MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES OF LEICESTER 73 
as ‘ the postscript to the Reform Bills,’ that municipal corporations were 
established as they exist to-day. 
The ancient governing authority of Leicester passed into history, and 
on Saturday, December 26, 1835, the new Council was elected. ‘ Peace 
and honour be unto the memory of their predecessors. January 1st, 
1836.’ Thus reads the last entry in the Common Hall Books, the records 
of the ancient Chartered Corporation which had governed the town for 
so many centuries. 
The newly-elected Corporation entered upon their duties with an 
enthusiasm which the extreme democrat may admire, the antiquarian 
regret. No doubt inspired with a desire to be thorough, the newly-elected 
governing body proceeded forthwith to dispose of all the Corporation 
plate and regalia. The gold mace was sold as a useless bauble. ‘Their 
successors, during the decades which followed, have done their best to 
recover what their predecessors so hastily disposed of, and, by the public- 
spirited action of the citizens, much of it has since been restored. The 
mace, purchased during the Commonwealth in 1669 to replace one lost 
at the siege of the town in 1645, was repurchased from the then owners 
by subscription in 1866. A mayor’s chain was acquired, and the serjeant’s 
mace presented to the Corporation by a gentleman who purchased it 
at the time of the auction. 
A citizen of a century ago would gaze with astonishment upon the city 
to-day. A country town of about 44,000 inhabitants in 1836, to-day 
Leicester embraces a population of approximately a quarter of a million, 
but to attempt an epitome of the doings, and to record the progress of 
one of our great industrial centres within the space at disposal, is not 
an easy task. 
For many years there is little to relate of general interest. ‘The gradual 
progress of the industries, the introduction of and improvement in 
machinery, particularly in the boot and shoe trades, the enterprise of their 
business men, and possibly their geographical position, and the nature of 
their industries all tended to convert the old country town into the large 
industrial centre we know as Leicester to-day. 
Prompt advantage was taken of the powers conferred by the Sanitary 
Acts, and Leicester as a public health authority was early in the field, but 
it was not until the seventies, when the general trend was to absorb 
existing undertakings for the supply of gas and water, that we find Leicester 
enlarging her scope of control so as to include what are known as ‘ trading 
undertakings,’ and it may be of interest to describe what the city’s activities 
embrace at the present time. 
WATER SUPPLY. 
By the enterprise of a private company, Leicester received a supply of 
water for some years before the date when public authority controlled it, 
but as time progressed and the population increased, this supply became 
inadequate, and further efforts on behalf of the private undertaking were 
found to involve financial assistance by the city to enable their enterprise 
to be carried on. Eventually the city authorities decided to acquire the 
water undertaking, and contemporaneously to acquire the undertaking 
