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Subject = "Savings banks"
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Membership disc and savings bank for Working Men's Club
Unknown, 1883, Metal
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Membership disc and savings bank for Working Men's Club
Membership disc and savings bank for Working Men's Club
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Location
Category
Museums & Galleries Item
Item no
34211
Title
Membership disc and savings bank for Forth Bridge Working Men's Club
Description
A grey metal savings bank with ogee shaped base with a slot at the top to hold a gold coloured membership disc for the the Forth Bridge Working Men's Club. The token has an inscription of 'Working Men's Club' around a monogram of FB (Forth Bridge). The savings bank is made from metal from the Forth Rail Bridge.
Artist / maker
Unknown
Date
1883
Type
Metal
Location
Queensferry Museum
The savings bank was made by John Cairns, possibly a steel worker working on the construction of the Forth Rail Bridge.
A small disc like this was given to all the members of the Forth Bridge Working Men's Club, stamped with the date of the start of the construction works, 1883, and the holder's membership number. The Forth Bridge Working Men's Club was not a social club, but more an insurance agency against sickness and accident. The Club dispensed medical advice, medicines, and gave a good allowance of between 9s and 12s a week to those not fit for work. This soon proved itself a necessary fund, as more than 60 men lost their lives whilst working on the bridge. A memorial to those who died has been erected in South Queensferry.
The Forth Rail Bridge was constructed between 1883 and 1890 and was designed by Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker. Construction began only a few years after the Tay Rail Bridge disaster in which over 70 people were killed. In order to allay the fears of the public in the wake of this catastrophe the structure of this cantilever bridge was designed to be both visually impressive and enormously strong. The bridge stretches 1.5 miles across the Firth of Forth between South and North Queensferry and its three towers are over 100m high. The bridge was opened on the 4th of March 1890 by the then Prince of Wales, later Edward VII.
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Forth Rail Bridge
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