CENTRAL PREMISES

HISTORY
OF THE
UNITED CO-OPERATIVE BAKING SOCIETY LTD.
A FIFTY YEARS’ RECORD
1869–1919

BY WILLIAM REID

Published by United Co-operative Baking Society Limited

M‘Neil Street, Glasgow

1920

The chief advantage of prefaces is the opportunities they giveauthors for making apologies and for returning thanks. Inthe present instance the hurry with which the book has had tobe written did not allow time enough to do many things whichthe writer would have liked to do. He would have liked tolinger with the old-time enthusiasts who laid the foundationsof the Society, to have made himself as familiar as possiblewith the times in which they lived and with the thoughts intheir minds, so that he might be able to present to his readers apicture of their times as they saw them, and of their difficultiesas they had to encounter them. For this there was no time,and so he has had to content himself with telling a plain,unvarnished tale of difficulties met and overcome, of a faithwhich refused to be dismayed, and of a triumph which isvisible to all.

Unfortunately, there is no one alive to-day who had anyactive part in the inception of the Society. This increased thedifficulty of presenting a true picture of the beginnings of theSociety, but some help in this direction was got from the“Year Book,” which had been written by Mr Lochrie in1896. The writer is also very much indebted to Mr DavidivBrown, of the office staff of the Society, who prepared synopsesof the various minutes of the Society. These synopses, byindicating the salient points in the minutes, greatly lightenedthe labour of selection; but, in addition, every minute has beencarefully read at least once, and many of them much oftener,so that complete accuracy might be secured.

Great assistance in dealing with the history of the lastthirty years has also been given by Mr James H. Forsyth,cashier of the Society, whose knowledge of the transactions ofthat period is unparalleled.