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The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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STOKE DAMEREL AND DEVONPORT As related on the Local Government of Sutton-on-Plym page, one of the parishes that the Saxons set up was Stoke. This later was owned by a Robert De'Albermal, whose title became corrupted over time into Stoke Damerel. The parish was bordered by Plymouth's St Andrew's and by the chapelries of Pennycross and St Budeaux. It was governed by the officers of the parish church. With the coming in 1690 of the Royal Dockyard, the situation began a slow process of change. Soon after the South Yard was constructed, houses for the workers were built and this area soon became known as Plymouth Dock. But the inhabitants of this "new town" were anxious to break away from Plymouth and indeed from Stoke Damerel. In 1781 an Act was obtained for the better maintaining of the poor and for the paving, cleansing and watching the streets, lanes and passages and preventing encroachments, nuisances and annoyances. This Act was followed in 1814 by additional powers. The experience gained in getting sanction to these Acts no doubt spurred the inhabitants to their next success, a petition to King George IV that resulted in Plymouth Dock being renamed Devonport from January 1st 1824. The Reform Bill of 1832 allowed Devonport and Stonehouse to be combined into the parliamentary borough of Devonport. Then in September 1835 the Municipal Corporations Act (5 & 6 Wm. IV Ch. 76) received the Royal Assent and the inhabitants of Devonport seized their chance. A clause in the Act allowed the Crown, after receiving a petition from the inhabitants and with the advice of the Privy Council, to grant incorporation to any place. As soon as the Act was passed, a public meeting was called to form a committee to press Devonport's case and this took place in the November under the chairmanship of Mr Edward Abbott. A problem soon emerged. Although Devonport and joined with East Stonehouse in order to send elected representatives to Parliament, the people of Stonehouse did not want to be absorbed into Devonport when it became a borough. However, agreement was quickly reached and they were left out of the draft petition that was presented to the Privy Council in April 1837. As a result, Devonport was incorporated as a Municipal Borough by letters patent of Queen Victoria on October 13th 1837. This established a corporation the same as for Plymouth, i.e. a mayor, twelve aldermen and thirty-six councillors elected by six wards. Mr Edward Abbott was put in charge of the first election and at the first meeting of the Town Council on October 12th 1837, Mr Edward St Aubyn was elected Mayor. His family were the owners of the land of Stoke Damerel and they had substantial control over what the Council did or did not do. Subsequently the Council petitioned Queen Victoria to be granted quarter sessions as the nearest sessions at Exeter were a long way away and this was granted by letters patent on June 30th 1848. The commissioners formed in 1781 were disbanded when the Devonport Local Board was established under the Local Government Act 1858 (21 & 22 Vict Ch. 98) by order of the Home Secretary on May 10th 1866. They were in turn absorbed by the Corporation in 1872. Devonport was granted a Coat of Arms on November 6th 1876, with the motto "Prorsum Semper Honeste", 'Straight on always to honourable achievement'.
The Devonport coat of arms, from
the collection The Town became a County Borough under the Local Government Act 1888 (section 31) as a result of the fact that on June 1st 1888 it had a population in excess of 50,000. Part of the parish of St Budeaux was added to the County Borough by virtue of the Devonport Extension Act 1898, possibly from August 12th 1898. Local Government Board Order No. P1462 dated November 9th 1898 added parts of Weston Peverell and St Budeaux civil parishes to the County Borough.
1920s map showing the Devonport
boundary extension of 1898. The yellow line By the Devonport Corporation Act 1900 dated November 9th 1900, part of the civil parish of Weston Peverell was added to Devonport and by a Local Government Board Order of 1908, Devonport also absorbed most of the parish of St Budeaux. Finally, Devonport was amalgamated with Plymouth and Stonehouse by the Local Government Board Provisional Order Confirmation No. 18 and a Local Act (5 & 6 Geo. V Ch.clxxxiii), which received the Royal Assent on August 10th 1914. Devonport County Borough Council held its last meeting on Thursday October 29th and the amalgamation with Plymouth took place from November 1st 1914. For more information see the Amalgamation of the Three Towns page. Next - Local Government in Stonehouse
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