Tags
&, angling, clubs, Crown, Cushion, old, piscatorial, societies, society, victorian, welburn, yorkshire
We have a mystery here that I really would like to un-earth. I’ve owned this box for a while now and I was told it came from a pub in Yorkshire? Well after a little investigating on the net there is a pub in North Yorkshire called the Old Crown & Cushion in a place named Welburn. The story goes that the box used to be fixed to the bar top (the underside does reflect this, as it is a bit rough) but I can only conclude this was for storing either scales or match returns?
If anyone could tell me about the Old Crown & Cushion Piscatorial Society or any other tales of such boxes nailed to bar tops I would like to hear from you. At present I’m looking at bars I have frequented in the past, in London and their Victorian piscatorial club connections, invaluable research…trust me! I hope to find more tales of boxes glued to bar tops, at present without these bar top boxes, the public bar seems a little impersonal?
Now the box rests on my book shelve awaiting Bagpuss to come along and unravel its past and find me a story but in the meantime it holds a fine collection of british fishing reels of the twentieth century.
the tuesday swim... 
A big clue here is the word “piscatorial society” — this box could possibly be a collection box for members of a piscatorial (or fishing) society that was formed in a town around a pub (note there is an Old Crown and Cushion pub in Birmingham, England as well) to put regular contributions for mutual aid in times of need. North Yorkshire is on the coast, so it makes sense. It was very common for groups of workers and tradesmen to self organize and mutually insure each other in the 1700’s and 1800’s throughout England before insurance companies existed. Being a fishermen was/is risky business. Such self-help “box societies” were formed with a box similar to this that was often put in local pubs where members (in this case fishermen) could stop by to make their regular contributions. Hundreds were formed all around the country, both formal and informal. When calamity struck, a member could go before the society to file a claim compensation. Such box societies eventually developed into what today are called friendly societies, building societies and mutual insurance companies. Is there any evidence of a lock or double lock on the box? If so, that would be another clue as they often had such locks for security (see example at: http://www.historyshelf.org/shelf/friend/05.php. Also consider contacting the Welburn Historical Society for more information and context: http://www.welburn.info/societiesgroups.html Good luck!
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Dear Edward,
Thanks for you detailed response, extremely interesting with regards to the friendly society aspect. The box was securely fixed to a bar top but there is no evidence of a locking device nor any hole that would indicate a hasp and staple.
The Crown and Cushion comes up in a few locations across the country including one, here in London.
The tuesday swim.
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To give a little more history on box societies, the following definition from the Insurance Encyclopedia of 1871 is particularly enlightening:
Box Societies: A species of Friendly Society, prevailing during the last century and of the constitution of which (about 1728) some leading points were as follows: – Members met weekly at an appointed place – generally some favorite inn – and were expected to spend 3 d. [denarius or thruppence, 3 pence] at each meeting and put 2 d. into a box – hence the name. A fine was imposed in case of omission. Those who had contributed to the society for one complete year were entitled in case of sickness, lameness, or blindness to receive 7 shillings per week during six months, and half that amount after, should their illness continue. On the death of a full member, an allowance of 40 shillings was made out of the box towards his burial; his fellows being expected to attend the funeral, unless they were “hindered by sickness, lameness, blindness or being in prison,” and were to contribute to 1 shilling per head to be handed to his wife or nominee. The ages of admission were from 21 to 41. The regulations of these societies as to the preservation of decency and good fellowship among the members and the salaries of officers would bear comparison favourably with some of our modern societies.
– In 1793 was published by Strap Bodkin, staymaker (apparenty an assumed name), An address to the Members of the various Box Clubs and Benefits Soceites in Great Britain.
You see how your box could very well be such from such a box society of fishermen in Welburn. This is an example of one of the earliest forms of mutual insurance – back when insuance wasn´t a big business but the only means of mutual assistance for working class and poor people in a very uncertain world. The association I work for, the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (www.icmif.org, – I work in their US regional office), today represents the modern desdendants of such box societies (including cooperative, mutual, fraternal, friendly society, building society, takaful insurers) who are member-owned, democratically governed insurers whose same values and principles of mutual-aid, solidarity, self-governance and group ownership are still practiced in over 70 countries around the world.
Now you have a box with a fascinating story to go with it! Imagine how many people where helped in their time of dire need with contributions from that box. If the box could talk, I´m sure it would have some fascinating stories to tell!
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Looks like it may not be a box society after all but a long established fishing society… see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscatorial_Society
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Weighing into this conversation many years later: my ancestors owned a pub named Crown & Cushion at Pembroke Dock, Wales near the waterfront according to the 1881 census. Another possible location of a friendly society for fisherman.
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Dear Peggy,
Thanks for your comments, another potential location.
regards
TTS
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