LOCAL GOVERNMENT tn^o* Ccn«M *c n^ii, k~> 4 - ’ v ^ ^ w**,/, s«*~-** " i r * ' ■ evt*A~ fXJ. /’ *-!(<■. /*“•*- 2. -^7X <3'VH/V’ C v^ t/C ■ ****■ <- • ,_ >• , / <r^ °^ ^ ~ '(J 2 . C^J^su^t S *■ 7^ y,4t~~U, X f o r * * * 7- n~" /l*9jfi‘-o ir '(j 4 t*. f^.eUZ~g. Off**. free • 74,, S^ZirareA. >** fr*XA , , T^r/ 'A c ^ **1 'ttnrtC , 4C ^ cUIZa- 4 he*<- . /- k . 4 j-»^ ^i/t/ ( - n * r t - <j A C n ^ i; ) -A^/- ^ a. 4-eeZ/zff~- Cde-trJcJ ^ /A /c^-w, CQ iw/- Rc*4Z Arttc fc^ti •*- Gn+*s(-t 4*4 fiU -4 *^rt~ f-i-^*^ o a ~j f > ~ * i~ 7 4 , C t r * r ! - /5o^v-^VT, «# A C<r*~J- trf'/■**. err fru . * It>*\. etrru'C} j * * « ^ fre t tpru /h*Anr>%* S r olZ-y 'irU i^ ^ / T y ' j r i ^ e A j~ Chapter X I LOCAL GOVERNMENT ^ H E forms of Local Government in the country being ordained and regulated by Parliament, the history of Bromley in this particular follows the general course of the history of the nation. The succes­ siveT steps in the administration of an urban area from the earliest times are the Manorial Courts, the Vestries, Local Boards, Urban District Councils, and lastly, as in the case o f Bromley, incorporation as a chartered Borough under a Mayor and Town Council. In this chapter I propose to trace these successive steps in relation to the history of the town. The Manorial system, which operated throughout the Middle Ages, and which only began to be superseded in the sixteenth century, afforded but a meagre opportunity to the people of the manor to make their voice heard in the management o f their affairs. Court Leets or Court Baronies were set up and assembled as occasion might demand, but they were presided over and controlled by officials appointed by the overlord, or by the overlord in person, the tenants o f the manor being present— as far as they were present —as spectators rather than as actors in the administration o f the Manorial Court. The business o f these courts was to dispense justice within the manor, to determine the rights of the tenants as to what they might do and might not, and to collect all fees and dues payable to the overlord. The part played by the tenants themselves was to assemble and obey the injunc­ tions laid upon them. Bromley, as a manor of the Bishops of Rochester, was subject for many centuries to this form of procedure, though at a very early date, as has been seen in the record of church history, the Rectors of Bromley set up their own Rectorial Courts, and sometimes the Rector and the Bishop came into collision in regard to their several and respective jurisdictions. Towards the close of the first quarter o f the seventeenth century, about 1623, Parliament ceased to confer jurisdiction upon the Manorial Courts, and the right of the Vestry, or Parish Meeting, to direct and control the fortunes o f the parishioners was successfully asserted against the manorial overlords. These Parish Meetings for the regulation of affairs, both secular and ecclesiastical, within the parish, date back to pre- Reformation times. Thus the parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, West­ minster, possesses the records of such meetings as far back as 1525. The vestry books of the parish of Steeple Ashton, Wilts, date back to 1542, though the actual name ‘ Vestry ’ does not appear in the records until 1569 in the case o f Steeple Ashton, and 1576 in that of St. Martin’s. But both the powers and popularity o f the Vestries were evidently increasing to a point when some Parliamentary control became necessary. In 1663 an Act o f Charles II for the Regulation o f Vestries for the first time 249 250 Bromley, K e n t introduces the name itself into the Statute Book, and marks the point in our national history when the jurisdiction of Vestries finally supersedes that o f the old Manorial Courts. It is impossible to say at what date the Bromley Vestry assumed control over the local government o f the town. Our only guide is the Minute Books themselves, which, as far as they have been preserved, begin in 1703. From that date onward these books have been kept in a fairly complete state, and they are now securely housed in the safe o f the parish church. Bromley, indeed, is peculiarly fortunate in the possession of its old records, for it possesses, but for two gaps, the complete series of Parish Rate Books from 1673, and also the Church Rate Books, though in a very incomplete state, from 1706. The Parish Rate Books up to 1870 have now been transferred to the