BOROUGH OF GUILDFORD 



Municipal Corporation Act of 1835 the borough was 

 governed under the charter of Charles I. 83 



The borough is now divided into six wards. The 

 corporation, since 1904 ; has consisted of the mayor, 

 six aldermen, and eighteen councillors. The Earl of 

 Onslow is high steward, and there is a recorder. The 

 boundaries of the borough were enlarged in 1 83 5, and 

 again in 1904, on the latter occasion the aldermen 

 were increased from four to six, and the councillors 

 from twelve to eighteen. 



A book containing the minutes of the gild meetings 

 has fortunately been preserved ; and the entries in it 

 offer abundant proof touching 

 the importance of this institu- 

 tion. The Close Rolls of 

 1324" and 1352" contain 

 writs directing in one case the 

 bailiffs and in the other the 

 mayor and bailiffs to furnish 

 the members of Parliament 

 with their expenses. The pay- 

 ment in 1361 was voted at 

 a meeting of the gild mer- 

 chant. 86 Probably the absorp- 

 tion of civic functions by the 

 gild tended to produce two 

 courts, with separate meetings, 

 but identical functions. 87 The 

 regular meetings of the G'tlda 

 mercatoria were on the Mon- 

 days after Hilary and Michael- 

 mas, respectively. The 'Great 

 Law Day ' or borough court 

 was on Monday after Hoke 

 Tide, but the former meetings 

 are also called law days. The 

 business was certainly of the 

 same kind. Thus in I 5 3 7 the 

 meeting of the gild enacted 

 certain sanitary regulations ** 

 with regard to the kennels of 

 the inhabitants, which may be 

 compared to another entry 

 made at the meeting of the 

 law day in 1529 : 'The mayor 

 commandeth in the King's 

 name that victuals brought 

 into the market be good and 

 lawful and wholesome. That 

 no common poulterer buy any 

 victuals in the market before 

 eleven of the clock. That no 

 baker buy any corn before ele- 

 ven of the clock. That every 

 man sell by lawful weights 

 and measures, and that they be 

 assized by the King's standard. 



they sell a gallon of the best ale for I \d., and of stale 

 ale for zJ. That the tipplers sell by lawful measure 

 and set out their ale signs. 89 



The social aspect of gild life seems to have been 

 accorded somewhat undue prominence at Guildford. 

 Members were elected on the Monday after Hilary 

 to provide a bull for baiting on the Monday after 

 St. Martin, subject to a penalty of 2O/. each in de- 

 fault. 90 The expenditure for some of the feasts is 

 given. In 1 364 the brethren paid for bread 5</., ale 

 13*. 6J., meat 3*. \id., wine %d., spices 3/. 6t/., 

 wafers 3/., garlic 2<" 



HOUSE OPPOSITE ST. NICHOLAS'S CHURCH, GUILDFORD 



That butchers bring 



the skins of their beasts and sheep to the market and 

 shew the same openly during all the market. That the 

 bakers bake good bread and according to assize. That 

 the brewers make good and wholesome ale, and that 

 they sell none till it be tasted by the ale-taster. That 



The local record of the courts breaks off in 1738, 

 and is resumed in 1761. 



In 1 66 1 the corporation feasted Charles II, and 

 presented him with a piece of plate at the cost of 

 140, of which I oo was borrowed. On the other 

 hand the Puritan regime in corporations manifest! d 



88 Par/. Pafers (1835), xxvi, 2, 71 et expenses were reduced from 2O</. to ame kind of business being apparently 



transacted at both.' Op. cit. p. 106. 

 88 Add. MSS. 6177, fol.zoid. "Ibid. 

 "Law Day, Monday after Hilary, 



seq. 



M Cal. Clou, 1323-7, p. 1 60 



*>Ibid. 1349-54, P- 4*9 



84 Printed in Gross, Gild Merchant, ii, 

 94. It is remarkable that the members' 



\^I^. fir diem in the course of one de- 

 cade. 



87 Mr. Gross says, with reference to the 



later history : 'It is difficult to detect any 6 Hen. VIII ; Add. MS.6i67,fol. load. 

 difference between the two courts, the > Gross, Gild Merchant, ii, 96. ' 



56l ?1 



