December 21 in Victorian History
What the Victorians were up to on this date, year by remarkable year.
1844
The Rochdale Pioneers open their store
Twenty-eight working men — weavers, shoemakers, a tailor — open a co-operative grocery at 31 Toad Lane, Rochdale, with a stock of flour, oatmeal, sugar, butter and candles. Their rules — open membership, one member one vote, dividend on purchases — become the Rochdale Principles, the founding charter of the worldwide co-operative movement.