INTERIM REPORT OF THE Committee on House of Commons Personnel and Politics I 264- 1832 Presented to Parliament by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury by Command of His Majesty, July, 1932. LONDON PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE To b€ purchased difccUy from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2 j 120, George Street, Edinburgh York Street, Manchester; i, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff 1 5, Donegall Square West, Belfast or through any Bookseller 1932 Price 2S. 6d. Net Cmd. 4130 INTERIM REPORT OF THE Committee on House of Commons Personnel and Politics 1 264-1 832 Presented to Parliament by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury by Command of His Majesty, July, 1932. LONDON PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the foUowing addresses Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2 ; 120, George Street, Edinburgh York Street, Manchester 5 i, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff 15, Donegall Square West, Belfast or through any Bookseller 1932 Price 2s. 6/ Net Cmd. 4130 NOTE. The estimated cost of the preparation of this Report (including the expenses of the Committee) is £340 18s. lid. of which £112 represents the estimated cost of the printing and pubKcation of the Report. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. PAGE 1 . Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2. Scope of the Inquiry 7 3. Work akeady done : — {a) Prynne's Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva . . . . . . 7 [b) Browne Willis' Notitia Parliamentaria . . . . . . 8 (c) The Official Return of Members of Parliament . . . . 9 {d) Work of Rev. A. B. Beaven and Mr. W. D. Pink . . . . 10 {e) Work of local historians . . . . . . . . . . 12 (/) The Parliamentary History . . . . . . . . . . 14 4. The Task of the Committee 14 PART I. NEED FOR COMPILING A LIST OF PARLIAMENTS. 1. Parliamentary Assemblies and Parliaments . . . . . . 15 2. List of Parliaments and Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . 16 PART II. MATERIALS AVAILABLE FOR COMPILING A COMPLETE LIST OF MEMBERS. 1. The Official Return : — (a) Materials used in compiling it . . . . . . . . 18 (i) Sheriffs' Returns. 18 (ii) Writs de expensis. 20 (iii) Crown Office Lists. 20 [h) Its Value 21 (c) Its Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 {d) A Starting Point for the Compilation of a Complete List . . 23 2. Sources available for supplementing the Official Return (a) Sheriffs* Returns found at the Public Record Office since the publication of the Official Return . . . . . . . . 23 [h) Records at the Public Record Office other than Sheriffs' Returns 23 (c) The Journals of the House of Commons . , . . . . 24 {d) Contemporary or nearly contemporary lists not in the Public Record Office . . . . 24 {e) VvYTme's Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva .. .. .. 26 (/) Municipal Records 26 {g) Various contemporary unofficial sources . . . . . . 29 (A) Messrs. Pink and Beaven 's collections . . . . . . 29 3. Summary of additional names obtained from the above sources 30 4. Scottish and Irish Parliaments . . . . . . . . . . 31 (9921) Wt. 24700/461 1875 7/32 Hw. G.304 ) 82! 166 4 PART III. THE COMPILATION OF A RECORD OF THE PERSONNEL AND POLITICS OF PAST MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. PAGE 1. Introductory . . . . . . . . , . . , . . . , 32 2. Patronage 33 3. Contested Elections . . . . . . : : . . . . 34 4. Parliamentary Diaries . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 5. Public Record Office 41 6. Principal Probate Registry . . . . . . . . 46 7. Municipal Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 8. Parish Registers . . . . . . .... . . . . 46 9. British Museum .. 47 10. MSS. in Private Hands . . 47 11. Publications of Archaeological and Learned Societies . . . . 48 12. Registers of Universities, Colleges and Schools . . .... 48 PART IV. COST AND DESIRABILITY OF PUBLICATION. 1. Practicability of compiling a Record . . . . 49 2. Contents of the Record . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 3. Inclusion of Members of Scottish and Irish Parliaments . . .. 51 4. Importance of compiling the Record . . . . . . . . 52 5. Reasons of Public Policy ; . . . . . . . . . . . 52 6. Historical and Sociological Reasons . . . . . . . . 53 7. Cost, Time and Finance . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 APPENDICES. PAGE 1. List of Parliaments, 1258-1832 59 2. Assemblies and Great Councils held during the 13th and 14th centuries to which representatives of the Commons were summoned . . . . . . . . . . .... . . 108 3. Assemblies of Merchants during the 14th century . . . . 109 4. Specimens of Sheriffs' Returns .. .. .. .. .. Ill 5. List of Parliaments for which Crown Office Lists giving the names of the Members are available at the Public Record Office . . 113 6. Table showing the changes which have been made from time to time in the numbers and composition of the House of Commons 1 14 7. List of boroughs whose archives have been described in the Reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission . . . . 117 8. Summary statement of information relative to the records of boroughs which returned burgesses to Parliament before 1547, with special reference to records likely to supply additional names of Members . . . . . . . . . . . . ..119 9. Table showing, in respect of each Parliament during the period from 1459 to 1545, the total number of Members of the House of Commons, the number of names given in the Official Return, the number of names recovered and the number still missing. . 137 10. Statement showing the wills contained in the Principal and District Probate Registries, Court of Probate . . . . . . . . 138 11. List of printed indexes of wills .. .. .. .. ..150 5 MINUTES OF APPOINTMENT. TREASURY MINUTE DATED 22nd MARCH, 1929. The First Lord states to the Board that he proposes to appoint a Committee to report on the materials available for a record of the personnel and politics of past Members of the House of Commons from 1264 to 1832, and on the cost and desirabiUty of publication, while safeguarding Public Funds against any large charge for collecting, editing, or publishing the materials. The First Lord further proposes that the Committee be consti- tuted as follows : — Col. Rt. Hon. Josiah C. Wedgwood, D.S.O., M.P. (Chairman), Major the Hon. J. J. Astor, M.P., Lt.-Col. John Buchan, M.P., The Rt. Hon. Sir Wilham J. Bull, Bart., M.P., ' Sir Robert W. Hamilton, M.P., C. Hanbury, Esq., M.P., L. B. Namier, Esq., Professor J. E. Neale, W. Page, Esq., F.S.A., Professor A. F. Pollard, C. W. Previte-Orton, Esq., A. E. Stamp, Esq., F.S.A. (Deputy Keeper of the Public Records) , C. L. Stocks, Esq. (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury), Professor T. F. Tout, Litt.D., with Mr. L. A. Abraham, of the House of Commons Office, and Mr. M. C. B. Dawes, F.S.A., of the Public Record Office, as Joint Secretaries to the Committee. My Lords concur. TREASURY MINUTE DATED 3rd SEPTEMBER, 1929. My Lords read Their Minute of 22nd March last relative to the appointment of a Committee to report on the materials available for a record of the personnel and politics of past Members of the House of Commons from 1264 to 1832, and on the cost and desirability of publishing the materials. The First Lord proposes that the following gentlemen be appointed as additional members of the Committee : — Professor R. S. Rait, C.B.E., Historiographer- Royal . for Scotland. J. G. Edwards, Esq., M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Jesus College, Oxford. Professor Wallace Notestein, of Yale University. My Lords concur. (9921) A3 6 COMMrrTEE ON HOUSE OF COMMONS PERSONNEL AND POLITICS, 1264-1832. TO THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF HIS MAJESTY'S TREASURY. My Lords, We were appointed by Treasury Minute dated 22nd March, 1929, with instructions " to report on the materials available for a record of the personnel and politics of past Members of the House of Commons from 1264 to 1832, and on the cost and desirability of publication, while safeguarding Public Funds against any large charge for collecting, editing, or publishing the materials.*' Of the original Members of the Committee, Mr. Previte-Orton resigned on the 9th June, 1929, Professor Tout died on the 23rd October, 1929, and Sir William Bull on the 23rd January, 1931. We cannot let this opportunity pass without placing on record our sense of the great loss which the Committee sustained by the death of Professor Tout and Sir William Bull. Professor Tout's death deprived us, not only of his profound knowledge of medieval history, but of that practical wisdom ever displayed by him as an academic administrator which would have been of the greatest assistance to us in our deliberations. Our late colleague Sir William Bull had been keenly interested in the subject matter of our inquiry for many years and his unfailing enthusiasm was a constant inspiration to us. On the 3rd September, 1929, Professor R. S. Rait, C.B.E., Mr. J. G. Edwards and Professor Wallace Notestein were appointed as additional members of the Committee. We have now completed a preliminary survey of the matters referred to us for our consideration and have agreed to the following report. 7 INTRODUCTION. 1. PROCEDURE. We have held seventeen sittings, and have received evidence from the following witnesses : — Mr. L. E. Tanner, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S., M.V.O., Assistant Keeper of the Westminster Chapter Muniments. Mr. H. A. Doubleday, one of the joint Editors of the Complete Peerage. Mr. C. T. Clay, M.A., F.S.A., Librarian to the House of Lords. Mr. Granville Proby, M.A., F.S.A. Mr. J. J. Alexander, J.P., M.A., F.R.Hist.S. Miss Joan Wake, F.R.Hist.S., and Mr. H. G. Richardson, M.A., B.Sc, F.R.Hist.S. We have also heard official evidence from the Principal Probate Registry. In addition, we have had recourse to the method of collecting evidence frequently used in similar investigations in the past, namely, that of obtaining written answers to specific inquiries. 2. SCOPE OF THE INQUIRY. At our first meeting we decided that the preparation of a record of the personnel of the House of Commons and of the politics of its Members should include, first, the compilation of a list as complete as possible of the Members, and secondly, the collection of political and biographical details about the Members, particular regard being paid to facts bearing on their standing, their election or selection, their political and economic affiliations and activities, their service in the House of Commons, and their official positions. 3. WORK ALREADY DONE. A considerable amount of work on this subject has been done in the past. {a) Prynne's " Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva." William Prynne (1600-1669), Member of Parliament for Bath and Ludgershall, was a most industrious worker among documents, public and private, and was especially interested in parliamentary records. The records of the Chancery prior to the time of Henry VII^ were in his time kept in the Tower of London, and of these he (9921) A 4 8 said all who please may peruse them at their leisure."* The first part of his Brief Register of Parliamentary Writs appeared in 1659. Soon after the Restoration (1660) he was appointed Keeper of the Records in the Tower. With his usual energy he set to work to retrieve documents not previously accessible, and in the course of his researches in Caesar's Chapel in the White Tower he discovered 97 parcels of Sheriffs' Returns. This discovery gave him materials for a considerable addition to his printed collections, and in 1662 he published them with the significant title of Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva, which contained lists of county and borough representatives from 26 Edward I to 12 Edward IV. This work, dedicated to the King and written by the Keeper of the Records in the Tower, may be considered as almost an official publication. But it is in many respects very unreliable. The clerks employed on its preparation were not trained scholars, and the work itself was hurried through the press without proper proof- reading and correction. Many names given by Prynne are so disguised by mis-reading as to be unrecognisable. Members are assigned to wrong constituencies, whole Parliaments are assigned to wrong reigns. Sometimes the names of Members' mainpernors or pledges are given instead of those of the Members themselves. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that, since Prynne's time and publications, a number of Sheriffs' Returns have been lost or destroyed, or become illegible. {h) Browne Willis' " Notitia Parliamentaria." Browne Willis (1682-1760) worked mainly among the Chancery records in the Rolls Chapel which were subsequent in date to those in the Tower. His Notitia Parliamentarian gives lists of Members with their constituencies from 1542 to 1660. In compiling these lists he used not only the Sheriffs' Returns, but also certain con- temporary or nearly contemporary lists which he found in private hands. [See p. 25, below.) While those names which he gives in brackets or marked with a query seem to be mere guesses based on the fact that the Member sat for the same place before or after in other Parliaments, his lists of unqueried names do to a considerable extent fill the gaps in the Official Return. But he gives no authorities except in the case of the lists for 1553, 1571, 1584 and 1593. * Preface to the Exact Abridgment of the Records in the Tower of London (1657), attributed to Sir Robert Cotton but really the work of William Prynne and Robert Bowyer. t 1st Edition 1716; 2nd Edition 1730; and 3rd Edition (or Vol. Ill) 1750, on the publication of the ten folio volumes of the Journals of the House of Commons in 1747. 9 (c) The Ofllcial Return of Members of Parliament. On 4th May, 1876, on the motion of Mr. Gerard Noel, an Order was made by the House of Commons for a Return " of the names of every Member returned to serve in each Parliament from the year 1696 up to the present time, specifying the names of the county, city, university, borough or place for which returned," and on 9th March, 1877, on the motion of Sir William Fraser, " that there be added to the above Return a Return from so remote a period as it can be obtained up to the year 1696 of the surnames, Christian names, and titles of all Members of the Lower House of Parliament of England, Scotland and Ireland, with the name of the constituency represented and date of return of each." The Official Return of Members of Parliament was compiled in obedience to these Orders, and issued as H.C. Parliamentary Papers 69, 69-1, 69-n and 69-ni of 1878. It records the names of the Members, their constituencies, and the dates of their election — all in so far as they were then obtainable from official sources at the Public Record Office (i.e. from the Sheriffs' Returns, or, where these w^ere missing, from writs de expensis), or from Crown Of&ce Lists. It is this Parliamentary Paper of 1878 which is referred to in all that follows as the Official Return. The Official Return gives the date on which the Commons were summoned to meet for each Parliament (or Assembly) where the writs are extant. The dates to which Parliaments were postponed or prorogued are also given, but the dates of the testing of the writs are omitted, except in the case of writs of supersedeas. These dates throw considerable light on the reason for a Parliament, the notice that it was thought proper to give, and on the date and conduct of elections. Where possible the Official Return gives the date of the Sheriff's Return from 1407 onwards, and thus shows the election day. Before 1407 the Sheriffs' Returns are undated, though election dates can sometimes be discovered from municipal records.* The Return was issued in two Parts, in 1878 and 1888 ; each Part consists of two volumes, the second being an Index to the first. After the publication of Part I, and during the preparation of the Index thereto, a considerable number of additional writs and returns for the period were discovered, including nearly all the original returns for the Parliament of 1545 ; and these, together with a list of the Members of the 1614 Parliament found among * This matter of election date has been shown to be of great importance as fixing the " county day," and Mr. J. J. Alexander's deductions make it improbable that any county, at any rate before the seventeenth century, met and elected except on its one county day in the month. See English Historical Review, Vol. XL, pp. 1-12, and Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Vol. Ill, pp. 89-95. 10 the Duke of Manchester's papers, appear as an Appendix in the Index Volume of Part I, pubhshed in 1888. A list found among the Duke of Rutland's papers supplying additional information as to the names of Members of the 1621 Parliament appears as a footnote on page iii of the same volume. Since then more writs and returns have been found among the Miscellanea of the Chancery in the Public Record Office, and names of Members of Parliament have been supplied from other sources among the Public Records. These have been inserted by hand in the copies of the Official Return kept in the Public Record Office, and have been collected for the purpose of a second Appendix, which was ready for publication when we were appointed. The Official Return, however, as will be shown below, is by no means complete, many Parliaments, especially in the 15th and 16th centuries, being without names of representatives. {d) Work of the Rev. A. B. Beaven and Mr. W. D. Pink. More recently the late Rev. A. B. Beaven and the late Mr. W. D. Pink have been at work independently, mainly on biographical material. Mr. Beaven devoted the leisure of a long life to the collection of biographical material of all kinds ; but except for his Aldermen of London, 2 vols. (1908), and his early work in conjunction with Mr. Pink on the Parliamentary History of Lancashire, 1258-1885, published in 1889, he left little in print.* Such of his papers as have not been dispersed have been lent to us by his son. Most of them consist of rough note-books in which he set down all that he extracted from gazettes, old news sheets, Musgrave's Obituary, the Gentleman's Magazine, etc. He has long chronological lists of the Privy Council, both English and Irish. Army and Navy promotions have been collected, as well as appoint- ments to titles, posts or dignities. Note-books devoted to Liverpool, Bristol (his native city) and London give elections and elected for the last 100 years in every municipal contest. He has collected all contests for Parliament between the years 1832 and 1917, Other note-books are filled with chronological lists of the directors of the Bank of England, of the East India Company, of the Levant Company, and of the South Sea Company. The most valuable of his papers are : — (i) A complete book in manuscript entitled " The Parlia- mentary Constituencies of Great Britain and Ireland, 1295-1918, showing the fluctuations in number and local distribution in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and the changes effected by successive Reform Acts from 1832 ". This is followed by an * See also his Bristol Lists (1899). equally large Appendix giving under each constituency in turn a list of the "eminent men who sat for the same with a short note on each.* (ii) A series of note-books containing the names of all Members from 1542 to 1918 arranged under constituencies. Against each name is written the names of any other constituencies for which the Member sat, the dates of his appointments, often the date of his death, and in all the later cases Mr. Beaven's conception of the Member's political party. As Mr. Beaven generally gives no references, his notes can for our purpose only be accepted as a guide. Mr. Pink was at the time of his death engaged on a biographical dictionary of Members of Parliament from 1485 to 1708, and the portion Ab to Lo was complete in manuscript. The information which he sought to give with respect to each Member with whom he dealt was his place or places of residence, the constituencies he represented, his parentage, the Committees of the House upon which he sat, the offices he held, the date of his call to the Bar if he was a lawyer, his family connexions, the date of his death, and the place of his burial, together with certain particulars regarding his will. The biographies vary in length, more detail being given in the case of Members who are less well-known. Mr. Pink had also begun to compile a dictionary of Members of Parliament arranged in alphabetical order of counties. This work only covers, but covers more fully, the period between 1640 and 1660, and the counties from Bedford to Devon. In addition to the two unfinished dictionaries, he left voluminous notes. Among these was an interleaved copy of the Official Return from 1529 to 1704 with notes written against the names of Members, and a rough draft of his alphabetical dictionary covering the Members LO to Z. There are also four MS. volumes of contests in Mr. Pink's handwriting, but these are not so full as Mr. Bean's list of contests, now in Colonel Wedgwood's possession, to which we shall refer later. Mr. Pink gives few references in his text, but a list of the authorities he used is given by him in the supplement to W. E. Phillimore's How to write the History of a Family. They cover practically the full range of printed sources available at the time at which he wrote — 1880 to 1910. As much of Mr. Pink's work seems to have been done by correspondence with genealogists and others, who did not always give their references for the material they sent him, it is probable that in certain cases he had to accept what came to him on trust. Mr. Pink's collections are in the John Rylands Library at Manchester. * As is explained later, we have made some use of this work in drawing up tables showing the composition of Parliament from time to time. 12 (e) Work of local historians. A biographical account of the Scottish Members, based upon the Official Return, was prepared by the late Joseph Foster with the assistance of Mr. Beaven, Mr. T. J. Hercy and Mr. Pink. Mr. Foster had projected the compilation of "an historical list of Members of Parliament alphabetically arranged and systematically annotated " for the United Kingdom, and Members of Parliament, Scotland (2nd Edition, London, 1882) was the first instalment of this undertaking. Mr. Foster deals in this book with the Minor Barons, the Com- missioners for the Shires and the Commissioners for the Burghs who attended the Scottish Parliament before 1707, as well as with the Members for Scottish constituencies in the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of the United Kingdom. A beginning was also made with the English and Irish Members of Parliament from 1529 to 1881, and a list of the Members of Parliament from 1529 to 1881, extending from AB to ANG (England) and from AB to BARRY (Ireland), with details of their services and short biographical notes, was published in Collectanea Genealogica in June, 1881. The information is mainly genealogical. Mr. Foster's volume is, for many reasons, by no means comparable with Mr. Pink's biographies, or with some of the English county volumes dealt with later in this Report. It will suffice at the moment to say that he used all the materials then available, including the Great Seal Register, the Privy Council Register, the Exchequer Rolls and the General Register at Edinburgh. He had the assistance of Mr. Beaven and Mr. Pink, both Englishmen, of whom the former supplied lists of corrections to the Scottish portion of the Official Return (after the Union), and to the Irish portion (before the Union), which were made use of in the Appendix to the Official Return, printed in 1888. While Mr. Pink sought to deal with the whole country between 1485 and 1708 and in more detail between 1640 and 1660, and Mr. Foster with the whole of Scotland at all times, others have compiled biographies of the Members for one county, or group of counties, throughout the entire period of parliamentary representa- tion. This method concentrates attention on the local or family rather than the public or political side of the man's life, and tends to make the compiler dependent upon the work of county historians of varying degrees of excellence. Mr. W. W. Bean's Parliamentary Representation of the Six Northern Counties of England, 1603-1886 (1890), covers the widest field, and is open to the same criticism as is Mr. Pink's work. Moreover, it was compiled at an earlier date and is, therefore, more liable to error. In this work Mr. Bean had the assistance of Mr. Pink. 13 Mr. W. R. Williams' Parliamentary History of Wales (1895) is a work of the same character, based more exclusively on the Official Return. This writer has also compiled histories of the parliamentary representation of the counties and boroughs of Worcestershire (1897), Oxfordshire (1899), Herefordshire (1896), and Gloucestershire (1898). All these cover the whole period from 1290 to the end of last century. Considerations of space prevented more than the merest identifica- tion of the person, without reference to many authorities, but these books are useful as a foundation for further research. We may also mention that Mr. Williams has collected, but not published, a considerable amoimt of material for biographical, genealogical and official notices of the Members of Parliament from 1707 to 1832. Mr. Beaven's Aldermen of London (2 volumes, 1908) gives a short notice of each Alderman, and also of the offices held by every Member of Parliament for the City. He gives the elections of the London Members throughout the ** blank period " *; he also includes a tentative list of London Aldermen who sat as " carpet baggers " for distant constituencies. This list is useful whenever a knight or burgess is difficult to identify among local personages, and provides evidence of an early desire for a seat in Parliament. To Mr. Beaven's book we are also indebted for the satisfaction of definitely including Dick Whittington among the Members for London (1416) — a fact first stated by Samuel Lysons in his Life of Whittington (1860). Mr. Beaven used the Letter Books and other unpublished records at the Guildhall, and in this case is careful to cite all his authorities. Colonel Wedgwood's Staffordshire Parliamentary History, 1258-1780, pubhshed in two volumes by the William Salt Society, is, thanks to the help of Mr. Pink and Mr. Beaven, the most thorough work of its kind in print. Of use for their period and place are R. S. Ferguson's Parliamentary Representation of Cumberland and Westmorland, 1660-1867 (1871) ; W. P. Courtney's Parliamentary History of Cornwall (1893) ; W. T. Lawrence's Parliamentary History of Cornwall (1925) ; Morayshire Members since the Union (1930), and Banffshire Members since the Union (1930), both by A. and H. Taylor ; and J. E. Smith's Parliamentary Representation of Surrey (1929). In the columns of an extinct Kentish newspaper, The Gravesend Journal, a reliable antiquary, Mr. D'Ewes, began to print biographies of the Members for Kent, but he died in 1874 before he had got beyond the year 1316 ; nor have we been able to examine the results of his work. Scattered throughout the Transactions of the Devonshire Associa- tion and the Shropshire Archaeological Society are the recent scholarly biographies of the Members for those two counties and their boroughs contributed by Mr. J. J. Alexander and Mr. H. T. Weyman. * For an explanation of this term, see p. 19 below. 14 Notes for biographies of the Knights of the Shire for Essex from 1540 to 1832, were collected by the late Dr. J. Horace Round, and, by the courtesy of Mr. W. Page, these have been placed at our disposal. It will be seen, therefore, that in Scotland and Wales and sixteen English counties some of the biographical work is already done. In most cases the writers have dealt not only with the Knights of the Shire, but with the Members for the boroughs in their respective counties also. The Members for Oxford University are dealt with in Mr. Williams' work on the parliamentary representation of Oxfordshire. In the Western Antiquary (1881-1893) Mr. Pink printed a series of articles giving short biographies of the Members for some Cornish boroughs from 1500 onwards. These are not so full as his later MS. biographies. Histories of the parliamentary representation of Horsham, Hythe and Coventry have been written by Mr. W. Albery, Mr. T. Wilks and Mr. T. R. Whitley respectively. Town histories are also available devoted wholly or in part to biographies of the local Members. (J) The Parliamentary History. In this survey of the ground already covered we must mention the old Parliamentary History published in 1762-3, which contains reports of the debates down to 1660. It is an unscholarly compila- tion, mainly from secondary and unreliable sources. Most of the current misconceptions and misstatements about parliamentary history are traceable to it. The greater part of the material in the old Parliamentary History was incorporated in Cobbett's Parliamentary History in 36 volumes down to 1806. 4. THE TASK OF THE COMMITTEE. It is our task to examine the material used by our predecessors, and, where that material was inadequate, to ascertain what further materials are available for our purpose ; and to form some estimate of the trouble and expense involved in dealing with them, and of the value of the final result. We divide our Report into four parts. The first deals with the need for compiling a correct list of Parliaments ; the second deals with the materials available for compiling a complete list of Mem.bers of the House of Commons ; the third deals with the material available for compiling a record of the politics of past Members ; while the fourth part indicates the advisability of treating adequately a subject of national importance, and outHnes a practical scheme. 