| Description | Balance sheets, sicknotes, correspondence, fines book, contribution cards, magazines, rule books, doctor's certificates, declaration book and other records |
| Administrative History | The Oddfellows is a friendly society with branches all over the country. Its members have a long history of helping people through social events, care and community based charity work. By 2005, it had 100,000 members nationwide.
The origin of the Oddfellows society arose out of the medieval guilds in smaller towns and villages where there were insufficient numbers of fellows of a particular trade to form one of the dedicated guilds so the fellows from a variety of trades banded together to form one guild, hence the name Oddfellows. Nearly all guilds adopted the name of a chosen patron saint or a religious title. In 1810 the society was officially set up when the members of the Oddfellows in the Manchester area broke away to form an independent order with the title Manchester Unity. This group became the Oddfellows of today. Before 1911 there was no national system of social security. Instead voluntary mutual benefit societies provided financial support to their members in times of sickness, in old age, at death and to their widows and orphans. Many working men joined such a friendly society as a means of insuring against these eventualities. Each member paid a monthly contribution and in return they received payments towards funeral expanses, maintenance during sickness and old age, maintenance of orphans, medicine and doctors' bills and travel expenses when seeking employment. The societies were locally organised but affiliated to national organisations. Each local club was called a lodge. Then as now the oddfellows has no religious or political affiliations and accepts members from all walks of life regardless of sex, colour or belief. Today the Oddfellows are enthusiastic fundraisers for both local and national charities. In 1911 when the National Insurance Act was passed the Oddfellows was the largest friendly society in the world.
The Elton Oddfellows made their meeting place the Duke of York public house and called themselves the Loyal Faithful Shepherd Lodge. This continued until 1967 when its business was transferred to the Loyal Triumphant Hope Lodge at Winster. This in turn was transferred to the Offspring of Hope Lodge in Matlock in 1977. As membership declined further, the Matlock Lodge transferred to the Loyal Devonshire Lodge at Bakewell and in 1990 this transferred to the Derbyshire Peak District Lodge in Chesterfield. The society no longer offers financial services but has become a social club whose motto is "Making friends, helping people". |
| Custodial History | These records were donated on behalf of the owner by the Coordinator of the Elton Local History Group in November 2005. |