[1][2][3][4][5][6][b] These various organisations were set up to protect and care for their members and communities at a time when there was no welfare state or National Health Service.

The Oddfellows had spread to America in the late 18th century, and several unofficial lodges existed in New York City; but American Odd Fellowship is regarded as being founded in Baltimore in 1819, by Thomas Wildey, and the following year affiliated with the Manchester Unity.

[13] The Oddfellows had spread to America in the late 18th century, and several unofficial lodges existed in New York City; but American Odd Fellowship is regarded as being founded in Baltimore in 1819, by Thomas Wildey, and the following year affiliated with the Manchester Unity.

[5][6] Members of the Oddfellows in the United States were not pleased to see the ancient rituals changed without their agreement, particularly to satisfy a British Government against which they had fought a war of independence.

[7] Lodges have been set up in Canada, Germany, Iceland, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and many other European countries, and in Asia.

Today, the Oddfellows can be found in many countries across the world, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies.

[16] The first meeting of the Australia Felix Lodge of Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows (MUIOOF) was held on 7 December 1840 in Melbourne.

Along with Strode, Manchester Unity's founders in Australia included Dr Augustus Greeves, a surgeon who later became the Mayor of Melbourne; John Marzagor, a carpenter; John Shepperd, a painter and glazier; and William Johnson Sugden, a sheriff's bailiff who four years later became the colony's chief constable.

[17][19] The elimination of the Trade Guilds removed an important form of social and financial support from ordinary working people.

In major cities like London, some Guilds (e.g. the "Free Masons" and the "Odd Fellows") survived by adapting their roles to a social support function.

Membership became a criminal offence in France, and such organisations were driven underground and forced to use codes, passwords, special handshakes and similar mechanisms.

[5][6] Fear of revolution was not the sole reason for persecution; Friendly Societies like the Oddfellows were the predecessors of modern-day trade unions and could facilitate effective local strike action by levying all of their members for additional contributions for their benevolent funds, out of which payments could be made to the families of members who were on strike.

These included the Travel Warrant, which allowed members seeking work to stay overnight in an Oddfellows Hall, anywhere in the country, free of charge.

Such records are most often kept at the individual lodge level, and may be lost due to fire, flood, deterioration, or simple carelessness.

In areas of the world where Odd Fellows have been suppressed by governments, records of entire grand lodges have been destroyed.