Tomkins, the chief clerk of the Registrar-General, having
found and deciphered the accounts of one at Lanuvium, the entrance fee
to which was 100 sesterces (about 15s.), and an amphora (or jar) of
wine. The payments were equivalent to 2s. a year, or 2d. per mouth, the
funeral money being 45s., a fixed portion, 7s. 6d. being set apart for
distribution at the burning of the body. Members who did not pay up
promptly were struck off the list, and the secretaries and treasurers,
when funds were short, went to their own pockets.--The first Act for
regulating Friendly Societies was passed in 1795. Few towns in England
have more sick and benefit clubs than Birmingham, there not being many
public-houses without one attached to them, and scarcely a manufactory
minus its special fund for like purposes. The larger societies, of
course, have many branches (lodges, courts, &c), and it would be a
difficult matter to particularise them all, or even arrive at the
aggregate number of their members, which, however, cannot be much less
than 50,000; and, if to these we add the large number of what may be
styled "annual gift clubs" (the money in hand being divided every year),
we may safely put the total at something like 70,000 persons who take
this method of providing for a rainy day.
Pages:
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254