Manchester and Salford Equitable Co-operative Society
1859-1982
Archives
Total copies: 1
Minutes of various committees, annual reports, rules of the society and financial papers
Place:/Manchester/Manchester/Lancashire/England
/Salford/Manchester/Lancashire/England
Title:
Manchester and Salford Equitable Co-operative Society
Date of work:
1859-1982
Reference number:
GB127.M473
Level of description:
Fonds
Includes:
Custodial history:
The Manchester and Salford Equitable Co-operative Society was formed Christmas Eve 1858 when a group of men, from the Roby Sunday School Mutual Improvement Society, held a meeting and decided to open a co-operative store for the sale of provisions and other necessaries. Shares were one pound each, the hundred members necessary to start the venture were quickly found and the Society opened for business at 168 Great Ancoats Street on 4 June 1859. Amalgamation with the Openshaw Industrial Society led to the opening of a second store in December of that year. In 1860 a store was opened in Salford and in 1864 new central premises were opened in Downing Street, which for many years were the headquarters of the Society.
As was the case with other co-operative societies, the Manchester and Salford Society had a commitment to education, to the 'intellectual improvement of the members'. The Society's rules provided for two and a half percent of the profit to be given voluntarily by members for educational purposes and the Literary Department (later the Education Committee) was responsible for putting the funds to good use. In 1865 a library was established at the Downing Street premises and earlier, in 1860, the first issue of The Co-operator had been published. Edited by Henry Pitman, it was the first newspaper to be run on co-operative principles. When it was taken over by the newly-formed Co-operative Printing Society in 1871, it was re-named the Co-operative News. The following archive collection however contains no records from the Literary Department and only one minute book from the Education Committee (ref: M473/1/10/1).
The 1970's and 1980's saw the gradual amalgamation of fifty to sixty previously autonomous societies in the north west. In 1970 the Manchester and Salford Society merged with the Stockport and Pennine Societies to form the Norwest Regional Society. In 1982 the Norwest merged with the Pioneers Society to form the Norwest Pioneers Co-operative Society.
Source:
The following records were deposited in 1983, 1985 and 1997 by the Member Relations Department of what is now United Norwest Co-operatives Limited. Records of the Failsworth Industrial Co-operative Society, formerly numbered at M473/3, have been transferred to the Oldham Archives Service.
Access restrictions:
UnrestrictedThis material is stored off site and we require 2 weeks' notice in order to retrieve it.
Use restrictions:
Unrestricted
General notes:
Arrangement:Arranged by functionOld Accession Number: 1997/63 2011/2
Record types:
Manchester Archives and Local Studies
Language:
English
Record number:
7195874