HISTORY
The Friendly Societies (Clubs) I write about are those made up of a group of people contributing regular sums of money for distribution to members in times of sickness, old age and for funeral expenses.  They developed during the second half of the 18th Century and were to be found throughout the U.K. at village, town and county level. The title 'Friendly Society' was applied to various organisations including Trade Unions, which were banned at the time and hid their activities under the guise of the Friendly Society movement. |
