Thank you to Jeremy Culpin and to Robert Bell at the Wisbech and Fenland Museum for finding out about this topic.
In the Lincolnshire Free Press of October 1889 there was an article about a lecture given to the Thorney Peace Society in the Public Rooms by Miss Priscilla Peckover (1833-1931) of Wisbech. She talked about the recent Peace Congress at Paris and the report said the audience in Thorney was large and attentive.
The Peace Movement had originated during the Napoleonic Wars, and was supported at this time by many Quakers, including Miss Peckover of the family at Peckover House in Wisbech. She continued to support the pacifist cause during the First World War and died in 1931. Jeremy notes that "apparently she was highly influential in the Peace movement and nominated on 4 occasions for the Nobel Peace Prize".
Jeremy comments that the Wisbech local peace movement had 6000 members, but Thorney too had its own Peace Society and was also very involved with various other political and intellectual movements - more so than you would expect of a village of its size. This was almost certainly due to the influence of the clergy.
A query - are the Public Rooms in the former Duke of Bedford Stables, later made into a home?
Picture is Courtesy of Wisbech & Fenland Museum