ad M aki n g B o wli n g Old L an e S o ci et y u s an b y L d .

E arly in 1 8 72 the Directors found themselves in a position to pay off half of the loan which had been obtained w from the Sowerby B ridge Flour Society . This gro th in wealth seemed to aff ect the members as well as the

Directors , for at the general meeting they decided to

’ 1 0 increase the Treasurer s salary to £ 5 per year , besides

’

6 1 5 . u d . do bling the Directors fee , that is from to per

night . This latter resolution , however , had attached to it an inj unction that as they had been generously treated they were in their tu rn to be liberally behaved to the employees . The Board were also deﬁnitely instructed to appoint

s a General Manager of the Society . Thi innovation may

1 1 4

Historical S ouveni r J J deserved the forty shillings which were considered the equivalent of the multifarious duties assigned to the fﬁ All o ce . the stocks and all the employees were to be

under his direct control , the former as to quantity , quality ,

and sales , while with the latter he had to watch them in

u see regard to p nctuality in opening , and to that they did m their duty all day long , it Should be re embered that

there were twelve stores at this time , besides which he was to advise the Directors as to when and what to l buy and sell , and to present a report week y of all he did and of all the goods required for the stores . That there was need of some sort of supervision was obvious

h 1 1 8 t 8 2 . from a minute dated March , 7 viz That

’ ’ \V ran gle s account for work done in 6 5 and 6 6 at

Gi rli n t on g be paid if found correct , and after being examined by the President and Cashier ” How much

the account was we do not know , but to allow it to stand over for seven years before presenting it Shows greater laxity on the part of VVra ngle than on that of

the Society . B esides being directly responsible for the erection of

’ r the Silk Street sto e , Lloyd J ones s lecture , in which he

co— advocated the encouragement of operative production , f must have had its e fect on the Directors , for we read of

ﬁ o them visiting Wake eld to inspect the Ph enix Corn Mill ,

which had been run by J oseph Horner Sons , with a view

to its purchase as a going concern . The report given afterwards was that the engine and machinery were in 6 good working order , that the building was 7 yards long , and that it was supposed to have cost In the opinion of the Directors the offer was well worth con

1 1 6 " 9 s 5 M oney B rings Trouble

S i d eri n was g , but as the sum asked for too much for the one society it was decided to call a conference of all the neighbouring societies to deal with the matter . Beyond

this , with the exception of a request to these societies for information as to how much ﬂour they consumed and what quantity they would be likely to purchase from the

the new mill , if purchased , nothing further is stated . It l is therefore more than probable . that the proposal fel

through , for a few months later it is recorded that the L eeds Flour Society be written to asking upon what ” terms they woul d supply the society with ﬂour . The

reason for this is not quite apparent , for on receipt of this information it was decided to order 1 0 0 0 packs of ﬂour from the Sowerby Bridge and Halifax Flour Societies and only twenty packs from Leeds . One thing is certain , and that i s the society was feeling the necessity for an outlet for the rapidly growing amount of capital in hand . Some relief was secured during the year by investing in a number

c - of o operative productive concerns . The amount of the shares in the C o - operative Wholesale Society was increased by £1 0 0 0 one hundred Shares were taken up in the Hebden Bridge Fustian Man ufacturing Society ; ﬁfty shares in the

Industrial Bank , Newcastle ; one hundred shares in the

C o- operative Printing Society two hundred Shares in the Howley Park Quarries ; ﬁfty shares “ of £5 each in the illfated Ouseburn E ngine Company ; while a sum of £25 0

C o - In was invested in the operative Insurance Society . this way the surplus capital of the Society was reduced

1 2 2 s from £74 to £5 7 4 , which till left the amount of capital in the Society at the close of the year at A step upwards in the social scale of the committee

1 1 7 Historical S ouve nir J J

1 8 is indicated in the records early in the year 73 . Up till this time the minutes have read as follows : That the

‘ ’ following persons be appointed to do this , that , or the ” other thing ; but now they read That the following

&c . gentlemen be appointed , This may only have been

a change in the mind of the writer of them , but colour is given to another view of the matter by a minute which states that a resolution had been passed that “ delegates going on the Society ’ s business Should be allowed second ” class railway fare to and from the place of meeting . It

therefore looks as if the two facts were somewhat related . Another resolution a few weeks later adds to this

“ assumption , for those gentlemen who had tea on Board nights were informed they would have to pay for the same in future ” —thus showing a certain degree of independence and also ability to comply with

the conditions , since having had their remuneration

6 d 1 5 . d oubled , viz . , from . to per meeting . Further investments were made this year in productive

concerns , in some cases for the sake of helping these

u ventures , as in the case of the O seburn E ngineering

2 0 Company , in which an additional £ 5 were placed in debenture shares , while in others it was a case of investing

’ the members capital , as was the case with the Airedale

1 0 0 Manufacturing Society , in which £ were placed , and

0 0 . also with the Morley Collieries , who received £5 Land

i rh ll st e i s . was also purchased in L from Mr A . Neil , and

Mr . Atkinson was immediately instructed to prepare plans for a store and some houses . It is noteworthy that at this time the Society supplied

a as as coals to the Corporation of Br dford for g making ,

1 1 8

Hi storical S ouvenir J J there are several minutes relating to interviews and com

n i n w mu i cat o s with Mr . Swallo (head of the gas department) w ith respect to the same . This is interesting information

d ev en t he to ay , for when Society has been successful in

o the competition for the supply of go ds to public bodies ,

1 1 either by price or quality , on some occasions as 5 0 0 as it became known that the goods selected had been submitted by the C o - operative society the order was

C o—O cancelled , Simply because it was the perative society

h ad that tendered . It mattered not that the Society may have paid ten times the amount in rates of the

ﬁ r m wa to whom the contract s given .

In this case of the coals , however , it seems the society ,

along with the Halifax Society and others , had become possessed of a colliery through an investment in what : ’ ﬁ E . was known as St J ohn s state , Wake eld There are

many references to it in the records , but very little informa — tion . I t is referred to as the Morley C o operative Coal

Mining Society at times , at others , as the Yorkshire Mining ﬁ . s Society at Wake eld Mr . William Town on was the Bradford Society ’ s representative on the Directorate of the concern and did good Service for the Society on it . At

C o— the Annual operative Congress , which was held at

h s Newcastle during t is year , amples of the coal were sent x to the e hibition held in connection with the Congress . This investment proved to be a veritable little gold mine

to the Society , for some years afterwards , when all the

a was reco l had been secured , and the estate sold , it brought d 9 . per yard more than had been originally given for it .

s Very little else eems to have been done this year . Mr . . 9 9 s 9 M oney B ri ng s Trouble

Helliwell , the President , got elected on the Board of the

Sowerby Bridge Flour Society , and his place as President

W i n t er i ll . s was taken by Mr J ohn g , who held it for many li years . Such old Directors as E Webster , Titus Hall ,

W ooller H . W . Lush , and William lost their seats on the Board at the election after having served the movement almost Since the beginning of either one or other of the

two original Societies . None of them , with the exception

W ooller so of Mr . , ever got back again , and they pass away out of our story .

New brooms are said to be able to sweep clean , and one of the ﬁ rst propositions of the new Board was to

- undertake the bread baking business , but when they came to make inquiries as to how it was to be done they

ﬁ was modi ed their proposals , and it eventually decided to allow Richard B idcock to supply those stores with bread to whom he could deliver it . They also decided to close the tailoring department at once , but here again a change e of opinion occurred , for a few w eks later a committee was appointed to view the premises opposite to s ee if they were l suitab e for the tailoring business . One resolution passed

the same evening does seem strange , wherein it was

n decided to e ter the pork business . Now , after all those years in which innumerable pigs had been purchased and

cured , one would naturally have thought the Society had

been very much in the pork business , but seemingly it was not 5 0 . One thing they did that looked as if something were going to happen was the purchasing of a large map of

as Bradford , but nothing is mentioned to the obj ect intended . It can only be surmised that extensions were Histo rical S ouve ni r J J

so in the air , if it was some considerable time before any w thing i n that direction as accomplished . In the meantime the Bowling Old Lane Society had

been quietly progressing . Having secured the title deeds

’ of of a portion the Nine Days Work estate , after a

long period of anxious thought and much planning , the ﬁrst thing the Committee did was to fence it all round as if to make it secure also . The lease of the shop and house then in use had still two y ears to run . There was

therefore , no immediate hurry to commence building operations . For some time afterwards matters seemed to run on fﬁ very smoothly . Changes had taken place in the o cers , f Squire Alderson became President , J e frey Scholes ,

Secretary , and Henry Heaton , Treasurer . The Society

had lost the services , by resignation , of Old Nicholas , who had been the shopman from the commencement , or at any rate since ever there was a shopman . There are a f ew who still remember him and who have a kindly word

to s ay about him . There was scarcely a better known man in the whole district than Nicholas Broadley . He had

ﬁ n Ot been one of the rst members , and although brought u u an d p to the b siness , he developed into a keen buyer

" decent seller . Nothing came amiss to him whether he was negotiating a bargain for some member s pigs (of which there seemed to be an endless supply) , or whether

u he was land s rveying on behalf of the Society , it mattered

’ not to him , it was all in his day s work . He did not live to see the erection of the grand new shop he talked so

h hi s muc about , for , within a few months of resignation , a minute records the f act that his executors should be

1 2 2

1 8 7 4 —1 8 8 0

C o / ope rative Prod ucti on

CHAPTE R XVI.

’ — O us eb ur n E n gi n eer i n g W o rks E stabli s hed Help f rom

— - Y o rks hi r e an d L an cas hire C o operative I n d ust r i al

— - B an k E s t abli s he d Th e I dle C o o per ativ e C om m er ci al ’ — o n s a NV ak eﬁ cld —A C os es n S oc e S t . s e t L so i ty J h E t t , ly — ' — L an \V aut e an d P ur c ase on e W an e b t h e d d h— d M y t d y B o wli n g Old L an e S o ciety New C o m m ittee Elect ed Q uar t erly M eet i n gs E s t abli s hed by t h e P ro viden t o u Ne w an c es en e —Re s on of R u es F r B r h O p d vi i l .

For several years onwards the Society prospered

steadily . Membership , capital , and trade all Showed

increases . A new Shop had been opened in Park Lane ,

a n Little Horton , which m de the fourteenth bra ch . As the capital increased the Directors were exercised at times to

ﬁ nd outlets for it , but never once did they complain of having too much . It was the other way round . The balance sheets contained a request that the members should allow their dividends and interest to remain in

u i s the Society to accum late against the day of need . It

n u 6 true the interest had bee red ced from per cent . to 5

. . s per cent on shares , and 45 per cent on loan , still the

0 capital continued to increase . T give the Directors their

1 24 ” ” 5 s C o 'operative P rod uction

s a due , it is only j ustice to y they endeavoured in their

c - f wa investments to further o operative e fort . It s with this obj ect in view that they invested a large sum in the

Ouseburn E ngineering Works , a concern which was

1 8 1 established in Newcastle in 7 , as the outcome of the engineering strike for nine hours a day . The strike lasted

some twenty weeks , from May to October . A number of sympathetic and philanthropic individuals s ubscribed a

u large amo nt of capital to help the workers , all of whom

were shareholders . Such efforts , however , proved

altogether inadequate , and an appeal was made to the

co- operative movement , which received a hearty response

from Yorkshire , the Bradford Society being among the

number . Dr . J . H . Rutherford was the moving spirit of

the concern , and had the assistance of such persons as

Thomas Burt , Joseph Cowen (both of whom became

McK n d r ck . e i . members of Parliament) , and J The workers contributed at the rate of £3 0 0 0 per year towards

C o - h the capital , while the operative W olesale Society took

Not wi t h up debenture bonds to the tune of £5 0 0 0 .

l a standing all , there stil remained mortgage of

M P . which Mr . Tom Hughes , . . , and Mr Walter Morrison ,

M P - . . co . , did their very best to get operators to supply ﬁ To nance the affair an Industrial Bank was formed ,

C o - supported mainly by operative Societies , but which

had private shareholders as well . Both concerns , however ,

eventually came to grief . The failure of the E ngineering

Works causing the collapse of the Bank . There was still another concern in which the Bradford

C o - Society had a fair interest , known as The Idle operative

Commercial Society , which was established to manufacture

1 2 5 Historical S ouve ni r J J

all kinds of woollen goods such as blankets , shawls , and ﬁ H ’ cloths . Operations were rst commenced at irst s Mill ,

u ﬁ r was b t after a serious e the business removed to Idle .

\Vi lli am Mr . Bell , who had been a manufacturer himself ,

u was the manager and t rned out some good material , but

y f ﬁ re the concern never reall recovered the e fects of the ,

u ﬁ and , after a rather precario s struggle with the nances ,

y u graduall collapsed . D ring all its troubles the Bradford

’ Society s Directors remained faithful to it . These were

y of the da s before the advent railway , electric tram , or

motor car to Idle , and in order to attend the meetings the delegates from Bradf ord were allowed the use of the Society ’ s ﬂat cart This of course might seem a lowering of the dignity of gentlemen who were entitled

- but to ride second class , when it came to a case of assisting a concern of the kind they were ever ready to do 5 0 . l These two specu ations turned out badly for the Society , if looked at merely from a monetary point of view , the action however cannot be separated from a de—sire to assist their fellows in the more di ffi cult phase of co opera — v i z . . tion , Production It is only right to say , in j usti ficat i on that suffi cient money was received from the

’ investment in St . J ohn s E state to cover the losses at

Ouseburn and Idle . If the Directors were paying for their experience in the productive line they had also to buy their experience in distribution rather dearly . A responsible employee

u betrayed his tr st , and when charged with it became ﬁ i rather de ant to the D rectors , with the consequence that legal action had to be taken which entailed legal expenses of 20 0 u over £ , besides having to get fresh bonds drawn p

1 2 6

Historic al S ouvenir J J

case for all the store managers . It was a that caused a deal of trouble to the Directors as well as to the other fﬁ ﬁ o cials , but so satis ed were the Directors with the lesson

ch ﬁeld . S o they received that it was decided to allow Mr ,

’

the cashier , and Mr . Hopkinson , the secretary , a week s

1 . holiday each and 0 5 . a day for expenses This method of reducing the Share capital by loans outside Bradford did not ﬁ nd favour with all the

Directors , and therefore it need not cause surprise to

\Vooller learn that Mr . thought it was time to make some

investments nearer home , so he proposed That we look ﬁ out for land to sell . Anyone nding or hearing of any ” to report the same to the Committee . Thus it came about that the Society became large ﬁ owners of land and property , the rst being three

- shops and dwelling houses in Manchester Road , which

were purchased for £45 5 0 . This was really all one

estate , part of which was occupied by the Society

1 8 . 2 with No Branch , and then numbered 3 Manchester

. . 2 0 Road The other two shops were No 4 , occupied

2 2 by J oseph Simpson , and No . 4 , occupied by Jonas

- Taylor , There was also a dwelling house in Grafton ff Street . But this was only a small a air compared with the next one of yards of building land

fronting Heaton and Victor Roads , which was purchased

. . . 0 0 from Mr S C Lister , and was capable of holding 3

- h dwelling houses . Part of t is was afterwards purchased

by the Corporation to make a new road to the park gates ,

’

o . while Canon Mitt n , St Paul s , took a portion also , on

which to erect a church . Then in Bowling , on the opposite

Side of the town , there was likely to be a law suit in

1 2 8 ” 9 a s C O I Op erati ve Product i o n

’ 5 0 regard to some of the S ociety s property , to avoid en this , having had ough experience in law , they purchased the shops in question which adj oined their own . In this way the public gained more conﬁdence in the b Society , and consequently the usiness increased to that

d . w 1 5 . as extent that a dividend of 4 was paid , which

1 d . 5 0 f by f 5 . soon ollowed a urther increase to 5 , that by the end of 1 8 76 the Directors were able to report the year as one of exceptional progress .

‘ While the Provident Society had so much capital that

the Directors scarcely knew what to do with it , the

’ Bowling Old Lane Society were at their wits end to ﬁ n d

n some . They had purchased the la d for new stores , ' — but could go no further . At the half yearly meeting the members authorised the building committee to borrow sufﬁ cient money f rom the Third E quitable Building ﬁ Society , but they were to stipulate for a term of fty y ears in which to pay it back . These negotiations

seemingly fell through , and attempts to obtain the money f in other directions ollowed , even a deputation visited the

~ W h all Co operative olesale Society in Manchester , to no purpose . E ventually the necessary amount was advanced

’ ff D w rk s . y e o so by Mr Henr Sutcli e , of Ripley s y , where i ’ many of the Soc ety s members were employed . This was

mainly accomplished by the good services of Mr . Riley

n wh ﬁ so . o Bower , a of Mr Thomas Bower , was the rst

President of the Provident Society . It does seem strange ,

however , that no approach was made to the Provident

Society for this money . Whether it would have been supplied cannot now be known, but at any rate some

f e h d h e fort might hav been made in t at irecti on . T e

K 1 29 Historical S ouve nir J J legal obstacles being removed and the ﬁnancial arrange ment completed the committee lost no time in going on ﬁ with the building . They were not satis ed with the

rules , however , which had been the source of so much

s o trouble , and they decided to have them brought up to date . The Secretary was instructed to obtain an Act — of Parliament , after which a Sub Committee consisting

of David Thornton , Riley Bower , and the Secretary were appointed to see to the revision . So expeditious were they

with their work , and so anxious that with the opening of the new premises the members would be supplied with new

rules , that within a month of their appointment the revision was completed . The new premises were opened

t h 1 8 6 1 8 on J anuary 5 , 7 , and on the th the general meeting was held , at which it was decided that as every thing else was new they Should have a new start all round

so all fﬁ by electing a complete new committee , the o ces l ﬁll were declared vacant , and a ba lot taken to them , with

l - the following resu t President , Riley Bower ; secretary ,

C . H . Tarr treasurer , George Wright committee , Messrs .

