A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



The township continued to be governed in the 

 same way until 1791, when a Police Act was obtained 

 for Manchester and Salford, 

 and the administration of the 

 town by commissioners ap- 

 pointed under it to a great 

 extent superseded the manorial 

 system. 40 In 1832 the parlia- 

 mentary borough came into 

 existence, one representative 

 being assigned ; 41 and in 1 844. 

 the municipal borough was 

 created by charter. The area 

 included the township of Sal- 

 ford, together with that small 

 part of Broughton lying south 

 of the Irwell, and it was 

 divided into four wards, each 

 with two aldermen and six 



councillors. At the same time a court of record 

 was established, debts up to 20 being recoverable. 42 

 A coat-of-arms was granted in 184.4. The town 

 hall, built in 1825-6," was purchased by the commis- 

 sioners in 1834. The borough was extended in 1 8 5 3 to 

 include the adjacent townships of Broughton and Pen- 

 dleton, 44 from which time the area has remained un- 

 changed, except for some minor adjustments. 45 The 

 borough is now divided into sixteen wards, each with 

 an alderman and three councillors ; there are seven 

 wards in Salford proper, 46 three in Broughton and six 

 in Pendleton. In 1891 an Act was obtained to unite 

 the district, so that a uniform rate is levied throughout 



BOROUGH OF SALFORD. 

 Azure temee of beet a 

 shuttle between three 

 garbt or, on a chief of 

 the second a ivoolpack 

 proper between two mill- 

 rinds sable. 



the borough. A separate commission of the peace 

 was granted in 1870 and again in 1886, and quarter 

 sessions were established in 1899. 



The council has provided police and fire brigade. 

 The cattle market is the principal one for the district. 

 The gas supply 47 is in the hands of the corporation, 

 which also has electric light works. Water is supplied 

 by the Corporation of Manchester. There are four 

 public baths, two within the township of Salford ; a 

 sanatorium, two cemeteries, both outside the township 

 at Weaste and Agecroft and sewage disposal works 

 at Mode Wheel, opened in 1883. A school board 

 was formed in 1870. A Tramways Act was obtained 

 in 1875," and the cars are now driven by electricity ; 

 the lines extend as far north as Whitefield in Pilkington, 

 and west to Monton. Four parks and a large number 

 of recreation-grounds have been acquired and opened. 



The museum and library was established at Peel Park 

 in 1850, a lending department being added in 1854. 

 It claims to be the first free public library. Queen 

 Victoria, as lady of the manor, was patroness ; hence 

 the epithet Royal. 49 The natural history exhibits 

 have been removed to Buile Hill, so that the museum 

 at Peel Park is now an art collection. There are 

 seven branch libraries, of which two are in Salford. 49 " 

 There is also a technical institute. 



Queen Victoria passed through the town on her visit 

 to Manchester in 1851. The king in 1905 unveiled 

 the memorial to the soldiers who died in the Boer war. 



Apart from the Radcliffes of Ordsall the Sal- 

 ford families recording pedigrees at the Heralds' 

 visitations were those of Booth, i6i3, 50 Byrom, 



wife were plaintiffs against William del 

 Highfield in 13 54. ; Duchy of Lane. Assize 

 R. 3, m. 5 d. ; and in 1 357 recovered a tene- 

 ment in Salford against Joan daughter of 

 Thomas de Pilkington, Cecily his widow, 

 and William del Highfield; ibid. R.6,m. 2d. 

 Matthew Newton in 1432 acquired a 

 toft in Salford from Henry Chadwick and 

 Cecily his wife ; Final Cone. (Rec. Soc. 

 Lanes, and dies.), iii, 97. 



40 Sec the account of Manchester. 

 Though the Act was the same, the com- 

 missioners for Salford were quite distinct 

 from those for Manchester, and always 

 acted by themselves. The legal separation 

 took place in 1829. 



41 See Pink and Beaven, Pad. Repre. of 

 Lanes. 304 ; the parliamentary borough 

 included the three townships of Salford, 

 Broughton, and Pendleton. The number 

 of representatives was increased to two in 

 1868, and in 1885 to three, selected by 

 three divisions North, West, and South. 



43 The charter, dated 1 6 Apr. 1 844, is 

 printed in Reilly, Hist, of Manch. 553 ; it 

 was confirmed by the Act n & 12 Viet, 

 cap. 93. The wards were named Black- 

 friara, roughly the eastern part of the town 

 between Chapel Street and Bolton canal ; 

 Crescent, the west and south-west ; St. 

 Stephen's, the north-west, and Trinity the 

 tiorth-east. 



