Dr. William King AN!) THK ,Cp-operator i828^i83o I Edited by T. W. MERCER, nn-: CO-OPERATIVE UNWN Liv Hfornia MO!,VOAKE HOCSI', HANOV«R STRLl.T onal ity Dr. WILLIAM KING AND THE CO-OPERATOR 1828-1830 Dk. William King. From a Photoiiraph by his friend, Mons. L. Leuliette, i Frontispiece, Dr. WILLIAM KING AND THE CO-OPERATOR 1828-1830 With Introduction and Xotes by T. W. MERCER MANCHESTER: The Co-operative Union Limitku, Holvoake House. Hanover Street. 1922. "Co-operation is a voluntar}' act, and all the power in the world cannot make it compulsory ; nor is it desir- able that it should depend upon any power but its own." —The Co-operator, 1829. 1 C7S PREFATORY NOTE. Fifty-Fourth Annual \Y/HEN it was agreed that the Co-operative Congress should be held at Brighton of in June, 1922, the General Publications Committee the Co-operative Union decided that the time was " Co-operator," a small opportune to . reprint The co-operative periodical, first published in Brighton by Dr. William King nearly a century ago. In consequence of that decision, the present volume has been prepared. It includes a faithful reprint of " Co-operator a the twenty-eight numbers of The " ; sketch of Dr. King's Ufe and teaching, containing notes information not previously published ; and a few contributed by the present writer. Several letters written by Dr. King to other early co-operators are also here reprinted. In "The Co-operator" both spelling and punctuation have been left as they are in the original edition, but a few obvious printer's errors have been corrected. Hitherto, few students have had an opportunity of reading " The Co-operator," which was undoubtedly the most important of the early magazines devoted to the advocacy of Co-operation. It is believed, therefore, that this volume will be of service to teachers, students, and others interested in the history of Co-operation, and it is hoped that as a result of its publication Dr. King will be restored to his rightful place as a pioneer and father of the co-operative movement in Great Britain, Ji26 1 2 For valuable information, now printed for the first time, and the portraits of Dr. and Mrs. King, I am indebted to Major G. Lionel King, of Brighton. I have also to acknowledge the assistance kindly given me by Mr. H. D. Roberts, director of the Public Library, Museums, and Fine Art Galleries, Brighton, and Mr. R. W. Elliston, assistant secretary, Royal Sussex County Hospital, without whose aid I should not have obtained access to original soilrces of information. T. W. MERCER. Holyoake House, Manchester, May, 1922. 5 CONTENTS. The Life and Teaching of Dr. William King ... xi. "The Co-operator." 1 828- 1830 1 Letters of Dr. King on Co-operation 115 Notes 135 Bibliography 143 ILLUSTRATIONS. Portrait of Dr. William King Frontispiece. From a photograph ijj his friend Mons. L. LeulietU. Dr. William King Facing page I From a photograph taken in 1861. Mrs. King Facine page 1 From a photograph taken in 1861. Dr. William King Facing page 1 1 From the Bust in the Royal Pavilion, Brighton. THE LIFE AND TEACHING OF Dr. WILLIAM KING. THE LIFE AND TEACHING OF Dr. WILLIAM KING. WILLIAM KING, whose right to be regarded as a father of the modem co-operative move- ment is indisputable, was bom at Ipswich, on April 17th, 1786. His father, the Rev. John King, who could trace his descent through a line of sturdy Yorkshiremen, had removed to Ipswich from Richmond, w^here other members of the family then dwelt. At the time of William King's birth his father was Master of the Ipswich Grammar School, a famous institution established at a very early period. The Great Court Book of the local Corpora- tion proves that this school existed prior to 1477, for an order was then issued "that all scholars in the liberties of the borough should be under the government of the master of the Grammar School,"* whose salary was fixed by the Bishop of Norwich. The Rev. John King had several children. One of his sons, John, was the author of an important legal work, recognised as a standard work in the early part of the last century. Another son, Richard, who entered the Navy, was in the celebrated fight betw^een the "Chesapeake" and the "Shannon," and afterwards became an admiral. William King, author of The Co-operator, the subject of the present sketch, although he eventually became a physician, was originally intended for the church, and, accord- *Glyde, Moral j Social, and Religious Condition of Ifswich, page 113. ing to Lady Noel Byron, began life 'by the most painful conflict between filial duty and conscience — a large provision in the church secured for him by his father; but he could not sign.''