SHEFFIELD:
Sheffield description, 1852
database file 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
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