Friendly Society Discipline and Charity in Late‐Victorian and Edwardian England

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes1. Untitled clipping from Sunderland Daily Post, 23 September 1896, found in Durham Record Office, Independent Order of Rechabites Records, D/IOR from here: Durham D/IOR, item 48, “North‐Eastern Friendly Societies Convalescent Home, Grange over Sands Lancashire, Management Committee, Sub‐Committee, Building Committee Minute Book,” 1891–1904.2. The most reliable overviews of friendly societies are P.H.J.H. Gosden, The Friendly Societies in England, 1815–1875, New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1967; and Simon Cordery, British Friendly Societies, 1750–1914, New York: Palgrave, 2003.3. Registrar of Friendly Societies, “Report for the Year Ending 1872,” British Parliamentary Papers, 1873, vol. 59, 87–233; Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies, “Report for Year Ending 1906,” Part A, Appendix N, “Statistical Tables,” British Parliamentary Papers 1907, vol. 78, 1–606. Estimates of adult male population were calculated using B.R. Mitchell, British Historical Statistics, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1988, 9, 15, 31–34. See further Christopher J. Prom, “‘For the Glorious Privilege of Being Independent’: Friendly Societies and Mutual Aid in Great Britain, 1870–1910,” unpubl. Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, 2004, 70, for complete details on friendly society membership growth by administrative county.4. Sources for this table include West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale (Halifax), Ancient Order of Foresters, Halifax District Records, TU/10 from here: WYAS TU/10“Court of Three Mary's Funeral and Management Fund Cashbook”; West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale (Halifax), Miscellaneous Trade Union and Friendly Society Records, TU 97 from here: WYAS TU/97, item 2, “Court of Three Mary's Contribution Register, 1834–7,” and item 11, “Funeral and Management Fund Accounts.”5. Dan Weinbren and Bob James, “Getting a Grip: The Roles of Friendly Societies in Australia and Britain Reappraised,” Labour History 88, 2005: 87–104.6. Gosden, Friendly Societies, 29–31, 49–50, 60.7. See Geoffrey Best, Mid‐Victorian Britain 1851–75, London: Fontana, 1979, 291–2; Simon Cordery, “Friendly Societies and the Discourse of Respectability in Britain, 1825–1875,” Journal of British Studies 34, 1995, 35–58; Daniel Wienbren, “Beneath the All‐Seeing Eye: Fraternal Order and Friendly Societies' Banners in Nineteenth‐ and Twentieth‐Century Britain,” Cultural and Social History 2, 2006, 167–91; Paul Johnson, Saving and Spending: The Working‐Class Economy in Britain, 1870–1934, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985, 8–10, 127–9; Theodore Koditschek, Class Formation and Industrial Urban Society: Bradford 1750–1850, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990, 463–4.8. Wienbren and James, “Getting a Grip.”9. Stephen Davies, “Two Conceptions of Welfare: Voluntarism and Incorporationism,” Social Philosophy and Policy 2, 1997, 39–68: 57–60; David G. Green, Reinventing Civil Society: The Rediscovery of Welfare without Politics, London: Institute of Economic Affairs Health and Welfare Unit, 1993, 120–30.10. Many clubs charged insufficient dues to cover their expected claims and some clubs resisted advice from actuaries who advised them to raise dues or cut expenses. After a protracted battle, the leaders for major friendly society orders, such as the Independent Order of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity, succeeded in forcing some fiscal discipline on their members—although some working men withdrew and formed competing clubs with lower contributions.11. Cordery, British Friendly Societies, 152–64.12. Robert Humphreys, Poor Relief and Charity, 1869–1945: The London Charity Organization Society, New York: Palgrave, 2002; Robert Humphreys, Sin, Organized Charity and the Poor Law in Victorian England, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995. In the latter volume, Humphreys provides a useful bibliography of works related to Victorian charity and social welfare, including a list of unpublished dissertations. See also Frank Prochaska, “Philanthropy,” in The Cambridge Social History of Britain, 1750–1950, ed. F. Thompson, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990, vol. 