Building society

Building society was the name given in 19th century Britain for working men's co-operative savings groups: by pooling savings, members could buy or build their own homes.

Related Topics:
19th century - Britain - Co-operative

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The societies were originally in two forms: terminating, where they would be dissolved when all members had a house, and Permanent, where the society continued on a rolling basis, continually taking in new members as earlier ones completed purchases. The only building societies remaining now are the permanent societies, the terminating societies having long since terminated.

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In their heyday, there were hundreds of building societies: just about every town in the country had a building society named after that town. Over succeeding decades the number of societies has decreased, as various societies merged to form larger ones, often renaming in the process: most of the existing larger building societies are the end result of the mergers of many smaller societies.

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