Squire Alderson , A . Womersley , A . Thornton , J . Bastow , i n h t a t or e . . . S W p , J Barker , J Ambler , David Thornton ,

Daniel Thornton , and Squire Mortimer . Samuel Rothera and William Woodh ead were appointed as Auditors . It h was also decided to celebrate the event wit a tea , which ff ul o . d y came in the following month , with Mr Henry ff Sutcli e in the chair , as a compliment for the timely ﬁnancial assistance he had rendered them when in dire

T ff Was . ﬁ . he a straits a air complete success , nancially ﬁ 8 so 1 5 . , as there was a pro t of after all accounts were settled , and from a Speaking point of view , as Mr . B .

1 30

Histo ric al S o uve ni r J J

U n d ercli ff e stores were opened in Street , Leeds Road ,

Bolton Road , and in Surrey Street , Bowling Old Lane ,

u which bro ght the total branches to seventeen . Besides these several of the old shops had been replaced by new

so and more suitable premises , the directors were not idle even if the records of the period are rather monotonous

u reading . Again it sho ld be remembered by those whose

minds go back to that date , that it was a period of com m er ci al depression generally , but still the trade of the Societ y seemed to be maintained i f it varied at all it was only in accord with the rise and fall in the prices of the

goods sold . The membership showed a steady increase ,

rising , in the period covered by this chapter , from three ﬁ v e . thousand to thousand The dividends , however , varied somewhat between t hi rt eenpen ce at i t s commence ment to sixteen and ei ght een pen ce at its close ; it even

t w o rose to Shillings on one occasion , but speedily came

x n n down to si t ee pe ce again . That the Directors had their troubles goes without

saying , but that they dealt with them in a manly way is shown by an incident disclosed in the minutes . There

had been complaints about ﬂour , or rather statements

calling in question the quality of the ﬂour . The matter was communicated to the directors of the Sowerby Bridge

Flour Society . But let the minutes speak for themselves After having had the ﬂour from the Sowerby Bridge

and other mills , including private ﬂour mills analysed , a letter be sent to the Sowerby Bridge Society stating they

ﬁ i i t s were satis ed as to ts purity , and hereby expresses conﬁdence in the Directors and thank them along with the deputation for their trouble .

1 3 2

Histo rical S ouve nir J J

Although the matter ended for that evening , some of the Directors had been set to thinking . If the ﬂour was pure and the bread not right it must be the baking that

l so was at fau t , and at the next meeting Mr Townson

u proposed That we go into the baking b siness , which ,

on being seconded by Mr . Bradley , was agreed to . While the resolution was readily adopted it was a long time before

was it carried out , which Shows there were some unseen

ﬁ u t he dif c lties in way , or perhaps the directors were not ﬁ all satis ed as to the success of the undertaking . If the Directors had any real trouble during this period it was with the now too - rapidly increasing share

capital , consequently it became necessary to reduce the

rate of interest to the members ; but for all that , they did not neglect to look after the interest that was due to h ﬁ ld . S c o e . the Society ; for instance , Mr and Mr Hopkinson were instructed to try their best to get the amount of interest due from the Corporation for the land purchased b y them , but not paid for , more than twelve months fﬁ previously . It may be the Town Hall o cials thought because they were dealing with working - men they could h do as they liked wit them , but they found out their l mistake . The ru e was cash down or interest until it was paid . The new Act of Parliament relating to Industrial Societies which came into force during this period

necessitated a revision of the rules , which duty was per h ﬁ ld . S c o e formed by Messrs , Gilyard , Laycock , Noble , and

s t he Milnes , and re ulted in increase of the committee to f ourteen . One result of the plentiful s upply of capital was a

1 34

1 8 8 1 - 4 8 8 4

' he S oci ety s Maj ori ty

CHAPTE R X VI I .

O en n o f t h e New P em s es i n an c es er Ro a p i g r i M h t— d A S n ub t o t h e I n lan d R even ue A uthori t i es At t em pt t o A m alg am at e t h e H ali f ax an d S o werby B r id g e Flo ur

— - S o ci et ies C om i n g of Age C elebrat i on Twen t y on e

’ ' Y w r n t on o Mr W a r ar res n e a s R e e P ese a t . . F e vi i , p id r t r — t — G reen n o n t h e a ue of C o - o e at on ea E . O . i g v l p r i Br d n —N w u s an d s r c e r es en at on B aki g S t arted e R le Di t i t R p t i . —N w n r m W an e e C e t al Pre i ses t d .

The year 1 8 8 1 was als o a memorable one . The old shops in Manchester Road had been pulled down and a — new three storeyed structure erected at a cost of £20 0 0 . The business was meanwhile carried on in the shop now

u 1 6 1 . occ pied by Dr . Wright at Manchester Road To celebrate the opening of the new premises a tea and

’

All . concert was held in Saints Schoolroom , at which Mr ﬁ ho ld . \ . . S c e V . E Swallow (Leeds) and Messrs , Wm

Townson , and Councillor Pearson were the speakers . The

u i s Orphe s Glee Union s upplied the music , besides as

ﬁ . recorded in the minutes , nding their own piano

The Directors , with a view to impressing the public with an idea of the magnitude of the Society at this time ,

1 56 9 " ' s s The Soci ety s Maj o ri ty ann ounced to the world that since i t s commencement the

Society had sold , over the counters , goods to the value of

ill — —a— over a m ion and quarter pounds sterling . Of course

they were proud of the fact , and we can excuse them ‘ ff boasting of it . A di erent complexion , however , was put upon it when they received a communication from t h e Inland Revenue authorities requesting a list of the

’

. l members names A few years before , and this wou d

u but n have put them in a terrible ﬂ tter , they k ew some

n ow u thing about law , they had bo ght their experience , besides which they had recently been studying Acts of Parliament with regard to the building of houses on the

so w Manningham estate , they treated it ith the dignity

mi u was beco ng men in such a large way of b siness . It

decided to return the communication to those who sent it , with a polite requ est that they might specify the special Act of Parliament under whi ch the claim f or Such ” information was made . There is no record that the Chi ef Registrar censured anyone for try ing to impose upon the worki ng men of

but Bradford , it is certain that no further attempt was made to obtain such information .

t so u The Direc ors , however , were not successf l in hi another matter . It seems somet ng had gone wrong i with the bus ness of the Halifax Flour Society , what it

i s n was not stated , but about this time it was u able to pay any dividend . The Bradford Directors decided that

was the best way of solving the problem , whatever it , would be to amalgamate both Sowerby Bridge and

Halifax Flour Societies , they therefore brought the matter before the Airedale District Association ’ s Con

1 3 7 Historical S ouve n i r J J

ference , and also arranged with the Stainland Society to do the same in the Calderdale District Conference . What

the immediate result was is not known , but the fact that both societies are still separate shows the proposal must have fallen through . At this period the Bradford Society had no r epre sen t at i v e on the Halifax Board of Management , although for some years it had paid the expenses of one on the

Sowerby Bridge Board . Shortly after this Mr . M .

re re Hopwood , of the Bradford Board , became their p sen t at i v e on the Halifax Board and perhaps that may have had someth ing to do with the ending of the amalgamation scheme .

The question has been revived again quite recently , but in the twenty years that have intervened there has

been a complete change in the position of the two societies , while Halifax would have welcomed amalgamation then it

is now strongly Opposed to such a proposal .

There is a minute recorded at this period , or , to be

1 hi i t s own exact , on J anuary 3 th , w ch is not without

ﬁ n signi cance . It simply states That the boy Ben ett be 8 engaged as check clerk for No . Branch , but it indicates the advent into the Society of one who has gradually

i t s risen , step by step , to one of the highest positions in employment .

C OMING OF AGE CE LE BRATION .

At length the time came , as it does to most robust and di h l healthy bo es , when t e Society cou d be said to have

i t s s reached maj ority , and the Directors took teps to

’ l was sui tably celebrate the event . St . George s Hal

1 38

Histo rical S ouve n i r J J

been commenced by working men , had been conducted by

working men . and had been managed by working men all

y u the time , and when the saw the pro d position to which the Societ y had attained they had every reason to be

ﬁ h r grati ed . T ey were turning ove something like from to a year and from which they were f realising a pro ﬁt o from to per year . In

way that the Society had paid back to its members , in

u u the aggregate , nearly S rely with s ch great res ults as those they could fairly come to the conclusion

h ad that working men intelligence , ability , and capacity

for business .

Having explained what had been accomplished Mr .

u Farrar proj ected into the fut re . What they had to do

was to put their shoulders to the wheel , to stand Shoulder

u ﬁ to sho lder , to have more con dence and more trust in

each other ; to educate and enlighten each other , and to

Spread the principles of co - Operation throughout the length

co - and breadth of the land . Describing operation , he said they had in it the power requisite to bring about a great moral and social revolution in the condition of the working class . It was one of those civilising forces which were destined to raise the worker from a position of dependence ﬁ and poverty to be partakers of pro t , and , in the course

v of time , in a ery peaceful and equitable manner , bring

u f abo t a more equitable distribution o wealth . Some ﬁ people asserted they were sel sh , but their motto was ”

E A ll . ach for All , and for E ach I n other words they were carrying out the great principle laid down by the

“ man who spake as man never yet spake , Love thy f ” A S . neighbour as thysel . Mr Farrar concluded another

1 4 0

H istorical S ouvenir J J great burst of applause testiﬁed to the pleasure with which his remarks had been received .

Mr . Hopkinson then read several letters of apology from w those who could not attend . Among these one as from

u . . . . M P D blin Castle , from the Rt Hon W E Forster , . . , Chief

Secretary for Ireland , who at that time had his hands full

enough with the Fenian leaders . Another letter was from M P ﬁ i . . Mr . Alfred Ill ngworth , , who was con ned at home owing to a throat affection . He said that even if he dare have risked venturing out he would not have been able to

make himself heard ; other letters were read from Dr .

Bardsley , Vicar of Bradford ; Sir H . W . Ripley , and Mr .

Briggs Priestley .

Mr . Hopkinson next submitted a report on the position of the society . In this he traced the history from the start

in Bowling Old Lane , when Mr . J ohn Lockwood was

To . m Secretary , and Mr Bower President , the latter having

since passed away . In its early stages , he said , the

Directors did not get on well together , as they seemed to possess the idea that the committee room was a place for heated discussion instead of quiet and thoughtful solution . The disappointing result of the second half

’ year s trading , when the dividend dropped from one

i l co - sh l ing to eightpence , had taught them that in opera ﬁ tion , as elsewhere , pro t was a moving power , therefore it was with no surprise they heard one member propose ff ” that the whole of the Directors Should be turned o .

This was not carried , but some of them resigned and made room for perhaps less clever but more willi ng

workers . In treating of the position of the Society in its twenty

Histo rical S ouveni r J J

through that school , that course of education , which all must pass through before arriving at that manhood when

it could feel its muscles , nerves , mind , Spirit , and strength .

of The report j ust given was full interest and instruction , and he wo uld be a clever man indeed who could add much interest and emphasis to that meeting after such a history ff of successful e ort . It seemed to him that the Society had arrived at that point of strength that it would continue to grow by the f orces which it had already collected

so within it , and they need not concern themselves much

u abo t extension and consolidation . The true value of their successes in the past was not to be

measured in material results , although they were v er v er f u y good , and y great , but in the oretho ght and the frugality and various kinds of legitimate and virtuous devices which the members had brought to bear personally and in their families and in helping one another . Fo r it stood to reason that in the past many members had

not very ample means , or much beyond their actual

requirements , therefore it required thoughtful counsel

of w at home , mutual consideration giving and taking , ith the result of building up many characters in that ﬁbre and strength which went to make up our great humanity .

A very interesting event then followed , a presentation of a marble timepiece and an illuminated address was made

to Mr . Farrar , by Mr . Hopkinson , on behalf of the employees

of . the Society . In making the presentation Mr Hopkinson referred to valuable work done by Mr . Farrar during i the S x years he had been President , and said further , these years had been the most successful in i ts

history .

1 44 " " ’ s s The Soci ety s M aj ority

Mr . Farrar , in accepting the gift , replied in suitable terms .

After this Mr . E . O . Greening gave an address on the

co- value of operation , and compared the principle on

’ which co - operation was carried on to that of Aladdin s d m wonderful lamp , because it enable the to make some thing out of nothing For instance , the man who twenty - one years ago s aid that in that time the members would get all their own , with invested in land and buildings , and that they would make annual proﬁts amounting to woul d have been called a

lunatic . But that was what they had done , and they had

realised it practically out of nothing , because he found from their report that the total proﬁts had exceeded the sum d so investe in the Society by or thereabouts , that while they had paid out about to the members

C o - O they still had left in . peration , concluded

Mr . Greening , endowed the people with hope and enabled them to see that in this country of ours they had a home which in the future their children might inherit and which would make them citizens of a better country than it had

been in the past . At intervals the proceedings were pleasantly diversiﬁed by an attractive programme of music contributed by Miss

Cragg , Miss Norton , Mr . Thornton Wood , and the B radford

U nd ercli ff e ﬁn e and Glee Union , who sang several glees in style . Mr . J ames Kilner presided at the piano . As soon as the above celebrations were over ” the Directors determined to do something to cope with the

’ - s all ever increasing ﬂow of members savings . Fir t of a restriction was put on t he amoun t each member could have

1 4 5 Historic al S ouve nir J J

' 1 h . 0 t e in the Society In future £ 5 would be limit . The next step was the dividing of the Board into a number of sub - committees to visit all the outlying districts where stores might be planted . This resulted in the opening of

U n d ercli ff e , Green Lane , and Dudley Hill stores , bringing

- the total number to twenty two .

Business seemed in a very prosperous condition . The Directors were instructed to commence a scheme of house building on the Manningham estate ; the ﬁrst lot to f contain twenty houses , which were to be o fered to the

members , after which , if these proved a success , another

lot was to be undertaken . The only trouble the Directors t seemed to have now was wi h the share capital , and to remedy this the limit to each member was once more

1 0 0 . reduced , bringing it down to £ The large bank balance also caused the Directors to look

round for some method of reducing it . A committee was appointed to consider the best method of getting more

accommodation at the central warehouse , another to inquire as to the possibility of having telephones con

n ect i n g all the branches with the central ofﬁ ces in Bridge

set Street , and a further committee was to draw up a

scheme of bread baking .

This latter committee consisted of Messrs . Townson , ﬁ Stead , and Tate , who were the rst to report their a ’ deliber tions , with the result that one of the society s

was ﬁ cottages in Hirst Street tted up with an oven , some

si x si x i feet long and two feet nches wide , and E mma Sharp

a at was engaged s baker a wage of 1 5 s . per week . The system adopted was that E mma baked as She would have

h er e done at own hom , using two or three stones of ﬂour

1 46

Historic al S ouve nir J J

ﬁ As nally adopted the Otley Road district , with a trade

0 of £4 3 per week , received two representatives ; L eeds

0 0 ﬁ 2 Road , with £4 , two ; Wake eld Road , with £3 5 , two ;

1 i st erhi lls 8 Manchester Road , with £4 7 , two ; L , with £5 3 ,

8 s three and Manningham , with £5 9 , three repre entatives . It was also decided that no member could be eligible as a Director for any other district than that in which he resided . Another innovation introduced into t he Society at this w time was a decision to pay bonus to labour . It as agreed

2 that a rate of % per cent . should be allowed to each of the

1 1 employees 0 their wages . As a result of the adoption of the new scheme of district representation the f ollowing were elected at the

’ - half yearly meeting held in the Mechanics Institute .

1 e . No . . Rob rt Wood and B Tate .

2 . No . Thomas Fisher and John Stead .

No . 3 . William Brooksbank and J ames Clark

No . 4 . John Pexton and John Waddington .

. . s No 5 Joseph Wilson , Martin Bake , and E noch

Stephenson .

6 ' . . W No Henry . Lush , Matthew Hopwood , and l J ohn Ma lison . The unsuccessful candidates on this occasion were E Richard dmondson , David Thornton , Samuel Harrison ,

s h Peter Burgon , J ames Cotter , Charles Woodrow , Jo ep

Crabtree , William Clegg , Charles Riley , and J ames

Fletcher . The success of the bakery business does not seem to

s have lasted long . At any rate it got short Shrift oon after ﬁ the new Board were elected . The rst mention is that

1 48

Historical Souvenir J J

n we have a ch ange i the bakery . Nothing is said about W h w y or wherefore . The next step as taken a few weeks later when a committee was appointed to inquire into

r the bake y business , on whose report it was decided to

’ discontinue it and give the baker a week s wage in lieu

S choﬁ eld was of notice . Then Mr . instructed to sell all

the baking utensils , and Mr . Anthony Airey was asked to

supply the stores with what bread they required , and thus ended another attempt to utilise capital in f production or that time . The other question that was agitating the minds of the w Directors was hat to do about new central premises . f The business was increasing ast , and some thought

Bridge Street out of the way . While the subj ect was l sti l in the air , as it were , some land at the back of the

was then central premises came into the market , which 6 l promptly secured for £ 3 0 . But then there was sti l the fear that the railway company wo uld some day demand

the premises already occupied by the Society , in fact the proposal for new premises was actually postponed until a deﬁnite reply could be obtained from the railway com

pany as to their intention , at the same time informing the railway directors that the Society was about to expend

a large sum of money in alterations , but if the company were likely to want the premises they would withhold their hands for the present . E vidently the reply was not satisfactory , or perhaps

the Directors wanted to have two strings to their bow ,

choﬁ eld u for Mr . S was instr cted to inquire the price w of a certain piece of land which as unnamed . Then about ten days afterwards there i s a statement

1 5 0

1 8 8 5

Tw enty / f if th Year

E V CHAPT R X I I I .

