Initiation Certificate for Thomas Walker.

London: Loyal Society Of Friends, 21st February, 1845 .. Hand coloured Initiation Certificate for Thomas Walker dated 21st day of February 1845. Edn. John Bull, President; William Smart, Deputy; Geo. Challass Wickings, Secretary. Loyal United Friends: This society was founded in London, at 19 Princelet Street, Spitalfields. The Loyal United Friends wer formed by a group of Jewish immigrants, mostly from Poland. If indeed the Loyal United Friends were indeed Polish Jews, the iconography of their artefacts is remarkable for its Englishness; each individual symbol is typical of the English friendly-society tradition, as is the general layout and style. Certainly the membership of the society must have become more general very quickly, as all the named artefacts the author has seen have traditional English names. The Loyal United Friends' emblem depicts a temple on a chequered carpet with a figure of Charity ( a woman with children) in the doorway and the Dove of the Holy Spirit descending in the pediment, between two pillars, the left hand pillar bearing the letter 'C' (Caelum?) on the base and the celestial globe on top, the right-hand pillar bearing the letter 'T' (Terra?) on the base and a terrestial globe on top. Between the pillars are a four-runged ladder (the rungs being labelled wiuth the four cardinal virtues), a raised hand, a crown, an open Bible, a rose on a branch, a rayed sun surrounded by the letters 'TEVRPMDNIMEH' (the meaning of these letters is obscure), the moon and seven stars, all below a rayed eye..." - See Discovering Friendly and Fraternal Societies By Victoria Solt Dennis .