Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
The Editor
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© F.Coakley , 2026
[from A.M Harrision's Descriptive List of Insular Societies]
The affiliated Independent Order of Rechabites was started in 1835 to cater for the many people who required sound insurance but did not want to face the temptations of a non- teetotal organisation operating in licensed premises. The zeal of Manx Methodism in promoting temperance and total abstinence in all its societies ensured the success of the order throughout the Island, second only in importance to the Oddfellows. Like them they prospered well into the twentieth century, losing ground only after the post-war welfare state legislation and, again like the Oddfellows, possessed their own headquarters or halls.
Though a strong chapel in the area of a Tent was important, Methodism was not the only route to the Rechabites. Temperance was a movement moving across religious boundaries, vigorously debated against the background of the growing importance of Douglas as a holiday resort of rather risque reputation, according to J.K.Walton in The English Seaside Resorts ' roistering working class resort'
Examination of the detailed membership records of the Rechabites would throw light on the interesting question of the social status and religious affiliations of its members.
In 1836 the first Manx Tent, the Mona Union, was opened In Douglas. In the 1914 Examiner Annual it was listed as having 525 members and a capital sum of £13, 354.
M.N.H.L. Rechabite records; Isle of Man newspapers, passim;
Isle of Man Examiner Annuals.
...
see Rechabites
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Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
The Editor |
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