1921.] 



Pig and Potato Clubs. 



788 



PIG AND POTATO CLUBS IN 

 GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



G. H. HOLLING WORTH. 



Hon. Organising Secretary, Gloucester County Pig ani Potato 

 Production Committee. 

 It may be observed that there is nothing new in the idea 

 of pig clubs in Gloucestershire. They existed long before the 

 War, chiefly on the Cotswold Hills, and stand out as notable 

 examples of independent thrift displayed by agiicultural 

 workers in Cotswold villages, at a period when wages were 

 low and the families of farm labourers received little fresh 

 meat apart from the pigs they fed and killed. To lose a pig 

 in those days was a serious matter — it almost spelt ruin in 

 some cases — and a scheme for mutual insurance which had a 

 great deal to commend it was therefore established by the 

 village labourers. In other words the cottage pig-keepers 

 formed themselves into clubs for the mutual insurance of their 

 pigs. The small premiums were paid into a common fund 

 which in some cases was augmented by donations from farmers 

 and other sympathisers, and the headquarters of the club was 

 generally the village inn. The rules of the club were few and 

 simple, and if a member was so unfortunate as to lose an 

 insured pig, he was fully or partly compensated, according to 

 the rules and the financial status of the club. From the point 

 of view of insurance business, the establishment of village pig 

 clubs was as risky as it was primitive, and if losses occurred 

 before a reserve fund was built up the outlook became serious. 

 Fortunately, however, the hill-bred pigs were healthy and 

 fatalities were not numerous. The objects of the insm'ance 

 ■club were thrift, and to obtain that sense of security which 

 insurance gives. Through having to pay out little for 

 compensation, some of the older clubs have built up reserve 

 funds amounting in some cas:- to hundreds of pounds. The 

 story of Gloucestershire pig clubs in the past is one that does 

 infinite credit to the thrift and economy of a class of workers 

 which was poorly paid, and in this way demonstrated the value 

 of co-operation and mutual self help. 



Pig and Potato Clubs as a War Measure. — It was in the 



spring of 1918 that the county scheme, as at present con- 



