T he Freemen of the City and

County of Swansea

David Rosser Owen On The Freemen of the City and County of Swansea

By David Rosser Owen

Abstract

The Aim of this Essay is to give an overview – a potted account - of the burgesses, or freemen, of Swansea from the earliest times from which we have records, namely William de Newburgh’s Charter of 1158, until the Local Democracy Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. This amended the Local Government Act 1972 by establishing the right of admission of women to the Freedom “of a city or town in any or all circumstances where a man has that right”.

About the Author

David Rosser Owen (Freeman Burgess of Swansea No 233), a writer, freelance journalist and editor, Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and sometime regular officer in the British Army, was born in The Uplands, Swansea, in 1943. He is the son of Haydn Owen (No 218) of The Rhyddings, the great-grandson of Rev Samuel Owen (No 144), Minister of Fabian’s Bay and noted local eccentric and his wife Mary Rosser, and the great-great-grandson of Capt George Rosser (No 96), Swansea Harbour Master.

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the help I’ve received from Mr Kim Collis, County Archivist, West Glamorgan Archive Service in Swansea, and his colleagues, in researching for this monograph, and also the facilities available at the Royal Institution of South Wales and the Museum of Swansea. I was greatly helped by the encouragement I received from Mr Roy Folland, Warden for Wales of the Freemen of England and Wales. I had invaluable professional advice and input from my daughters Dr Mariam Rosser-Owen of the Victoria and Albert Museum and Isla Rosser-Owen (who, being a Member of the Society of Freelance Editors and Proof- readers, did the professional editing) and Mariam’s partner Dr Kent Rawlinson of Hampton Court Palace; and a lot of support from my wife Bashiera, even though she was seriously engaged in a course at the Caledonian Business School at the same time. I would like to dedicate this monograph to all of them, but especially and in particular to my late father, Haydn Owen, who would like to have written this, and whose talks and friendship with Harry Ward and Col Kenyon of the Freemen of England and Wales gave him the desire to see a revival of the Gild of Freemen of Swansea to take place.

DRO, London, 2011.

Preface

When doing some reading around the subject of the Freemen of Swansea, I felt that there really ought to be a booklet or monograph about them. Of course, it’s a short step from the thought “why doesn’t somebody write it?” to “why don’t you write it, then?”. I am an historian, although this isn’t exactly my period or my specialism, but I do have a personal interest in the topic not least because my family comes from Swansea and has provided burgesses to the borough and city (as it has variously been) certainly since John Rosser was appointed Serjeant-at-the-Mace by the Charter of King James II in 1685. This Essay is the outcome.

© David Rosser-Owen 2010, 2011 All Rights Reserved

2

Contents

Oath of a Burgess – Town and Borough of Swansea 1650 and 1759 p 4

Introduction p 5

Burgesses Reformed p 5

The Portreeve, Aldermen, and the Gild of Burgesses p 8

Swansea: One of the earliest Chartered Boroughs p 12

Reform Acts and Freedom p 15

The Freedom: a civic duty and responsibility p 18

Modernising the Ancient Tradition, or the Old Role Renewed? p 20

Appendix A: Map showing the Lordships of Gower, Kilvey and Bettws with the Town and Franchise of the Borough of Swansea p 25

Appendix B1: Map showing the approximate boundaries of the Town and Franchise of Swansea p 26

Appendix B2: Map showing the approximate boundaries of the Town and Parish of Swansea p 27

Appendix C: Local Government Act 1972 Sections 246, 248 and 249, and Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, Schedule 17 p 28

Appendix D: Local Democracy Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 Chapter 5 “Local Freedoms and Honorary Titles” Sections 27, 28, Schedule 1, and 29 p 33

Bibliography p 37

Front cover: The Seal of the “commune” of Burgesses that appeared on the 1548 document “Ordinances for the Towne of Swansey” and was used unofficially as the Seal of the Borough between January 1843 and 1922.

3

Oath of a Burgess – Town and Borough of Swansea 1650 “Yow shall true burgesse be of this towne and borough of Swansey; yow shall be obedient to the Portriffe thereof for the tyme beinge; yow shall pay all the taxes and tallages legally rated or taxed on yow; yow shall maintaine the previleges and liberties with all lawdable acostomed orders used or to be used within this towne to the best of your endeavor And if there happen any thinge to come to your knowledge that shall by anny way prejuditiall to the said liberties yow shall not only acquaint the portriffe for the tyme beinge, and other of the Aldermen with the same But alsoe defend it to the utmost of your power and likewise doe all other thinges that becometh a true burgess for to doe. Soe help yow God.”

Oath of a Burgess – Town and Borough of Swansea 1759 “You shall true Burgess be of this Town and Borough of Swansea. You shall be obedient to the Steward and Portreeve thereof for the time being. You shall pay all taxes lawfully rated and taxed on you. You shall maintain the priviledges [sic] and liberties with all laudable accustomed orders used or to be used within this town to the best of your endeavours and if there shall happen to come any thing to your knowledge that shall or may in any wise be prejudicial to the liberties of the said borough you shall not only acquaint the Portreeve for the time being and other the Aldermen of the same but also shall defend in the utmost of your power and likewise do all things that become good burgesses for to do. So help you God.”

4 Introduction

At the end of the first undertaking of the Magna Carta of 1215 it is stated, "We have also granted to all freemen of our kingdom, for us and our heirs forever, all the underwritten liberties, to be had and held by them and their heirs, of us and our heirs forever."1

“The origins of the Freedom are lost in the mists of time, but for many generations the Freemen or Burgesses formed the governing bodies of almost all the Boroughs of the land. To be a Freeman was a prize eagerly sought by any who sought to prosper within his community, but the jealously guarded privileges were often matched by the onerous responsibilities of local government.”2

“Swanzy is a seaport, and a very considerable town for trade, with a very good harbour. Here is also a very good trade for coals, and culm, which they export to all ports of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, and even to Ireland; so that sometimes may be seen a hundred sail of ships at a time loading coals here; which greatly enriches the country, and particularly this town; it stands on the River Twye, or Taw… There are lately mineral waters found out at Swanzy, which are reported to be of great efficacy in fluxes, and Haemorrhages of all sorts. Consumptions, if not too far gone, diabetes, palsies, rheumatisms, dropsies, and other distempers, are said to fall before these styptick and restorative waters. They certainly have very good effects in many difficult cases; but it is doing an injury to the reputation of any medicine in the world, to make it a Catholicon, and good for everything.”3

Burgesses Reformed

From the time of the Norman Conquest until the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the towns and cities of Britain were run by a class of citizens known as the freemen burgesses - ‘freemen’ or ‘burgesses’ for short – who also elected the Members of Parliament, and Swansea was no different.

A person became a Freeman Burgess by one of five routes: patrimony, by being born the son, grandson, or great-grandson of a burgess; matrimony, by marrying the daughter or widow of a burgess; servitude, through serving out successfully an apprenticeship with a burgess; redemption, by paying a large sum to purchase the privilege; or by being gifted the status by the gild of burgesses (donation). The latter two were very rare in the case of Swansea; and in any case were removed by Clause III of the Municipal Corporations Act in 1835.

Before that year the Freemen of Swansea were known in official documents as burgesses, and probably informally out of habit for quite a few years after the passage of the Act, not least because the two terms seem to have been used interchangeably even in central government legislation.

In 1835 the government in Westminster passed the Municipal Corporations Act (5 & 6 William IV, cap 76). This followed on from the Reform Act of 1832, which radically extended the franchise for elections to parliament; and so to local authorities.

There seems to have been an animus taken against the burgesses, and an implied blaming of them for the deficiencies (of which there were many) of the “rotten borough” system.4 But this strikes me as unfair as, by and large, it wasn’t they who

1 Concessimus etiam omnibus liberis hominibus regni nostri, pro nobis et heredibus nostris in perpetuum, omnes libertates subscriptas, habendas et tenendas eis et heredibus suis, de nobis et heredibus nostris. 2 Home page, website of The Freemen of England and Wales (http://www.freemen-few.org.uk/) 3 Defoe, Daniel, Tour through the whole island of Britain, 1745. This quote is taken from Ross, J. E., Letters From Swansea, Christopher Davies, Llandybie 1969, p 31. 4 A "rotten borough" was a parliamentary constituency that had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain undue and unrepresentative influence within Parliament. Many such rotten boroughs were

5 were gifting the parliamentary constituencies to their relatives and cronies. It is a fact, of course, that by the time of the Reform Act of 1832 the small number of electors in any constituency represented by the burgesses of the towns and boroughs was an anachronism and represented a democratic deficit of the new members of the middle classes.5

The existence of the burgesses as electors certainly presented a brake to inhibit the misuse, by vested and established interests, of the naïveté and inexperience of the proposed new wider electorate. It seems to me that the better way, both for parliamentary and municipal government, rather than destroying the role of the burgesses would have been to require the admission into their ranks of the projected new electors who were, after all, through the property qualification, householders, professionals, and merchants – in fact the ratepayers of the borough: the very sorts of citizen who made up the burgess class itself. By setting the price of redemption at a special privileged low rate and inviting the newly to be enfranchised to pay it, they could have very easily and seamlessly been drawn into the burgess class thereby preserving this ancient and historic office. Continuity and organic evolution is always preferable to revolutionary change.

The 1835 Act continued into the boroughs the parliamentary electoral reforms of 1832 and “initiated a municipal revolution in the country by sweeping away the multitude of unreformed corporations and replacing them with elected municipal corporations, the head of which was to be a mayor… Before 1835, there was no legal definition of a borough, and customs and constitutions varied from place to place. Most boroughs had a chief official, but he was not always known as a mayor. The head of a corporation might variously be called a bailiff or high bailiff, the warden, or the alderman, while in some places, the office was shared by two officials. In Swansea, as in many other boroughs in south Wales, the chief municipal official before 1835 was known as the portreeve.”6

The famous opening sentence of the novel The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley states, “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there”. This is a cautionary remark that we should all take to heart when reviewing the past. Most historians would consider it a cardinal sin to project back onto a circumstance in the past the ideas, prejudices, aspirations, or terminologies of today without due explanations and qualifications. Sadly, a lot of the discussion about the government of towns, or of the country as a whole, before and immediately after the reform Acts of the earlier part of the nineteenth century is not free of this, seeming to project onto them things that they were not. They were not, for example, democratic; at least not ‘democratic’ in the sense that commonly would be attributed to that word in the early decades of the 21st century, although in retrospect they were clearly first steps on that road. They merely adjusted the franchise to take account of the expanded middle class.7 controlled by peers who gave the seats to their sons, other relations, or friends. They thus had influence in the House of Commons as they themselves sat in the House of Lords. In the 19th Century there were moves toward reform. This political movement was successful with the Reform Act 1832, which disfranchised the 57 rotten boroughs and redistributed representation in Parliament to new major population centres. 5 When Edmund Burke made his famous and often quoted statement to the Electors of Bristol on 3 November 1774, “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion” he was talking to 28 burgesses. History doesn’t tell us what the burgesses thought of his rather arrogant and impertinent remark. 6 J.R.A., Portreeves and Mayors of Swansea, City Archives Publication B.11, Swansea City Council, 1982, “Introduction: Portreeves and Mayors before 1835”, p 1 7 Shelley commented, in FEWJ 165 (February 2011), “From time immemorial the freemen had been responsible for the governance and regulation of the old and ancient towns. Advantages that came from the exclusive position of being a freeman was seen by less fortunate ‘non-freemen’ as undemocratic privilege and in some restrictive practices, as corrupt... In an attempt to abolish undemocratic privileges and monopoly, the Reform Act and the Municipal Corporations Act intended to abolish freedom outright. However English law would not prevent the application of individual rights, which were seen as being private property.

