| Review | Journal of Social History, 39.2

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| Review | Journal of Social History, 39.2 | The History Cooperative

REVIEWS

British Friendly Societies, 1750–1914. By Simon Cordery (Houndmills and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. xiii plus 230 pp.).

Simon Cordery's examination of British friendly societies is a long-overdue look into the origins, operations, social significance, and ultimately, decline and demise of one of the most significant contributions to nineteenth century economic, social development in liberal and industrial Great Britain. Delving far deeper into the operation and expectation of the friendly societies than existing narrative histories, Cordery contends that financial security, though the most widely recognized achievement of the organizations, was only one objective. Friendly societies were also voluntary organizations which provided conviviality and, correspondingly, the development of an identity or political consciousness that allowed working men and women to engage in economic, social, and political organization while maintaining the respectability and even social conservatism that was so valued in Victorian culture. 'Self-help' could be achieved through membership, and that earned the societies their reputation for respectability. That reputation, Cordery argues, allowed friendly societies to stave off—for a while at least—the most dreaded fear of its members: interference in their economic matters by the middle class.

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