William King (1786–1865): Physician and Father of the Co-Operative Movement

This biographical sketch considers Dr William King as a leading medical figure at a formative point of mediation between social classes in Regency Britain, and as a medical contributor to the vision and strategic sense of a new social movement. The British historian, Holyoake, though wrong in details was correct in naming King as “one of the founders of Co-operation”. (See Holyoake GJ . The History of Cooperation. Vol I. London: Fisher Unwin, 1906:220–1. Also entry for “William King”, in Dictionary of National Biography, Vol 31. London & Oxford, 1892).

User-warning must be attached to the term “Father of the Co-operative Movement” since it has been very loosely applied in the general literature. Though carrying biographical plausibility as a vignette of eminence, “Father” (or “Prophet”) remains somewhat distorting as a social cameo of King's significance within the interactive leadership of the Cooperative Movement. The narrow beam of such a paternalistic metaphor may falsely tend to project a personalized (“quasi-reductionist”) interpretation of the formative history of a major social movement. The early “pioneers” and “founders” of nineteenth century Co-operation were individuals and groups drawn together from all social classes, cooperating in their search for voluntary communal solutions to the injustices of unmediated industrialization. They identified not just with contemporary elements of Owen-inspired communitarianism but also with distant fusions of communal thought and practice: for instance, from the Essenes, the Utopianism of Thomas More, Gerard Winstanley and the Levellers, the Quaker-planner John Bellers, the American Shakers and the famed Jesuit community in Paraguay. The level of participatory perspective is important in evaluating King. (See Durr A. William King of Brighton. In: Yeo S , ed. New Viejvs of Co–operation. London: Routledge, 1988).

Harrison JFC . Robert Owen and the Owenites in Britain and America. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969.

Muller H. Dr. William King and his place in the history of Co-operation. Yearbook of International Co-operation. London, 1913. Also Mercer TW. A Father in Co-operation: the life and teaching of Dr. William King. Mitigate Monthly, June 1922; Mercer TW. Co-operation's Prophet. The Life and Letters of Dr. William King of Brighton with a Reprint of The Co-operator 1828–30. Manchester: Co-operative Union, 1947.

Dent JJ . The Co-operative Ideals of Dr. William King. Manchester, 1921. Pollard S. Dr. William King of Ipswich: A Co-operative Pioneer. Co-operative College Research Papers, No. 6, Loughborough, 1959.

Cole GDH . A Century of Co-operation. Manchester: Cooperative Union, 1944. Between 1844–1939, the membership of British retail societies rose to 9 million consumer-shareholders embracing an estimated 75% of British households. Japanese retail societies, on the British model, were originally launched in 1879.

The Co-operator 1830;No. 25 (1 May).

William King and his five brothers were Whiggish Regency gentry-professionals: John, a Cambridge-educated lawyer; Charles, a Cambridge-educated Dorset clergyman; George, an erstwhile Nabob away on East India service; and Edward, a Bart's trained surgeon. Richard, closest to William, entered the Navy in 1805 and participated in the celebrated Chesapeake and Shannon fight (1813). Eventually a Rear Admiral, he was promoted from Lieutenant to Commander in 1828, and to Captain in 1839.

King John (1738–1822) took Holy Orders in 1767; he held the Rectorship of Witnesham (a Peterhouse Advowson) from 1775–1822, and the Headship of Ipswich Grammar School from 1767–98.

After Dr King moved to Brighton, Lord Byron (1788–1824) finally sold his Rochdale estates in 1823 for £34,000, thus relinquishing the title of Lord of the Manor of Rochdale but, of course, retaining the armorial Barony of Rochdale. John Cam Hobhouse (later Lord Broughton) was both a school acquaintance of King and an undergraduate companion of Byron.

Though Charles entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge, as a sizar in 1805, William King maintained the family tradition of entry to ancient Peterhouse (1284) culminating in a Fellowship. At Peterhouse, his father, John, had achieved 7th Wrangler in 1760 and election to a Fellowship in 1767. His brother, John Jr, had been elected to a Peterhouse Fellowship in 1801.

Thomas Redman Hooker (1763–1838), Vicar of Rottingdean, 1792–1838.

