Friendly Societies
Friendly Societies grew from the simple premise that if a group of people contributed to a mutual fund, then they could receive benefits at a time of need. This was crucial as, prior to the Welfare State, these were often the only way a working person could receive help in times of ill health, or old age. In the days when having no income normally meant a life of begging or living in the poorhouse the importance of Friendly Societies was significant. People joined Friendly Societies in large numbers, and they could be found in small villages and large towns alike; indeed by the late 1800's there was in the order of 27,000 registered Friendly Societies in Britain. However, there were a number of failures, with unfortunate consequences for members, and so, in the early 1820s, the Highland Society of Scotland produced a model for such institutions. Set up in 1784, The Highland Society’s aims were: ‘the improvement of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and the conditions of their inhabitants, an enquiry into the means of their improvement by establishing towns and villages - facilitating communications by roads and bridges - advancing agriculture - extending fisheries - introducing useful trades and manufactures , and the preservation of the language, poetry and music of the Highlands.’ The first Society set up using the Highland Society’s model was the Edinburgh Compositors Society; established to ‘afford Sick and Funeral allowances to its members’. William Dumbreck (Number 49) was the Society’s surgeon and received a fee to ‘visit personally the sick members, residing within the toll-bars, once a week. The surgeon’s visit shall only be for the purpose of ascertaining the applicant’s state of health, without giving advice or medicines; but should he be employed by any individual member, the Society shall not be responsible for any advice or medicines given to him.’ (See image for Number 50)
A few years later saw the launch of a new version of a Friendly Society, the Medical Provident Institution of Scotland. Unlike existing Friendly Societies which assisted members when ill, this Institution was aimed at medical professionals and, through a mutual fund, offered cover in times of sickness or accident. It also offered annuities in old age, and death benefits for widows. The chairman at the Institution’s first annual general meeting held in The Physicians’ Hall said: ‘the contributor derives, when incapacitated by sickness, or any of the casualties of human nature, an income which would relieve him from dependence on the benevolence of private individuals, or the sympathy only of any corporate body to which he might be attached.’ The first secretary to the Institution was a surgeon, David Cannan, who lived at Number 10.
Alexander Carnegy Ritchie (Numbers 10 and 16), an advocate, became the Registrar of Friendly Societies. In 1829, parliament appointed barristers for England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland to assist local justices of the peace by verifying that Friendly Societies’ rules were legal. Parliament extended the barristers’ powers in 1846 by redefining the position as Registrar of Friendly Societies. The registrar played a crucial part in drafting and debating the many acts of parliament passed to regulate the societies. It appears that there was some disquiet over Ritchie’s fees: ‘Most of the early co-operative societies experienced great difficulty in getting their rules registered, the Registrar for Scotland — at that time Mr Carnegy Ritchie — evidently having his own ideas as to the payments which should be made for his services. St Cuthbert's Society, for instance, was asked in 1859 to pay three guineas for registration, with 7s.6d.for the clerk and 2s. 6d.for correspondence, and it was not until 1863, and then only on the vigorous agitation of the editor of the Scottish Co-operator, that the aid of Parliament was invoked, and the Registrar was compelled to perform the duties for which he was being paid by the State.’