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© F.Coakley , 2026
[from A.M Harrision's Descriptive List of Insular Societies]
Unusually, the surviving rules of the Kirk Christ Lezayre Friendly Society start with a clear declaration of its origins and intent - it was instituted 'at a meeting of several Gentlemen. Farmers, Tradesmen and Labourers, the 3rd day of June 1833 as 'a Society for the laudable purpose of raising a fund or capital, to enable the members thereof to exercise and perform the the human and generous office of Amity, Benevolence and Assistance towards each other when under affliction', laid down the structure of the committee and named the officers, led by the President, John James Murray Corlet.
The late start of this club may possibly reflect the problems of a rural parish untouched by the first wave of recognition of the mutual assurance society's efficiency in solving the welfare problems of Manx workers in a country without any Poor Law legislation in place. The parish may well have been a place, unlike the more politicised towns, where a difficult situation, unresolved by initiatives from the workers themselves, had to be taken in hand by a cross section of the leading parishioners. The club itself was of the standard pattern, deviating from the norm only in its concern to pay due benefits to sick members off the Island.
The Club was not listed as operative in 1879 in the Medical Aid and Poor Relief Commission Report. The opening of the Lezayre Mona Ebenezer Tent of Rechabites, in 1866 may well have contributed to its failure.
M.N.H..L.,Rules of Kirk Christ Lezayre Friendly Society, instituted June 3
1833 (Douglas, 1834),[MM D125/3(e) + D126/3(n)]
Isle of Man newspapers, ut supra et passim.
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Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
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