3, 357–94; Martin Daunton, ed., Charity, Self‐Interest and Welfare in the English Past, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996; Heonsook Kim, “Charitable Associations in Colchester, 1800–1870: A Study of a Middle‐Class World,” unpubl. Ph.D. dissertation: University of Essex, 2004; Philip S. and Dorothy N. Brown, “Founding a Hospital and Convalescent Home in a Victorian Seaside Resort,” Local Historian 2, 2005, 82–93; and Thomas Brydon, “Charles Booth, Charity Control, and the London Churches, 1897–1903,” Historian 3, 2006, 489–518.13. Michelle Elizabeth Tusan, “‘Not the Ordinary Victorian Charity’: The Society for Promoting Employment of Women Archive,” History Workshop Journal 49, 2000, 221–30; Mae Baker and Michael Collins, “The Governance of Charitable Trusts in the Nineteenth Century: The West Riding of Yorkshire,” Social History 2, 2002, 162–83.14. Robert Roberts, The Classic Slum: Salford Life in the First Quarter of the Century, London: Penguin, 1973; Richard Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy: Aspects of Working‐Class Life with Special Reference to Publications and Entertainments, London: Chatto and Windus, 1957; Spontaneous working‐class charity is also discussed in Paul Johnson, Saving and Spending: The Working‐Class Economy in Britain, 1870–1934, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985. An otherwise admirable account of private welfare provisions in Britain does not mention working‐class charities (see Geoffrey Finlayson's Citizen, State, and Social Welfare in Britain, 1830–1990, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994). See further Marc Brodie, “Friendship, Trust, and Political Influence in Poor Working‐Class Britain,” History Australia 2, 2006: 1–41.15. Peter Bailey, “ ‘Will the Real Bill Banks Please Stand Up?’: Towards a Role Analysis of Mid‐Victorian Working‐Class Respectability,” Journal of Social History 12, 1979, 336–53: 343; Sonya O. Rose, “Respectable Men, Disorderly Others: The Language of Gender and the Lancashire Weavers' Strike of 1878 in Britain,” Gender and History 3, 1993, 382–97: 383; Keith McClelland, “Masculinity and the ‘Representative Artisan’ in Britain, 1850–80,” in Manful Assertions: Masculinity in Britain since 1800, eds. Michael and John Tosh Roper, New York: Routledge, 1991, 74–91: 85–6.16. Most societies contracted with a surgeon who provided “medical attendance” for club members (that is, in‐home visits and the disbursement of simple medicine; see P. Gosden, Self‐Help: Voluntary Associations in the Nineteenth Century, London: Batsford, 1973, 112–13). Complicated procedures or surgery were not included. In some cities such as Leeds and Huddersfield, individual clubs subscribed to a larger medical aid association. The association secured medical benefits for its members and bargained for better rates from local doctors.17. Durham Record Office, Independent Order of Oddfellows from here: Durham D/IOO, Durham Loyal Star of the North Lodge no. 2580, item 2, “Minute Book, 1889–1906”, entry for 19 March 1895.18. Autobiography of Albert Goodwin, Destiny Obscure: Autobiographies of Childhood, Education and Family from the 1820s to the 1920s, ed. John Burnett, London: Allen Lane, 1982, 283–4.19. Northumberland Record Office, National United Order of Free Gardeners Newburn Branch Ivy Lodge #1797: Records, NRO 00386 from here NRO 00386, item 2, “Letter from James Edmund Slee to J. Richardson, Secretary of the Ivy Lodge”: undated.20. Durham D/IOO, item 1, Minute Book, 1867–1888, entry for 10 October 1876.21. West Yorkshire Archive Service Calderdale (Halifax), Ancient and Noble Order of Oddfellows, Bolton Unity Halifax District Records, TU/9 from here: WYAS TU/9, item 88 “Crown Lodge #2, Minutes and fines book,” June 1874.22. Archives of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, Cleveland and Durham District Branch, Mr R. Wrigglesworth, Secretary from here: IOOF Cleveland and Durham Archives: Hartlepool Star of Temperance Lodge Minute Book, entries for 17 February, 3 March, and 17 March 1885.23. Durham D/IOO, item 1, “Loyal Star of the North Lodge no. 2580 Minute Book”, entries throughout 1880, and item 2, “Minute Book,” 1889–1906, entry for 1 July 1895; Halifax Guardian, 11 March 1871, 4.24. Original Songs, with Appropriate Sentiments, Written for the Order of Odd Fellows by a Member of the Bud of Friendship Lodge, Calne, Wiltshire: