Combination and control: Cultural politics in the management of friendly societies in nineteenth-century Essex and Suffolk

The records concerning nineteenth-century friendly societies contain such an immense volume of detailed and often intimate information that the unsuspecting researcher could easily be overwhelmed by the sheer weight of evidence. This is particularly true of Essex, where there were at least 353 societies with almost 15,000 members by 1803. These local friendly societies had a far-reaching cultural and social significance in the region over the course of the following century. The nature of their influence, particularly the question as to whether these mutual institutions were independent combinations of working men formed for financial security and personal betterment, or whether they were instruments through which the clergy and landowners could exercise closer social control, is best explored by investigating the identity and motivation of the people who created and managed them