All Our Own Work: The pioneers of Hebden Bridge and their co-operative mill

The co-operators of Hebden Bridge were to producer co-operation what the Rochdale Pioneers were to consumer co-operation – pioneers. Driven by a desire to create their own employment under their own control, weavers, cutters and machinists at the Nutclough fustian mill developed a successful business in a small Pennine town. At its peak it employed over 300 women and men. It ran for almost fifty years, each year profitable. Hebden Bridge’s co-operative contributed leaders to the national co-op movement and to the emerging movement for workers’ education. Its central figure Joseph Greenwood was involved in the creation of the International Co-operative Alliance. Women associated with the co-operative set up in Hebden Bridge the first branch of the Women’s Co-operative Guild in the country. This richly researched and engrossing account of a worker-run business is the first significant study of early producer co-operatives in Britain for over a century.