Borough

Bishop’s Castle, which formed part of the honour of Lydbury North, was for centuries parcel of the possessions of the bishopric of Hereford until sequestered by the Crown in 1559.

Throughout Elizabeth’s reign, Bridgnorth was governed by two bailiffs and 24 aldermen. Elections were made by the bailiffs and aldermen ‘with consent’ of the commonalty.

Ludlow was the headquarters of the council in the marches of Wales. It was governed by two bailiffs, 12 principal burgesses and 25 common councilmen. There was also a recorder. The 1572 return states that the choice of MPs was made by the bailiffs ‘by assent and consent of all the burgesses of the said town to whom the said election doth appertain’. Similarly the 1588 return was made ‘with the consent of all the burgesses’.

This borough was incorporated by a charter of 1453 as ‘the mayor and commonalty of the vill of New Woodstock’; only one official other than the mayor, a serjeant-at-mace, was mentioned in the charter. Orders made by the corporation for ‘the quiet and civil government’ of the town in 1580 reveal that by then there were also a high steward, six aldermen (from among whom the mayor had to be chosen) and twenty common councilmen. Parliamentary returns were made by ‘the mayor and commonalty’, and the indenture was occasionally signed by the mayor.A. Ballard, Chrons.

The town of Oxford, granted the title of city in 1546, was governed by a mayor, two bailiffs and a council consisting of four aldermen, the past bailiffs and twenty-four common councilmen elected for life by the whole body of freemen or ‘hanasters’. By 1558 there had appeared an inner council of thirteen ‘associates’ or ‘assistants’ to the mayor. Parliamentary returns were made by ‘the mayor, bailiffs and commonalty’, under which description the city received incorporation in 1605.

Nottingham, with a population of perhaps 3,500 by 1600, continued to flourish throughout the sixteenth century: both Leland and Camden were impressed by its evident signs of prosperity. The charter granted by Henry VI in 1449, which made the town a county in itself with its own sheriffs and escheator, was confirmed, with little or no change, by every Tudor monarch and remained the basis of government until the reign of Charles II.Nottingham Charters, ed. Stevenson, 48-70; CPR, 1446-52, pp.

Banbury, a single Member constituency, was governed by a bailiff, 12 aldermen and 12 capital burgesses, and parliamentary returns were made by ‘the bailiff, aldermen and burgesses’. The names of the Elizabethan high stewards, if any, have not been found, but the 1608 charter appointed William Knollys to that office.

East Retford did not receive a charter of incorporation until 1607, being governed during Elizabeth’s reign, as for many years past, by two bailiffs. The borough began to send Members to Parliament in this period in 1571. Elections were held in the moot hall in the presence of the bailiffs and an unknown number of burgesses. None of the Elizabethan MPs lived in the town.

Enfranchised Mary in 1553, Morpeth was not incorporated. Municipal affairs were conducted by two bailiffs, appointed annually, seven aldermen, representing the town’s crafts or guilds, and the burgesses. The bailiffs were chosen by the lord of the borough or his steward from burgesses nominated by the seven guilds.Hodgson, Hist. Northumb. ii(2), p. 454 et passim.

Incorporated as a separate county in 1400, Newcastle-upon-Tyne obtained renewal of its charters in 1589 and 1600. The government of the town was in the hands of a mayor, sheriff, aldermen and 24 burgesses. Parliamentary returns were made in the name of the mayor, burgesses and commonalty, following an election at the guildhall.Weinbaum, Charters, 89-90.