48 A market originally adjoined it, but 

 gradually decayed, the site being in 1862 

 utilised for the enlargement of the town 

 hall. The 'flat-iron market,' a sort of 

 rag fair, is held on Mondays by Salford 

 Church. 



44 1 6 & 17 Viet. cap. 32. 



45 Part of Pendlebury was added to Pen- 

 dleton in 1883 ; Loc. Govt. Bd. Order 

 14672. An adjustment of the boundaries 

 between Barton and Pendleton was made 

 by the Salford Corporation Act, 1891. 



46 These are named St. Matthias', 

 Crescent, Regent, Trafford, Ordsall, Isling- 

 ton, and Trinity, proceeding round the 

 township, north, west, south, and east. 



47 The first gas works were started in 

 1820. These were purchased by the 

 commissioners in 1832, and new ones were 

 erected in 1835 and again in 1859. 



It may be added that gas was first used 

 in the Manchester district in 1805 to light 

 the factory of Lee and Phillips at Salford ; 

 Axon, Manch. Ann. 136. 



48 Tram lines on G. F. Train's system 

 were laid in 1861, but abandoned. 



49 Royal Museum and Libraries, Salford, 

 by B. H. Mullen, librarian, to whom the 

 editors owe other information. 



49a At Greengate, 1870 ; Regent Road, 

 1873. 



60 Vhlt. (Chet. Soc.), 10 ; see also 

 Booker's Blackley (Chet. Soc.), z6. Robert 

 Booth, with whom the pedigree begins, 

 purchased messuages and lands in Salford 

 in 1563, from John Booth (of Barton) and 

 Ellen his wife ; Pal. of Lane. Feet of F. 

 bdle. 25, m. 261. His son Humphrey 

 Booth, a successful trader, purchased 

 various properties, including that known 

 as Booth Hall in Blackley, and showed 

 himself a pious and liberal dispenser of the 

 wealth he had acquired. He made the 

 gallery in Manchester Church in 1617, 

 built Trinity Church, Salford, and left 

 lands in Manchester and Pendleton for 

 its maintenance and for the benefit of 

 the poor of Salford, now producing an in- 

 come of 17,000 a year. According to 

 Richard Hollinworth he was 'just in his 

 trading, generous in entertainment of any 

 gentlemen of quality that came to the 

 town, though mere strangers to him, 

 bountiful to the church and poor, (and) 

 faithful to his friends' ; Mancuniensis, 117, 

 118. Humphrey Booth occurs in the 



208 



Manch. Ct. Leet Rec. from 1606 onwards- 

 (ii, 222). He died on 27 July 1635, seised 

 of twenty-four messuages, &c., 20 acres of 

 land, i o acres of meadow, and 15 acres of 

 pasture in Salford and Oldfield Lane, and a 

 rent of 341. i id. from other lands there, all 

 held of the king as of his manor of Salford;, 

 other messuages, &c., in Pendleton, Pen- 

 dlebury, Oldfield, Oldfield Lane, Cross 

 Lane, Little Bolton, and Salford, in the 

 occupation of James' Pendleton and others, 

 also in Manchester, Ancoats, Ardwick, 

 and Chorlton, in Blackley and in Royton. 

 His heir was his deceased son Robert's son 

 Robert Booth, nine years of age. Just 

 before his death Humphrey Booth had 

 settled his estates with remainders (after 

 Robert the grandson) to Humphrey brother 

 of Robert ; and to George Booth of Mid- 

 dleton, son of John brother of Humphrey 

 the elder ; and another part was devoted 

 to the use of Robert the grandson's brothers 

 and sisters, Humphrey, John, Anne, and 

 Elizabeth. Blackley had been given to 

 the elder Humphrey's son of the same 

 name ; Duchy of Lane. Inq. p.m. xxvii, 

 m. 44. Humphrey Booth's will is printed 

 in Booker, op. cit. 23-5 ; and his funeral 

 certificate in vol. vi of the Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches. 199. 



Robert Booth, the grandson and heir, 

 became Chief Justice of the King's Bench 

 in Ireland, and was made a knight ; he 

 died in 1680, leaving a daughter Susan, 

 wife of John Fielding. For an account of 

 him see Diet. Nat. Biog. ; N. and Q. (6th 

 Ser.), x, 275. There were disputes as to 

 his lands ; Exch. Dep. (Rec. Soc. Lanes, 

 and Ches.), 92. His younger brother 

 Humphrey, who eventually succeeded to 

 Blackley, left a son Robert, who had sons 

 Humphrey and Robert. The last-named 

 died in 1758, having devised to his cousin 

 John Gore, who, on succeeding, assumed 