15 PART 1. NEED FOR COMPILING A LIST OF PARLIAMENTS. 1. PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLIES AND PARLIAMENTS. The compilers of the Official Return, when drawing up their list of Parliaments, appear to have taken as their criterion the attendance of representatives of the Commons. But it is not correct to assume, at any rate in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, that there is any necessary connexion between the summoning of a Parliament and the summoning of an assembly of representative knights, citizens and burgesses. Parliament originated as an afforced meeting of the King's Council, and it came into prominence as an organised institution about the same time in England and France, namely, in the middle of the thirteenth century. The origins of the Parliaments of Scotland and Ireland are more obscure, but well before the end of the same century they also were regularly organised. Without entering into questions which may still perhaps be regarded as the subject of controversy, we should remark that, whenever we have sufficient record evidence upon which a reliable judgment may be formed, the most prominent aspect of these early Parliaments which appears in the records is the dispensing of justice, the righting of wrongs that might otherwise have remained without redress. This function of Parliament was, it is certain, not exercised to the exclusion of others, but it was this function which necessitated the frequent and regular sessions which are a recognised feature of the French Parlement, and a hardly less evident feature of the contemporary English Parliament. For the dispensing of justice the presence of representatives of the Commons was obviously unnecessary. But simultaneously with the development of Parliament the practice seems to have grown of summoning representatives of urban and rural communities for consultation with the King's Council. In France these assemblies developed into the States- General, while the Parlement developed into a company of jurists ; in England these assemblies coalesced with Parliament and became ultimately the very essence of Parliament. These divergent developments, due as much perhaps to chance and temporary expediency as to the underlying legal and social institutions of the two countries, were the work of the fourteenth century ; and it 16 was not until the end of the reign of Edward III that the English Parliament was in sight of undisputed supremacy over taxation and legislation. The position, then, of the Commons was slowly revolutionised between the thirteenth and the sixteenth century. They, who had been but assistants, were now becoming the predominant House in Parliament ; and the judges and masters in Chancery who, together with the King's ministers, had constituted the very core of Parliament, were now reduced to the position of assistants. It follows that the terms and categories which we apply to modern Parliaments cannot be used with any strictness of fourteenth century Parliaments. A session did not necessarily begin with the assembling of the Commons, nor did it necessarily terminate with their departure. Thus in the Easter Parliament of 1290 the knights appeared at the very end of a long session ; and in the Lenten Parliament of 1305 business continued uninterrupted after the Commons, and certainly some of the magnates, had gone home. Nor is it until well into the fourteenth century that the Commons can be said, with any assurance, to take an active part in the pro- ceedings of Parliament. If, then, we speak of them as " Members of Parliament," we do so because of the unbroken continuity of popular representation in Parliament from the time of Henry III to the present day. We should be prepared to accept the view that the official members of the King's Council were more truly " Members " of the earlier Parliaments than the knights, citizens and burgesses, perhaps even than the magnates. But the fact does not sensibly impair the historical interest and importance of those whose successors were to constitute the House of Commons. 2. LIST OF PARLIAMENTS AND ASSEMBLIES. For the record that we have in view it is evidently necessary to have as full and correct a list of Parliaments as possible. We have, therefore, attempted to compile a list of Parliaments, showing the dates on which the writs of election were issued ; the date- hmits of elections, when known ; the dates on which the Members were summoned to meet, and the place of meeting ; the dates of sessions, and of the departure of the Commons or dissolution ; the authorities for the lists of names of Members ; the number of names for each Parliament as given in the Official Return ; and the number by which it may now be supplemented. This list of Parliaments will be found in Appendix I. It has also been embodied in guide cards to the card indexes of the " New Names " and " Corrections " as arranged in Parliaments to which reference will be made later on. We have included in the list many Parliaments in the first century of parliamentary life to which the Commons were never summoned. 17 It seems to us best to have the Hst as comprehensive as modern research can make it ; and the gradual decrease and final cessation of such Parliaments illustrates of itself the increasing importance of the personnel and politics of the House of Commons, and the evolution of Parliament as a legislative and political organ. A list of the Assemblies or Great Councils which met in the thir- teenth and fourteenth centuries appears in Appendix II, and, if the names of those elected to such Councils were recorded in the Offtcial Return on the supposition that such meeting was a true Parliament, then that Assembly is distinguished from the others in order to facilitate reference to the Official Return. For both these Lists we are largely indebted to Mr. G. O. Sayles and Mr. H. G. Richardson. 18 PART II. MATERIALS AVAILABLE FOR COMPILING A COMPLETE LIST OF MEMBERS. 1. THE OFFICIAL RETURN. {a) Materials used in compiling it. First among the materials available for compiling a complete list of Members must be placed the Official Return. It may be convenient at this point to describe the materials from which the Official Return was compiled. These were the Sheriffs' Returns, writs ordering the payment of wages to Members (known as Writs de expensis), and official contemporary lists of Members (known as Crown Office Lists) . (i) Sheriffs' Returns. — These were the answers made by Sheriffs to writs which issued from the Chancery before every Parliament ordering them to cause to be elected two knights for the county, two citizens for every city and two burgesses for every borou^.* Down to the year 1406, it was the practice for the Sheriff to make his return merely by endorsing his writ with the names of the knights and burgesses elected, and the names of the mainpernors (as a general rule, two for each Member) who were made responsible for their appearance in Parliament. In the case of boroughs which were liberties the Sheriff, as a rule, stated on his endorsement that he had ordered the bailiffs of the liberty to make the return to him, and that they had made such and such a return, or had made no return at all. In 1406 an Act was passed laying down a new procedure for the election of knights of the shire. It was enacted that elections should in future be held in full county court, that all persons present, whether suitors to the court or not, should take part in the elections, and that the Sheriff's Return should take the form of an indenture under the seals of the electors. From that date practically every Sheriff's Return is, in form, an indenture between the sheriff and a varying number of individuals, witnessing that they were present in full county court held on such and such a day, at which such and such persons were elected knights of the shire. The formula remained practically the same until 1832. After 1406 the procedure with regard to boroughs was assimilated to the county procedure. The normal Return took the form of an indenture between the sheriff and the electoral body of the borough. No names (except those of the sheriff, the mayor or bailiffs, and the * The Sheriff remained responsible for all elections in his county, whether of knights, citizens or burgesses, until 1853, when it was enacted that writs for the elections of citizens and burgesses should no longer be sent to the Sheriff, 19 two elected burgesses) are necessarily mentioned in the body of the indenture ; but from the time of Elizabeth onwards it becomes more and more a regular thing for a number of the electors to sign their names at the foot of the indenture. A few specimens of these Returns for different periods are set out in Appendix IV. These Returns have always been in official custody, but never, until 1859, in the custody of a single official. Those covering the period from 1275 to 1477 were in the Tower of London from very early times. They remained at the Tower until 1856, when they were transferred to the newly-built Public Record Office.* Except for a few by-elections between 1533 and 1542 the Returns from 1477 to 1542 have long been lost, and no account of them survives. How or when they were lost it is impossible to determine. All that can be said is that in all probability they were never sent to the Tower, which ceased at the end of Edward TV's reign to be the normal place of deposit of Chancery Records. f This period is generally referred to in our Report as the " blank period." From 1542 onwards it is possible to construct the history of the Returns with a fair amount of certainty. The Sheriff sent them in the first place to the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery — a Chancery official closely connected with Parliament. They were retained by him in his office for as long as they were of immediate use to him for the current business of Parliament. When he had finished with them he forwarded them to the Petty Bag Office — the office which had been responsible for the issue of the writs of election J to the Sheriffs. The Petty Bag Office retained them for a period for current business, and then forwarded them to the Rolls Chapel for permanent preservation. This system appears to have worked until 1660. The Returns from 1542 to that date safely reached the Rolls Chapel. § In 1738 they were found there by Strachey ; and from there they were transferred to the Public Record Office in 1858. || After 1660 the Returns no longer moved beyond the Petty Bag Office. In 1738 the Returns from 1661 to 1721 were there, those for the then existing Parhament (1734) and its predecessor (1727) remaining at the Crown Office for current work.^f In 1841 the same * 18th Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, pp. 22, 24. t Powell's Repertorie of Records, p. 5 ; Thomas's Handbook to the Records, p. xvi. X i.e. the writs issued for the election of each fresh Parliament. Writs for by-elections were, and are, issued by the Clerk of the Crown. § During the 18th century a MS. list of these Returns was made by John Kipling, Keeper of the Records in the Rolls Chapel. The compilers of the Official Return used it to check and supplement the Sheriffs' Returns for the Parliaments of 1542, 1547, 1553 (1 March) and 1604. Kipling's list is now at the Public Record Office. II 20th Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, p. 4. ^ Strachey's Index to the Records, p. 61. 20 procedure was in use. The Crown Of&ce was still retaining the Returns for the existing Parliament and its predecessor, and trans- mitting the remainder to the Petty Bag Office, where they remained.* In 1859 the Returns from 1661 to 1837 were transferred from the Petty Bag Office to the Pubhc Record Office.j Thus by 1859 all extant Returns had been collected in the Public Record Office from the Tower, the Rolls Chapel and the Petty Bag Office. (ii) Writs de expensis. — These were writs issued from the Chancery for the purpose of securing payment to Members of the expenses involved in their attendance at Parhament. They were addressed to the Sheriffs and to the governing bodies of the cities and boroughs which returned Members, and in each writ the Members for the particular county, city or borough are named. The following is a typical example : — The King to the Sheriff of Kent, greeting. We order you to cause Otto de Grandissono and John Fitz Bernard, knights of the said county, who lately came on behalf of the commonalty of the same to the Parliament summoned at Westminster on Monday after the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist last, to receive from the said commonalty 10/. 8s. for their expenses in coming to the said Parliament, staying there, and returning thence to their own parts, to wit, for twenty six days, each of them receiving 4s. a day. Witness the King at Westminster, 20 May (28 Edw. III). These writs are enrolled on the Chancery Close Rolls from 28 Edward I to 2 Henry V, after which date they are no longer found there, although they were still issued from the Chancery. A very full account of them, with an elaborate commentary, is given in the fourth part of Prynne's Brief Register and Survey of the several Forms of Parliamentary Writs. The compilers of the Official Return collated these enrolments with the Sheriffs' Returns, and used them to check and supplement the information given by those Returns. (iii) Crown Office Lists. — As mentioned above, the Sheriffs' Returns were sent in the first place to the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery. It became part of this official's duty to compile from them a book containing a complete list of the Members of each Parliament, and to keep the list up to date by entering deaths and changes of membership as they occurred during the continuance of the Parlia- ment. Some of these lists still survive for the sixteenth and seven- teenth centuries among the Crown Office (Chancery) Records in the Public Record Office. Each of them is headed Liber Parliamenti and refers to a single Parliament. * 2nd Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, pp. 36, 45, 72. t 21st Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, p. 48 21 The uses of such a list from an official point of view would be various. The Commons' Journals mention one of them — the " call of the House " for the purpose of fining or reprimanding absentees. For instance, on 5th April, 1626, the Clerk of the Crown was ordered to " perfect the book of the names of the Members according to such Returns as are made to him in Chancery". And a subsequent entry under the same date makes it certain that this Order was made with a view to a disciplinary " call of the House." The lists were also used in connexion with claims for or disputes as to wages. The compilers of the Official Return collated these lists also with the Sheriffs' Returns. A list of the Crown Office Lists now in the Public Record Office will be found in Appendix V. (b) Its Value. The Official Return compiled from these three sources is set out as follows : — The Parliaments are given in chronological order, and the personnel of each Parliament is given under an alphabetical arrangement of counties for England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland in turn.* The boroughs are arranged alphabetically under their respective counties, with the exception of the Cinque Ports and Calais. In spite of shortcomings inevitable in a work based solely on official documents in the PubHc Record Office, the Official Return made it possible for the first time to trace fairly continuously the personnel of the Commons in Parhament almost from the beginning. The numerical representation of the counties remained practically unchanged during the period with which we deal. Thirty-seven English counties regularly sent two knights of the shire each.j The seven Cinque Ports, J summoned to send two " barons " each in 1265, 1302 and from 1322 onwards, certainly made returns regularly from and after 1363. No members came from the Universities till 1604, whereafter§ Oxford and Cambridge sent two Members each, as they still do. On the other hand, the representation of the cities and boroughs was in a continual state of change — declining in the fourteenth cen- tury and increasing thereafter — until 1678. In that year, with the admission of Durham City, the burgess membership of the House * For an earlier geographical arrangement, used in the lists of the 1491-2 and 1529-36 Parliaments, see Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Vol. IX, pp. 34-36. t The county representation was increased by the addition of two members for Monmouth in 1542, when the twelve Welsh counties were also first repre- sented, each having been granted by Act of Parhament in 1536 the right to return one member ; two for Cheshire in 1542 (by-election) or 1545 ; and two for Durham county in 1675. X Increased to 8 by the inclusion of Seaford in 1641. § Except in the Parliaments of 1654 and 1656-8, when they sent one each. 22 of Commons was stabilised,* and at the same time the total number of English representatives in the House reached its maximum. This number remained at 513 for England and Wales during the rest of our period. The Table which forms Appendix VI gives provisional notes with regard to the changes made from time to time in the numbers and composition of the House of Commons. These notes are necessarily- tentative, but are printed in their present form as a rough indication of the position. (c) Its Limitations. Though a work of great value, the Official Return is by no means a complete list of Members. There are no lists of names for any Parliament of Henry III, nor for those of Edward I held in 1275 and 1283 to which the Commons are now known to have been summoned. The first list given is that for the Parliament of July, 1290. Between that date and 1399 the names, or some names, are given for 104 Parliaments, and only in the case of six Parliamentsf to which the Commons are known to have been summoned (three of which never met) I are the Sheriffs' Returns or the writs de expensis unable to provide a considerable list of names of knights of the shire and burgesses. After 1414 the absence from the Close Rolls of writs de expensis causes the much more serious gaps which occur thenceforth in the Official Return. Out of 67 Parliaments which were summoned between 1400 and 1540 the Official Return can give hardly a name for 26, § while half the names are missing in seven more.H The period from 1478 to 1529 is absolutely blank. From 1547 to 1661 the lists are still incomplete, and would have been more so had it not been that the compilers of the Return had, in that period, the assistance of the Crown Office lists to supplement the information given in the surviving Sheriffs' Returns. 1[ From 1661 onwards the series of Sheriffs' Returns is more complete and there are few omissions in the lists. Both Scotland and Ireland were represented in the English nominated Parliament of 1653 ; and by Cromwell's Instrument of Government the Scottish and Irish representation was fixed at 30 each in the Parliaments of 1654-5 and 1656-8 ; at this figure it ♦ Except that Grampound was disfranchised in 1822 and the two seats given to Yorkshire. t 1308 (March), 1314 (April), 1318 (Hilary), 1331 (April), 1349 and 1392. + 1318 (Hilary), 1349 and 1392. § The Parliaments are :— 1401-2, 1412-13, 1416, 1439-40, 1444-5, 1461, 1463-5, 1469 (never met), 1470-1, 1482-3, 1483 (June), 1483 (Oct.) (nevermet), 1483-4, 1485-6, 1487-8, 1489-90, 1491-2, 1495-6, 1496-7, 1503-4, 1509-10, 1512-14, 1515, 1523, 1536, 1539-40. II 1404, 1409-10, 1411, 1415, 1459, 1460, 1542-4. ^ See Appendix V. 23 remained in the Parliament of 1658-9. Only one-third of the names of these Members are to be found in the Ofhcial Return, which, however, mentions that full lists are given by Browne Willis in his Notitia. From 1708* in the case of Scotland, and from 1802t in the case of Ireland, the Official Return gives the full representation at Westminster for both countries.^: {d) A Starting Point for the Compilation o! a Complete List. In spite of the gaps in the Official Return it is incomparably the most complete list of Members at present available in print. We have, therefore, taken it as our starting point, and have endeavoured to ascertain to what extent additional§ names can be obtained from other sources to make good the gaps. 2. SOURCES AVAILABLE FOR SUPPLEMENTING THE OFFICIAL RETURN. {a) Sheriffs' Returns found at the Public Record Office since the Publication of the Official Return. Some 332 additional names of Members of Parliament have been supplied from Sheriffs' Returns discovered among the Public Records between 1888 and the present time, including the names of the Members of the April Parliament of 1275, recovered from the Chapel of the Pyx at Westminster and published in the English Historical Review in 1910. (h) Records at the Public Record Office other than Sheriffs' Returns. Missing names of Members may sometimes be recovered from records in the Public Record Office other than Sheriffs' Returns. Thus, on the Fine Rolls is a list giving the names of those Knights of the Shire who sat in the 1439-40 Parliament. On the Close Rolls are the names of some knights who attended the Michaelmas Parliament of 1258, and a full list of those summoned is on the Patent Roll of the same year. A few fresh names may be ascertained even in the " blank period " from the Exchequer of Pleas Plea Rolls, the Chancery Rolls and the State Papers. * A list of the Scottish Members elected by the expiring Scottish Parliament to serve in the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1708 is given in the Official Return ; Part II, p. 8. t In the Official Return at the end of the list of the 1796 Parliament a list is given of Members returned from Ireland to serve in what became in 1801 the first Parliament of the United Kingdom. X Scotland was represented by 45 Members and Ireland by 100. § It should be understood that, when the term " additional " or " new " name is used in this Report, it does not necessarily imply that the Member in question appears nowhere in the Official Return, but may only mean that it has now been discovered that he sat in a Parliament in which he was not previously known to have sat. 24 In another part of our Report we deal with the use that can be made of the PubHc Record Office Calendars and the unprinted rolls in the Public Record Office in connexion with the biographical side of the work. {c) The Journals of the House of Commons. As was noted by the compilers of the Official Return, the Journals of the House of Commons contain references to many Members whose names are not to be found in the Return. In particular, many names will be found of those more or less temporary Members who were involved in " double returns " or disputed elections. Names also occur in many other connexions, e.g., service on a Committee, being in charge of a Bill, obtaining leave of absence. But, except in the case of a man electing for which of several seats he will sit, the Member's name is hardly ever associated with a particular constituency, and the names themselves take strange and varied forms, difficult to identify in the absence of Christian names, so that a considerable amount of research, and indeed some guess work — work held not suitable for an official publication — would be involved. The Journals of the House of Commons begin in 1547 and are continuous from that date, except for an unfortunate gap for the period 1580-1604. Sir Simonds D'Ewes' Journals (1559-1601) fiU in the gap and supplement the whole, as does Rush worth at a later date. We have not yet continued our search beyond 1580, but already some 45 missing names have been recovered, notably 21 of the 103 Members who. Coke states, were prosecuted for absenting themselves from the Parliament of 1554-5. The Journals are, of course, of even more importance for the other or biographical side of our work. (d) Contemporary or nearly contemporary lists of Members not in the Public Record Office. In addition to the list of names for the 1614 Parliament, published as mentioned above (p. 9) in 1888, and the lists for the 1258, 1275 and 1439-40 Parliaments (p. 23), lists of other Parliaments are now available to supplement the Official Return, some of which add only a few names, while others supply the names where the Official Return gives none at all. The lists referred to are : — (1) A list of the Parliament of 1491-2, in the middle of the "blank period", printed in the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Vol. Ill, from Brit. Mus. Harl. 2252. (2) Thomas Cromwell's list of some 34 Members in 1532, edited for the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Vol. IX, by Professor Pollard, and showing, possibly, the earliest by-elections. 25 (3) A list showing the composition of the House towards the close of the last session of the 1547-52 Parliament. This list is now at Hatfield in the possession of the Marquess of Salisbury, who has kindly supplied us with a copy. Besides supplj^ng evidence of the representation of new or restored boroughs and the results of some 42 by-elections, this list amplifies the list in the Official Return, which has many gaps. (4) A manuscript list of Queen Mary's first Parliament (1553) in the Bodleian Library (MS. e Museo 17), used by Browne Willis in his Noiitia Parliamentaria. (5) Two lists of the 1571 Parliament, for which the Official Return gives no names. One of these lists is represented by a copy in the John Rylands Library made for Mr. Pink from a de Tabley MS. ; the other was printed by Browne Willis from a manuscript in the collection of Le Neve. These two lists are not identical. The originals cannot be found, and the lists have not yet been exactly dated. (6) A list of the 1584 Parliament printed by Browne Willis from a manuscript formerly in the collection of Le Neve, the whereabouts of which is now unknown. (7) A list of the 1593 Parliament also printed by Browne Willis from the same collection. As the names given in the Official Return for this Parliament are practically complete, this list gives little fresh information. (8) Six different lists for the Parliament of 1604-1611, all of which have been collated by Mr. Harold Hulme and the result printed in the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Vol. V, pp. 97-105. The result of many by-elections and other considerable gaps in the Official Return are filled in by these lists, only one of which was known to or used by Browne Willis. (9) Two lists of the 1621 Parliament, one printed in Cobbett's Parliamentary History (ed. 1806), Vol. I, p. 1169, and the other in MS. at the British Museum (Hargreave 311). (10) A list of the Long Parliament printed in a contemporary pamphlet in the British Museum (E. 1836 (4) ), which seems to represent the composition of the House about 1642* and adds very greatly to the information in the Official Return. A list of the King's Parliament at Oxford (1644) is printed in the same pamphlet. (11) A list of the Little (or Barebones) Parliament (1653), for which no names are given in the Official Return, printed in the same pamphlet and used by Browne Willis. (12) Lists of the Parhaments of 1654 and 1656-58, both printed in the same pamphlet, and reprinted, evidently from * With subsequent additions, however. 26 the same source, by Browne Willis. As hardly one-third of the Returns have survived for these Parliaments (and hardly any Returns at all of Scottish and Irish Members) these lists are especially valuable. (13) A hst of Richard Cromwell's Parliament of 1659, printed in the pamphlet in the British Museum to which reference has already been made. There were no Returns found in the Public Record Office for quite half the names on this list, which was used by Browne Willis. (14) Two lists of the Rump Parhament, 1659, one printed in the old Parliamentary History, pp. 372-375, and one, not identical, in a pamphlet among Mr. Beaven's papers.* This republican re-assemblage of Parhament is ignored in the Official Return and by Browne Willis. (15) Two lists of the Parliament (Convention) of 1660, one printed in the old Parliamentary History, the other, not identical, in a pamphlet in the Public Record Office. While there are many printed lists of subsequent Parliaments, the omissions in the Official Return after 1661 are so few that supple- mentary lists are hardly required. Most, if not all, of these lists were known to and used by Mr. Pink and Mr. Beaven in connexion with their work. Probably many of them were originally Crown Office Lists, or copied from such lists or other contemporary documents. They are a less certain authority than the Sherife' Returns. Careful judgment and knowledge of the period is required to date them and to weigh their authority when in conflict with other evidence. {e) Prynne's "Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva". As stated above (p. 8), the lists printed by William Prynne in his Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva are inaccurate and in many respects unreHable. They were compiled, however, from the most authori- tative of sources, namely, the Sheriffs' Returns themselves, and, as it is clear that a very considerable number of such Returns dis- appeared from the Public Archives between his day and the date of the publication of the Official Return, we have thought it worth while to make a collation of his lists with those given in the Official Return. This collation has yielded 320 new names — all for the period before 1460 — which can be provisionally accepted as correct on the assumption that Prynne obtained them from Returns no longer existing or legible. (/) Municipal Records. Most of the new names provided from the above sources — except Prynne's and the 1491 list — fall into the gaps in the Official Return during the period 1542-1661. But the most important period from * This pamphlet contains also a list of the Members secluded or imprisoned in 1648. 