6

It took many more reforms of the franchise before the kingdom arrived at its first democratic general election held under universal adult suffrage: normally considered to be that of 1945. And even then commentators did not consider Britain to be a democracy but a “limited, or constitutional, monarchy”. So, to look in the 1830s for democracy as currently understood would be inappropriate. A consequence of not finding it, for example, is the pejorative view taken of the burgesses, their role and their contributions to the governance of the towns and cities of the kingdom; and an over-rosy take on the putative modernity of the “elected municipal corporations” set up after the 1835 Act. This even leads to unwarranted criticism, some of it at least terminologically and conceptually inaccurate.

For example, Dr Alban wrote, about the pre-1835 corporation, that it “was not elected by the inhabitants of the town and, consequently, had no responsibility to an electorate”8. This is not strictly true. The portreeve (or, briefly, the mayor) and the aldermen were elected by the “indefinite number of burgesses” – which means that there was, indeed, an electorate – and it took a good few more decades (in fact, nearly a century) before the “inhabitants of the town” became it, as unmarried women under the age of thirty didn’t get the vote until 1928. In fact, the idea that all the inhabitants or the entire population should have that sort of right and participation would have been unthinkable - an entirely alien concept - in the Britain of the time, and so it would be a fallacious and unjustified criticism to fault people for not having it. Even so, in a strictly numeric sense, when he drew attention to the 1833 situation of a borough population of some 13,250 and 104 burgesses, that would mean roughly one burgess to about every 130 residents. It would be presumptuous to assume that this burgess wouldn’t in some way represent the wishes of the 130, seeing as they were his tenants, customers, neighbours, and even relatives9.

“In the event, the law recognised the custom and practice of freedom as being lawful, but extinguished monopoly and unfair privileges.” (p. 15-16). I feel that his comments about ‘democracy’ and ‘unfair privileges’ are anachronistic in the context of the early decades of the 19th Century. In my opinion, the motivation was less creditable as I have mentioned in the text. 8 ibid, p 2. 9 To get a better appreciation of the relative numbers, although there don’t seem to be any precise figures, reasonable estimates can be made (as with Dillwyn’s using the Poor Rate records - Dillwyn, Lewis Weston, Contributions towards a History of Swansea, Murray and Rees, Swansea, 1840 p 22ff). I don’t know where Dr Alban got his figure of “about 13,250” in 1833 as he didn’t cite a source, but the 1831 Census of two years earlier revealed, according to Dillwyn, a population of 14,931 for the Parish (Dillwyn p 23; although Rogers, W. C., A Pictorial History of Swansea, Gomer Press, Llandysul, 1981, Chapter 5 “Freedom and Franchise” p 110 quotes 18,700 for 1832 – it seems clear that slightly different population areas are being used: one for the Parish, and presumably another for the Franchise). The University of Portsmouth’s website “Vision of Britain” (http://www.visionofbritain.com) cites for 1831 a population of 32,064 – presumably from the national census. This introduces yet a fourth figure into the matter. Clearly different population bases are being used and none is specified. I assume that the 1831 Census was counting the “Town and Parish” (see Map at Appendix B2); if so, then Dillwyn’s and Rogers’s figures are hopelessly inaccurate – unless we can determine what population areas they were counting. In any case, to include the populations of Loughor and Llangefelach in Swansea seems rather anachronistic. I would imagine that the numbers of burgesses would have been fairly constant at around 100 because Alban says 104 in 1833, and the 2010 figure is 88. However, in any case, the 1831 figure of 14,931 that Dillwyn cited for the whole population would represent a dramatic increase (two and a half times) over the “nearly 6000” approximation that Rogers adduced (op cit, p108) for the turn of the 18th Century. Dillwyn figured for 1707 that there were 297 households in the Parish with an estimated seven persons per household, giving a population for the beginning of the 18th Century of 2079 (he must have been using a different definition of the Parish from Rogers’s description of the boundaries of the ‘Town and Parish’ at p. 109 of his book). His estimate, using the same figure, for 1563 was 1260. Assuming the constant approximation of 100 burgesses, it is easy to see that what representative government (formal or informal) there might have been at the end of the 16th Century at a ratio of 1:12 had become 1:20 some 150 years later, and less than 100 years after that had become 1:60. And that had deteriorated to 1:130 on Alban’s figure (or 1:150 on Dillwyn’s, or 1:190 on Rogers’s) within a further 30 or so years, showing a typical ‘hockey stick’ graph pattern. Without the unnecessary, and probably unjustified, aspersions that are cast onto the burgesses it is quite clear from these figures that an extrapolation would show that by the end of the 19th Century unreformed governance would be unable to cope with running the borough, given the fundamental economic and industrial changes that were occurring, and that therefore a serious review was

7

Nevertheless, there was a pressure for reform – for choosing both the members of parliament and the members of the corporation of the municipalities. But in meeting this, the government wasn’t moved by the vast numbers of what the Duke of Wellington had referred to, with characteristic hauteur, as “the scum of the earth” having no vote. It was responding to the greatly increased middle class population, through the prosperity of the years since the Civil War, that couldn’t become burgesses “through patrimony, matrimony, gift, purchase, or servitude” and whose nominal feudal constraints had evaporated with the settlements that attended the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. Instead of facilitating their admission into the ranks of the established burgess-ship, Parliament decided on a revolutionary reform of the municipalities that it didn’t countenance for itself.

Making the running of the municipalities more efficient to deal with the changes that were rapidly coming about as a consequence of the industrialisation of Britain, was sensible and forward-looking. Expanding the electorate to incorporate the new middle class was also sensible and fair within the thinking of the time. But in doing this last and in the process removing its historic role from the burgess-ship was ungracious, unnecessary, and revolutionary.

The Portreeve, Aldermen, and the Gild10 of Burgesses

The origins of the position of portreeve are supposedly in early 10th century Wessex during the reign of Edward the Elder, the son of Alfred the Great. A reeve, or reve (and, earlier, gerefa), was the chief officer under the king of a town or district – hence sheriff (from ‘shire reeve’ or scir reve – the chief law enforcement officer of a shire or county, as is still found in Scotland and the USA).

In order to ensure that taxes were correctly levied, King Edward forbade people to conduct trades outside of a 'port'11 - or duly appointed place for trading - and he appointed special portreeves to supervise this. At this time therefore, their role was much like modern customs and revenue officers.

Quite why the Normans chose to continue this set up and extend it beyond Wessex into the rest of England – and later Wales, parts of Scotland, and Ireland – is probably answered by its being effective and simple to administer. In short, it worked.

By the late Middle Ages the portreeves were acting as representatives of the people to ensure that their duties to the mayor and community were fulfilled; more recently their role had grown and was more akin to that of the mayor himself, and in many cases identical.

In Swansea before the 1835 Act, the borough was run by this Portreeve in council with the burgesses of the town and known formally as ‘the Portreeve, Aldermen, and urgently necessary. It is possible that separated “dignified” and “efficient” parts of municipal government might have worked, as Bagehot observed of parliamentary government later in the century, however the 1835 Act chose a slightly different approach. I feel that the same electoral results through extending the franchise could have been achieved by embracing the new middle class ratepayers into the existing burgess-ship, as an organic evolution of the suffrage, as I stated in the text. 10 ‘Gild’ and ‘Guild’ nowadays are used interchangeably, although the favoured spelling is ‘Gild’. ‘Guild’ is a relatively recent innovation, being only about 350 years old, and first seems to appear about the time of the Cromwellian Charters of the 1650s. 11 ‘Port’ comes from the Middle English word that derives through Old French porte and ultimately from the Latin porta, ‘door’, ‘entrance’, or ‘gate’, specifically one of the Gates in the walls designated as the one outside which trade would take place rather than allowing strangers into the town to clog up the narrow streets,… and worse. Many markets, and Trade Fairs, came to be located at the gateways, such as the Billingsgate fish market in London or that at Frankwell by Welsh Bridge in Shrewsbury. It’s unlikely that it derives from the Latin portus, ‘a haven’ or ‘harbour’.

8 Burgesses of the Borough of Swansea’. In September 1835, this old council was replaced by a new municipal corporation styled ‘the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of Swansea,’12 thus reviving the nomenclature used in Cromwell’s 1655 Charter. The motto around the Seal of the Borough, that seems to date from at least 154813, states in what appears to be a mixture of Latin and Norman, or Old, French insignia commune burgensui ville de Swense (“badge of the council of burgesses of the town of Swansea”).

The term burgess, or in its Old French original spelling burgeis (the pronunciation is virtually the same), derives from the word borough (and its alternate spellings and pronunciations such as burgh, bury, or by), and is obviously connected to the German word burger and to the modern French bourgeois of which it is clearly a variant. He was a landowner or householder in a town or borough. He paid his share of any communal dues and expenses, such as the periodic levies for the repair and upkeep of the town walls and ditches, and therefore shared in the town privileges.

Its origin is clearly set in the Middle Ages in the twelfth century, at the height of the feudal system when the status separating freeman and serf was fundamental to the life of each. Burgesses were freemen. “It may be said that the word “burgess” described the relation of a man towards his burgh and, in the case of the royal burghs of Scotland, to the Crown, of which the community of the burgh was a vassal. This is shown by the fact that royal charters and Acts of Parliament were addressed, or referred to burgesses. Towards the Crown the burgess had the duties

12 The Schedule at the end of the 1835 Act divided Swansea into three wards for the purposes of choosing the Mayor and Council, and allocated six aldermen and 18 councillors to the new corporation. 13 The Motto might mean “…the gild of burgesses…” as there is some confusion as to the exact usage of the word commune (Rev J. Malet Lambert MA LlD, Two Thousand Years of Gild Life, or an Outline of the History and Development of the Gild System from Early Times, with Special Reference to its Application to Trade and Industry, A. Brown & Sons, Hull, 1891, pp 70 &378).

A variant wording appears on the flyleaf of Dillwyn’s Contributions where an engraving of a clearly damaged seal is given and a transcription of the motto written underneath as “sigillū: commē: burgensium: ville: de: swense” (seal of the council/gild of the burgesses of the town of Swansea) – the abbreviations meaning ‘sigillum’ and ‘commune’. Clearly, thus, the ‘burgensui’ of the first wording is an abbreviation for the ‘burgensium’ (‘of the burgesses’) of the second.

This seal appeared on a document entitled “Ordinances for the Towne of Swaynsey” of 1548, and had probably been in use for some time. The Arms on it are, according to some historians, those granted to the borough by William de Breos, lord of Gower, in 1316 (some sources say 1306). The blazon states, “gules, a castle double- towered argent, in the gateway a portcullis half-down or; on each tower a banner bearing the arms of de Breos viz argent a lion rampant crusilly or. In chief on a shield or an osprey rising regardant with a fish, the tail-end in its beak, both proper”.

The device of the osprey with the fish in its mouth is quite prominent on the blazon, occupying as it does nearly half the surface area of the roundel, and has more recently been used as the badge of Swansea and has lent its name since 2003 to the rugby union football club associated with the City. It would be interesting to know quite what the local significance of the osprey, or gwalch y pysgod (‘fish hawk’), is.

Between 1632 and 1922, the Seal of the Council bore a portcullis of eight bars. The portcullis is also depicted on the ceremonial maces of the Borough, which date from 1753, and on other items of this period indicating that the badge of Swansea at this time was this device. It is interesting, and perhaps relevant, that the portcullis as an heraldic badge is also associated with the Tudor dynasty, itself of Welsh provenance, although conventionally the claim is that the device “probably derived from the Crest of the Arms of the Somerset family, who were Lords of Gower” (www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1592).

In January 1843, the General Purposes Committee of the Council, possibly to mark a clean break with what had gone before until 1835, resolved to abandon the portcullis seal that had been used from 1632 for the Seal of the Borough for the osprey device from the 1548 Seal. Although this resolution was not adopted until 1922 when a Grant of Arms was awarded by the College of Heralds, the badge was used unofficially throughout this 79 year period.

