The society was founded in around 1910 by the Rev George Orr of the North United Free Church and arranged regular lectures on a variety of topics about literature, science and art.
It essentially replaced the Langholm Mutual Improvement Society, which had met since around the mid-1870s. Prior to that there had been a Working Men’s Mutual Improvement Society.
The meetings were usually held on Tuesday evenings at 8 pm in the Eskdale Temperance Hotel or the North United Free Church schoolroom. The lectures were often accompanied by limelight illustrations and the evenings usually included a musical programme after the lecture.
Leading members included Rev George Orr, John Milne Home (the Duke of Buccleuch’s chamberlain) and James Cairns (woollen mill owner).
The 1914-1915 syllabus included the following (although not all lectures went ahead):
| Lecture | By |
|---|---|
| A Journey Up the Nile | Frederick Berkley Matthews, Westerhall |
| The Story of the KOSB | Thomas Bell, gardener |
| William Knox, the Sacred Poet, and his Poetry | Thomas Anderson, Eweshaugh |
| Hymns Old and New | David Beattie, sculptor and poet |
| If… | James Cairns, manufacturer |
| Handel | Joseph Allison, pattern weaver and band leader |
| War Songs, Past and Present | Joseph Allison and friends |
| The Lighter Side of My Experience as a Soldier | Fred Ross, wounded while with the Gordon Highlanders (see 19th May 1915) |
| Six Months at the Back of the Front | Rev Alister Stewart, Waterbeck |
| Beautiful Places in the Borderland | Harry Robinson, artist and scoutmaster |
| Heredity and Environment | David Harkness, draper |
| A Railway Journey and Observations | John Bell, tweed merchant |
| Notes on My Tour Round the World | Archibald Palmer Douglas, Cavers |