The Timberscombe Friendly Society at St. Petrock's Church, by Alfred Vowles
Title
The Timberscombe Friendly Society at St. Petrock's Church, by Alfred Vowles
Subject
Description
A photograph, by Alfred Vowles, of Timberscombe's Friendly Society pausing on the Timberscombe Club Walk at St. Petrock's Church. Versions of Friendly Societies were worldwide and thought to have their origins in certain societies of ancient Greece and Rome, where artisans united to ensure a proper burial for their fellow workers. More direct origins are from the Middle Age guilds that sought to provide mutual assistance to other workmen of the same trade (1). In the 17th and 18th centuries, Friendly Societies spread throughout Britain, surging around the year 1760 (2). Their purpose was to provide for the insane, care for the ill, arrange burials, provide pensions and offer insurance and cooperative banking. They could be considered the predecessor of credit unions or social security.
The Timberscombe Friendly Society was organized in 1827 (3). On the first Tuesday (4) or Thursday of June and later on Whit-Monday (5), all members in good health and that lived within a 15 mile radius of Timberscombe, would meet in the morning for the annual Timberscombe Club Walk. Over the years, Bickham Manor, on the southwest edge of the village, evolved as a gathering point. They would proceed to the centre of Timberscombe, arriving at St. Petrock's Church around 10:00 AM and have a breakfast, paying 2s6d each, with proceeds going to the Society to support its endeavours (6). The participants are pictured here at St. Petrock's North Porch with the church's yew tree in the background. Vowles has labelled this photograph "T.F.S. PARADE," perhaps sarcastically adding "ABSENTEES FINED 2/6 ONLY". "VOWLES 1 " is on the lower right.
As seen, members carried staffs adorned with flowers, foliage and ribbons. Stewards, such as the gentleman on the right, wore sashes (7). After breakfast, a village fair might be held and sports were often played at the club field (8). The Timberscombe Club Walk often ended at Duddings, a farmhouse on the northeast end of Timberscombe (9).
In 1908 Winston Churchill proposed that there be a national unemployment insurance. By the end of 1910, David Lloyd George had made a study of a State Insurance Program, culminating in the Insurance Act being passed in the autumn of 1911 (10). With this program in effect, individual charity groups had to be approved by the National Health Insurance Joint Committee. In July 1912 , the Timberscombe Friendly Society, lead by Mr. John Coles ,was duly sanctioned by the Joint Committee and by Command of His Majesty (11). This does not seem to have been John Coles, who lived at Great House Farm at this time but was his son, also John Coles, the Assistant-Overseer of the Timberscombe Post Office who lived at The Retreat-- on the village green and later known as Ivy Cottage (12). Nevertheless as government social services became more common, membership declined, being at about 130 in 1892 and around 60 in the 1930's (13). The last Timberscombe Club Walk was held in 1939 (14) and The Timberscombe Friendly Society ceased c. 1948 (15).
Alfred Vowles was born in 1882 at Stone Allerton, near Axbridge, Somerset, the youngest of eleven children. His father died when he was three. At the age of fourteen, he left Somerset to attend the Royal Navy College at Greenwich, London. He only remained a few months but continued on in London, clerking at various jobs, ending up at the counting house of the Eastman Kodak Company on Farringdon Road, London. Despite his later career, he was not a photographer during this time but perhaps his stay at Eastman Kodak helped him secure a position as a photographer's assistant in 1905, at Watchet, having returned to Somerset (16).
According to his own autobiography, Alfred Vowle's solo career as a photographer began on 10 April, 1910 when he cycled into Porlock and secured lodgings at a thatched cottage where his landlady told him that R. D. Blackmore had stayed while writing "Lorna Doone". In 1911 he purchased a horse drawn caravan, serving as his lodging and studio when travelling about western Somerset (17). SP-107 and SP-108 are Timberscombe photographs likely taken by Vowles before he volunteered for World War I, both labeled with "VOWLES PORLOCK" in the style he employed in those early years.
While this photograph is undated, it is likely after the war, when Vowles was on to his second caravan, often parked in a field at Alcombe. By 1923 he had purchased a Morris Cowley automobile and around 1927, a house on No. 3 The Avenue, Minehead, that he used as his studio until about 1935. In 1931 he had married Lilian Ethel Bowerman (18). Around 1940, Vowles left Exmoor, apparently have left Lilian as well. He seems to have returned at various times, such as in 1947 when he was apparently involved in a postwar reconstruction of Tarr Steps (19). That same year, he married Dorothy Una (nee Clough, then Ratcliffe) Phillips, an aspiring opera singer, poetess and author that he had previously known in the 1920's (20). He took Phillips, the name of Dorothy's second husband as his surname (21). They settled on Anne Street in Edinburgh, Scotland where Alfred died on 22 February, 1965 (22).
This version of Vowle's photograph was provided by Angie Gummer to the St. Petrock's History Group in 2019.
The Timberscombe Friendly Society was organized in 1827 (3). On the first Tuesday (4) or Thursday of June and later on Whit-Monday (5), all members in good health and that lived within a 15 mile radius of Timberscombe, would meet in the morning for the annual Timberscombe Club Walk. Over the years, Bickham Manor, on the southwest edge of the village, evolved as a gathering point. They would proceed to the centre of Timberscombe, arriving at St. Petrock's Church around 10:00 AM and have a breakfast, paying 2s6d each, with proceeds going to the Society to support its endeavours (6). The participants are pictured here at St. Petrock's North Porch with the church's yew tree in the background. Vowles has labelled this photograph "T.F.S. PARADE," perhaps sarcastically adding "ABSENTEES FINED 2/6 ONLY". "VOWLES 1 " is on the lower right.
