William Cooper (co-operator)

William Cooper (1822 – 31 October 1868) was an English co-operator, Owenite, and a founding member of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers.[1][2]: 85 

William Cooper
Cooper in 1865
Born1822 (1822)
Rochdale, Lancashire, England
Died (aged 46)
Rochdale, Lancashire, England
Occupations
MovementCo-operative
Spouse
Betty Smith
​
(m. 1844)​
Children6

Cooper played a leading role in promoting the success of the Rochdale Pioneers through written correspondence, speeches, and newspaper pieces. He believed the co-operative movement should extend beyond retail trade and he played a role in establishing the Rochdale District Co-operative Corn Mill Society in 1850, the Rochdale Co-operative Manufacturing Society in 1854, the North of England Co-operative Wholesale Society in 1863, and the Co-operative Insurance Society in 1867.[1]

Biography

Cooper was born in Rochdale, Lancashire in 1822 to a weaver, James Cooper, and Susan (née Taylor). He became a fustian cutter by trade, then a weaver, and joined the Owenite movement in the early 1840s. Alongside co-operatives, he remained committed throughout his adult life to socialism, secularism, the extension of the vote, and the abolition of slavery. In 1844 he married Betty Smith, with whom he went on to have six children. Following a strike the same year he became a founding member of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers and by the end of the year he began work as the society's first cashier, and in 1849 was appointed secretary.[3]: 109 [2]: 13 

Cooper took part in efforts with E.V. Neale to lobby parliament to amend the Industrial and Provident Societies Partnership Act 1852 to enable co-operatives to establish a co-operative wholesale society.[1][3]: 121  Cooper was also secretary to the Co-operative Congress Board.

In 1860 he authored the pamphlet History of the Rochdale District Co-operative Corn Mill Society.[4][2]

He died on 31 October 1868 from typhus at the age of 46 and was buried in Rochdale Cemetery. Upon his death George Holyoake praised Cooper for his unrelenting commitment to co-operation and the "drudgery" of his work promoting the movement.[1][2]: 166–169 

Bibliography
  • Cooper, William (1861). History of the Rochdale District Co-operative Corn Mill Society. Holyoake & Company.
  • Holyoake, George Jacob (1900). The History of the Rochdale Pioneers, 1844-1892. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co.

References
  1. "Cooper, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/47333. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. Holyoake, George Jacob (1900). The History of the Rochdale Pioneers, 1844-1892. London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co.
  3. Butler, John H. (1986). The Origins and Development of the Retail Co-operative Movement in Yorkshire During the Nineteenth Century (Ph.D. thesis). University of York. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  4. Cooper, William (1861). History of the Rochdale District Co-operative Corn Mill Society. London: Holyoake & Company. Archived from the original on 10 July 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
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