27 our point of view (most important because most blank) is the period of 65 years between 1477 and 1542. One might well carry the " blank period " back to 1460, owing to the complete absence of any returns for the Parliaments of 1461, 1463, 1469 and 1470-1. It is more especially for the " blank period " that we must turn to the municipal records. Unfortunately we are still lamentably ignorant of the vast store of local records preserved, but uncalendared, among the archives of local authorities. They were reported on in 1800 by the Select Committee on the State of Public Records, in 1835 by the Royal Commission on Municipal Corporations, and in 1837 by the Commissioners of the PubUc Records in their last General Report. The Historical Manuscripts Commission set up in 1869 has also examined and reported on the archives of many boroughs. Un- fortunately for our purpose, in early days, when much of this branch of their work was being done, it was their practice to publish in a condensed form or, indeed, merely to extract the entries which were regarded as " curious As a result their reports on municipal records, while mentioning that the names of Members are contained in the municipal accounts, often either do not give their names or leave the year and Parliament doubtful. A list of the boroughs whose records have been reported on by the Commission appears in Appendix VII. The Municipal Corporations Commission in 1880 dealt with the records of those boroughs which had ceased to exist as such. The Local Records Committee appointed in 1899, which reported in 1902, sought to find out of what the records consisted, and how they might be preserved. The Royal Commission on Public Records of 1914-1919 repeated the enquiry, and even visited and inspected the records in a wide selection of towns before publishing their Third Report in 1919. They reported (p. 12) : — " Although the 1837 Report contains some valuable informa- tion, this relates to a comparatively small number of towns and to such as were of note, whilst the returns printed by the 1902 Committee are confined to county and non-county boroughs. The latter compilation is also very incomplete, and the information as to the nature and condition of the records is unsatisfactory Again, the Reports published by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, though containing full abstracts of the most interesting documents, do not supply the place of a summary list of the records. The Reports of the Municipal Corporation Commissioners of 1835 and 1880 are not immediately concerned with the custody of the records, but in the former Report they are mentioned incidentally in connec- tion with the constitutions of the boroughs. The Commission of 1876-1880 reported on the old boroughs which had not been recognised by the Act of 1835." 28 In spite of the mass of information thus acquired, the extent and dates of the accounts, council minutes, deed registers and court rolls preserved in local archives remain unspecified, and must generally be sought by a laborious enquiry on the spot. The reason for this is not far to seek, and is set out on p. 21 of the Royal Commission's Third Report : — " We have noticed (they say) that generally the arrangement of the (local) records leaves much to be desired, whilst an adequate list exists in very few cases. As a result, the local custodians cannot tell with certainty what records they have, and students are unable to make use of them without laborious researches which can only be permitted in the case of a privileged few. It is not surprising, therefore, that the returns made by town clerks or other officials to the inquiries of the several Commissions or Committees above referred to should be for the most part vague and misleading. A perusal of the Reports of the Commission of 1837 and the Committee of 1902, as well as of the information that we have printed in an Appendix to this Report, will show that the local custodians have not hitherto possessed sufficient knowledge to enable them to make a proper return or to give information to individual students who have access to the records." They found that in Wales fewer records had survived than in England, and that their condition was worse ; and they finally recommended that " a full a,nd careful list of the Municipal Records should be prepared in every case by a competent archivist " (p. 41). Unfortunately, except in a few cases, this has not yet been done. An illustration or two of the pitfaUs that attend the method of written enquiry will suffice. The Local Records Committee of 1902, in an exhaustive questionnaire circulated to Town Clerks, asked to what date the earliest documents in their custody went back. The Town Clerk almost invariably replied by giving the date of some early charter. The Committee were presumably not interested in charters, which are well-known in the Public Record Office, and they thus failed to get the information they really desired as to the vital dates of the unique local records. A list of the 136 boroughs represented in Parliament in 1550, showing which of them have records dating from before that date, and, where such records are extant, of what classes they are com- posed, and whether any list or calendar thereof has been printed, appears in Appendix VII. We take 1550 as our limit because the principal gaps in the Official Return occur before that date. Particulars are also given in the Appendix of any local history the author of which had evidently used the records of the borough. As many of these works were written at a time when far more local records survived in public custody than do now, and the authors in many cases had access to records which had even then passed 29 into private hands, a certain number of additional names can be derived from these secondary sources when the records themselves have been lost. The information contained in this Appendix has been obtained from the Reports of the various Commissions or Committees to which we have referred, from the Reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and from Town Clerks or local antiquaries. We hope that it will be of general service to research workers in many fields ; but if and when our proposals for the compilation of a record of Members of Parliament are carried out, the actual search of these records, which must necessarily be involved, would facilitate the preparation of a far fuller and more trustworthy dated guide to these valuable records in the sixty or seventy boroughs which possess pre-Elizabethan material. The classes of municipal records most likely to give the names of Members are {a) the chamberlains' or treasurers' accounts ; (b) the corporation minute books, and (c) letters. Town charters may, at least after 1460, determine when representation began, but charters will generally be found on the rolls at the Public Record Office and have been calendared in the Calendar of Charter Rolls, or, after 1515, in the Calendar of Patent Rolls. Court rolls, records relating to the election of municipal officers or taxation, etc., will be of service for biographical purposes but will not provide the missing names of Members. The accounts generally record the wages paid to the Members. The minutes may record the actual election of the Members. The letters, generally later in the sixteenth century, will often include appeals or demands from would-be candidates or imperious patrons, and the replies of the corporation. We have already been able to obtain some twelve hundred additional names of Members from borough records or from reports dealing with such records. The number of additional names for each borough is shown in Appendix VIII. It is obvious that a thorough search of these records, especially those of Canterbury, Lincoln, Barnstaple, Nottingham, Romney, Salisbury, Wells, Bridgwater, Northampton, Maldon, Winchester and Hereford, might add a further two or three hundred. (g) Various contemporary unofficial sources. A number of new names of Members have been ascertained from various contemporary but unofficial sources, such as Coke's Institutes and the Past on Letters. {h) Messrs. Pink and Beaven's collections. In the course of those researches to which reference has already been made, Mr. Pink and Mr. Beaven succeeded in supplying names to fill a very large number of the gaps in the Official Return. The majority of these names we have been able to verify from other sources. In some six hundred cases, however, we have been unable 30 to do so, but it is probable that the source from which most of these names were obtained will prove to be the Journals of the House of Commons, and we consider that they may be provisionally accepted as correct. 3. SUMMARY OF ADDITIONAL NAMES OBTAINED FROM THE ABOVE SOURCES. (a) Sheriffs' Returns found at the Public Record Office since the publication of the Official Return . . 332 [b) Records in the Public Record Office other than Sheriffs' Returns , . . . . . . . about 307 (c) Journals of the House of Commons d) Contemporary or nearly contemporary lists : — (1) Parliament of 1491 45 312 (2) „ „ 1529 8 (3) „ „ 1547-52 217 (4) „ „ 1553 51 (5) „ „ 1571 455 (6) „ „ 1584 125 (7) „ „ 1593 5 (8) „ „ 1604 87 (9) „ „ 1621 4 (10) „ „ 1640 (Long Parliament) . . 28 „ 1643 (Oxford Parliament) . . 175 (11) „ „ 1653 145 (12) „ „ 1654 174 (13) 1656-8 344 (14) „ „ 1659 274 (15) „ „ 1659 (May) 91 (16) „ „ 1660 (Convention) . . . , 188 {e) Prynne's Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva . . . . 320 (/) Municipal Records 1,487* (g) Various contemporary unofficial sources . . . . 120 (A) Messrs. Pink and Beaven's collections . . . . 601 These are in addition to the 1,281 names given in the Appendix to the Official Return, published in 1888. We have embodied the additional names — between six and seven thousand in all — derived from the above-mentioned sources (in- cluding those discovered in the Public Record Office since the issue of Part I of the Official Return) in two card indexes, one arranged under the names of the constituencies, and the other by Parliaments. The source whence the name was derived is stated on each card. The new names of burgess Members thus recovered are spread over many ParHaments from 1299 (London) and 1363 (Sandwich) onwards, filling many casual gaps in the Official Return. They * Including names obtained from Reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission on municipal records. 31 are not confined to Parliaments of the " blank period " (1477-1542). How far we have been able to reconstruct the membership of the House of Commons in the " blank period " will be seen from the Table which forms Appendix IX. As the full House about the year 1500 consisted of less than 300 members, it will be seen that we may hope to reconstruct one-fifth of the House of Commons through- out the "blank period". Whenever a name differing in any material particular from that given in the Official Return has been obtained from any of the above- mentioned sources, or a variation or error in, or omission of, the date of a writ or of an election or by-election has been discovered, a record has been made of the fact and embodied in a third card index arranged under Parliaments. These corrections to the Official Return have not yet been all collated with the original returns or writs. 4. SCOTTISH AND IRISH PARLIAMENTS. The Official Return includes (H.C. Parliamentary Paper 69-1 of 1878) a considerable amount of material in connexion with the Parliaments of Scotland (1357-1707) and Ireland (1559-1800), but the results were not comparable in completeness with those which the records at the Public Record Office enabled the compilers to produce for England. Mr. Beaven printed in Collectanea Genealogica some two hundred corrections to the lists of the Irish Parliaments before the Union, and pointed out that every by-election date had been omitted after 1695, as well as Grattan's start in politics. There appears to be no evidence that representatives of the Commons were summoned to Parliament by any Scottish King before the reign of David II, though Edward I summoned knights and representatives of the towns to attend the Scottish Parliament which met at Berwick in August, 1296. The first Parliament for which any names are given in the Official Return is that of 1357. Scotland presents peculiar obstacles to the identification of the person, owing to the smaller variety of family names, and to the persistence through the centuries of the same families and even of their feuds. Mr. Foster, in his Members of Parliament, Scotland, recorded 80 Campbells and 90 Stewarts ; and Scottish records are by no means so full as are the English records. We are, however, assured that the publication of records during the last fifty years has provided a great deal of information which was not available when Mr. Foster compiled his work. Until quite recently the earlier history of the Irish Parliament has attracted little attention, and little has been done to supplement the investigations of Sir Wilham Betham and WiUiam Lynch, now a century old. Despite the irreparable loss entailed by the destruction of the Public Record Office in Dublin, no inconsiderable quantity of material for the reconstruction of the history of the Irish Parlia- ment still exists. 32 PART III. THE COMPILATION OF A RECORD OF THE PERSONNEL AND POLITICS OF PAST MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 1. XNTRODUCTORY. We are asked to report on the materials available for a record of the politics of Members. Doubtless as individuals the Commons had views even in the earliest days, but they were not then party views in our sense of the term. The system of political affiliation or party must always be indigenous among those actively engaged in administration. But for the first century or more there is no evidence of any activity, but rather passivity, in the House of Commons. They were not the Government but the governed. In those days the Commons had mainly two functions — petitioning and assenting. They must have thought of themselves as suitors at a court. Gradually, as they gained some political importance, they became subject to pressure from conscious groups or parties. They included in their petitions requests which were certainly not spontaneous, and their assent was not difficult to obtain. The names of magnate leaders became familiar to them. The neighbour- hood of or relationship to a Lord Ordainer or a Lord Appellant shaped what they had of politics. Parliaments of " White Bands '* (1321) or of " Batts " (1426) drew the various clients and cousins up in parties which flamed up or changed colour from year to year. Yet, as their assent and acclamation grew more and more essential to the head of this or that party, so their policital party may be said to emerge, and can be traced even before Roses or religion or Covenant divided the House and gave greater permanence to parliamentary principles. Nor must it be forgotten that there was always present the permanent economic division between knights and burgesses, between town and country ; as well as the human division between those who had something to get and those who had something to give. One would wish to know of each English Parliament, how far it merely registered the will of the Government of the moment, how far it initiated legislation acceptable both to the Government and to pubhc opinion, how far it was driven by pubHc opinion to oppose the Government — in a word, how far it dared to let itself obey the opinion of its Members, and what that opinion was. Some registerable division into parties that may be called Whig and Tory began with the three Exclusion Parliaments (1679-81), and this has continued to the present day with every variety of 33 connotation. But political party alignment did not begin in 1679, and the party label is not that on which we are asked to report. Indeed, if it were found possible, say from 1604 onwards, to attach to the Members of Parliament printed in the lists any symbol resembhng those applied to present-day Members, then that symbol should more justly show their allegiance or hostility, or that of their patron, to the Government of the day. Even before 1604 there may be occasional evidence worth noting on the lists that a Member was a courtier or of the King's Household, but generally throughout the earlier period the Member's politics and relationships must be gleaned from his biography. Additions to and, above all, removals from the Commission of the Peace ; royal grants to " King's Servants " and others, and grants resumed ; lists of the households or "councils" of the magnates discovered from the Patent Rolls or enumerated in pay-rolls or in the magnates' wills and in the sixteenth century, the Members' own wills — all these, apart from the clear disaster of forfeiture, execution, or slaughter, are worthy of examination as tending to show the side the Member took in his day in shaping the kaleidoscope of government. With the seventeenth century parliamentary debates, most of which are still uncollected and many unprinted, help as guides to the politics of Members. The Journals of the House, with their records of Committees and disputed Returns, also become more valuable as a record of individual politics. With the eighteenth century parliamentary debates and private correspondence become the best source for ascertaining a Member's politics ; materials for that period are extant in profusion. New division lists or lists of partisans are not infrequently discovered, and should be a further means of elucidating politics ; and, as regards the eighteenth century, it has recently been shown how much information can be extracted by skilled hands from contemporary correspondence and other documents. 2. PATRONAGE. Nor must we leave the question of the politics of Members of Parliament without referring to the light thrown on this subject by the often well-known political leaning of the patron of the borough for which the Member sat in Parliament. Patrons were recom- mending clients to borough corporations under Henry VHI as emphatically as under George III, though with less certain success. By the time the Stuarts came to the throne perhaps half the boroughs had acquired courage enough to retain one seat and reject the patron's demand for two. The borough Member was probably less dependent on patronage for his seat in the seventeenth century than either before or after that time ; the franchise tended to widen under decisions of the House in a long series of disputed returns. But the growth of the power of Parliament increased the desire to own the power to nominate Members to Parliament. So houses (9921) B 34 and burgages were bought, jobs found, corporations closed, and it was the eighteenth century that gave to the nomination of a seat in Parhament an exchange property value. Whereas the early patrons of a borough generally owed their power to royal favour and changed as they acquired or lost office, the new propertied patrons kept their boroughs, like their manors, in the family, and fenced them round even more closely. The early patron was sometimes an ecclesiastic, and generally a Minister of the Crown, whose part in politics is known in history ; and as he thought so tended to think his servants and nominees. The later patrons, sooner or later, became peers whose political party stands recorded in the Complete Peerage, or in numerous Division Lists and Protests in the House of Lords. The client's politics must be collated with the politics of the patron, and to know the politics of the one it is often necessary to study the politics of the other. There is no better guide to the names of early patrons than the many Reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, or the Calendars of State Papers, Domestic. For the eighteenth century very full information concerning patronage, influence and " interest '* in various counties or boroughs can be obtained from the great mass of extant private or semi-official correspondence. For the period preceding the Reform Act of 1832 the most valuable material for the study of patronage exists in the sixteen volumes of the Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the Municipal Corporations in England and Wales (1835). 3. CONTESTED ELECTIONS. Closely related to the question of the political affiliation of Members is that of election contests. Contests which actually went to the poll were comparatively few before the Reform Act of 1832. Not half of the seats were ever contested in this sense at any one general election. The number of candidates who " stood the poll " was invariably only a fraction of those who tentatively " offered themselves In the majority of the constituencies the electorates were small, the voting was everywhere open, the keeping of election promises — on whatever basis and by whatever means they were obtained — ^was considered a matter of honour ; the canvass, there- fore, supplied more or less valid indications of chances, and the man who saw that he had none would, more often than not, " drop his pretensions and decline the poll Indeed, as late as 1820, a contest for the County of Stafford was decided by a show of hands and acclamation on nomination day, for the unsuccessful candidate. Earl Gower, having found that his canvass was discouraging, did not trouble to press the contest to an actual poU. In earlier times this was often the case, more especially when supporters were not yet wedded to party and had less to hope for from an actual poll in the shape of money bribes and other advantages. There are. 35 owever, some scattered indications that as early as the fifteenth century contests of both kinds — those which actually went to a poll and those which stopped short of a poll — were not altogether nknown. Unfortunately, " mediaeval history records little about ontested or disputed elections Moreover, a contested election in the present meaning of the term as, strictly speaking, impossible before 1430. It was only in the tatute of 1430 that formal, legal recognition was given to the rinciple of the supremacy of the majority in the electing of epresentatives to Parliament. Down to 1430, the legal principle n force was that the representatives were chosen " by common sent " of the community which elected them ; this meant that, hatever disagreements might precede the actual election of the epresentatives chosen, the election, when it at last came about, "as in theory an act done "by common assent". How this " common assent " was arrived at in practice is mainly a matter of onjecture. Professor Reiss, on the strength of an acute interpreta- ion of various scattered indications in some of the Sheriffs' Returns rinted in Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs, has suggested that two ames would be put forward by a few of the more prominent suitors f the shire court, and that, if no objection was then offered by the ody of the suitors, these two would be returned as elected by com- on assent ; but if any objection was made to either of the two ersons named, then his name would be withdrawn and replaced by that of some other person whose name provoked no dissent, "n this way. Dr. Reiss suggests, the election would in the end be an lection by agreement, " by common assent ".j That some such procedure may have been followed seems by no means improbable, and Dr. Reiss 's suggestion is to some extent, perhaps, supported by an interesting memorandum in the London Hustings Roll for 1298. | The memorandum concerns the election of two representatives of the City of London for the Colloquium at York in May, 1298. It records that the election was made by the mayor, twelve aldermen, and six persons from each ward, and then goes on to state who were the persons chosen " as representatives by each individual alderman. Six aldermen " choose " two persons each, two aldermen " choose " one person each ; what the remaining four did is not stated. Altogether three persons are mentioned as having been " chosen " by one or more of the aldermen : Adam of Fulham is " chosen " by eight, William de Ley re by five, and Walter de Finchingfeud by one. Eventually the two persons returned to the Chancery as elected were Fulham and Finchingfeud. In printing the document Miss Jeffries Davies remarks that " from * Stubbs, Constitutional History (3rd Ed.) Vol. Ill, p. 435. t Geschichte des Wahlvecht, pp. 51-53. X Printed in the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Vol. Ill, pp. 45-46. (9921) 36 the Husting Memorandum one would conclude that William de Leyre was chosen .... but both the Letter Book and the endorse- ment of the original writ .... show that for some reason Walter of Finchingf end's name was returned instead." This interpretation of the Husting Memorandum rests, presumably, on the fact that William de Leyre was " chosen " by five aldermen, whereas Walter de Finchingfeud was " chosen " by only one ; it tacitly assumes that the principle of the supremacy of the majority ought to have prevailed. What the document really seems to record, however, is the " choosing " or nomination by each alderman separately (qui quidem elegerunt .... separatim) : the final election whose result was returned to the Chancer}^ would be the work of the mayor and aldermen " by common assent and evidently of the three persons " chosen " by the aldermen separately the two who commanded common assent were Fulham and Finchingfeud ; there is no question of returning Finchingfeud " instead " of Leyre. But although the elections before the Statute of 1430 were in theory — and also, perhaps, not infrequently in practice — achieved " by common assent the preamble of the Statute states that by that period the elections, at any rate of knights of the shire, had become at times very disorderly. If this statement is true (and it is by no means safe to assume that statements in preambles are literally true) it is hard to imagine that an election in such circumstances would be settled " by common assent " in any effective meaning of the term. It is difficult to avoid suspecting that when the Statute of 1430 gives formal legal recognition to the principle that the election was effected by the votes of a majority, it was in fact only giving formal recognition to what may very well have been already, in practice, a more or less established method of resolving disputed elections, even though the theory still persisted that elections were made " by common assent". It seems to follow from all this that contested elections in the present sense of the term cannot well be looked for before the fifteenth century. The earliest example which seems to have been yet dis- covered is from Huntingdonshire in 1450, when it appears that in the election of the knights of the shire some 424 persons voted for Robert Stoneham and John Styvecle, while some 70 others voted for a certain Henry Gimber.* Prior to this case in 1450, there are indeed a few scattered references to disputed elections, but it is by no means clear that these disputed elections must necessarily be regarded as contested elections, i.e., as elections in which there were more persons put forward for election than there were seats to fill. In most of these disputed elections prior to 1450 the dispute seems to have turned primarily on some question of alleged illegality in the procedure of the election. In some cases * Prynne, Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva, pp. 156-9. 37 it is indeed possible that the alleged illegality may have arisen from the fact that the election was being contested, but the circumstances are in no case sufficiently clear to warrant any positive assertion . After 1450 references to contested elections gradually but steadily become more numerous. The Past on Letters, for example, indicate that there were contests in the Norfolk county elections of 1455 and 1461, and an interesting document has recently been published concerning the latter of these elections.