Th H o n W o r st e on t h e r ea e Right . . E . F r G t S ecret of “ ” S uccess i n C o - oper ati on H i s r eply t o F airpl ay s Ob ec on s an d O n on s i n re ar t o I n co m e Tax j ti pi i g d ,

L an C o o e a e P o uct on an d con om ca P rob em s d , —p r tiv r d i E i l l n d Mr e t a on t o Mr . an s o r P se . F st e r ti r .

I st 1 8 8 By this time , J anuary 3 , 5 , the Society had

- ﬁf t h arrived at its twenty year , and great preparations

were made for suitably celebrating the event . Again St . ’ ﬁl George s Hall was led with an enthusiastic throng , with M P . . E . . . . the Right Hon W Forster , , in the chair Previous to this the audience had been entertained to

i st erhi lls tea in the Congregational Schoolroom , L , the l Temperance Ha l , Leeds Road , the Primitive Methodist

' W ln t e School , Manchester Road , Abbey Wesleyan School , and the Baptist School , Mulgrave Street .

On the platform , accompanying the chairman , were

. . . . l Messrs Lloyd J ones (London) , J T W Mitchel (Chairman ' C o- of the operative Wholesale Society) , Joseph Wilson

. (President of the Society) , C Woodrow , S . Shaftoe , and

n H Joh Ibbotson (Directors) , and G . . Hopkinson

1 5 2 9 ” s s Tw enty / fifth Y ear

Mi ‘ A ss . (Secretary) . The artistes were Hallowell ,

Miss M . Tomlinson , Mr . C . Prince , and Mr . J . Helliwell ,

“ the latter being the humorist .

i - Mr . Hopk nson read a report for the half year ended

t h 1 8 8 h w s had J anuary 5 , 5 , w ich Sho ed the retail sale

s 1 2 1 amounted to and the whole ale sales to £ 5 , giving a total trade of Towards new Shares the sum 8 8 1 of £ 5 had been received , while £9 43 3 had been

withdrawn , leaving the Share capital at The

ﬁ - 8 6 total pro ts for the half year had amounted to £ 3 9 ,

1 which allowed a dividend of 1 5 . od . in the pound . After

’ this came the Chairman s address , which covers two

B r ad ord Observer so columns of the f , and deals with many items of importance tod ay that it is worthy of an extended

’

as . summary in these pages . Again , Mr Forster s political

ﬁ s life and business quali cation are held in such high repute , it may interest many of his friends to kn ow something of

i c - h s views on o operation . The speech was delivered some time after his return from Ireland where he had been

5 Chief Secretary under Mr . Gladstone Government , and in

s h the ame hall , from the same platform , wit very possibly many of - the same persons in the audience as those who heard hi s famous address when he struck that attitude which has given the sculptor the design for the monument

in Forster Square .

When Mr . Forster rose to address the audience he was

a o received with great enthusiasm . He said many years g he took great interest in co - operation and had never ceased

to have an interest in it , although , for some time back ,

l a s he had been tolerably we l employed with other m tter , and had been unable to pay so much attention to it .

1 5 3 -H istorical S ouvenir J J

Coming back to it once more he was struck with the great progress made in the interval . The Society had been in

- ﬁv e existence twenty years , and it was their silver wedding . If that session of Parliament ran out it would be his Silver

wedding as representative for Bradford , therefore that

meeting had a peculiar interest for him . In drawing a comparison between the ﬁrst year ’ s trade and that j ust

read by Mr . Hopkinson he said it showed a tremendous

growth .

One great secret of the success of co- operation was that

- it had been a spontaneous , self helping movement amongst

the working classes , who had been independent of anything

like patronage . It had been the means of saving a great deal of money to working men . The enormous capital of the Bradford Society represented the savings of Bradford

workers . The demand for ready money for all purchases

was was a good rule , and the result that those who dealt l at the stores had been far ess burdened with debt , and

’ everyone knew what a misery debt was in a workman s

home . But the capital actually saved was only a small f part o what they had gained . Dividends had been returned year by year , and he imagined had amounted to a much larger sum than their capital .

Mr . Forster next dealt with a letter he had received m ” fro a person who signed himself Fairplay , in which

c - ﬁ obj ections were raised against o operation . The rst

. s obj ection raised was that it was a monopoly Now , aid

Mr . Forster , Johnson , who was a good Tory , but a good

w ﬁ as hearted , sensible fello for all that , de ned monopoly l the exclusive privilege of sel ing anything . Well , he

continued , there could not be a description more untrue

I S4

Historical S ouvenir J J

- than had been the case . To Show that co operators had ’ h not interfered with the shopkeepers c ances , Mr . Forster said that when the Society started in Bradford the popula tion of the town then numbered at the last census it was Shown to have increased to he believed

h s the sales of the Society might reac only individual , consequently there was plenty of room for growth among the shopkeepers yet .

There was still another matter to be dealt with , he said . The charge was made that too much of the proﬁt went‘ to

fﬁ wa keep up extravagantly paid o cials . Now this s a matter he had closely inquired into and found it to be

absolutely untrue . In fact it was the other way about , for he found the work was done much cheaper than he

could get Si milar work done for . He found the accounts as intelligible and as clear as any he had ever seen in his

was ﬁ s life . Their turnover per year , the pro t were nearly and the ofﬁ ce charges amounted to

£23 2 .

co - Dealing with operation generally , the right honour able gentleman caused loud laughter when he said it must produce a delightful feeling to know that the more you spent the more you got .

TH X P— E NE T STE LAND .

- H ﬁ co . aving j usti ed operative action up till then , Mr Forster also considered what should be the next step in h its forward march . Someone had suggested to him t at

n s they Should take to the la d , but in a conver ation with

their Treasurer , Mr . Schofield , he found him rather

he h was doubtful on that policy , as t ought the time coming

1 56

Histo rical S ouve nir J J when the land would belong to everyone and there woul d

so be no rent . This caused much laughter that Mr . Forster had to wait before he proceeded to remark that if they waited for that to come to pass they would have

hi s to wait a while , at any rate he would be in grave some

time before then . Independent of that , however , he

“ off advised them to keep farming , as he did not think

w n to artisans were well enough up in farming , besides farming was a bad trade j ust then .

- U C o OPE RATIVE PROD CTION .

Another s uggestion made to him was that co - operators l l l . shou d start mi ls Wel , he would tell his Shopkeeping f riends that he would welcome them as competitors . fi fﬁ They would nd out some of the di culties in production , and would perhaps ﬁ n d that they who complained about their employers had not so much reason to do so . He had heard 0 1 1 the one hand that the Lancashire C o - operative

M 0 1 1 ills had been a success , the other hand he had been ﬁ told they were failures . He was inclined to the rst view ,

AS othe r wise they would not continue to exist . they had

u o been s ccessful with c tton , by all means let them try

ﬁ n d ﬁ worsted . They would worsted more dif cult to

manage than cotton , as it cost more and a great deal depended on the purchase of the raw material at the right

time , as well as upon the sale of the manufactured article All fﬁ at the right time . production was more di cult than

distribution , as it required more organisation under a captain of industry to whom implicit obedience must be

given . In his opinion a productive business could not be w managed by a committee . It required a person ith

1 58

Historical S ouvenir J J

H s n s Mr . opkin o , which tated the prices of goods were much

lower than ever before , and he himself knew that wages

were higher , therefore to that extent things were better .

Still there was a class , the very lowest , who he did not think

were any better than before , but these were a problem to

themselves . There was one phase of the labour problem , w hi m ho ever , that gave great pleasure , and that was that the relation between the employer and the employed was

u hi s much better than formerly . In concl ding lengthy

x address Mr . Forster e horted his hearers to go on in their

good work and advocacy for the peace of the world , as he believed that was a matter that concerned them more than any other class .

At the conclusion of the address Mr . Hopkinson said

h ad as soon as the Directors knew that Mr . Forster con

sented to occupy the chair that night , they decided to

s hi m pre ent with a souvenir of the occasion , consequently

m co - they ordered fro one of the m—ost operative productive C - . o societies in Scotland , viz The Paisley operative h Manufacturing Society , a plaid for imself and a shawl for Mrs . Forster , and therefore he had the greatest pleasure

- of in asking his acceptance the same .

n In ack owledging the gifts Mr . Forster said he had

been thanked many times in that hall , but he never remembered having received such a touching expression

u of gratit de . The gifts would give them both reason to

m an d reme ber the working men of Bradford , also to feel stronger sympathy with them in their great cause of

- co operation . Addresses were afterwards delivered by Lloyd J ones

o . . . (L ndon) , and J T W Mitchell , to whom a vote of thanks

1 6 0 ” ” s s Tw e nty z f ifth Y e ar

was accorded on the motion of Mr . S . Shaftoe , seconded

by Mr . C . Woodrow . The Chairman was also thanked for

his services on the motion of the President , Mr . J oseph

Wilson , seconded by Mr . J . Hewitt . The result of such a meeting could only be to give a

’ further impetus to the Society s business , as indicated in

C o- the succeeding chapters . operation in Bradford was now no longer conﬁned to the working classes as a means

of increasing their scanty wages , or looked upon as a highly interesting experiment advocated by ministers of

religion , as an obj ect lesson in temperance and thrift , but defended and upheld by a great Cabinet Minister who

had already done much to Show , by his great scheme of

education , that the success of a nation did not depend

solely on the strength of its armaments , and described and hailed by hi m as a new system of industry and r commerce , calculated to ushe in an era of peace among

the nations of the world . 1 8 8 6 —1 8 8 9

CHAPTE R XIX . — New Ru es an d s r c Re esen a on u ali ﬁ cat i on s l — Di t i t pr t ti Q — of Di r ectors Appoi n t m en t o f Gen eral M an ager In S ea c o f a F ar m —P od uc e W o ks f or A red a e r h r tiv r i — l Mr S t e a as res en — a s con om o ce . . . P e P J M — d id t F l E y— li R ew a ded E v as ion s b y t h e Ton g Lo ca B o ar d M e a r — l t l Check S y stem C on d em n ed Di recto r s S n ubb ed b y t he a r M y o .

We have now arrived at a period in this history when many of the principal actors are still alive ; it therefore becomes somewhat of a delicate task to chronicle their actions and to place in their proper relation t he events in

ul which they took a prominent part . J udged by the res ts as we now know them some of the schemes seem to have been wrongly devised or might have been better if they

f n e had been carried out in a di ferent ma ner . Of cours it is always easier to criticise after the event than to plan out for the future . Still it must be admitted that the Society progressed even under the almost unlikely con

s d i t i on s that then prevailed . What make the task of the writer more difﬁ t is the fact that when questioned

1 6 2

Historical S ouven i r J J for the sixteen houses which are nearing completion be

” “ left in the hands of Mr . J . Mallinson ; That the Secretary be authorised to ﬁx t he seal of the Society to

’ ” “ ’ An l i Fearn si d e s . E e s property other , That g property

” ’ be n Ot entertained ; That we don t entertain the Fire

” ’ E xtinguisher That we don t entertain Proctor

” “ Brothers on Victor Terrace at present ; That the ” 1 1 vinegar bottle at No . be left with the representative . As an indication of the power of a Director the following resolution may be satisfactory If there is any drapery

i s s i s in any of the stores that not selling , the tocktaker

” “ requested to look at it . No doubt that would be f ﬂi n l . su ci e t . It wou d sell itsel after that It will be seen therefore that a director should be both physically and mentally a giant so to speak , but even then at times he must have felt unequal to the task , as for instance when it was decided That the almanack be taken as read by

S choﬁ eld . n Mr . Perhaps listeni g to a recital of twelve

’ months dates would too dry . It might , however , ( be explain the necessity for the vinegar bottle in the custody

1 1 . of No . representative Technical Skill was also

r was essential in a directo , for the notice ordered to be posted in the stores intimating to the members That the present system of milling requires a little more moisture

’ i of in the mode baking , can best be understood after the perusal of another resolution whereby a special vote of thanks was conveyed to Mr . J ames Clark (a Director) for

baking three separate half - stones of ﬂour and that hi s report of the exact quantity produced from the same be accepted . If such a test were to be applied to the

Directorate to - day it i s a question how many coul d comply

1 6 4

Historical S ouve nir J J

u with s ch a condition , and yet during the recent j ubilee

s celebration more than one D irector entered for . the clothe washing competition which was held during the exh ibition week . There is a record about this time that illustrates the pleasant relationship existing between the individuals comprising the Board of Management which says '

“

Resolved that the generous offer of Mr . . , — J Mallison senior , be accepted with thanks , viz . That the committee

partake of tea with him on Saturday evening , December

th 1 8 8 6 4 , , for which he will bear the expense , and that it be catered for by Mr . J oe Firth at his Temperance ff 6 o . Hotel , Leeds Road Tea to be on the tables at

’ o clock . It should be mentioned here that at this time

t wo there were persons of the same name , father and son , on the directorate .

One of the results following the great meeting in St . George ’ s Hall was the holding of a conference between the

all s Directors , past Directors , and several prominent member

of the Society , in the Temperance Hall , at which a discussion took place as to the best means of increasing the business of the Society . Who the speakers were or

i s what conclusion was arrived at not recorded , but shortly afterwards it was decided to advertise for a general

s manager for the Society . After various inquirie were f made it was urther decided to appoint Mr . W . Atkinson ,

H 2 1 0 5 from Little ulton , to the post at a salary of £ . per week .

The period was one of quiet but steady progress . A great deal of the tim e of the Directors was taken up with the building of houses on the Manningham E state , the

1 6 6

Histo rical S ouven i r J J

f or arrangement , there seem to have been negotiations

between him and the head butcher , Mr . Pape , and the last of the matter is contained in a record that Raynor should come before the Board to explain why he has withdrawn his acceptance of ou r offer for the valuation of

’ hi s farm . Whether Raynor attended or not is not

but u mentioned , a few months later the B ilding Com mi t t ee were instructed to view land and buildings at

u so C tler Heights Lane , it may be assumed the negotiations failed . Whatever the cause of the disagreement between

ay can R nor and the Directors , there be no question about the advantages of a farm at Cutler Heights over that at

’

B unker s Hill . The one is in the country while the other i s u u by s rro nded houses and mills , the smoke from which

u h av e m st been very detrimental to the growing of grass ,

which was the reason for securing a farm . It Should be

was a mentioned , however , that there some intim tion that the slaughterhouse in Stu rges Street would soon have to

i s be closed , and it possible that the Cutler Heights scheme included a new slaughterhouse . It may be interesting to some to know that it was about this period that the Directors of the Bradford Society were in active operation with some of the neighbouring societies to secure the establishment of

. co— operative productive works in Yorkshire , and that it was o u at a c nference held in Bradford , nder the auspices h of the Airedale District Association , t at a Committee , consisting of representatives of the Airedale and Dewsbury

District Associations t he C o - operative Wh olesale Society

C o - and the Central Board of the operative Union , was appointed to inquire as to the desirability of establishing

1 6 8 ” ” s 3 M od er n Time s — a Ready made Clothing Factory in Leeds . Such a factory — was afterwards established by the C o operative Wholesale

0 ﬁnd Society at which about 70 persons employment .

’ At the half - yearly meeting held in the Mechanics

rd 1 8 8 was Institute on May 3 , 7 , the chair occupied by

. Mr Mr J . M . Stead , who had succeeded . Joseph Wilson as ﬁ President . He stated the rate of pro t being made by

0 0 the Society as £5 per week . At this meeting it was decided to increase the amount of capital invested in the

0 0 0 Halifax Flour Society to £3 , and that in the Sowerby ﬁ Bridge Flour Society to £20 0 0 . For the rst time

’ ﬁ 1 0 Thomson s Mill at Hudders eld was mentioned , and £ invested therein . A grant was made of £25 towards the

Neale Scholarship , and the members declared themselves in favour of opening an establishment in the centre of the town . d ﬁ Some i ea that the Directors , although making a pro t

0 0 of £5 per week , were not extravagant in their ideas

1 6 th may be gathered from a decision arrived at on June ,

’ 1 8 8 ﬁ 7 , That new oilcloth be got for the Cashier s Of ce , and that the oilcloth of the Cashier ’ s Ofﬁ ce be laid in the

’ ’ fi t he Manager s Of ce , and that oilcloth of the Manag er s ffi O ce be utilised in the warehouse . It seems that such — f or cheese paring methods did not save much , within a month it was found necessary to get new oilcloth for the ’ ffi Manager s O ce . Among the changes after the annual meeting which

was was held in the Technical College , Horton Road , the

appointment of Mr . Joseph Crabtree as President in place

. . . . o s of Mr Stead . Mr F . W J wett al o , who is now the li Member of Par ament for West Bradford , was returned

1 6 9 Histo rical S ouve n i r J J

' t hat a rent i ceshi at this election , and at once began f pp p in the service of his fellows that has eventually developed into placing him in the House of Commons . E arly in 1 8 8 8 a record runs as follows : That the thanks of the Directors of the Bradford Provident P Industrial Society be given to C . Hardcastle for his gallant and clever capture of John Hewson , who broke

’ 2 into the Society s Store , No . White Abbey , on Sunday

morning last , and that a copy of this resolution be sent to the Chairman of the Watch Committee of the Bradford ” s Town Council . Further than this the Director rewarded

' the constable with ten shillings , and a person who helped ﬁ l v e . him , Joseph Firth by name , with shi lings This was followed shortly afterwards by a resolution which points to the idea that while the Directors were grateful for the

services of the police , they still thought prevention would

“ be better than cure , for it was decided That the licence ” for the dog in the boot department be paid by the Society . E vidently someone else had paid that before , or possibly the getting of the dog was a suggestion from a committee

’ that had been appointed to see that the Society s premises were made more secure . From this time forward there are numerous references to meetings and deputations both to and from the Tong Local Board with regard to the land at Cutler Heights ﬁ Lane purchased from them . The nature of the dif culties

so are not mentioned , but the negotiations were prolonged that Mr . Crabtree had ceased to occupy the presidential o chair , and Mr . M . Hopw od had received the appointment , before they were concluded . E ven then it had been necessary to have letters addressed to the Tong L ocal

1 70

Histo rical S ouve n i r J J

’

Board by Mr . Hutchinson , the Society s legal adviser , to get them to stick to the bargain agreed upon many months f before . There ore it looks as if , here again , the Local

u Board , j st as with the Town Council on a previous

u l occasion , tho ght because they were dea ing with working

men they could do as they pleased , but evidently they

y found out the were mistaken in the idea , for they were compelled to complete the con y ey an ce without the conditions since added by them .

