The inscription on this clock reads
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF RECHABITES
PRESENTED TO BRO. WM. JOHNSON
BY THE MEMBERS OF PROSPERITY TENT 3308
FOR VALUABLE SERVICES AS SECRETARY
DURING THE PAST 29 YEARS
APRIL 1936
This clock was presented to my grandfather, William Johnson. The Rechabites were a friendly society founded by Methodists in the 1830's to discourage the use of alcohol as well as to provide financial support to members. They got their name from an Old Testament passage in which the descendents of Rechab swore not to drink wine and to live in tents.
My father remembers going with his father in the 1920s to the local Primitive Methodist chapel to distribute financial help to members of the tent.
Friendly societies and total abstinence are not common today but this clock reminds us that the ideals behind them were part of everyday life in certain communities.
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