“One of ‘The People’”, “To the Wealth-Producing Classes of England”, Magazine of Useful Knowledge and Co-Operative Miscellany, N°1, January 1830, 7–10

Though William Lovett is mostly known as a founding member of the London Working Men’s Association in 1836 and as a leading Chartist, he was also one of the main actors in the early Owenite movement. Wishing to better his education, he attended Thomas Hodgskin’s evening classes on political economy at the London Mechanics’ Institute. Lovett joined the co-operative movement around 1823. He and his wife Mary were the shopkeepers of the First London Co-operative Trading Association. He was appointed Secretary of the British Association for the Promotion of Co-operative Knowledge, one of the movement’s leading organisations in the late 1820s and early 1830s. Lovett also wrote for various publications, including the Magazine of Useful Knowledge and Co-operative Miscellany, a monthly periodical whose editor, William Carpenter, aimed to introduce Robert Owen’s system to a working-class audience. Addressing his fellow-working people, Lovett attempted to demonstrate the potential of cooperation for the advancement of their class.