9 of helping to guard the burgh, of serving with the King’s army when called upon and of paying royal taxation.”14

Lambert eloquently summed up the situation of a mediaeval town when he wrote, “the whole municipal, industrial, and social life of the Middle Ages, if we except the industry of agriculture, moved in the circle of the gild. Not just the public, but also the social and private, the moral and municipal interests of the townsfolk centred therein. They were very largely the Chambers of Commerce, the Friendly Societies, the Trades Unions, the Freemasonry, and in some degree the Joint Stock Companies, of times when the Merchant lived in his warehouse, which was also his factory as well as his shop; when the apprentice sat at his master’s table for his seven years, somewhat after the fashion of an adopted son, and when to attain the membership of the Gild was to gain a recognized and honourable position in the land.”15

The gild policed standards and controlled admission to a craft. As investment and trading outside the confines of a particular craft grew, gilds merchant were established to perform those functions for the merchants of a borough, eventually becoming the most important and dominant gild of all. Thus, the Free Gild Merchant became the hub of economic and political life of the municipality, and its Master often served as the mayor (however called), or had been, and the mayoralty usually had an intimate connection with the governance of that gild. The Gild of Burgesses came to be the term for the collectivity of the freemen burgesses involved in the running of the borough, and effectively became synonymous with the Gild of Merchants.

“Originally anybody who wanted to trade in Preston, whether as a merchant, a craftsman, a market stall holder or in any other capacity, was required to be a member of the Guild Merchant.”16

In Cromwell’s 1655 Charter, which generally restated much of what had appeared in the previous Charters (sometimes in clearer terms), is the clause, “And further that they [the ‘Maior and Comon Counceil’] and theire Successors by the name of Maior Aldermen and Burgasses of the Towne of Swansey in the County of Glamrgan shall and may forever hereafter have and enjoy one Free Guild of Merchants within the said Towne of Swansey. And that the Mayor and Comon Councell of the said Towne for the tyme being or the greater pte of them whereof the Maior of the said Towne for the tyme being wee will to be always one, and shall have full power and authority by these Prsents to call and admitt unto the same Free Guild and Burgesship of the said Towne such and soe many able and discreete prsons as to them shall seeme fitt and upon any just and lawfull grounds and causes to disfranchise them or any of them. And also that the said Maior Aldermen and Burgesses of the said Towne of Swansey and theire Successors shall and may for ever hereafter have one Comon Seale to serve them…”17. This was not abrogated in his 1658 Charter nor in that of King James II in 1685, being presumably a description of the domestic arrangement for the governance of the burgesses of the municipality for some considerable previous time, going on what held in most other boroughs.

14 Wood, Marguerite, PhD, “The Freedom of the City: The Burgess Roll” (http://www.edinburgh.org.uk/hisc/wood.html). Although nowadays, the concept and situation of burgesses in England and Wales is quite different from that in Scotland, during the 12th Century they were analogous as far as that feudal part of Scotland ruled by the king of Scots was concerned. Things were somewhat different in the Gaelic area of the “Lordship of the Isles and the Kingdom of Man” (over half of present-day Scotland), and the Norwegian influenced areas of Zetland. Dr Wood is writing about Edinburgh, but her point has a more general relevance in describing that time. 15 Lambert, loc cit. 16 Preston City Council webpage “Burgesses” (http://www.preston.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/guild- 2012/burgesses) 17 Quoted in toto in Dillwyn, op cit, p 7

10 According to Bill Rogers, who worked as the Estate Agent and Valuer in the Estates Department of the former County Borough of Swansea for nearly 45 years until his retirement in 1974,

“Burgesses today are men or women whose names are on the Electoral Roll, but burgesses of old were male members of hereditary corporations. They were landowners in fee, which is to say that their estates, called burgages, were heritable and held subject to payment of an annual quit-rent to the lord of the borough in which they were situated. In South Wales the rent of a burgage was almost uniformly one shilling per annum. As long as that was paid the burgage could pass down in the family. Burgage holders, if male, were the elite of the borough’s inhabitants, able to trade freely and practise their callings at all times and they were known as ‘freemen’. In medieval times there were other conditions of men known as ‘burgesses of the wind and street’ and others called ‘censers’. They held no burgages and were ‘unfree’ men, but in return for regular payments were given or conceded limited rights of trading or of practising a trade. This simple concept of burgesses and unfree men developed over time into the formation of associations and guilds for the purpose of trade protection, and for the purposes of limited town government.”18

The first part of Rogers’s first sentence quoted above doesn’t really explain everything as not everybody on the Electoral Roll is a burgess (as in ‘freeman’ or ‘freewoman’). And many freemen and freewomen of the City (and previously Borough, and County Borough) and County of Swansea are not on its Electoral Roll, being resident elsewhere as the Rosser List shows19.

“[T]he Town and Franchise [of Swansea] was an administrative unit for the Corporate purposes of an indeterminate number of burgesses or freemen,… It was also the area in which resided those qualified to vote for the Member of Parliament,… This right was known as the franchise and vested in the burgesses only, as distinct from the inhabitants at large… The Town and Franchise borough had been a manorial set-up for the benefit of a privileged body of hereditary burgesses.”20

Although we now use the word ‘freeman’ (and, more recently, ‘freewoman’) instead of burgess it is unclear what the difference is, if any, anymore and they frequently seem to be used as synonyms.

18 Rogers, op cit, p 106. ‘Free’ and ‘unfree’ clearly derive from the Feudal System that had effectively collapsed by the end of the 1300s, although it refused to die even by the end of the 1400s (and legally only came to an end with the passage of the Statute of 1660 upon the Restoration of the Monarchy with King Charles II), but whose terminologies and concepts carried on for some time after. 19 The Rosser List is important not only because it shows that - bar seven Tricks, six Joneses, and one James – 74 of all the existing 88 Freemen of Swansea in 2010 descend from Captain John Rosser, master mariner, who died before 1810 [Bill Rogers’s research done for my late father, Haydn Owen (No 218), states, against his entry for the Captain, “Admission: Certificate of admission as Burgess’s son is No 28 Book A 5 Nov 1770. The resolution to admit is probably 10 July 1769. He died before 1810”], but also that there were admissions as burgess/freemen by right of descent from a grandfather (Griffith James Redmond of Ontario, Canada, No 210, was admitted on 12 February 1929 as the grandson of Emanuel Trick, No 106, admitted 13 July 1849) and great-grandfather (Thomas Stanley Johnston, No 199, was admitted 2 December 1912 as the great-grandson of Capt John Rosser, No 93, who had been admitted on 13 September 1844), and still by servitude (e.g. William Davies, by servitude to his father). Davies is an interesting entry in the Burgess Roll. Although admitted a burgess/freeman on 16 October 1801, he wasn’t sworn until 17 April 1826; so he appears twice – once as No 9 in 1801 and again as No 62A in 1826 after Griffith Rosser (No 62). A note by his entry in 1801 refers to a Committee of the Council in 1843 ordering the payment of an annuity. A similar note against his 1826 entry states “William Davies is next in seniority for the annuity as ordered by a Committee of the Council in 1843 – see No 9”. The annuity, going by other entries, seems to have been typically £10 although there is one of £12 paid to William Padley (No 66) some time before November 1871 (when he died). The first Captain John Rosser (admitted in 1770) is likely to be a great-great- grandson of the burgess John Rosser mentioned in King James II’s 1685 Charter, “[i]n like manner… John Rosser and David Williams to be Serjeants at Mace”. 20 Rogers, op cit, pp 110-112

11 Obviously there was a difference when among those freemen burgesses licensed to trade and so on were to be found unfree ‘censers’ (or ‘sensers’21) and ‘burgesses of the wind and street’. But at some point after the end of the feudal system the terms stopped having any distinct meanings and came to be used interchangeably. Even the 1835 Act seemed to treat them as though they were synonymous, as in Clause III, for example, “Provided always, and be it enacted, That from and after the passing of the Act no Person shall be elected, made, or admitted a Burgess or Freeman of any Borough by Gift or Purchase”22. It would seem, therefore, that it boiled down to local preference and habitual usage.

Swansea: One of the earliest Chartered Boroughs

It would appear that the area of Swansea and Gower was a fairly important place before the Norman Conquest by Duke William in 1066. This would likely be connected with its key position as a convenient sheltered stop-over or entrepôt between Munster and Bristol, and the older portage route across Somerset and Devon on the way to Ireland23. Certainly they were important enough for the Welsh and invading Normans to fight a number of battles to secure possession of the area. “It was Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick, who claimed these lands of Gower and Swansea after taking it from the indigenous Welsh populace in a round of fierce battles in 1099. It was in 1106 that Henry was conferred as the first ‘Lord of Swansea and Gower’…”24

Dr Edith Evans commented on the town itself, “The creation of the town of Swansea seems to have been dependent on the castle and to have been encouraged by the Earl of Warwick as a service and as a source of income. It seems to have been in existence already by the time its first charter was granted between 1153 and 1184, and probably grew up outside the castle, although it is possible that part of the bailey was set aside for it, which would have defended it from Welsh attacks.”25

Swansea was first given the status of Borough by the Charter she refers to, namely that given by William de Newburgh, earl of Warwick26. In his book, Swansea, its Port

21 Lewis Weston Dillwyn, in his Contributions, defines and comments thus on ‘sensers’: “A Senser appears to have been a person not allowed to expose any merchandise for sale in the town without paying for the privilege, and a penalty was imposed on every inhabitant that purchased any article from an unlicensed senser. It may be inferred that the word* is synonymous with stranger, from an order made by a Common Hall on Dec 21, 1652, “Att which Day Wm Phillip Taylor and John Ffriend, being questioned, & confessing that they had bought ffowre pieces of Lynen Cloth from a Stranger without bringing of it to the Towne Hall, nor yeilding the thirds of it to the Towne, according to the antient establisht orders of the said Towne, are therefore this day by the Portreife, Aldermen, Comon Attorneys & Burgesses then present, disscommuned, & put out of their Fredome & not to bee taken as Burgesses.” … in the same year [1652] £2 18s 8d was collected in sums varying from 13s 4d to 6d from 23 sensers, one of whom Mr Philpott, apothecary, was rated at 2s. Raters were appointed to assess the value of the privilege to each, and in the preceding year Thomas Long, brazier, who resisted the assessment of 20s, was compelled to pay by distress. Though nothing on this account was received in 1695, there is a list of 24 sensers who “are to pay”, but the claim appears to have been abandoned, and I have not met with the word senser in the accounts of any subsequent year.” pp 24-5. The Footnote * states, “An ingenious Antiquary has suggested to Mr Traherne that it may have been derived from the French ‘sans sejour’ – See Jones’s History of Breconshire, vol i p 263”. 22 This is fairly constant throughout all 27 pages of the Act. And the Interpretation Clause (CXLII) is somewhat more than unhelpful in defining what the Act means by “burgess”: “And be it enacted… the Word “Burgess” shall be construed to mean Citizen in the case of a City;…”. 23 See Footnote 49. 24 From The History of Waunarlwydd: The Lord’s Meadow by Daniel Gibbins, “The Lords of Swansea and Gower” (http://www.saintbarnabaschurch.org.uk/waunarlwydd.htm) 25 Evans, Dr Edith, Swansea Castle and the Medieval Town, Swansea City Council and Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust Ltd, Swansea 1983, p 22. She footnotes the Charter as “translation printed in Jones 1920, p 154ff”, referring to W. H. Jones’s History. 26 William was the nephew of another Henry de Beaumont (younger son and heir of the Henry who had been granted the Lordship), who had died childless, and thus had inherited the earldom of Warwick and the Lordship of Swansea and Gower from his uncle some 50 years after its first conferring.

12 and Trade and their Development, published in 1934, Alderman Edward Harris27 mentioned eleven more charters: these were from King John (1215), King Henry III (1234), William de Breos (1305), King Edward II (1312 and 1317), King Edward III (1332 and 1338), Henry Somerset (earl of Worcester in 1532), Oliver Cromwell (1655 and 1658 – subsequently revoked on the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660), and King James II (1685).