* This is as one would expect, since there was a very marked increase, especially in the latter half of the sixteenth century, in the desire for a seat in Parlia- ment. It is unlikely, however, that the number of contests increased proportionately with this desire. In the counties it seems to have been a common practice for the leading gentry to reach an agreement among themselves before the election day. No doubt agreement was often impossible where faction divided a county, and in these instances, if the sheriff favoured one of the factions, his ability to make the election go as he pleased was only limited by his scruples or by his fear of the leading gentry on the other side. Against the tricks of the sheriff the remedy of the defeated side was to bring an action of debt against him for misconduct of the election. Such an action was brought by Sir Richard Bulkeley against the sheriff of Anglesey for wrongfully returning William Lewis as knight of the shire in Mary's first Parliament. Probably it is actions such as this which, before Elizabeth's reign, will supply the majority of references to contested elections in the counties. With the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, defeated candidates found that the Star Chamber could be used against the sheriff or their opponents, instead of the common law courts. It offered greater satisfaction, and no doubt encouraged more cases in con- sequence. We know of one case relating to the first Parliament of Elizabeth, and of cases relating to four elections for her last Parliament. Probably the total number for the reign is quite considerable. As the whole proceedings in the Star Chamber were in writing, the documents often give surprisingly full details of election practice. In a case brought by William Aimer, the defeated or defrauded candidate in the Denbigh election of 1588, we have the evidence of 128 witnesses on the plaintiff's side and can virtually reconstruct his tale of voters from it.j In addition to the evidence of law suits, references to contests are to be found occasionally in correspondence of the period. For example, the Hatfield manuscripts show that Sir Edward Denny stood unsuccessfully for Hertfordshire in 1593. D 'Ewes' Journals also furnish a few instances for Elizabeth's reign, including the celebrated Norfolk election of 1586. * English Historical Review, Vol. XL, p. 79 seq. ■ t See English Historical Review, Vol. XLVI, p. 209 seq. (9921) 38 In the boroughs the number of contests Hkewise does not reflect completely the increasingly keen competition for seats; for here much of the competition expended itself before the election. Individual gentlemen seeking election competed for the favour of a patron who possessed the nomination to a borough, while would-be patrons courted the boroughs, asking for one or both seats in a borough, to be at their nomination. Neither of these preliminary moves caused a contest. However, there were contests in the boroughs, and evidence of these must be sought for chiefly in local archives. We know, for example, the voting at Exeter in 1509 and 1512, at Lincoln in 1547, and at Shrewsbury in 1584. A con- siderable number of lawsuits concerning borough elections came into the Star Chamber in Elizabeth's reign. In James Fs reign the House of Commons finally acquired juris- diction in disputed election cases, and cases thereupon passed from the Star Chamber, as they had probably passed from the common law courts in the previous reign. The results were important. Since the House of Commons could unseat a person whom it judged to be wrongfully returned — a remedy which neither the common law courts nor the Star Chamber could offer the plaintiff — and since also, where borough elections were concerned, it could pronounce against patronage and declare who were or who were not entitled to vote, the number of disputed election cases increased considerably. Consequently, the number of contests which are discoverable in- creases from James I's reign onwards. The decisions of the House in disputed election cases are to be found in the Journals. The earliest published example of the full reports of the Committee set up to deal with these cases is John Glanville's Reports (printed in 1775) which belong to the Parliament of 1624. Stocks Smith in his Parliaments of England (1850) gives a list of contests which went to the poll, arranged under each constituency in turn. He gives the names of the candidates and the number of votes received by them, together with information or conjectures as to their political leanings. As a record of contests it onJy approaches completeness from 1774 onwards. Stocks Smith's list has been more than doubled by the researches of Mr. Bean and Mr. Beaven. Mr. Bean's list, corrected in four MS. volumes by Mr. Beaven, is now in the possession of our Chairman, Colonel Wedgwood, and has been placed by him at our disposal, To that list we have been able to make further additions — from poll books in public keeping or in the possession of the Society of Genealogists, from local town histories, from the Reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, from private correspondence and, as in the case of the Bristol contest in 1571, from the researches of many helpers among municipal records. All contests have been embodied in a fourth card index under Parliaments, so that the contests of each general election can be 39 studied. The letters W. or T. (Whig or Tory) written after the candidates' names are taken from Mr. Beaven, but such symbols are apt to be quite misleading for any serious study of the politics of Members. 4. PARLIAMENTARY DIARIES. The diaries kept by Members of Parliament are valuable for the history of Parliament, but they are useful also for throwing light upon the opinions and politics of individual Members. They are likely to enrich the narrative of the Commons by supplying numerous details, and often they tell us what happened in Committee, where, from the end of the sixteenth century, many of the important decisions were made. In these Committees obscure Members who were afraid to speak in the House could, without rising, express their notions. The Member who was jotting down the proceedings in the note-book held on his knee did not make the distinction made by the Clerk between Committee and the House (the Clerk left Committees wholly out of his record), but put down whatever in- terested him. He was likely to give the set speeches made by " eloquent " and smooth orators, such as those of an Eliot, or " old Parliament men " such as Digges ; he was likely to record as well the short, sharp comments of a Thomas Went worth who was bringing the House back to the main question at issue, or of a Hampden who was making some small suggestion that was more important than it seemed. There were others, often enough less known men from the country, who pierced through appearances to reality and said what needed saying. The words of such men, unless they said their say in Committees, were, so long as the Journal continued to record speeches, put down in the Journal as in private diaries. Indeed, the Journal is likely to be better than any one private diary, save for two or three notable diaries ; but when there are five, six, or even nine diaries for a single Parliament, they offer between them a wealth of information and interpretation that cannot be gained from the Journals. They give us, not only the opinions and prejudices of a large number of Members, but clues as to their economic interests and desires. The earliest diary, that kept by the Members for Colchester in 1485 (Colchester Red Paper Book, edited by W. G. Benham, Colchester, 1902, pp. 60-64), is of a different character, being the best surviving example of the formal reports made by Members to their constituents on their return from a session of Parliament. It is brief, but mentions every sitting from 7th November to 10th December, 1485, refers to debates lasting two or more days, and anticipates by more than sixty years the earliest Journal kept by the Clerk of the House. Unhappily there are no more such records until the reign of Elizabeth^ though the correspondence of foreign ambassadors, especially the (9921) 40 Venetian in Mary's reign, often gives us a good deal about parliamen- tary proceedings. During Elizabeth's long reign several Members kept note-books, and the sum total of what they had to tell was collected by Sir Simonds D'Ewes, who in March, 1629, began, as he tells us, his Journals of all the Parliaments during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth {London, 1682). Long before D'Ewes made his collection, John Hooker, Member for Exeter in 1571, kept a journal* of that Parliament more detailed but similar in character and purpose to that of the Colchester Members, and Hay ward Townshend, Member for Bishop's Castle in 1597 and again in 1601, had compiled his very original journal for the latter session. f More recently a careful search has been, and is being, made to find Elizabethan materials for Parliament, and already enough has been found to add not a little to our information. But diaries for Elizabethan days are scarce. It would appear that the keeping of parliamentary diaries did not become a fashion until the early seventeenth century. For the reigns of James I and Charles I more than forty diaries, hitherto unlisted, have within the last twenty years been found. Some of them were in well-known repositories, hidden away under the wrong headings in old catalogues ; more of them have been found in parish chests, and in the muniment rooms of country houses and castles. They add to our knowledge of the Commons, they reveal the informality of the House, they show men shouting at one another and even the whole House in an uproar. Occasionally they give the speeches of men whose names are not to be found in the Official Return, and they give scores of speeches by obscure Members — speeches that tell us what we are looking for. When a similar search is made for the latter half of the seventeenth century, and for the eighteenth century, it is probable that an even larger number of unused records of the House of Commons will be found. County archivists and country gentlemen can be of great assistance in unearthing such diaries. When found, they can be edited for county societies or turned over to specialists to edit, as the finders prefer. They will eventually make possible an entire re-writing of parliamentary history from the latter part of the sixteenth century to the end of the eighteenth. Meanwhile, they will be of great use for a history of the personnel of Parliament. We are not able to deal as fully with the ever-widening mass of original material which is available for the eighteenth and for the early nineteenth centuries. Then, in addition to, and more im- portant than, diaries, there is an enormous mass of private or semi- official correspondence containing numerous reports of debates * Printed in the Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 1879, Vol. XI, pp. 442-92. \ Historical Collections, ed. 1680, pp. 129-336. 41 (in a collection such as the Newcastle Papers there are, besides fuller reports, many short notes sent to the Duke from the House whilst important debates were proceeding, to keep him informed of their course) ; there are reports from Ministers to the King ; there are news-letters of various kinds containing information about debates and divisions ; there are reports from the Agents of the American Colonies, frequently including accounts of debates in the House of Commons ; and, lastly, there are notes for speeches in the papers of various eighteenth century statesmen. 5. PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. We have mentioned above the sources from which direct evidence as to the political affiliations of Members is likely to be obtained. Indirect evidence may, however, be obtained from almost any biographical facts relating to the individual Members. We have, therefore, sought to ascertain what biographical material is available in the national archives and elsewhere, and we take first the Public Record Office. The Public Records are classified according to the Courts of Law and Departments to which they pertain. Information concerning Members of Parliament may exist in the Records of any Court or Department. It follows that no search claiming to be exhaustive could neglect any class of record. At the same time, certain classes may be expected to yield a great deal more information than others. In the following list of such classes an attempt has been made to indicate the sort of information to be obtained from each and the means of reference thereto : — (1) Patent Rolls. 3 John-10 George V, 5287 Rolls. These will almost certainly be the backbone of the enquiry for the earlier period. They contain, inter alia, commissions of the peace, of array, of sewers, and of oyer and terminer, grants of lands, pensions, annuities, honours, etc., licences for the alienation of land (often in connexion with marriage settlements), protections from litigation during absence abroad, pardons, and much other miscellaneous information. The commissions will be specially valuable as showing the extent to which individual Members were officially active in their respective counties. To the end of Edward VPs reign these Rolls are fully calendared and indexed in various Public Record Office publica- tions. After Edward VI their contents can (with some labour) be searched by means of a series of contemporary indexes. (2) Close Rolls. 6 John-1903, 20,899 RoUs. On the whole the contents of these RoUs wiU be found to be of less interest from a biographical point of view than those of the Patent Rolls. The documents enrolled are more in the 42 nature of administrative orders and instructions for temporary purposes. From the beginning of the fifteenth century the Rolls tend to become more and more used for the enrolment of private deeds, and after Henry VH's reign they contain practically nothing but such enrolments. The Calendars of Close Rolls extend at present to the end of Richard II's reign. Henry IV's and Henry V's reigns are in the press. There are also two series of MS. indexes at the Public Record Office which are almost entirely concerned with the enrolled deeds. They are arranged respectively under the names of grantees and grantors. (3) Fine Rolls. John-23 Chas. I. 553 Rolls. In a sense these are finance Rolls. Their contents can be grouped roughly into two classes : — {a) Appointments of sheriffs, escheators, collectors of taxes, collectors of customs, and other officials subject to account at the Exchequer. (6) Writs, etc., in connexion with the realisation by the Crown of profits arising from feudal incidents, etc. Of these groups (a) is likely to throw a good deal of light on the official activities of Members in their respective districts, supplementing the information contained in the Patent Rolls, while (b) will be useful to check and supplement the genealogical information to be obtained from the Inquisitions post mortem. The Rolls are calendared and indexed in the PubHc Record Office series down to 6 Henry IV, and there are three MS. indexes (Palmer's Indexes, 75-77) covering the period Edward V-Charles I. (4) Inquisitions post mortem. Henry Ill-Charles I. These, which were held on the death of every tenant holding of the Crown in chief, will be of the greatest importance from a genealogical point of view. They give particulars of the lands of the deceased tenant in the various counties, and of the name, age and relationship of his heir or heirs. In Tudor and later times an Inquisition will often contain copies of wiUs and other deeds throwing light on remoter family relationships. Amongst the Inquisitions post mortem are a number of Proofs of Age," i.e., inquisitions and depositions taken in support of claims by minors to be released from wardship on account of having reached full age. In making use of these " Proofs " it is necessary to bear in mind that, at any rate after the fourteenth century, much of the alleged sworn evidence was purely formal and largely fictitious.* * See English Historical Review, Vol. XXII, p. 101. 43 The chief means of reference are as follows : — {a) Henry 1 1 1-34 Edward III. A Calendar in ten volumes with full indexes. (b) 34 Edw. Ill-Edward V. A skeleton Calendar published by the Record Commission. (c) 1-20 Henry VII. A Calendar in two volumes with full indexes. (d) Henry Vlll-Charles I. An alphabetical catalogue in four volumes in the Pubhc Record Office Lists and Indexes series, Nos. XXIII, XXVI, XXXI and XXXIII. (5) Parliament Rolls. 18 Edward 1-49 Victoria. The contents of these Rolls vary for different periods. On the whole it may be said that from Edward I-Henry VII the RoUs contain a general account of transactions in Parliament (not the House of Commons), petitions to Parliament, answers to petitions, adjournments, etc., while from Henry VIIFs reign onwards they tend to become more and more monopolised by enrolments of Pubhc and Private Acts. The Rolls prior to Henry VIIFs reign, including many original petitions as well as those entered on the RoUs, are printed in six folio volumes, entitled Rotuli Parliamentorum, with an elaborate index in one volume. An additional volume (unindexed) gives parts of the Rolls from 4 Henry VIII-1 Mary " to supply the deficiencies in the Journals of the House of Lords." (6) State Papers Domestic. This collection theoretically includes all the correspondence of the office of the Secretaries of State, and, although in practice successive Secretaries regularly carried a good proportion of their papers with them into retirement, the class remains a large and most valuable one. The means of reference are as follows : — (a) Henry VIII. Calendar of Letters and Papers {Foreign and Domestic) of the Reign of Henry VIII. This calendar is on a more elaborate scale than the usual Public Record Office Calendars, Instead of confining itself to the contents of the Pubhc Record Office or to one class of record, it aims at including all documents, whether in public or in private hands, throwing light on the history of the reign. It contains, inter alia, abstracts of all the Patent Rolls for the reign of Henry VIII. {h) Edward VI-1704. Calendar of State Papers Domestic. Highly condensed for the period 1547-1580 ; more elaborate thereafter. (c) 1703-1760. A MS. descriptive hst in four volumes. [d) 1760-1775. Calendar of Home Office Papers, in four volumes. 44 (7) Treasury Books and Papers. It will probably be found that, for the later period (especially the eighteenth century), these Books and Papers will be of great value. The problem of making Parliamentary institutions work was largely a financial one — a question of salaries and pensions — and the Treasury Records, if systematically searched, can be relied on to throw a great deal of light on this subject, and incidentally provide much biographical information about individual Members of Parliament. The following Calendars have been published : — Treasury Papers, 1557-1728 (6 vols.). Treasury Books, 1660-1692 (9 vols.). Treasury Books and Papers, 1729-1745 (5 vols.). They are all fully indexed. (8) Privy Council Registers, 1540-1836. 217 vols. These contain the minutes and orders of the Privy Council, often accompanied by relevant reports and papers. They are likely to be of considerable value, more especially perhaps in compiling the biographies of Members holding official positions. The volumes from 1540-1621* have been printed in full, with indexes, while the MS. Registers themselves are fully indexed throughout the whole period. Searches are, therefore, made without difficulty. The above classes are those which, on the whole, are likely to be most fruitful of information for our purpose. No investigation which neglected any of them could pretend to be complete. Moreover, in every case there are comparatively satisfactory means of reference. The classes which follow are in a different category. In the first place, the means of reference, where such exist, are incomplete and not easily worked. And, secondly, the information yielded by the documents is likely to be less abundant than that contained, for instance, in the great series of Chancery Rolls. (9) Chancery Proceedings. Richard II — 1875. These are suits by way of Bill and Answer in the Court of Chancery. There are nearly 20,000 bundles of them, and it would probably be a conservative estimate to put the number of actual suits at half-a-million. The calendars and indexes vary to some extent for different periods, but all of them are arranged alphabetically under the names of plaintiffs only, so that to search them even for a single name (unless the name is known to be that of the plaintiff) is a slow and laborious business. To attempt to search them systematically for a large mass of names is out of the question. But when, from other sources, the • The Register from 10 August, 1540, to 8 April, 1542, constitutes Vol. VII of Sir Harris Nicolas' Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council. 45 existence of a Chancery suit can be guessed at or presumed, it will be worth while searching for that suit in the expectation of finding valuable supplementary information. (10) Star Chamber Proceedings. Henry Vll-Charles 1. There are about 1,400 volumes and bundles of these pro- ceedings. They are briefly calendared throughout the whole period, each calendar being arranged alphabetically under the names of plaintiffs, as in the case of the Chancery Proceedings. The Calendar for the period Henry VII-PhiHp and Mary is published (Public Record Office Lists and Indexes, No. XIII). The others are in manuscript at the Public Record Office. A systematic search of them would be a laborious but manageable business. (11) Court of Requests Proceedings. Henry Vll-Charles I. There are 829 parcels of these proceedings, of which only 156 have been calendared. The Calendar is in manuscript at the Public Record Office. (12) Ancient Petitions. About 18,000 pieces. Fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This is an artificially made class, gathered from various sources. It is not inclusive of all ancient petitions in the Public Record Office, many of which still remain among the series of Chancery warrants. There is an Index of petitioners' names (Public Record Office Lists and Indexes, No. 1). In the nature of things a petition is, or is intended to be, a step towards the issue of some sort of grant or order. Such a grant or order, if made, would probably be enrolled in one of the series of Chancery Rolls. It follows that a good deal of the information contained in these petitions is duplicated elsewhere. (13) Ancient Correspondence. 61 vols. Fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This, again, is an artificial class. There is a printed list of the documents with an Index of persons and places (Public Record Office Lists and Indexes, No. XV.) The class is not unmanage- ably large, and the list with its index makes searching less troublesome than in some of the other classes mentioned above. No mention has been made above of the records of the Courts of Common Law because their immense bulk and the inadequate means of reference to them make any sort of sj^stematic search almost impossible. Some county archaeological or record societies have, however, pubhshed indexed extracts from these records, and the late General Wrottesley published a volume of Pedigrees from the Plea Rolls. All these supplement and correct the genealogies to be found in the old county histories. As stated above, disputed elections previous to 1604 were tried in the common law courts. Accounts of such cases have been found in the Curia Regis Rolls and the Exchequer Plea RoUs. 46 6. PRINCIPAL PROBATE REGISTRY. The only other central repository of official records which must be mentioned is the Principal Probate Registry. The documents preserved there consist almost entirely of wills and documents subsidiary to wills. The Senior Registrar has furnished us with a statement showing what classes of wills are contained in the Principal and in the District Probate Registries. This statement is reproduced in Appendix X. A search among these records with regard to the individual Members often produces interesting data, biographical and even political. 7. MUNICIPAL RECORDS. We have already dealt with municipal records in connexion with the materials available for supplementing the list of Members contained in the Official Return, and need only repeat here that they are chiefly valuable for that purpose. A certain amount of bio- graphical information is contained, however, in court rolls, minute books, taxation rolls, etc. ; and, from information supplied to us by Town Clerks and private individuals, it seems clear that biographical data regarding the Members for some fifty or sixty towns could be obtained by a search of their records. 8. PARISH REGISTERS. Parish registers that have not been transcribed can hardly be instanced as material for the biographies. But in several counties the transcription and printing, and even indexing, of these registers has now proceeded so far that this class of record must not be omitted from our survey. The registers of nearly all the parishes in Shropshire, and those of more than half the parishes in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Worcester- shire, and Staffordshire down to about 1700 have either been printed or are in transcript at the county depository ready for the press. Good progress has been made in London by the Harleian Society, and in Lincolnshire by Canon Foster. The registers for Horsham, East Grinstead and half a dozen other parishes in Sussex have been printed and indexed, as also have those for eighteen parishes in Northumberland and as many in Durham. These transcripts include births, deaths and marriages. The Phillimore Company,, confining itself to marriages alone, has completed no less than 1,412 parishes in 234 volumes, viz., Cornwall 142, Gloucester 126, Hants. 98, Leicester 102, Norfolk 144, Notts. 152, Somerset 109, Wilts. 75, etc., etc., and cover in these cases more that half the parishes in the respective counties. The volumes are unindexed. Baptisms and burials are, however, of far more importance than marriages for identification of Members of Parliament, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the fully printed parish register may supply, besides the date of birth and death, the equally 47 important fact of where the Member Hved. The parish where his children were baptised locates the man among the many manors he may have possessed. 9. BRITISH MUSEUM. It is not possible for us to give any, even approximate, idea of the material in the British Museum, as it is not arranged like the contents of the Public Record Office in archivistic categories, and is most heterogeneous in character. For the eighteenth century alone — ^to give but one example — there are in the British Museum many hundreds of volumes of important political correspondence, including such famous collections as the Newcastle, Hardwicke, and Liverpool Papers. In these volumes many accounts will be found of parliamentary debates, division lists, innumerable lists of parties and parliamentary groups, an infinite mass of corres- pondence relating to constituencies and elections, etc. Besides, there are hundreds of volumes containing genealogical and bio- graphical material, some of it compiled by famous scholars and antiquaries ; collections of Government documents ; and even municipal records. The material on which the history of Parliaments and the lives of their Members will have to be based naturally cannot be described and classified as has been done by us with regard to the material for the mere lists of Members. The work of tracing the material available in the British Museum and in other similar collections will have to be done by the scholars themselves who are specialists in particular periods. 10. MSS. IN PRIVATE HANDS. MS. collections of letters, papers or poll-books preserved in private hands are the chief remaining source which may be expected to throw light upon the personnel of Parliament before 1832. The Historical Manuscripts Commission has published full reports of some of the most valuable of these collections, such as those of the Marquess of Salisbury, preserved at Hatfield (late 16th and early 17th centuries), and those of J. B. Fortescue, Esq., preserved at Dropmore (late 18th and 19th centuries). But the collections reported on have necessarily been selected rather at random. The Commission has no powers of compulsion, and has had to confine itself in practice to examining such collections as have been offered by the owners for examination, and publishing the most valuable of those examined. No systematic attempt to obtain a general survey of the historical material existing in private hands has been possible, although the Commission has long recognised the extreme value which such a survey would have. The Commission is, we believe, about to make a tentative move in that direction, but the difficulties are great and early results must not be expected. In the meantime it is safe to assume that collections just as valuable as those already reported on by the Commission are still awaiting publication. 48 11. PUBLICATIONS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND LEARNED SOCIETIES. In addition to the work that has been done by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, nearly every Enghsh county has an archaeological, historical or record society which, year by year, prints original documents selected either from the Public Record Office or from local archives. They extract such passages as concern their county from Plea Rolls, Fines, Chancery or Star Chamber proceedings, Inquisitions post mortem, Assize Rolls, Subsidy RoUs, etc., at the Public Record Office ; and from Visitations, Bishops' Registers and Cartularies. Many of them also publish histories of the most important families in the county. Wherever such extracts have been printed and indexed for the period from 1250 to 1600, the task of identifying and compiling the biographies of the Members, at least of the knights of the shire, is greatly facilitated. Here indeed, is the best original material, material which the Public Record Office itself cannot hope to print for many years to come. We need hardly do more than refer to the excellent material of a more general character contained in the publications of the Harleian Society, the Cheetham Society, the Camden Society, the British Record Society, the Surtees Society, and the Society of Genealogists.* Such productions as " The Knights of Edward I," now appearing from the pen of the Rev. Charles Moor under the auspices of the Harleian Society, are particularly useful in those counties where the local Archaeological Society has printed few fourteenth century records. Much excellent material has also appeared in the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research and the English Historical Review. Much biographical and other information of critical value for the purposes of a record of the personnel and politics of Parliament has appeared from time to time in Notes and Queries.] 