ABSTRACT
Since the Friendly Societies Act of 1793, the insurance habit among the working classes had grown by leaps and bounds. The Act allowed friendly societies whose rules were approved by the county quarter sessions to register with them, and this gave them important legal advantages over non-registered societies: they acquired quasi-corporate status and could, for example, sue and prosecute as a legal entity. After 1828 local registration was superseded by a centralised national system of registration under an official later to evolve as the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies.