“The first charter contains clauses of fairly standard type as well as those which seem to have been specially devised to deal with specific problems which had already been encountered. Oppression by the lord’s household seems to have been a problem now, as in the time of William de Braose III28 a century later: members of the household were specifically forbidden to be witnesses in cases against burgesses. More usual were the clauses preventing the lord’s justice from hearing an action against a burgess without another burgess as witness, and allowing the burgesses to hold their own court, which, from their point of view, would have safeguarded their interests, and, from the lord’s point of view, would have provided him with an income. Each burgess was to pay a standard shilling rent per annum for his burgage plot and was to have the right to build a tenement with an oven and brewhouse on it. He also had a certain number of rights and duties which were carefully laid out in the charter. As this was a frontier area, a certain amount of military service was included in these duties: the lord could summon the burgesses to fight for him, though he had to pay their expenses if they stayed away from home overnight – an indication of how close the Welsh threat was expected to come. The burgesses had the right to pasture or cut fodder for their horses in the same place as men-at-arms.

“Swansea must at this time have been as much a settlement of farmers as tradesmen, for both methods of livelihood are covered in the charter. Each burgess had the right to clearance in the woods and seven acres of land, and the right to pasture his herds as far as he could go in a day and return on the same night, and also had the right to leave the town and return as he wished, which would have been essential for the carrying out of trade over long distances. Moreover, the burgesses were given protection in the cloth and hide trades. Other rights included the right to hunt and to fish along the shore between Blackpill and the area of the Crymlin Brook and keep whatever they caught except for porpoise and sturgeon which they had to give up to the lord, and deer, wild boar and martens which they were not allowed to hunt. They had rights to wreckage between the low-water mark

It is conventionally reckoned that the first Charter was that given to Lincoln in 1160, so William de Newburgh’s grant to Swansea makes it one of the very early ones.

This Charter of his granted the burgesses of the town the right of taking oak from the woods in and around the town ‘to make their houses, fences and ships… and to carry and sell whatever they wished… peace in their homes and outside their houses for the space of seven feet from their doors and on their burgages an oven, brewhouse, and household stuff and all their profits freely and quietly’. No foreign merchant was ‘to cut cloths by retail nor to buy skins, nor hides, except of a burgess’. This last entry implies that there was an active foreign sea-borne trade in and out of Swansea even in the mid-1100s.

King John’s Charter of 1215 further gave the burgesses of Swansea the right to ‘go and come through all our land with their merchandise, to buy and sell and do business’.

King Edward II’s Charter in 1317 gave powers to collect money for paving and repairing the streets as well as for the enclosure of the town. To help pay for this the burgesses were entitled to levy a customs duty of varying amounts on all prescribed goods brought into the town for sale and a farthing for every unit of five shillings value on all mercantile commodities not specifically described [that is one farthing in each unit of 240, there being four farthings to the penny and twelve pennies in a shilling]. 27 Alderman Harris was Mayor of Swansea in 1933. 28 Breos, Braose, and even Braos, are alternative spellings that turn up in documents. The locally favoured form in Swansea as far as street signs and the like are concerned appears to be Breos.

13 and high-water mark, and could cut timber for building and ship-building and firing or to sell, with the proviso that they had to pay a shilling for each ship built…

“By 1215 it appears to have been a flourishing commercial centre as the burgesses thought it worthwhile to apply to King John for an exemption from tolls levied by other towns*, but Swansea was not to enjoy this prosperity undisturbed, for between 1212 and 1220 it changed hands several times and in 1215 was even burnt by its own garrison to prevent it from falling into the hands of Rhys Ieuanc ap Gruffudd, and also suffered a few years later at the hands of Rhys Gryg. Nevertheless, Swansea merchants continued to trade on both sides of the Bristol Channel, for a group of them is heard of in Bristol in 1233, when they were held for the non- payment of tolls and were only freed at the king’s instigation**. Later in the century in 1257 and 1287 the town was again sacked and burnt by the Welsh.

That the Welsh were not the only predators that the townspeople had to fear is demonstrated by the charter granted by William de Braose III in 1306 [1305]…”29

The 1305 De Breos Charter restated the right of the burgesses to take oak for the building and repairing of boats, ships, and houses from the woods around the Franchise. It also shows that the borough was engaged in foreign trade, importing wine and other commodities from abroad and exporting ale, wool, manufactures, and probably coal30. This Charter was granted under somewhat reprehensible circumstances, and seems to have been a dodge by William de Breos to avoid having his lands taken away from him by the king.

“In 1300 a number of his [William de Braose] English tenants, apparently men of some importance, brought an action against him at the court of Carmarthen alleging that he had acted oppressively… The business was adjourned from parliament to parliament while William continued to oppress his vassals, until in 1306 a further enquiry was held into the liberties and customs claimed by the men of Gower. The findings of this enquiry were unfavourable to de Braose, but judgement, which would almost certainly have abridged his rights, was never given, for he decided to compromise and grant a charter to the men of Gower and another to the burgesses of Swansea.

The charter granted to Swansea is preserved among the city archives,*… By the terms of the new charter, burgesses were to be allowed bail except for serious offences, and were not to be fined except by the judgement of their peers, nor were they to be indicted by Welshmen or members of the lord’s household. The lord’s bailiffs were not to hold courts except by permission, and cases were not to be adjourned or prolonged from one session of the court to another. The lord’s chancery was to be open and writs drawn up as required. The burgesses could not henceforth be forced to do military service or compelled to go beyond Gower, but if they wanted to travel from the town on their own business they were not to be stopped. They themselves were to collect all taxes which were due from the townspeople. No forced loan of more than twenty marks (a mark is two-thirds of £1)

29 Evans, op cit, pp 22-25. Her Footnotes, which I’ve rendered as * and **, are: * Exemption from tolls, Francis 1867, p 1; and ** Calendar of Close Rolls, 1231-43, pp 356, 358, 387. Francis is cited in the Bibliography. 30 “And that they have pit coal in Billywasta without the hindrance of us or our heirs…, and this to supply their all their necessaries, so that they shall not sell except in form prescribed as to the woods”. Billywasta (also Ballywasta according to Dillwyn) is generally reckoned to be the hill known as Gelliwastad to the north of Morriston and south-west of Clydach. Alderman Harris notes (p 26), “The restriction imposed by the Charter on the sale of coal and the limitation of its use by the Burgesses to their own necessities must for a time have prevented the sale of that commodity becoming part of the general trade of the town much less part of its sea-borne trade.” However, he does refer to Dillwyn in his Contributions, who quoted authorities “for the view that coal was also being worked and, what is more, being exported in very early days from a colliery situated in Kilvey”. There is something suggestively Gaelic about Ballywasta: if J. Willis Bund’s thesis is reliable (see Footnote 49), one wonders whose or what the putative ‘steading’ might have been.

14 was to be exacted from a burgess, and any smaller loan had to be paid back within forty days: if it were not paid back in this term the lender was exempt from any further loan until it was repaid. The Portreeve (the forerunner of the Mayor) was to be chosen by the lord’s steward from two burgesses chosen annually by their fellows, and the lord’s officers were to be answerable for infringing the liberties of the borough. What is undoubtedly unprecedented in this charter is that William de Braose bound himself and his successors to pay a forfeit of five hundred silver marks to the town and £500 to the King if the term of it should be broken. The charter of the men of Gower was similar in its provisions.”31

Reform Acts and Freedom

Dr Evans drew attention to the existence of half-burgages by the early 15th Century. “Another document giving valuable insights into the late medieval town is that drawn up in 1400 to assign dowry to the dowager Duchess of Norfolk. This, like the foundation charter of the Hospital of St David32, makes considerable mention of half-burgages, of which the number had probably increased during the past seventy years, whether the practice of dividing them was due to the partition of property among heirs, or to the increasing popularity of certain sections of the town for houses and shops. It was not all a question of division either, for there were concentrations of property in the hands of certain people, particularly the more prominent townsfolk. The town was still however predominantly English. Of the more than eighty tenants named, only eight had names of Welsh form. The burgages in this document are listed by street: Fisher Street, High Street, St Mary Street and West Street. Other street names known from medieval property deeds are Frog Street, Goat Street and the Strand. High Street continued beyond the north gate of the town creating a suburb known as ‘Bovetown’, and it seems likely that there was also a southern suburb ‘Donton’ along the road leading to the ferry.”33

According to Harris, Somerset’s 1532 Charter, which had an important bearing on the government of the borough being as it was essentially a Deed, was effectively a confirmation of that of 1305.

This particular Charter is interesting in that it highlights the division of the Lordship into the Englishery (also Gower Anglicana) and the Welshery (Gower Wallicana), and how the Flemings of the Englishery would resort to a special Leet Court known as the Court of Gower Anglicana. This is one of the few surviving documents that indicate the government of the borough during the Middle Ages, and so its showing the existence of Barony and Leet Courts implies that Swansea during that period had analogous institutions to other boroughs in England and Wales, and so the presence of the gild system can be inferred. In fact, it would have been highly unusual if there had not been gilds in Swansea; probably so unusual that it would have been remarked upon, certainly by the king’s officers.

“Swansea’s records of the guilds and the corporation of the Middle Ages are no longer extant, but valuable clues to the organisation that must have existed can be found in Ministers’ Accounts, which are records of the King’s Officers who administered the borough and the lord’s territories, when he was under legal age… There is evidence of incipient or well-established guild of the apprentice system, and the systematic registration of burgess-ship by enrolment at a fee.”34

31 Evans, op cit, pp 9-10. Her Footnote, which I’ve cited as *, states “Reproduced, with translation, in Francis 1867, p 5ff”. 32 Now the “Cross Keys” Inn by St Mary’s Cathedral 33 ibid, p 25 34 Rogers, op cit, p 106

15 Obviously, the initial enrolment of the burgess would have had to do with the holding of a burgage; but later “the right to be a member of the governing body corporate became heritable not so much in right of holding a burgage as in right of being the son or descendant of a son of the holder of a burgage, or the son-in-law of someone who, by one means or another, had achieved burgess-ship. It became attainable later by service of an indentured apprenticeship to a burgess or of articles to him in a profession. The registration of burgess-ship became an important matter by the seventeenth century…”35

Thus the Gild of Burgesses constituted a key element in the local government of Swansea and Gower, electing the Portreeve and Aldermen, providing the Justices of the Peace, passing bye-laws, lobbying for Acts of Parliament (such as that in 1774 which empowered the burgesses to establish a shambles, or meat market, in the garden and postern of Swansea Castle), and appointing Overseers of the Poor (who had been in existence since 1601). It seems to me to be a bit inappropriate of Bill Rogers to state simply that “the Town and Franchise borough had been a manorial set-up for the benefit of a privileged body of hereditary burgesses.”36 It was clearly much more than that.

This was, with minor modifications, the situation until the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. There was, however, a brief change during the Cromwellian Period. Before this, and after, Swansea’s parliamentary representation was through the MP from Cardiff – an arrangement that didn’t change until the Reform Act 1832, even though Swansea was the bigger borough with over twice the population (at the time of the Act, that of Cardiff was 6,197 and that of Swansea 18,70037). Under Cromwell’s Charters of 1655 and 1658 Swansea had its own MP, William Foxwist (a Judge of the Great Sessions of Wales), and for the four years that the two Charters were in effect the borough’s chief executive was called the Mayor instead of Portreeve.38

“For the Freedom, this is the most significant piece of legislation proposed since either the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act, which interfered with our rights, or the Local Government Act of 1972, which saved the existence of Freedom.”39

After such a long history of municipal pride and involvement, the 1835 Act must have come as quite a surprise. Even putting the best light on it, the Act treated the burgess-ship shabbily and was revolutionary in its effect – perhaps for the better, although that is arguable. There were certainly improvements, such as Clause III (no Freedom to be acquired by Gift or Purchase)(cited above) – the Gifting (which often wasn’t altruistic) or Purchasing had been frequently abused in many places; or the fact that the Town Clerk had to keep an up-to-date Freeman’s Roll, copies of which were to be printed for sale. And there were steps in it to bring municipal procedures into line with contemporary general and parliamentary ones – such as the introduction of ‘affirmation’ as a substitute for the swearing of the Oath.