As seen, members carried staffs adorned with flowers, foliage and ribbons. Stewards, such as the gentleman on the right, wore sashes (7). After breakfast, a village fair might be held and sports were often played at the club field (8). The Timberscombe Club Walk often ended at Duddings, a farmhouse on the northeast end of Timberscombe (9).
In 1908 Winston Churchill proposed that there be a national unemployment insurance. By the end of 1910, David Lloyd George had made a study of a State Insurance Program, culminating in the Insurance Act being passed in the autumn of 1911 (10). With this program in effect, individual charity groups had to be approved by the National Health Insurance Joint Committee. In July 1912 , the Timberscombe Friendly Society, lead by Mr. John Coles ,was duly sanctioned by the Joint Committee and by Command of His Majesty (11). This does not seem to have been John Coles, who lived at Great House Farm at this time but was his son, also John Coles, the Assistant-Overseer of the Timberscombe Post Office who lived at The Retreat-- on the village green and later known as Ivy Cottage (12). Nevertheless as government social services became more common, membership declined, being at about 130 in 1892 and around 60 in the 1930's (13). The last Timberscombe Club Walk was held in 1939 (14) and The Timberscombe Friendly Society ceased c. 1948 (15).
Alfred Vowles was born in 1882 at Stone Allerton, near Axbridge, Somerset, the youngest of eleven children. His father died when he was three. At the age of fourteen, he left Somerset to attend the Royal Navy College at Greenwich, London. He only remained a few months but continued on in London, clerking at various jobs, ending up at the counting house of the Eastman Kodak Company on Farringdon Road, London. Despite his later career, he was not a photographer during this time but perhaps his stay at Eastman Kodak helped him secure a position as a photographer's assistant in 1905, at Watchet, having returned to Somerset (16).
According to his own autobiography, Alfred Vowle's solo career as a photographer began on 10 April, 1910 when he cycled into Porlock and secured lodgings at a thatched cottage where his landlady told him that R. D. Blackmore had stayed while writing "Lorna Doone". In 1911 he purchased a horse drawn caravan, serving as his lodging and studio when travelling about western Somerset (17). SP-107 and SP-108 are Timberscombe photographs likely taken by Vowles before he volunteered for World War I, both labeled with "VOWLES PORLOCK" in the style he employed in those early years.
While this photograph is undated, it is likely after the war, when Vowles was on to his second caravan, often parked in a field at Alcombe. By 1923 he had purchased a Morris Cowley automobile and around 1927, a house on No. 3 The Avenue, Minehead, that he used as his studio until about 1935. In 1931 he had married Lilian Ethel Bowerman (18). Around 1940, Vowles left Exmoor, apparently have left Lilian as well. He seems to have returned at various times, such as in 1947 when he was apparently involved in a postwar reconstruction of Tarr Steps (19). That same year, he married Dorothy Una (nee Clough, then Ratcliffe) Phillips, an aspiring opera singer, poetess and author that he had previously known in the 1920's (20). He took Phillips, the name of Dorothy's second husband as his surname (21). They settled on Anne Street in Edinburgh, Scotland where Alfred died on 22 February, 1965 (22).
This version of Vowle's photograph was provided by Angie Gummer to the St. Petrock's History Group in 2019.
Creator
Alfred Vowles
Source
Date
possibly 1930s
Contributor
Language
English
Identifier
Timberscombe Friendly Society at St. Petrock's Church / Timberscombe / Village Centre
Acquisition Date
2019
Acquisition Method
Gift
Category
PEOPLE: Organizations / Timberscombe
EVENTS: Timberscombe Club Walk / Timberscombe
EVENTS: Timberscombe Club Walk / Timberscombe
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
Entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2020
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
11.5 X 19
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) Encyclopedia Britannica, britannica.com/ friendlysociety (2) Encyclopedia.com (3) Victoria County History News Letter, Spring/Summer 2014 (4) VCH (5) "THE VILLAGE OF TIMBERSCOMBE AND IT'S CHURCH", by B. L. K. Henderson and G. O. E. Henderson, printed by E. Goodman & Son, Ltd., The Phoenix Press, Taunton, 1955 (6) VCH (7) VCH (8) "THE VILLAGE OF TIMBERSCOMBE AND IT'S CHURCH" (9) as photographed at SP-113 and as recalled in 2018 at Duddings HolidayCottages (10) Spartacus Education.com (11) dippan.ac.uk/ eppi/ documents and nationalarchives.gov.uk (12) 1911 England Census and TIMBERSCOMBE 1910 LIST OF RESIDENTS, minehead-online.co.uk (13) VCH (14) "THE VILLAGE OF TIMBERSCOMBE AND IT'S CHURCH" (15) VCH (16) "AROUND MINEHEAD FROM OLD PHOTOGRAPHS" by Joan Astell, Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2010 (17) "EXMOOR CENTURY", by Hilary Binding, Brian Pearce and Steven Pugsley, Exmoor Books, Tiverton, EX, 2001 (18) "AROUND MINEHEAD FROM OLD PHOTOGRAPHS " and "Secure the shadow: Somerset Photographers 1839-1939", by Robin Ansell, Allan Collier and Phil Nichols, The Somerset and Dorset Family History Society, 2018 (19) "AROUND MINEHEAD FROM OLD PHOTOGRAPHS' (20) artisan-harmony.com, "Secure the shadow: Somerset Photographers 1839-1939" and England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (21) artisan-harmony.com and "Secure the shadow: Somerset Photographers 1839-1939 " (22) "Secure the shadow: Somerset Photographers 1839-1939" and Web: UK, Burial and Cremation Index, 1576-2014
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archive
Storage Date
2020
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
Item Reference
SP-109
Technique
Copy
Collection
Citation
Alfred Vowles, “The Timberscombe Friendly Society at St. Petrock's Church, by Alfred Vowles,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 2, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3211.
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