Besides seeing the farm question settled , the Directors ,

1 8 8 during 9 , were faced with one or two problems that

u required caref l handling . Among these there was a suspicion that the metal check system was being tampered

with . A considerable number of checks in excess of the total sales were being brought in at the end of each half

m was year . At the May eeting that year it reported that checks to the v alue of £2 228 were handed in above the f total amount o the actual sales . One member brought

s o l — in many , and it was we l known he had not expended anything like that amount of money , that he was challenged on the matter . He promised to supply the Directors with the names and addresses of the persons from whom he had w but h . as obtained them , t is he failed to do It therefore

decided to send for Mr . Clare , the inventor of a new h c eck system , who came and explained his method to the D irectors , who thanked him and there the matter rested for a time . Although the Society was now gaining in importance

o s day by day , as a c mmercial undertaking , eeing it had a turnover of about a quarter of a million pounds per year , w h it did not seem to grow in favour ith the civic aut orities ,

1 72 ” ” s 3 M od ern Times

n in fact it was the other way rou d . In its early days Councillors and Aldermen were frequent attenders at all

s was as the meeting , and the Society recognised a coming

o was Bradford institution , but the positi n altered when it had grown to such dimensi ons as to make i t s power felt

an d in the trade of the town , in place of courting it , as

was formerly the case , it now received the cold shoulder . This may be illustrated by a copy of a resolution passed

1 8 8 in July , 9 . That the Secretary be instructed to write

Moulson Alderman W . , Mayor of Bradford , and to present the compliments of the Directors of the Bradford Provident

Society , and stating that they would feel obliged if his worship would present them with 1 6 tickets on the occasion

’ ” of t he reception of the Shah of Persia in St . George s Hall .

Ten days later a reply was received , the purport of which may be gathered from the following : That the

t h e let t er and Secretary acknowledge , of the Town Clerk say the Directors are disappointed at such a large Society ” being passed over without representation . Matters in

s i thi direction have not materially improved s nce then .

n One never k ows , but it may have been due to the fact leaking out of the Board Room that j ust previously a resolution had “ been passed that no more rates or taxes be paid until investigations have been made as to the

’ rateable value of the Society s property . Such things

have occurred , and Corporations have not been above taking action of the kind by way of retaliation on those with whom they may be in conﬂict .

choﬁeld During a portion of this year Mr . S was absent l S from business owing to a severe i lness , and it is atis factory to note the kindly references to him in the minutes

I 73 Historic al S ouveni r J J

of the period . Although absent he still maintained hi s position , for one reference is in the nature of a vote of

hi s thanks for draft report , and expresses the hope that he would soon be restored to them . Another alteration this year was the adoption of the ballot system in the election of Directors . In future the voting would be done at the stores in place of at the

meetings , and a special committee composed of Messrs .

B . Sykes , J . Pickles , H . Parker , P . Burgon , John Sharp , and Al fred Firth were appointed to see the scheme carried through .

This year , too , saw the end of the L ittle Wonder ” of Inn , which had been the property the Society since ﬁ 1 8 70 . It was now nally agreed to close it as a licensed

an d f or co - house , to make it suitable a operative business . A similar proposition had been passed nineteen years previously , but circumstances at the time prevented its being carried out .

1 74

Historic al S ouve nir J J

the sum of one pound as a gratuity for losing her cheques . Here is a sample of trivial work That notices be sent from this ofﬁ ce to all places of business saying that the

’ B oard h as passed a resolution prohibiting the keeping of ” h y . E as bicycles and tric —cles there vidently this become a dead letter to d av .

There is more satisfaction in the following record ,

“ i s however , although it of a personal character That

the thanks of the Board be given to Mr . Crabtree for his services on the Board of Management of the Bradford f ” Inﬁrmary d uring the last our years . One more sample that may some day be used as a

“ ﬁx precedent : That we allow Mr . Morrell to a board on our premises in Rochester Street announcing the

Band Performances in the Park . Many more such as this could be given to show how the members seem to have an idea that if they indi vidually are interested in any institution or movement they have a claim on the

Society to assist them in it . That more important matters were transacted goes

: without saying for instance , at this period there was a question between the Directors and the Birkenshaw Society with regard to a store at Dudley Hill whereby

as . S choﬁeld overlapping , or , Mr put it , a serious collision ,

between the two Societies was avoided . Then there was the most important question of changing the check

system to be discussed , which ended in the adoption of

E r the ccles system , but only in the tailoring , drape y , and

boot departments . Besides which the plans for the new slaughterhouse in Cutler Heights Lane were being ﬁxed

into shape . Again a special committee , consisting of

1 76 ” ” s 9 Labour P ro blems

e s . M s rs Cotter , Woodcock , Waddington , Jowett , and

Clegg , had been busy for some time seeking new premises for either t he boot or tailoring d epartments so as to relieve the Bridge Street premises which were now decidedl y over

. Ki rk t . a e crowded Likely premises were found in New g ,

and it was decided to remove the boot department , at

same t i me the . laying down new machinery and putting

the department on an entirely new footing . A lease of the premises was taken for several years at a rental of £ 1 5 0

per year , and Mr . Thomas Smith , the present manager , was appointed salesman on the ground ﬂoor . This was a great j ump , and showed that the Directors were now able to take a much more extended View of the possibilities of the Society . It was also during this period that the — ’ Bradford C o operative Cabinet Makers Society came upon the scene and made an appeal for assistance with regard

n r a d . we e . to capital and trade , . granted both No doubt the appearance of this new society would inﬂuence the

u Directorate in r nning a furniture department of their own , for it is recorded a little later that Mr . Isaac Beck be appointed to take charge of the new furnishing depart

ment in Bridge Street . Before the year closed it was decided to close the stores

. m . at , 7 p on Saturdays thu—s giving the employees another advantage over their fellow workers in other concerns . 7 The Christmas of 1 8 9 0 and the beginning of 1 8 9 1 will long be remembered in Bradford as the period of the strike

at Manningham Mills . With the points in dispute we have e nothing to do in this history , and yet it must be referr d

as ﬁ to , in the rst week in the new year a special meeting of the members of the Society was held in the Church

N 1 77 Histo ric al S ouve nir J J

Institute , over which Mr . Hopwood presided . The obj ect of the meeting was to consider the best means of relieving

out the distress arising of the strike at Manningham Mills . The proposal submitted by the Directors was to allow the

members trading at Silk Street and Heaton Syke Stores , ff who were a ected by the strike , to obtain their goods on

credit . To do this legally they asked the meeting to

1 temporarily suspend the latter portion of Rule 9 , which states that the business of the Society shall be conducted ”

. t he for ready money This was rej ected by meeting ,

u altho gh a maj ority of the Board voted for it . Another

motion was proposed by one of the members , this time to the effect That the Directors be empowered to pay out of the reserve fund of the Society the sum of £40 weekly to the Manningham Mills Strike Fund for ﬁve weeks should

s o su the strike continue long , but not to exceed the m of " w £20 0 altogether . To this another amendment as pro posed as follows Seeing that this meeting has already voted against any credit being allowed , this meeting is of opinion that the voting of any of the funds of the Society ” i s l . . il egal Mr Hopwood , however , would not accept

h ‘ t is amendment , and the motion was put to the meeting ,

ul for and against , with the understanding that it sho d ﬁ rst be ascertained if such action could be legally taken , and was agreed to .

At a public meeting of the strikers held afterwards , the announcement was made that the C o - operative Society was going to assist them to the extent of £40 per ﬁ hi . week , w ch gave great satisfaction But before the rst instalment could be handed over Mr . Hutchinson gave his legal advice that it was against the rules and could not be

1 78

Historical S ouve nir J J general question of a living wage came prominently to the f front , and when an o fer came to the inhabitants of a course of lectures on Political E conomy from the University of

Oxford they were accepted by the Philosophical Society ,

who in turn approached the Trades Unions and C o - opera

tive Societies to share in the cost . Thus it came about k as . that the Directors passed a resolution to Mr E . V .

Neale (legal adviser to the C o - operative Union ) if their rul es would permit of them contributing towards such a

ﬁ s scheme . This constitutes the rst step toward

educational work by the Society . The rules must have

- permitted , for at the next half yearly meeting the members granted a sum of £25 to the Directors to provide district

& C . teas , lectures , At the same meeting it was also decided to divide the Society into seven districts for

election purposes , each district to have two representatives , and who were only to be voted for in their own several

districts , thus establishing a form of government known

as district representation . Bef ore the end of this year the Directors came to the decision that sufﬁ cient time had elapsed since the members

u had had an opport nity for a united gathering , seeing it

would shortly be seven years since Mr . Forster made his

l was memorab e speech . It no sooner agreed upon than steps were taken to make what the records designate

“ ” ’ was The Festival a huge success . St . George s Hall fﬁ l engaged , but di cu ties arose with regard to the Chairman

and the speakers , for something like ten weeks elapsed

ﬁn ﬁ all was before they were ally xed up . First of it

- decided that Mr . A . H . Dyke Acland be asked to

preside at the Festival , and that Mr . Tom Mann be asked

1 8 0 " " s 3 Labour Problems

to speak . E vidently both were unable to accept the

invitation , for several days afterwards it was decided to

l s ask Mr . William Maxwel , of Scotland , to pre ide , and ﬁ Mr . George Thomson , of Hudders eld , to speak . Later

l C o - l . . stil Mr . J . T W Mitchel , Chairman of the operative w s as . Whole ale Society , asked to preside , and Dr Anderson ,

o Hort n Lane Congregational Chapel , to speak , then

R ev li follow similar applications to the . Rhondda Wil ams ;

. u Mr . E . O Greening , of London ; and also Mr . D ncan

McInn es . n , of Lincoln The time was drawi g nigh and still no settlement had been arrived at when it was agreed to

Pri e t an l ﬁ . . m l . s was ask Mr H B , this also fai ed , and nal y it

a k s . decided to Mr Smith Feather , and if he declined then

. . . be Mr M Hopwood , President of the Society , should

announced as Chairman . Mr . Feather accepted , and

in due course the Festival was held on J anuary 3 oth ,

’

8 . 1 2 . a 9 , in St George s Hall On the afternoon of the s me day t ea was served at seven different places in the town

s to several thousand of the members . It was certainly a great undertaking . To ensure that everything supplied

C o - wa was operative , the Brighouse Industrial Society s asked to provide the br—ead , and the teaspoons were purchased from the C o operative Wh olesale Society ; These were - afterwards sold to the ladies who waited on B the tables . Describing the affair the r adf or d Obser ver said it was one of the most imposing gatherings that had ’ " . H ever been held in St George s al . E very foot of m l l sitting and standing roo in area , stal s , and gal eries

an d was occupied , no small number were unable to gain admi ssion . The chief obj ect it was stated was to hear

hi s an address from Tom Mann , who had been doing best

1 8 1 Historical S ouveni r J J to infuse new life into the trades unions an d co- operative movement , and to ally them as being essentially supplementary to each other .

t he Alderman Smith Feather occupied chair , and was

by . . accompanied Mr Tom Mann , Miss M Llewelyn Davies ,

’ C o - General Secretary of the Women s operative Guild ,

- . n C o Mr Joh Shillito , a Director of the operative Wh ole sale Society , and about eighty representatives from

neighbouring societies . The proceedings commenced with the singing by the

’ “ ” whole audience of E liza Cook s Nobleness of Labour . Then followed a report of the Society ’ s remarkable

1 8 1 progress since 8 . At that date the sales were

1 8 1 for the year . For 9 they had amounted to being an increase of In spite of the individual shares having been reduced from £20 0 to £8 0 the total for the Society had risen from to The

h 1 8 1 members ip had also risen , and at the end of 9 numbered The Society possessed twenty - nine — ’ grocery stores ; twenty eight butcher s shops ; three

drapery branches ; and one each for tailoring , furniture ,

and boots and shoes . The shares and loans in other societies and mortgages amounted to while 1 42

houses and shops , all well tenanted , were further assets . E xtensive premises for slaughtering cattle were nearly 6 0 0 0 . ready , costing about £ In course of erection were a store and four houses at Heaton Syke , also a store and ﬁ eight houses at Leamington Street . The pro ts during 1 8 9 1 amounted to whi ch enabled them to pay a

. 1 dividend of 23 od . in the pound . There was also a reserve fund which amounted to £5 0 0 0 .

1 8 2

Historical S ouvenir J J

Af ter this report had been read the Chairman said

- co operation had hi s hearty sympathy and support .

- When he married , some twenty eight years before , he

became a contributor to a building society , while his wife

became a member of the C o - operative Society and was

still a member . He also expressed the opinion that the

two movements went well together , and believed all young couples getting married could not do better than follow

his example , for it was as necessary to have a house of

’ one s own as it was to have a good supply of food and

clothing .

Mr . P . J . Henry , on behalf of the employees of the

Society , then presented Mr . G . H . Hopkinson with a handsome timepiece and side ornaments for his twenty

’ i n three years service the Society . In accepting the gift i Mr . Hopk nson expressed his great surprise at the w . as presentation , which had been kept a secret It true ,

hi s he said , he had entered upon the second year of fourth

all apprenticeship , but during that time he had found a

great deal of delight and pleasure in his occupation .

Mr . Tom Mann , who spoke for an hour , and was received

en t husi asm ' ur ed with great , g his hearers to seek in trades unionism and co - operation an agency for the evolution of a good—industrial system , and specially called the attention of co operators to the fact that in stopping short at distribution they had left the most important part of

ﬁ u their task un ful lled . It devolved pon them to show

s workingmen and women , employer and politicians the — way out of the industrial di fﬁ cul t i es the way to prevent

ul the accum ation of piles of wealth on the one hand , and

was the terrible misery on the other . It the duty of

1 8 4 ‘1 9 5 3 Lab our P roblem s

c — o operators , he said , to learn to understand where the

ul industrial evils of the day lay , and how they co d be

n avoided in the future . Besides being trade u ionists all

ul co - l see workmen sho d be operators , and shou d that while ’ l they received a fair day s wage themselves , this shou d be spent to the best advantage in the store where the

u goods had been made nder fair conditions , for by no other means could they cope with the deplorable sweating

evil . They must have no more piteous appeals to i capitalists to be k nd to them , they must work out their i ff own salvation qu etly and steadily but e ectively , and also supplement such volun tary effort s by car ryi ng their

pri nciples into their Town Councils . hi Miss Llewelyn Davies , who also spoke , dwelt c efly on the importance of the women bei ng aroused to take action

c - i n both movements . In o operation they held the key h to the position . W en they understood such matters better she was sure they woul d not refuse to help their l husbands and brothers in th eir struggle for iberty . The musical programme was contributed by Miss

r M s . \Vebst r B la r e . . b o Bertha Rigg , Florence , Mr C g , and

’

. W Mr . Thornton , the humorist being Mr . Byron Atkinson .

. fﬁ . i Mrs M Cottam o ciated at the piano , and Mr . Benj am n i Wilk nson on the organ .

1 8 5 1 8 9 2 - 1 8 9 5

New Off i ci als

C HAPTER XX I. — Open in g of New S laughte r h ouse Go dwi n S treet Prop er ty u c ase — n d of t h e e a ec s— n a on f Mr P r h d E M t l Ch k R es ig t i o . ch oﬁ eld — ea of Mr At n son en e a m an a r S D th . ki ( g r l ge ) I m or an An n u a ee n — ea of Mr S ch oﬁ eld p t t l M ti g D th . Mr z r r wo o an d a o n t m en of h i ea h of . a G een s D t — E d , — pp i t su cces sor Clim ax Check s cri t i c i sed Edu cati on al M at t ers — en n of New Cen r a r em ses Op i g t l P i .

During these three years the Society experienced several important changes among the leading members ﬁ and of cials , and in this respect may be said to have

passed through a critical time , for success in all demo cratic institutions d epends in a large measure on the fﬁ character of the leading o cials , and a wrong appointment may easily lead to disaster ; it is very desirable then to have as few changes as possible . At the same time it may be urged in favour of such changes that they break the monotony and create an interest which otherwise is lacking

- i n the co operative movement generally . Still , it must be admi tted that it woul d be much better if this interest could be more easily maintained and not so spasmodic in i ts keenness .

Historical S ouvenir J J

s Milner , Clegg , and Jowett , to look out for a uitable site for new central premises . Within a month it was decided to purchase the property at the corner of Godwin Street

n r and S u b i dge Road . There were several own ers to treat

u k with , but all were agreeable and a bargain was str c for a sum of about It was next decided to di scard the old metal ch eck

system and replace it with the Climax , a triplicate paper check . All the Managers were invited to a k ind of f h co fee supper , at whic the new check system was explained to them and their co - operation in working the new scheme

ss urged upon them . Ten thousand handbills were i ued

rd 1 8 2 announcing that after October 3 , 9 , metal checks would no longer be recognised .

