Hello Peter This was probably a committee made up of representatives of various insurance companies based in Portsmouth. When I first started studying for my exams in Portsmouth in the 1970's, the organisation was the Portsmouth Insurance Institute and arranged lectures, social events as well as an educational programme and the annual examinations for Associateship and Fellowship of the national organisation - the Chartered Insurance Institute. Any student automatically becomes a member of the Institute which commutes to life membership after retirement from full time employment. After I qualified, I held the post of Education Secretary for a few years but the Portsmouth Institute merged with Southampton several years ago. Somewhere I have a book with the names of the past presidents since the early 1900's and will dig it out and check the names for you. Take care Tony Knight

Hi Tony, Sounds plausible, particularly if one views the old friendly societies such as the Odd Fellows as insurance providers - if not insurance companies. I imagined that the Committee was some kind of co-ordinating body, perhaps under civic sponsorship, working to harmonize and improve the delivery of welfare benefits, possibly with the participation of the major local employers - Dockyard, utility companies, & so on. My grandfather, who, I gather, had a well-developed social conscience, remained active in the Odd Fellows until shortly before his death. A google search didn't produce anything. Cheers, Peter. ----- Original Message ----- From: <Knightroots@aol.com> To: <ENG-HAM-PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2005 12:39 AM Subject: Re: [PORTSMOUTH-GOSPORT] Portsmouth Insurance Committee > Hello Peter > This was probably a committee made up of representatives of various > insurance companies based in Portsmouth. When I first started studying for my exams > in Portsmouth in the 1970's, the organisation was the Portsmouth Insurance > Institute and arranged lectures, social events as well as an educational > programme and the annual examinations for Associateship and Fellowship of the > national organisation - the Chartered Insurance Institute. > Any student automatically becomes a member of the Institute which commutes > to life membership after retirement from full time employment. > After I qualified, I held the post of Education Secretary for a few years > but the Portsmouth Institute merged with Southampton several years ago. > Somewhere I have a book with the names of the past presidents since the > early 1900's and will dig it out and check the names for you. > Take care > Tony Knight >