Coventry Labourers' and Artizans' Co-operative

The Coventry Labourers' and Artizans' Co-operative was a co-operative of Coventry working men that leased land in the city for growing food. It was established by Charles Bray and Joseph Cash[1] in 1843,[2] as a result of a lecture in St Mary's Hall by James Orange of Nottingham, agent of the London Labourers' Friend Society.[3] Its first aim was "to furnish working men with gardens, as healthy occupations, and to help them to counteract in part the ill-effects of confinement at the loom."[2] It leased land on four sites, sufficient for 400 gardens, and had about 1,000 members, each of whom paid a penny a week towards the expenses of the Society, which enabled it to make loans to members, trade in coal, rent a flour mill, open a shop and pay interest to members on their shares.[2] The Society was "wrecked"[2] by its readiness to grant credit to its members. When Coventry's ribbon industry went into a steep decline in 1859 many of the Society's members were unable to pay their debts and about 1862 it collapsed.[3] A new society, called the Garden Society, was formed,[3] which survives to this day, as the Park Gardens in Stoney Road, Coventry.[4]

Building in Park Gardens, Stoney Road, Coventry