William Smyth (1765–1841): 8th Senior Wrangler 1787; Fellow of Peterhouse 1787–1825; Regius Professor of Modem History 1807–49.

Frend William (1757–1841): mathematical Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, 1781–1808; prosecuted in the Vice Chancellor's Court for seditious publication, 1793. He tutored Lady Byron who befriended his daughter, Sophia. William and Sophia Frend became sympathetic to Co-operative ideas.

John Abernethy (1764–1831): surgeon, St Bartholomew's Hospital, 1815–27; lecturer in anatomy. Royal College of Surgeons, 1814–29.

Sir Astley Paston Cooper (1768–1841): Founding Treasurer London Medico-Chirurgical Society, 1805; Professor of Comparative Anatomy, College of Surgeons, 1813; President, Royal College of Surgeons, 1827. Attended Lord Liverpool and George FV. Resigned lectureship at St Thomas's, 1825; and assisted in formation of a separate medical school at Guy's.

Sir Evarard Home (1756–1832): pupil of John Hunter. Surgeon, St George's Hospital and Chelsea Hospital; Professor of Surgery and Anatomy, College of Surgeons, 1804–13; First President of Royal College of Surgeons, 1821.

The London Co-operative Society was formalized in 1824, its debates attracting the young Utilitarian John Stuart Mill and the older Utilitarian John Bowring. (Lord Byron's remains were shipped from Greece into John Bowring's care in 1824.) Evolving into the British Association for Promoting Cooperative Knowledge, the scientific spirit of the age was reflected in the wishes of two leading members to emulate Jeremy Bentham's legacy. Although the Etonian “Prose Shelley”, Julian Hibbert, willed his head for “phrenological dissection” and the rich communitarian landowner, William Thompson, bequeathed his remains for dissection, in both cases the will clauses were overturned.

Minutes of Evidence before Select Committee on State of Children Employed in Manufactories, 1816 (397), Vol III.

Macnab HG . The New Views of Mr. Owen of Lanark impartially examined…also observations on the New Lanark School. London, 1819.

Thomas Mayo, son of John Mayo MD (1761–1818), left to practise in Tunbridge Wells (1818–35); despite its stiff social reputation, it was an early centre of Georgian Co-operation.

Herbert Mayo (1796–1852): MDLeiden, pupil of Sir Charles Bell (1774–1842), 1812–15; Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons, 1828–9; surgeon, Middlesex Hospital, 1842.

The Co-operator 1830; No. 27 (1 July).

The Co-operator 1829; No. 16 (1 August).

The Co-operator 1830; No. 24 (1 April).

This view was central to Co-operative praxis. It was later promoted by King's able medical friend: a Manchester physician converted into educator, public servant and Co-operative sympathizer, Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth (1804–77).

Health care was a prime concern of communitarians. See the section on health in: Thompson W. Practical Directions for the.

Establishment of Communities on the Principles of Mutual Co-operation. London, 1830. See also MacCormack H. Moral-Sanatory Economy … Education, Health, Order, Progress, Competence. London, 1853. Co-operative societies sold no alcoholic beverages and were infused with temperance ideals. Drink was perceived as a serious threat to health and as a weekly “curse” ruining family life within the lower classes.

Jones John Gale (1769–1838): Radical orator and surgeon, studied under William Hall of Chelsea. Suppressed politically in the 1820s, he attempted to re-establish his surgical practice in Somers Town, London. A Co-operative supporter, Jones was a legendary campaigner for universal suffrage.

Owen R. The Life of Robert Owen Written by Himself. London, 1857. Owen provided money to the Duke to keep the baby Victoria in Britain (she was strongly disfavoured by George IV) and advised the Duke upon his shaky personal finances. These delicate matters included medical provision for the (illegitimate) half-sister of Princess Victoria, secretly brought up in Geneva.

Brown WH . Brighton's Co-operative Advance 1828–1938. Manchester: Co-operative Union, 1938.

Brighton Gazette 1823; (30 January). Elizabeth Fry (1780–1845) and William King also became closely associated with the Lindfield “Home Colony” near to Brighton, supported by William Allen (partner of Robert Owen) and John Smith MPof Dale Park.

