The Co-operative movement was an idea that arrived bang on time. Because people’s time and ability to travel was minimal, most shopped either in the town centre or at the numerous corner shops that had sprung up all over the town as it grew. In those days in the second half of the 19th century there was no such thing as the Welfare State. If you hadn’t got a large family to support you or a nice little nest egg put by, old age meant extreme poverty at best and Parish Relief or the workhouse at worst. The more provident among the population saved hard, bought their own house and perhaps another one to rent so they had some capital and income when they could no longer work. Some built whole rows of houses. You can usually tell these because one house is bigger and of better quality than the others, this was the landlord’s house.
Many built a shop onto their property. This was employment for the wife and younger children and a useful provider of income if let out. I’ve never tried to count the number of corner shops in Barlick but I’d be surprised if there were less than fifty.
Not all these shops were run well. Small stocks and low sales meant stale goods. The search for profit and lack of competition meant high prices and low quality. In many cases there was active adulteration of food to improve its looks or make it go further. There is little doubt that between 1800 and 1850 food adulteration was practiced on a large scale.
We know much about this because of a book published in 1820 called ‘A Treatise on the Adulteration of food and Culinary Poisons’ By a German called Accum which was so popular it sold out in a month and went through four editions in two years. On the cover was a quotation from 2 Kings, Chapter 4, verse 40; ‘There is DEATH in the pot’. In it he described the use of poisons by the London brewers in the manufacture of their beer, the collecting and drying of Blackthorn leaves to adulterate tea, Gloucestershire cheese coloured with red lead, cream thickened with flour, pastries coloured with highly poisonous compounds of copper and lead and many other practices. The one that really disgusted me was the addition of crushed snails to fresh milk to make it froth when poured into the jug, this frothing was seen as a sign of freshness. These revelations provoked such animosity towards Accum that eventually he returned to Germany, a bitter and disillusioned man.
Edward Smith’s records published in the Journal of the Society of Arts in 1864 of the diet of Lancashire mill workers showed that they lived largely on bread, oatmeal, bacon, some butter, black treacle and tea and coffee. By 1880 jams had made their appearance but were made of the cheapest fruit and vegetable pulp, the only thing that made them palatable was the sugar. There was one good augury for the future, on February 2nd 1880 the SS Strathleven arrived in London with 40 tons of Australian beef and mutton refrigerated in her hold and this was the start of the frozen meat trade.
Notwithstanding all these faults in the trade, the workers had to eat and food retailing was a very profitable business. It’s instructive to note that much of the start-up capital of the shed companies and individual manufacturers can be traced back in part to the retail trades. The workers were paying out a lot of money for bad food and this was what the Rochdale Pioneers in 1844 had realised and capitalised on. By 1854 the 28 original members in the cottage on Newtown had jumped on the bandwagon.
Cooperation in Barlick took hold quickly. Any retailer who promised the best quality at reasonable prices was going to do well but it was the concept of mutual ownership that clinched the matter. All the profits of the business were re-distributed to the members on a very simple basis, every time you made a purchase you gave your Co-op number, this was noted in the accounts and twice a year a dividend was paid on the basis of so much for every pound you had spent. In ‘A Way of Life Gone By’ it is noted that in 1907 the divi was 3/7 in the pound and 3/2 the next year. The current dividend card at the Pioneer superstore pays one new penny in the pound, the equivalent in 1907 was over 18 times as much. Many people used their Divi money to finance the annual holiday.
Not everyone shopped at the Co-op, many felt more comfortable in their old ways with a shop book and buying on credit from someone they knew personally but even so the Co-operative enterprise grew. Apart from the early premises there was the Central branch on Manchester Road, No 1 branch on Co-operative Street, No 2 branch on Mosley Street. No 3 on the corner of Gisburn Road and Skipton Road. No 4 on Gisburn Road on the corner of Fernbank Avenue. No. 5 opposite Bankfield Shed and in 1907 the magnificent headquarters on Albert Road was built and extended in 1923/24.
In 1989 I got word that the interior of the Albert Road building was being stripped prior to demolition. The shop was still trading but about to move to the old station site. I blagged my way in and did some pictures, one of them was of a commemorative plaque in the offices which recorded the opening of the completed building on Saturday April 12th 1924. It noted that the first phase was opened in 1907. The president of the society was Thomas Uttley, vice president Walter Farrar, committee members William Baxter, Daniel Brennand, Arthur Eastwood, John Fielden, George Hartley, Eli Holt, William Parker, Albert Smith, C. Stockdale and James Turner. The original architect was G Bowker of Colne and at completion A Hartley of Skipton.
At this point the Society was at the height of its powers with almost 2000 members and next week we’ll have a look at some of the influence it had on the town.
SCG/03 June 2005
1033 words.
Anyone who collected their Divi from Albert Road will recognise this corridor upstairs. You knocked on the window and collected your money.