12. REGISTERS OF UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS. Registers of universities, colleges and schools form an important source of information. A list of registers of universities and colleges has been published in the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Vol. 9, pp. 19-30 (June, 1931), and we are informed that a list of school registers will shortly be published in the Bulletin. * We are informed by the Society of Genealogists that it possesses a slip index numbering about three million items. It is probable that much useful information concerning past Members of Parliament is contained in this index. t Any references to Members of Parliament or candidates described as such have been collected for us by Mrs. Sybil Moat, and the extracts, when indexed, should be useful for future research. 1. PRACTICABILrrY OF COMPILING A RECORD. COST AND DESIRABILITY OF PUBLICATION. PART IV. 49 ■ In order to form some estimate of the material available for a record of the personnel of the House of Commons and of the practicability of its compilation, we initiated a scheme for the collection by local voluntary effort of biographical material relating to the knights of the shire and the burgesses for various constituencies. The work has been undertaken by, or under the auspices of, several county archaeological or record societies or ad hoc committees formed by them. In other cases where the local society found itself unable to afford the help solicited, we have secured the assistance of indi- vidual local antiquaries or historians. Much valuable biographical material has been already collected in this way, chiefly for the difficult period before 1500. In most counties and in many boroughs the work is under way, and the Professors of History at several Universities have taken up the work for their own counties. The Duke of Bedford is employing a research student to do the work for Bedfordshire under the expert guidance of the Institute of Historical Research. Several Peers and Members and ex-Members of Parliament are assisting either personally or by arranging for the search and transcription of the records in which they are specially interested. It has been objected that nothing can be discovered about the thirteenth and fourteenth century burgess Member, who often, to add to the biographer's difficulties, went under a variety of aliases. But recently Mr. Rickword at Colchester, and Mr. T. Bruce Dilkes at Bridgwater, working mainly the one on court rolls and the other on municipal deeds, have produced identifications so complete as to distinguish clearly three types of Member — the town tradesman, the prosperous merchant who has gone to live outside the town, and the local attorney. We judge, therefore, from the work already done, that the task is possible and should be undertaken. From the end of the seventeenth century it is possible to identify every Member. We have carefully considered what form the record should take. We think that it would be best to divide it into sections coinciding 2. CONTENTS OF THE RECORD. 50 with significant historical periods. Each section would contain the following parts : — ' (a) A list of the Members, arranged under constituencies, for each Parliament held in the period covered by the section, WTiere possible, the list would give for each Parliament the date of the writ ordering the elections, the names of the candidates in contested elections and the number of votes polled by them, the place and date of meeting of the Parliament, the duration of the session or sessions and the date of dissolution. A list of the holders of official positions should be set out for each Parliament, including the Speaker, the Chairmen of the principal Committees, and the Clerks of the House, although identical treatment of modern and mediaeval Parliaments is not possible. In this way a fuUer and much improved list of Members of Parliament would be prepared, drawing on all available sources for its information. The list of the House would indicate whether the Member had previously sat for the same or for another constituency. By-elections would be shown in their chronological sequence at the end of each list, not under the constituency as in the Official Return. (b) A biographical dictionary of all those returned to serve in Parliament in the period covered by the section. So far as possible each biography would give the parentage and family connexions of the Member, the date of his birth, marriage (or marriages) and death, his education, his place or places of residence, his estates and business interests and connexions, the offices he held, his religious and party or group affiliations, the Parliaments he sat in, any facts about his elections with details of official or unofficial patronage, and his part in the proceedings of Parliament. It would not be necessary to occupy space with long biographies of the better-known Members whose lives are already recorded in the Dictionary of National Biography. It would be enough, in such instances, to state succinctly the facts to be tabulated in the introduction to the section. , (c) An introduction. This would analyse and correlate the facts contained in parts [a) and [b). For example, it would bring together the location of the residence, estates, etc., of Members and the location of their constituencies, thus showing in the various Parliaments the proportions of local and alien representatives, with gradations between the two extremes of the resident Member and the mere " carpet-bagger." It would tabulate the parliamentary experience of Members, noting the proportion of new to old Members and the number of Parlia- ments in which they sat. Similarly, it would analyse the family, class, economic, political and religious affiliations of Members, 51 and note further how these various interests also affected the composition of Parhaments through control of elections. In the later sections it would examine any connexions of Members with the British dominions outside Europe. Apart from the fact that a sectional arrangement would enable us to make these introductory studies which deal with the character of Parliament at intervals in its evolution, it would also give the work a double and varied appeal. Each section would be complete in itself, and be indispensable to students of the period of history that it covered, while the work as a whole would also be a unity and take its place alongside such great biographical dictionaries as the Dictionary of National Biography. It would also be possible to preface the whole work with an introductory volume which would correlate the various sectional introductions and trace the changes in each aspect of Parliament through six to seven centuries. These changes undoubtedly had important results in moulding political theory, developing the powers and privileges of Parliament, and determining the character of legislation. To give a single example : Representatives in Parhament in the fourteenth century were, like the representatives in the States-General in France, attorneys for the constituency they represented. They were local men, locally minded, whose business began and ended with the interests of their constitu- ency. This local-mindedness is still very clear as late as Elizabeth's reign. It is not altogether dead — at any rate in the constituencies — to-day. But in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the country gentlemen and lawyers invaded the borough seats, the " carpet- bagger " appeared, and the old conception of a Member as no more than an attorney for his constituency first weakened in fact and then succumbed before a new theory, the classical expression of which is to be found in Burke's Speech to the Bristol Electors. It is the relationship between the facts which our record would bring to light and the great changes that took place in the theory, powers and utility of Parliament which would make a general introduction to the whole work a novel contribution to political science. 3. INCLUSION OF MEMBERS OF SCOTTISH AND lEISH PARLIAMENTS. We are of opinion that, provided funds are forthcoming, it would be desirable that lists of the Commissioners for Scottish Shires and Burghs before 1707 should be included in the record. The task of supplementing the very incomplete list of Members of the Irish House of Commons and preparing biographical notices would be even more useful, given the co-operation of the Government of the Irish Free State and the Government of Northern Ireland, 52 and we would venture to express the hope that means may be found of including Ireland within any undertaking that may be projected, and that the co-operation may be secured of the two Governments in Ireland who share with Great Britain a common historical heritage. 4. IMPORTANCE OF COMPILING THE RECORD. The importance of Parliament itself is a measure of the importance of its history. It is not necessary for us to stress that importance either now or for the last 670 years. We were the first people to govern ourselves through responsible representatives. We may be the last. The institution is so peculiarly English, has been so envied by other nations, and has been so widely copied and discarded and fought over, that the world has come to accept parliamentary government as a symbol of freedom. Parliament has acquired a sentimental value altogether distinct from its real utility or power. There is now a pride in it as a visible national emblem. Nor is Parliament a cold and remote abstraction. It must always be to us a long series of assemblies of men who were our ancestors. There are histories of the institution. There are also histories of its actions. But of the men who gave the institution life, who shaped it and in so doing shaped our history and even our minds, no record has ever been attempted. The reason is that the task has been too great for any private historian to attempt. This Report itself will indicate how great the task must be, and show the necessary research as being far beyond one man's powers. 5. REASONS OF PUBLIC POLICY. An institution has its foundations in the past, and at any moment in its history can only be understood through a knowledge of the past. The causes of its weaknesses, no less than of its strength, can only be diagnosed with sureness in the light of diagnoses of the past ; and knowledge of the way in which various forces have modified its character and utility in former times will open our eyes to the operation of forces to-day, to which otherwise we would almost certainly be blind. Moreover, there is some danger of Parliament losing its dignity and prestige, even in our own country. A wider franchise has tended to exclude from public life, both in the House of Commons and on municipal councils, many public-spirited people whose unwillingness any longer to take part in government is a loss to the State. To give Members a sense of their community in a famous inheritance might do much to restore the dignity of their service. Universities, inns of court, schools and other institutions have long been aware of this. " People will not look forward to posterity, who never look backward to their ancestors." 53 The prestige of Parliament itself is a thing to be cared for at a time when Parliaments are being broken in other countries. We celebrate at the same time the centenary of the Reform Bill and the fourth centenary of the Reformation Parliament, and remember that " many men have gone about to break Parliament but, in the end, Parliament hath broken them." 6. HISTORICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL REASONS. It would be difficult to exaggerate the usefulness of a record of Members of Parliament for the history of our country. It is relatively easy to find what one wants to know about the few important persons of an age ; but opinions have been formed and the country governed only in part by them. They stand against a wide background of lesser men, the men whose names appear in the Official Return of Members of Parliament, and until we know something of the lives and interests of these we shall not understand either the thoughts or the actions of the past. In the sphere of parliamentary history alone there are innumerable points, some of mere antiquarian, but others of more vital interest, which our record would make clear : the desire, or otherwise, to be elected ; the reasons for this ; the desire to be represented ; the exclusion from election to Parliament of the sheriff in his county as contrasted with other officers of the Crown ; the invasion of the House of Commons by the lawyers and by adventurers ; patronage ; parties and the packing of Parliament ; the sending of blank returns to patrons to fill in with what names they liked ; the payment of wages to Members ; contests and methods of election ; by- elections ; nominations by Ministers of the Crown, by royal favourites, by magnates ; independence ; government through committees of the House ; the growth of parties and party organisation ; the everlasting fight between vested and public interests ; the growth of free thought and of conscience. When first did the Member chosen for two constituencies make his election for which he would sit ? When was the first by-election called for, and when did Mr. Speaker for the first time issue his warrant to the Clerk of the Crown to make out a new writ ? When first did the King's Ministers think it desirable to be elected to the lower House, and why ? Was Ludlow really the first borough to have included in its charter of incorporation (granted in 1462) the right of sending a non-resident representative to Parliament ? These are questions which may find an answer in our record. Among those who went to Parliament are to be found the most adventurous and energetic men of their time. They founded families and made history. The county historian will observe that there is hardly an English family of note the founders of which did not sit in and rise by Parliament. 54 The sociological value of the work has already been suggested in the description of the contents of the record. We shall be able to examine the connexion of class with government, to show how it coloured political theory and to estimate the extent to which it determined the character of legislation. We shall know what economic interests were represented in Parliament, and in what proportions, and how they, too, affected the work of Parliament. We shall be able to discover any connexion between changes in the relative importance of the country's economic interests and the composition of Parliament. We shall be able to say whether political principle explains the division between Cavalier and Parliamentarian, between Whig and Tory, etc., or whether family rivalry or county faction or some similar cause is not often a sounder explanation. In other words, we shall see legislators in groups and classes and discover — or approach nearer to discovering — from what motives or mixture of motives men's political theories and actions may be thought to have sprung. 7. COST, TIME AND FINANCE. An unlimited amount of research might be undertaken in such a work as this, involving endless time and expense, since the last word is never said or perfection attained. But in our opinion a valuable piece of work on the above lines could be prepared within five to ten years at a cost of about £30,000. This period, and some such sum as this, is in our opinion required for the collection of the material and the writing of the record, and does not include the cost of dealing with the Scottish and Irish Parliaments before the respective Acts of Union. We give no estimate for the cost of publication, because we believe that, once the record is completed, it should be possible to arrange for a publishing house to undertake a work of such transcendent and widespread interest at its own cost. It remains, therefore, to take steps for the provision of a sum of about £30,000. By our terms of reference we are precluded from recommending that this sum should be provided from the Exchequer. But we believe that, if an authoritative appeal is made to the English-speaking peoples, with the approval of H.M. Government and Parliament, sufficient funds will be forthcoming to ensure the success of this great undertaking. In conclusion we wish to thank very sincerely the many local historians and antiquaries, too many to mention by name, who have undertaken research on our behalf, and the Town Clerks and Secretaries of Archaeological, Historical and Record Societies who have furnished us with replies to our questionnaires and other inquiries. We desire also to express our deep sense of gratitude to our joint- secretaries, Mr. L. A. Abraham, one of the Assistant Clerks of the House of Commons, and Mr. M. C. B. Dawes, 55 an Assistant Keeper of the Public Records, and to Miss Anne Holt, without whose assistance this very compHcated piece of research could never have been carried out. We have also to thank Mr. F, R. Williams Wynn, C.B., late Principal Clerk of the Committee and Private Bill Office, House of Commons, and his successor, Mr. Rupert Colomb, for their courtesy in placing one of the rooms under their control at our disposal. We are, My Lords, Your obedient servants, JOSIAH C. WEDGWOOD. J. J. ASTOR. JOHN BUCHAN. J. G. EDWARDS. ROBERT HAMILTON. C. HANBURY. L. B. NAMIER. J. E. NEALE. WALLACE NOTESTEIN. W. PAGE. A. F. POLLARD. R. S. RAIT. A. E. STAMP. C. L. STOCKS. L. A. Abraham, M. C. B. Dawes, Joint Secretaries. 1th October, 193L 57 APPENDICES. I 58 NOTE. Much of the information contained in the Appendices has been supplied to the Committee officially. Appendices I, VI, VIII and IX, however, together with the card indexes of additional names, corrections and contests, have been prepared by the Chairman and Miss Anne Holt. Every effort has been made by the compilers to make them as complete as possible. They have been perused and in many cases amplified or corrected by members of the Committee, and it is hoped that they will be of service for future research. But the members of the Committee must not be held individually or collectively responsible for their completeness, or for all details contained in them, or for the accuracy of the distinction drawn between Parliaments and Assemblies. It is obvious that finality can only be attained in this matter by carrying through the research recommended by the Committee. 59 APPENDIX I. LIST OF PARLIAMENTS, 1268-1832. The list of Parliaments from 1258 to 1377 has been taken from various publications of Mr. H. G. Richardson and Mr. G. O. Sayles, which have appeared in the Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research (Feb. and Nov., 1928, Nov., 1930) and the Royal Historical Society Transactions {1928). Mr. Richardson has also provided the Committee with a list of Richard II 's Parliaments. After this date the Official Return has been followed, with the addition of the Parliaments for 1483 (June and November), 1489, 1504 and 1571. The dates of the testing of the writs of summons and the writs de expensis for the reigns of Edward I and Edward II have been taken from Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs, with the exception of the writs of summons for the Parliament of April, 1275, the date of which has been supplied from the original writs at the Public Record Office. For the reign of Henry III and for the rest of the period down to the end of the reign of Edward IV the dates of the testing of the writs are taken from the Report on the Dignity of a Peer. The date of writs de expensis was not necessarily the same as the date of the dissolution of the Parliament. Where any time or place is printed in brackets the Parliament in question may not have met at that time or place, as the case may be, and in the case of earlier Parliaments similar brackets mean that it is at least doubtful whether that Parliament ever met. The Lords' Journals begin in 1509 and the Commons' in 1547. These give the dates of the sessions and dissolutions, and, in the eighteenth and nine- teenth centuries, they usually give the dates of the testing of the writs, both English and Irish. Parry's Parliaments and Councils of England, corrected where possible, has been used to supply the dates of the sessions in the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, and the dates of dissolutions after the practice of enrolling writs de expensis comes to an end. For the Parliaments of Henry VII and Henry VIII, the material collected has been submitted to Professor Pollard, and where any dates seem doubtful or ambiguous, they have been, so far as is possible, verified from the Public Record Office. The dates of the returns or elections have been taken from the Official Return. Where, as in many cases, these appear flagrantly wrong, they have been corrected from the original returns in the Public Record Office. Where no dates of returns or elections are given in the Official Return some guidance, specially indicated, has been obtained from borough records. The numbers of names in the last two columns have been counted from the Official Return and the new names checked from our card indexes. Wherever there is no indication of any list of names or number of names in the columns so headed it may be taken as unlikely that any Commons attended the Parliament at all. ABBREVIATIONS. C. E. K. S. Crown Office List. Writ de expensis. Kipling's Index. SheriflFs' Returns. r 60 Year (New Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas. Term of Session. Place to which Summoned . 1258 42 Hen. Ill .. Westminster » » 1258 42 Hen. Ill VV 111 LaUIl • • vjxiora . . 1258 42 Hen. Ill .. iVXlCllciCllllclb « • ^Vestminster . . 1259 43 Hen. Ill V-^dllClltJlllcib • . W^estminster . . 1259 43 Hen. Ill .. IVxlC/lldCllllcLb . • Westminster . . 1260 43 Hen. Ill .. V-vctllLLlCllldo • • j-.onaon . . 1260 44 Hen. Ill .. ES/Stcr « • W^estminster . . 1260 44 Hen. Ill .. Midsummer . • T .c\n rl r>n 1260 44 Hen. Ill IVlldldcllllcLb • • London . . 1261 45 Hen. Ill v^dllLLiollldo « • 1261 45 Hen. Ill .. 11 Sent 1261 (n) C21 Spnt 1261^ 1262 46 Hen. Ill .. l^£lJ.lU.lt;lllclS> • • 1263 47 Hen. Ill l>lclLxVlLy J_). V .iVl. 1263 47 Hen. Ill . . 18 Sept., 1263? (c) Michaelmas . . London 1264 48 Hen. Ill .. 6 Mar., 1264 . . Lent . . Oxford {d) 1264 48 Hen. Ill .. 4 June, 1264 (e) Midsummer . . London 1265 (/) 49 Hen. Ill .. 14 Dec, 1264 Hilary Westminster . . 1265 49 Hen. Ill .. Nativity B.V.M. Westminster {h) 1266 1267 50 Hen. 51 Hen. Ill . . Ill . . Assumption . . Northampton Kenilworth Bury St. Edmunds (a) Close Rolls, 45 Hen. Ill, m.6 dorse. The Bishop of Worcester and the Earl of ordered three knights from each county to attend, the King, having also appointed knights to the King. There are no writs for cities and boroughs and no evidence (6) Report on the Dignity of a Peer, Vol. III., p. 23. [c) The safe-conduct for the messengers of Llewellyn to attend the King's [d) "It is dubious whether this assembly, which was rather in the nature of a 1928, p. 174. [e) The King was captured at the Battle of Lewes, 14 May. Keepers of the Peace instanti Parliamento nostra .... vohis mandamus quatinus quatuor .... milites (/) Simon de Montfort's Parliament. {g) Report on the Dignity of a Peer, Vol. III., p. 33. {h) The Dean and Chapter of York are required to send two .... to treat with of doubt where the meeting might be in those troublous times. The Battle of (i) This Parliament was " prolonged "to 22 November, at Westminster. 61 Dates Dates Date Official Return. No. of Names re- covered since 1878. Date for which Summoned. of Election of Commons. of Sessions of Commons. of Dismissal of Commons. Authorities for List of Names. No. of Names. |> Apr., 1258. !l June, 1258. 1 5 Oct., 1258 )Feb., 1259 J July, 1260 J Oct., 1260 Sept., 1261 (b) Sept., 1263 • Oct., 1263 Mar., 1264. June, 1264. Jan., 1265 {g) Sept., 1265 (i) April, 1266 Feb.. 1267 6 Oct. to 4 Nov., 1258 Patent Rolls Close Rolls 155 There is no evidence that knights or burgesses were summoned to attend. There is no evidence that this Parliament ever met (►No evidence of attendance of any Commons. 20 Jan., 1265 to 10 Feb.. 1265 10 Feb., 1265 There is no evidence that knights or burgesses were summoned to attend. ;ester having summoned an Assembly to meet at St. Albans on 21 September, and having same day for a Council at Windsor, enjoins the Sheriffs citra Trentam to send the said t a Parliament ever actually met at Windsor. liament three weeks after Michaelmas is tested 18 September. ,iering in arms, should be regarded as a parliament," Royal Historical Society Transactions, iing been appointed in 29 counties, they are ordered, by writs tested 4 June — " Et quia I . comitatus, per assensum ejusdem comitatus ad hoc electos, ad nos pro toto comitatu illo ntittatis." Prelates and Magnates at Winchester — either a mistake for Westminster or indicative t sham took place on 4 August. Parry, Parliaments and Councils of England, p. 46. I 62 Year (New Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas. Term of Session. Place to which Summoned. 1267 51 Hen. Ill . . 6 Sept., 1267 (a) Shrewsbury . . 1267 51 Hen. Ill . . Martinmas Marlborough . . 1268 52 Hen. Ill . . Midsummer . . Northampton . . 1268 52 Hen. Ill . . Michaelmas . . London 1269 53 Hen. Ill • Hilary London 1269 53 Hen. Ill . . Easter London 1269 53' Hen. Ill . . Midsummer . . London 1269 53 Hen. Ill . . Michaelmas (b) Westminster . . 1270 54 Hen. Ill . . Easter Westminster . . 1270 54 Hen. Ill . . 20 May, 1270 .. Midsummer . . Winchester 1270 54 Hen. Ill . . Michaelmas . . Westminster . . 1271 55 Hen. Ill . . Michaelmas . . Westminster . . 1272 56 Hen. Ill . . Hilary Westminster . . 1272 56 Hen. Ill . . Michaelmas . . Westminster . . 1275 3 Ed. I 26 Dec, 1274 (c) . . Easter . . prorogued to (Westminster) Westminster . . 1275 3 Ed. I Michaelmas . . Westminster . . 1276 4 Ed. I Easter Westminster . . 1276 4 Ed. I Michaelmas . . Westminster , . 1277 5 Ed. I Easter Westminster . . 1277 5 Ed. I (Michaelmas) . . 1278 6 Ed. I Easter W^estminster . . 1278 6 Ed. I Midsummer . . Gloucester 1278 6 Ed. I Michaelmas . . Westminster . . 1279 7 Ed. I Easter . . Westminster . . (a) "It is not quite certain that this meeting was a parliament." Royal (6) " Despite the attendance of town representatives it is doubtful whether this (c) English Historical Review, 1910, pp. 231-242. (d) Returns have been discovered in the Public Record Office for 10 counties and Dorchester, Shaftesbury (Dorset) ; Bath and Wells (Somerset) ; Bramber, Shoreham («) Only the Return for Kent has been found. 63 Dates Dates Date Official Return. No. of Names re- covered since 1878. Date for which Summoned. of Election of Commons. of Sessions of Commons. of Dismissal of Commons. Authorities for List of Names. No. of Names. Nov., 1267 June, 1268 Apr., 1269 Apr.. 1270 July, 1270 Feb.. 1275) Apr., 1275 Oct.. 1275 Oct.. 1276 s-No evidence of any summons to shires or boroughs No evidence of any summons to shires or boroughs. 22 Apr. to ? 1275 13 Oct. to ? 1275 S(^ S(.) No evidence of any summons to shires or boroughs. ^Probably no Commons summoned. 78 ofical Society Transactions, 1928, p. 175. :ing was a parliament." Ibid. he following Boroughs or Vills — Biggleswade, Shefiord, Odell (Beds) ; Blandford, Bridport, Steyning (Sussex) ; Calne (?), Cricklade, Downton and Malmesbury (Wilts), 64 Year (New Style.) Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas. Term of Session. Place to which Summoned. 1279 7 Ed. I Michaelmas . . Westminster . . 1280 8 Ed. I Easter . . Westminster . . 1280 8 Ed. I Michaelmas . . Westminster . . 1281 9 Ed. I Easter . . Westminster . . 1281 9 Ed. I Michaelmas . . 1282 10 Ed. I (Easter) 1282 10 Ed. I (Michaelmas) . . 1283 11 Ed. I 28 June, 1283 . . Michaelmas . . Shrewsbury (a) 1284 12 Ed. I (Easter) 1284 12 Ed. I (Michaelmas) . . 1285 13 Ed. I Easter . . Westminster . . 1285 13 Ed. I Michaelmas . . Winchester 1286 14 Ed. I Easter . . Westminster . . 1289 17 Ed. I Easter . . . . Westminster . . 1290 18 Ed. I Hilary . . Westminster . . 1290 18 Ed. I 14 June, 1290 .. Easter (c) Westminster . . Westminster . . 1290 18 Ed. I Michaelmas . . Clipston 1291 19 Ed. I . . Epiphany Ashridge 1292 20 Ed. I Epiphany Westminster . . 1292 20 Ed. I (Easter) (Westminster) 1293 21 Ed. I Easter . . London 1293 21 Ed. I Michaelmas . . Westminster . . 1294 22 Ed. I Easter . . Westminster . . (a) The Statute of Acton Burnell was dated 12 October, possibly without the may have actually met at Acton. (b) Only a Return for Gloucestershire has been found. (c) This Parliament of Easter term was continued or adjourned to 8 July, on 15 July, i.e., after the Statutes Quia Emptores, etc. had been enacted. {d) See Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, Vol. V, p. 144. 65 Dates Dates Date Official Return. No. of Names re- covered since 1878. Date for which Summoned. of Election of Commons. of Sessions of Commons. of Dismissal of Commons. Authorities for List of Names. No. of Names. Sept., 1283 5 Mar.. 1285 8 Oct., 1285 0 Jan.. 1290 2 Apr., 1290 5 July. 1290 6 Oct., 1290 7 Jan.. 1291 7 Jan., 1292 10 Sept., 1293 ^Probably no Commons summoned. 30 Sept., to Oct., 1283 Oct.. 1283 (a) >• Probably no Commons summoned. 15 July to Aug.. 1290 Aug., 1290 (d) •Probably no Commons summoned. S (6) 64 incurrence of the Commons. Acton Burnell is 7 miles from Shrewsbury, and Parliament 'rits of 14 June, 1290, directed the sheriffs to send Knights of the Shire to be at Westminster (9921) 66 Year (New Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas. Term of Session. Place to which Summoned. 1294 22 Ed. I 19 Aug., 1294 . . (Michaelmas) (a) (Westminster) 1295 23 Ed. I 24 June, 1295 (6) Westminster . . 1295 23 Ed. l{d) . . S Oct., 1295 (c) * * • • • • (Westminster) 2 Nov., 1295 . . Westminster . . 