[Bob Dobson]

Have a look at the website of the Lancashsire record office. Their holdi ngs are on it. In addition, there is a Co-operative Wholesale Society library in Manchester and they have lots of records. The postal adddress is probably Balloon Street. The Society paid for hundreds of funerals as ther was a sceme, just as today, where members paid a penny or so a week and it paiod for the funeral. Even if they were not a member of the scheme and engaged the Co-op to run the funeral instead of (say) Kirby's, then they would get some back in the form of 'divi' (dividend) which was allocated to them through their membership number. Even today. the Co-op is the largest funeral business in the country