E. Baily, 1843, 14–15.25. West Yorkshire Archive Service Kirkless (Huddersfield), Deighton Oddfellows, Unity and Peace Lodge no. 156, Records, KC717 from here: WYAS KC717, Box 41, Ritual of Grand United Order of Oddfellows, 1865. This ritual was in use throughout the late nineteenth century.26. National Deposit Friendly Society Magazine, January 1907, 10.27. WYAS TU 9, item 21, National Independent Order of Odd‐fellows, Bacup District, A Selection of Hymns to Be Sung at the Making of Members, n.d.28. Oddfellows Recorder (Manchester), February 1893, 23.29. Ibid.30. Alfred Pinhorn, Spending and Saving: A Primer of Thrift and Guide to Friendly Societies, London: Cassell and Company, 1901, 20.31. The Lectures Used by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Sanctioned and Approved by the Bristol A.M.C., June 1846 (London), 14–15.32. Archives of the Independent Order of Oddfellows Mersey District Branch (at time of research located at 51 Garston Old Road, Grassendale) from here: IOOF Meresy Archives, “Huyton Loyal Lord Stanley Lodge #5089, Minute Book”, entry for 17 June 1899; IOOF Cleveland and Durham Archives, Hartlepool Star of Temperance Lodge, “Minute Book,” entry for 8 December 1874.33. Ibid.34. Archives of the Independent Order of Oddfellows Vale of York District, Goole Branch (at time of research located at 176 Boothferry Road Goole) from here: IOOF York Archives, “Scarborough Loyal Rutland Lodge, Minute Book,” entry for 9 February 1904, Durham D/IOO, item 3, “The Durham Loyal Star of the North Lodge no. 2580, Minutes,” entry for 8 June 1915 documents a similar example.35. IOOF York Archives, Scarborough Loyal Rutland Lodge, “Annual Report and Balance Sheet,” 1904. It is interesting to note that in 1873 this club, like many others, was in a precarious position, with 309 members and capital of only £1,698, a deficiency of £1,279. By aggressively recruiting new members, revising the tables of contribution, and conservatively managing the funds, the deficiency had been eliminated by 1880, see IOOF Cleveland and Durham Archives, “Hartlepool Star of Temperance Lodge, Minute Book,” Minutes for 9 September 1902 and 2 October 1906.36. IOOF Cleveland and Durham Archives, Hartlepool Good Intent Lodge no. 2647, “Minute Book”, Minutes for 17 June 1888 and 18 December 1889.37. One fund established by the Bolton Unity of Oddfellows supported twenty‐one widows. Huddersfield Examiner, 14 January 1871, 6.38. Durham D/IOO, item 4, “Durham Loyal Star of the North Lodge Minute Book,” entry for 28 February 1923.39. Shani D'cruze and Jean Turnbull, “Fellowship and Family: Oddfellows' Lodges in Preston and Lancaster, c. 1830–1890,” Urban History 22, 1995, 22–47: 39.40. IOOF Cleveland and Durham Archives, “Hartlepool Star of Temperance Lodge Minute Book,” 8 December 1874.41. IOOF Cleveland and Durham Archives, “Hartlepool Good Intent Lodge no. 2647 Minute Book,” 18 December 1889. Similar housing plans were attempted in Liverpool, Durham, and Newcastle.42. John Wilson, A History of the Durham Miners' Association, 1870–1904 (1907), 300.43. National Deposit Friendly Society Magazine, June 1907, 94.44. Ibid., August 1907, 142.45. On the Huddersfield home, see The Oddfellows Magazine, November 1909, 605.46. For other examples, see WYAS TU/9, item 88, “Halifax District of Ancient Order of Oddfellows (Bolton Unity), Crown Lodge #2 Minutes and Fines Book,” entry for 14 March 1874; Halifax Guardian, 30 January 1880, 4; IOOF Cleveland and Durham Archives, “Hartlepool Good Intent Lodge no. 2647, Minute Book,” entry for 2 July 1884.47. The Porcupine, 11 July 1875, 231.48. The district raised and donated £122 3s. 6d. for the W. J. Sanderson Home for Crippled Children; earlier in the year they had donated £200 to the charities of the Lord Mayor of Newcastle. Archives of the Independent Order of Oddfellows Northumbria District Archives, in possession of Mr Jack Allen, Seaton Delaval, at time of research from here: IOOF Northumbria Archives, “Newcastle upon Tyne District Manchester Unity of Oddfellows District Resolution/Minute Books,” entries for 4 May 1928 and 9 August 1928.49. IOOF Cleveland and Durham Archives, “Hartlepool Good Intent Lodge Minute Book,” entry for 10 February 1892.50. West Yorkshire Archive Service, Kirklees, National United Order Of Free Gardeners, Huddersfield, Records, KC41 from here WYAS KC41, item 7, “Huddersfield National United Order of