1.52 HISTORY OF BRIDPORT. 



tho farm thereof, and other appurtenances to the value of 16 in 

 dower to his Queen, Margaret, and an acknowledgment of hers, 

 dated in the 10th year of Edward II., when she was a widow, for 

 three years' payment of this amount is among the papers in the 

 possession of the Corporation. The Charter of Henry III. was 

 confirmed by Richard II., Henry VIII., and Elizabeth. By 

 the Charter of James I. it is provided that the Corporation 

 should consist of 15 burgesses, of whom the bailiffs should be two> 

 the two bailiffs to be chosen by the burgesses yearly. A further 

 Charter was granted by Charles II., dated 1667, by which 

 power was given for not more than five of the burgesses, or as they 

 were then named capital burgesses, to be chosen from any vills, 

 parishes, or hamlets in the county of Dorset lying out of the 

 borough within ten miles thereof. The Municipal Reform Act of 

 1835 made the parliamentary and municipal boundaries to 

 coincide, and the Corporation to consist of a Mayor, six Aldermen, 

 and 18 Town Councillors, the Mayor to be chosen from the 

 Aldermen and Councillors (but this has been altered,* and the Mayor 

 may now be chosen outside the Council). There are records of 

 the names of the bailiffs from 13 Richard II. with some hiatuses 

 (notably from 17 Charles I. to 8 of the Commonwealth, between 

 1642 and 1656). Hutchins' 3rd Edition gives also a list of some 

 who served the office in the reigns of Edwd. I., II., and III. 



There is in Hutchins, too, a list of Members of Parliament for 

 the borough, beginning 23 Edwd. I., but in which there is no 

 entry for the reigns of Edwd. V., Richd. III., Henry VII., and 

 Henry VIII. That it sent members, however, at all events in the 

 reign of Henry VIII., is seen from memorandums in the Corpora- 

 tion records, from which it would appear that at that time the 

 representatives received remuneration for their services. 



In long by-gone years there appears to have been a family taking 



its name from the town, and the name of John de Bridport occurs 



as Member for the borough in the Parliament at Westminster 



in 33 Ewd. I. ; and others of the same name, given once as 



* Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 (45 and 46 Viet., Cap. 50). 



