SALFORD HUNDRED 



MANCHESTER 



were no longer allowed to wander about the streets ; 

 nor were fierce dogs to go unmuzzled.^' As time 

 went on it became necessary to pay deputy constables 

 to see to the watching of the streets,"" and in the 

 1 8th century a voluntary association existed for police 

 purposes." More trifling matters occasionally amused 

 the jury." 



Thus without any great inconvenience or difficulty 

 the government of the town was provided for by the 

 manorial system *' until the great increase of the popu- 

 lation in the latter half of the i8th century made 

 changes necessary. In 1792 a Police Act'" was ob- 

 tained for the better lighting, watching, and cleansing 

 of the town ; a rate of is. ■^d. in the pound upon the 

 rent of houses met the expenses, and the authority was 

 vested in commissioners, including the borough reeve 

 and constables for the time being, the warden and 

 fellows of the collegiate church, and all owners and 

 occupiers of houses of ^^30 a year value who chose to 

 qualify." Salford was joined with Manchester in this 

 Act, but the meetings for the two townships were 

 held separately. A special Act for the township of 

 Manchester was obtained in 1790 for the better ad- 



ministration of the poor relief" These Acts were 

 followed by others for improving the water supply,'* 

 the streets and bridges,'' and the administration of 

 justice." A town hall in King Street was built in 

 1822-5. 2y '"he Reform Act of 1832 Manchester 

 was made a parliamentary borough," and six years 

 later the charter making it a municipal borough wa& 

 granted." A coat of arms was allowed in 1842. 



The new borough included 

 the townships of Manchester, 

 Hulme, Chorlton-upon-Med- 

 lock, Ardwick, Beswick, and 

 Cheetham. After the pur- 

 chase of Sir Oswald Mosley's 

 rights as lord of the manor 

 in 1 846 the council was able 

 to proceed unhampered in the 

 improvement of the town, 

 which became a city in 1853'' Borough of Man- 



and a county borough in 1888. chebter. Gules three 

 The boundaries have several '""''["' '"'"""f f' " 



. , 1 7<» ■ 1 chief arp-ent therein on 



times been enlarged," with ^^i„ ,y ,^, ,,^ ^ ,^^^ 

 corresponding additions to the under tail proper. 



** Those persons who did not scad their 

 swine to Coilyhurst in charge of the 

 swineherd were ordered to keep them 

 safely in their back premises ; Ct, Leet, Rec, 

 i, 15. Pigsties were not to be placed near 

 the street ; ibid. 50. 



Mastiffs and great ' ban dogs ' or bitches 

 were not to go abroad unmuzzled ; ibid. 

 72, 241, This order was frequently 

 renewed. 



6fi Ibid, iii, 266 (1638), An earlier 

 payment is recorded in 161 3 ; Manch, 

 Constables^ Accts. i, 9. 



^7 A list of the * Committee for the 

 detection and prosecution of felons, and 

 receivers of stolen or embezzled goods ' is 

 printed in the first Manchester Directory of 

 1772 ; see also Procter, Bygone Manch, 99. 



^^ A find of twenty-two *old Halfaced 

 groats called **cr08scd groats" * was recorded 

 in 1575 ; Cft Leet Rec. i, 171- A stray 

 mare having remained in the pound a 

 year and a day became the property of 

 the lord ; three proclamations had been 

 made ; ibid, i, 253. 



*9 Dr. Aikin, writing about 1790, 

 thought that Manchester's being an ' open 

 town' was 'probably to its advantage'; 

 Country round Manch. 191. The reason 

 was that there were no *8uch regulations 

 as are made in corporations, to favour 

 freemen in exclusion to strangers * ; Ogden, 

 Description. 



70 32 Geo. Ill, cap. 69. An earlier Act 

 (5 Geo, III, cap. 81) had been obtained 

 for cleansing and lighting the streets. 



An abstract of the contract of 1799 for 

 lighting the town is given in the Direc- 

 tory for 1800; spermaceti and seal oils 

 were to be used ; the lamps were to be 

 lighted for seven months in the year, and 

 twenty dark nights were reckoned in each 

 month. 



?^ The Act was several times amended. 