But there seems to be an implied assumption, without evidence, that the burgesses did not do the best for the towns and boroughs under their care, that replacing them was a necessary and desirable advance, and the survival of the freemanship is a regrettable anachronism. This has entered the mythology of the municipalities up and down the kingdom, and can even be detected in comments in recent times such as those from Dr Alban and Bill Rogers referred to above or in a Report of the Director of Legal and Administrative Services in 1996 about a particular claim as an Hereditary Freeman, “This body [“the unreformed Corporation” - DRO] governed

35 ibid - though Rogers doesn’t say why registration had become an important matter by the 17th Century. 36 Rogers, op cit, p 112 – my emphasis. 37 source: Rogers, op cit p 110. 38 Harris, op cit, p 20 39 Journal of the Freemen of England and Wales (FEWJ) no 154 (April 2008) referring to the proposed Local Democracy Economic Development and Construction Bill, subsequently enacted in February 2009.

16 Swansea from the foundation of the borough by the Normans in the twelfth century until 1835, when, under the terms of the Municipal Corporations Act of that year, such unreformed corporations were abolished and replaced by town councils run on the lines of modern local authorities40.”

Although the nature of the franchise had changed slightly after the 1832 and 1835 Acts did away with the role of the burgesses, it wasn’t that dramatic a change as there was quite a hefty property qualification required before one could have the vote; so that the newly enfranchised middle class wasn’t that much different from the burgess class it replaced. And in the formal government of towns, too, it can’t really be claimed that the replacement was by “town councils run on the lines of modern local authorities”. The changes in nomenclature and the franchise were not that different from what they replaced. The innovation was the introduction of the ward system as the basis of electing councillors and aldermen. This was probably a great step towards coping with the incipient or burgeoning problems caused by population pressure and industry later in the century. But the services of professionals, whether accountants, solicitors, engineers, surveyors, or the more mundane ones provided by clerks, cooks, servants, labourers and the like had been ‘bought in’ before the 1835 Act and continued to be so after it. It was many decades towards the end of the 19th Century that these offices became part of municipal government and provided ‘in house’. It is likely that these changes, which developed organically under the post-1835 corporations, would have happened equally had the role of the burgesses not been removed.

The great change (Clause XXV) was the replacement in all boroughs and cities nationally by a Mayor (or Lord Mayor) as the chief magistrate in place of the Portreeve, Bailiff, or whatever other title he had; and, using a somewhat expanded franchise, the rather more general election of councillors, by ‘wards’, who in their turn chose the aldermen and the mayor (or lord mayor). Here an anomaly in the case of Swansea exists.

According to the Schedules at the end of the Act, Swansea was to be divided into three Wards and to have six aldermen and eighteen councillors. However, quite

40 My emphasis. I feel the wording seems to perpetrate an historical inaccuracy, and it would have been better had it been phrased differently. The relevant parts of the Report read in full: “Report of the Director of Legal and Administrative Services to the Policy and Resources Committee, 23 July 1996 For Information Hereditary Freeman: Mr X 1. Members will be aware that the former City of Swansea admitted Hereditary Freemen under the provisions of Section 248 of the Local Government Act, 1972. Intending freemen claimed admission by one of three avenues: (i) by birth, as sons of matriculated freemen; (ii) by marriage to daughters of matriculated freemen; (iii) by servitude, as apprentices of matriculated freemen. 2. The former City of Swansea was one of only a small number of towns in Wales which continued to admit Hereditary Freemen. Such freemen ultimately derived their claims for admission from descent from the burgesses of the unreformed Corporation. This body governed Swansea from the foundation of the borough by the Normans in the twelfth century until 1835, when, under the terms of the Municipal Corporations Act of that year, such unreformed corporations were abolished and replaced by town councils run on the lines of modern local authorities. Today, other than the right of admission, possession of the Hereditary Freedom bestows no practical rights or privileges upon the holder. 3. The rights of Freemen are perpetuated and protected under Schedule 17, Section 22 of the Local Government (Wales) Act, 1994…”

The Section referred to in the Schedule of the Act states: “Freemen and aldermen

22 (1) Nothing in this Act shall be taken to affect any person’s status as a freeman or honorary freeman, or the right of any person to be admitted as a freeman of any place.

(2) Services rendered to an old authority, the area of which becomes wholly or partly included in a new principal area, shall be treated for the purposes of section 249 of the 1972 Act (honorary aldermen and freemen) as services rendered to the council of the new principal area.” It doesn’t seem to mention specifically Section 248 of the 1972 Act (See Appendix C below), so presumably that Section stands as enacted and is confirmed by Section 22 (1).

17 clearly in practice Swansea only had two Wards – North and South. What actually drove this local, and rather cavalier, adjustment of an Act of Parliament seems to be obscure and lacks documentary evidence; although it does seem to be a pragmatic acceptance of the realities of the geography of the borough41.

“[T]he Town and Franchise was abolished and the new Municipal Borough was created with the same boundaries as the Parliamentary Borough of Swansea set up under the Reform Act of 1832… It was divided into the two wards of North and South and given twenty four councillors of whom six were made aldermen.”42

The borough was divided again in 1875 into the four wards of north, south, east, and west with the same number of councillors. It became a County Borough in 188943, with an increase of area and divided up into ten wards with forty councillors of whom ten were aldermen. In 1918 its area expanded again and this was divided into eighteen wards with sixty councillors of whom fifteen were aldermen; but in 1952 the number of wards was reduced to fifteen so that an alderman could preside over each. On 15 December 1969, Queen Elizabeth II issued a new Charter making Swansea a City; and on 22 March 1982 she issued Letters Patent raising the status of the Mayor to that of Lord Mayor, Councillor P. H. Valerio becoming the first Lord Mayor of Swansea.44

The Freedom: a civic duty and responsibility

In a rather abrupt fashion, after 1835 the burgesses were left without a role; although various of them continued to serve as ward councillors, aldermen, and even the mayor (John Grove, Freeman number 1045, admitted on 3 May 1802 and died on 26 August 1847, was Mayor of Swansea in 1838). My great-great- grandfather, Captain George Rosser (Number 96), was the Harbour Master. The twelve seniormost burgesses or freemen (the “capital burgesses” of the 1655, 1658, and 1685 Charters) continued to receive an annuity of £10 (although there was one of £12)46, until the payments were stopped sometime between January 1902 and January 1904 as a consequence of the Swansea Corporation Act 1902, section 129. This seems to have severed the last link between the burgesses and their erstwhile municipal role and involvements47.

41 It seems to me that what the parliamentary drafters of the Act had in mind was a merger of the ‘Town and Franchise’ and ‘St Thomas’s Hamlet’ into one ward, and the Upper and Lower Divisions into two other wards (see Map at Appendix B2) except that the extent of this ‘Town and Parish’ does not appear to have been, until recently, representative of what Swansea people thought of as “Swansea”. 42 Rogers, op cit, p 112. No explanation seems to be on offer for this disparity between the practice and the Schedule of the Act. The number of aldermen is half that of the historic twelve of the older borough. 43 Under the terms of the Local Government Act 1888. 44 As a consequence of the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974 the status of Swansea was reduced from that of a County Borough and City to that of a District and City, although the title of City was retained and the area increased by the inclusion of a part of West Gower. On 1 April 1996, under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (1994 cap XIX), the City of Swansea became the “City and County of Swansea”, and the Freemen became the ‘Freemen of the City and County of Swansea’. 45 The “Freeman number” relates to the sequential numbers given in the Freemen’s Roll started as a consequence of the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 Clause XXII. Currently, at the date of writing, the most recent admission is Number 301 Samuel James Walsh of West Cross, Swansea, admitted on 8 June 2010 by right of birth as the son of Number 269 Terence James Walsh. 46 See Footnote 19. 47 Rogers, op cit, p 107 commented, “Payments of varying amounts were made to senior burgesses, and this finally became fixed at £10 per annum for each of the senior twelve, whether burgess or alderman. When the Municipal Corporations Act was passed in 1835, the right to these pensions was not taken away. The modern, new, corporation had therefore to provide, in their own private Act of 1902, that such payments were to cease with the last survivor of the then recipients. The last two recipients were Ernest Davies, printer (died 1958) and James Callard of Rhondda Street (died 1962). Mr Callard had been a burgess for 67 years.” The pejorative take on the corporations of the burgesses is clearly present in Bill Rogers’s statement about the “modern, new, corporation”.

18 It would appear that many freemen’s sons didn’t claim the freedom, and many of their daughters’ husbands didn’t either, presumably because it must have seemed increasingly pointless. The Rossers and some others persevered, possibly because it was just something that you did when you came of age as a sort of local rite de passage or gesture of involvement in Swansea, like supporting the “All Whites” (Swansea Rugby Union Football Club), or watching Glamorgan play cricket, at St Helen’s; anyway, that was how it seemed when it was my turn.

Then, in 1972, the Local Government Act was passed. This affected Freemen in various ways. As Lord Graham of Edmonton stated when introducing the Debate on his proposed amendments to a later Bill (the Local Democracy Economic Development and Construction Bill, which in its scope set out to amend Clauses 248 and 249 of the 1972 Act) on 3 February 2009,

“There is no recognition in the Bill that local traditions have a part to play in encouraging interest in civic life, and, in particular, I was disappointed that the Government had not taken the opportunity to update one of our most historic traditions.

“In essence, all these amendments are about modernising the ancient traditions of freemen…

“Who are the freemen of England and Wales? The freemen’s guilds in our ancient towns and cities exist as trustees and guardians of funds and property for public benefit. They go back to at least mediaeval times. Unlike honorary freedom, borough freedom is not an honour but a civic duty and responsibility; nor is it purely inherited. In many towns, the terms of admission include residential restrictions, place of birth restrictions, forms of apprenticeships and relationship by marriage.”48

As befits a seafaring port of ancient standing49, there aren’t any residency or place of birth restrictions on Swansea freemen. This enables the children of children of

As I’ve mentioned above (footnote 19), there actually was only one variation from the payments of £10 and that was of £12 to William Padley (No 66). 48 Hansard, House of Lords, 3 February 2009 49 Gower and the mouth of the Tawe lie on the ancient route to and from Ireland that involved a portage across the Somerset-Devon-Cornwall peninsula via Glastonbury Tor, and provided a convenient rest and adjustment stop. They were also convenient for the Vikings’ trade to and from Bristol to their settlements in Limerick, Cork, and Dublin, so that they could lay over to feed, water, and rest stock and slaves ready either for market in Bristol or the voyage across the waters of the Celtic Sea (vide, for example, Emrys Bowen’s Saints, Seaways, and Settlements). It is distinctly possible, if these stop-overs were regular and constant, that there was some permanent (or semi- permanent) settlement on the site of what later became the Castle and Baileys and which would therefore date it much earlier than the Norman Invasion of the area around 1099. This would have drawn in, also, locals as traders, merchants, and craftsmen. If so, this would tend to dispute Dr Evans’s claim, cited on p 12 above, that the town was created around the castle and which dated it to a period after 1100.

The –sea ending in Swansea is presumably the same as in Battersea: “‘Eie’, however can mean ‘reach’, or place on a river bank where ships berth” (Rogers, op cit, p 13). The Sweyn/Svegn of Sweyneseie or Sweynesnes was presumably an otherwise unknown Viking jarl from the Irish settlements, rather than the famous Svegn Tjúguskeggr (Sweyn Forkbeard), the son of Haraldr Blátönn (Harald Bluetooth), King of Denmark. It is possible, although less likely, to be the Gaelic name Suibne (Sweeney in anglicised Irish).