* While William King was quite a child his father became incumbent of Whittenshame Church, near Ipswich. Alluding to this period of his life in a lecture given before the Brighton Medical Society in 1849, he remarked that : "In early life it was my privilege to lay the foundation of a healthy constitu- tion in one of the rich grazing villages of Suffolk ; there I drank deeply not only of the best streams of family affection, but of the philosophy of truth and nature ; in the quiet meditations of those years, I acquired, under sound parental judgment, those principles which have guided me through life, and which I trust will not desert me at its close. There also 1 became acquainted with those broad facts in nature v/hich I have since found it w^as the business of science to classify and explain. And if I have done any little good in my generation . it is because I have dipped my cup in early life in the pure streams of natural truth ; because I have been an early worshipper in the temple of nature ; and because I have been a partaker of the dioini gloria runs."t I. King's more formal studies, which he commenced at Ipswich Grammar School, were continued at Westminster School, w^here he w^as sent at the age of fifteen. At this famous school his first experiences were the reverse of pleasant, and he was much surprised to discover that he could only obtain a ^ Lady Byron Vindicated, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, page 46c). \ Medical Essays, by W. King, page 180. separate bedroom by paying a servant a sovereign for so great a privilege. Towards the end of his life King started to write an account of his career. Unfortunately, he dis- continued writing after a short time, having dealt only with his life at Ipswich and Westminster. These reminiscences may some daj' be published, if only for the purpose of enabling co-operators to know how King enlarged his knowledge as a student at Westminster School. While there he had many friends among youths who afterwards made a mark in the world. One of his chief associates at this time was Lord Raglan—the youngest son of the Duke of Beaufort—who once acted as military secretary to the Duke of Wellington, and, later, commanded the British Forces in the Crimean War. Leaving Westminster in due course, King went to Oxford. There he stayed only a very short time before removing to the sister university at Cambridge. At Cambridge, he gave special attention to the subjects of political economy, moral philosophy, and modern history. As a student of these subjects he attended lectures given by Dr. Smyth, whose reputa- tion was then almost at its zenith. King often stated that he derived great benefit from Dr. Smyth's lectures, which undoubtedly stimulated his interest in questions of social philosophy and national government. He also paid great attention to mathematics, a subject which he afterwards regarded as "the key to all knowledge."* In 1809 King secured his B.A. degree, being twelfth Wrangler in that year. Three years later he took his Master's degree and became a Fellow of Peterhouse College. Soon after he removed ro London, where he "walked" St. Bartholomew's Hospital and studied medicine, being taught by * Pitman's ''Co-operator,'" March, 1864. J Drs. Abernethy, Cooper, Home, and other equally famous lecturers. With Abernethy,* then surgeon of St. Bartholomew's, King conversed frequently on the connection between physiology and medicine, and said later that his teacher often declared that ' ' a bright day was about to dawn upon medicine in connection with physiology"!—a prophecy verified within a very few years. In 1814, he spent the winter at Montpellier, where he attended the lectures on surgery given by M. Delpeche. At a later period he visited Paris, there attending lectures at the hospital of La Charite. While in London, King was for a time private tutor to the children of Mr. George Smith, the well-known banker. This diligence in study brought due reward. After being licensed by the University on June 11th, 1817, King became fully qualified as M.D. (Cantab) in 1819. In the following year he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and, as such, delivered the Harveian oration twenty-three years later. King always set a high value on academic distinctions, and w^as ever justly proud of his con- nection with Cambridge University. As a writer in the Brighton Gazette remarked at the time of his death, "he was w^hat may be called a thorough- bred ' physician, having obtained his degree (not in the of late common fashion of purchasing it in Scotland but) through a University education ; and *john Abernethy (1764-1831) was surgeon of St.