 In 1829 the commissioners for the two 

 townships were definitely separated, and 

 those for Manchester became a limited 

 number elected by the different police dis- 

 tricts. The following was the method 

 of government immediately preceding in- 

 corporation : The borough reeve and two 

 constables were elected at the court leet 

 by a jury of the most influential inhabi- 

 tants summoned by the deputy steward 

 of the manor. The duties and precedence 



of the borough reeve were similar to those 

 of the mayor of a borough ; the constables 

 took cognizance of the policing of the 

 town, having a paid deputy who superin- 

 tended the day police. The night force 

 was under the rule of the police commis- 

 sioners, who also superintended the fire 

 police, hackney coaches, lighting and 

 scavenging. The commissioners, 240 in 

 all, were elected in varying number by the 

 fourteen districts into which the town had 

 been divided for watch purposes ; the 

 borough reeve and two constables were 

 added ex officio. The voters were occupiers 

 of entire tenements rated at not less than 

 jQi6 ; persons occupying tenements rated 

 at ;^28, or owning premises of ;^i5o 

 yearly value, were eligible as commis- 

 sioners. Eighty commissioners retired 

 yearly. They were empowered to levy 

 rates not exceeding if, 6d. in the pound. 

 See Wheeler's Manch. 305-23. 



72 30 Geo. Ill, cap, 81. 



78 The waterworks company obtained 

 an Act in 1809 (49 Geo. Ill, cap. 192) 

 for supplying Manchester and Salford. 

 The powers were enlarged in 1813 and 

 several times subsequently. 



7* This work had been begun in 1777 

 under an Act for widening several streets 

 in the centre of the town and opening 

 new streets ; 16 Geo. Ill, cap. 63, The 

 highways were regulated by an Act of 

 1819 (59 Geo. Ill, cap. 22), each town- 

 ship being thereby made responsible for 

 its own roads. 



7* In 1 81 3 a paid stipendiary magistrate 

 was appointed under a local Act (53 

 Geo. Ill, cap. 72), William David Evans, 

 afterwards knighted, being the first, 



A court of requests, for the recovery of 

 small debts, was established in 2808 ; 48 

 Geo. in, cap. 43. 



76 The town had returned members to 

 the Parliaments of 1654 and 1656. 



The Parliamentary borough of 1832 

 included not only the township of Man- 

 chester but the adjoining ones of Harpur- 

 hey, Newton, Bradford, Beswick, Ardwick, 

 Chorlton-upon-Medlock, Hulme, an'd 

 Cheetham. Of these the first three were 

 not included in the municipal borough of 

 1838. Two members were allowed by 

 the Act, and the first were Mark Philips 

 and Charles Poulett Thomson, elected 



235 



13 and 14 Dec. 1832 ; both belonged to 

 the Liberal or reforming party, 



A third representative was allowed by 

 the Act of 1867, and at the ensuing elec- 

 tion {17 Nov. 1868) a Conservative and 

 two Liberals were returned. Under the 

 Redistribution Act of 1884 the boundaries 

 were enlarged, but the area was divided 

 into six constituencies, returning one 

 member each, and called North-west, North, 

 North-east, East, South, and South-west 

 Manchester. At the election on 26 Nov. 

 1885 five Conservatives (including Mr. A. 

 J. Balfour) and one Liberal were returned. 



77 The charter is dated 23 Oct. 1838. 

 For some time there was a dispute as to 

 its legality. The borough was divided 

 into fifteen wards, of which New Cross, 

 St, Michael's, Collegiate Church, St. Cle- 

 ment's, Exchange, Oxford, St. James's, 

 St. John's and St. Ann's were in the 

 township of Manchester ; All Saints' and 

 St. Luke's in Chorlton j St, George's and 

 Medlock Street in Hulme ; Ardwick ward 

 included both Ardwick and Beswick, and 

 Cheetham coincided with the township of 

 that name. Each ward had an alderman 

 and three councillors, except New Cross, 

 which had a double representation. 



The police force was handed over to the 

 corporation in 1842, and in the following 

 year the commissioners* powers were trans- 

 ferred to it ; 6 8c J Vict. cap. 17. 



78 By Letters Patent 29 Mar. 1853. 



79 No change was made between 1838 

 and 1885, in which year Bradford, Har- 

 purhey, and Rusholme were added to the 

 municipality by the City Extension Act, 

 1885. In 1890 Blackley, MostOn, Crump- 

 sail, Clayton, Kirkmanshulme, Newton 

 Heath, Openshaw and part of Gorton 

 were included ; City of Manchester Order 

 1890. Lastly, in 1904, Moss Side, With- 

 ington, Chorlton with Hardy, Burnage 

 and Didsbury were added. 



In 1896 the townships then in the 

 borough were consolidated into three — 

 Manchester, North Manchester, and South 

 Manchester — the old township boundaries 

 being obliterated. The first was the 

 old township of Manchester, the »econd 

 was formed of the old townships of 

 Beswick, Bradford, Clayton, Kirkmans- 

 hulme, Newton Heath, Harpurhey, 

 Blackley, Moston, Crumpsall and Cheet- 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



