The Independent Order of Rechabites was a Friendly Society founded in England in 1835 as part of the temperance movement to promote total abstinence from alcoholic beverages. Always well connected in upper society and involved in financial matters, it gradually transformed into a financial institution which still exists, and still promotes abstinence. A branch was established in the United States in 1842, and the Order was active in Australia in the nineteenth century in promoting temperance and as a benefit society.
From the late 1700s a number of Friendly Societies had been set up to help working class people with such things as health insurance, death benefits, etc. Generally these held their meetings in public houses. In the 1830's a group of ManchesterMethodists became concerned that by encouraging working men to attend public houses to pay their friendly society dues, then the societies were harming the men's health and financial situation and threatening their moral welfare, rather than helping them. To counter this they set up a new Friendly Society called the Independent Order of Rechabites, named after the nomadic, abstaining Rechabites of the Old Testament.
A branch may be known as a "Tent," since the biblical Rechabites lived exclusively in tents. Each Tent was ruled by a High Chief Ruler, assisted by a High Deputy Ruler, Corresponding Secretary, Sick and Tent Stewards, Inside and Outside Guardians, a Levite of the Tent and a number of Elders. Before one could join the Rechabites and benefit from their insurance and saving scheme a document had to be signed swearing that the proposed member and his family would not drink any alcoholic beverages. This document was known as The Pledge and represented a solemn promise. The initials "IOR" on a tombstone may indicate that the deceased was a member of the organisation.
