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Industrial and Provident Societies Partnership Act 1852

The Industrial and Provident Societies Partnership Act 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 31), also known (somewhat unjustifiably) as Slaney's Act,[1] that provided the legislation basis for industrial and provident societies in the United Kingdom. The act was a significant legislative landmark in the establishment of the co-operative movement in the United Kingdom.

Background

Prior to 1852, co-operative societies had protected their members capital by registering under the Friendly Societies Act 1846.[2] However the act specified protection only for purchases, not for sales; so the co-operative societies were forced to use a legal fiction of dubious merit to cover themselves when selling, and it was this that brought home the need for a new statute to regularise their position.[3]

Passage

John Ludlow played an important role in promoting the act.[4] He had initially proposed a comparable Bill for Whig passage in 1851; but was blocked by Henry Labouchere at the Board of Trade.[5] The following year Disraeli persuaded his colleagues that promoting such social reform would be politically advantageous for the Tories, as well as offering a route for working-class energies to be incorporated into society;[6] and the Bill passed into law.

The act not only provided a legal framework for the co-operative movement, but also specified much of its future direction - for example laying down the principle that up to one-third of profits could be shared among members, the rest being used to build up the business.[7]

Legacy

The act was subsequently amended by the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 25) and the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. 40) to improve legal proceedings concerning societies formed under the act.

The whole act was repealed by the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 87).

See also

• Charles Kingsley

• Friendly society

• G. J. Holyoake

• Industrial and provident society

• Robert Aglionby Slaney

• Young England

Further reading

  • Ch. Kingsley, Life and Memories Vol i

References

  1. C Raven, Christian Socialism, 1848-1854 (1968) p. 289^
  2. E Halévy, Victorian Years (London 1961) p. 267^
  3. E Halévy, Victorian Years (London 1961) p. 267^
  4. I. Ousby ed, The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (Cambridge 1995) p. 176^
  5. E Halévy, Victorian Years (London 1961) p. 263^
  6. M Brasher, Arguments in History: 19th C Britain (1968) p. 146^
  7. D McDonnell, Democratic Enterprises (2012) p. 70^