That there was considerable Irish and Norse influence on the area is uncontested. In fact Bund, in his tome on Celtic Christianity in Wales, contended that a line could be drawn north-south from Swansea to Conwy west of which, by the Early Middle Ages, there was significant Goidelic impact and only east of it Cymric. And, of course, there’s considerable Cymric influence in southern Ireland, especially in the provinces of Cúige Laighean (Leinster) and Cúige Mumhan (Munster).

Norse naming can be seen in Gower in the Landsker, The Worm, Rotherslade, Rothers Sker, Langland, The Knab, and possibly in Bracelet and Limeslade Bays. The name of the Mumbles has an obscure etymology – it has been

19 Swansea to keep their connection with the city from Australia, Canada, or the United States of America, or places closer to home like England, Scotland, or, even, Finland.

The 1972 Act restored by simple acceptance the position of the Freemen of “existing boroughs” (by which it meant towns and cities) as stated in Section 248 (1) “subject to the following provisions of this section, nothing in this Act shall affect any person’s status, or the right of any person to be admitted, as a freeman of a place which is an existing borough; and in this section any such place is referred to as a city or town”. As the article in the FEWJ quoted above stated, the 1972 Act “saved the existence of Freedom”.50

As things stand today, at the end of 2010, there are currently 301 admitted Freemen of Swansea listed in the Freemen’s Roll, of whom 88 are still alive and nine of those, according to the 2010 Electoral Roll, appear to live within the area of the City and County (although a number of the others does visit at frequent, if irregular, intervals). But we are about to meet a wave of new claims as a consequence of the 2009 Act referred to above.

This is because in Sections 27 to 29 of Chapter 5 (“Local Freedoms and Honorary Titles”) of the, now, Local Democracy Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 daughters may now be admitted to the freedom as “freewomen”.

As subsection 27 (2(1A) and (1B) state (amending Section 248 of the Local Government Act 1972, after subsection (1)), “Where the son of a freeman of a city or town may claim to be admitted as a freeman of that place, the daughter of a freeman may likewise claim to be so admitted” and “The son or daughter of a freeman of a city or town shall be admitted as a freeman whether born before or after the admission, as a freeman, of his or her freeman parent and wherever he or she was born”.

And so the 900-year long history of the Freemen of Swansea enters a new phase.

Modernising the Ancient Tradition, or the Old Role Renewed?

There are Freemen, and Freewomen, and Gilds of Freemen and Freewomen or Burgesses, in many towns and cities across Wales and England. Some of these are as ancient as those of Swansea (and some are rather more recent). As far as Wales is concerned, to quote the Report cited in Footnote 40 (above), the “former City of Swansea was one of only a small number of towns in Wales which continued to admit Hereditary Freemen” (it was “former” because the Report was written after it

suggested by the Gower Society that it comes from the French mamelles, small breasts, referring to the two small islets at Mumbles Head, somewhat like the “Paps of Jura” on that Hebridean island.

This analogy could introduce another possible source for the name, or part of it, given the extensive Norse impact. It is a common element in Hebridean place names to find a reduction of the Old Norse bólstaðr, ‘steading, farm, farmstead, dwelling place, or homestead’, appearing, according to Iseabail MacLeod (p. 70), as ‘-bol’, ‘-boll’, ‘- bols’, ‘-bost’, ‘-bister’, ‘-bster’, ‘-bus’, ‘-bos’, ‘-poll’, or ‘-pool’ [and other variants, as in Skerabol, Nereabolls, Ealabus (Islay); Carbost (Skye); Nisabost (Harris); Liurboist (Lewis)]. Perhaps that is the “-bles” ending of Mumbles? And perhaps the “Mum-“ element derives from the Old Irish Mumu or Muman for Munster from where came the Uí Liatháin, who settled Gower for a while (according to the Expulsion of the Déisi), and were supposedly expelled from Gŵyr by Cunedda Wledig in the mid-4th Century?

Or it may, more likely, be a corruption of Rum (Rome) through nasalisation referring to the Roman villa located in the Mumbles-Oystermouth area: “Roman homestead” would seem to be just the sort of naming of a landmark that occasional seaborne visitors might give it, just as Worm (dragon) identified that particular landfall as seen from a vessel, with Rumabólstaðr becoming with time and mispronouncing Mumubols. 50 See Footnote 39.

20 had become the ‘City and County’). As far as I can ascertain, these are Swansea, Pembroke, Haverfordwest, Llantrisant, and Montgomery.

These, and all the others in towns and cities in England, were effectively in the same boat after 1835 (matters in the royal burghs of Scotland were somewhat different). Some of the extant Gilds of Freemen in the north-east of England maintained an informal contact with each other, and with those of York and the City of London, since the 1930s. Then in the 1960s, when local government reform was being discussed in and out of parliament, it was feared that what remained of traditional Freemen’s rights might be lost: for some of these boroughs this might mean that the status of surviving burgesses’s lands and trusts would be in question. This would have affected the administration of trusts for the public benefit that the gilds of freemen operated in places such as Stafford, Berwick, York, and, of course, London (although York and London are special cases).

So, a meeting was called at York in 1966, and chaired by the Chairman of the Berwick Guild of Freemen (Arthur Cairns, Esq), at which an association of Freemen’s Gilds was formed to work on behalf of all the freemen of England. Thus was born the “Freemen of England”, which was later extended in the early 1970s to cover Wales and eventually renamed the “Freemen of England and Wales”51. In the event, the Local Government Act 1972, did the opposite of what was feared and actually preserved and formalised the existence, rights, and privileges of freemen. It also dealt with the administration and trusteeship of burgesses’ lands which had survived in certain boroughs: in Glamorgan this particularly affected Llantrisant.

I don’t know when the burgesses of Swansea lost their lands. Bill Rogers wrote, “…about 750 acres of unenclosed lands which belonged to the manorial lord of the borough, but were subject to common rights which the burgess or freemen had enjoyed over them from time immemorial. These common lands were known as the Townhill and the Burroughes (Burrows) and became enclosed under a local Act in 1762. The Burrows, fronting the foreshore from Brynmill to the river [Tawe], were allotted to the burgesses and the Townhill was divided, as to two-thirds and one third, between them and the lord of the borough.52” They are not mentioned in the Schedule to the 1835 Act, so it is possible that they had been lost prior to that and since 1762. However, there is a tale among my family that one of the Captains Rosser was involved in the “gifting” of these lands – certainly Townhill, which is mentioned – to the Corporation during the 19th century. So it is possible that it was a consequence of the 1835 Act.

Nevertheless, there are many towns and cities in addition to Swansea where there are no longer any burgesses’ trusts or lands, leaving the freemen and women apparently without a role. So, rather than simply accepting this status quo, a movement seems to have developed, certainly since the 1960s, to find such a role and involve the freemen and women in the municipalities that their forebears helped build and served for centuries.

This has led to the foundation of Gilds of Burgesses (or Gilds of Freemen) in many of them to recruit and involve the freemen and women typically in raising the profile and awareness of their town or city both nationally and internationally, teaching and educating about it, participating in good works (like charities for helping the children of the borough), supporting the mayor or lord mayor’s causes, working with the mayor (or lord mayor) and corporation to add a bit more pageantry. These are, of

51 Welsh freemen were members of the association from very early on. My father had a number of meetings with the late Harry Ward, sometime Master of the Gild of Freemen of York, one of the prime movers for the setting up of the Freemen of England (as it then was), about the setting up of the association and he and I became two of its early members. Through the Guild of Freemen of the ancient Hanseatic port of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the FEW maintains a link with its Scottish equivalent, the Court of Deans of Scotland, of which Berwick is also a member. 52 Rogers, op cit, pp 108-9.

21 course, some of the functions that the burgesses typically did in the past, although they wouldn’t have been described in quite these terms. The Gild of Freemen of York states, for example, as two of its main objects, “to do everything possible to enhance the good reputation of the City of York” and “to encourage and assist the Citizens and Freemen of York to realise their public and civic responsibilities and to serve their City in every way which, individually and collectively, is open to them”. Towards meeting these Aims, the York Gild operates a benevolent fund and subscribes to charitable causes.

Many of these Gilds take care of the initial processing of claims to the freedom, by advising about the required documentation and ensuring that it is all submitted complete to the appropriate party (called the “town clerk” in the 1835 and 1972 Acts). This is likely to be a great help in the immediate future, as there is a large number of potential claims from daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers as a consequence of the 2009 Act, many of them unsure as to what is needed and how to go about making the claim for admission.

And, increasingly, in many municipalities the swearing in of new freemen and women is done together with the mayor (or lord mayor) and aldermen as a grand occasion. Which is how it used to be.

There are various places with which the City has twinning, connections, and friendship arrangements. It is ‘twinned’ with Mannheim (Germany), Sinop (Turkey), Pau (France), Cork (Republic of Ireland), and Bydgoszcz (Poland); it has ‘connections’ with Ferrara (Italy) and Århus (Denmark); and a ‘friendship link’ with Nantong (China). The oldest of these is with Mannheim, with which it has been twinned for 54 years. The Oberburgermeister, Herr Gerhard Widder, was made an Honorary Freeman of Swansea in 1995. A delegation from Swansea, led by the Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Ioan Richard, attended the 400th Anniversary of Mannheim and the 50th of the twinning in January 2007.

In addition to the City and County, “Unique research undertaken by the South Wales Evening Post has revealed the existence of 12 'Swanseas' in America, 10 in Canada, two in Australia, one in South Africa and one in Jamaica.

"Cape Swansea and Swansea Point in Arctic Canada are just two of 26 places around the world which share their name with the Welsh city. The Arctic Circle is a place few people would want to make their home. The only human feet which have passed through are those of Inuit hunters, explorers and scientists, all more than happy to leave when their tasks are completed. With temperatures plummeting to minus 45 degrees centigrade, the only obvious sign of life in this forgotten place, which lies in complete darkness for half the year, is the odd polar bear or walrus.

"Some of the most interesting finds include two American ghost towns called Swansea, Lac Swansea in French-speaking Quebec, Mount Swansea in British Columbia, Swansea Island in Ontario and Swanzey Beach Park in Hawaii.

"Towns called Swansea can be found in Illinois, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Tasmania and New South Wales.”53

The oldest, and most direct, link is with Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts USA which “was established on October 30, 1667, when Pastor John Myles, Captain Thomas Willett and their neighbors petitioned the Court at Plymouth to establish a

53 From an article included with a 32-page supplement in the South Wales Evening Post on 21 November 1997. The article can be read online at the Swansea Massachusetts unofficial website at http://www.swanseamass.org/history/OtherSwanseas_article.html

22 town”54. Captain Willett, an original Pilgrim and Dutch speaker, had been the first English mayor of New York City (then, recently, Nieuw Amsterdam). Rev John Myles had been the Baptist minister at Ilston (Gower) and an active and leading light of the Baptist movement in Wales during the Cromwellian Commonwealth, but religious persecution after the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 caused him and about 15 of his congregation to leave for New England in 1663.

“They took their church with them and it still survives. Miles had definitely reached a place called Rehoboth in Massachusetts by the end of 1663, and there he organized a Baptist church. He was obliged to move on in 1667 and he founded a new settlement called ‘Swanzey’. Here again he organized a Baptist church and also acted as a schoolmaster. A war with the Indians of 1675 [“King Philip’s War” – DRO] forced him to move yet again – to Boston this time. He eventually died on 3 February 1683. He left behind him a son, also called John Miles, a Harvard scholar, who was the first town clerk of Swanzey, Mass.”55 His grave has become a revered historic monument.

