Northern Friendly Society of Pawnbrokers

The Northern Friendly Society was established on 31 January 1837 with the objective of being a sociable organisation which could share information of interest in the trade. An extract from the Pawnbrokers' Gazette reporting on the Jubilee of the Society in 1887 stated it was formed, "to protect the Trade against 'duffers' and to exterminate a class of vermin called 'common informers.'" The names of the founding members have not all survived, from later minutes it can be established that one was Mr James Telfer (of Ponders End) and a second was Mr Sharwood who in the Jubilee year of the Society (1887) was aged 86 and acted as the chair of the meeting, he resigned in October 1888 due to 'old age and its consequences.'

Membership was to be restricted to master pawnbrokers or gentlemen connected with the trade. The membership was limited to fifteen members according to a list of rules drawn up in 1844 (later expanded to thirty members), each paying a subscription. On occassion, Honorary Members could be elected by unanimous vote. Members were also often members of the Bouverie Society, a social club for master pawnbrokers (see CLC/034).

The subscriptions were used to defray the costs of the meetings and also to make special purchases. In the Jubilee Year of the society (1887) a silver loving cup was purchased at a cost of £35 4s; according to an inventory attached to an insurance schedule of 1965 the value of the loving had risen to £58 and this was just one of seven pieces of silver that belonged to the Society with other pieces having presented to the society by members and one piece a plain silver cup and cover with wood plinth in a case commemorating the Bouverie Society versus the Northern Friendly Gold Challenge Cup.