Rochdale Cooperative Store

[johnnyboy]

Hello all: On census day in 1871 (I think), my 2x greatgrandfather James Slater and his son John Henry Slater were visiting Rochdale from Halifax. They were enumerated at the Rochdale Cooperative's lodging (they were also enumerated back in Yorkshire, thus invalidating the statistical integrity of the 1871 census, but that is another story).

Can anyone provide me with information on the lodging run by the Cooperative, and would anyone have a clue as to what they--two working men from Ovenden--might have been doing there?

Thanks in advance,
John 

[liverpool annie]

Do you have these already ??

I just want you to know that - 2 of the 3 names on the photos that started it - are my family names ..... except can't tie them in yet !! 

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~laurel/cooproots/history.html

http://archive.co-op.ac.uk/pioneers.htm

Annie 

[johnnyboy]

Annie: As soon as I clicked on Lancashire to write the original post, I saw your presence. I even read about the food you missed! 

Thank you for the links. I'll look at them later.

John 

[liverpool annie]

The Manchester Museum of Science and Industry

www.msim.org.uk/ 

lays out the history of the industry of the north -  and of the working men of Lancashire Yorkshire County Durham Northumberland and Scotland .....  and it's been said .... this history led to the wealth of the UK in the 19th century and to the social movements and introduction of ideas such as pensions and unemployment benefit that are now taken for granted in the western world !  The pits the shipyards the foundries continued well into the 20th century through WWII and beyond .........
The "dark satanic mills" are mostly gone - or have been turned into museums or high-priced hotels and it is better that some survive but it is just a shame that so few people recognise their significance

Annie 

[andrewalston]

They may have been members of the Co-operative movement and been visiting the home of the movement - the Rochdale Pioneers - to learn at the feet of the masters.

I was reading a book recently about the shops in the Ashington area of Northumberland. By that time the Co-operative Wholesale Society had been formed and training courses were run in their offices in Manchester.

Their occupations may not have been obviously "retail". The committees of the local societies were drawn from the population at large.

[Luxorcat]

Perhaps Doreen at the TOAD LANE MUSEUM at Rochdale may be able to help. She seems to have much knowledge about the Co-operators . If you write , can I suggest aSAE to help her reply ( she is of "retirement-age" !)

Luxorcat