Mutual assistance societies

[Barbara Dodds]

One of the family tales I was told some time ago was that my Great Grandfather founded a mutual assistance scheme (for want of a better term) but where would I start looking to confirm or deny it? You know the sort of thing; all the members put a certain amount in each week and when someone is in need the society/scheme pays out

The suggestion certainly makes sense given his own circumstances.

He had had 3 children die at less than a year old. Another two died at the age of 10. At the time when one of his sons died in 1905 at the age of 14 due to a pit accident he was an overman at the same colliery.

All those funerals must have cost money, and he would have been one of the wealthier miners in the area

[Jill on the A272]

Might there be something in a local paper? Our Victorian newspaper here often had summer picnics for families who belonged to various societies eg Ancient order of Foresters, Oddfellows or would be a destination for other groups arriving by train for summer sports or cricket matches.

[GallowayLass]

I have heard of something similar whereby each street had a fund that everyone contributed to and when a household had a funeral, the bereaved could hold a decent funeral (ie. not a burial in a pauper’s / common grave) and depending on how much the regular contributions were, a simple grave marker could also be afforded.

For general savings there was the menage. They were very common in Scotland. A menage was (and still is) an informal savings club usually run by a group of women in workplaces and based entirely on trust. Money was usually withdrawn around holiday times and the festive season.

[Barbara Dodds]

Thank you both

I think it would have been very similar to the street funds GL mentioned, and not big enough to be mentioned in the papers. I will go and have a better look

As far as I know the family had no connection to the Oddfellows or Buffaloes or similar organisations. Although I did live in a property where the Buffaloes once met for many years

[PhotoFamily]

I have a solicitation to elect a distant aunt to the East London Pension Society. I tried at one time to locate their records, but anything that I could find was at a distant library and didn't seem to be very detailed.

this is interesting

http://www.oldtowns.co.uk/Middlesex/london-pt9.htm

[Barbara Dodds]

That's an interesting link PF

The more I look the more I think my Grandfather set up an informal club/self help group and no public records were kept.