At 1 8 2 ﬁ the annual meeting in November , 9 , the rst of the ch anges among the Society ’ s permanent staff took

S ch ﬁeld . . o s place Mr , the olde t servant in the employ

ment . resigned his position as Treasurer , which the meeting

r so as s hi s seri v ces ve y reluctantly accepted , but not to lo e altogether appointed him as property agent at a small

r retaining sala y . Mr . Hopkinson was elected Treasurer ,

wa . E o s and Mr zra Greenw od , Chief Clerk , promoted to

the vacant Secretaryship .

S ch oﬁ eld was A few months later Mr . presented with a bookcase by the employees as a mark of their esteem for him . About the middl e of the year the Directors were of fered a bakery in full working order which had belonged to a

r large ﬁ m who had been strong rivals to the Society . A mi Special Com ttee , along with the Architect and General

Manager , Mr . Atkinson , were sent to View the premises

1 8 8

Historical S ouve n i r J J

and plant , but their report was unfavourable to the

\Vhi le purchase of the same . no arrangement was come

s to j ust then , the idea of starting in the bakery bu iness m once more took hold of several me bers of the Board , but the more urgent claims of the new central premises

carried the day , and a scheme for erecting a new wing to the property already purchased and raising the older

portion a storey higher was adopted . \Vi thi n a few weeks afterwards the next break among fﬁ the o cials occurred . This can best be explained by the

u 1 8 record in the min te book dated September , 9 3 . Resolved that the Committee desire to place on record their deep regret at the great loss the Society has sus

t ai ned u s thro gh the lamentable death , after a hort illness ,

of their esteemed manager , the late William Atkinson , who by his strict integrity and attention to his duties had won the conﬁdence and respect of all with whom he ” came in contact .

n It is satisfactory to know that the so of Mr . Atkinson is now in the service of the Society in the bakery depart

ment , and it is a coincidence that the last duty assigned

re- to Mr . Atkinson was with reference to the starting of ’ f bread baking by the Society s own sta f .

Mr . J . P . Henry , the present Manager , was appointed u so s ccessor to Mr . Atkinson , but the business has much increased that latterly an assistant in the person of Mr .

B la br u h Charles g o g has had to be given him .

1 8 The annual meeting in November , 9 3 , may be taken as an illustration of the keen interest that was taken in the movement in consequence of the labour unrest which was common all over the country at that time . The

1 9 0

Historic al S ouven ir J J

h son l Mr . Josep Bentley ( of one of the very ear iest ofﬁ cials of the Society) then drew attention to the growing tendency to bait the Directors at these meetings in place of using their opportunities to further the interest of

- c . o operation and the Society , which was applauded After this several trade unionists brought forward a number of

inquiries about the tailoring department , and also the wages of the masons engaged on the new building . The discussion was prolonged to such an extent that the matter was eventually adj ourned to a special meeting to be held 8 2 1 . on oth February , 9 4

1 8 As the year 9 3 was drawing towards a close Mr .

S choﬁeld - , the old and well tried servant of the Society , passed away ; he did not long survive his severance from

- the work he loved so well . He was only sixty one years

of age , but it was said he worked many times when he

hi s should have rested , and therefore crowded into life as much as might be placed to the credit of two ordinary

persons . The funeral took place the day after Christmas

S ch olemoor w as at Cemetery , and attended by a large number of friends , among whom were the Directors of

the Society , representatives from the Halifax and Sowerby

C o - Bridge Flour Societies , the Bradford operative Cabinet

co— Makers , and many old operators such as Abram Sharp ,

E dmund Gilyard , Ben Broadbent , Joseph Crabtree , William

s . Farrar , E . Varley , W . Clegg , M . Bakes , and John Robin on

Before the special meeting in February could be held ,

however , an event happened that materially altered the

i t s hi aspect of affairs , as gave the member somet ng more to think about than the tailors ’ or masons ’ wages which had so disturbed the annual meeting .

1 9 2 " 9“ s 5 New Off icials

ch ﬁeld Mr . S o had not long been laid to rest when the Directors were called upon to follow another ofﬁ cial to hi s

. . E y grave Mr zra Greenwood , who had onl a short time previously received the appointment of Secretary to the

ﬂi c o e . Society , passed away after a very brief spell of The special meeting was held only two days before the

u funeral , and that may have had a softening inﬂ ence on

ul the more turb ent spirits present , for the only business

‘ recorded was the acceptance of reports from Messrs . h s . . Southern Richard on and H A Jo nson , who had inquired into the charges made at the annual meeting . The result was the passing of a resolution expressing the unabated conﬁdence of the meeting in the Committee of Manage

ment . Within a few weeks of the above special meeti ng another was held (on March 1 4th) to appoin t a successor to the late Secretary . This also was held in the

Temperance Hall , which was far too small , as scores of

members had to go away without getting near the door . let alone getting inside . It need scarcely be mentioned

that great excitement prevailed . Mr . M . Hopwood presided , and before proceeding with the main business referred in

very sympathetic terms to the death of Mr . Greenwood ,

i nl whose promis ng career had so sudde y been cut short . He then proposed a vote of condolence with the mother and

was family of their deceased Secretary , which assented to l by the members rising from their seats . The fol owi ng

mi . no nations for the vacant post were then made , viz

hi . Mr . Joseph Bennett (C ef Clerk) , Mr Richard de Rome ,

Mr . M . Hopwood , and Mr . J . W . Woodcock .

Seeing he had been nomi n ated Mr . Hopwood retired

0 1 9 3 Histo rical S ouve ni r J J

from the chair . This placed the meeting in somewhat of

ﬁx u . a ; event ally Mr Ben Tate , the senior Director present ,

was voted to the position . The nomination of Mr .

\Vood cock was next considered , and after some discussion

u his candidature was r led out of order , seeing he was an

f hi s Auditor o the Society and had not resigned position .

Another long discussion took place on a motion by Mr . \Vh i t e (one of the auditors) in which he advocated that the position should be advertised . This found a deal of

n 2 6 2 1 8 u but . s pport , was lost on a divisio by 9 to Voting

then took place on the remaining candidates , when Mr . Joseph Bennett was declared to be successful by an over

whelming maj ority , and has retained the position ever

since . — The half yearly meeting following the above was a

stormy one . The Directors , having in mind the criticism

of u about the size the hall on the previo s occasion ,

determined not to be caught on that score again , engaged

’

St . George s Hall , as being the largest meeting place in the

town ; and it was well they did so , for there were about

0 0 0 3 persons present , those occupying the stalls paying

sixpence each for the privilege . Mr . Ben Tate again

presided , having been elected President after the previous

meeting . He had not got through his opening remarks

before evidence of the temper of the meeting was revealed . There could be no mistaking what was intended The remarks interj ected as he proceeded to explain that the

was decrease in the sales , amounting to due to a

as lack of loyalty on the part of the members , well as to

the depression in the trade of the town , showed that many of the members had formed their own opinions on the

I9 4

Historical S ouvenir J J

at the nearest store to which they resided . It was pointed out that such a distinction had neither been

intended nor made before , but he defended himself by reading the rule which gave him the power to do so . The Chairman supported him by stating the rules must be

so carried out . This incensed a member that he suggested the Directors should place their ofﬁcial upon a throne hi with a cloak around him and a crown upon s head . In

the end Mr . Raney was nominated for the vacant position and was unanimously accepted by the meeting . For some time after this matters ran in a more normal

groove , and consolidation seemed to be the order of the

was s day . Mr . T . Smith in tructed to take charge over the branch boot shop in Manchester Road as well as the

Ki rk a Central in g t e. The Directors were busy for some time with a serious

u s q estion of overlapping , and meeting were held between them and the Directors of the Great Horton Society with a view to settling the matter . After several meetings an agreement was arrived at whereby the Great Horton Directors promised to ask their members to withdraw E from the branch at Four Lane nds , and the Bradford

S hearbri d Provident agreed to close their ge branch .

Later on , when the matter was submitted to the respective

Societies , the Great Horton members rej ected the arrange

as ment , while the Bradford members accepted it being ﬁ the best solution of a dif cult problem , and therefore the

shops still continue in their old positions . E ducational m at t ers i n the Society began to assume a

ﬁn more de ite shape at this time , due to various causes , among them being an arrangement to work j ointly with

1 9 6 9 ' ” s s New Officials

an outside committee in the running of a course of E University E xtension Lectures on Political conomy ,

u which proved very successf l . These were given in the

H ~ Temperance Hall by Mr . . Llewelyn Smith , of Oxford , ” who took as his subj ect The Production of Wealth . A

was limelight lantern purchased , and a number of slides

- were borrowed from the C o operative Union . Two public

e lectur s were also given by Tom Mann in the Central Hall .

’

Besides which a Men s Guild was formed which , after

f s meeting in the old Co fee Tavern , We tgate , for a time

’ received permission to use the Society s hall in Grafton

Street , which was above the Manchester Road branch .

1 1 8 s On June 5 th , 9 5 , the new central premi es in Sun

bridge Road were forma lly opened by Mr . Ben Tate . The ceremony was preceded by a parade through the town of a grand procession 0 1 1 a rather elaborate scale of lavishly decorated waggons containing exhibits of the va r ious was departments of the Society . Fortunately the day

fin e as , the Society ran a considerable risk with the goods f displayed . One lurry illustrated the co fee grinding process ; the Airedale Manufacturing Society showed a loom in operation ; the Hebden Bridge Society exhibited fustian goods the two flour societies had several lurries with flour ; the Bradford Cabinet Makers showed suites

’ of furniture ; while the Society s own waggons carried

of samples all manner of goods supplied to the members , even to an enormous block of coal from one of the collieries .

Two bands were engaged , and as the procession , headed by

oﬂi ci als the police and the banner of the Society , with the h and many delegates in conveyances , passed throug the

‘ streets , it attracted a great deal of attention . After

I9 7 Historical S o uven i r J J promenading the centre of the town the whole drew up f in ront of the Central Premises , where Mr . Tate was presented with a handsome key and declared the premises open . f In the evening a ree public concert was given in St .

’

George s Hall , which was crowded , notwithstanding it

w u . as s mmer time The chair was occupied by Dr .

R aba li at i g , who referred to the rapid growth of the Society and the vast extension of its operations during the thirty

ﬂv e v ears of its existence , and said it seemed to him that the Society was on a fair way towards solving some of

fﬁ u the most di c lt problems in commercial life , one of the obj ects being the elevation of the worker , which brought them face to f ace with commercial j ustice and as such should draw to them the sympathy of every right—minded — s . co e per on Again , as operation fost red the spirit of good will and harmony it must promote peace between master

and man , and thus avert industrial war . Only a century

“ before the question had been asked W as C o - operation possible The answer was there in the splendid business

O premises pened that day , which cost The concert was supplied by a quartette party con E E sisting of Madame milie Norton , Miss dna Thornton ,

B r la b o . Mr . C . g , and Mr Willie Thornton , along with whom

d d R ai st ri ck . . O were Messrs y and , humorists , and Mr

Paget Priestley , pianist .

The speakers for the evening were Mr . George Thomson ,

u ﬁ ﬁ - H dders eld , and Mr . Arthur Brown eld , Stoke upon

Mr Trent . In his remarks . Thomson said he had noticed that the Society had sold somewhere about four million pounds sterling worth of goods and had made over

1 9 8

Historical S ouve nir J J

ﬁ ﬁ i f in pro t . In j usti cation for this he said the

of was condition the people to be improved , and the masses

f u to have some comfort in li e , they m st take for them ﬁ selves some of those pro ts which , in the past , had gone to f swell the great ortunes of the country , and this was only

c — possible by a more complete extension of o operation .

At this stage Mr . G . H . Hopkinson presented the chairman — with a handsomely - bound copy of the C o operative

’ ’

W u 1 8 . holesale Society s Ann al for 9 5 , which the Dr accepted and acknowledged .

Mr ﬁ . Brown eld also addressed the gathering , and said — the question of co operation concerned many of them more

C o - deeply than they imagined . operators had realised that the old industrial sy stem of competition was played out r e- , and that society must be constructed on a new

u fo ndation , having a basis of love and brotherhood in which the progress and development of each must be for ﬁ the bene t and widest good of all .

It was a memorable occasion , and there are many living ff who can recall the whole a air .

It may be worth recording , however , that at that time the Bradford Provident stood eighth in the list of large

u f societies in the co ntry . Be ore it stood Leeds , Bolton ,

l . Barnsley , Newcastle , Oldham , Gateshead , and Pend eton

’ When the year closed the President s chair was occupied by Mr . S . Richardson .

20 0 1 8 9 6 —1 9 0 0

Overl appi n g

CH APTE R XXI I . — Exten s i on s at t h e C en t r al Pr em is es S teady Pr og r ess P an s f or New aker P ass e —Th e S oc et H emm e i n —l B y d i y d Th e Ch o i r wi n s t h e ar Gr ey Ch allen ge S hi e d — E l — l Overl appi n g Op en in g of B akery A S ep ar at e Edu ca on Com m t i it tee E lecte d .

Another forward movement was begun at the beginning

’ 1 8 6 . of the year 9 David Barker s mill , at the back of the

2 0 . central premises , was purchased for £4 5 Approval of

was this step given by the members at the May meeting , which also saw the retirement of Mr . J . Woodcock from the h t . . . auditorship , e position being given to Mr H A Johnson ,

one of the Directors .

’

During Mr . S . Richardson s presidency matters assumed

a steady , regular advance , with very little noise . Besides s new premise behind the central , a considerable extension

- was made to the slaughter house itself , and in addition — three dwelling houses were built for the employees . E ducational matters too showed signs of development c by the engagement , in onj unction with the Trades Council ,

20 1 Histo rical S ouveni r J J of Miss E nid Stacey to give a course of lectures for the

Society in the Assembly Rooms . Among other internal changes worthy of mention was

the dropping of the district electoral meetings , and the

u of so s bstitution two meetings in the Assembly Rooms ,

that the candidates could address the members . The opening of D uckworth L an e Store brought the year to a

’ was of close . The next year that Queen Victoria s

Diamond J ubilee , and to mark the event the Society

’ 1 0 0 subscribed £ as a gift to the Children s Hospital , also

o ﬁ 1 0 0 t the In rmary . At the same meeting at which the

t h 1 8 above was decided (May 4 , 9 7) the rules were again

thrown into the melting pot , with Messrs . W . Sullivan ,

J . Bentley , A . Firth , J . Woodcock , and J . Featherstone , appointed by the members , and Messrs . S . Richardson ,

J . Wilson , J . Cotter , and W . Cockroft , in charge of them . u Coventry Store was opened d ring the year , and a choral

society established under Mr . Hartwell Robertshaw .

Mr \ f 1 8 8 V . . Cockro t was elected President early in 9 , and soon after plans were passed for the erection of the

u bakery on the D dley Hill estate , a work which had been

v ﬁ v e shel ed for about years , but the year was far advanced before building operations actually commenced . It may be as well to remind the members that in the interval between the closing of the old bakery and the opening of

the new , if many years had elapsed , the industry itself had undergone a great change by the introduction of

machinery . The next year ( 1 8 9 9 ) saw the beginning of a long drawn out trouble in which the Directors became involved with all the neighbouring societies . It was in

Histo ric al S ouve n ir J J who stated the Society had never been invited to any such conference and consequently could not have made

“ the statement referred to . In the end the report was

adopted , but only by a small maj ority , and as for the position

as the Directors had taken up , already mentioned , it led

to conﬂicts all round . This went on all through Mr .

’

C ock rof t s presidency and well into that of Mr . J ohn

Wilson . There are innumerable references to it in the

records . The Airedale District Association took the

ﬁx matter in hand in an attempt to boundaries , and a number of meetings were held on the premises of each of the societies with whom the Bradford Society came in

contact , which was practically on every side , as they were completely hemmed in . For a time things looked healthy

for a solution , but in the end were given up as useless .

s h The matter was taken before the Liverpool Congres , w o

appointed a special committee consisting of Mr . Frank

H ard ern (Oldham) , the whole of the Boundaries Com

i t ee C o - m t . of the operative Union , and Messrs J ames

Johnston (Manchester) , representing Lancashire , and John

Baldwin (West Bowling , Bradford) , representing Yorkshire ,

' to consider the whole question of overlapping and to ﬁn d a remedy . While these matters were being attended to the formal

1 0 0 . . . opening of the bakery took place in July , 9 Mr T

B urn sn all , of Derby , had been appointed manager , and fﬁ had installed a most e cient plant . Of course the occasion was made one of rej oicing . A trade procession e started early in the aft rnoon from the Fair Ground , in

Hammerton Street , and , after parading the principal

streets , eventually arrived at Cutler Heights Lane . There

2 0 4 ” ” s s Overlappi ng

were about forty vehicles in the procession , containing exhi bits of the various branches of business carried on by

the Society . A special one carried a number of bakers in

white caps and aprons , who distributed samples of biscuits

u ff among the people en ro te . The whole a air was a com

let e p success and aroused great interest , especially in

ﬁ en masse Wake eld Road , where the inhabitants turned out to view the sight . Three brass bands supplied stirring music all the way . The formal ceremony was performed by Mr . John Wilson in the presence of a large gathering of

wa ﬁ members and friends . The bakery s tted with the

u - - 1 6 0 0 most p to date machinery , capable of turning out loaves per hour . The only other events to be noted in this chapter are E the election of an ducation Committee , which should be

was distinct and separate from the Board , which the

outcome of persistent advocacy on the part of Mr . Sam

s s . Sheard , and the appointment of an a si tant to Mr Henry

(grocery manager) , as the trade had now reached over

B la br u h f per year . Mr . Charles g o g , manager o

the Otley Road Branch , received the appointment .

20 5 — 1 9 0 1 1 9 1 0

Another Amalgamation to

CHAPTE R XXI I I .

