Insuring Against Sickness in Victorian Dore

Benefit or friendly societies were associations formed to save their members from destitution during sickness and ensure a payment to relatives in case of death. We know from the gravestone of John Ward in Dore churchyard that Dore had two by 1840, but whether both left further footprints on the sands of time is unclear. A separate third one, we think, came about much later.

How Dore’s Friendly Society Got its Funds

Friendly societies’ principal sources of income were members’ fees of two kinds, initiation and regular contributions. From the 1840s they were recommended to adopt a system of premiums (monthly contributions) rising with age.

According to its 1864 Rules the Dore and Totley Society charged graduated initiation fees instead: 5s for young men aged 18 increasing in stages to £6 for men of 39, the maximum entry age and as such typical.

Meanwhile the premiums to be paid each lodge night were fixed at 1s 4d for everyone, slightly higher than the usual shilling.
£1 (20s) in 1864 would buy about £135 worth of goods today.

Raising Extra Income

Small additional sums were levied on members. The most significant was probably the monthly twopence charge towards ‘expenses of management’, probably covering room rent and possibly hospitality. It wasn’t unusual among friendly societies to buy an agreed amount of ‘lodge liquor’ as rent in kind.

Incurring Fines

Drunkenness at the Dore meetings incurred fines: a penny for betting, 3d for swearing, indecent remarks, calling political toasts or disobeying the W.P. (Worshipful President?) or vice-president. More serious offences were quarrelling (2s 6d) and assault and fighting (5s). Various misdemeanours when supposedly ill incurred forfeiture of sick pay and also a fine of 10s on the first occasion, £1 on the second and expulsion on a third.

How Dore’s Friendly Society Made Its Gifts

As a condition for benefits the ‘Sick Society’ required members to ‘be well attached to the Queen and Government’. This was ambiguous: convicted criminals could expect ejection and seditious people were more likely to break their bones and become a liability to the society, but similar thinking led to the expulsion of members who became professional soldiers. The ‘sick gift’ (sickness benefit) was 8s per week for the first 24 weeks, then 4s per week for the rest of the illness.

No types of new illness were ineligible except venereal diseases and injuries sustained through drunkenness or fighting; this was more generous than many societies who excluded mental disorders, blindness and age-related disabilities. Conversely the Sick Society provided no specific additional cover for medical attendance, thus lagging behind many others. The claims procedure involved sick visitors, forms and after a fortnight a doctor’s note. Infirm members capable of a limited amount of paid work could be allowed a reduced weekly grant of 2s 6d. The ‘burial money’ (death grant) was £5 after one year’s membership or £10 after two.

A Club for the Ladies

Finally, what about the women? We seize upon two golden nuggets. A small news item from 1889 records the annual feast of the Dore and Totley Ladies’ Sick Club. Meeting at the Hare, members followed the band to the Fleur-de-Lis at Totley where a dinner-dance was held.

In 1909 members of the men’s society made a presentation to Joseph Marshall, 69, surveyor of the highways, their president for 41 years. The reporter commented: Until its dissolution some few years ago, Mr Marshall had acted as secretary of the Ladies Club for Dore and Totley. The fact that the same person was long-term president of the men’s club and secretary of the ladies’ suggests a close link between the two. It is thought the Ladies Club began in the 1870s and ended in the early 1900s.

Society Celebrations

Let’s take a last look at the Dore and Totley Sick and Funeral Society at its 1872 anniversary through the window of the Derbyshire Times. As usual, members foregathered at the Hare and Hounds, formed a procession and led by the Dore and Ecclesall Brass Band marched to Totley, Totley Bents and back to Christ Church. A most impressive sermon was preached by the Rev J.T.F. Aldred, vicar of Dore. After the service the procession reformed and marched to the Clubroom where a splendid dinner was provided by the Host and Hostess Parkin.

How Friendly Societies Came to Dore

First Reception of TV in Dore in 1938

The BBC started transmission of television programmes from Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally) in 1936. In the same year the J G Graves wireless department in Sheffield started experimenting.

Picture Sheffield Reference s12672

After deciding somewhere away from electrical interference was needed J G Graves set up an experimental station on Newfield Lane in Dore away from trams and roads.

As shown in this photograph from Picture Sheffield (reference s12671) the Radio equipment and TV Experimentation Masts and Station were installed.

Two masts of nearly eighty feet in height were constructed in the field next to the house on Newfield Lane.

In this, unfortunately rather poor photograph (Picture Sheffield reference s12670), the aerial atop one of the completed masts can be seen.

The shed contained over one thousand pounds-worth of equipment including shortwave transmitters and ultra shortwave receivers.

The First Television Programmes in the North

In 1938 a reporter from the Daily Independent was shown around the site by George William Bagshaw, chief engineer and manager of the wireless department of J G Graves radio factory. In the war George Bagshaw had served in France in the Wireless Section of the Royal Engineers. He was one of the best-known wireless engineers of the day.

A report of the visit appeared in the newspaper on the 1st of September. The Dore station had been receiving almost perfect pictures for the previous few days but on the day the reporter visited it was unfortunately thundery and the conditions were not suitable for television transmission.

Mr Bagshaw was assisted by Mr K Hopkinson of Crosspool and Mr G Thompson, both of whom were radio enthusiasts employed at J G Graves.

The reporter was told that they are only able to receive broadcasts from London, which is 150 miles away, using expensive specialised equipment. He thought it was unlikely that Sheffield would get a transmitter due to the cost.

George Bagshaw attended many meetings and gave speeches and interviews urging the public to apply pressure to provide television services to Sheffield.

