PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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PLYMOUTH FROM 1439 UNTIL 1913 Prior to 1834 there was no systematic form of local government; indeed, the term had not even been coined. Each County was governed by the Quarter Sessions, an assembly of the local magistrates that discharged both judicial and administrative functions. Only freeholders and members of the Church of England could become magistrates. Below them came the Parish Vestries, upon whom the Quarter Sessions levied a rate to pay for their expenses. In turn , the vestries were responsible for collecting the rates from their the people who occupied land in their area. This rate paid for the maintenance of roads and bridges, before the coming of the Turnpike Trusts, for gaols, the militia, the coroner, the parish constables and for the county's Lord Lieutenant's office. The members of the parish vestry were usually elected from the parishioners and in addition to being responsible for the parish church, they also looked after the local roads and the control of vermin. But their most important role, for which they levied a special rate of its own, was the care of the poor of the parish. In the Plymouth there were parish vestries at Stoke Damerel, St Budeaux, Pennycross, Tamerton Foliot and Eggbuckland but St Andrew, and later Charles, came within the Borough of Plymouth, which was largely independent. It even escaped the attentions of the Board of Guardians of the Poor. In 1770 an Act of Parliament was passed appointing commissioners to organise the paving, lighting and watching of the Town. These commissioners worked alongside the Corporation. There was an amending Act in 1824 which added cleansing, improving the Town and regulating the police. From 1834 onwards there was a steady flow of legislation to improve the management of local affairs. This started with the Poor Law Amendment Act of that year, which amended an Act of over 200 years earlier, in 1601, by establishing the Poor Law Commissioners, based at Somerset House in London. They oversaw the Poor Law Guardians, which consisted of local magistrates and those electors who could afford to pay for the 'privilege' of being a Guardian. Parishes were grouped into Unions and each Union had to build a workhouse. Before it was remodelled, Plymouth Corproation consisted of the Mayor, twelve Aldermen and twenty-four 'Common Councilmen'. The Mayor, the Mayor for the preceding term, the Recorder and the two senior Aldermen were the magistrates for the Town. The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 replaced the mayor and commonalty with a mayor and town council by popular election. Plymouth was divided into six wards and six councillors were to be elected for each ward. As one third of the councillors were to become aldermen, this produced a council of twelve aldermen and 36 councillors. The councillors were elected by all occupiers of houses and shops as well as the freemen and one third of the councillors were to retire annually. The last mayor, Mr John Moore, became a councillor in the new administration and presided at their first meeting on December 28th 1835. At the first election following the passing of the Act, Mr Thomas Gill was chosen as Mayor, and Mr C C Whiteford became the Town Clerk. In 1844 the Counties (Detached Parts) Act tidied up some anomalies throughout the country and transferred the parish of Maker from Devon into its proper county of Cornwall. In 1848 the Public Health Act established a General Board of Health in London, and if 10% of the local ratepayers wanted it, or the local mortality rate exceeded 23 per 1,000 of the population, then a local Board of Health could be formed. This would control sewerage, drainage, water supply, burial grounds, and "offensive" trades. The Boards would be elected by the ratepayers, who would get more votes (up to 6) the more rates they paid, and the Board could levy its own rate. Police forces became compulsory following the County and Borough Police Act 1856. Road building and maintenance in rural areas such as Pennycross, St Budeaux and Eggbuckland were transferred from parishes to new Highway unions, similar to the Poor Law ones, by the Highways Act 1862. In order to bring together a multitude of government functions that had been carried out by different departments like the Board of Trade and Home Office, the Local Government Board was formed under the terms of that Act in 1871. The Public Health Act 1875 established local sanitary authorities. Plymouth was created a County Borough under the Local Government Act 1888. As such, it became responsible for roads and bridges, lunatics and lunatic asylums, and poor relief. The Act replaced the Quarter Sessions with county councils and the vote was given to al ratepayers. The Hundreds were abolished by the Local Government Act 1894, which replaced them with Rural and Urban District Councils. Compton Gifford became an Urban District Council. As the civil functions of the vestry were given to parish councils, so civil parishes were created, among them Pennycross. Women were allowed to vote in parish elections. As a result of the Local Government Act 1894, the local Government Board Order No. P1257, confirmed by the Local Government Board Confirmation (No. 15) Act, dated November 9th 1896, parts of the Urban District of Compton (southern part); and parts of the civil parishes of Weston Peverell and Eggbuckland; and the extra municipal part of the civil parish of St Andrew's (i.e. Laira Green), were added to the Borough. By the Local Government Board Order 35,955 dated March 25th 1898, parts of the civil parishes of St Andrew's and Charles were consolidated as Plymouth civil parish. By the Plymouth Corporation Act 1898, which came into force on April 1st 1899, a further part of Weston Peverell civil parish was absorbed into Plymouth. By the Local Government Board Order No. 39,882, dated October 1st 1899, the remaining part of the parish of St Andrew's was created the parish of Weston Peverell or Pennycross. The Local Government Board held an Inquiry between January 28th and February 5th 1914 and produced 606 foolscap pages of evidence. It was claimed that yen present boundaries of the Three Towns were artificial as they followed creeks and inlets that no longer existed and even ran throuygh hoiuses. Secondly, it was in the iterests of the military commander to deal with only one local authority and not three. Next - Local Government of Stoke Damerel and Devonport
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