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Sheffield Town Hall, Corporation and Council, 1852

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SHEFFIELD:
Sheffield description, 1852

Source=h:/!Genuki/RecordTranscriptions/WRY/SheffieldDescription.txt

SHEFFIELD TOWN HALL, CORPORATION AND COUNCIL, 1852

The TOWN HALL, at the junction of Castle street, Haymarket, and Waingate, is a neat stone fabric, which was built in 1808, and considerably enlarged in 1833, at the expense of the Town Trust. Here are held the Quarter and Petty Sessions, the Manor & County Courts, Public Meetings, &c and on the lower floors are prison cells, and the offices and lock-up of the Police. Petty Sessions were held here only on Tuesday and Friday, till the institution of the Municipal Corporation; but they are now held daily before some of the Borough Magistrates.

IMPROVEMENT COMMISSIONERS: In 1818, "An Act for cleansing, lighting, watching, and otherwise improving the town of Sheffield," was obtained, and its powers extend to all parts of the town within the distance of three quarters of a mile round the Parish Church, and are entrusted to the execution of the Town Trustees, the Master and Wardens of the Cutler Company, and about 80 Commissioners, to whom Mr. James Sorby is clerk; Mr. W. H. Frith, collector; and Mr. Thomas Raynor, town surveyor. Their operations are confined to cleansing and lighting the streets; the police force and nightly watchmen being now under the management of the Town Council.

MUNICIPAL CORPORATION.-The Borough of Sheffield comprises all the six townships of the parish, and has returned two Members to Parliament since 1832, but it was not incorporated for municipal purposes till August 24th. 1843, when it received a Royal Charter, by which the borough is divided into nine wards, and placed under the control of a Town Council, consisting of a mayor. 14 aldermen, and 42 councillors; and invested with the powers of the Act passed in the 5th and 6th of William IV., for the Regulation of Municipal Corporations in England and Wales. The Town Council have enacted very lengthy and salutary bye-laws, for removing nuisances, cleansing the streets, regulating hackney coaches, &c. &c.; and they have extended the lighting and watching districts so as to comprehend nearly the whole Borough, except Upper Hallam. The rateable yearly value of the lands and buildings now assessed to the watch and lighting rates is, in Sheffield township, £158,631; in Ecclesall, £38,231; in Brightside, £23,133; in Nether Hallam, £12.721; and in Attercliffe, £5,273;-producing at 6d. in the pound, about £5,950 The rateable yearly value of property, assessed to the borough rate, in 1844, was as follows:- Sheffield, £163,493; Ecclesall, £41,711; Brightside, £29,186; Upper Hallam, £4728; Nether Hallam, £15,600; and Attercliffe, £8,276; -producing about £1000 on an assessment of one penny in the pound. The Police Force was transferred from the Improvement Commissioners to the Town Council, early in 1844, and probably, in a few years, they will surrender the remainder of their functions to the same body. In February, 1844, the Town Council fixed the salary of the Town Clerk, (Mr. Edward Bramley) at £300 per annum, and appointed a night and day police force, at the cost, for the half year, of £1761 ; the watchmen, being then 51 in number, with 8 superior officers; and the day police 12, with 4 superior officers. Mr. Thomas Raynor, the high constable and town surveyor, is Superintendent of the Police Force. The day force comprises an inspector, a serjeant, a clerk, and 28 constables, of whom 8 reside in the out-townships. One inspector and 3 constables form the detective force; and the night force consists of an inspector, 3 serjeants, 6 patrol serjeants, 73 watchmen, and an office-keeper. The inspectors have 25s, ; the serjeants 21s.; the patrol serjeants 20s. ; the day policemen 17s. to 18s. ; and the watchmen 14s. to 15s. per week. The Chief Constable and Town Surveyor has £200 a year from the Town Council, and £100 from the Improvement Commissioners. The Police Office is at the Town Hall; but the Assembly Rooms, in Norfolk street, were taken on lease a few years ago, and altered and fitted up as the COUNCIL HALL, in which the Corporation hold their monthly and other meetings, and have offices for their collector, clerks, &c. The motto on the common seal of the borough is, "Deo adjuvante labor proficit." The expenses charged to the borough for obtaining the charter, amounted to about £800, of which £686 was paid out of the borough rates, and the remainder by subscription. The Town Council have hitherto declined applying for the privilege of a separate Court of Quarter Sessions for the Borough, but on the 13th of Dec. 1848, they received a Commission of the Peace, appointing 23 Borough Magistrates, including 6 or 7 of the neighbouring County Magistrates. Petty Sessions are now held daily for the Borough; and adjourned Quarter Sessions for the Riding are held at the usual periods.

The number of Voters qualified to vote for the parliamentary representatives of the borough, is about 4000; and the Burgess Roll, containing the names of the rate payers entitled to vote in the election of members of the Town Council, comprises 12,220, but several hundreds of these are duplicate entries of burgesses having occupations in two or more wards.

TOWN COUNCIL. (1851-2) (The figures denote the year each Alderman & Councillor retires from Office.) MAYOR, John Carr, Esq.

(The past Mayors are-
W. Jeffcock, 1843; Thos. Dunn, 1844; Samuel Butcher, 1845; H. Wilkinson, 1846; E. Vickers, 1847; T. R. Barker, 1848 Thos. Birks, 1849; and T. B. Turton 1850).

ALDERMEN.
Thos. R, Barker 1853
John Carr 1853
Thomas Birks 1853
Charles Peace 1853
Thomas Dunn 1853
 
St. Peter's Ward.
Richard Sully 1852
Robert Waterhouse 1852
Wm. Fisher, jun 1853
Thomas Oates 1853
Henry Hills 1854
Henry Hinde 1854
 
St. Philip's Ward.
John G. Robson 1852
William Groves 1852
George A. Wood 1853
George Shallcross 1853
Nichls. Rt. Holman 1854
George S. Brittain 1854
 
Park Ward.
Jeremiah Sellars 1852
Daniel Wood 1852
Isaac Schofield 1853
William Jeffcock 1853
W.A. Matthews 1856
Henry E. Hoole 1856

COUNCILLORS.
Sydney Jessop ....1853
Robert Tummon ..1853
Joseph Woodcock. .1854
George Bassett ....1854
 
St. George's Ward.
William S. Brittain, 1832
Wm. Crowther ....1852
Win. Moulson ....1853
Wm. Lawton 1853
Edward Thompson, 1854
Simeon Dewsnap ..1854
 
Ecclesall Ward.
Abraham Booth ..1852
WM. Harvey 1852
George Roberts.... 1853
Isaac Ironside ....1853
John Belcher 1854
J. W. Pye Smith ..1856
William Fawcett ..1858
Thomas B. Turton, 1856
Edward Vickers ..1856
Thomas E. Mycock 1856
Cphr. Thomson, ..1854
 
Brightside Ward.
Sml. Sanderson, jun. 1852
Charles Alcock ....1853
Geo. L. Saunders ..1854
Upper Hallan Ward.
Thomas Gatley....1852
James Taylor ....1853
Wm. R. Harrison ..1854
 
Nether Hallam Ward
Thomas Platts ....1852
Thomas Wigfall ..1853
Thomas Turner ..1854
Attercliffe Ward.
Charles Atkinson-1852
George Hill 1853
James Foster 1854

(The first four Wards comprise Sheffield Township)


Data transcribed from:
Whites Directory of Sheffield 1852
Transcribed by
Colin Hinson ©2003