Public Library. The Church Rate Books are in the custody o f the church. Until quite recent times a curious indifference existed as to the preservation and safe keeping of old local records. In the case of Bromley, for example, some of the Parish Rate Books lay for generations neglected and indeed forgotten in the attics of certain business premises in the town. Other old documents relating to the Board of Guardians, to the support and administration o f the Charity Schools, and to the church, were regarded as of so little importance that they were marked out for destruction. All of these, and many others, have been discovered, examined, rescued from oblivion, and placed in permanent security by the research and enterprise of Mr. W. Baxter. In many directions his labours on behalf of the town have been indefatigable, but, among his many services, none can surpass in value and importance the task which he has so laboriously and successfully completed— the task of disinterring from the debris o f forgotten things, and depositing in safe and permanent quarters, a mass of ancient records which, but for him, might have mouldered away or been destroyed. Every citizen of Bromley is now in a position to examine for himself, if he cares to do so, either in the church vestry, or in the Public Library, or in the proper quarter, a large part o f the original material out o f which a history of his town must necessarily be composed, and every citizen is under a personal debt to the man who has made this possible. The word ‘ Vestry,’ as applied to Parish Meetings— from the Vestiarium, or robing-room of the officials of the church— might seem to imply that the business of such meetings was purely ecclesiastical in character. This was not, however, the case, for the Vestries met for a two-fold purpose— (a) to regulate all matters connected with the church ; (b) to administer the general business of the town. The transactions were entered in the Vestry Minute Book and signed by the incumbent of the parish, as the ex-officio chairman of the Vestry, by the two churchwardens, the two overseers of the parish, and, finally, after an audit, by two Justices o f the Peace. The right to attend the meetings extended to every parishioner who paid poor J L - f t-/r£~> /£*- - f&- s*/t. **-/?<. 'T’a^.CJ^ p " t *^Ge<hrey7 father of the Bromle Board of Goardjans, -who has this wee attained hia 86th birthday. Local Government 251 rate, irrespective of his religious denomination, and it was open to any parishioner in attendance, if dissatisfied with any decision, to demand a poll of the parish upon the question at issue. The duties o f the Vestry were, in relation to the church, to appoint churchwardens, the parish clerk, the sexton, and other minor officials, and from the proceeds o f a church rate to maintain the fabric, and to make such enlargements as might be necessary. In relation to secular business, to appoint the Vestry clerk, the overseers, the highway surveyors, the high and the petty constables, and other officials such as the beadle, the ale­ conners, the leather-sealers, the swine-ringer, and to levy and to regulate the expenditure o f the parish rate. The functions o f the church officials are sufficiently indicated by their names, which still retain their old-time meaning: those of the secular officials, while in some cases indicating duties with which we are familiar, in others signify the execution of tasks which no longer tax the energies of a special functionary for their performance. The genius of Dickens has preserved for ever the memory of the erstwhile parish beadle, but the dog-whipper, the leather-sealer, the ale-conner, the swine-ringer, the pinder, and the burley-man are functionaries with whom we are no longer familiar. All, however, appear in the Bromley records, and all were at various times to be found exercising their several functions in the town. The duties o f the dog-whipper were to supervise the conduct o f dogs brought to church; o f the leather-sealer to attest the standard quality of leather exposed for sale; o f the ale-conner to test the quality of the ale, and to guarantee the accuracy of the ale measures; of the swine-ringer to impound any swine found wandering in the streets; of the pinder to keep the pound ; of the burley-man to appear as the god-out-of-the-machine to settle petty disputes, and, as his name implies, his physique had to be correspondent to his office.