Lord Rusholme, Robert Alexander Palmer

Robert Alexander Palmer was born in Manchester on 29 November 1890. He was the son of William Palmer, an artist also known as Whiffley Puncto. He joined the Co-operative Union in 1909. He became a director of the Manchester and Salford Co-operative Society at the age of 21. During the First World War, he served with the Manchester Regiment in Egypt, Belgium and France. By 1920, he was the Co-operative Union's cashier and financial advisor. In 1929, he became the Union's General Secretary, a post that he held until 1947. In 1930, he became a member of the executive committee of the International Co-operative Alliance and was appointed Vice-President of that organisation in 1934. He was the Acting President of the ICA during the Second World War and was the President from 1946 to 1948. In 1944, he was appointed as chairman of the Centenary Congress of the British co-operative movement, although this was cancelled due to the war and he instead presided over the 1945 Congress. In 1945, he was raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Rusholme, of Rusholme in the City of Manchester, becoming the first Co-operative peer. He was a member of the British Transport Commission from 1947 to 1959, became chairman of the London Midland Area Board of British Railways in 1955, and retired in 1960. He died on 18 August 1977.