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James Daly (co-operator)

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James Daly
Baptised20 February 1811
Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland
Died(1849-12-29)29 December 1849
On the SS Transit, Mid-Atlantic
Occupations
MovementCo-operative
Spouse
Alice Ashurst
(m. 1832)
Children8

James Daly (bapt. 20 February 1811 – 29 December 1849) was an Irish-born co-operative movement organiser, Owenite, joiner, and founding member of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers.[1][2]

Biography

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Daly was born to Charles Daly and Ellen Egan and was baptised on 20 February 1811 in Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland.[3] In 1832 he married Alice Ashurst in Liverpool.[3]

Daly moved to Rochdale, Lancashire, where he worked as a joiner and was active in the Owenite movement. In 1844 he was a founding member of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, becoming its first secretary. He also worked with Charles Howarth on writing up the rules of the society and had occasional work for the society as a shopfitter.[2]

Due to their poverty, Daly and his wife decided to emigrate to Texas in the hope of starting a co-operative community. However, Daly died of cholera on 29 December 1849 in the mid-Atlantic aboard the SS Transit. He was buried at sea. His wife and youngest child also died on the voyage and their other children were subsequently put up for adoption in New Orleans.[2][3]

References

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  1. ^ "Rochdale Pioneers". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/60696. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ a b c Bing, H. F.; Saville, John (1972). Bellamy, Joyce M.; Saville, John (eds.). Dictionary of Labour Biography, Volume I. Internet Archive. London: Macmillan. pp. 94–95. ISBN 978-0-333-42757-6.
  3. ^ a b c Davidson, Carol (2016). The Original Rochdale Pioneers. Lulu.com. pp. 59–62. ISBN 978-1-326-70522-0.