ABSTRACT
There were no dramatic developments in self-help in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The challenge of State provision had to be met, however, by evidence that voluntary agencies were able to cope. Steps were taken to improve reliability in the management of friendly societies, in whom probably 8,000,000 people had some financial stake. A Royal Commission on Friendly and Benefit Building Societies made four reports between 1871 and 1874, and recommended that societies should be persuaded to manage their affairs more efficiently. They should be valued every five years, and should make use of precisely calculated actuarial tables. The Commission stopped short of recommending compulsory registration of societies. Its Chairman, Stafford Northcote (1818–87), was firmly of the view that contributors must be left to exercise their own judgments about the probity of a society (16a). He retained this view when, as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Disraeli’s government, he piloted the Friendly Societies Act through parliament in 1875. This Act established the office of Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies, and the post was filled by the Secretary to the Royal Commission, John Ludlow (1821–1911). Ludlow was well known for his interest in social questions, having been involved in the Christian Socialist movement, and also a founder of the London Working Man’s College in 1854. Ludlow’s main complaint was that his office had neither the staff nor the resources to provide the central supervision the Act called for (16b).
