Francis Butterfield was appointed as the first President of the Keighley Industrial Co-operative Society, at the society’s second meeting held on 15th October 1860. Butterfield was a blacksmith on Beckside at the time.
Also shown, a sketch from memory of the first Co-Op shop on Church Green, Keighley, by Thomas Heaps, drawn in 1910. The shop, in which the Keighley Industrial Co-operative Society began its business life, was one of a block of three in Church Green between the Commercial Inn and the Devonshire Hotel. The shop was run by John Farrar Pickles, Benjamin Morrell and Joseph Moorhouse (Society Treasurer). Customers had to ascend two or three steps on entering the shop. The shop was originally occupied by Mr Cockshott, who remained as landlord of the site. The shop opened in October/November 1860. The original shop closed in March 1862 when Cockshott wanted to change the details of the rent, and the shop relocated to premises on New Bridge Street.
Illustrations from ‘Half a Century of Co-operation in Keighley – 1860-1910’ by Joseph Rhodes, published by the Keighley Industrial Co-operative Society Ltd. in 1911. Image created by Tim Neal in 2022.
