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Civic and municipal leadership: a study of three northern towns between 1832 and 1867 Michael Joseph Brennan Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds, School of History March 2013 ii The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been submitted on the understanding that it is the copyright material and that no quotation from this thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2013 The University of Leeds Michael Joseph Brennan iii Acknowledgements This thesis has its origin in an MA in Local Regional History undertaken at the University of Leeds in 1988, but it would never have reached this state without the guidance, support and knowledge of my supervisor, Professor Malcolm Chase of the University of Leeds. I owe him a great debt for helping me to turn my hazy ideas into a coherent piece of work, and reminding me how to study History again, after years spent in education. My thanks are also due to the staff of the School of History and of the University Library for their help and guidance. I have visited the following archive centres: West Yorkshire Archive Services at Halifax and Wakefield, Local Studies Centres at Oldham and Rochdale and The National Archive at Kew. Wherever I have gone, I have been helped with kindness, humour and outstanding professionalism for which I am extremely grateful. I am delighted that my friend and colleague Alastair Linden was able to help with ideas and proof reading. Finally to my wife, Margaret, and my daughters Claire and Catherine my deepest thanks for being there at the start of this idea seven years ago and for supporting me with ideas, suggestions and proof reading ever since. There have been times when my daughters would have struggled to answer the old question, ‘When did you last see your father?’ iv Abstract This thesis examines the development of local government circa 1832-1867 by studying in depth the experience of three northern industrial towns, Halifax, Oldham and Rochdale. All were textile towns, all had rapidly growing populations and they are situated next to each other across the Pennines. Four institutions are examined in each town: the vestry, bodies acting under the authority of local improvement acts, the Poor Law board of guardians and the municipal corporation. The contribution of each of these bodies to the evolution of civic governance in each town is assessed. An examination of office holders in these bodies, their political and social background and relationships with other local civic activists and central authority helps to illuminate the character of contemporary local government. Attention is also given to the role played by parliamentary politics in the light of the Reform Act of 1832, which gave all three towns seats in the House of Commons. The role of radicals, Chartists, other reformers and the local press shed further light on this growth and development, leading to conclusions about the nature of civic governance by 1867. These conclusions highlight the close links between the institutions, the connected role they all play in developing civic governance and the impact of reform movements. They will show that the most important role is that of the leaders within these institutions, who are often the same people taking part in each movement. Their leadership was the driving force for civic governance within each town. v Contents Title Page 1) Copyright ii 2) Acknowledgements iii 3) Abstract iv 4) Contents v 5) Abbreviations vi 6) List of Maps and Tables vii 7) Chapter One The Three Towns: an Introduction 1 8) Chapter Two An Historiography 27 9) Chapter Three The Impact of Parliamentary Politics 56 10) Chapter Four The Vestries 85 11) Chapter Five The Improvement Commissions 109 12) Chapter Six The Poor Law Board of Guardians 160 13) Chapter Seven Radical Reformers 206 14) Chapter Eight Municipal Corporations 242 15) Chapter Nine Conclusion 264 16) Appendices A) Population Figures 1801-1871 278 B) Occupation Figures 1841-1861 282 17) Bibliographies a) Contemporary 286 b) Secondary 290 vi Abbreviations HACLL Halifax Anti-Corn Law League HBCM Halifax Borough Council Minutes HBGM Halifax Board of Guardian Minutes HE Halifax Express HG Halifax Guardian HPVM Halifax Parish Vestry Minutes HRL Halifax Record Library HTM Halifax Trustees Minutes MG Manchester Guardian NS Northern Star OBGM Oldham Board of Guardian Minutes OBP Oldham Butterworth Papers OC Oldham Chronicle OCM Oldham Council Minutes OLSL Oldham Local Studies Library OPICM Oldham Police and Improvement Commission Minutes OSMVM Oldham St. Marys Vestry Minutes PP Parliamentary Papers RBGM Rochdale Board of Guardian Minutes RCSVM Rochdale Castleton Select Vestry Minutes RLSL Rochdale Local Studies Library RO Rochdale Observer RP Rochdale Pilot RSSVM Rochdale Spotland Select Vestry Minutes RPICM Rochdale Police and Improvement Commission