F ai u e of B oun d ary Lin es eads t o Am a g am a i on l r — —l l t A g r ea ect i on Th e C i s i s The Appoin m en of an t El r— —t t I n ves ig a i on Com m i t ee The i r R epo Open in g of t t t — rt Laun d r y an d of a M ilk D ep ot For m ati on of a Jubilee Com m t ee i t .

Seeing that the attempt to ﬁx boundary lines between

C o- all the societies in Bradford had failed , the operative

Union again took the matter in hand , and a conference Ofﬁ was called by them in the School Board ces , Manor

1 0 1 Row , early in J anuary , 9 , with a View to the amalgama tion of as many of the societies as possible . Representatives

s from ten societies attended , and were addressed by member of the Central Board of the C o - operative Union to the eff ect that the only real solution of the evils which accrued from overlapping in Bradf ord was to be found in the formation

of a single society for the whole area . This was endorsed

by several of the delegates , who promised to report the

same to their respective Boards ; in fact , no opposition was

’ u raised to the proposal . A f rther meeting was held later to report progress , but only the West Bowling representatives b f turned up esides those o the Bradford Provident .

20 6

Historic al S ouveni r J J

. a d Mr , John Baldwin Similar resolutions were proposed n discussed . The main contention here was that the present

m u depart ents sho ld be maintained , and that the employees should be guaranteed their situations . In reply it was stated that both these matters had been agreed to as part

u of the conditions . In the end the resol tions were agreed

u to unanimo sly . It took some months bef ore all the details of the scheme were completed and the assent of the Registrar

given to the new rules , but j ust before the close of the year the two Bo ards sat together at the Central premises

as one Board , and this continued until the general election

May 1 0 2 in , 9 , when the whole of them would retire and a new Board elected . It was during this period that the proposal to build the

laundry was agreed to , and also that the opening of the é caf in the basement of the Central took place . Mr . Morrell performed the necessary duty and received a

presentation key as a momento of the occasion .

At length the day of the great election came round .

Many things conspired to make it memorable . At the

previous election several of the old Directors , who had been replaced by new men , determined to get back again ; besides these there were all the West Bowling Directors

who desired places on the new Board . There were forty

- nine candidates for the twenty one positions . It was

’ indeed an exciting time . The candidates meetings , which

u previously had been dubbed a farce , beca se no interest w was taken in them , ere on this occasion very crowded ,

s especially the la t one , which was held on the night before

the election . On the whole , however , they were good

20 8 ” 9 s 9 A n othe r Amalgamation

i s _ as s natured meeting , as far might be expected when it ﬁ remembered there were two strong parties in the eld .

s The candidates them elves faced the music like heroes , although the list of questions they had to answer were poor when it i s considered these were supposed to test their qualiﬁcations to be able to manage a business doing

- - half a million pounds per year . No less than ﬁ v e thousand members presented them

- selves at the thirty nine polling booths . The following

shows the result , which was not declared until j ust on

c was as Sunday morning , at whi h time there large a crowd in the street as if it had been a parliamentary election . ﬁ The rst three names in each district were declared elected , and formed the new Board . —B 1 . 2 2 . District No . . Tate , 3 4 ; E Hargreaves ,

1 6 1 1 J . Hey , 9 7 —H . Mellor , 79 5 W . Watkins , 75 9 . . 2 . . 2 0 1 . s 1 District No J Morrell , 4 J Malli on , 9 74 ; 1 1 1 6 . ; . 28 ; . . S curr ah J Walker , 74 J Craven , A H , 1 1 1 6 . 6 ; . , ; E . 2 0 . 9 R D Briggs 5 63 Higgins , ; J Allat t 1 6 , 3 .

— 1 8 1 8 . . S . s 2 . 2 District No 3 Richard on , 9 ; J Senior , 4 ; 6 1 6 . s , 20 . . 2 ; . . H Hodg on 5 ; J H Hopkinson , 7 A G 1 2 . Northwood , 5 9 — . 8 . n 1 0 . District No 4 Joh Baldwin , 5 ; F Denman ,

1 6 8 1 6 1 ; . , ; . . s 6 2 . 5 A Norris 34 A J Harri , 7 ; H 1 6 8 0 . 1 6 8 1 ; , . 2 Hirst , A J ackson 4 ; J Cotter , 9 ; 8 8 . 2 6 . 1 . 2 6 . W Hall , ; C Bastow , 7 ; A Binns , 7 ; H

1 1 0 . 0 . , ; , ; 8 8 . Baker 5 P Burgon 4 J Rushworth , — 1 8 6 . . W. District No 5 J . Guy , 9 ; Mynard ,

M l ' . u 8 1 1 o son 1 . . L . J , 5 ; W W Dennison , 73 7 ; 1 6 1 s 6 8 8 . Hodg on , 9 7 ; E . Tolson ,

20 9 Historic al S ouve n ir J J

6 —H 1 8 8 6 M ll n 1 . e so 8 District No . . Sewell , ; G . , 74 ;

1 8 6 1 . . , . ; E . , J H Smith 4 ; M Mountain , 749 Smith 6 1 6 1 1 2 . . . s . 7 ; W H G Phillip , 3

— 1 8 6 1 . . . . 8 0 . District No 7 J Wilson , 9 ; A Firth , 3 ; A

1 8 1 22 . 6 0 E . s 1 Watson , ; G Holmes , 7 7 ; Oake , 74 ;

1 6 J . Buxton , 47 .

The half - yearly meeting was held on the following

Tuesday in the Central Hall , with Mr . Ben Tate in the

. n s . chair , in the absence of Mr Morrell through sick es It

as was a rather long meeting , there was a spirit of inquiry abroad and many questions were asked . An obj ection

Moulson s t he was raised by Mr . J . to the result of election owi ng to the amount of special canvassing which had

taken place , but Mr . Bennett said that , having received

’ of notice the obj ection , he had consulted the Society s legal adviser and also the C o- operative Union and both agreed that there was nothing wrong in it . There the matter was allowed to rest for the time being , but it was

s not for long , as during the succeeding month many rumours were aﬂoat that dissatisfaction was growing and

s that trouble was brewing for omeone . By the time the annual meeting came round , which was held in the Central

t h 1 0 2 s Hall , on November 4 , 9 , matter came to a head ,

quickened , no doubt , by the fact that the dividend had 8 5 . 2 . d s . dropped from the usual 3 to in the pound .

- - be- It was a never to forgotten meeting . So great was the crush that several of the Directors never got inside

the hall . The doors had to be closed and many hundreds

a . had to be turned way As soon as Mr . Morrell , who

was presided , called for the minutes he met with a motion

- on to adjourn the meeting to another hall another evening .

21 0

Historical S ouven i r J J

Manchester . After several speeches on either side the ﬁ rst motion was carried , and then Mr . Tolson proposed that no person employed by the Society or members of h the Board should be eligible to be on the Committee . T is

- also was agreed to . Twenty two names were submitted for the position and eventually the following were appointed

. . s . . s . E . R Raney , W Pitcher , A J Harri , G Holmes , Smith ,

J . Craven , J . Weller , S . Rawnsley , M . Mountain , J . J ennings ,

. . E . . . . E Tolson , W Hall , Higgins , and F A Import The business as left from the previous meeting was then

u re— taken up . The retiring a ditors were elected ; a grant of £6 0 0 0 was passed to enable the Building Committee to

as complete contracts on hand , such the new laundry , new

S hearbri d e s store and houses at g , completion of the tables , and additions to the bakery . The whole of the usual

subscriptions were passed , but when the grant to the

E ducation Committee came up and Mr . A . J agger was proposing that £1 0 0 be devoted to that obj ect cries of

agreed were heard on every side . The Chairman put

the motion and a fair vote followed , but as soon as he said ” to the contrary , a voice cried Up , up , and immediately such a ‘ forest of hands went up that he had to declare the grant lost . Thus ended one of the most

c - remarkable o operative meetings ever held in Bradford .

m . The Investigation Co mittee soon—got to work They divided themselves into several sub committees to deal

u was s with separate departments of inq iry , but it uch a huge task that it was several months before they were ready to report . In the meantime several special meetings of the

members had been held , called by requisition from the

2 1 2 9 9 s 3 A nother Amalgam ation

hi i members , w ch had for their obj ect the rev sion of a number of the rules which had been adopted at the time

of the amalgamation . No doubt the obj ects of the ﬁ dissatis ed members were legitimate enough , but the eff ect of the constant bickeri ng between the two parties — s mi for it mu—t be ad tted that at this time there were two parties had a very damaging inﬂuence on the trade w and standing of the Society . Capital was ithdrawn ,

s members left , and ales went down ; in fact , at one period matters assumed a very critical aspect . h ’ s . When t i special report was given , St George s Hall was again crowded . Mr . J . Morrell presided , having on the one side of him the Directors , and on the other the

o . s Investigation C mmittee . Mr . Import and Mr Pitcher t h took turns at reading the repor , w ich occupied two

hours .

ff so The whole a air is recent , and the actors still with us s a , that it may serve our purpose best to y as little about

’ it as possible . After reviewing the Society s business in t various depar ments , giving a description of the properties

t he owned by the Society , the report went on to detail

results of the investigation . In connection with the grocery department it was found that the bulk of the

trade was done outside , with exception of the ﬂour which came exclusively from Halifax and Sowerby Bridge . The

main point , however , was where the Committee stated that they foun d no case of secret commissions as had been hinted . With regard to the drapery department , the principal obj ection was that preference was given to one

ﬁ r m in the purchase of dress goods . In the tailoring and some of the other departments the Committee considered

2 1 3 Historical S ouvenir J J

ss A the stock too large for the amount of busine done . s

0 for the bakery , in their opinion 5 per cent . more business m wi s f ight be done thout any increa e in the sta f . In their examination of the building department what struck them most was the great diff erence between the amount of the ﬁ accepted tenders and the actual cost of the nished work . The extras in one case almost equalled the amount of the original tender . Horsekeeping at Usher Street seemed to

them to have been an expensive business . Penny banks ,

which had been recently established in the Society , were

condemned , as was the building of a laundry that could never pay . On the one hand it was suggested that the

s Directors should refrain from electrical extension , and on the other the Directors were advised to consider the making of wa electricity themselves whenever possible . It s also recommended that all general meetings of the Society be better advertised in future that the President of the Society

should be elected by the members , and that more stock

’ takers should be appointed ; that a Men s Guild should

be formed , and a general manager , to have entire charge f of the a fairs of the Society , should be appointed .

f ew o After a questi ns had been answered , it was decided to accept the report and hand it to the Directors to formulate a reply . Four weeks later the members

reassembled to receive the reply of the Directors . In the meantime the committee ’ s report and the Director ’ s

’ reply thereto had been printed and in t he members hands for several days . Together they made a rather large v pamphlet of nearly se enty pages . In a prelimi nary statement the Directors maintained that if due considera tion had been observed about exact data and prices at

2 1 4

H istoric al S ouve ni r J J

s s was return to special electoral di trict , but this rej ected

1 1 0 by 9 votes to 9 , and at once it could be seen that the feeling of the members had returned to the condition prior

was to the upheaval . Indeed , nearly every amendment

negatived . Before the year 1 9 0 3 closed the new laundry was fﬁ O . o cially pened by Mr Morrell , who received a memorial

as . . key a memento of the occasion , and Mr F Denman ,

’ s s as chairman of the laundry committee , received a moker i t cabinet . In spite of s condemnation by the Investigation

h as t Committee , it turned out one of the best depar ments

ever started by the Society . It holds the proud position

ﬁ co - of being the rst operative laundry in E ngland , while ﬁ nancially it has been a great success . And now that matters had assumed a normal course once more the

Society began to progress more rapidly . It was next decided to engage in the supply of pure milk to the

members , and to further the idea a dairy was erected on

some vacant land on the Usher Street estate . Here all

was the latest machinery for Pasteurising milk laid down ,

t h 1 1 0 . and on February 5 , 9 , Mr Henry Hodgson , one of

s the olde t Directors , was honoured with the duty of

declaring the same open . Previously , a number of the medical facul ty of Bradford had expressed their satisfaction

set . with the place , and the task the Society had themselves A tea and concert in honour of the event was held in one

of the large rooms of the laundry close by , and the new venture was sent on its ben eﬁci en t mission of supplying one of the most necessary items of human diet in a pure

and healthy state . At the beginning of this year the Directors invited the

2 1 6

Historic al S ouve ni r J J whole of the E ducation Committee to j oin them in forming

a Jubilee Celebration Committee , and the result of their

u work i s given in the concl ding chapter . Whi le these arrangements were going on other matters engaged their attention as well . Several new stores had

but been opened , these are of such recent date that they

do not require mention here , with the exception , perhaps , of the removal of the drapery department from the Central premises to the corner of Forster Square and Market Street . In this step the Directors have shown —the members , and y co the public generall , the ability of operation to cater

for all classes , and at the same time have demonstrated their power in an attractive window display .

Historical S ouve nir J J waggons in which their wares were displayed the Hali fax and Sowerby Bridge Flour Societies were also represented wit h laden waggons the Society ’ s Bakery Department had a couple of bread vans , while the Greengrocery Department made a brave show with an enticing display of fruit and vegetables . Why Denmark should have been selected for

she was a special show was not very clear , but there with

ten milkmaids very pretty in their white , heliotrope , and

pink costumes . There was no mistaking the Butchering

Department , however , for it was represented by both living ﬁ and dead samples . The living came rst , of course there

were beasts , sheep , and pigs , pleasant enough to look upon , but the next van (ﬁlled with pork products ready for sale) ff attracted in a di erent way , as it appealed not only to the

u eye but ca sed a craving with a desire in another direction . There was also the Daisy Hill Brass Band to enliven the

u march thro gh the crowded streets , which was followed

u by the furnit re display , consisting of two waggons with w &c . as Sideboards , On one a bed , with occupants whose l nationality might be doubtfu , but whose colour could not

be mistaken , There were also other lorries . One con t ai n ed a group of little folks dressed in a variety of costumes

C o - representing the International operative Alliance . There

w u stood a sturdy little fello as J ohn B ll , with Sandy , Pat , f l and Ta fy as companions ; there were also Unc e Sam ,

Germany , France , Switzerland , and several other nations , all under the care of a representative of that international

- or . world wide name , Smith In turn came the other depart — l — ments Drapery , Tai oring , and Boots while the youngest w . as i n d eed was represented by two milk ﬂoats It , , , a brave show .

2 20 9 “ 3 5 J ubilee C eleb ration

O PE N IN G OF THE E XH IBITION .

o h was The formal pening of the E x ibition , which held

in the Coliseum Skating Rink , did not take place until the

evening of the same day , as the principal personage , Mr .

P C o - John Shillito , J . . , F (Chairman of the operative

Wholesale Society) , was engaged during the afternoon presiding over the Lancashire Divisional ‘ Meeting at

Manchester . The E xhibition had been really open to

Visitors all the afternoon , and at the time of the ceremony

was simply crowded . Mr . F . Denman presided , and — when order was obtained no slight task with such a crowd — commenced the proceedings by expressing the pleasure it afforded him to be the mouthpiece of the Society on that

i ﬁ was occasion . Anyone , he said , look ng back fty years boun d to be gratiﬁed with the success achieved by the

. o 20 0 Society It c mmenced with a turnover of £ per week , and had grown in the meantime till to - day it was d omg

per week . l hi . s Mr Shil ito , after expressing pleasure at being able

to take part in the proceedings , even after a busy day in

Manchester , congratulated the Bradford Society on its — ﬁ ’ position to day , after fty years growth . It had a small

beginning , but it was a grand institution now . Although started at a time when it was difﬁcult to get money enough

n t he i t s to establish institutio s of kind , and , although

progress had been slow and gradual , during its existence

1 0 it had turned over £ , ooo , ooo of capital , had repaid to

1 ﬁ l the members over £ , 5 oo , ooo in pro ts , and sti l had ”

in the institution to - day He woul d like to impress upon the workers that all this had been aecom

2 2 1 Historic al S ouvenir J J

li shed p by working together . He would urge upon all to t ry and understand what associated interests could do

. was for them There was no risk at all , their capital really four times greater than the amount of shares in the

’ members names . The institution which he had the honour to represent had brought this E xhibition to

d so l Bra ford , that they might rea ise what had been done in the movement . The members of the Bradford Society

had in that institution , and could be

e withdrawn any mi nute . Twenty thousand famili s were

connected with the Society , which must have been a great

e ﬁ b ne t to them . Socialists had declaimed against i l m l ionaires , but each member of the Bradford Society ,

C o- l . through operation , was a mil ionaire He then declared

x the E hibition op ened .

Mr . J . Morrell proposed a vote of thanks , which was

. . h } seconded by Mr R Hiles , after whic Mr D enman m received a si ilar vote for his services in the chair , proposed by Mr . J . Bennett , seconded by Mr . S . h Ric ardson .

TH XH E E IBITION .

E Of the xhibition itself pages might be written , but ll . a was space forbids First of , the hall itself a splendid one for the purpose , and was only a penny tram ride from the

t h e centre of the city to very door . Inside the place , al though commodious and perhaps the largest hall in the

was a ﬁ city , none too l rge for the magni cent display of

o— - C operatively made goods . From the main entrance one

hi ﬁ n came right on to the balcony , from w ch a e View of

22 2

Historical S ouve nir J J

t wi h their sewing machines , and here an interested crowd watch ed the speed with which all sorts of fancy sewing was done . It is scarcely fair to select one case as being more attractive than another where so many were perfect

according to the goods that each contained , yet hours could

’ be spent according to one s preference , but without question the model of the old Rochdale Store in Toad Lane appealed

to all . To the young it was like something in a museum ,

u was historical and curio s , but to some of the old folks it “ ’ h o a reminder of good old times , and it was wort s me thing to stand beside it for a time to listen to the remarks

and share the hearty laughter of some , whilst to others sad memories were recalled .

