I illage C luJ>s toui Associaf/ons. 5 



difference i)etween the two associations lay in tlieir knowledge 

 of the principles of insurance, and, consequently, the friendly 

 societies soon learned to arrange a scale of premiums and 

 benefits. Incidentally, too, the church house as a meeting 

 place gave way to the public house. 



iSicK AND Burial Clubs. 



There are few villages in England in which men have not 

 formed a voluntary association for protecting of themselves or 

 their families against sickness or death. The P]ditor of The 

 Labourer's Friend, the organ of the Labourer's Friend Society 

 which did good work in promoting self-help and education 

 amongst villagers about 1830, found that in 1832 there were 

 about 9,000 village clubs, and some 8,000 of them met in 

 public houses. Whilst these associations have never been 

 confined to any one social class by theory or rule, their 

 activities have undoubtedly been more appreciated by the 

 poorer strata of village society because of the nature and extent 

 of the benefits offered. At the same time their membership 

 has never been so completely confined to the " labouring " 

 classes as has sometimes been imagined. A village society, 

 typical of the better sort, which have maintained their funds 

 at a proper level for a century or more, is " The Yeomen's, 

 Tradesmen's and Agricultural Labourers' Friendly Society," at 

 Stratton, in Cornwall. This society has always been patronised 

 by the classes nam^ed since its foundation in 1808, and 

 evidence as to its position is provided by the fact that with a 

 membership of 108, the last valuation showed it possessed a 

 surplus of 383?. The Hitchin Friendly Institution, founded in 

 1827, had 312 members in 1882, of whom one-third were 

 " tradesmen," one-third " workmen," and one-third "mechanics, 

 apprentices, and women " (70). 



The history of some of these clubs is notorious; their financial 

 basis was often rotten, their system of management poor, and 

 the results of the two were constantly disastrous. They met 

 in public houses or schools, and the fate of some of them could 

 have been predicted from a knowledge of the meeting place 

 and the influences which prevailed with the members. But 

 while the fact of the many failures and disappointments cannot 

 be overlooked, no one can fail to admire the glorious endeavour 

 behind the organisation of these societies ; and when it is 

 remembered that the village labourer had no sui"plus for insur- 

 ance, his wages being barely sufficient for the immediate needs 

 of his family, and that he received only a minimum of educa- 

 tion till the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the work of 

 these village societies appears remarkable for its success rather 

 than for its failure. 



