BOROUGH OF HIGHAM FERRERS 



the roll of the borough court, ' Curia Burgi ' or 

 ' Halmote ' for 4 Edward I [1275-6] shows that their 

 survivors and heirs were already occupied with the 

 admission of new burgesses. At tlie same time they 

 were dealing with surrender of and admission to 

 property and ple.is of debt and trespass, and issuing 

 licences to brew.^ Jurisdiction in cases of breach 

 of the king's standard of weights and measures was 

 exercised here by the king's chief steward of the 

 Duchy of Lancaster in northern parts, by whom 

 in 1426 certain offenders were fined ' for the abuse 

 of their bushels,' the mayor being merely entrusted 

 with the custody of the faulty vessels until they were 

 rectified.'* 



In 1 591 commissioners of the Duchy of Lancaster 

 found that the mayor and corporation of Higham 

 Ferrershad felons' goods and toll of passengersthrough 

 the town and other places in the Hundred,*" liberties 

 presumably of earlier date than 1556." A minor 

 privilege which the mayor and his associates claimed 

 to enjoy by charter in 1618 was that of having two 

 persons in the town to draw wine.^ 



Higham Ferrers had a mayor as early as 1377, from 

 which year a fairly complete list of these officers 

 might be drawn up from the borough rolls.*' The 

 15th century records of the Duchy of Lancaster 

 show the king and his servants dealing with the 

 mayor alone as the representative of the corpora- 

 tion,** and in the early years of the next century 

 Robert Pypwell, mayor, described the town as 

 incorporated ' by the name of Mayre and Com- 

 monalty ' time out of mind.** The charter of 1556 

 fixed the Monday following St. Luke's day for the 

 annual election by the aldermen and chief burgesses 

 of an alderman as mayor, and entrusted the choice of 

 the thirteen chief burgesses to the seven aldermen. It 

 empowered the mayor to appoint a serjeant-at-mace 

 for the execution of processes, mandates and other 

 business of the borough, and, together with the 

 aldermen, to elect from year to year a Serjeant of the 

 borough, a bailiff, two constables and all other ser- 

 vants necessary to the corporation.** There was 

 already a steward of the borough, before whom a 

 new mayor was sworn upon his entrance into office.*' 