1296 24 Ed. I 26 Aug., 1296 . . Bury St. Ed- munds 1297 25 Ed. I Salisbury 1297 25 Ed. I Trinity Westminster. 1297 25 Ed. I 15 Sept.. 1297 . . Michaelmas London 1 orvo 26 Ed. I Easter . . London 1299 27 Ed. I 6 Feb., 1299 .. Lent . . Westminster . . 1299 27 Ed. I 10 Apr., 1299 .. Easter Westminster (Stepney) 1299 27 Ed. I 21 Sept., 1299 . . New Temple, London 1300 28 Ed. I 29 Dec, 1299 Lent . . Westminster . . 1301 29 Ed. I 26 Sept., 1300 . . Hilary Lincoln 1302 30 Ed. I 2 June, 1302 . . Midsummer . . Westminster . . 1302 30 Ed. I 20 July, 1302 . . Michaelmas Westminster . . 13 Sept., 1302. Westminster . . 1305 33 Ed. I 12 Nov., 1304 .. Lent Westminster . . 22 Jan., 1305 .. Westminster . . {a) A Great Council was summoned on 8 October to meet at Westminster on seen in the Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1292-1301, pp. 103-4. {Bulletin of the Institute (b) There are no known Writs to Knights, Citizens or Burgesses. (c) The Writs to the Archbishops, Bishops and Abbots were dated 30 September ; (d) This is " The Model Parliament ". No Returns have been found, but there p. 1, are taken from Transcripts of Returns, Petit MSS., Vol. 15, Inner Temple (e) Among the Parliamentary Writs is a record, dated 26 September, 1296, of the Edmunds. A second, or confirmatory, election is made on 8 October. (/) Only the two Members for London are known, but these prove the attendance (,£) Two Knights from each county ; no Burgesses seem to have been summoned. (h) Four men were chosen by the Mayor and Aldermen of London, 25 March, 1299 parliamento apud Westmonasterium". The Parliament was appointed to begin been adjourned to begin on Monday, 9 March. Those elected on 25 March were (t) There are no Writs or Returns, except for Yorkshire. All the other names are (k) The Barons' Letter to the Pope and other Acts are dated 12 February, whence (/) The Ordinances were probably made after the dismissal of the Commons — that formal dismissal of the Commons was not till the following day. Parry, Parliaments 67 Date for which Summoned. Dates of Election of Commons. Dates of Sessions of Commons. Date of Dismissal of Commons. Official Return. Authorities for List of Names. No. of Names. No. of Names re- covered since 1878. 21 Sept., 1294 1 Aug., 1295 13 Nov., 1295) 27 Nov.. 1295 3 Nov., 1296 24 Feb., 1297 6 Oct., 1297 6 Apr., 1298 8 Mar., 1299 {h) 3 May, 1299 18 Oct., 1299 6 Mar., 1300 20 Jan., 1301 1 July, 1302 i29 Sept., 1302) 14 Oct.. 1302. 16 Feb., 1305) 28 Feb., 1305. J> Probably no Commons summoned. 27 Nov. to ? 3 Nov. to ? 26 Sept., 1296 {e) Probably no Commons summoned. 6 Oct. to ? Probably no Commons summoned. 6 to 20 Mar., 1300 20 to 30 Jan., 1301 Probably no Commons summoned. E. 20 Mar., 1300 E. 30 Jan., 1301 {k) 4 Mar. (London) 14 to 21 Oct., 1302 28 Feb. to 20 Mar., 1305 E. 21 Oct., 1302 E. 20 Mar., 1305 (/) Petit MSS., Vol. 15, Inner Temple Library. S(^) E. it) S. and E. S. and E. S. and E. 291 64 118 218 220 259 2(/) 32 2 November, 1294. It is given as a Parliament in the Official Return and names can be ^Historical Research, Vol. Ill, pp. 110-113.) lose to the Barons were dated 1 October. a Writ for Lincoln County. The names, according to Palgrave, Par/iam^w^ay^ W^n^s, Vol. I., ibrary. ection of two citizens to appear for the City of London in the Parliament at Bury St. : the Commons. Beaven, Aldermen of London, Vol. I, p. 263. lity Letter Book C.) "ad prosequendum negocia civitatis coram Rege et consilio in tting on 8 March, though from Palgrave, Parliamentary Writs Vol. I, p. 80, it would seem to have 3legates for specific business and not in any sense Members of Parliament, ipplied from Writs de expensis. appears that this Parliament continued to sit long after the Commons were dismissed, ilating to Scotland bears date 26 March. The Writs de expensis are dated 20 March, though the id Councils of England, p. 67. (9921) C2 68 Year (New- Style) . Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas. Term of Session. Place to which Summoned. 1305 33 Ed. I 24 May. 1305 (a) Westminster . . 13 July, 1305 . . Westminster . . Westminster . . 1306 34 Ed. I 5 Apr., 1306 . . Trinity Westminster . . 1307 35 Ed. I 3 Nov., 1306 . . Hilary Carlisle 1307 1 Ed. II . . 26 Aug., 1307 . . Michaelmas . . Northampton . . 1308 1 Ed. II . . 19 Jan., 1308 (/) Lent Westminster . . 1308 1 Ed. II . . 10 Mar., 1308 . . Easter . . Westminster . . 1 ouo o TT ID jrlUg. , lOUO . . Michaelmas . . W^estminster . . 1309 2 Ed. II . . 4 Mar., 1309 .. Easter . . Westminster . . 1309 3 Ed. II . . 11 June, 1309 . . Stamford 1310 3 Ed. II . . 26 Oct., 1310 . . Candlemas (h) (York) 12 Dec, 1310 . . Westminster . . 1311 5 Ed. II . . 16 June. 1311 London 1311 5 Ed. II . . 11 Oct.. 1311 . . Westminster . . 1312 5 Ed. II . . 19 Dec, 1311 . . (Westminster) 1312 6 Ed. II . . 3 June. 1312 . . (Lincoln) 8 July, 1312 . . Westminster . . 1313 6 Ed. II . . 8 Jan., 1313 .. •Lent . . Westminster . . 1313 7 Ed. II . . 23 May, 1313 . . Midsummer . . Westminster . . 1313 7 Ed. II . . 26 July, 1313 . . Westminster . . 1314 7 Ed. II . . 26 Nov., 1313 .. (Easter) (Westminster) 1314 8 Ed. II . , 29 July, 1314 . . York . . (a) No writs of summons enrolled, but two writs of prorogation. Palgrave, (6) The Commons sat one day ; but two Statutes are dated 27 May. i.e.. before the (c) There are two sets of Writs de expensis — on 20 January and on 20 March. 1307. {d) There are no original Returns for this Parliament, but the names have been Sancti Hilarii anno xxxv. — Certificacio vicecomitum Anglie de militibus, civibus et [e) Date of Election Returns, Scarborough, 8 Oct., London, 9 Oct, (/) A single mutilated writ to the Sheriff of Kent. Palgrave, Parliamentary Writs, (g) No Returns found, and only the Writ de expensis for Wilts. This Writ is (h) There is doubt as to the nature of the Assembly, i.e., as to whether it was a (i) There is a Return for the County of Cornwall to this Parliament, which never (k) No Return found, except the Writs and Returns for Cornwall and Devon. 69 Dates of Election of Commons. Dates of Sessions of . Commons. Date of Dismissal of Commons. Of&cial Return. Authorities for No. of List of Names. Names. Probably no Commons summoned. 8 Oct.- 9 Oct. {e) 30 May, 1306 (6) 20 Jan. to 19 Mar., 1307 13 Oct. to ? 3 to — Mar. E. 30 May, 1306 E. 20 Mar., 1307 (c) ? Jan.. 1308 ? — Mar., 1308 Probably no Commons summoned. E. 13 May, 27 Apr. to 13 May ^Probably no Commons summoned 1309 Aug. (London) ? Aug. to 8 Oct. 12 Nov. to 18 Dec. 20 Aug. to 28 Aug. 30 Sept., to 16 Dec. 18 Mar. to 7 Apr. 6 May to 9 May 8 to 27 July 23 Sept. to 15 Nov. 9 to 27 Sept. 8 Oct., 1311 (E. 11 Oct.) 18 Dec, 1311 (E. same day) E. 16 Dec, 1312 9 May, 1313 (E. 10 May) 27 July, 1313 (E. 25 July) 15 Nov., 1313 (E. 18 Nov.) S. and E. S. id) s. E. (g) 28 Sept., 1314 (E. same day) S. and E. S. and E. S. {i) S. and E. S. and E. S. and E. S. and E. S. {k) S. and E. 200 214 206 2 186 201 152 2 116 201 97 240 8 151 mentary Writs, Vol. I, pp. 158-159. ons assembled. The Magnates were, however, summoned for 30 May. from a document with the heading " Adhuc de Parliamento apud Karliolum in octabis isibus electis ad veniendum ad dictum Parliamentum". Official Return. :,p. 19. d 5 Ed. II, and no length of time specified. Prynne, Brief Register, Vol. IV, p. 37. nent or no. 70 Year (New Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas. Term of Session. Place to which Summoned. 1315 8 Ed. II .. 24 Oct.. 1314 . . Hilary . . Westminster . . 1316 9 Ed. II . . 16 Oct., 1315 Hilary . . Lincoln 1318 11 Ed. II . . 20 Nov., 1317 4 Jan., 1318 3 Mar., 1318 .. 8 June, 1318 . . (Hilary) (Lent) . . (Trinity) Pari, revoked . . (Lincoln) (Lincoln) (Lincoln) 1318 12 Ed. II . . 25 Aug., 1318 . . Michaelmas . . York .. 1319 12 Ed. II . . 20 Mar. 1319 Easter York .. 1320 13 Ed. II .. 6 Nov. 1319 Hilary York .. 1320 14 Ed. II .. 5 Aug., 1320 . . Michaelmas . . Westminster . . 1321 15 Ed. II id).. 15 May, 1321 . . Midsummer . . Westminster . . 1322 15 Ed. II .. 14 Mar., 1322 . . Easter York . . . . . 1322 16 Ed. II(/). . 18 Sept., 1322 .. 30 Oct., 1322 . . 14 Nov. 14 Nov. (Ripon) York 1324 17 Ed. II 20 Nov., 1323 . . 26 Dec, 1323 . . (20 Jan.) 23 Feb. (Westminster) . . , Westminster . . 1324 18 Ed. II 20 Sept., 1324 . . 24 Sept., 1324 . . 20 Oct. 20 Oct. (Salisbury) {i) . . Westminster . . ' 1325 19 Ed. II .. 6 May, 1325 . . Midsummer . . Westminster . . * 1325 19 Ed. II 10 Oct., 1325 .. 18 Nov. Westminster . . ^ 1326 19/20 Ed. II and 1 Ed. III. 28 Oct., 1326 . . 3 Dec. 1326 .. (14 Dec.) Hilary (Westminster) . . • Westminster . . ' (a) There are Returns for Devon and Wilts to this Parliament, which never met. (b) Date of London Return. (c) Writs de expensis tested 25 May, expenses allowed to that day ; but on 15 April,' Writs, Vol. II, pp. 210, 217. {d) Called the " Parliament of White Bands". {e) Payment allowed for 17 days, rates varying from 35. to 20d. a day. Palgrave; (/) It is doubtful whether this was a Parliament or an Assembly. {g) Payment allowed for 15 days at 45. and 25. a day. Palgrave, Parliameniar)^ (h) Payment for 24 days — Knights of the Shire at 35. 4d., Burgesses at 20d. a day. («) Altered from Salisbury to Westminster. No Burgesses seem to have been (k) Payment for 21 days at 25. 6d. a day. (/) Duration is here calculated to include coming and going. Payment allowed at (m) Payment at 45. a day. 71 Dates Dates Date Official Return. No. of Names re- covered since 1878. Date for which .ummoned. of Election of Commons. of Sessions of Commons. of Dismissal of Commons. Authorities for List of Names. No. of Names. 18 Jan. (London) 19 Nov., 1315 (London) 16 Oct. (6) 8 July (6) 18 Apr. (b) 16 Nov. (6) 20 Jan. to 9 Mar. 27 Jan., to 20 Feb. 9 Mar., 1315 (E. same day) 20 Feb., 1316 (E. same day) 20 Oct. to 9 Dec, 1318 S. and E. 9 Dec. (E. same day.) 6-25 May.. 25 May, 1319 (c) S. and E. (E. same day.) Probably no Commons summoned S. and E. E. S. (a) 6-25 Oct. .. 15 July- 22 Aug. 2-19 May . . 14-29 Nov. . 23 Feb.- 18 Mar. 20 Oct.- 10 Nov. E.25 Oct., 1320 E. 22 Aug., 1321 E. 19 May 1322 (e) E. 29 Nov., 1322 {g) E. 18 Mar., 1324 {h) E. 10 Nov., 1324(A) Probably no Commons summoned. 18 Nov.- 5 Dec. 7 Jan. to ? E. 5 Dec, 1325 (/) E. some 23 Feb. and some 9 Mar., 1327 (m). S. and E. S. and E. S. and E. S. and E. S. and E. S. and E. S. and E. S. and E. 207 71 16 166 189 183 144 214 163 218 72 217 176 ;0, there is a fresh Writ for Surrey, expenses allowed from 6 to 1 5 May, Palgrave, Parliameniaty rliatngntary Writs, Vol. II, p. 258. its, Vol. II, pp. 277, 278. arned. and 3s. a day. (9921) C 4 72 Year (New Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas. Place to which Summoned. Date for which Summoned. 1328 2 Ed. Ill . . 10 Dec. 1327 . . York .. 7 Feb., 1328 1328 2 Ed. Ill . . 5 Mar.. 1328 . . Northampton. . 24 Apr., 1328 1328 -29 2 Ed. Ill . . 28 Aug.. 1328 . . 8 Feb., 1329 . . Salisbury Westminster . . 16 Oct., 1328 9 Feb.. 1329 1330 4 Ed. Ill 2S Tan 1 SSO VV lliv/iXCo LCX • • 1 1 Mar 1 1 1 iTXdl . , 1 OOU 1330 4 FH TTT ^O V_/Ct., XOOv . . VV CbtlllllloLCl • • juyj iNUV., lOOU 1331 1331 5 Ed. Ill 5 Ed. Ill . . 23 Mar. (revoked). 16 July, 1331 . . ^ VV CoLllIiJJ.oLd J Westminster . . ^10 xxLllll, 1001^ 30 Sept., 1331 1332 6 Ed. Ill . . 27 Jan., 1332 . . Westminster . . 16 March, 1332 1332 6 Ed. Ill . . 20 July, 1332 . . Westminster . . 9 Sept., 1332 1332 -33 6 Ed. Ill . . 20 Oct., 1332 . . I 1 Dpp 1 "^^2 II X-'CO., lOOiJ . . York .. York 4 Dec, 1332 90 Tan 1 S^'^ JU\J Jdll., 1 OOO loot O -pA TTT O XZ^) . . Westminster . . 1 Dec, 1421 .. (a) The Returns were for the first time made on Indentures and sealed by the (b) Confirmed by the payments to the Romney Members. (c) Dissolved by the King's death. {d) Calculated from the payments to the Romney Members. (e) Writs tested by John, Duke of Bedford. (/) The only Return extant is that for Suffolk. (g) Writs tested by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. (h) Date supplied by Rev. A. B. Beaven, but the Rolls of Parliament mention (i) The Patent Rolls {Calendar, 1416-22, p. 381) call 23 May the last day of the {k) Writs tested by John, Duke of Bedford. (/) Roll of Parliament contains enrolment of letters patent of William de la Pole, 81 Outside Dates of Elections. Dates Date Official Return. No. of Names re- covered since lo/o. of Sessions of Commons. of Dismissal of Commons. Authorities for List of Names. No. of Names. 19Sept./19 0ct. 27 NOV./13 Jan. 20 Oct. to 2 Dec. 27 Jan.tol5Mar. 7 Apr. to 9 May 2 Dec. 1407 9 May, 1410 S. {a) and E. S. 232 101 17 8 0ct./29 Oct. 27 Mar./lO May 1 Feb./26 Apr. 3 Nov. to 19 Dec. (6) 3 Feb. to 20 Mar. (6) 14 May to 9 June (6) 30 Apr. to 29 MavCfol 19 Dec, 1411 . . 20 Mar., 1413(c) E. 9 June, 1413 E. 29 May, 1414 S. S. and E. S. 124 252 119 18 15 30 8 0ct./19Nov. 19 Nov. to 7 Dec.(^^) 7Dec,1414(i^) S. 245 3 Oct. /2 Nov. 4 Nov. to 17 Nov. 17 Nov., 1415. . S. 72 26 10 Feb. /9 Mar. 16 Mar. to 8 Apr. 1 0 Mav to 4 ]\xne{d) 19 Oct. to 1ft Nov {h\ 4 Tune 1416C/71 18 Nov., 1416 s. s. (/) 39 2 142 28 30Sept./10Nov. 16 Nov. to 17 Dec. 17 Dec, 1417 . . s. 191 17 14Sept./ll Oct. 16 Oct. to 13 Nov. 13 Nov., 1419 E. s. 227 6 2NOV./28 Nov. 2 Dec. to 10/18 Dec, 1420 18 Dec, 1420(A) s. 244 6 15Mar./24 Apr. 2 May to 23 May, 1421 {i) 23 May, 1421 .. s. 247 2 27 0ct./27 Nov. 1 to 8 Dec, or later 8/23 Dec, 1421(0 s. 262 electors. nothing after the ninth day of the Parliament, i.e., 10 December. Parliament. dated 8 December. By 23 December the Parliament had ceased to sit. 82 Year (New Style). Parliament. 1 Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas. Place to which Summoned. Date for which Summoned. 1422 1 Hen. VI . . 29 Sept., 1422 . . Westminster . . 9 Nov.. 1422. . 1423 -4 2 Hen. VI . . 1 Sept., 1423 . . Westminster . . 20 Oct.. 1428 . . 1425 3 Hen. VI . . 24 Feb., 1425 . . Westminster . . 30 Apr., 1426. . 1426 4 Hen. VI (a) 7 Jan., 1426 . . Leicester 18 Feb.. 1426 . . 1427 -8 6 Hen. VI . . 15 July. 1427 . . Westminster . . 13 Oct.. 1427 . . 1429 -30 8 Hen. VI . . 12 July. 1429 . . 3 Aug., 1429 .. (Westminster) . . Westminster . . (13 Oct.. 1429). . 22 Sept., 1429. . 1431 9 Hen. VI . . 27 Nov., 1430 {b) Westminster . . 12 Jan.. 1431 . . 1432 10 Hen. VI . . 25 Feb., 1432 . . Westminster . . 12 May. 1432. . 1433 1 1 Hen. VI . . 24 May. 1433 . . Westminster . . 8 July. 1433 . . 1435 14 Hen. VI . . 5 July. 1435 . . Westminster . . 10 Oct.. 1435 . . 1437 1439 -40 15 Hen. VI . . 18 Hen. VI . . 29 Oct.. 1436 . . 10 Dec, 1436 . . 26 Sept., 1439 22 Oct., 1439 . . (Cambridge) Westminster . . (Oxford) Westminster . . 21 Jan.. 1437 . . 21 Jan.. 1437 . . 12 Nov., 1439. 12 Nov.. 1439.. adjourned to Reading 14 Jan.. 1440 . . 1442 20 Hen. VI . . 3 Dec, 1441 . . Westminster . . 25 Jan.. 1442 . . 1445 -6 23 Hen. VI . . 13 Jan., 1445 Westminster . . 25 Feb.. 1445. . (a) Called the " Parliament of Batts". (b) Writs tested by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. (c) Confirmed by the Payments to the Romney Members. (d) King's Lynn Election date. (e) The Chronicle of London gives 9 February as the closing day. But Stow states Parliament. The date of this peerage is given as 15 February. (/) Reading, 5 February ; Sandwich, 5 February ; London, 27 January. {g) Returns from Norfolk and King's Lynn only are extant. 83 Outside i-^axes of Elections. Dates of Sessions of Commons. Date of Dismissal of Commons. Official F An "^Vi r\v\ "f"! <=*c for List of .eturn. No. of Iri ctiilCo. No. of covered 1878. 5 Oct./5 Nov. 9 Nov. to 18 Dec, 1422 .. S. 260 18 Dec. 13 Sept./140ct. 20 Oct. to 17 Dec, 1423 15 Jan. to 28 Feb.. 1424 . . S. 243 14 28 Feb., 1424 19 Mar./25 Apr. 30 Apr. to 14 July. 1425 . . S. 237 1 14 July 14 Jan./18Feb. 18 Feb. to 20 Mar. 29 Apr. to 1 June, 1426. . S. 250 2 1 June 11 Aug./6 Oct. 13 Oct. to 8 Dec, 1427 27 Jan. to 25 Mar., 1428 . . s. 263 3 25 Mar., 1428 8 Aug./19Sept. 22 Sept. to 20 Dec, 1429 16 Jan. to 23 Feb., 1430 . . s. 252 4 23 Feb., 1430 9 Dec./12 Jan. 12 Jan. to 20 Mar., 1431 . . s. 262 20 Mar., 1431 17 Mar. /28 Apr. 12 May to 17 July. 1432 . . s. 264 17 July 3 June/2 July 8 July to 13 Aug. (c) 13 Oct. to 21 Dec, 1433 .. s. 216 42 21 Dec. (c) 25 July/28 Sept. 10 Oct. to 23 Dec, 1435 . . s. 264 23 Dec. 3 N0V./17 Jan. 21 Jan. to 27 Mar., 1437. . s. 264 27 Mar. 4 Nov. (d) . . 12 Nov. to 0 90 21 Dec, 1439 14 Jan. to 9 Feb.. 1440 {e) 15 Feb.. 1440 . . 11 Dec. /18 Jan. 25 Jan. to 27 Mar.. 1442 . . s. 268 27 Mar. {c) 27 Jan./ 25 Feb. to 5 Feb. (/) 15 Mar., 1445. 29 Apr. to 5 June. 20 Oct. to 15 Dec. 24 Jan. to 9 Apr., 1446 . . s. ig) 4 39 9 Apr., 1446 that Sir John Sutton was created Lord Dudley on the last day of the Reading 84 Year (New- Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas. Place to which Summoned, or of Meeting. Date for which Summoned. 1447 25 Hen. VI . . Z/ rien. vi . . 14 Dec, 1446 . . 20 Jan., 1447 L J an., I44y (Cambridge) Bury St. Edmunds Westminster . . _ 10 Feb.. 1447. . 10 Feb., 1447 . . \Z beb., 1449 . . adjourned to Winchester 16 June, 1449. . 1449 -50 28 Hen. VI . , 23 Sept.. 1449 .. Westminster . . Westminster . . 6 Nov., 1449 . . Leicester 1 A cn 14c)U -51 zy xien. v i . , o oept.. 14aU . . Westminster . . D JNOV., 14dU • . 1453 -4 31 Hen. VI . . 21 Jan., 1453 . . Reading 6 Mar., 1453 . . 1455 /> -o 33 Hen. VI . . 26 May, 1455 . . Westminster . . 9 July, 1455 .. 1459 38 Hen. VI . . 9 Oct., 1459 . . Coventry 20 Nov., 1459. . 1460 39 Hen. VI . . 30 July, 1460 . . Westminster . . 7 Oct., 1460 .. 1461 -2 1 Ed. IV . . 23 May, 1461 . . 13 June, 1461 .. (Westminster) . . Westminster . . (6 July, 1461) 4 Nov., 1461 . . (a) The Parliament Roll mentions no proceedings later than 17 March, 1450, but {Calendar, p. 377) whereas by 11 August it had ceased to sit {Calendar, p. 376). (6) It appears from the Patent Rolls that the Parliament was still sitting 24 May, p. 472). 'Rzmsdcy , Lancaster and York, II 139, says circa 11 June, the King being at March, not 29 April as in Rotuli Parliamentorum, p. 213. {hb) Date given in Ramsay, Lancaster and York, II 174. (c) Bale's Chronicle gives 12 March as date of dissolution {Six Town Chronicles, {d) Election days supplied from local sources — Hull, 29 June ; Ipswich 30 June ; {e) It was prorogued to 6 May, 1462, and met ; but the King being unable to 85 Outside Dates of Elections. Dates of Sessions of Commons. Date of Dismissal of Commons. Official Return. Authorities for List of Names. No. of Names. 2 Jan./7 Feb. 9 Jan./lOFeb. 6Oct./10Nov. 30 Sept./23 Nov, 29 Jan. /15 Mar. 6 June/7 July 13 0ct./26 Nov. 23 Aug./14 0ct. 29 June/ 9 Oct.{d) 10 Feb. to 3 Mar. 12 Feb. to 4 Apr. 7 to 30 May 16 June to 16 July 6 Nov. to 17 Dec, 1449 22 Jan. to 30 Mar., 1450 29 Apr. to 30 May, 1450, or later 6 Nov. to 18 Dec, 1450 20 Jan. to 29 Mar., 1451 5 to 24 May, 1451, or later 6 to 28 Mar., 1453 25 Apr. to 2 July, 1453 12 Nov. 14 Feb. to 17 Apr., 1454 9 to 31 July, 1455 12 Nov. to 13 Dec, 1455 14 Jan. to 12 Mar., 1456 20 Nov. to 20 Dec. 7 Oct. to Dec, 1460 4 Nov. to 21 Dec, 1461 6 May, 1462(e) 3 Mar.. 1447 . . 16 July. 1449. . 30 May/ 11 Aug., 1450(a) 24 May/1 June, 1451(6) 17 Apr., 1454(6&) 12 Mar., 1456(c) 20 Dec, 1459 . . Dec, 1460 6 May, 1462 . . S. S. 272 272 266 265 257 170 123 160 it appears from the Patent Rolls that the Parliament was still sitting 30 May 1451 {Calendar, p. 427), whereas by 1 June, 1451, it had ceased to sit {Calendar, Westminster till that day. He corrects the close of the 2nd session — Monday — 29 p. 143). King's Lynn, 9 October. Supplied from the Paston Letters. Norfolk. 1 August, attend. Parliament was dissolved. 86 Year (New Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas. Place to which Summoned. Date for which Summoned . 1463 -5 3 Ed. IV . . 22 Dec, 1462 . . ? ? 1463 .. (York) (Leicester) Westminster . . (5 Feb., 1463) . . (7 Mar.. 1463).. Apr., i4oo . . 1467 -8 7 Ed. IV . . 28 Feb., 1467 . . Westminster . . 3 June, 1467 . . Reading Westminster . . 1469 1470 -1 1 J.79 -5 9 Ed. IV . . 49 Hen. VI . . 10 Aug., 1469 . . 7 Sept., 1469 . . 15 Oct., 1470 . . (York) . . Postponed sine die. Westminster . . (22 Sept., 1469) 26 Nov., 1470 19 XiA TV VZi HQ. IV ly Aug., 14 ^Vestminster . . R 1 A10 D L/Ct., i4/Z 1477 -8 1483 17 Ed. IV . . 20 Nov., 1477 .. Westminster . . 16 Jan., 1478 22 Ed. IV . . 15 Nov., 1482 . . Westminster . . 20 Jan., 1483 1483 1483 1484 1 Ed. V 1 Ric. Ill . . 1 Ric. Ill . . 13 May, 1483 . . 16 and 17 June . . Oct., 1483 . . 2 Nov., 1483 . . 9 Dec, 1483 . . Westminster . . Revoked by writ of supefsedecis. Westminster . . Revoked by writ of supersedeas {i) Westminster . . 25 June, 1483 6 Nov.. 1483 23 Jan.. 1484 {a) Election days : Reading, 17 January ; King's Lynn, 22 January ; Ipswich, 18 April ; and Salisbury, 23 April. {b) Madox, Firma Burgi, notes that Henry Frowyk and Thomas Lute sue the hundred and seventeen for remaining, and one for returning, which would make the date of dissolution 15 March, 1465. (c) Date given in Ramsay, Lancaster and York, quoting William of Worcester, (d) Election days : London, 29 August ; Sandwich, 1 September ; Reading, (e) Election days : Sandwich, 5 November ; King's Lynn and Hull, 19 November. (/) This Parliament may be said to have ended automatically when Edward IV calculated that they must have left London not later than 22 January, 1471. (g) Rotuli Parliamentorum, vi, 197-8. Confirmed by the payments to the Romney {it) No Speaker was chosen. The proceedings were informal. The Romney (i) Owing to the Duke of Buckingham's Rebellion. 87 Outside Dates of Elections. Dates of Sessions of Commons. Date of Dismissal of Commons. Official Return. Authorities for No. of List of Names. Names. 17 Jan./ 23 Apr. (a) 9 Apr. /1 9 June 29 Aug./ 11 Sept. (d) 5 Nov./ 19 Nov. (e) 27 Aug./12 0ct. 27 N0V./I6 Jan. 26N0V./2I Jan 3 to 19 June(A) 9 to 29 Oct. 9 to 19 Jan. 29 Apr. to 17 June, 1463 21 Jan., 1465 to Mar., 1465 3 June to 1 July, 1467 6 Nov., 1467 and 5 May. 1468 12 May to 7 June, 1468(c) Never met 26 Nov., 1470 to ? Jan., 1471 (/) 6 Oct. to 30 Nov., 8 Feb. to 8 Apr., 6 Oct. to 13 Dec, 20 Jan. to 1 Feb., 9 to 28 May, 1474. 6 June to 18 July, 1474. 23 Jan. to 14 Mar., 1475. 16 Jan. to 26 Feb., 1478. 20 Jan. to 18 Feb., 1483. Many Members came and met but no Speaker chosen. Never met 1472. 1473. 1473. 1474. 23 Jan. to 20 Feb., 1484. 15/28 Mar., 1465 7 June, 1468.. 11 Apr., 1471 (/) 14 Mar., 1475 26 Feb.. 1478 18 Feb., 1483 {g) 20 Feb., 1484 264 0 281 291 0 0 27 January and 15 April ; London. 8 February ; Middlesex, 24 March ; Warwickshire, Sheriff of Middlesex for wages in this Parliament — one day for going, and one date of dissolution 28 March. Wages paid to the Romney Members would make the Annales, 514. Confirmed by payments to the Romney Members. 6 September ; King's Lynn, 8 September ; Ipswich. 1 1 September. entered London. From the payments made to the Romney Members it has been Members. Members received pay for seven days. 88 Year (New Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas. Place to which Summoned. Date for which Summoned. 1485 -6 1 Hen. VII . . 15 Sept., 1485 . . Westminster . . 7 Nov.. 1485 1487 3 Hen. VII.. 1 Sept.. 1487 . . Westminster . . 9 Nov.. 1487 1489 -90 4 Hen. VII. . End of Nov., 1488 ic\ Westminster . . 13 Jan., 1489 1491 -2 7 Hen. VII. . 12 Aug., 1491 . . Westminster . . 17 Oct., 1491 1495 11 Hen. VII.. 15 Sept., 1495 . . Westminster . . 14 Oct., 1495 1497 12 Hen. VII. . 20 Nov., 1496 .. Westminster . . 16 Jan., 1497 1504 19 Hen. VII.. 1503 (c) . . Westminster . . 25 Jan., 1504 1510 1 Hen. VIII 17 Oct., 1509 .. Westminster . . 21 Jan., 1510 1512 -14 3 Hen. VIII 28 Nov., 1511 .. Westminster . . 4 Feb., 1512 1515 6 Hen. VIII 23 Nov., 1514 . . Westminster . . 5 Feb., 1515 .. {a) Calculated from the statement in the York archives that the York members (6) It was sitting on 15 December {Rotuli Parliamentorum, vi, 402 b.). The journey each way, or 18 December on a two-day basis. As soon as sufficient and be possible to decide the exact limits of the sessions of all these Parliaments. (c) Writs of Summons for these Parliaments are not enrolled on the Close Rolls (d) Confirmed by the payments to the Romney Members. (e) Rotuli Parliameniorum, vi, 426, 438-9. (/) Kingsford, Chronicles of London, p. 207. (g) Kingsford, Chronicles of London, p. 213. (h) The Recorder of Nottingham started on 21 January, reached home on 3 April, {i) Rotuli Parliamentorum, Supplement, pp. xlv-lxxiv. 89 Outside Dates of Elections. Dates of Sessions of Commons. Date of Dismissal of Commons. Official Return. Authorities for List of Names. No. of Names. No. of Names recovered since 1878. General Elec- tions. By- Elec- tions. 13-31 October Ito 18 Oct. X)ndon, 2 Dec. and 7 Jan. -,ynn, 6 Jan. Jandwich, 31 Dec. ^ndon, 7 Oct. jynn, 7 Oct. Jandwich, 22 Sept. Jandwich, 1 1 Sept. .X)ndon, 24 Sept. .ynn, 2 Oct. ixeter, 6 Oct. -rondon, 13 Dec. Jandwich, 8 Dec. ,ynn, 16 Dec. Ul in Dec. (ex- cept 2nd elec- tion at Lynn, 10 Jan.). vondon, 19 Nov. pswich, 17 Dec. Jandwich, 24 Dec. heading, 26 Dec. ^ynn, 7 Jan. -incoln, 1 Jan. jandwich, 5 Jan. ^ondon, 15 Jan. ^ynn, 28 Jan. pswich, 29 Jan. London, 12 Dec. Lincoln, 1 Jan. Sandwich, 12 Jan. Lynn, 16 Jan. Tavistock,-Jan. Ipswich, 1 Feb. 1st, 7 Nov.- 10 Dec. 2nd, 23 Jan., 1486-4 Mar.(^/) 9 Nov. to c. 16 Dec. 1st, 13 Jan. to 23 Feb. (d) 2nd, 14 Oct. to 4 Dec, 1489 3rd, 25 Jan. to 27 Feb., 1490 1st, 17 Oct. to 4 Nov., 1491 2nd, 26 Jan. to 5 Mar., 1492 14 Oct. to 21 Dec. 16 Jan. to 13 Mar. (d) 25 Jan. to 30 Mar., 1504 21 Jan. to 23 Feb. 1st, 4 Feb. to 30 Mar., 1512 2nd, 4 Nov. to 20 Dec, 1512 3rd, 23 Jan. to 4 Mar., 1514 (i) 1st, 5 Feb. to 5 Apr. 2nd, 12 Nov. to 22 Dec. 4 Mar.. 1486 . . 16/18 Dec, 1487 (6) 27 Feb.. 1490(5) 5 Mar., 1492 .. 21 Dec, 1495 (/) 13 Mar.. 1497 (g) c. 2 Apr., 1504 {h) 23 Feb.. 1510 4 Mar.. 1514 22 Dec, 1515 56 52 49 294 51 48 49 62 64 55 •eturned on 10 March. Payments to the Romney Members make the date 16 December, on a basis of 3 days for the lefinite information is obtained of payments to burgesses from different boroughs, it may md no original Writs survive. ind was allowed 74 days expenses ; the Reading Members were allowed 72. 90 Year (New- Style). ] Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Place to which Summoned. Date for which Summoned. 1523 14 Hen. VIII (a) Blackfriars 15 Apr.. 1523 . . 1529 -36 21 Hen. VIII 9 Aug., 1529 . . (Blackfriars) . . Westminster . . (3 Nov., 1529).. 4 Nov., 1529 .. 1536 28 Hen. VIII 27 Apr., 1536 . . Westminster . . 8 June, 1536. . 1539 -40 31 Hen. VIII 1 Mar., 1539 . . Westminster . . 28 Apr., 1539 . . 1542 -4 33 Hen. VIII 23 Nov., 1541(g). . Westminster . . 16 Jan., 1542 .. 1545 -7 37 Hen. VIII 1 Dec, 1544 . . 20 Dec. 1544 .. 21 Sept., 1545 .. (Westminster) (Westminster) New Windsor . . (30 Jan., 1545) (15 Oct., 1545) 23 Nov., 1545 (a) Writs of Summons for this Parliament are not enrolled on the Close Rolls (b) The List among the State Papers, first printed in 1876 in Brewer's Letters and having been transcribed in June, 1532 (with additional notes) from an original (c) Good Friday. Parliament was also dissolved on a Good Friday in 1552 and (d) See Lords Journals, i.l03, 113, 128. (The specific reference to three Sessions {e) Rymer, Foedera, xiv, 737 ; Letters and Papers, xvi, 1369. (/) The Lords sat on 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 February. [g) Dissolved by the King's death, 31 January, 1547. 91 Outside Dates of Elections. Dates of Sessions of Commons. Date of Dismissal of Commons. Official Return. No. of Names recovered since 1878. Authorities for List of Names. No. of Names. General Elec- tions. By- Elec- tions. Sandwich, 2 Mar. London, 3 Mar. Dover, 22 Mar. Lynn and Ipswich, 31 Mar. Buckingham borough on or before 19 May. Calais, 28 May Sandwich,29 May Lynn, 31 May. . Ipswich, 27 Mar. Sandwich,28 Mar. Berks, 3 Apr. Glos. Co., 4 Apr. Norfolk, 14 Apr. 8 Dec, 1541, to 12 Jan., 1542 12 Dec, 1544 .. 26 Oct.. 1545 .. 1st, 15 Apr. to 21 May 2nd, 10 June to 29 July 3rd, 31 July to 13 Aug. 1st, 4 Nov. to 17 Dec, 1529 2nd, 16 Jan. to 31 Mar., 1531 3rd, 15 Jan. to 28 Mar., 1532 4th, 10 Apr. to 14 May, 1532 5th. 4 Feb. to 7 Apr., 1533 6th. 15 Jan. to 30 Mar.. 1534 7th, 3 Nov. to 18 Dec. 1534 8th. 4 Feb. to 14 Apr.. 1536 8 June to 18 July. 1536 1st, 28 Apr. to 23 May. 1539(^?) 2nd, 30 May to 28 June 3rd, 12 Apr. to 1 1 May. 25 May to 24 July. 1540 1st. 16 Jan. to 1 Apr., 1542(/) 2nd, 22 Jan. to 12 May. 1543 3rd, 14 Jan. to 28 Mar.. 1544 1st, 23 Nov. to 24 Dec, 1545 2nd. 14 to 31 Jan.. 1547. at Westminster. 13 Aug.. 1523 14 Apr.. 1536(c) 18 July. 1536 24 July. 1540. 28 Mar.. 1544. 31 Jan.. 1547(^) C. (6) S. and K. 310 127 245 60 57 65 50 13 24 and no original Writs survive. Papers, Vol. IV. 6043 (2.ii), and reprinted in the Official Return, bears internal evidence of Crown Office List (no longer extant) made early in November. 1529. 1553. (It was, of course, dissolved before noon.) in the Lords Journals is of some interest.) 92 Year (New Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas Place to which Summoned. Date for which Summoned. Outside dates of Elections. 1547 -52 1 Ed. VI . . 2 Aug., 1547 o oept. to oi uct. , 1553 7 Ed. VI . . 5 Jan., 1553 Westminster 1 Mar., 1553 16 Jan. to 25 Feb. 1553 1 Mary 14 Aug., 1553 Westminster 5 Oct.. 1553 28 Aug. to 3 Oct. 1554 1554 -5 1555 1558 1559 1 Mary 1 and 2 P. and M. 2 and 3 P. and M. 4 and 5 P. and M. 1 Eliz. 17 Feb., 1554 15 Mar., 1554 3 Oct., 1554 3 Sept.. 1555 6 Dec, 1557 5 Dec. 1558 (Oxford) . . Westminster Westminster Westminster Westminster 2 Apr., 1554 IZi ViOV., loO^ 21 Oct., 1555 20 Jan , 1558 23 Jan., 1559 26 Feb. to 28 Mar. o VJCT. to IZJNOV. 17 Sept. to 23 Oct. 13 Dec. to 31 Jan. 28 Dec. to 31 Jan. 1 ceo -7 5 Eliz. 10 Nov., 1562 Westminster 11 Jan., 1563 8Dec.tol3Jan. , 1571 1572 -83 13 Eliz. 14 Eliz. 28 Mar.. 1572 Westminster Westminster 2 Apr., 1571 8 May, 1572 4 Mar. and 1 Q Mot 1 ^71 //•^ 9 Apr. to 6 May 1584 -5 27 E]iz. 12 Oct., 1584 ^Vpstm 1 n <;+pr J.