192 BAN STEAD COMMONS. 



before the Committee of the House of Commons 

 on the London Commons. He pointed out the diffi- 

 culties he had experienced, as Lord of the Manor, 

 in preserving order over the Banstead Commons, 

 and expressed his desire to dedicate his rights and 

 interest in them to the public, so that they might be 

 secure against inclosure, and that he might be relieved 

 of the burden of protecting them. The Committee 

 referred to his proposal in their Report, as an argument 

 in favour of their scheme for regulating Commons and 

 placing them under some protecting local authority or 

 governing body. In the same year Mr. Alcock joined 

 the Commons Society as one of its first members ; 

 and when the Society propounded its scheme, which 

 ultimately developed into the Metropolitan Commons 

 Act, for regulating Commons within fifteen miles of 

 the Metropolis, he strongly supported it. Had he 

 lived, there can be no doubt that he would have placed 

 the Banstead Commons under the protection of the 

 Act, in such a manner that no future inclosure could 

 have been attempted. 



Unhappily, Mr. Alcock died, in 1866, before any 

 proceedings could be initiated under the above Act, for 

 the regulation of the wastes of his Manor. His repre- 

 sentatives showed no disposition to carry out his in- 

 tentions. They renewed application to the Inclosure 

 Commissioners for the inclosure of the Commons, and 

 when their proposal was rejected, they sold, in 1873, their 

 interest in the Banstead Commons to Sir John Hartopp. 

 Unfortunately, the Manorial rights thus became separated 



