1861 – 1886
1861 – 1886 – GROWTH LEADING TO REFORM
Building on the growth and development achieved by Royal Liver in its first decade of existence (1850 – 1860), the Society recruited two “Managing Secretaries” (perhaps what we might now describe as Joint Managing Directors) in the persons of James Atherton and Henry Liversage. Both these individuals must have been men of some considerable ability but it seems they were also, rather sadly, quite flawed in their overall personal conduct and values.
Between 1860 and 1886, Royal Liver’s capital base (its “Accumulated Funds” as reported at the time) increased from £15,000 to £895,000 – an increase of near 60-fold or nearly 6,000%. However, this growth came at some considerable cost and it was clear that there was manifest unrest within the Society with many members (policyholders) feeling dissatisfied by the manner in which the “Committee of Management” and its Joint Managing Secretaries (Joint Managing Directors) were directing affairs. The Society was clearly expanding and accumulating some not inconsiderable Funds but it was also clear that Messrs Atherton and Liversage were benefiting personally and financially by this exponential growth. By the mid-1880s, their total remuneration packages had grown out of all proportion – equivalent in today’s values to a sum approaching £400,000 each, clearly quite disproportionate to the Society’s ability to sustain these levels of remuneration for its “top team”.
In the event, it took something no less than the equivalent of a Government Enquiry to bring about an end to Messrs Atherton and Liversage’s iron-grip on the Society with this Government Enquiry being initiated following the Society’s Membership forming a Syndicate to bring about all this necessary reform.
Such was the impact and consequences of this “reform” that the near totality of the Society’s constitution (the written framework and authorisation by which it operated under the Friendly Societies Act, 1875) was totally overhauled.
Atherton and Liversage were unseated and several new Board Members were installed to direct and oversee the Society going forward.
The central figure behind all these reforms and the person who had instigated the Syndicate of Members to bring about all this necessary change in the senior management arrangements of the Society was Edward F Taunton.
Edward Taunton was one of the most pivotal and significant persons in the history of the development of Royal Liver Friendly Society. Prior to the Reforms of 1886/1887, he had been Chief Clerk at the Society’s Head office in Prescot Street, Liverpool. Despite working closely in many ways with James Atherton and Henry Liversage, he was the prime mover in the creation of the Syndicate of Members which petitioned the Government for a formal Inquiry into the Society’s affairs. All this eventually culminated in some wholesale reform of Royal Liver’s governance and member-representation arrangements – in short, the introduction of the Delegation System which we shall deal with in the following pages.
Sadly though, having expended so much energy, intellect and more than a little soul-searching in bringing all this necessary change about, Edward Taunton died due to overwork and stress in August, 1887 and at the tragically young age of 37, leaving behind a widow and four sons.
We have dedicated a specific Pen Picture in respect of Edward F Taunton in the next Blog
ROYAL LIVER’S DELEGATION SYSTEM – 1886/1887
REPRESENTATION OF THE MEMBERS BY THE MEMBERS
By far the greatest single and abiding change in the Society’s affairs was the creation of the Delegation System. In short, Royal Liver’s members (policyholders) were, in future, to be democratically represented at the Society’s Annual Meetings by local Delegates. These local Delegates were then authorised by the Society’s Rules to vote on all matters brought to our Annual Meetings over the years and for many years following 1887 (the year of the first Annual Meeting of the Society’s Delegates) the Delegates became to be known as and referred to as the Governing Body of the Society. They held great power and influence over the Society’s affairs and they wielded this power in the best interests of the members they represented. From 1887 onwards they were responsible for the appointment of the Society’s Committee of Management (Board of Directors) and other Senior Officials and for determining their remuneration. They were also charged with holding Royal Liver’s Committee of Management “to account” in the conduct of their duties and in their stewardship of the Society’s affairs.
The complete and comprehensive History of Royal Liver Friendly Society contains a detailed account of the formation of the Syndicate, the Inquiry ordered by the Government of the day and the formation of the Delegation System as a consequence of the outcome of the Inquiry. The years 1885 – 1887 were seminal in the context of the subsequent development and governance/operation of Royal Liver Friendly Society and we shall see continuing evidence of this in further posts to this Website as the years of Royal Liver’s history unfold.