| Toad Lane, Rochdale is widely regarded as the home of the
worldwide co-operative movement. The Rochdale Equitable Pioneers
Society was not the first co-operative society, but the Pioneers
put together the ideas and practices that led to the Co-operative
Principles. These were adopted by people forming co-operative
societies throughout Britain and abroad, setting the pattern
for successful consumer co-operatives.
As they became better known, the Rochdale Pioneers received visitors
from all over the world. Their visitors book, which is now housed
in the Rochdale Pioneers Museum shows the range of their influence.
The book was used from the early 1860s. One of the fist names listed,
in 1862, was that of Edward Vansittart Neale, the co-operative leader
and Christian Socialist, later General Secretary of the Co-operative
Union. The same year saw German, Spanish and Russian visitors. The
following year Alexander Campbell, the Scottish Owenite and originator
of the dividend signed the book. The first Japanese signatory was
Tomizo Noguchi in 1872.
George Jacob Holyoake's history of the Rochdale Pioneers "Self-Help
by the People" was published in 1858 and aimed to describe
the difficulties faced by the Rochdale Pioneers and the way in which
they were overcome. The book was translated and published in France,
Germany, Italy, Hungary and Spain.
The Rochdale Equitable Pioneers Society has become the best known
co-operative society in the world - its name has been used for wine
produced by a French co-operative wine making society, an electricity
co-operative in America and the Rochdale co-operative taxi fleet
in Mexico. The Archive collection includes books, pamphlets and
journal articles written about the Rochdale Pioneers and the other
co-operative societies in Rochdale. The Rochdale Pioneers are also
mentioned in all of the standard works on the co-operative movement.
The Rochdale Pioneers Museum was opened in April 1931 at 31 Toad
Lane, Rochdale in the building where the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers
Society opened their first store on 21st December 1844. It has become
a place of pilgrimage for thousands of British and international
co-operators, historians, schoolchildren and members of the public
each year. The picture shows Toad Lane as it was in the 1920s, number
31 is on the left, with the 'new' central premises of the Society
which opened in September 1867.
Rochdale
Pioneers Rules 1844 (pdf 280 kb)
The Rochdale Equitable Pioneers
Society Collection (pdf 31kb)
Rochdale
Pioneers Copes-Crossley-Greaves list (pdf 11kb)
Holyoake's
History of the Rochdale Pioneers - digitised book (pdf 413 kb)
Rochdale Pioneers Museum
Robert Owen Museum
New Lanark Conservation Trust |
