Page 485 - The_story_of_the_C._W._S._The_jubilee_history_of_the_cooperative_wholesale_society,_limited._1863-1913_(IA_storyofcwsjubill00redf) (1)_Neat

Biographical Index.

Moore, William (1828-1878).—A hamdloom carpet weaver; keenly interested
in working-class ad%-ancement ; served on the C.W.S. Committee, 1870-1871.
Intimately associated with the Carpet Weavers' Association, he was sometime
president of the Dewsbury Trades CounciL A Unitarian and a leading Radical,
he filled many public offices.
Neale, E. V. (1810-1892).—Bom at Bath, of an old family connected, by
marriage, with Cromwell; educated at home and at Oriel College, Oxford.
Entered Lincoln's Inn, met Maurice, and became a Christian Socialist and a
co-operator for the rest of his life. Established and financed the central agency
(see Chapter U.); by unwearying and practically unpaid labours secured the
passing of the Act which made a C.W.S. possible (Chapter EH. and ibid).
Voluntarily undertook the general secretaryship of the Co-operative Union in
1S73, when no eligible candidate appeared; acted also as director of the
Insurance Society and of the Newspaper Society. (See also Chapter XIX.)
Neild, James (1829-1895).—Of Mossley. Power-loom overlooker by trade;
first secretary of Mossley Society; chartist and always an advanced man in
politics; closely connected with the Oddfellows and the Foresters, and active
in local charities. Borough councillor for twenty years. His periods of
ser^-ice on the C.W.S. Committee were from March, 1864, to November, 1S6.5,
and from November, 1867, to November, 186S.
North, Alfred (1847-1905).—Formerly a master joiner. Actively associated
with the Batley Society. Elected to the C.W.S. Committee in 1853, retaining
his seat until his decease. A Liberal in politics, and an alderman of Batley.
Nuttall, William (1835-1905).—^Apprenticed to shoemaking, and a master
slioemaker in a small way at an early age. In 1S63 he became the first whole-
time secretary of the Oldham Equitable Society. Interested in the formation
of the C.W.S. from the start, he seized on the Committee from November,
1865, to February, 1866, and from Jime, 1876, to December, 1877. He also
ser^-ed the Society as cashier from 1868 to 1S70, and was the first editor of the
C. W.S. Annital as a separate publication. He was a fovmder of the Co-operative
Xew8 and of the Printing Society, and also for some years secretary to
the Central Co-operative Board (Co-operative Union). In 1SS3 he went to
Australia, receiving pubUc recognition of his work for co-operation on his
but he returned some sixteen years " Possessed of a
departure ; later.
penetrating mind," he had "" a passion for figures." Brilliant, if erratic, during
the critical early period he took a leading part in shaping the co-operative
conceptions of the federal school.
Owen, Robert (1771-1858).—The father of the modem social movement.
Born at Newtown, Montgomeryshire, the son of a saddler and ironmonger;
w£i3 scantily educated; assisted in an eiementarj- school, and afterwards in a
draper's shop. At eighteen years of age he became a partner in a Manchester
cotton-spinning factory, Hving in Cooper Street, opposite to where the C.W.S.
ultimately had its first offices. Later, with his partners, he bought the New
Lanark mills, N.B., where he began "to re%-oIutioniie peaceably the minds and
practise of the human race." Less successful in later life, he yet exerted an
influence whose edects it would be impertinent to summarise in a few hnes.
Democratic in aim and autocratic in temper and method, he was a man of
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