CB and Cooperative Societies

09/23/2011 15:09
BldgSoc
In 1854, CB was Secretary of “The Second East London People’s Co-operative Benefit Building Society,” for which he earned 35 pounds annually for being available weeknights from 7:00 to 8:30 at the Hayfield Coffee House on Mile End Road. I’m not altogether sure he held the post for a full year, since he was 21 and preparing to get married.

The Society’s pamphlet announces that their “sole object…is to obtain a House for each of its Members at a trifling Weekly Payment beyond their ordinary rental for a limited period — say 12 Years. Every man who has paid for a period of Fifteen or Twenty Years the rent on the House he lives in, must regret that the amount has not been applied to the actual purchase of the dwelling, which would then be a free shelter to him for the remainder of his days.” The Society promised to divide its profits annually, to keep its expenses low, and to make “Advances upon a new and safe method, and the repayment of Advances perfectly within the means of every prudent workman.”