Free Gardeners, Notices and Coded Passwords File,” notice of 10 January 1863.51. See The Friendly Societies Gazette and Advertiser, March 1963, 5, for an example of how wide a geographic net this assistance covered; the New Zealand Oddfellows raised £180 for the relief of their brothers thrown out of work in England.52. Oddfellows Magazine, July 1896, 163.53. Foresters' Directory 1902, Barrow‐in‐Furness: The Executive Council, 1902, xxix, 546.54. Ibid.55. West Yorkshire Archive Service Calderdale (Halifax), Loyal Order Of Ancient Shepherds, Ashton Unity, Halifax, Brighouse and Leeds Records, TU/12, from here WYAS TU/12, item 27, “Halifax Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds (Ashton Unity), Brighouse and City of Leeds Districts, Minute Book for the Halifax District,” entry for 20 October 1883.56. Derbyshire Record Office, Records of the Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds, Ripley District, D 320, item FB/3, “Minute Book, 1900–19,” entry for 13 January 1912.57. WYAS KC41, item 23, “Huddersfield National United Order of Free Gardeners, Annual General Meeting Minutes,” 1877, pages 44–48.58. Ibid., 1878, 32.59. Ibid., 1881, 50.60. WYAS KC41, item 7, “Huddersfield National United Order of Free Gardeners, Undated Notice.”61. For further reading related to the arguments presented in this paragraph, see Miriam Cohen and Michael Hamagan, “The Politics of Gender and the Making of the Welfare State,” Journal of Social History 3, 1991, 469–84; Jane Lewis, “Gender and Development of Welfare Regimes,” Journal of European Social Policy 3, 1992, 1–15; Jane Lewis, “Gender, the Family and Women's Agency in Building the ‘Welfare States’: The British Case,” Social History 19, 1994, 37–55; Susan Pedersen, “The Failure of Feminism in the Making of the British Welfare State,” Radical History Review 43, 1989, 86–110; Susan Pedersen, Family, Dependence, and Origins of the Welfare State, Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994.62. Although a few clubs organized the festivals purely to advertise the order and not to raise money for a charitable cause, the normal purpose was charitable.63. In 1882 the second day of the festival was rained out and only £219 was collected, against £235 to rent the grounds, pay police and ticket takers, and rent needed equipment. Nevertheless, £10 was donated to the infirmary out of the prior year's surplus. WYAS TU/10, item 11, “Halifax District Ancient Order of Foresters, Balance Sheet of Halifax Friendly and Trade Societies' Demonstration,” 1882.64. Halifax Courier, 2 July 1910, 9.65. Ibid., 13 June 1914, 3.66. Ancient Order of Foresters Archives (in possession of George Armitage at time of research), Bately Ancient Order of Foresters Court Abiding Hope #2560, “Minute Book,” entries for 1887.67. The Oddfellows Festival held in Jesmond in 1884 was attended by “1400 Oddfellows and their friends” and included the Coxlodge Brass Band, dancing, sack racing, and pole leaping contests (Tyneside Echo, 4 June 1884, 3).68. Account of Brighouse Friendly Societies and Trades Demonstration, see Halifax Courier, 2 July 1910, 9.69. Margaret Fuller, West Country Friendly Societies: An Account of Village Benefit Clubs and Their Brass Pole Heads, Lingfield: Oakwood Press, 1964, 115.70. Halifax Guardian, 12 February 1870, 4.71. The Friendly Societies Gazette and Advertiser, August 1863, 11–12.72. Ibid.73. Halifax Courier, 8 October 1910, 3.74. Thomas J. Scheff, “Unpacking the Civilizing Process: Interdependence and Shame,”Norbert Elias and Human Interdependencies, ed. Thomas Salumets, Montreal: McGill‐Queens University Press: 2001, 99–115.Additional informationNotes on contributorsChristopher J. PromChristopher J. Prom is Assistant University Archivist and Associate Professor of Library Admininstration at the University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign. He was the recipient of a 2009–10 Fulbright Distinguished Scholar Award and was recently named a Fellow of the Society of American Archivists. He is the author of the blog “Practical E‐Records” and has published frequently in the /American Archivist/ and other journals related to archival management. Dr. Prom wishes to thank Walter Arnstein, Simon Cordery, William Maher, Jean Morgan, Ron Wrigglesworth, Jack Allen, Peter Needham, and George Armitage for assistance provided while conducting the research on which this article is based.