William King (doctor)

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*Cooperatives*

Types of Co-operatives
Housing cooperative Building cooperative Retailers' cooperative Utility cooperative Worker cooperative Social cooperative Consumers' cooperative Agricultural cooperative Credit union Cooperative banking Cooperative federation Cooperative union Cooperative wholesale society Mutual insurance
Rochdale Principles
Voluntary and open membership Democratic member control Member economic participation Autonomy and independence Education, training, and information Cooperation among cooperatives Concern for community
Political and Economic Theories
Cooperative federalism Cooperative individualism Owenism Third way Socialism Socially responsible investing Social enterprise
Key Theorists
Robert Owen William King The Rochdale Pioneers G.D.H. Cole Charles Gide Beatrice Webb Friedrich Raiffeisen David Griffiths
Organizations
List of cooperatives List of cooperative federations International Co-operative Alliance Co-operative Party
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Dr. William King (April 17, 1786 - October 19, 1865) was a British physician and philanthropist from Brighton. He is best known as an early supporter of the Cooperative Movement.

By 1827, Robert Owen had taken his ideas of a co-operative movement to the United States. But they were picked up and amplified by Dr. King. King founded a cooperative store in Brighton. Then in 1828 he started a paper, The Cooperator to promote these ideas. The Cooperator had a wide circulation and a great influence in the emerging movement. Though only published for slightly over two years, the paper served to educate and unify otherwise scattered groups. King's articles in the paper gave the movement some philosophical and practical basis that it had lacked before.

King's overriding rationale for the movement is best illustrated by the phrases repeated on the masthead of every issue of The Cooperator:

"Knowledge and union are power. Power, directed by knowledge is happiness. Happiness is the end of creation."