Letter from Lady Noel Byron to William King, 26.1.1826.

Letter from William King to Editor, Brighton Herald, 21.10.1825.

Birkbeck George (1776–1841): London physician 1804–24, leader of the Mechanics' Institute movement. His Scottish cultural milieu was attuned to that of Simonde de Sismondi (1773–1842), anglophile Swiss-Italian intellectual historian and economist.

Letter from William Bryan to Co-operative Magazine, 12.4.1827.

Philip Orkney Skene (1793–1837): intensely active Co-operator; cultivated linguist of Wallace descent, Napoleonic war veteran, succeeded as 30th Laird, Skene of Skene, 1827.

Quarterly Review November 1829;365–75.

Rickman John (1771–1840): Clerk, House of Commons and statistician; member of the “magic circle” of Charles Lamb, Hartley Coleridge, William King, George Dyer and William Hazlitt.

The Co-operator 1830; No. 22 (1 February).

The campaign was mounted by the Rev William Law Pope, Curate in Tunbridge Wells 1825–79; Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, 1818–79, and Vice-Provost.

Henry Brougham (1778–1868): legal reformer. Radical MP, Lord Chancellor, Co-operative Supporter, founder of London University.

Letter from William King to Henry Brougham, 12.12.1828.

Phillip Emanuel von Fellenberg (1771–1844): Swiss educational innovator and founder of Hofwyl. This famous boy's “school of industry”, spanning social classes and countries, nurtured Co-operative ideals.

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827): celebrated Swiss educational innovator influencing leading British educators. The chief teacher at Yverdun, James Pierrepoint Greaves (1777–1842), returned to become a friend of William King, urging upon him the novel practices of fresh air and vegetarianism (like Shelley) on health grounds.

Letter from Lady Noel Byron to William King, 17.11.1831.

Elizabeth Chaloner of Tunbridge Wells, from an ancient landed family, was a major anonymous financial patron of Co-operative Societies, often acting in partnership with her close friend. Lady Byron.

Francis Chevenix-Trench (1806–1886): young Anglo-Irish dergyman. Co-operative enthusiast and close ally of Lady Byron.

Morgan John Minter (1782–1854): wealthy Christian Co-operator and writer, mediated between Robert Owen and Lady Byron and William King.

Letter from Lady Byron to William King, 30.7.1834.

Invited to join the committee of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society (1791), Robert Owen observed that, “I was thus introduced to the leading professional characters, particularly in the medical profession, which at this period stood high in Manchester, and [the Committee's] leading members were the aristocracy of the town…Dr. Percival, the President, and Drs. Ferriar, Holem, Bardsley, Surgeon Simpson and Mr. Henry the chemist.” Owen R (op. dt. ref 29).

Cooper Thomas (1759–1839): Radical doctor, trained Middlesex Hospital, member of Manchester Literary and Philosophical Sodety. Emigrated with Joseph Priestley to determine the site of the Susquehanna colony; President of University of South Carolina 1820–34.

Beddoes Thomas (1760–1808): Oxford Radical physician, resigned Oxford post in chemistry (1792), sympathetic to French Revolution and within the Pantisocratic orbit of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His son, Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Radical poet and German MD, also became a romantic Radical figure.

Wakley Thomas : Radical crusader, surgeon and Lancet editor. As Finsbury MP (1835–52), he presented 310 reforming petitions to the House and 132 motions for legislation.

Hume Joseph (1777–1855): Radical surgeon, posted as junior surgeon East India (1797), returning with £40,000 in 1808 to finance his Parliamentary career.

The London Working Men's Association, progenitor of the Charter, was formed (1836) chiefly through the efforts of James Roberts Black, an American doctor, and William Lovett, former Secretary of the BAPCK.

Skene George Robert (d. 1869): Radical physician, MCS (1825), LSA; later FRM & cs, FRCS, younger brother of Philip Skene. He acquired the Bedford paper from Rowland Hill, Co-operator and instigator of the Penny Post.

McCormac Henry : Radical physician, MD Edinburgh (1824), Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine (Royal Belfast Institution), Belfast Hospital consulting physician, author.

