December 25, 1873

Patrick “The Cope” Gallagher was born on Christmas day of 1873. Patrick was founder of “The Cope,” where he gets his nickname from. At first established as the Templecrone Agriculture Co-Operative Society, today the Cope is a chain of supermarkets found in Donegal. As a young boy, Patrick was hired as a farm laborer and then as a potato picker in Scotland. The hard work, small pay and long hours that he experienced gave him the idea to form a co-operative agriculture movement back in Donegal.