’ DA Y P G SE COND s O E N IN .

E x Crowds continued to pour into the hibition each day , and when the second formal opening took place , which

v n 1 was on Wednesday e e ing , June 5 th , the place was simply

packed , large as it is . Mr . Denman again presided , and the speaker was Mr . W . Lander (of Bolton , Chairman of the Productive Committee) .

hi s Mr . Lander , in the course of remarks , said that during the past we have been making millionaires , and

was he for one tired of this in fact , he hoped we should l not make another mil ionaire . He was a Socialist , and

v d w he belie e in the money of the orld going to the masses , l so that there would be less poverty , —less vice , and ess H t C o degradation . e con ended that operation was the highest form of Socialism ; it aimed not at making its main men rich , but in making the masses feel that the

2 24 " “ s b Jubilee C elebration

" movement was theirs , and that they each had a share in the mi llions the C o - operative Wh olesale and other

i C o— ki ndred Societies were handl ng year by year . opera

“ tion approached also a very high standard of Christianity , for it endeavoured to promote the spirit of that ancient c ul tea hing , they should do —unto others as they wo d others C o sho uld do to them . operation was divided into two

: divisions Distributive and Productive . First Dis t ri buti v e ; its aim was to spread all over the world i t s

so all ﬁ ideas , that the civilised world might bene t , and this ideal could never be reali sed by any syndicate or

was money combine . But besides being di stributive it n also a productive combi ation . It had a large number of

k s h the wor in w ich goods it sold were made and produced , and he was in the pro—ud position that night of being able to state that the C o operative J am and Biscuit Works were the only eight hours a day works of their kind in

u h h E rope , t at the men in t ese factories only worked forty h eig t hours per week , and the women and girls forty

h s four ours , and that their rate of wage was higher than any similar works in the country .

A vote of thanks was proposed to Mr . Lander by Mr . h Joseph Shep erd (Great Horton) , which was seconded by

B PH D . . . . S c. . Dr Hodgson , M A , , . E ach day and evening music had been supplied , the — ’ following bands taking turns The Society s own

r Orchestra , the West Riding Artille y , the City Tramways ,

and the City Police B ands . On Monday there was a boot

cleaning competition for boys , on Wednesday a spoon

s s cleaning conte t for girl , and on Friday the men displayed their powers in washing clothes .

2 2 5 Historical S o uve ni r J J

S OF TH X H CLO E E E IBITION .

Th e O universal pinion with regard to the E xhibition ,

u which was bro ght to a close on Saturday evening , June

1 8 th , was that it had been a huge success . It is estimated that about persons visited it during the eight

days it had been running . Mr . John Baldwin occupied

the chair and introduced Mr . Thorpe , of Dewsbury . In doing so he thought the members had every reason to congratulate thems elves on the success of the celebrations

f r t h r or n so a . The only regret he felt was that none of e i gi als

were with them . It would have been a pleasure to have

had the opinions of William J ennings , Tom Bower , or

J ohn Howarth on the display before them . Truly they had laid the f o undations deep and well so as to produce

such great results within the life - time of an ordinary f individual . With that night they saw the close o ﬁ f the rst portion of the celebrations . During the a ter

a f or noon grand gala the children had taken place . It was the ﬁrst of a series and close on 40 0 0 children had

been present . In Mr . Thorpe they had a near neighbour

of as well as a Director the Wholesale Society , and he

u was s re they would give him a good hearing . f Mr . Thorpe explained that the obj ect o the E xhibition was to bring the C o - operative productions before the

c notice of the people of Bradford , so that the onditions under which they had been produced might be extended

s to others . It was impo sible to do any good work without W C . . S . power , and as the was a strong body and possessed

this power , it enabled them to supply such goods from f actories and workshops working from forty—eight to f orty

2 2 6

Historical S ouve nir J J

s dates . With this obj ect in view tea were given at four

n centres during the afternoon , and two concerts and meeti gs were held in the evening . Teas were provided in the Central

B rown ro d Hall , at Annesley School , at y School , and at

Princeville \V esley an School . At each place there were ﬁ ﬁ plenty of assistants , and , unlike the rst tea fty years

’ ago , held in the Oddfellows Hall , plenty of good things for all so , for on that occasion there were many sittings down that sufﬁ cient bread could not be procured and the last

tables had to be content with biscuits . Of course , it

’ should be remembered that ﬁfty years ago bakers shops

f ew in Bradford were and far between , and when a large tea was arranged the bread had to be specially baked by those organising the affair . On this last occasion the Committee had the resources of an up - to - date

t od raw Bakery upon , which was fully adequate to the occasion .

CE NTRAL HALL .

At the Central Hall the chair was occupied by Mr . A .

Norris (one of the Directors) , who , in opening the pro ceed i n s g , expressed the hope that these Jubilee meetings would have the result of binding the members closer

C o - together in operative union . Without going into the ﬁ history of the Society , he said , fty years of successful

trading , in spite of adversities and trials , had resulted in their reaching a stage of industrial power which demanded recognition

Mr . F . Denman delivered the following address Reviewing our past we have good reason for congratula

' W e can tion on the splendid record that we have made .

2 28 " " s s J ubilee C ele bration

ﬁ so look at the gures for a moment , and in doing one is apt to wonder how t he workers can hold aloof from this most

s —1 8 6 1 2 2 6 humanitarian organi ation , capital £ 9 , trade £74 ,

ﬁ 1 1 0 ﬁ pro t £3 3 ; 9 , capital trade pro t

1 8 6 0 ﬁ trade done from , pro t from

1 8 6 0 ﬁ , this pro t averaging more than

per annum for the term of our existence .

i s i There , to my mind , no organ sation of workers

- — equipped like the C o operative movement your move — ment to deal with the pres—ent day tendency for the foodstuffs and other materials the needs of the people

s being cornered by individual or trusts . W We have the C . . S . and all other productive societies

n see working in our interests . We had need , the , to that

e we are loyal to them , ext nd their powers as much as possible ; let our aim be that not only shall they bestow ff their e orts on distribution , but spread the production of

‘ the articles we need to a much greater extent t han t hey ” are at present .

B R R Y D IR T OW N O , G L ING ON .

B rown ro d was The meeting at y presided over by Mr .

J oseph Guy , who said the history of the Society showed that there had been fifty years of hard work on behalf of fi ’ f f progress , fty years noble e ort on behalf of shop fi ’ assistants , and fty years labour for pure food and honest

trading . The Directors were anxious that the members ,

along with themselves , should really enj oy their J ubilee to

’ their hearts content . Mr . W . Mynard was the principal m speaker at this meeting , and he said he reme bered many of the devices which h ad been produced to check the advance

2 2 9 Histo ric al S o uve nir J J

n d u a &c . of the Society , s ch as dividend stores cash stores , ,

f but with ancy names , he complimented the members that

in spite of such temptations , which , no doubt , taxed their

y y . lo alt , they remained true to their own stores The musical portion of both concerts was left to the

’

Society s Prize Choir and Orchestral Band , under the

direction of Mr . Hartwell Robertshaw .

A I GH AM M NN N .

u The J bilee Celebrations were continued on Saturday ,

1 d ﬁ September 0 t h . Teas were provide in the Green eld

’

Congregational School , St . Luke s School , and in the

J ubilee Hall to a large number of the members , after which concerts were given in the J ubilee Hall and in

D rr n ﬁ . . . u a s Green eld School At the former Mr T W .

e . . . presided , th address being given by Mr S Richardson ”

i hi s . Tak ng for text the word j ubilee , Mr Richardson having explained its signiﬁcance to the ancient Hebrews and what they had to do on the hearing of the blowing of

set C o - the trumpet , he immediately out to blow the opera

tive trumpet , and in particular that of the City of Bradford ﬁf Society . Looking backwards for ty years and describing e l the condition then , h fol owed on by comparing the con dition now . The single employee had given place to a

0 respectable regiment 79 strong , whose conditions in

u ho rs and wages would compare with any in the city . At the Greenﬁeld School the chair was occupied by

Mr . A . Firth . Here the address was given by Mr . E dward

of Smith , who , after speaking the early struggles of the Society and alluding to the distance that m embers used f to walk to etch their goods , and comparing this with the

Historical S o uve n ir J J

it was still capable of doing further if all would act up to its principles .

OA LE E D S R D .

At the J ubilee meetings of the Society on Saturday ,

2 t h s B a ti st ' S chool September 4 , held in the Leed Road p ,

Mr . J . Morrell drew a picture of the period immediately

C o - hi s preceding the birth of operation , and asked audience to imagine if they could the difference which had been

o— brought about since then through C operation . The other meeting in this same district was held in the

L ai st erd k e y Independent School on the same evening , with

. . currah . Mr A H . S in the chair Here the Band supplied

an excellent programme of music , and Mrs . Parker , Miss

ﬁ . . . E . . Oxley , Mr J Old eld , and Mr J Parker were the solo

~ Singers from the Choir . Master J . Widdison also con tributed violin solos . The address was given by Mr . E . E llis , who dealt with the origin of the Society , and showed how during the ﬁfty years it had progressed and reached

its present dimensions .

E AS T B OW LIN G .

There are s o many members of the Society in the E ast Bowling District that it was found necessary to have two

I st separate functions on Saturday , October , in continua tion of the J ubilee Celebrations . One was held in the ﬁ Lorne Street Council School , Wake eld Road , while the

other was held in the Bowling Congregational School ,

E ssex Street . In the afternoon there were the usual teas ,

which were well patronised , while in the evening at each

w ﬁ rst - place a meeting and concert ere held , At the named

2 3 2 " " s s J ubile e C ele bration

place Mr . H . Hodgson occupied the chair , and in opening

the proceedings referred to the pioneers of the Society ,

“ o who , he said , had laid the foundations br ad and deep ,

and by doing so . had earned the admiration of all true

- r was C o operators . The musical prog amme carried through

- s l by the Premier Quartette Party , consi ting of Miss Lil ie

Farrar (soprano) , Miss M . Audrey Rhodes (contralto) , Mr . J .

. Briggs (tenor) , and Mr . Herbert Browne (baritone) , with Mr .

Mr s . and Joe Hodgson as society entertainers , the

i . accompanist be ng Mr Maurice Stell . The speaker here was

n Mr . S . Richardson , who said in looki g back to the hungry

’ ’ C o - O ul forties , when peration was started , it wo d surprise

o so l n one that it did , for the conditions prevai ing naturally led men to think . The very earth was owned . by the masters , who also made it a condition of employment that their workers must obtain the necessaries of life at truck

' sho s own d p e by them . He also referred to the changes brought about in Bradford during the ﬁfty years that had

elapsed . Referring to the earlier workers in the Society ,

he complimented Mr . Robert Barker , who was present and

- was one of the few living original members , as his card of

wa 8 s . . membership , which No 5 , could prove

At the other meeting Mr . John Senior was the speaker , and he described the early start of the Soci ety with i t s

8 0 0 eighty members and their £ of capital , of which £5 was spent in the ﬁxtures of the Shop at the corner of Adelaide

ﬁ I Street . He next compared the rst dividend of S . in the

- with the condition to day , when the membership was nearly and the capital it now required

- u - - r forty two p to date shops to ca ry on the business , which

- — amounted to half a million a year .

2 3 3 Historial S ouve nir J J

’ TH E AS T OF TH E E MBE RS OICIN L M RE J GS . In continuation of the celebration of the J ubilee of the

Society , teas were served on Saturday afternoon , October 8 t h — f , at three centres Mu f Field Schoolroom , the Bowling

C o - l Old Lane operative Hal , and the Wibsey Congregational h . Sc ool At each place there was a satisfactory attendance . In the evening a concert was given in the Muff Field l School , Bow ing Old Lane . Mr . M . Mountain presided , and was supported by Mr . F . Denman (President of the

Society) and Mr . John Baldwin (who was President of the

\Vest Bowling C o - operative Society before t he amalgama

tion with the Bradford Society) . Mr . Baldwin Spoke of the

aims and obj ects of the movement , and went on to say that it was peculiarly appropriate that a C o

operative Society should celebrate its Jubilee , and quoted Biblical authority that Moses ﬁrst instituted a j ubilee

f r (Leviticus xxv . which was a time o great rej oicing and liberty . According to the law of Moses

v i z . a j ubilee represented three things , , freedom from

slavery , freedom from debt , and freedom in land . In the

- last named respect , land —went back at a j ubilee to the C o original owners . The operative movement carried out those principles better than any other movement in the country . It might be said that we had no slaves in these

days . We had no slaves in chains , but we had what were ” n k own as white slaves . Many of them had to slave

o— before they received their weekly wages . C operation came to those Slaves and said : In our movement we have abolished slavery ; our employees work under better

conditions , have shorter hours , and receive the top trade

2 34

H i storic al S ouv en ir J J

Band and Choir were un der the conductorship of Mr .

Hartwell Robertshaw .

As the President (Mr . F . Denman) , accompanied by the M P A . . . . Lord Mayor ( lderman W . Land) , Mr . F W J owett , , the Vicar of Bradford ( Rev . H . Gresford Jones ,

\ s Mr . Vill Crooks , Councillor J acob Moser , and variou

’ members of the Society s Board of Management , appeared on the platform a great cheer arose from the vast crowd , but when the Venerable the Right Rev . Mgr . Provost

r . Motler was seen crossing leaning on the a m of Mr . S Richardson the audience testi ﬁed their respect by a pro longed outburst such as is only given on very rare

As as occurences . soon the L ord Mayor took the chair the whole audience led by the Choir and accompanied

by the Band , sang Forward , All Ye Workers , in such

ﬁn e style as must have enabled all to feel satisﬁed that they were taking part in a great function . The Lord

’ he Mayor s remarks were brief but to the point . He said t ﬁ members of the Society might well feel grati ed . For ﬁfty years they had experienced one long succession of s uccesses . It was a most thoroughly democratic i n st i t u

i t s fi . tion , for bene ts could be partaken of by all Great credit was due to those who were at the head of its affairs fi for i t s flourishing condition after fty years .

Mr . J oseph Bennett having read apologies from Sir William P M P t riestley , . . , who would not be back from Canada un il

n M P November ; also from Sir George Scott Robertso , . . ,

was l who ca led away very urgently to the West of E ngland , M P l . . and from Mr . Percy I lingworth , , who also was away

from Bradford , and the audience having been consoled for their absence by some beautiful music from the Choir

2 36 ” 9 s 3 J ubilee C ele bration

and Band , and songs from Madame Baines and Mr . Harry C l Horner , Mr . Will rooks was ca led upon and soon had the

“ house in roars of laughter . He asked them what they ﬁ remembered of fty years ago . In Bradford a few people

- were founding a C O operative Society . His recollection was

H s aw of the issue of the new coinage . e some displayed i as n a window , and well remembered his wonder to when 6 he would come in for some . At that period from 5 to

o . 70 per cent . of the people c uld neither read nor write

: Here he made a slight pause , then added But they had some thinkers i n those days . The point was at once h taken by the audience . After a few umorous stories , he — went on t o show what C o operators h ad been doing for

education . In his opinion , had it not been for the steps taken by C o - Operators to provide scholarships for the clever boys and girls , education would not —have been within measurable distance of what it was to day . They might have been coaxed into the movement by a promise of

dividend . It was a common failing in human nature . There were people in Bradford who had combined and were doing a business amounting to half - a- million a “ 9 . s year Who are they he a ked , and turned to the

Lord Mayor for a reply , but , receiving none , answered his own question by stating that they were the common ﬁ people , who were said to be never satis ed , and of whom

. Wh it had been said also they were not to be trusted y ,

C o - in the operative movement , he asserted , they were e making better men and wom n , and it was due to t he

’ Women s C o - operative Guild that many reforms had been

introduced into the Poor Law system .

. Mr J owett , in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr . Crooks

2 37 Historic al S ouve ni r J J admitted that although he had not heard the whole of the

speech , yet knowing him as he did in Parliament and on other platforms he felt sure they would have been told many good stories . Mr . J owett also made a personal reference to the time when he was a Director of the old

Bradford Provident Society . It would be news to some of

them , but it was a fact that it was while on the Board of ﬁ the Society he gained his rst experience in administration . He was proud of the fact also that he was one of the Sub Committee who purchased the present Central premises

S un bri d e in g Road , and on which the old croakers and

J eremiahs said their money had been thrown away .

u No do bt there were J eremiahs still , but he would remind ﬁ them that their prophecies had not been ful lled .

As indicated in the opening paragraph , Mr . J acob Moser expressed the opinion that the great gathering was

so an inspiration to him , that he had great pleasure in f seconding the vote o thanks to Mr . Crooks . It was only the ﬁ second time he had heard him , but he was satis ed that Mr .

Crooks felt all he said . He congratulated the President

but on having such a body of people in the Society , it was the moral side of the work that enormously impressed him . He had attended many meetings in that

hall , but seldom found an audience such as was before him

it represented not only harmony , .but was an inspiration .

u . In s pporting the motion , Mr Denman said it was one of the proudest moments of hi s life . He trusted the l pathetic address of Mr . Crooks wou d not be forgotten .

With regard to the Society , that night was the crowning

’ ﬁ 1 8 6 one of fty years work . The Society began in 0 with a capital of £29 2 ; to - day they had The

2 38

Historical S ouvenir J J trade in 1 8 6 0 amounted to £746 ; it had since grown to while the proﬁts had risen from £3 3 to All ﬁ per annum . would agree that this pro t must have made many homes brighter , and therefore he hoped the

lesson drawn by Mr . Crooks would be carried home , and that they would make up their minds to be C O - operators not for dividend alone but with t he obj ect of bringing happiness i n their homes . In proposing a vote of thanks to the Lord Mayor for presiding t he Vicar of Bradf ord said that as far as he under stood the C O - operative movement it stood for an increased

sense of responsibility with regard to the spending of money ,

h ad whether great or small , and , as Ruskin stated it , the problem lay as much , o—r more , in the spending of money as in the raising of it . C O operation also was leading the com

u m nity to live j ust under their income rather than above it .