Minutes THAS The Halifax Antiquarian Society TNA The National Archives WYASH West Yorkshire Archive Service: Halifax WYASW West Yorkshire Archive Service: Wakefield vii List of Tables Page 1) Size of the parishes, 1822 3 2) Parliamentary and Township Populations, 1834 11 3) Parliamentary Borough Populations, 1841-1871 13 4) Halifax Vestry Meetings, 1821-1870 91 5) Membership of Halifax Trustees, 1823 117 6) Offences and verdicts in Rochdale police cases, 1839 149 7) Rochdale Board of Guardians Election results, 1846 192 Maps 1) Parish and Townships of Halifax 4 (This map is reproduced with the kind permission of the Halifax Antiquarian Society, Reference: http://www.halifaxhistory.org.uk) 2) Parish and Townships of Oldham 6 3) Parish and Townships of Rochdale 8 1 Chapter One The Three Towns The purpose of this thesis is to compare and analyse the development of three northern towns between 1832 and 1867 with particular reference to municipal governance. The three towns are Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and Oldham and Rochdale in Lancashire. They were not parliamentary boroughs before 1832 and had no history of a borough corporation or any other type of overall municipal control before that date. There have been previous examples of this tripartite approach, most notable in this area being the work of John Foster, whose selection of communities overlap with the present study (Oldham, Northampton and South Shields), and the study undertaken by John Garrard on Bolton, Rochdale and Salford. 1 The time span is defined by the two Parliamentary Reform Acts of 1832 and 1867. These Acts brought great change to local politics and the link between local and parliamentary politics form an integral part of the analysis. Though some reference beyond this period is necessary, mainly before 1832 to help understand the details, the major developments in municipal governance took place within this time frame. The thesis will examine the vestries, the bodies empowered by improvement acts, the poor law administration, the impact of radical groups and finally, the development of corporations. Within these areas, the focus is on those most actively involved, the leaders of local politics, to see who and what sort of people led these towns at the start of their municipal journeys. In this introduction, the main features of the three towns in terms of area, population, industry and social settings are examined. The three towns are situated on the Pennines, in a relatively close geographical area. That area was made up of moorland and small farms, 1 John Foster, Class Struggle and the Industrial Revolution: Early Industrial Capitalism in Three English Towns (London: Wiedenfield and Nicholson, 1974) and John Garrard, Leadership and Power in Victorian Towns: 1830-1881 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1983). 2 spreading out beyond the hills into wider farmland. There were a large number of small fast flowing streams, which played a major role in the development of textile production. The climate tended to be a damp one, another help in the production of yarn and cloth. Settlements were small and were linked by pack horse routes and between towns by turnpike roads. Two major canals connected Lancashire and Yorkshire, and later in the period, railways were built along the same two routes. The first ran from Rochdale to Halifax through Todmorden and the more southerly route ran between Oldham and Huddersfield. The parishes had formed the basis of administration and social life since the time of the Reformation. Halifax, Oldham and Rochdale were adjacent to each other across the Pennine hills, and all of them could be classed as textile parishes, yet within that simple description lie a multitude of differences. The smallest unit was the township, which was often the same district used for the improvement commissioners, and later the municipality when incorporation was gained. These townships formed part of the parish and this was the main instrument of administration since Tudor times. Halifax had twenty three townships within the parish, whilst Rochdale had eight and Oldham six. The Poor Law Unions, established under the reforms of 1834, were imposed on this structure. In Oldham, the Union covered the same area as the parish. Halifax and Rochdale were split between two Unions and townships were taken from these parishes to form the separate Union of Todmorden. These units did not consistently correspond to the Petty Sessions districts. In Oldham, it was a constant source of frustration that the townships of Middleton and Alkrington were part of the Rochdale Sessions courts and not Oldham’s.2 Larger than these units was the county, for Rochdale and Oldham it was Lancashire and for Halifax it was the West Riding of Yorkshire. The Government appointed magistrates to the county in consultation with the Lord Lieutenant before 1832.