The Ancient Order of Foresters was a Friendly Society, which held regular meetings at the Workers’ Institute in Cradley Heath at both branch and district level from the 1920’s onwards. Charles Sitch, local union secretary and M.P. was one of its members.
Friendly societies started in 17th and 18th century Europe and England and became most numerous in the 19th century. They were mutual aid organizations begun by individuals to provide financial help for members and their families, who were in difficulty due to illness, old age or death. Their roots can be traced back to the burial societies of Greek and Roman artisans and the guilds of medieval Europe. The contributions that members had to pay depended on how likely they were to need help. Assessing the risk in this way is a basic principle of insurance today.
Typically they offered up to 10 shillings (50 pence) per week sickness benefit, and the services of a doctor, for a contribution of between 4 d (1.6 pence) and 8d (3.2 pence) per week. They differed from commercial insurance companies, not only because they were not for profit, but also because they held social gatherings, which were designed to encourage friendship and a sense of duty towards others.
The Friendly Societies were the largest working class organisations in Britain by 1900. Whereas the trade unions had 1.3 million members by this time, 6 million people were members of a Friendly Society. Unfortunately, membership of a Friendly Society was neither universal nor compulsory. The poorest people could not afford to pay the weekly contributions and so had no safety net beneath them.
In 1912 Lloyd George’s National Insurance scheme came into operation, and was compulsory for those earning less than the income tax threshold, which meant the majority of the working population. Friendly societies with more than 10,000 members, which included the Ancient Order of Foresters, were organisations approved to administer the scheme for the government, along with commercial companies. At that point, many small local societies joined the Foresters to be able to take part in the scheme.
Rollover the captions in the box to see the available images in thumbnail format, click the caption to see the full-size image
| Reference: | 725 |
| Keywords: | |
| Archive Ref: | |
| Updated: | Thu 6 Sep 2007 - 13 |
| Interpretation written by | Louis Howe |
| Author's organisation | Curatorial |
| Organisation's website |