The principle involved in C o - operation was a determination that in spending their money they kept in the forefront

of their vision nothing less than the common good , and

hi s was this therefore helped them to what , in opinion , the

best road to wealth . The main point , however , was the determination that no proﬁt Should be made at the expense f of the wel are of the worker . It was because these principles were so essentially Christian that he wished the

- Society God Speed .

. Mo l r . t e The Rev Mgr Provost seconded the proposal , and , — in spite of his eighty six years , was able to make himself

heard over a large area , although it was impossible

all for to hear . He said he could scarcely convey the great pleasure he felt in being able to take part in the proceedings or to express his feelings with regard to t h e

240 ” 9 s s Jubile e C ele bratio ns

glorious sight before him . The greatest stillness prevailed as t heold man pictured the Bradford of his ﬁ rst acquaint

w s ance . It a only like a small village then , he said , but everything was changed now it W as a grand city with a

o great populati n , and he hoped that all who had heard the speeches woul d resolve to act up to them .

s After the Lord Mayor had replied to the vote of thank ,

t o Mr . J . Morrell then handed each of the speakers , including the President and the Lord Mayor , a specially — ’ bound copy of the C o operative Wholesale Society s ” “ 1 1 h Annual for 9 0 . Wit this and the singing of God t he Bless our Native Land by audience , led by the Choir

and Band , the great function terminated .

TH E OL D V E TE RANS ’ SHARE IN TH E

RE JOICINGS . What turned out to be one of the most enj oyable of the whole series of entertainments provid ed by the Society in celebration of the J ubilee was held on Saturday ,

1 m n October 5 th , in the Char ing Hall . It was the tur of

the old veterans , and it was decided they should have

e a right royal tim all to themselves . The idea was to get together all the old men and women of the Society above

e seventy years of age , and all thos who had been members —ﬁ of the Society for forty v e years . On making inquiry ,

s however , it was found that the total number of tho e who complied with either condition ran nearly to 5 0 0 . It was therefore decided that this number shoul d be

— 1 divided , and one half entertained on the 5 th and the other

2 th Of on the 9 the month .

2 4 1 Historic al S ouvenir J J

Altogether there were some 20 0 persons present at the

ﬁ th e rst one , proportion of women to men being about

wa two to one . The oldest gentleman present s Mr .

C o rd i n le d Thomas Charnley , g y Street , who celebrate his

entlem an was ninetieth year that day , and another old g h Mr . Peter Tempest , Croft Street , Wibsey , who is eig ty

Mr s . seven . The oldest lady receiving an invi tation was

- Ann Stead , 44 Orchard Street , who is eighty seven , but

tea She was unable to attend , and her was sent to her , and

wa Mr the oldest lady who put in an appearance s s .

- ﬁ t v e . Calverley , 44 Lapage S reet , who is eighty Of those u pwards of eighty years of age there were eleven present , and the old folks enj oyed themselves immensely . There was a rich fund of humour in many of the remarks of the

veterans , and one old lady created a roar of laughter by

’ ’ ’ remarking : They know what they re doin it s a reet

’ ” - on coppin do is this . In order that all entitled to share in the treat should beneﬁt it was arranged that all unable to walk to Channing

Hall should be brought by tramcar or cab , and those who found it impossible to be present had a nice substantial

a n tea sent to them , ccompanied by a neat card expressi g

’ good wishes for the recipient s future welfare and the appropriate couplet

May link by link of friendship ’ s chain ” Recall sweet memories once ag ain .

was . Among those p resent Mr Robert Barker , who attended the early meetings of the Society at i t s forma

tion , which used to be held at the Roebuck Inn . There were also a few who served on the Directorate in the

242

Historical S ouvenir J J

the Committee , to have to take his turn at packing sugar i and weighing ﬂour at the old store n Manchester Road ,

C owbourn e Mr . told of the early struggles they had in the

Mr old days . Then . Robert Barker , who is perhaps the oldest

member alive , and produced his card to prove it , said he knew of scores who could testify as he could to the blessing

the Society had been to him . He had had thirteen children , all of whom had been kept respectable through his connec ﬁ tion with the Society . Mr . Stead , who had lled the Presi

dential chair in days gone by , and had served on the

ﬁ o d e Committee for fteen years , als expresse his indebt dness to the Society .

Replying to the vote of thanks , Mr . F . Denman said

the total ages of those present amounted to years ,

2 - and the average age worked out to 73 5 years , the oldest

person present being 9 0 years of age . He also said if they ﬁ looked at the results of their efforts they would be grati ed .

1 0 No less than £ , ooo , ooo had been spent in the Stores since

they were established , and a sum of had been returned to the members during the ﬁfty years of its

existence . This was no small thing to boast about , and

- no other organisation than C o operation could have done it .

H T E SE COND TRE AT TO TH E OLD VE TE RANS .

The last batch of the old veterans were entertained on

2 t h . Saturday , October 9 , in the Central Hall The pro gramme was very similar to that arranged and carried out

a fortnight before in Channing Hall . It is needless

sa to y the old folks enj oyed themselves immensely , and t heir happy faces beaming with delight were ample recom

244 J J J ubilee C ele b rations

n a pe se to the Committee who had the arr ngements in hand .

all 1 0 0 In 7 sat down to tea , and 5 teas were sent out to l those who were too feeb e to attend . The united ages of

u those present amo nted to years , which gave an

2 average of 7 years and nine months each . The oldest d . 8 2 person present was Mrs Woo hall , with years , while

Mr . Peter Burgon (a past Director of the Society) came

1 8 . next with years There was also present Mrs . E mma

Sharp , who , a number of years ago , successfully performed the feat of walking 1 0 0 0 miles in 1 0 0 0 hours at Quarry

she l Gap , and who seemed yet as if cou d outdo many of

- n her younger sisters in a long dista ce sprint .

e Wh n all were assembled after tea , Mr . F . Denman

addressed them as the founders of the Society . He said

they had done their work well , and had laid the foundation

ui both deep and wide , like many of the b lders did with i the more prominent or public build ngs of Bradford , and of whi ch the citizens were j ustly proud . On arriving at that port ion of the programme when the guests were asked if they had any message for the youn ger

members of the Society , there was a pause for a second or

. E two , as if they wanted a lead , and it was Mrs mma

Sharp who broke the silence . She said She was no talker

S h e ul she or wo d make a speech , but was proud of the

Board who had supplied them with such a good tea .

O Then Mr . Burgon expressed his thanks for the pportuni ty

e l of meeting old fri nds , and suggested that everyone Shou d hi do their best to increase the members p of the Society .

o 25 1 He n ticed , he said , that the dividend was to be . od .

l i n agai n . He cou d imag ne some of the you ger ones saying

“

Oh , dearie me , it ought to be For himself he

24 5 Historical S ouve nir J J

thought it was very good in these days . (Here Mrs . Sharp cried out that it was a long way better than the Shilling B they used to get) . Mr . urgon concluded by saying the ﬁ movement had bene ted him as well as many others , and ﬁ it had been a bene t for the whole country . Mr . Joe Crabtree followed by asserting he was proud to be one of

f or hi s C o - such an honourable audience , in opinion opera

tors were the salt of Bradford . Coming to a sudden termi

’ f : nation , he said , a ter a pause I can t make a speech ,

’ ” but if you will allow me I ll sing a song . This was

immediately accepted , and he hastened to the platform .

Inquiries were made for the pianist , and Mr . Robertshaw f was hastening orward , but Mr . Crabtree waved him

' aside he could accompany himself , and he did . He sang Where are the Friends of my Youth ? with a

voice and a manner that drew forth loud applause , and a challenge from a teacher of music present that none of the

present Directors could beat that . There was one at the

back of the hall who seemed as if he could , but , whether d or not , he never attempte it , so Mr . Crabtree retired

on his laurels .

Mr . Henry Hodgson was next to rise ; he claimed to

be one of the early members . He had worked beside a

u of n mber the originators of the Society , and mentioned a

whole string of them so fast that he lost his breath . He

also mentioned some stirring times in the Society , for it

had many ups and downs in its early days , and concluded

- of by reciting a verse poetry , in which he likened the

Society to a ship on the ocean , and urged that patience and

r n l f reason were necessary for safe st ee i g A ter Mr . Hodgson

c t ame Mr . J ames Co ter (another past Director) , to whom

246

Histo ric al Souven i r J J — whose sheltering branches no less than 8 0 0 persons 26 0 — females and 5 40 males g ain a living which enables them to enj oy life under far better conditions than those who ﬁ rst proposed to form the Society ; while over

suﬂi ci ent persons annually receive sums of money , in ﬁ n d . many cases , to clothes and boots for the children

n Since the comme cement of the Society . the workers of Bradford have had returned to them the enormous sum

1 0 of It is true they have paid £ , ooo , ooo over

the counters , but in return they have received goods ,

h u s m . second to none in the city , equal to t at The little shop at the corner of Adelaide street has grown to forty

a h two br nches , each of w ich is larger than the original one ; besides these there are a central drapery depart

an d ﬁ v e ﬁ ment drapery branches , one of the nest boot

an d n Shops in the city ni e branches , and a Splendid tailoring department in the centre of the city , with a large branch at West Bowling . There are also shops for é furnishing and j ewellery , and a very popular caf in

r i s S unb i dg e Road . There also an abattoir with nearly ninety acres of grazing land , and near to it a large Splendid bakery . On the Usher Street estate there are stables for

- ﬁv e sixty horses , and accommodation for twelve vans ,

s ﬁ two motor vans , thirteen coal cart , fteen lorries ,

thirteen milk ﬂoats , four traps , and a brougham , besides which the Society owns thirty - two coal wagons and 2 1 6 — dwelling houses . Therefore , if all this progress could be ﬁ made in fty years , with such a poor beginning , what should the centenary bring forth ?

2 48

’ —c n tzmt ed of Committee me n o . — — esso Ab rah am 1 8 9 1 1 8 9 3 Ram s en ohn 1 8 6 1 8 J p , — d , J 7— 7 3 A . 1 1 Z ohn son H . 8 9 3 8 9 6 R i ch ar d son S out ern1 8 1 1 0 J , — , h 9 3 9 W 1 8 8 1 8 0 e ar — owe . . 7 9 R Ch es 1 8 8 1 8 8 J tt, F — il y , l 4 5 K a e am es 1 8 6 1 8 6 Rob n son Abr ah am 1 8 6 0 —1 8 6 1 y , J 4 5 i , K w S am u e 1 8 —1 8 6 oot — er s a R . 1 8 1 0 0 h , l 9 5 9 , E 9 5 9 * K e Hen r 1 8 8 - 1 8 8 I{ushy vor th 1 — y 3 5 . 0 1 1 0 2 iddl , — , J 9 9 n 1 8 6 1 8 8 a — L a cock e . S v ﬂ e ohn 1 8 1 y , B j 7 3 , J 6 0 8 6 1 L a cock ose 1 8 6 —1 8 6 y , J ph — 4— 5 Leach T om as 1 8 70 1 8 7 2 1 8 1 1 8 2 , h — 7 7 1 8 8 1 1 8 8 2 S hack et on ohn 1 8 —1 8 8 — l , J 79 3 1 8 8 1 8 1 S haf oe S am ue 1 8 8 —1 8 8 7 9 t , l 4 5 1 8 8 m — Le e H . 6 S har Abr a 1 8 6 1 gg , p , 9 8 70 L s e S m 1 8 - 1 8 S haw Hen r 1 8 6 i t r , ith 7 3 74 , y 4 l p ck wood Ohn 1 8 6 0 S t ai n cli ff e ohn 1 8 6 2 , J J — , — L od e . 1 8 1 8 S en or ohn 1 0 1 1 1 0 g , J 9 3 9 4 i , J 9 9 8 —1 — W . 1 8 n r Lus H . 1 S ewe e 1 1 , 7 74 H 0 1 1 0 h — ll , y 9 9 al son o n 1 8 8 1 8 8 8 1 8 0 —1 8 2 M li , J h 5 9 9 a son ose 1 8 8 6 —1 8 0 S t ea LI 1 8 —1 J h 9 . . 8 8 0 M lli , p — d , J 7 —9 1 8 9 4—1 8 9 6 1 8 9 3 1 8 9 7 1 8 1 1 0 S e hen son n och 1 8 8 —1 8 8 6 9 9 9 t p , E 5

- el or Hen r y 1 1 0 1 1 0 S n nfl ohn 1 8 6 A 1 8 6 M l , 9 9 n J 3 5 e cer o n 1 8 6 S m h Pet e 1 8 6 —1 8 6 M r , J h 5 it , r 3 4 ln er R ch a 1 8 2 S m t h ward 1 0 —1 1 0 M i , i rd 7 i , Ed 9 7 9 1 8 1 —1 8 n nh 1 0 0 —1 1 0 9 4 S t QJ. 9 9 —9 , or r el o n 1 8 8 1 1 0 S chofi eld dwar d 1 8 6 2 —1 8 6 , J 9 9 5 M l h , E — or T om as 1 8 6 0 S ch ofi ehi Ihn an uel 1 8 8 0 1 8 8 4 M t , h — , Moulson on a han 1 8 1 0 S owd en S am u e 1 8 —1 8 8 2 , J t 9 7 9 3 , l 74 oun a n ar k 1 0 —1 1 0 S ocks Rob er 1 8 6 2 —1 8 6 , 9 4 9 3 M t i M — t , t — m T 1 8 1 8 6 u k m 1 8 6 usc a . 6 S c s i th ose h 6 0 1 8 0 M h p , 4 5 , J p

- — ers ohn 1 8 1 8 S un er an Rob er t . . 1 8 1 8 y J 7 3 74 , 79 79 M , — d l d — M r W m 1 8 1 r A 1 6 1 1 0 n a 1 0 cu rah . H . 0 , . 9 4 9 S 9 9 y d — , — W 1 8 2 N ay l H . 1 8 6 u or 1 8 6 1 8 o . S h G e e 0 r , 9 7 3 tt, g 7 b H Bfi 1 8 8 k e Vn 1 8 6 0 —1 8 6 fi ch o S Jfl . 5 S V r 4 , y s — N c o son G eor e 1 8 6 5 - 1 8 6 1 8 76 1 8 77 i h l , g — 7 — Nor s A f r ed 1 9 0 2 1 9 1 0 1 8 8 1 1 8 8 3 ri , l — — Nor am S am uel 1 8 6 1 8 6 8 S kes ose h 1 8 6 1 8 6 , 7 y J 4 4 th , p — — 2 No t on w n 1 8 6 0 1 8 6 S kes B en t cli ff e 1 8 6 1 8 6 r , Ed i y , 7 7 l — — Nu t a l ohn 1 8 1 8 8 1 T k a 1 8 8 1 8 0 , J 7 3 q M 3 9 ’ — — H k A 1 8 8 1 8 1 8 1 1 0 O ad d oc . , 9 9 9 9 3 9 ’ — — O K eef e aur ce 1 8 1 8 8 Th on mon Ohn 1 8 6 1 1 8 6 1 , M i 9 7 9 q , J * — Oldfi eld ames 1 0 1 —1 0 2 Town en d VVfl Han1 1 8 1 1 8 2 , J 9 9 , 7 7 — T n n W m 1 8 —1 8 8 Ox t ob o hn 1 8 6 1 8 6 8 ow so . y , J 7 , 7 5 4 — 1 8 2—1 8 Pee Thom as 1 8 6 0 1 8 6 V arle . 4 y , 9 9 3 l , E — — n on 1 8 6 1 8 1 8 6 1 8 2 W a J . 5 74 9 — 7 ddi gt , — Pexh nn John 1 8 6 0 1 8 6 4 1 8 8 6 1 8 8 9 — n 1 8 0 —1 8 1 1 8 8 6 1 8 0 W ad n o S . 9 9 —9 di gt , — 1 8 1 0 1 W a ker ose h 1 8 6 5 1 8 7 2 9 5 9 l , J p — P ckles oshua 1 8 8 1 0 1 1 0 6 i , J 7 9 9 * — — 6 W a er os ua 1 0 1 1 0 2 t s W . 1 0 1 0 k h P . J 9 3 9 , J 9 9 i t , — l — Pr es e ohn 1 8 1 8 W a lace Thom as 1 8 1 8 8 i tl y , J 7 5 77 l , 74 7 — c n t e of Committeem e n o i nu d .

W m 1 8 —1 8 8 W on a d W a m s e . s l l y , 7 5 4 il , D vi m 1 8 —1 8 W son os W arm an W . e h , 7 5 7 5 il , J p A 1 8 —1 8 W n o n W at son . so , 9 3 9 7 il , J h 1 0 1 —1 2 XVi n r i ll 0 t e s . 9 9 g , J li 1 8 2 —1 8 W R n r W bs er E oo . se . e 7 7 3 , t , — d , W h t ele am es 1 8 6 6 1 8 6 6 i y , J ' r 1 8 —1 8 R un r S . 6 W oo . W h t t ake . i , 7 5 7 d , , j ' 1 8 6 —1 8 W W n n T N . W k so . 6 oo cock . . il i , 3 4 d , J — V VVi lm an at hew 1 8 1 8 8 V OOd rOw C ar es , M t 79 4 , h l

0 1 I U ti stic Sta s .

t M mb D . s . C it . P oﬁ a e e er ap al r t .

5 4

— conti nued Statistic s .

t . s . C t P ﬁ . t Da e Sale a pi al ro .

E D P INT E R S PI C A D IL L Y B R A D FO R D . B Y L E S A ND S O NS L IM IT R , C ,