Catalogue Number
NMLH.2008.8.11
Object Name
Banner
Title
Independent Order Of Rechabites White Star Tent No. 1755 Winner Of The District Challenge Shield 1906.
People
Independent Order of Rechabites
Events
Temperance Movement
Date
1906
Description
Cream portrait banner on a wooden pole with decorative brass coned shaped finials at either end. Blue text reads âIndependent Order OF RECHABITES WHITE STAR TENT No 1755 WINNERS OF THE DISTRICT CHALLENGE SHIELD 1906.â. The first letters of some words have a gold background. The bottom of the banner has a yellow fringe with two tassels, one at each end of the fringe.
The Independent Order of Rechabites was formed on Bolton Street, Salford in 1835, in Mrs Meadowcroft's Temperance Hotel. It was founded as a fraternal and friendly organisation, part of the wider temperance movement to promote total abstinence from alcoholic beverages. The name Rechabite comes from the Old Testament where in the book of Jeremiah the sons of Rechab, their wives and children, were commanded to drink no wine and build no houses, which explains why small groups of members who met were called Tents. Each of the images on the logo represents something about the Society. The two figures are peace and plenty, the rewards of temperance. The beehive, a symbol iconic to Manchester that represents industry and hard work.
By the early 1900s, there were over 4000 individual tents that met to collect premiums, pay claims and promote the total abstinence of alcohol. The District Challenge Shield (one the banner) was a temperance quiz, generally but not always, for children on the danger of alcohol. In 1917, the Society moved into a new head office in Parsonage Green in central Manchester. Membership declined after the formation of the NHS, as basic state benefits offered support to those in need. The Order focused instead on growing their range of products to include savings plans and mortgages. In 2002, they were renamed as Healthy Investment and in 2007, the Society moved to new offices in Bury, Greater Manchester.
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