The ‘Village of Swansea’ at St Clair, Illinois USA and the ‘Village of Swansea’ on Lake Ontario, Canada, are both 19th Century foundations. The Illinois one shares a current logo with Swansea City AFC (the “Swans”, sometime of the Vetch Field). The picturesque and leafy lakeside Village of Swansea, Ontario, was annexed to the expanding City of Toronto in 1967. The two Australian ‘Swanseas’ are Swansea, Tasmania, on Swansea Bay some 80 kilometres north of Hobart, and Swansea, New South Wales, on Lake Macquarrie.

A Gild of Burgesses would be active in forging and furthering relationships with all these namesakes, twins, connections, and friendships, and in teaching and educating them about the Glamorgan City and County; and in the case of the namesakes in learning and informing in turn about their histories. Already the University encourages Canadian students to spend a year on the campus.

Perhaps in forging these links and copying the ‘good works’ as done by York and elsewhere lies the way forward for the freemen and freewomen, the Burgesses, of the ancient and historic City and County of Swansea in west Glamorgan. And, taking a cue from York, perhaps there is scope for the imaginative developing of new ones.

Maybe, as Lambert wrote, “to attain the membership of the Gild was to gain a recognized and honourable position in the land”56 might become a reality, although an amended and different reality, again.

54 http://www.swanseamass.org/town_government.html 55 Williams, Glanmor, “John Miles, Ilston, and the Baptist Denomination in Wales”, Minerva: ‘The Journal of Swansea History’ Volume VII, Royal Institution of South Wales, Swansea, 1999 pp 17 and 18. 56 Lambert, loc cit.

23

Appendices and Bibliography

24 Appendix A

Map showing the Lordships of Gower, Kilvey and Bettws with the Town and Franchise of the Borough of Swansea

The division between the Englishery and the Welshery (the Landsker) of Gower approximately follows the broken line separating the language areas (source: D. Trevor Williams, 1935 p 253). The Welshery is the northern, or inland, part.

25 Appendix B 1

Map showing the approximate boundaries of the Town and Franchise of Swansea

26 Appendix B 2

Map showing the approximate boundaries of the Town and Parish of Swansea

27 Appendix C

Local Government Act 1972, Sections 246, 248 and 249, and Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, Schedule 17

Local Government Act 1972:

246 Preservation of powers, privileges and rights of existing cities or boroughs, E+W

(1) Any privileges or rights belonging immediately before 1st April 1974 to the citizens or burgesses of an existing city or borough shall belong on and after that date to the inhabitants of the area of the existing city or borough.

(2) A charter granted by Her Majesty under section 245 above with respect to a district may—

(a) provide that any powers to appoint local officers of dignity exercisable immediately before 1st April 1974 by the corporation of an existing city or borough, the area of which becomes wholly or partly comprised by virtue of Part I or II of this Act in the district [F908being powers which are not exercised pursuant to subsection (4) or (5) below by charter trustees], shall be exercisable on the coming into force of the charter by the council of the district in relation to the whole or any part of the district;

(b) provide that any privileges or rights belonging immediately before 1st April 1974 to the citizens or burgesses of any such city or borough [F909for which charter trustees are not constituted pursuant to subsection (4) or (5) below] shall belong on the coming into force of the charter to the inhabitants of the whole or any part of the district;

(c) contain such incidental, consequential or supplementary provision as may appear to Her Majesty to be necessary or proper in connection with the aforesaid matters.

[F910 (2A) Any powers to appoint local officers of dignity exercisable immediately before 1st April 1996 in relation to any area by the council of a district in Wales by virtue of a charter granted under section 245 above shall, on and after that date, be exercisable in relation to that area by the council of the principal area in which, on that date, that area becomes comprised.

(2B) Where on 1st April 1996 that area becomes comprised partly in each of two or more principal areas, those powers shall be exercised on and after that date by such of the councils of those principal areas as may be agreed between them, or, in default of agreement, as the Secretary of State may designate.]

(3) Where by virtue of Part I or II of this Act, the area of an existing city or borough on 1st April 1974 becomes a parish in England or becomes a community in Wales having a separate community council, any powers to appoint local officers of dignity exercisable immediately before that date by the corporation of the city or borough shall be exercisable on and after that date by the parish or community council.

(4) Where by virtue of Part I or II of this Act the area of an existing city or borough on 1st April 1974 becomes wholly comprised in a district not having the status, or entitled to the style, of a borough by virtue of subsection (1) or (4) of section 245 above and that city or borough does not on that date become a parish in England or a community in Wales having a separate community council—

28 (a) there shall as from that date be a body corporate by the name of “the Charter Trustees of the City” or “the Charter Trustees of the Town”, as the case may be, with the addition of the name of the existing city or borough, consisting of the district councillors for the wards wholly or partly comprising the area of the city or borough or, if the number of those councillors is less than three, consisting of those councillors and such number of local government electors for that area appointed by the district council as will make the number of charter trustees up to three;

(b) the charter trustees may in every year elect one of their number to be city or town mayor and another to be deputy city or town mayor; and

(c) any powers to appoint local officers of dignity exercisable immediately before that date by the corporation of the city or borough shall be exercisable on and after that date by the charter trustees.

(5) Where by virtue of Part I of this Act part of the area of an existing city or borough in England on 1st April 1974—

(a) becomes a parish; or

(b) becomes comprised in a district not having the status, or entitled to the style, of a borough by virtue of subsection (1) or (4) of section 245 above and does not become a parish; the Secretary of State may by order provide that subsection (3) or (4) above, as the case may be, shall apply to that part of that area, but if the order so provides with the substitution for the name of the existing city or borough in question of a name specified in the order.

(6) Subsections (1), [F911and (3) above and any order applying subsection (3) made pursuant to] subsection (5) above shall have effect subject to [F912subsection (2A) above,] any provision made by a grant under Her Majesty’s prerogative or any provision of a charter granted by Her Majesty under section 245 above and any other provision of this Act or an instrument thereunder, and a charter under subsection (2) above shall have effect subject to any provision made by any such grant or any other provision of this Act or an instrument thereunder.

F913(7)......

(8) If an area or part of an area for which charter trustees have been constituted under subsection (4) above becomes, or becomes comprised in, a parish or a separate community council is established for a community consisting of such an area, that subsection shall cease to apply to the area or part and accordingly the charter trustees shall cease to act therefor.

(9) Where charter trustees have been constituted for an area which is altered by an order under Part IV of this Act and [F914subsection (8) does not apply] in relation to the alteration, the order may make such provision with respect to the charter trustees as may appear to the Secretary of State to be appropriate.

(10) The sums required to meet the expenses of charter trustees shall be chargeable on, but only on, the area for which the charter trustees act, and for the purpose of obtaining those sums the charter trustees shall issue precepts to the council of the district in which that area is situated.

(11) Where the amount of the income received by charter trustees in any year from their property exceeds any expenditure incurred in connection with that property, they shall pay the excess to the rating authority for the rating area in which the area

29 for which the charter trustees act is situated to be credited to the last-mentioned area.

(12) Every cheque or other order for the payment of money by charter trustees shall be signed by two of them.

(13) Charter trustees shall keep such accounts as may be prescribed of their receipts and payments.

(14) Sections 15(5) and 34(5) above shall apply in relation to a city or town mayor holding office by virtue of this section as they apply to the chairman of a parish or community council.

(15)[F915Section 168 above], except subsection (5), shall apply in relaton to charter trustees as if the charter trustees were the council of a parish or community consisting of the area for which they act.

(16) Sections 173 to 178 above shall apply in relation to charter trustees as if the charter trustees were the members of the council of a parish or community consisting of the area for which they act…

248 Freemen and inhabitants of existing boroughs. E+W

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, nothing in this Act shall affect any person’s status, or the right of any person to be admitted, as a freeman of a place which is an existing borough; and in this section any such place is referred to as a city or town.

(2) On and after 1st April 1974 the roll of freemen of a city or town shall be kept by the proper officer of the relevant district council, that is to say, the council of the district which comprises the whole or the greater part of the city or town.

(3) If at any time on or after 1st April 1974 any person claims to be admitted as a freeman of a city or town, his claim for admission shall be examined by the chairman of the relevant district council, as defined in subsection (2) above, and, if the person’s claim is established, his name shall be entered on the roll of freemen of that city or town.

(4) After 31st March 1974—

(a) a freeman of a city or town,

(b) any person who by marriage, descent, employment or otherwise is or has been related to or associated with a freeman of a city or town, and

(c) any person who is or has been related by marriage to the widow or a child of a freeman of a city or town, shall have and enjoy the same rights, whether in respect of property or otherwise, as were held and enjoyed on that date by a freeman of that city or town, by a person correspondingly related to or associated with such a freeman or, as the case may be, by a person correspondingly related by marriage to the widow or a child of such a freeman.

(5) A person who is on 1st April 1974, or becomes thereafter, an inhabitant of a city or town shall, as such, have and enjoy the same rights, whether in respect of property or otherwise, as were held and enjoyed immediately before that date by an inhabitant of that city or town.

[F878 (6) This section shall have effect in relation to Wales as if—

30 (a) in subsections (2) and (3) the references to the relevant district council were references to the relevant principal council; and

(b) in subsection (2) the reference to the council of the district were a reference to the council of the principal area.]

249 Honorary aldermen and freemen. E+W

(1) A principal council may, by a resolution passed by not less than two-thirds of the members voting thereon at a meeting of the council specially convened for the purpose with notice of the object, confer the title of honorary aldermen on persons who have, in the opinion of the council, rendered eminent services to the council as past members of that council, but who are not then [F879 members] of the council.

(2) No honorary alderman shall, while serving as a [F880 member] of the council, be entitled to be addressed as alderman or to attend or take part in any civic ceremonies of the council as an alderman.

(3) Services rendered to the council of an existing county, county borough, borough or urban or rural district the area of which becomes wholly or partly included in a new county or district shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (1) above as services rendered to the council of the new county or district, as the case may be.

(4) An honorary alderman of a principal council may attend and take part in such civic ceremonies as the council may from time to time decide, but shall not, as such, have the right—

(a) to attend meetings of the council or a committee of the council (including a joint committee upon which they are represented); or

(b) to receive any such allowances or other payments as are payable under sections 173 to 176 above.

(5) The council of a London borough or a district having the status of a city, borough or royal borough [F881or any parish or community having by grant under the royal prerogative the status of city and any parish or community entitled by such grant to be called and styled a royal town] may, by a resolution passed by not less than two- thirds of the members voting thereon at a meeting of the council specially convened for the purpose with notice of the object, admit to be honorary freemen of the city, borough or royal borough [F881or parish or community as aforesaid,] persons of distinction and persons who have, in the opinion of the council, rendered eminent services to the city, borough or royal borough [F881or parish or community as aforesaid,], but the admission of a person to be an honorary freeman shall not confer on him any such rights as are referred to in section 248(4) above.

(6) The council of a London borough or a district which has the status of a city, borough or royal borough [F882or parish or community as aforesaid] may spend such reasonable sum as they think fit for the purpose of presenting an address or a casket containing an address to a person upon whom they have conferred the title of honorary alderman or admitted to be an honorary freeman of the city, borough or royal borough [F882or parish or community as aforesaid].

[F883 (7) A principal council in Wales may, by such a resolution as is required by subsection (5) above, admit to be honorary freemen of the county or county borough persons of distinction and persons who have, in the opinion of the council, rendered eminent services to the county or county borough.

(8) The admission of a person to be an honorary freeman under subsection (7) above shall not confer on him any such rights as are referred to in section 248(4) above.

31 (9) A principal council in Wales shall, in relation to any person on whom they have conferred the title of honorary alderman or whom they have admitted to be an honorary freeman, have the same powers as are conferred by subsection (6) above.]

Local Government (Wales) Act 1994:

Schedule 17 Savings and Transitional Provisions E+W

Part I Savings E+W

Administration of local government before 1st April 1996

1 The provisions of section 20 of the 1972 Act in force immediately before the passing of this Act shall continue to have effect in relation to the administration of local government in Wales before 1st April 1996.