Gooch Robert (1784–1830): physician, MD Edinburgh 1807, LRCP 1812. Retired to Brighton with tuberculosis (1826) and became Co-operative supporter and friend of William King. Gynaecological author, 1829. His ‘Beguines and Colloquies’ were attached to Southey's ‘Colloquies’.

Quarterly Review 1829; July & November.

Southey Henry (1783–1865): physician, MD Edinburgh (1806), FRCP (1823), Middlesex Hospital physician 1815–27, Gresham Professor of Medicine 1834–65, Harveian oration 1847. Pantisocratic sympathizer, brother of Robert Southey. Friend of William King, he wrote the life of Gooch in Lives of British Physicians (1830). Wordsworth wrote to William Wilberforce canvassing his vote for the physician's post at the Middlesex. Letter, William Wordsworth to William Wilberforce, undated, 1815.

Combe Andre (1797–1847): physician, MD Edinburgh (1825). Specialized in insanity and nervous diseases. Co-operator and brother of Abram and William Combe, prime organizers of the Orbiston Co-operative community (1825–7). President of the Phrenological Society (1827) who, at 26, had sparked off the great November 1823 debate at the Royal Medical Society. Friend of Robert Owen, Lady Byron and William King.

Epps John (1805–69): Radical physician and Co-operator. Medical Director, Jennerian Institution, phrenologist, homeopath. Joint Editor, London Medical and Surgical Journal (1828–9). Editor, Christian Physician and Anthropological Magazine (1835–9). His aptly-named medical junior and half-brother, George Napoleon Epps, shared his social outlook.

Craig Edward Thomas (1804–1894): organizer of the Ralahine Co-operative Commuruty (1831–33), Headmaster of the Cooperative School (Ealing Grove) 1834. He also undertook a phrenological analysis of the living Radical heads of William Morris and George Bernard Shaw.

Travis Hemy (1807–84): physician, LSA (1832), commonly cited as MD. Maintained a working-class practice in CaMDen Town. Prominent Co-operative organizer and author, friend of Charles Bray and George Eliot (the writer), Owen's executor.

Simon John Sir (1816–1904): St Thomas's, MRCS (1838), President RCS (1878–9), Medical Officer of Health, City of London (1848), established National Sanitary Code (1866).

Smiles Samuel (1812–1904): Haddington apprentice (1828), Edinburgh-qualified (1832), GP at Haddington 1832–38. Editor of Radical Leeds Gazette (1838–42).

Huxley Thomas Henry (1825–95): apprenticed (1841), MB Charing Cross Hospital, Hunterian Professor, RCS (1863–9), President, Royal Society (1883–5).

Pitman Henry (1826–1909), brother of Sir Isaac Pitman, shorthand inventor (1813–97).

Victor Huber had undertaken (1855) a thorough study of British Co-operation in the Germanic historical tradition.

Muller H. Zweck und Wesen der Genossenshaft nach Dr. W. King. In: Totomianz V , ed. Antholagie des Genossenschaftswesens. Berlin, 1922.

The campaigning physician, George Alfred Walker (1807–1884), had created considerable controversy through his petition to Parliament (1842) to set up a select committee on the problems of cemeteries.

Roy Rammohun (1772–1833): founder of Brahmo Theism. On his final visit to England (1831–33), Robert Owen's next-door neighbour in Bedford Square, he had met most leading Co-operators including Dr King.

Robertson Frederick William (1816–53): incumbent of Trinity Chapel, Brighton, and nationally renowned as a liberal theologian and preacher sympathetic to self-help Co-operation.

Masquéier John (1778–1855), in residence at Brighton, had painted a fine portrait of Dr King.

Robinson Henry Crabb (1775–1867) knew Goethe, Lafayette, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Lamb and many famous writers and thinkers. Only one general practitioner, Dr King, appears in the voluminous record of his sparkling acquaintances.

Letter from William King to Henry Pitman, 9.1.1864.

Robertson John , a young Scottish journalist, edited the London and Westminster Review, the chief organ of philosophic radicalism. He is recorded in J S Mill's celebrated autobiography.