>iL>V., 1 OOrr v-'ct. to l\OV. 1586 -7 28 Eliz. 15 Sept., 1586 V V OO LXXXllXo LCX lO WCL., xOOD oept. to z4 vjct. 1588 -9 1593 30 Eliz. 35 Eliz. 18 Sept., 1588 14 Oct., 1588 4 Jan., 1593 Westminster Westminster (12 Nov.. 1588) 4 Feb., 1589 19 Feb., 1593 2 Oct. to 16 Feb. 16 Jan. to 29 Jan.(ef) 1597 -8 39 Eliz. 23 Aug., 1597 Westminster 24 Oct., 1597 29 Aug. to 22 Oct. 1601 43 Eliz. 11 Sept.. 1601 Westminster 27 Oct., 1601 20 Sept. to 27 Oct. (a) Automatically ended with the Queen's death. (b) Date of Writ unknown. (c) Sandwich Election. 4 March ; Stamford. 19 March. No dates given in the De Tabley MS. or in (d) No dates of Returns are given in the Crown Office Lists. Election dates : — 16 January, 1 593, Lyme Regis. I I 93 Dates of Sessions of Commons. 1 Date of Dismissal of Commons. Official Return. No. of Names recovered since 1878. Author- ities for List of Names. No. of Names VJTCIlCiai Elec- tions. uy- Elec- tions. General Elec- tion. By- Elec- tion. NOV. TO Z'* Lf&C, lO'ii S. n u 220 25 ^ov., 1548 to 14 Mar., 1549. ^ov., 1549 to 1 Feb., 1550 [an. to 15 Apr., 1552 15 Apr., 1552. vlar. to 31 Mar., 1553 31 Mar.. 1553 . . S. 240 2 103 8 JCt. XO Zl yJQX., lOOO . . O J-^cC, lOOO . . s. OOZi n V 53 )ec., 1553 Vpr. to 5 May, 1554 . . 5 May, 1554 .. S. and C. 388 0 6 NOV., loot UvJ IvJ Jdll., 16 Tan 1 555 S. 2 88 5 1555. )ct. to9Dec., 1555 . . 9 Dec, 1555 s. Oto 0 u 25 1 an. to 7 Mar.. 1558 . . 17 Nov., 1558(a). . S. and C. Oc7t 1 1 1 1 lov fo 1 7 Nnv 1 558 an. to 8 May, 1559 . . 8 May, 1559 S. 9'?9 1 1 99 7 an. to 10 Apr., 1563 apt., 1566 to 2 Jan., 2 Jan., 1567 S. and C. 420 1 — 8 1567. .pr. to 29 May, 1571 29 May, 1571 .. — yj 435 1 [ay to 30 June, 1572 19 Apr., 1583 .. S. and C. 396 33 40 4 CD. to lo iviar., lo/o. an. to 18 Mar., 1581. OV. \,\J Zi X Uiii^., loot It vjcpt., lOOO . . S. 334 0 48 8 eb.to 29 Mar., 1585. 'ct. to 2 Dec, 1586 . . 23 Mar.. 1587 . . S. and C. 462 0 3 2 eb.to 23 Mar., 1587. eb.to 29 Mar., 1589 29 Mar., 1589 S. and C. 462 0 ? ? eb.to 10 Apr., 1593 10 Apr., 1593 . . C. 462 1 0 5 ct.to20 Dec, 1597 9 Feb., 1598 . . S. 414 2 30 6 m. to 9 Feb., 1598. ct.to 19 Dec, 1601 1 19 Dec, 1601 .. S. and C. 462 5 0 1 le Willis, Noiitia Parliamentaria. These two dates are supplied from local records. m; 28 January, 1593, Great Yarmouth; 29 January, 1593. King's Lynn; 29 January, 1593, 94 Year (New Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons, Prorogation and Supersedeas. Date for which Summoned. Dates of Elections. ♦1604 -11 1 James I . . 31 Jan., 1604 19 Mar., 1604 6 Feb. to 16 Mar. 1614 12 James I . . The Addled Parliament . - ici) 5 Apr., 1614 7 Mar. to 22 Mar. (b) 1621 _2 18 James I . . 13 Nov., 1620 .. 16 Jan., 1621 20 Nov. to 16 Jan. 1624 — o 21 James I . . 20 Dec, 1623 . . 12 Feb., 1624 8 Jan. to 1625 1 Charles I . . 2 Apr., 1625 . . 17 May, 1625 11 Apr. to ID iviay 1626 1 Charles I . . 20 Dec, 1625 . . 6 Feb., 1626 6 Jan. to 9 Feb. (/) 1628 -9 3 Charles I . . 31 Jan., 1628 . . 17 Mar., 1628 11 Feb. to 13 Mar. lo v^naries i . . The Short Parliament. JTcU., lOTtW . . 1*3 /vpr., ID^U 97 "PoK +rw Z/ i/CD. XO 6 Apr. 1640 — Oo 16 Charles I . . The Long Parliament. 24 Sept., 1640 . . 3 Nov., 1640 1 Oct. to 0 INOV. King's Anti- Parliament at Oxford (1). 22 Dec. 1643 {m) 22 Jan., 1644 . . * Henceforth all Parliaments met at Westminster except where otherwise stated. {a) Date of Writ unknown. (b) These dates are supplied from local Records : — Hastings, 7 March ; Chippen- (c) These names are from a list found among the Duke of Manchester's papers (d) Automatically ended with the King's death. {e) Adjourned to Oxford on 1 August. (/) Except Beaumaris Election, 23 February. (g) One long session of 12^ years. (h) 143 Members were on this day excluded and secluded by the Army, " with (i) The Crown Office List used in the Official Return professes to have been taken {k) May also be held to have been dissolved by the execution of the King on (/) Consisting of those Members of the Long Parliament who adhered to the (m) King's Proclamation summoning Members of the Long Parliament to Oxford. 95 Dates of Sessions of Commons. Date of Dismissal of Commons. Official Return. No. of Names recovered since 1878. Author- ities for List of Names. No. of Names. General Elec- tions. By- Elec- tions. General Elec- tions. By- Elec- tions. ) Mar. to 7 July, 1604 5 Nov., 1605 to ' 27 May, 1606. 5 Nov., 1606 to 4 July, 1607. ) Feb. to 23 July, 1610. 3 Oct. to 6 Dec, 1610. 9 Feb 1611 S. and K. 406 82 76 16 5 Apr. to 7 June, 1614 . . 7 June, 1614 S. 5 3 476(c) 2 ) Jan. to 4 June, 1621 . . ) Nov. to 18 Dec, 1621. 8 Feb., 1622 s. 443 25 52 3 I Feb. to 29 May, 1624 . . 27 Mar.. 1625 {d) S. and C. 482 37 12 1 ) June to 11 July, 1625 . . I Aug. {e) to 12 Aug., 1625. 12 Aug., 1625. . o. ana L/. 490 13 o L ) Feb. to 15 June, 1626 . . 15 June. 1626 S. and C. 489 14 2 4 ? ' Mar. to 26 June. 1628 . . ) Jan. to 10 Mar., 1629. 10 Mar., 1629 S. and C. 494 14 2 3 ? 5 Apr. to 5 May, 1640 . . 5 May, 1640 S. 421 3 74 12 ? J Nov., 1640 to ZKJ Apr., IDOO [gj. 6 Dec. 1648 {h) Z\) Apr., iDDo [ft) S. and C. ii) 489 321 35 43 I Jan.. 1644 to 16 Apr., 1644. djoumed to 8 Oct., 1644. 174 tn, 16 March ; Stamford, 21 March, and Great Grimsby, 22 March, i printed in the Appendix to Part I of the Official Return. idry others driven away ". ^ 1643 or thereabouts. January. 1649, or by its own Act on 16 March, 1660. Qg. 96 Date of Testing Year oi Writs oi Date Dates (New Parliament. Summons, for which of otyie) . Prorogation and Summoned. Elections. Supersedeas. lOoo interregnum Nominated on 20 June, 1653, by Cromwell and the Council i^iTtie Jrariia- of Officers : summoned to meet 4 July by Letters under ment. the hand of the Lord General ; declared itself a Parliament on 6 July ; and resigned its powers into the hands of the Lord General 12 Dec, 1653. 1654 Cromwell 1 June, 1654 . . 3 Sept., 1654. . 16 June to 19 July, and to 22 Aug. in Scotland and Ireland. 1656 Cromwell 10 July, 1656 .. 17 Sept., 1656. . 22 July to 3 Sept. -58 1659 Richard 9 Dec, 1658 .. 27 Jan., 1659 . . 2 Dec. to Cromwell. 29 Jan. 10D17 Rump Parlia- 6 May, 1659(6) . . 7 May, 1659 . . -60 ment. 1660 12 Charles II 16 Mar., 1660 . . 25 Apr., 1660 .. 26 Mar. to Convention 26 Apr, 1661 13 Chas. II.. 18 Feb., 1661 . . 8 May, 1661 . . 9 Mar. to The Long or 13 May Pensionary Parliament. (a) From this moment Richard Cromwell was no longer considered Protector and (6) Date of Declaration of Officers of the Army inviting the Members of the Discharge of their Trust." About 100 members were eligible to sit. (c) Prevented by the Army from meeting any longer. (d) Names supplied from a pamphlet of 1659 in the Thomasson Collection (Brit. 97 Sessions of Commons. Date of Dismissal of Commons. Official Return. No. of Names recovered since 1878. Author- ities for List of No. of General Elec- tion. Names. By- Elec- tion. General Elec- tions. By- Elec- tions. July to 12 Dec, 1653 . . 12 Dec, 1653 . . r\ 0 144 Sept., 1654 to 22 Jan., 1655 . . b. LI A 1 o 179 22 Jan., 1655. Sept., 1656 to 4 Feb., 1658 S. 107 13 368 5 26 June, 1657. Jan. to 4 Feb., 1658. Jan. to 22 Apr., 1659 . . 22 Apr., 1659(a) s. 292 u 280 5 May to 13 Oct., 1659(c) . . 16 Mar., 1660 . . U Dec, 1659 to 16 Mar., 1660. Apr. to 13 Sept., 1660 . . 29 Dec, 1660 . . s. 318 45 232 — Nov. to 29 Dec, 1660. St, 8 May, 1661 to 24 Jan., 1679 . . S. and Id 19 May, 1662. Denbigh MS. nd, 18 Feb., 1663 to 27 July, 1663. rd, 16 Mar., 1664 to From 17 May, 1664. this th, 24 Nov., 1664 to time 2 Mar., 1665. forth th, 9 Oct. to 31 Oct., 1665 the sole at Oxford. authority th, 18 Sept., 1666 to for Lists 8 Feb., 1667. of Names th, 10 Oct., 1667 to is the 9 May, 1668. Sheriff's th, 19 Oct., 1669 to Return. 11 Dec, 1669. th, 14 Feb., 1670 to 22 Apr., 1671. th, 4 Feb., 1673 to 29 Mar. th, 27 Oct., 1673 to ' 4 Nov., 1673. th, 7 Jan., 1674 to 24 Feb. th, 13 Apr., 1675 to 9 June, 1675. th, 13 Oct., 1675 to 22 Nov., 1675. th, 15 Feb., 1677 to 15 July, 1678. th,21 Oct., 1678 to 30 Dec, 1678. Republican Government was restored. ig Parliament who continued sitting till the 20 April, 1653," to return to the Exercise and 1.) E. 1836 (4). D 98 Year (New Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons. Date for which Summoned. Dates of Elections of the Commons. 1679 31 Charles II.. 25 Jan., 1679 . . 6 Mar., 1679 . . 3 Feb. to 4 Mar. 1679 31 Charles II.. 24 July, 1679 . . 17 Oct.. 1679 . . 6 Aug. to 14 Oct 1681 33 Charles II . . 20 Jan., 1681 . . 21 Mar., 1681 at Oxford. 29 Jan. to 18 Mar. 1685 1 James II . . 14 Feb., 1685 . . 19 May, 1685 . . 6 Mar. to 15 May 1689 Convention {a) 29 Dec, 1688 22 Jan., 1689 . . 5 Jan. to 19 Jan. 1690 2 William and Mary 6 Feb., 1690 . . 20 Mar., 1690 . . 15 Feb. to 17 Mar. ibyo 7 William 111 Iz Oct., 1695 22 Nov., 1695 . . 19 Oct. to 20 Nov. 1698 10 William III 13 July, 1698 . . 24 Aug., 1698 . . 18 July to 28 Aug. 1701 (1) 12 William III 26 Dec, 1700 .. 6 Feb., 1701 . . 2 Jan. to 5 Feb. 1701 (2) 13 William III 3 Nov., 1701 . . 30 Dec. 1701 . . 19 Nov. to 18 Dec 1702 1 Anne 2 July, 1702 . . 20 Aug., 1702 .. 15 July to 18 Aug. 1705 4 Anne (5) 2 May, 1705 . . 14 June, 1705. . 7 May to 6 June. 1708 7 Anne 26 Apr., 1708 . . 8 July, 1708.. 30 Apr. to 7 July. (a) This Convention declared itself a Parliament on 20 February following. The (b) By proclamation dated 29 April, 1707, declared to be the First Parliament of 99 Dates of Sessions of Date of Dismissal of No. of Names recovered since 1878. Commons. Commons. General Elections. By- Elections. 1 St, 6 Mar. to 1 3 Mar. ,1679 2nd, 15 Mar, to 27 May, 1679. 12 July. 1679 8 After 7 prorogations, 21 Oct., 1680 to 10 Jan., 1681. 18 Jan., 1681 10 2 21 to 28 Mar., 1681 28 Mar.. 1681 9 1 1 St, 1 9 May to 2 July, 1 685 2nd, 9 Nov. to 20 Nov., 1685. 2 July. 1687 14 10 1st, 22 Jan. to 20 Aug., 1689. 2nd, 19 Oct. to 27 Jan., 1690 . . 6 Feb.. 1690 17 1 1st, 20 March to 23 May, 1690. 2nd, 2 Oct. to 5 Jan.. 1691. 3rd, 22 Oct. to 24 Feb., 1692. 4th, 4 Nov. to 14 Mar. 1693. 5th, 7 Nov. to 25 Apr., 1694. 6th, 1 2 Nov. to 3 May, 1 695 11 Oct., 1695 23 1 1st, 22 Nov. to 27 Apr., 1696. 2nd, 20 Oct. to 16 Apr., 1697. 3rd, 3 Dec. to 5 July, 1698 7 July, 1698 2 1 Prorogued 24 Aug., 27 Sept., 27 Oct., 29 Nov., to— 1st, 6 Dec. to 4 May, 1699. 2nd, 1 6 Nov. to 1 1 Apr. ,1700 19 Dec, 1700 5 1 6 Feb. to 24 June, 1701 .. 11 Nov.. 1701 1 30 Dec. to 23 May, 1702 . . 2 July. 1702 1 1 Prorogued 6 Aug. to 8 Oct., 6 Sept., 1702. to— 1st, 20 Oct. to 27 Feb.. 1703. 2nd. 9 Nov. to 3 Apr.. 1704. 3rd. 24 Oct. to 1 4 Mar. , 1 705 5 Apr., 1705 0 0 Prorogued by Writ of 31 May to 6 Sept.. and again to 25 Oct.. 1705. 1st, 25 Oct. to 21 May. 1706. 2nd. 3 Dec. to 24 Apr., 1707. 0 0 8 July prorogued to 9 Sept. ; 21 Oct., 16 Nov. 1st. 16 Nov., 1708 to 21 Apr.. 1709. 2nd. 15 Nov. to 5 Apr., 1710 21 Sept., 1710. • 0 0 declaration received the Royal Assent on 23 February. Great Britain. (9921) D2 100 Year (New Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons. Date for which Summoned . Dates of Elections of the Commons. 1710 9 Anne 27 Sept., 1710 . . 25 Nov., 1710. . 2 Oct. to 16 Nov. 1713 12 Anne 18 Aug., 1713 .. 12 Nov., 1713.. 22 Aug. to 12 Nov. 1715 1 Geo. I . . 17 Jan.. 1715 .. 17 Mar., 1715.. 22 Jan. to 9 Mar. 1722 8 George I . . 14 Mar., 1722 . . 10 May, 1722 . . 19 Mar. to 9 May. 1727 1 George II 10 Aug., 1727 . . 28 Nov., 1727.. 14 Aug. to 17 Oct. (a). 1734 8 George II 18 April, 1734 . . 13 June, 1734.. 22 Apr. to 6 June. 1741 15 George II. . . 28 Apr., 1741 .. 25 June, 1741 . . 30 Apr. to 11 June (&). (a) Carmarthenshire. Latest English elections. Bishop's Castle and Bridgnorth, (6) Orkney and Shetland. Latest English election, Westmorland, 28 May. 101 Dates of Sessions of Date of Dismissal of No. of Names recovered since 1878. \^kJ III LXLyJLl^, C^^Ti^ra 1 vjrcilCl cti. Elections. r>y- Elections. 1st, 25 Nov. to 12 June, 1711. 2nd, 7 Dec. to 8 July, 1712. 3rd, 9 Apr., 1713 to 16 July 8 Aug., 1713 0 0 Prorogued from 12 Nov. to 10 Dec, to 12 Jan., to 16 Feb., 1714. 1st, 16 Feb., 1714 to 9 July, 1714. 2nd. 1 Aug. to 25 Aug.. 1714 . . 5 Jan.. 1715 0 0 1st, 17 Mar., 1715 to 26 June, 1716. 2nd, 20 Feb. to 15 July, 1717. 3rd, 21 Nov. to 21 Mar.. 1718. 4th, 11 Nov. to 18 Apr., 1719. 5th, 23 Nov. to 11 June, 1720. 6th, 8 Dec. to 29th July. 1721. 7th. 31 July to 7 Aug.. 1721. 8th, 19 Oct. to 7 Mar., 1722 10 Mar., 1722 0 0 10 May. prorogued to 5 June, 3 July. 2 Aug., 4 Sept. 1st, 9 Oct.. 1722 to 27 May, 1723. 2nd, 9 Jan.. 1724 to 24 Apr. 3rd, 12 Nov., 1724 to 31 May, 1725. 4th, 20th Jan., 1726 to 24 May, 1726. 5th, 17 Jan., 1727 to 15 May. 6th, 27 June, 1727 to 17 July . . 5 Aug., 1727 0 0 28 Nov. prorogued to 11 Jan. 1st, 23 Jan., 1728 to 28 May. 2nd, 21 Jan., 1729 to 14 May. 3rd, 13 Jan.. 1730 to 15 May. 4th, 21 Jan.. 1731 to 7 May. 5th, 13 Jan., 1732 to 1 June. 6th, 16 Jan.. 1733 to 13 June. 7th. 17 Jan.. 1734 to 16 Apr. . . 17 Apr.. 1734 0 2 13 June, prorogued to 16 July, 13 Aug., 26 Sept., 14 Nov., 14 Jan. 1st, 14 Jan.. 1735 to 15 May. 2nd. 15 Jan., 1736 to 20 May. 3rd, 1 Feb., 1737 to 21 June. 4th, 24 Jan.. 1738 to 20 May. 5th, 1 Feb., 1739 to 14 June. 6th, 15 Nov., 1739 to 29 Apr., 1740. 7th, 18 Nov., 1740 to 25 Apr., 1741 27 Apr.. 1741 0 0 25 June, prorogued to 6 Aug., 10 Sept., 27 Oct. 1st, 1 Dec, 1741 to 15 July, 1742. 2nd, 16 Nov., 1742 to 21 Apr., 1743. 3rd, 1 Dec, 1743 to 12 May, 1744. 4th, 27 Nov., 1744 to 2 May, 1745. 5th, 17 Oct.. 1745 to 12 Aug., 1746. 6th, 18 Nov.. 1746 to 17 June, 1747 18 June. 1747 0 1 30 September. (9921) D3 102 Year (New Style). Parliament. Date of Testing of Writs of Summons. Date for which Summoned. Dates of Elections of the Commons. 1747 21 George II.. 22 June. 1747 . . 13 Aug., 1747.. 26 June to 4 Aug. (a). 1754 27 George II . . 9 April. 1754 . . 31 May, 1754 .. 13 Apr. to 20 May {b)t 1761 1 George III 21 Mar.. 1761 .. 19 May, 1761 . . 25 Mar. to 5 May {c). 1768 8 George III 12 Mar., 1768 .. 10 May, 1768 .. 16 Mar. to 6 May (d). 1774 15 George III 1 Oct., 1774 . . 29 Nov., 1774 .. 5 Oct. to 10 Nov. (e). 1780 21 George III 2 Sept., 1780 . . 31 Oct., 1780 . . 6 Sept. to 18 Oct. if). (a) Inverness. Latest English election, Cornwall, 22 July. (b) Argyll. Latest English election, Appleby, 15 May. (c) Ross-shire. Latest English election, Ashburton, 20 April. (d) Orkney and Shetland. Latest English election, Colchester, 11 April. (ate. Probable No. of County Members. Probable No. of Counties represented. Probable No. of Borough Members. Probable No. of Boroughs represented. No. of University Members. No. of University Constituencies. Total No. of Members who may have been present. 1258 Q7 A U u 1 '54 104 1295 74 Q7 9') 1659 90 51 415 215 (s) 4 2 560 1660 90 51 413 213 {t) 4 2 507 {t) 1679 92 52 (m) 417 215 {u) 4 2 513 (w) 1708 122 82 432 230 (z;) 4 2 558 1801 186 114 467 263 [w) 5 3 658 1826 188 114 465 262 5 3 658 1832 253 143 399 257 6 4 658 1868 283 159 366 253 9 6 658 1885 377 372 284 263 9 6 670 1918 372 372 320 307 15 8 707 1922 300 298 303 291 12 7 615 (a) These are estimates, made by the Rev. A. B. Beaven, of the total number of boroughs then likely to be called upon, and to make returns. He assumed, incorrectly however, that the seven Cinque Ports made no returns before 1366. {b) It is now known that Romney was already sending Members to Parlia- ment in 1357, and it may be presumed that the rest of the Cinque Ports were doing so as well. (c) The 94 boroughs returning Members in 1421 and in 1437 were : — Beds., Bedford ; Berks., Reading and Wallingford ; Bucks., Wycombe ; Cambs., Cambridge ; Cornwall, Bodmin, Helston, Launceston (Dunheved), Liskeard, 115 Lostwithiel and Truro ; Cumberland, Carlisle ; Derbyshire, Derby ; Devon, Barnstaple, Dartmouth, Exeter, Plympton, Tavistock, Totnes ; Dorset, Bridport, Dorchester, Lyme, Melcombe Regis, Shaftesbury, Wareham and Weymouth ; Essex, Colchester and Maldon ; Gloucestershire, Bristol and Gloucester ; Hants., Portsmouth, Southampton and Winchester ; Hereford- shire, Hereford and Leominster ; Hunts., Huntingdon ; Kent, Canterbury and Rochester ; Leicestershire, Leicester ; Lincolnshire, Grimsby and Lincoln ; London and Middlesex, London (4) ; Norfolk, King's Lynn, Norwich and Great Yarmouth ; Northants, Northampton ; Northumberland, Newcastle ; Notts., Nottingham ; Oxon., Oxford ; Salop, Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury ; Somerset, Bath, Bridgwater, Taunton and Wells ; Staffs., Stafford and Newcastle ; Suffolk, Dunwich and Ipswich ; Surrey, Bletchingley, Guildford, Reigate and Southwark ; Sussex, Arundel, Chichester, East Grinstead, Horsham, Lewes, Midhurst and Shoreham ; Warwickshire, Warwick ; Westmorland, Appleby ; Wilts., Bedwin, Calne, Chippenham, Cricklade, Devizes, Ludgershall, Malmes- bury, Marlborough, Old Sarum, Salisbury and Wilton ; Worcestershire, Worcester ; Yorks., Hull, Scarborough and York ; Cinque Ports, Dover, Hastings, Hythe, Romney, Rye, Sandwich and Winchelsea. {d) Plymouth, which had not been represented since 1313, and Downton, which had not been represented since 1365, except in the Parliament of 1413, recommenced to return Members between 1439 and 1442. Windsor, which had not been represented since 1340, recommenced to return Members in 1442 (a). Hindon began to return Members in 1448-9, West bury in 1448-9, Heytesbury in 1449 and Gatton in 1450 {b). Coventry, which had not been represented since 1353, recommenced to return Members in 1453 [c). Poole began to return Members in 1453 {d). Bramber and Steyning, which had not been represented since 1399, recommenced to return Members in 1453. {e) Famham made an isolated return in 1460, but the three permanent new constituencies were Ludlow {e), which began to return Members in 1463, and Grantham (/) and Stamford {g) which began to return Members in 1463 or 1467, (/) Wenlock, which began to return one Member in 1470 or 1472 (A), was given a second Member at some date between 1478 and 1491. [g) Between 1492 and 1532 Buckingham, Newport by Launceston, Lancas- ter, Preston, Thetford, Berwick and Orford began to make regular returns. (A) In 1536 twenty-seven Members were added, by the Act 27 Hen. VIII c. 26, for Wales and Monmouthshire, twelve counties and thirteen boroughs each receiving one Member and the County of Monmouth two, and two Mem- bers were added, by the Act 27 Hen. VIII c. 63, for Calais. Possibly the representation of Liverpool and Wigan began at the same time. In 1542 four Members were added, by the Act 34 Hen. VIII c. 13, for the county and city of Chester. As near as present research can establish Liverpool and Wigan began to return Members regularly between 1532 and 1545, Wales and Monmouthshire between 1539 and 1542, Peterborough and Brackley between 1532 and 1552, Westminster in 1545, Hedon and Boston in 1547, the seven Cornish boroughs, Camelford, Grampound, Looe, Michael, Penryn, Saltash and Trevenna alias Bossiney between 1545 and 1552, Petersfield and Cirencester between 1547 and 1552 and Lichfield in 1547. (a) Charter granted, 19 May, 1439. (b) Privileges granted, 28 March, 1449. (c) Charter granted, 26 November, 1451 \d) Charter granted, 1 July, 1452. {e) Charter granted, 7 December, 1462. (/) Charter granted, 8 March, 1463. Xg) Charter granted, 12 February, 1462. (A) Charter granted, 29 November, 1469, 116 {i) This figure has been arrived at by including the Members for Woodstock and East Greenwich and excluding those for Maidstone and Cirencester, which made no returns during Mary's reign. Calais vanishes from the returns in this Parliament. Between 1552 and 1558 the following boroughs began to return regularly : — Maidstone and Thirsk in 1552-3, St. Albans, Morpeth, Woodstock, Borough- bridge, Knaresborough and Ripon in 1553, Aylesbury and Banbury in April, 1554, Droitwich in November, 1554, and Abingdon, St. Ives (Cornwall), Castle Rising, Higham Ferrers, East Greenwich and Aldborough (Yorks) in 1558. Banbury, Abingdon and Higham Ferrers returned one Member only, the others two. (;■) Between 1558 and 1571 the following boroughs began to return regularly: — Sudbury, Newton (Lanes.) and Clitheroe in 1559, Tregony, Minehead, Tam- worth and Beverley in 1559 or 1563, St. Germans, St. Mawes and Stockbridge in 1563, and Fowey, East Looe, Christchurch, Queenborough, East Retford, Aldeburgh (Suffolk) and Eye in 1571. Maidstone resumed sending Members to Parliament in 1559 or 1563, and Cirencester in 1571. East Greenwich was not represented after 1558. {k) Between 1571 and 1601 the following boroughs began to return regularly: — Corfe Castle in 1572, Callington, Beeralston, Lymington, Newport (Isle of Wight), Newtown (Isle of Wight), Yarmouth (Isle of Wight), Bishop's Castle, Haslemere and Richmond (Yorks) in 1584, WTiitchurch and Andover in 1584 or 1586, and Harwich in 1601. Weymouth and Melcombe Regis became one constituency returning four Members in 1572. (/) Between 1601 and 1625 Members were added for Bury St. Edmunds (in 1607), Tewkesbury (in 1610) and Tiverton (in 1621), and the following boroughs were restored : — Evesham (1604), Bewdley (1606), Pontefract (1621), Ilchester (1621), Amersham (1624), Wendover (1624), Great Marlow (1624) and Hertford (1624). (m) Between 1625 and 1641 the following boroughs were restored: — Milborne Port (1628), Weobley (1628), Ashburton (1640), Honiton (1640), Oakhampton (1640), Malton (1640), Northallerton (1640), Seaford (1640-1) and Cockermouth (1640-1). {n) Varying numbers were allotted to each English county including Monmouth, Chester and Durham. (o) The only borough represented in " Barebones " Parliament was London with seven Members. {p) The total was made up to 144 by 6 Members for Wales, 6 for Ireland and 5 for Scotland, with 5 General officers, of whom Cromwell himself was one, as supernumerary Members. (q) Varying numbers of Members were allotted to each English county, and two to each Welsh county, except Merioneth, which was given one Member. {r) The number was made up to 451 by the Members for Scotland and Ire- land, viz., Members for Scottish counties, 13 ; for Scottish burghs, 8 ; for Irish counties 23 ; and for Irish boroughs, 7. Both counties and boroughs were generally grouped. It was intended that Scotland, as well as Ireland, should have 30 Members, but " five sheriffdomes in Scotland returned that not one fit to be a Parliament man was to be found within their liberty" (Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 581). Browne Willis is, therefore, probably right in giving 21 Scottish Members in 1654. The defaulting sheriffdoms seem to have been (1) Ross, Sutherland and Cromarty; (2) Banff; (3) Aberdeen; (4) Ayr and Renfrew and (5) Roxburgh. (s) Richard Cromwell's Parliament reverted to the unreformed type except that Wisbeach and Swansea returned one Member each, and that Scotland and Ireland continued to return Members. {t) The composition of the Convention of 1660 was exactly the same as that of the House of Commons in 1641, and left out Wisbeach and Swansea. 117 (m) In 1673 Newark was granted a charter enabling it to return two burgesses to Parliament, and in 1675 four Members were added for the county and city of Durham by the Act 25 Car. II, c.9. The Members for the county were elected on 21 June, 1675 ; but, doubts having arisen as to who should order the election or be judge of the poll in the city, the Speaker was not ordered to issue a writ for the election of the burgesses for the city until 25 February, 1678 {Commons' Journals, Vol. 9, pp. 316, 337, 345). {v) The total number of burghs represented in the Scottish Parliament immediately before the Union was sixty-six. The Act of Union in 1707 fixed the Scottish burghal representation in the English Parliament at fifteen. The burghs were grouped as follows : — (1) Kirkwall, Wick, Dornoch, Dingwall, Tain. (2) Fbrtrose, Inverness, Nairn, Forres. (3) Elgin, Cullen, Banff, Inverury, Kintore. (4) Aberdeen, Inverbervie, Montrose, Aberbrothock, Brechin. (5) Forfar, Perth, Dundee, Cupar, St. Andrews. (6) Crail, Kilrenny, Anstruther Easter, Anstruther Wester, Pittenweem. (7) Dysart, Kirkcaldy, Kinghorn, Burntisland. (8) Inverkeithing, Dunfermline, Queensferry, Culross, Stirling, (9) Glasgow, Renfrew, Rutherglen, Dumbarton. (10) Haddington, Dunbar, North Berwick, Lauder, Jedburgh. (11) Selkirk, Peebles, Linlithgow, Lanark. (12) Wigtown, New Galloway, Stranraer, Whithorn. (13) Ayr, Irvine, Rothsay, Campbelltown, Inverary. (14) Dumfries, Sanquhar, Kirkcudbright, Annan, Lochmaben. (15) Edinburgh City. {w) During the 140 years immediately preceding the Union, 117 boroughs returned 234 Members to the Irish House of Commons. The Act of Union reduced the number of parliamentary boroughs to 33, Dublin and Cork with two Members each, the rest with one only. The boroughs were : — Ulster, Belfast, Carrickfergus, Lisburn, Armagh, Downpatrick, Newry, Enniskillen, Londonderry, Coleraine, Dungannon ; Leinster, Carlow, Dublin, Kilkenny, Drogheda, Dunkalk, Portarlington, Athlone, Wexford, New Ross ; Munster, Ennis, Cork, Kinsale, Mallow, Youghal, Bandon, Tralee, Limerick, Cashel, Clonmel, Waterford, Dungarvan ; Connaught, Galway, Sligo. {x) Grampound had been disfranchised in 1822 and two additional seats given to Yorkshire, making four for that county. LIST OF PARLIAMENTARY CITIES AND BOROUGHS WHOSE ARCHIVES HAVE BEEN DESCRIBED IN THE REPORTS OF THE HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS COMMISSION. APPENDIX VII. City or Borough. Abingdon Aldeburgh (Suffolk) . I, app., p. 98 ; II, app., pp. 149-150. XVII, pp. 124, 125. Var. Coll. Vol. IV, pp. 279-312. IX, app. I, pp. 203-216. HI, app. pp. 308-309 ; XVI, p. 93 ; Var. Coll. Vol. I, pp. 1-28. XVI, pp. 91-93, and one Vol. (1900). X, app. IV, pp. 399-407. X, app. IV, pp. 424-437. I, app., p. 99 ; III, app., pp. 310-320. Reference to Report. Barnstaple Berwick-on-Tweed Beverley Bishop's Castle . . Bridgnorth Bridgwater 118 City or Borough. Bridport Bury St. Edmunds Cambridge Canterbury- Carlisle . . Chester . . Coventry Dartmouth Dunwich. . Exeter . . Eye (Suffolk) Gloucester Grimsby, Great Hastings Hereford . . Hertford Higham Ferrers Hythe . . Ipswich . . Launceston Leicester. . Lincoln . . London . . Lostwithiel Lynn, King's Morpeth Newark-on-Trent Norwich Nottingham Orf ord . . Petersfield Plymouth Pontefract Reading . . Rochester Romney, New Rye St. Albans Salisbury Sandwich Shrewsbury Southampton Thetford Totnes . . Wallingford Wells . . Wenlock . . Weymouth and Melcombe Regis Winchester Wycombe, Chipping Yarmouth (Norfolk) York Reference to Report. VI, app., pp. 475-499. XIV, app., VIII, pp. 121-158. I, app., p. 99. IX, app. I, pp. 129-177. IX, app. I, pp. 197-203. VIII, app., pp. 355-403. I, app., pp. 100-102; XV, app., X, pp. 101-160. V, app., pp. 597-603. Var. Coll. Vol. VII, pp. 80-113. One Vol. (1916). X, app. IV, pp. 513-536. XII, app. IX, pp. 400-529. XIV, pp. 41-44, and app. VIII, pp. 237-291. XIII, app. IV, pp. 354-364. XIII, app. IV, pp. 283-353. XIV, app. VIII, pp. 158-164. XII, app. IX, pp. 530-537. IV, app. pp. 429-439. IX, app. I, pp. 222-262. VI, app. pp. 524-526. VIII, app., pp. 403-441. XIV, app. VIII, pp. 1-120. VIII, app., pp. 235-262. XVI, p. 101 ; Var. Coll. Vol. I, pp. 327-^37. XI, app. Ill, pp. 145-247. VI, app., pp. 526-538. XII, app. IX, p. 538. I, app., pp. 102-104. I, app., pp. 105-106. XVII, pp. 123, 124 ; Var. Coll. Vol. IV, pp. 255-278. X, p. 23. IX, app. I, pp. 262-284 ; X, app. IV, pp» 536-560. VIII, app., pp. 269-276. XI, app., VII. pp. 167-227. IX, app., I, pp. 286-289. IV, app., pp. 439-442 ; V, app., pp. 533- 554 ; VI, app., pp. 540-545. V, app., p. 488 ; XIII, app. IV. pp. 1-246. V, app., pp. 565-568. XVII, pp. 122-124; Var. Coll. Vol. IV, pp. 191-254. V, app., pp. 568-571. XV, app. X, pp. 1-65. XI, app. Ill, pp. 1-144. Var. Coll. Vol. VII, pp. 119-152. Ill, app., pp. 341-350. VI, app., pp. 572-595. I, app., pp. 106-108 ; III, app., p. 350. X, app. IV, pp. 420-424. V, app., pp. 575-590. VI, app., pp. 595-605. V, app., pp. 554-565. IX, app. I, pp. 299-324. I, app., pp. 108-110. 119 APPENDIX VIII. SUMMARY STATEMENT OF INFORMATION RELATIVE TO THE RECORDS OF BOROUGHS WHICH RETURNED BURGESSES TO PARLIAMENT BEFORE 1547, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO RECORDS LIKELY TO SUPPLY ADDITIONAL NAMES OF MEMBERS. Note, — Only such books as actually refer to the records are noticed. Appleby. Records only begin in 1610 {a). Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Transactions, 1891. ArundeL Corporation Minute Books from 1539 {a). Book of Proceedings of the Corporation of Arundel from the fifteenth Century {b). Caracksholi, Antiquities of Arundel (1766). Rev, M. A. Tierney, History and Antiquities of Arundel, 2 vols. (1834). R. Garraway Rice, in West Sussex Gazette, 12 February, 1914. G. W. Eustace, Arundel, Borough and Castle (1922). Barnstaple. Chamberlains' Accounts from 1390 ; Receivers' Accounts, 1460-1482 (c). J. B. Gribble, Memorials of Barnstaple, 1830. J. R. Chanter and Thomas Wainwright, Reprint of the Barnstaple Records (1900). J. R. Chanter, An Early Guild at Barnstaple, in Devonshire Association Transactions, Vol. XI, p. 191. A MS. Calendar compiled by Thomas Wainwright is in the Town Clerk's possession. Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 1. Bath. Chamberlains' Accounts from 1569 ; Minutes from 1613 ; Counterparts of Writs from 1572 {a). A. J. King and B. H. Watts, Municipal Records of Bath, 1189-1604, 1885. F. D. Wardle, Accounts of the Chamberlains of the City of Bath, 1568-1602, in Somerset Record Society Publications, Vol. 38 (1923). Bedford. Council Minutes from 1647 ; " Black Book " of 1563 (a). Minute Books ; " Black Book " ; Proceedings of the Leet Court {b). Schedule of Records of the Corporation of Bedford (1883). Schedule of Ancient Charters and Muniments of Bedford (1895). Bedwin, Great. Berwick. Guild Register 1505 and from 1509, possibly being Corporation Minutes (c). John Scott, Berwick-on-Tweed ; History of the Town and Guild (1888). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 1. {a) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. {b) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). (c) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. 