Former cities and boroughs privileges and rights of inhabitants

2 Any privileges or rights belonging immediately before 1st April 1996 to the inhabitants of any area in Wales by virtue of—

(a) section 246 (1) of the 1972 Act (saving for privileges and rights of citizens and burgesses); or

(b) any provision made under subsection (2)(b) of that section by a charter granted under section 245 of the 1972 Act (grant of borough status); shall belong on and after that date to the inhabitants of that area…

Freemen and aldermen

22 (1) Nothing in this Act shall be taken to affect any person’s status as a freeman or honorary freeman, or the right of any person to be admitted as a freeman of any place.

(2) Services rendered to an old authority, the area of which becomes wholly or partly included in a new principal area, shall be treated for the purposes of section 249 of the 1972 Act (honorary aldermen and freemen) as services rendered to the council of the new principal area.

32 Appendix D

Local Democracy Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 CHAPTER 5 LOCAL FREEDOMS AND HONORARY TITLES 27 Local freedoms (1) The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is amended as follows. (2) In section 248 (freemen and inhabitants of existing boroughs), after subsection (1) insert— “(1A) Where the son of a freeman of a city or town may claim to be admitted as a freeman of that place, the daughter of a freeman may likewise claim to be so admitted. (1B) The son or daughter of a freeman of a city or town shall be admitted as a freeman whether born before or after the admission, as a freeman, of his or her freeman parent and wherever he or she was born. (1C) In subsections (1A) and (1B) “freeman” excludes a freeman of the City of London.”

28 Power to amend law relating to local freedoms (1) The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is amended as follows. (2) In section 248 (freemen and inhabitants of existing boroughs), after subsection (1C) insert— “(1D) Schedule 28A (amendment of laws relating to freedom of city or town) shall have effect.”

(3) Before Schedule 29 insert—

“Schedule 1 - Amendment of laws relating to freedoms of cities and towns

Introductory 1 (1) This Schedule makes provision for the laws relating to freedom of a city or town to be amended by, or pursuant to, a resolution of persons admitted to that freedom. (2) The powers conferred by this Schedule are without prejudice to any other power to amend the law relating to freedom of a city or town. (3) In this Schedule— “appropriate national authority” means— (a) the Secretary of State, in relation to a city or town in England; (b) the Welsh Ministers, in relation to a city or town in Wales;

“enactment” includes in particular— (a) a royal charter or other instrument made under the royal prerogative; (b) any instrument made under an enactment.

Powers to amend law in respect of women and civil partners 2 (1) The purposes of this paragraph are— (a) to provide for a woman to have the right to be admitted to freedom of a city or town in any or all circumstances where a man has that right; (b) to enable a woman admitted to the freedom of a city or town (whether pursuant to this Schedule or otherwise) to use the title “freewoman”;

33 (c) to put a civil partner or surviving civil partner of a person admitted to freedom of a city or town in the same position as a spouse or surviving spouse of such a person. (2) The appropriate national authority may by order amend an Act for any purpose of this paragraph, if the amendment is proposed by a qualifying resolution. (3) A qualifying resolution may amend— (a) any enactment other than an Act, or (b) the law established by custom, for any purpose of this paragraph. (4) An amendment may not be made under this paragraph for the purpose specified in sub-paragraph (1)(a) if the effect of the amendment in any case or circumstances would be to deprive a man of the right to be admitted to freedom of a city or town. (5) A provision of a public general Act may not be amended under this paragraph unless the provision relates only to—

(a) a particular city or town, or

(b) a specified group of cities or towns.

Power to amend royal charters 3 (1) Her Majesty may by Order in Council amend the law relating to rights of admission to freedom of a city or town where— (a) the law is contained in a royal charter; and (b) the amendment is proposed in a qualifying resolution. (2) It is immaterial for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) above whether the amendment is one which could be made under paragraph 2(3) above. (3) An Order in Council under this paragraph is not a statutory instrument for the purposes of the Statutory Instruments Act 1946.

Powers to amend laws established by custom 4 (1) A qualifying resolution may amend the law relating to rights of admission to freedom of a city or town where the law is established by custom. (2) The power in sub-paragraph (1) above does not include power to make an amendment which could be made under paragraph 2(3) above.

Consequential amendments 5 (1) The power to make an amendment under paragraph 2(2) above includes power (exercisable in the same way and subject to the same conditions) to make consequential amendments to— (a) any enactment, or (b) the law established by custom. (2) The power to make an amendment under paragraph 2(3), 3 or 4 above includes power (exercisable in the same way and subject to the same conditions) to make consequential amendments to— (a) any enactment other than an Act, or (b) the law established by custom. (3) Where an amendment is made under paragraph 2(3), 3 or 4 above, the appropriate national authority may by order make consequential amendments to any Act, if the consequential amendments are proposed by a qualifying resolution.

34 6 (1) Where by virtue of an amendment under paragraph 2, 3 or 4 above a person has the right of admission to freedom of city or town, the following amendments in particular are to be regarded as consequential for the purposes of this Schedule— (a) an amendment for the purpose of putting that person in the same position as any other person admitted to that freedom; (b) an amendment for the purpose of putting a person who by marriage, civil partnership, descent, employment or otherwise is or has been related to or associated with that person in the same position as a person correspondingly related to or associated with any other person admitted to that freedom; (c) an amendment for the purpose of putting a person who is or has been related by marriage or civil partnership to a surviving spouse or civil partner or child of that person in the same position as a person correspondingly related to the surviving spouse or civil partner or child of any other person admitted to that freedom.

29 Honorary titles (1) Section 249 of the Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) (honorary aldermen and freemen) is amended as follows. (2) In the heading, for “Honorary aldermen and freemen” substitute “Honorary titles”. (3) In subsection (1) (power of principal councils to confer title of honorary aldermen), after “honorary aldermen” insert “or honorary alderwomen”. (4) In subsection (2)— (a) after “honorary alderman” insert “or honorary alderwoman”; (b) after “as alderman” insert “or alderwoman”; (c) after “as an alderman” insert “or alderwoman”. (5) In subsection (4), after “honorary alderman” insert “or honorary alderwoman”. (6) After that subsection insert— “(4A) A principal council may spend such reasonable sum as they think fit for the purpose of presenting an address, or a casket containing an address, to a person on whom they have conferred the title of honorary alderman or honorary alderwoman.” (7) For subsections (5) to (9) (honorary freemen) there is substituted— “(5) Subject as follows, a relevant authority may admit to be honorary freemen or honorary freewomen of the place or area for which it is the authority— (a) persons of distinction, and (b) persons who have, in the opinion of the authority, rendered eminent services to that place or area. (6) In this section “relevant authority” means— (a) a principal council; (b) a parish or community council; (c) charter trustees in England constituted— (i) under section 246 of the Local Government Act 1972, (ii) by the Charter Trustees Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/263), or (iii) under Part 1 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. (7) The power in subsection (5) above is exercisable by resolution of the relevant authority.

35 (8) A resolution under subsection (7) above must be passed— (a) at a meeting of the relevant authority which is specially convened for the purpose and where notice of the object of the meeting has been given; and (b) by not less than two-thirds of the members of the relevant authority (or, in the case of charter trustees, of the trustees) who vote on it. (9) A relevant authority may spend such reasonable sum as it thinks fit for the purpose of presenting an address or a casket containing an address to a person on whom the authority has conferred the title of honorary freeman or honorary freewoman under subsection (5) above. (10) The admission of a person as honorary freeman or honorary freewoman does not confer on that person any of the rights referred to in section 284(4) above.”

36 Bibliography

Books and Articles:

Bagehot, Walter, The English Constitution, (originally published 1867) Fontana Paperback Classics of History and Thought (with an Introduction by R. H. S. Crossman), Harper Collins, London 1963.

Bowen, Prof Emrys G., Saints, Seaways and Settlements in the Celtic Lands, University of Wales Press, Cardiff 1969

Bund, John William Willis, The Celtic Church of Wales, David Nutt, London 1897

Dillwyn, Lewis Weston, Contributions towards a History of Swansea, Murray and Rees, Swansea, 1840.

Evans, Dr Edith, Swansea Castle and the Medieval Town, Swansea City Council and Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust Ltd, Swansea 1983.

Francis, George Grant, Charters Granted to Swansea, the Chief Borough of the Seignory of Gower in the Marches of Wales and the County of Glamorgan, (In English with Translations from Latin, illustrated, and edited by G. G. F.) London 1867 [1871-3].

Gibbins, Daniel, “The Lords of Swansea and Gower” in The History of Waunarlwydd: The Lord’s Meadow, St Barnabas Church Waunarlwydd Swansea Website, (http://www.saintbarnabaschurch.org.uk/waunarlwydd.htm)

Harris, Alderman Edward, Swansea: Its Port and Trade and their Development, Western Mail and Echo, Cardiff, 1934.

Hartley, Leslie Poles, The Go-Between, Hamish Hamilton, London 1953.

J. R. A. [Dr J. R. Alban, City Archivist], Portreeves and Mayors of Swansea, City Archives Publication B.11, Swansea City Council, Swansea, 1982.

Lambert, Rev J. Malet, MA LlD, Two Thousand Years of Gild Life, or An Outline of the History and Development of the Gild System from Early Times, A. Brown & Sons, Hull, 1891.

Macleod, Iseabail, The Pocket Guide to Scottish Words, Richard Drew, Glasgow 2006.

Rogers, W. C., A Pictorial History of Swansea, Gomer Press, Llandysul, 1981.

Ross, J. E., Letters From Swansea, Christopher Davies, Llandybie 1969

Rosser, Dr Colin, and Harris, Christopher, The Family and Social Change: A Study of Family and Kinship in a South Wales Town, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1965.

Shelley, Alan, “The Status of the Freemen in England and Wales”, FEWJ 165 (February 2011), pp 15-16.

Swansea, The City of, The City of Swansea: A Souvenir Brochure to commemorate the honour bestowed on the County Borough in 1969, First Edition, Swansea, 1969.

Williams, D. Trevor, “Linguistic divides in South Wales: a historico-geographical study” in Archaeologia Cambrensis 90, 1935, p 253.

37 Williams, Glanmor, “John Miles, Ilston, and the Baptist Denomination in Wales”, Minerva: ‘The Journal of Swansea History’ Volume VII, Royal Institution of South Wales, Swansea, 1999 pp 17 and 18.

Wood, Marguerite, PhD, “The Freedom of the City: The Burgess Roll” (http://www.edinburgh.org.uk/hisc/wood.html).

Journals and Magazines:

FEWJ (Journal of the Freemen of England and Wales), No 154 (April 2008), No 165 (February 2011)

Official Publications:

Hansard (HL) 3 February 2009

Municipal Corporations Act 1835

Local Government Act 1972 Sections 246 (2)(b), 248, and 249

Local Democracy Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, Chapter 5 Sections 27, 28, Schedule 1, 29

The Freemen’s Roll of the Borough of Swansea in the County of Glamorgan (9 September1835-date)

Websites:

City and County of Swansea (http://www.swansea.gov.uk)

Information Guide to the City in South Wales (http://swansea.com)

Freemen of England and Wales (http://www.freemen-few.org.uk)

History of the City of Edinburgh (http://www.edinburgh.org.uk/hisc).

Preston City Council (http://www.preston.gov.uk)

St Barnabas Church, Waunarlwydd, Swansea, (http://www.saintbarnabaschurch.org.uk/waunarlwydd.htm)

Swansea, Massachusetts, USA (official website), (http://346swa.wycliffe.hostingrails.com)

Swansea, Massachusetts, USA (unofficial website), (http://www.swanseamass.org)

Swansea, South Carolina, USA (http://www.swanseatown.net)

Swansea, Illinois, USA (http://www.swanseail.org)

Swansea, Toronto, Canada (Community Website) (http://www.swansea.ca)

38