Early in 1850 the Christian socialists started a working men's association for tailors in London, followed by associations for other trades. To promote this movement, a Society for Promoting Working Men's Associations (SPWMA) was founded with Maurice as a founding member and head of its "central board". At first, the SPWMA's work was merely propagating the idea of associations by publishing tracts. Then it undertook the practical project of establishing the Working Men's College because educated workers were essential for successful co-operative societies. With that ingredient more of the associations succeeded; others still failed or were replaced by a later "cooperative movement. The lasting legacy of the Christian socialists was that, in 1852, they influenced the passage of an act in Parliament which gave "a legal status to co-operative bodies" such as working men's associations. The SPWMA "flourished in the years from 1849 to 1853, or thereabouts."