The London Co-operative Society (LCS) was a
consumer co-operative
A consumers' co-operative is an enterprise owned by consumers and managed democratically and that aims at fulfilling the needs and aspirations of its members. Such co-operatives operate within the market system, independently of the state, as a fo ...
society in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
.
History
The Society was formed in September 1920 by the amalgamation of the Stratford Co-operative Society and the Edmonton Co-operative Society, two of the largest societies in the
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
Metropolitan area, forming the largest retail co-operative society in the United Kingdom.
Initially, the LCS headquarters were located at 54 Maryland Street,
Stratford, E.15.
A key agreement reached with the
London Trades Council and
London Labour Party
London Labour is the devolved, regional part of the Labour Party in Greater London. It is the largest political party in London, currently holding a majority of the executive mayoralties, a majority of local councils, council seats and parli ...
led to a plan to develop in
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
a meeting centre consisting of restaurant, general store, club and hall accommodations to address an unmet need of the city.
In 1921, the LCS was also joined by the
West London Society, the Kingston Society and the Co-operative Brotherhood Trust. In addition, the Society also took over two branches of the Staines
Co-operative Party. The consolidation of co-operative societies in the Greater London area continued until 1938, with the absorption of Hendon Co-operative Society in 1925, the North West London Co-operative Society in 1928, the Epping Co-operative Society in 1929, the Yiewsley Co-operative Society in 1931, the Willesden Junction Railway Society in 1935 and the Radlett Co-operative Society in 1938. Hence, the LCS was able to extend its area of the counties of
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
and
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
. The company's
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
through part of this period (1924–1933) was Sidney Foster, who in 1933 went on to manage the
Milk Marketing Board
The Milk Marketing Board was a producer-run product marketing board, established by the Agricultural Marketing Act 1933, to control milk production and distribution in the United Kingdom. It functioned as buyer of last resort in the milk market in ...
.
By 1946, LCS had reached a membership of 832,670 members, the highest of any of Britain's co-operatives, and had an annual revenue of . Also in 1946, LCS acquired 200 Oxford Street in London, which had been the headquarters of the
BBC Overseas Service #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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since 1941; LCS moved its headquarters into the building in 1949.
By 1952, the LCS and its associated co-operative organisations, the major being the London Co-operative Chemists Limited, had over 550 establishments of sales and services, varying from large department stores to small grocery shops.
By 1963, the London Society was noted as being the largest co-operative of its kind in the world, which was led by
John Stonehouse as President at the time, who also served as a
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
.
In 1981,
Co-operative Retail Services acquired LCS, which had been losing millions of pounds.
Operations and influence
The LCS played a large part in the national
co-operative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
movement and was a member of the national and regional organisations, chief of which being the
Co-operative Union
Co-operatives UK is a British co-operative federation described as "the central membership organisation for co-operative enterprise throughout the UK". It was founded in 1870 as the Co-operative Central Board, changing its name to the Co-oper ...
to which the LCS subscribed. The LCS was also a shareholding member of the English
Co-operative Wholesale Society, generally known as the CWS, a federal wholesaling organisation for co-operative societies in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
.
1950s-era establishments consisted of grocers, butchers, fruit, vegetable and
flower sellers, coal depots, furniture sellers, drapers, tailors, footwear sellers, chemists, laundries, estate agencies, funeral services and even guesthouses.
LCS administered many manufacturing and processing establishments. It had creameries located at various places in the
West Country
The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...
, including
Puxton
Puxton is a village and civil parish, north west of Axbridge in the unitary authority of North Somerset within the ceremonial county of Somerset, England.
The civil parish includes the isolated hamlets of East Hewish and West Hewish.
History ...
,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
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which served as a regional railhead, product from which was transported via
milk trains to the main London creamery and distribution point at
West Ealing.
Politics
Politically, the Society has also had a major impact. In the
interwar years, the LCS Political Committee played an important role in winning Londoners over to the
Labour Party, mobilising people behind co-operative ideals, and shaping policy at a national level, working as part of the national
Co-operative Party.
In 1938, LCS initiated a
boycott
A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...
against Japanese goods, encouraging the
Cooperative Wholesale Society to follow its example.
At the 1945 election, all 11 LCS-sponsored candidates were elected, including
Dan Chater
Daniel Chater (17 November 1870 – 25 May 1959) was a British Labour and Co-operative politician.
Early life and career
Daniel Chater was born in Lambeth, London, on 17 November 1870 into a working-class family. After leaving school he worke ...
in
Bethnal Green North East,
Percy Holman
Percy Holman (5 April 1891 – 9 June 1978) was a British Labour and Co-operative politician.
Holman was educated at Mill Hill School and the London School of Economics. As e conscientious objector, he served in World War I with the Friends' ...
in
Bethnal Green South West and
C.S.Ganley in
Battersea South.
Alfred Barnes, also elected for
East Ham South
East Ham South was a parliamentary constituency centred on the East Ham district of London, which was in Essex until 1965. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the ...
, even became a Cabinet Minister in the
Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 t ...
administration after 1945.
In the post-war world, it continued as an important campaigning force, providing key organisational backing for mass movements like
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Anti-Apartheid, supporting the fight against the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
and campaigns during the miner's strikes, and generally at the forefront of the campaign for peace, co-operation and socialism. A political presence was also maintained in the
House of Commons through the work of MPs, such as
Stan Newens
Arthur Stanley Newens (4 February 1930 – 2 March 2021) was a British Labour Co-operative politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1983, and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1984 to 1999.
Born ...
and
Laurie Pavitt
Laurence Anstice Pavitt (1 February 1914 – 14 December 1989) was a Labour and Co-operative Party politician in the United Kingdom.
Pavitt was a lifelong pacifist and a conscientious objector in the Second World War. He was secretary of the Bri ...
. Alf Lomas (the former Secretary of the London Co-op Political Committee) was also an MEP and Leader of the British Labour Group of MEPs.
References
Collection Descriptionof the London Co-operative Society archive, held at the Bishopsgate Institute, London
Other London-area consumer co-operative societies
*
South Suburban Co-operative Society
*
Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society
*
Enfield Highway Co-operative Society
*
Invicta Co-operative Society
{{Authority control
Former co-operatives of the United Kingdom
Defunct companies of the United Kingdom
Consumers' co-operatives of the United Kingdom
Retail companies established in 1920
Defunct department stores of the United Kingdom
Retail companies disestablished in 1981
1920 establishments in the United Kingdom
1981 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Shops in London