EARLY FROTHBLOWERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 44, 14 May 1927, Page 14

EARLY FROTHBLOWERS

THE “FREE AND EASY” A BENEVOLENT BODY London had an Ancient Order of Frothblowers just a hundred and fifty-four years ago; in 1773 was born that bibulous but beneficient society known as the “Free and Easy under the Crown.” Hardly recognisable as “The Old Bishopsgate Benevolent Society,” it still flourishes, carrying out its charitable purpose of “providing Bread and Coals for the poor of the City during the Severity of Winter.” —officially fixed by the rules of the society as lasting from the December 20 to the last day in February. The original founders, who were prosperous city merchants, established a benevolent fund for providing these comforts. Their first meetings were quite appropriately held in the famous White Dog Tavern in Widegate Street, Bishopsgate. Charity and Punch

Five shillings will make you a Frothblower. Five-and-threepence was the sum a new member of the Free and Easy had to disburse but only one shilling of this went to the benevolent fund. The other four and threepence went to provide a bowl of punch for the meetings. For every hundred members an official known as a “general” was elected, and on his elevation to this dignity it was his privilege to provide punch for all company then present. As at one time the society boasted 7,000 members, the landlord of the White Dog must have brewed a prodigious quantity of punch in his time! This comforting beverage, indeed, looms large in the history of the Free and Easy. Old minute books show that bets among the members for bowls of punch or bottles of wine were frequent. In 18i2 a Mr. Imbley “bet Mr. Young two bottles of wine to one that there is divine service performed in St. Faith’s Church under St. Paul’s Cathedral, within the iron palisades that surround the same.” Mr. Young lost. Pugilists Banned The regulations of the society published in 1833 show that by then the name had been changed to the somewhat less amusing “White Dog Benevolent Society.” By a curious provision of these rules “no professed pugilist or prizefighter” could be admitted to the fraternity. No doubt it was feared that the constant participation by such gentry in the popular bowls of punch might prove unsafe. By another rule profane swearing, obscene language or “personal reflections upon other members” were strictly forbidden under penalty of a fine, even of expulsion for a second offence. The society still retains its method of raising funds by means of a collection at the end of its great annual dinner. But there are no more bowls of punch. There are no more bets for bottles of wine. No longer does Wednesday night see the worthy members flocking to a tavern, though as lately as 1595 the Black Raven in Bishopsgate was the favoured venue.

But however close twentieth century’ Frothblowers are bound together, genial souls who partook of the steaming bowl in an upper room at the sign of the White Dog in Bishopsgate.