| Description | The records relates to the Number 2 Division of the NDFS, which covered parts of Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire but mostly East Berkshire, for the period 1935-1946. The division was subdivided into 67 districts, managed by district secretaries who collected the contributions to the NDFS for each area. Districts represented in the archive include:
Districts 1-20:
1. Newbury I; 3. Longworth; 4. Chieveley; 5. Cholsey; 6. Hungerford; 7. Kingsclere, [Hampshire]; 8. Earley and Reading 3; 9. Thatcham;
10. Wantage; 11. Winkfield; 12. Reading I; 13. Wokingham 1;
14. Warborough [Oxfordshire]; 15. Basingstoke [Hampshire];
16. East Ilsley; 17. Pamber [Hampshire]; 18. Woodhay; 19. Caversham; 20. Lineham [?]
Districts 21-40:
21. Reading II; 22. Newbury II; 24. Kintbury; 26. Reading III;
28. Wooburn [Buckinghamshire]; 29. Didcot; 30. Oxford;
31. Maidenhead; 32. Pangbourne; 33. Peppard, [Oxfordshire];
34. Cookham; 35. Sonning; 36. Henley on Thames, [Oxfordshire];
37. Windsor; 38. Marlow, [Buckinghamshire]; 39. Wokingham 2;
40. Warren Row
Districts 41-67:
41. Spencers Wood; 43. Tilehurst; 45. Sunninghill; 46. Crowthorne;
47. South Reading/Whitley; 48. Lower Whitley and Shinfield;
49. Nettlebed, [Oxfordshire]; 50. Abingdon; 51. Faringdon; 52. Witney, [Oxfordshire]; 53. Woodley; 54. Mortimer; 55. Hook, [Hampshire];
56. Windsor 2; 57. Slough; 58. Sandhurst; 59. Sutton Courtenay;
60. Twyford; 61. Burnham and Taplow; 62. Farnham Road;
63. Caversham 2; 64. Newtown, [Hampshire]; 65. Woodstock, [Oxfordshire]; 66. Heckfield, [Hamsphire]; 67. Littlemore, [Oxfordshire]. |
| Admin History | Originally set up as the Surrey Deposit Friendly Society in 1868 by the Revd Canon George Portal, the society was established (in Albury, Surrey) ‘to provide a deposit system allowing members to co-fund medical assistance’ [cf. Society’s own website, accessed on 12/01/2020]. It changed its name to National Deposit Friendly Society in 1871 to reflect its wider role. Following the passing of the National Insurance Act of 1911, the NDFS grew to become a significant player in the administration of Health Insurance in England. It further adapted its role following the founding of the National Health Service in 1948 and later merged with other friendly societies, including the Railway Deposit Friendly Society.
Registered in 1996, the NDFS is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to provide regulated products and services. These products and services continue to this day to relate to medical insurance, life assurance, savings and investments and, since 2016, later life care. The NDFS, which changed its name to National Friendly in 2009, remains a member-owned mutual society.
The surviving documents were found in an attic at 58 King’s Road, Reading, which was the base for the local district office at the time the records were created.
Bibliography
A Great Thrift Society. Published by The National Deposit Friendly Society, London, 1927.
The First Hundred Years 1868-1968. The Story of the National Deposit Friendly Society by D. H. Roper and John Harrison. Published by National Deposit Friendly Society, 1968.
Internal NDFS Magazine, available at the British Library.
National Deposit Friendly Society's Magazine. vol. 1. no. 1-vol. 12. no. 142. Oct. 1896-July 1908. London, 1896-1908.
The Depositor. The official organ of the National Deposit Friendly Society. vol. 12. no. 143.-vol. 36. no. 435. Aug. 1908-Dec. 1932. London, 1908-32.
The National Deposit Friendly Society Quarterly Review. London, 1933-.
Articles and printed correspondence
British Medical Journal, 28 May 1898, p. 1426
British Medical Journal, 15 October 1898, pp. 1173-1174
British Medical Journal, 28 April 1900, p. 1036
The Critical Review, Fall 1993, pp. 479-495
The Saturday Review, 23 May 1903, p.651
Filmography
Films sponsored by the NDFS and available at the BFI Archives.
• No date: Haven of Rest
• 1955: Haven of Peace
• 1955: Plan for the Future |