However, war intervened. The BBC's television service was shut down on 1st September 1939, because it was said that the signal transmitted from Alexandra Palace might be an aid to enemy aircraft. While it was not being used for television services, the Alexandra Palace mast was used to jam Luftwaffe navigation signals during the Blitz.

Sheffield Radio Experts Prepare for War

Measles Claims Death of Sheffield Pal

Eager to Enlist in the Sheffield City Battalion

When war was declared in 1914, Charles Hoyland was eager to join the new Sheffield City Battalion (officially entitled the 12th (Service) Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment, and also known as the Sheffield Pals). The original impetus for forming this Battalion came from two Sheffield University students, and on 1st September 1914 the University Vice Chancellor, Mr H A L Fisher, announced that enrolment of volunteers would begin the following afternoon at the Town Hall. Recruitment was targeted at university students and professional men such as businessmen, teachers, and clerks.

The men who enrolled at the Town Hall were sent a postcard dated 8th September requesting them to attend for medical inspection and attestation between 2 and 8 pm on Thursday 10th September - the Battalion's official formation day. The Corn Exchange on Sheaf Street (now demolished) was used for this because it was one of the largest buildings in the city.

Charles Hoyland was quick to volunteer for the City Battalion, attending the Corn Exchange on 10th September. He was 21 years old, 5'7" (1.7m) tall, and weighed 9 stone 12 lbs (62.5 kg); he had good eyesight, a fair complexion, grey eyes, and light brown hair. The medical officer passed him as fit for service in the Battalion, and he was duly enlisted as a Private; his relatively low Regimental Number, 411, shows how early he enlisted.

After enlistment, Charles continued to live at home: army accommodation was not available for the Battalion until December 1914. However, training began on 15th September, at Bramall Lane Football Ground and on waste land in Edmund Road and Queens Road. At first, the recruits trained in their own clothes: officers had to pay for their own uniforms to be made by local tailors, and the issue of uniforms to other ranks did not begin until 16th November.

Recruits drilling at Bramall Lane. Image taken from Picture Sheffield (www.picturesheffield.com reference t02583)

Discharged on Medical Grounds

Charles did not remain in the army for long. On 3rd October 1914, after only 24 days' service, he was discharged 'in consequence of his having been found unfit for service'. The cause of discharge was given as: 'Not likely to become an efficient soldier by reason of being generally weakly under para 392 (iii) C King's Regs'. His military character and character awarded in accordance with King's Regulations were both described as very good. Sadly, no details were given regarding his health.

The fact that Charles was discharged on the grounds of poor health so shortly after he had been passed as fit for military service raises the question whether he should have been passed as fit in the first place. There are several possible explanations.

Flawed Medical Examination Process?

Was Charles Hoyland recruited, and then discharged on health grounds after only 24 days, because the medical examination process which formed part of the wider recruitment process was flawed? There are several reasons to think that it may have been.

Snow Storms of the Past

The Township of Dore

Dore is not only the central village area as we see it today. The Township on its western border extends beyond Fox House, with Burbage Brook being the parish boundary between Dore and Hathersage. The boundary follows Burbage Brook northwards before swinging towards Ringinglow Road and back towards Whirlow Bridge and Limb Lane. Dore was not subsumed into Sheffield until the 1930s.

Below are just three of the reports from the newspapers detailing how difficult life was in the Township of Dore in heavy snow. Reports of the severity of the snow storm in Derbyshire in 1888 appeared in newspapers throughout the country. In 1897 a death in the snow near to Fox House Inn was widely reported.

The Castleton Mail Cart's Journey

THE STORM IN DERBYSHIRE
THROUGH THE SNOW TO CASTLETON AGAIN
ANOTHER ADVENTUROUS RIDE
Sheffield Daily Telegraph
Wednesday 22nd February 1888

Sheffield markets were very thinly attended yesterday, owing to the roads being blocked in several directions, preventing the farmers from bringing their produce down, and in many instances from getting to town itself. Several Derbyshire friends, who set out determined to force a way through the snow, were obliged to turn back. Edward Hall, the driver of the Castleton mail‑cart, with his companion, William Eyre, had another rough experience yesterday. Leaving Sheffield at half-past five o'clock in the morning, driving tandem, as before, they got on fairly well till Dore Moor was reached, the drifts they encountered up to that stage not being very formidable.

But when they came to the Fox House side of Stony Ridge bar, where their troubles commenced the previous day, they were again in difficulty. It was the "same old place", but looked worse than ever. Hall, thinking he might ride over it if he could not get through, pressed his leader, "Bess" to mount the wreath [drift]. She did so, closely followed by the wheeler, "Polly". Then both horses sank to the girths in the yielding mass. Mr Peat, of the besom industry, had again to be called into service. With two of his men and another helper from Longshaw Lodge, "Bess" was dug out, after some arduous labour. When the leader began to feel her feet she did her best to bring her mate out of the depths, and in the effort plunged about so much that the traces parted. Hall then went back to Peat’s and procured some chains to make fresh traces.

Home Guard Company Dinner

E Company, West Riding 66th Battalion

When Dore became part of Sheffield in 1934 it moved from Derbyshire to the West Riding of Yorkshire. (South Yorkshire was not created until 1974.)

The Home Guard had been stood down on the 3rd of December 1944 so this will also have been a farewell dinner.

Although this menu card does not state where the dinner was held its menu items reference Whirlow and Ecclesall. You can see they ate Celerie de Whinfell and Weet‑a‑wood Biscuits among the other fanciful dishes.

This menu card was donated to Dore Archive in 1999 by Mrs Nicholson. If you have any information about the Home Guard in Dore please do get in touch. Perhaps you recognise one of the autographs. We would be pleased to hear from you.

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