The Co-operative Group has developed over the years from the merger of co-operative wholesale societies and many independent retail societies. The Group's roots are traced back to the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, established in 1844. The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers was based on the Rochdale Principles – which notably introduced the idea of distributing a share of profits according to purchases through a scheme which became known as the dividend or "Divi". Although the Co-operative Group incorporates the original Rochdale Society, the business's core for much of its history were its wholesale operations. This began in 1863 when the North of England Co-operative Wholesale Industrial and Provident Society Limited was launched in Manchester by 300 individual co-operatives in Yorkshire and Lancashire. By 1872, it was known as the 'Co-operative Wholesale Society' (CWS) and it was wholly owned by the co-operatives which traded with it. The CWS grew rapidly and supplied produce to co-operative stores across England, though many co-ops only sourced around a third of their produce through the CWS. It was this continued and fierce competition with other non-co-operative wholesalers which led to the CWS becoming highly innovative. By 1890 the CWS had established significant branches in Leeds, Blackburn, Bristol, Nottingham and Huddersfield alongside a number of factories which produced biscuits (Manchester), boots (Leicester), soap (Durham) and textiles (Batley). In an attempt to drive down the significant cost of transportation for produce the CWS even began its own shipping line which initially sailed from Goole docks to parts of continental Europe. One of the CWS' steamships, the Pioneer, was the first commercial vessel to use the Manchester Ship Canal. A co-operative wholesale society, or CWS, is a form of co-operative federation (that is, a co-operative in which all the members are co-operatives)
