Cooperative Thought - Dr.William King

Dr. William King (Poor men’s Doctor)

Dr. William King (1786-1865) was a medical doctor, a great philosopher and practical co-operator who is affectionately called as “Poor men’s Doctor”.  He was born in 1786 at Ipswich in England.  He did his doctor of medicine in Cambridge University in 1819 and got married in 1821.  He settled in Brighton where he actively engaged in social work which made him acquainted with Owenism.

Brighton cooperative society

          Dr. William King was very much interested in guiding the people to improve their economic condition.  Therefore, he promoted societies for mutual thrift.  To help the poor workers, Cooperative trading association (July 1827) and Brighton Cooperative Benevolent Fund Association (April 1837) were formed.  The cooperative trading association was started with the object of handling retail trade to mobilize capital out of profit in order to establish a colony. The membership  of the society consisted of mostly working class belonging to different trades. The society rented land and employed its members in growing vegetables for the store.  The benevolent fund association was started to assist the person who join in cooperative community and to spread cooperative knowledge. Dr.King’s society very soon gave rise to three hundred similar society.

          The cooperatives started  under the influence of Dr.King were mostly stores. They sell daily necessities to their members. Some of the associations were of producers also.

          According to Dr.William King, the main aim of cooperative society are:

1.    The mutual protection of the members against poverty

2.    The attainment of greater share of comforts of life and

3.    The attainment of independence by means of common capital.

Many workers suffered from the introduction of machinery which resulted in unemployment, repeated reduction of wages, poverty, treating other workers  as competitors and enemies. Dr.King viewed that they must work for themselves and enjoy the whole product of their labour.

Dr.King advised the workers to save money for creating a cooperative capital fund which could be employed in business of their own. He wanted the workers to start a shop with small capital. He believed that it will not fail if they trade for cash and the members extend their loyalty.  He wanted the workers not to distribute the trading surplus instated the surplus can be kept for strengthen the capital of the society.  As the capital increases, the surplus and volume of business also increases. This will result in improvement of socio-economic conditions of its members and chances of enjoying the whole product of cooperation.

Dr.King’s greatest contribution to cooperative thought was publication of ‘The Cooperator’, a monthly journal.  Through this journal, Dr.King expressed his ideas and interest in cooperation.  The first issue of the journal was published in May 1828.  Dr.King was the sole editor of the journal between 1828 and 1830.  It was written in simple language and therefore it had a wide circulation in his 28 issues. He discussed the benefits and the working of cooperative societies in the journal.