The Co-operative Women's Guild was an auxiliary organisation of the

co-operative movement The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement bega ...

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 ...

which promoted women in co-operative structures and provided social and other services to its members.

History

The guild was founded in 1883 by Alice Acland, who edited the "Women's Corner" of the ''

Co-operative News ''Co-op News'' is a UK-based monthly news magazine and website for the global co-operative movement. First published in Manchester in 1871 as ''The Co-operative News'', the paper is the world's oldest co-operative newspaper. Originally a weekly ...

,'' and

Mary Lawrenson Mary Ann Lawrenson (née Molyneux; 23 March 1850 – 1 January 1943) was an English activist in the co-operative movement and an educationalist. A co-founder of the Co-operative Women's Guild, she served as its general secretary from 1885 to 1889 ...

, a teacher who suggested the creation of an organization to promote instructional and recreational classes for mothers and girls. Acland began organizing a Women's League for the Spread of Co-operation which held its first formal meeting of 50 women at the 1883 Co-operative Congress in Edinburgh and established local branches. It began as an organization dedicated to spreading the co-operative movement, but soon expanded beyond the retail-based focus of the movement to organizing political campaigns on women's issues including health and suffrage. Annie Williams, a suffragette organiser for the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...

in Newcastle found in 1910 that 'Co-operative women are very keen to know about 'Votes for Women'. In 1884 the league changed its name to the Women's Co-operative Guild and later to the Co-operative Women's Guild. In 1899, Margaret Llewelyn Davies was elected general secretary of the Guild and was widely credited with greatly increasing the success of the Guild. By 1910 it had 32,000 members. Maternity benefits were included in the

National Insurance Act 1911 The National Insurance Act 1911 created National Insurance, originally a system of health insurance for industrial workers in Great Britain based on contributions from employers, the government, and the workers themselves. It was one of the foun ...

because of the guild's pressure. The guild became more politically active, and expanded its work beyond the British Isles; their objectives included the establishment of minimum wages and maternity benefits, and in April 1914 they were involved in an International Women's Congress at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

which passed a resolution totally opposing war:

this Conference is of opinion that the terrible method of war should never again be used to settle disputes between nations, and urge that a partnership of nations, with peace as its object, should be established and enforced by the people's will.

After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

the guild became more involved in peace activism, concentrating especially on the social and political conditions that encouraged or gave rise to war, as well as opposition to the arms trade. In 1933 they introduced the White Poppy as a pacifist alternative to the British Legion's annual red poppy appeal. At this time membership of the guild was at its peak, with 1,500 branches and 72,000 members. The guild continued with several local branches, although it did not have the visibility within the co-operative movement it once did. It closed after 133 years on 25 June 2016.

General secretaries

:1883: Alice Acland :1885:

:1889: Margaret Llewelyn Davies :1922:

Honora Enfield Alice Honora Enfield (4 January 1882 – 14 August 1935) was a British co-operative activist. Life and career Born in Nottingham, she was the sister of Elinor Enfield. Alice studied at St Leonards School in St Andrews, and then at Somer ...

:1927:

Eleanor Barton Eleanor Barton (''née'' Stockton; 13 July 1872 – 9 March 1960) was a British co-operative movement activist from Manchester. Early life and family Barton was born in Manchester, the daughter of William Stockton, a prison warden born from ...

:1937: Rose Simpson :1940:

Cecily Cook Cecily Mary Cook (1889/90–1962) was an English left-wing political activist. She worked for the Independent Labour Party (ILP) and the Co-operative Women's Guild. Career Little is known of Cecily Graves' early life, since she came from a p ...

:1953:

Mabel Ridealgh Mabel Ridealgh (11 August 1898 – 20 June 1989) was an English Labour and Co-operative politician. She was Member of Parliament for the Ilford North constituency between 1945 and 1950, before becoming General Secretary of the Women's Co-operat ...

:1963: Kathleen Kempton :1983: Diane Paskin :Sue Bell :2005: Claire Morgan :2011: Colette Harber

References

External links

*
Centenary historyCWG Archive at the Bishopsgate InstituteCWG Archive at LSE Archives
{{Use British English, date=November 2020 1883 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1883 Organizations disestablished in 2016 Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom Victorian era Women's organisations based in the United Kingdom