 To this body of officers, as has been stated above, a 

 recorder was added in 1684.** In 15QI, the mayor 

 was also serving as clerk of the market, coroner and 

 escheator.** 



The incorporation of the borough in 1556 was 

 followed within two years by its representation in 

 the House of Commons, and from 1557-8 until its 

 disfranchisement in 1832 Higham Ferrers sent one 

 member to Parliament.'" The right of election 

 belonged to all inhabitants of the town who were 

 not receiving alms.** 



From time to time Higham Ferrers, doubtless on 

 account of its connexion with the royal household 

 and the Duchy of Lancaster, was represented in 

 Parliament by men of rank and of importance in 

 political life. Such were Sir Christopher Hatton, 

 member in 1571, through whose influence when Lord 

 Chancellor, Richard, afterwards Sir Richard Swale, 

 president of Caius and a master in chancery, was 

 returned for Higham Ferrers to the Parliament of 

 1589. A later Sir Christopher, afterwards Baron, 

 Hatton,*'' steward of the manor of Higham Ferrers 

 in 1636, was representative of the borough in the 

 Long Parliament. He was one of those who were 

 returned in consequence of the exertions of Queen 

 Henrietta Maria to bring in her nominees as the 

 burgesses of the towns of her jointure.*' Other mem- 

 bers of parliament for this town distinguished as 

 statesmen and lawyers were, in 1601 , Henry Montagu, 

 afterwards Earl of Manchester, who succeeded Coke 

 as Chief Justice of the King's Bench and later became 

 Lord High Treasurer. In 1741 Henry Seymour 

 Conway was returned as member at the beginning of a 

 long career as soldier and politician ; Frederick 

 Montagu, member from 1768 to 1 790, became lord 

 of the treasury under the Marquis of Rockingham in 

 1782.** He was succeeded by John Lee, solicitor- 

 general in the same ministry.** Windham, secretary of 

 state and afterwards secretary for war under Pitt, was 

 returned for Higham Ferrers in 1807, and held the 

 seat until his death three years later. Names of 

 more local interest are those of Sir Thomas Dacres, 

 member in the parliament of 1625-26, and Sir Rice 

 Rudd, who represented Higham Ferrers from 1678 to 

 1681, and again in 1688-89. He was the grandson, 

 through his mother Judith, of Captain Thomas Rudd 

 and a native of Higham Ferrers.** 



A manor called 'BOROUGH-HOLD' in the 

 l8th century*' was still in the possession of the mayor 

 and corporation in 1838, when its boundaries were 

 determined by Act of Parliament.** In 1874 this 

 property, which was vested in the new corporation 

 by the Act of 1886, was said to consist of 53 acres, 

 3 roods and 27 poles of land.*® 



A market which had belonged to William PeverePs 

 manor in 1086, when it rendered 20/. a year,*" was 

 held weekly on Saturday in the 13th*! and 14th cen- 

 turies.*^ 



In 1485, Richard III leased the issues of the tolls 

 of the market and fairs of Higham Ferrers with all 

 shops and stalls situated in the market place,*' to 

 the Mayor and his successors for twenty years.** 

 The fair on the vigil, day and morrow of St. Botulph 

 (17 June) granted to William de Ferrers at his manor 

 of Higham Ferrers in 1250** and an appurtenance in 

 1298,** continued to be held in the following century 



•• Hiit. MSS. Com. Rep. xii, a pp. 9, 

 p. 530. 



"Ct. R. (Duchy of Lane.) bdlc. 105, 

 nos. 1496, 1498A. 



«• Mi«c. Bk». (Duchy of Lane.) 117, 

 fol. 188. 



" Thty are not mentioned in the 

 charter of Philip and Mary. 



" Hisl. MSS. Com. Rep. iv, 314. 



"Ibid, xii, app. 9, p. 531, 



«« Ct. R. (Duchy of Lane.) bdle. 105, 

 no.i498A; Miic. Bk«. (Duchy of Lane.) 

 10, fol. locxl. 



•'Early Chan. Proc. bdle. 317, no. 57. 



" Pat. R. 2 & 3 Phil, and M. pt. 8, no. 27. 



" Ibid ; ef. S. P. Dom. cccclxx, no. 38. 



<» Pat. R. 36 Chai. II, pt. 6, no. 24. 



"Misc. Bks. (Duchy of Lane.) 117, 

 fol. 188. 



" V.C.H. Northanls. Genealosical Vol. 

 ii, 380. 



" Bridgei, Hist. Nortbanti. ii, 170. 



" D. N.B. 



" S. P. Dom. Chaj. I, cccclxix, 11. 



" n. N. B. " Ibid. 



" Ibid ; Complete Baronetage^ ii, 64. 



" Bridges, loc. cit. 



" Priv. Act, I Vict. cap. 11. 



271 



'» Whellan, Hist. Norlbartts. 914. 



"•V.C.H. Northants. i, 336*. 



"Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. I, file 81. 

 The form of the stalls in the market also 

 belonged to the manor at this date. 



•' Plac. de Quo H'arr. (Rec. Com.) 580. 



•'These were probably on the sites of 

 the butchers' stalls and the eight shops 

 leased to merchants of linen in 1327 

 (Chan. Inq. p.m. Edw. Ill, file 6, m. 24). 



" Misc. Bks. (Duchy of Lane.) 20, 

 fol. lood. 



•' Chart. R. 35 Hen. Ill, m. 13. 



•• Chan. Inq. p.m. 26 Edw. I, file 81. 