120 Bletchingley. A. Uvedale Lambert, Parish History of Bletchingley (1921) (which shows no municipal or parliamentary records). Bodmin. The Records became rotten and had to be thrown away a few years ago {a)- Lyson's Magna Britannia. Royal Institution of Cornwall Journals, V. 356 (giving extracts from Corporation Records referring to Bodmin Priory). Sir John Maclean, Parochial and Family History of the Deanery of Trigg Minor, Vol. I (1873). 'Number of additional names obtained from Lyson's Magna Britannia : — 5. Brackley. No records of the sixteenth century (fc). A. Green, History of Brackley (1869). Bramber. Rev. James Dallaway, History of the Western Division of Sussex (1815) (quoting Bramber Corporation Records from the reign of Edward III, Account Books from 1577, and mentioning MSS. of Sir William Burrell in the British Museum). Bridgnorth. Chamberlains' Accounts from 1550, possibly earlier ; Great Leet Book and Minute Books from the reign of Henry VII [c). G. Bellet, Antiquities of Bridgnorth (1856). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 39, Bridgwater. Accounts 1390-1470 and possibly later ; Deeds (c). Borough Accounts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries {b). S. G. Jarman, History of Bridgwater (1889) (quoting Accounts from 47 Edward III to 22 Edward IV recording payments to Members). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 8. Bridport. Accounts from 1307 (not a complete series) (c). Records of Sessions Court, Court Leet, Court of Record, and Court of the Market, 1273-1646 {d), John Hutchins, History of Dorset, 3rd edition (1861-70). T. Wainwright, Bridport Records in Dorset Natural History and Field Club Proceedings. Number of additional names so far obtained from the borough records : — 2. Bristol. " Little Red Book," c. 1344; "Great Red Book," c. 1422; "White Book of Records," c. 1496 — all relating to town ordinances — "Great Orphan Book and Book of Wills," 1381-1595 ; " Mayors Calendar," 1479 {e). (a) Ex. inf. Mayor of Bodmin. {b) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. (c) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. {d) Third Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records (1919). {e) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). 121 Bristol — continued. W. Barrett, History of Bristol (1789). Rev. Samuel Seyer, Memorials, Historical and Topographical, of Bristol (1821-3). George Price, Popular History of Bristol (1861). Camden Society, The Maire of Bristowe is Kalendar (1872). F. B. Bickley, Calendar of Deeds relating to Bristol, 1207-1701 (1899). Rev. A. B. Beaven, Bristol Lists (1899). F. B. Bickley, Little Red Book of Bristol (1900). J. Latimer, Annals of Bristol, 17th to 19th centuries (1887-1900). Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society Transactions (1882-6). Number of additional names so far recovered from the city records : — 53. Buckingham. Charter of 1554, bailiffs and twelve burgesses to elect Members {a). Browne Willis, History and A ntiquities of the Town, Hundred and Deanery of Buckingham (1785). George Lipscomb, History and Antiquities of the County of Buckingham (1831-47). Calne. A. E. W. Marsh, History of the Borough and Town of Calne (1904). Cambridge. Corporation Accounts, 1483-7, 1489-95, 1499-1502, among the Borough records ; 151 1-1783 at Downing College. Francis Blomefield, Collectanea Cantabrigiensia (1750). C. H. Cooper, Annals of Cambridge, 4 vols. (1843) (containing extracts from the above accounts and also from accounts of 1422-37 which are not now extant). Mary Bateson, Cambridge Guild Records (1903). Dr. W. M. Palmer, Cambridge Borough Documents, Vol. I. (1931). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 14. Canterbury. Cofferers' Accounts, 1393-1660 ; Papers, Letters, Wills, from the fifteenth century onwards (6). William Somner, Antiquities of Canterbury (1703). Edward Hasted, History of the Ancient and Metropolitical City of Canterbury (1801). H. R. Plomer, Short Account of the Records of Canterbury (1892). I. J. Churchill, Handbook of Kent Records, II, p. 132. Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 62. Cardiff. Council Minutes ; Miscellaneous Papers at Cardiff Free Library (c). J. Hobson Mathews, Cardiff Records, 6 Vcls. (1898-1911). Carlisle. Chamberlains' Accounts from 1603 onwards (6). Samuel Jefferson, History and Antiquities of Carlisle (1838). Some Municipal Records of the City of Carlisle, in Cumberland and West- morland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Transactions (1887). (a) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. (6) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. (c) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). 122 Chester. Minutes from 1393 (imperfect) ; Treasurers' Accounts from 1547 ; Assembly Books from 1539 {a). George Ormerod, History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, edited by T. Helsby (1882) 3 vols. G. L. Fenwick, History of the Ancient City of Chester, 1896. Chichester. Minute Books from 1685 ; Records of Trade Guilds and Courts Leet (fe). Records of Quarter Sessions and various Trade Guilds (c). Quarter Sessions Records and admissions to Trade Guilds {d). Alexander Hay, History of Chichester (1809). Chippenham. Borough Registers from 1598 {e). F. H. Goldney, Records of Chippenham (1889) (mentioning Accounts from 1603 ; Minutes from 1597 ; other Records from 1554). A MS. List of Records is kept by the Town Clerk {b). Colchester. Corporation Accounts ; Rolls of the Borough Court of Record ; Minutes of Council; Account Books [b). Henry Harrod, Report on Records of Colchester (1865). Henry Harrod, Repertory of Records and Evidences of Colchester (1865). Henry Harrod, Calendar of Court Rolls of Colchester, 13 11-1630 (1865). W. Gurney Benham, Red Paper Book (1902). I. H. Jeayes, Court Rolls of Colchester (1921). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 20, Coventry. Accounts from 1498; Leet Books from 1421 [a) and (/). Court Books, 1585-1824 (c). J. Fetherston, Select Lists of Charters and Evidence belonging to the Corporation of Coventry ( 1 87 1 ) . British Archaeological Journal, Vol. XVI, Part ii, p. 65. J. C. Jeaffreson, a printed catalogue of Records. Early English Text Society, Leet Book of Coventry, 1421-1554. T. R. Whitley, Parliamentary Representation of the City of Coventry (1894). Number of additional names so far recovered from the city records ' — 9. Cricklade. Nothing but a few transcripts of Charters {e). Dartmouth. Voluminous records ; Minutes from 1485 {a). Accounts ; Minute Books ; Borough Court Books ; Deeds {b). A written list of Records is kept by the Town Clerk. The Borough Accounts from 1439 are being transcribed by H. R. Watkins. Devonshire Association Transactions, Vols. 43, 44, 45 and 46. (a) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. (b) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). (c) Third Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records (1919), (d) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. (e) General Report of the Commissioners on the Public Records (1837). (/) No references to the payment of Members have been found in the Accounts, ex. inf. Miss Dormer Harris. 123 Derby. Fire in 1841 destroyed many records. Records of the Court of Record (Eliz.— 1828) survive (a). William Hutton, History and Antiquities of Derby (1791). Robert Simpson, Collection of Fragments Illustrative of the History of Derby (1826). John Pym Yeatman, Feudal History of the County of Derby (1886). Derbyshire Archaeological Society Journal, Vol. 26, p. 173. Devizes. Records from 1555 to 1835 {b). J. Waylen, Chronicles of the Devizes (1839). B. H. Cunnington, Annals of Devizes (1925). Dorchester. Deeds, Minutes, Account Books (c). Domesday Register of Deeds, 1413-1700 ; Accounts, 1554-67 (b). John Hutchins, History of Dorset, 3rd edition (1861-70). C. H. Mayo and A. W. Gould, Municipal Records of Dorchester (1908). H. J. Moule, List of Dorchester Records (1883). E. A. and G. S. Fry, Dorset Records (1894). Dover. Register of Fines of land levied in the borough from 1516 onwards {d). Accounts and Minutes at British Museum, Egerton and Additional MSS. These include Chamberlains' Accounts from 1381 (a). Written Book of Transcripts of Charters, Deeds, etc., is kept by the Town Clerk (c). Archaeologia Cantiana, Vol. 10, cxxxiv— cl. British Archaeological Association Journal, Vol. 40, p. 1. Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 4 1 . Downton. Sir R. C. Hoare, Modern History of South Wiltshire (1822-43), Vol. Ill, pt. II. Dunwich. Minutes from 1595 ; a small book of the fifteenth century " showed that the right of voting for burgesses in Parliament was in all who paid scot and lot ". " Sir Robert Kemp, the former proprietor, took away many of the town records which subsequently came into the hands of Mr. Davy", {d). Minutes from 1595 {e). Thomas Gardner, Historical Account of Dunwich (1754). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 2. Exeter. Act Books (i.e. Minutes) from 1508 ; Receivers' Accounts from 1306 {e), George Oliver, History of Exeter (1861). W. Cotton and H. Woollcombe, Gleanings from the Municipal and Cathedral Records of Exeter [ISll). Stuart A. Moore, Complete Catalogue of the Exeter Records (1900). British Archaeological Association Journal, Vol. 18, p. 306. Devonshire Association Transactions, Vols. 44 and 46 for Act Books of the City of Exeter, and Vols. 59-62 for biographies of the Exeter Members, by J. J. Alexander. Number of additional names so far recovered from the city records : — 59. {a) Third Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records (1919). (fc) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. \c) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). {d) General Report of the Commissioners on Public Records (1837). \e) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. 124 Gatton. Gloucester. Stewards' Accounts from 1409 ; Minutes from 1486 ; Burgess Fine and Rent Rolls {a). Minute Books from 1565 ; one volume of Memoranda 1486-1600 ; Chamberlains' Accounts from 1550 {b). Rev. Thomas D. Fosbrooke, Original History of City of Gloucester (1819). Samuel Rudder, History and Antiquities of Gloucester (1781). W. H. Stevenson, Calendar of the Records of the Corporation of Gloucester (1893). Grantham. Corporation Court Books from 1633 and other Records (c). Edmund Turner, Collections for the History of Grantham (1806). Thomas Blore, History and Antiquities of the County of Rutland (1841). Grimsby. Chamberlains' Accounts 1395, and temp. Henry VIII ; Court Books, (Minutes, etc.) from 1453 ; Election indentures of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries {a). Chamberlains' Accounts and Election Returns {d). George Oliver, Monumental Antiquities of Great Grimsby (1825). George Shaw, Old Grimsby (1897). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 25. Grinstead, East. Only Court Books of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, showing burgage transfers (c) . At the Public Record Office are the Manorial Court Rolls of East Grin- stead (as being a Duchy of Lancaster town) 15-30 Elizabeth, and Manorial Ministers Accounts, 4 Richard II onward. Wallace Henry Hills, History of East Grinstead (1906). Guildford. A book of 1596 contains extracts from a " Black Book " which mentioned elections of officers and expenditure 1350-1500 (c). History and Description of Guildford (1801). D. M. Stevens, Records and Plate of the Borough of Guildford in Surrey Archaeological Collections, Vol. IX, p. 317 (mentioning Books of Account from 5 Henry VIII, and a MS. Book of 1596, which gives extracts from the " Black Book ", Edward III to Henry VII, now lost). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 2. Hastings. Minutes or Hundred Court Books go back to 1595 (a). Doubtful list of Members in Town Hall. W. G. Moss, History and A ntiquities of the Town and Port of Hastings (1824). Sussex Archaeological Collections, Vol. XIV, p. 65. Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 36. Helston. No records before the nineteenth century {e). Complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, Vol. II (1868). (a) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. {b) Ex. inf. Mr. Roland Austin. (c) General Report of the Commissioners on Public Records (1837). (d) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). {e) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. 125 Hereford. Accounts from the thirteenth century ; Corporation Regulations from 1500 {a). Municipal Records in British Archaeological Association Journal, Vol. XXVII, p. 463. Index by Rev. William Dunne Macray (1894) (not so full as the account in the Historical Manuscripts Commission's Report). John Price, An Historical Account of the City of Hereford (1796). John Duncumb, Collections towards the History of the County of Hereford (1804). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 5. Hesrtesbury. Sir R. C. Hoare, Modern History of South Wiltshire, 1822-43, Vol. I, Part II. Hindon. Sir R. C. Hoare, Modern History of South Wiltshire, 1822-43, Vol. I. Horsham. Nothing before 1689 (6). W. Albery, Parliamentary History of Horsham (1927). HnU. Chamberlains' Accounts from 1346 ; Quarter Sessions Records 1440- 1553; Deeds, Wills, Letters from the fourteenth century ; Bench Books or Registers from 1342 [c) Very many records from the thirteenth century [d). George Hadley, New and Complete History of Kingston-upon-Hull (1788). Charles Frost, Notices relevant to the Early History of the Town and Port of Hull (1827). J. J. Sheahan, History of Hull (1864). T. Tindall Wildridge, Hull Letters, 1625-1646 (1884). Number of additional names recovered from the borough records : — 5 1 . (Names supplied by the Town Clerk.) Huntingdon. Borough records lost {e). Huntingdon MSS. at the British Museum. Edward Griffith, Collection of Ancient Records relating to the Borough of Huntingdon (1827) (giving extracts from Court Rolls and Books of the Borough from 1364). Hythe. Accounts and Jurats' Books from fifteenth century ; Assembly Books from 1580 {a). Kent Records, Vol. II, p. 138 (mentioning Town Accounts, temp. Henry VII, and Court Books from fifteenth century). George Wilkes, Barons of the Cinque Ports and the Parliamentary Repre- sentation of the Borough of Hythe (1892). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 27. {a) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. {b) General Report of the Commissioners on Public Records (1837). [c) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). \d) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. [e) Ex. inf. Mr. Granville Proby. 126 Ipswich. Chamberlains' Accounts from 1554 ; Minutes 1574-1820 ; Court Rolls 1280-1483 (a). Nathaniel Bacon, Annals of Ipswich (1654), edited by W. H. Richardson (1894). (Bacon made use of records which have since vanished.) Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 37. Lancaster. Minute Books from 1661 ; Court Books (b). No records of the 16th century {c). R. Simpson, History of Lancaster (1852). J. Brownbill, Calendar of Charters and Records of the Corporation of Lancaster (1929). W. O. Roper, Materials for the History of Lancaster, in Chetham Society Publications, New Series, Vols. 61, 62. Launceston. Ancient deeds; Court Book, 1566 ; Rent Roll, 1578 [a). R. and O. B. Peter, Histories of Launceston and Dunheved (1885). (The authors made use of some Accounts.) Alfred F. Robins, Launceston, Past and Present (1884). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 11. Leicester. Chamberlains' Accounts from 1524 ; Hall Books from 1477 ; Mayors' Accounts from 1310-1 ; Letters 1584-1750 {a). J. Thompson, History of Leicester (1849). Mary Bateson, Records of the Borough of Leicester (1899-1905). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 24. Leominster. Records go back to Queen Mary's time and possibly earlier. " A number of records also in private hands, especially those of J. H. Arkwright, Esq., of Hampton Court, Leominster " (b). John Price, Historical and Topographical Account of Leominster (1795). G. F. Townsend, Town and Borough of Leominster (1863), (quoting from Accounts from 1554 and Parochial Registers from 1560). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 1. Lewes. Old Borough Books from 1545 {d). Town Records date back to 1542 (c). T. W. Horsfield, History and Antiquities of Lewes, 2 Vols. (1824 and 1827) and Supplement (1832). Ancient Merchant Guild of Lewes in Sussex Archaeological Collections, Vol. XXI, p. 90. Lincoln. Registers from 1421, complete from 1511 ; Chamberlains' Accounts from 1686 ; the Dean and Chapter have lists of Mayors and Bailiffs from 1314 {a). The " Whyte Book " mentions Members of Parliament, part printed in the Historical Manuscripts Commission Report, part in Ross's History [c). John Ross, Civitas Lincolnie (1870). Rev. William D. Macray, Lincoln Records. W. de Gray Birch, A printed Catalogue of Charters and other Documents of the Corporation of Lincoln (1906). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 7. {a) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. {b) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). {c) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. \d) Third Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records (1919). 127 Liskeard. Old Account books of the Corporation (a). John Allen, History of Liskeard (1856). Liverpool. Proceedings of the Council from 1551 (a). Sir J. A. Picton, Municipal Archives and Records (1883). Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society Transactions, New Ser., Vol. XIII, p. 71. Liverpool Town Books, Vol. I, 1550-71, edited by J. A. Twemlow (1918). mdon. Letter Books from 1296 ; Pleas and Memoranda from 1328 ; Journals from 1419. W. D. Pink, Members of Parliament for London, 1419-1533, English MS. 326 at the John Rylands Library. W. Maitland, History of London (1756). John Noorthouck, New History of London, including Westminster and Southwark (1773). R. R. Sharpe, London and the Kingdom (1894-95). Rev. A. B. Beaven, Aldermen of London, 2 Vols. (1908-13). C. L. Kingsford, Chronicles of London. Number of additional names so far recovered from the city records : — 256. >stwithiel. Court Leet Book from 1631 ; Court of Record Book from 1637 [b). Minutes ; Leet Court Records ; Records of Elections {a) . Complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, Vol. Ill (1870) iUdgershall. Sir R. C. Hoare, Modern History of Wiltshire (1822-43), Vol. II. iitidlow. Accounts from 1531 ; Minutes from 1590 ; Wills from 1304 ; Court of Record Papers; Deeds from 1283; Palmers' Guild papers from 1288 {a). R. H. Clive, Documents connected with the History of Ludlow (1841). Thomas Wright, History of Ludlow (1852). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 8. le Regis. Minutes; Court Leet and Court of Hustings proceedings. There is a written catalogue {a). George Roberts, History and Antiquities of Lyme Regis (1834). C. Wanklyn, Lyme Regis, A Retrospect (1927). King's. " Red Book " from 1345 ; Assembly Books from 2 Henry VI (6). H. Le Strange, Norfolk Official Lists (1890). Henry Harrod, Report of the Deeds and Records of King's Lynn (1874). Archaeologia, Vol. XXIV, p. 317. English Historical Review, Vol. XLII, p. 583. Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 78. (a) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). (6) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. 128 Maidstone. Minutes ; Burghmote Books {e) . Chamberlains' Accounts, 1562-1803 ; Burghmote Proceedings, 1561- 1835(a). In the Public Library are the Lambert-Larking collections in 23 folio vols. ; also the Clement Taylor Smith collection, being materials for a History of Maidstone, including electioneering and poll books. K. S. Martin, Records of Maidstone (1926). Kent Records, Vol. II, p. 141. Maldon. Book of Entries from 1380 ; Chamberlains' Accounts from the reign of Richard II ; Water Bailiffs' Accounts ; Court Rolls ; Indentures of Elections of Members ; Poll Books ; Lists of Freemen ; Court Books from 1384 {b) and (c). P. Morant, History of Essex (1768). Malmesbury. Only two old Note Books of the eighteenth century {d). Marlborough. James Waylen, History of Marlborough (1854), quoting Accounts from 1553 and Court Books [incomplete], from 17 Henry VII. Wiltshire Magazine, Vol. XXXIII, p. 423. Melcombe Regis. {See Weymouth.) Midhurst. T. W. Horsfield, History, Antiquities and Topography of the County of Sussex (1835). Monmouth. Hundred Court Books of 1449, 1545-49, 1549-50 and 1585-89, dealing inter alia with elections of mayors, bailiffs and burgesses (6). Council Minute Books {e). Hundred Court Books from the end of the fifteenth century; Council Minute Books from 1690 (/). Newcastle-on-Tyne. Council Minutes and Accounts from about 1640 {e). John Brand, History and Antiquities of Newcastle (1789). (The author found much unpublished material.) John E. Blackett, Abstract of Records of Newcastle (in MS.). Records of Merchants Adventurers of Newcastle, in Surtees Society Publications, Vols. 93 and 101. G. B. Richardson, Extracts from the Municipal Accounts of Newcastle-upon- Tyne (1849). Newcastle-under-Lyme. Assembly Books from 1386 ; Quarter Sessions Records from 1664 (6). Thomas Pape, Mediaeval Newcastle-under-Lyme (1927). Newport by Launce^ton. {a) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. (6) General Report of the Commissioners on Public Records (1837). (c) A number of elections of Members of Parliament are recorded in the Court Books; ex. inf. Miss L. J. Redstone. {d) Ex. inf. Sir Richard Luce. {e) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). (/) Third Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records (1919). 129 Northampton. Accounts ; Minute Books ; Election Returns {a) . J, Freeman, History of the Town of Northampton (1817). C. A. Markham and Rev. J. C. Cox, Records of the Borough of Northampton (1898). Northants Notes and Queries, Vols. I, IV, V. Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 4. Norwich. Accounts from 1344 ; Assembly Minutes from 1365 ; Court Rolls from 1285 [b). Accounts ; Assembly and Judicial Records ; Records in collection of J. J. Colman at Carrow Abbey [a). Rev. W. Hudson and J. C. Tingey, Records of the City of Norwich (1906-10). H. Le Strange, Norfolk Official Lists (1890). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 58. Nottingham. Accounts from 1460 ; Hall Books 1500-1620 {b). Accounts ; Council Minutes from Edward IV, calendared by Stuart A. Moore in 1877 {a). Court and Session Rolls [c). Blackner, History of Nottingham (1815). W. H. Stevenson, Records of Borough of Nottingham, a series of extracts from the Archives, 1155-1625, 4 Vols. (1882-9). (The Author gives extracts from Accounts for 1463-4, 1484-5, 1485-6, 1493-4, 1495-6, 1499-1500, 1503-4, 1529-30, and from Mayoralty Rolls or Minute Books from 1407.) Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 8. Orford. Acts of the Bailiffs and Corporation from 1574 ; indentures of elections of Members from 1553 [b). Augustine Page, A Supplement to the Suffolk Traveller (1844). Oxford. " Fairly complete Council Minutes from 1530 ; Hustings Court and Mayor's Court Rolls ; enrolment of leases of Borough property " {c). W. H. Turner, Selections from the Records of the City of Oxford, 1509-83 (1800). J. E. Thorold Rogers, Oxford City Documents in Oxford Historical Society Publications, Vol. 18 (1891). Oxford Council Acts, 1583-1626, in Oxford Historical Society Publications, Vol. 87 (1928). Falconer Madan, Rough List of MS. Material relating to the History of Oxford (1892). Rev. H. E. Salter, Munimenta Civitatis Oxonie, 1920, in Oxford Historical Society Publications, Vol. 71 (stating that Brian Twyne, in 1623-4, made extracts from the Chamberlains' Rolls, 1306-1551, all of which have since perished). Rev. H. E. Salter, Liber Albus Civitatis Oxoniensis, being an Abstract of Wills entered in the " White Book " of Oxford, 1320-1580. Anthony a Wood, Survey of the Antiquities of the City of Oxford, edited by Andrew Clark, M.A., 3 Vols, in Oxford Historical Society Publications (1889-99). (a) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). {b) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report, (c) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. (9921) E 130 Peterborough. No records before 1550 are in the possession of the Town Clerk {a). Early Guild Records, Richard II-Henry VII, still exist, ex. inf. Hubert Hall. Plymouth. " Black Book," 1482-92 ; Receivers' Accounts, 1490-1560 {b). Charter of 18 Henry VI ; nothing noteworthy before Elizabeth (c). Ancient books of Record ; Receivers' and General Accounts and Deeds {d). R. N. Worth, Men and Manners in Tudor Plymouth in Devonshire Association Transactions, Vol. 14. (Quoting a missing volume of Receivers' Accounts, giving Members' wages, from the Moorshed MS. at Widey Court.) R. N. Worth, Men and Manners in Stuart Plymouth, in Devonshire Association Transactions, Vol. 15 (quoting from Accounts). R. N. Worth, Some Notes on the Early Municipal History of Plymouth, in Devonshire Association Transactions, Vol. 16. W. K. Willcocks, Devon Men at the Inner Temple, 1547-1660, in Devonshire Association Transactions, Vol. 17. British Archaeological Association Journal, Vol. 39, p. 110. R. N. Worth, History of Plymouth from the earliest times (1890). R. N. Worth, Calendar of Plymouth Municipal Records (1893). Number of additional names so far recovered from the city records : — 24. Plympton. J. Brooking Rowe, The Charters and Parliamentary Representation of Plympton in Devonshire Association Transactions, Vol. 19 (1887) p. 555 (stating that the Records were then in the charge of the Solicitor of the last Recorder). Number of additional names so far recovered : — 1. Poole. Admiralty Court Records, 1515-1834 {e). John Sydenham, History of the Town of Poole (1830). (In this it is stated that most of the records before Elizabeth's reign are lost.) J. Hutchins, History of Dorset (1861), Vol. I, p. 58. Number of additional names so far recovered : — 12. Portsmouth. Very few documents earlier than the reign of Charles II {c). Luke Allen, History of Portsmouth (1817). Robert East, Extracts from the Records of the Corporation of Portsmouth (1884). Preston. Burgess Guild Rolls, 1397, 1415, 1459, 1542 and thereafter every 20 years. (c) Most of the Corporation Minutes and Accounts before the 18th century are missing {e). W. Dobson, Parliamentary Representation of Preston, 1750-1850 (1856). Charles Hard wick, History of the Borough of Preston (1857). John Addison, Extracts from Ancient Documents and Archaeology of Preston (1842). W. Alexander Abram, Roll of Burgesses of Preston from 1387 in Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society Transactions, Vol. IX (1884). Anthony Hewetson, Court Leet Records from 1653 (1905). H. W. Clemensha, History of Preston in Amounderness (1912). H . W. Clemensha, A Bibliography of the History of Preston in Amounderness (1923). [a) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. {b) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. [c) General Report of the Commissioners on Public Records (1837). {d) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). {e) Third Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records (1919). 131 Reading. Accounts, imperfect, from Edward I ; Diaries (i.e. Minutes) from 1432 (a). J, M. Guilding, Reading Records, Diary of the Corporation, 1341-1654, 4 Vols. (1892). C. Coates, History of Reading (1910). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 44. Reigate. No ancient borough records (6) . Victoria County History, Surrey, Vol. Ill, p. 233. Rochester. Kent Records, Vol. II, p. 143 (mentioning Mayors' Accounts from 1460 and Chamberlains' Accounts). Joseph Burtt, Archives of Rochester in Archaeologia Cantiana, Vol. VI (giving extracts from accounts from 1460). W. B. Rye, Collections for the History of Rochester (in the Book Depart- ment of the British Museum). [W. Shrubsole and S. Denne], History and Antiquities of Rochester (1889). Romney. Accounts from 1379, giving all wages and expenses of Members {a). Archaeologia Cantiana, Vol. XIII. Edward Salisbury, Report on the Records of Romney in Archaeologia Cantiana, Vol. XVII, p. 12 (giving extracts from Assessment Books with wage payments from 3 Richard II). Kent Records, Vol. II, p. 139 (mentioning Court Books from 1520, Assess- ment Books from 1379, and Chamberlains' Accounts from 1528). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 69. Rye. Accounts (incomplete) from 1448, giving wages of Members {a). William Hollo way, History and Antiquities of Rye (1847). Sussex Archaeological Collections, Vol. XXXIX, p. 1. Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 18. lisbury. Ledgers or Minute Books from Richard II ; Chamberlains' Accounts from the 15th century [a). Complete set of Corporation Accounts and Corporation Books from 11 Richard II (c). Robert Benson and Henry Hatcher, History of Modern Wiltshire, Old and New Sarum, 1843. H. J. F. Swayne, Gleanings from Salisbury Archives, in Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 14 July, 1883, and 24 May, 1884. Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 53. Sandwich. Accounts ; Minute Books, 1432-1828, recording elections of Members from 1432 (a). Minute Books, 1432-1730 ; three miscellaneous books of letters, certifi- cates, petitions, reports, etc., marked K., Q. and R. William Boys, Collections for a History of Sandwich (1792). Kent Records, Vol. II, p. 139. Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 58. Id Sarum. (a) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. [b] General Report of the Commissioners on Public Records (1837). \c) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. (9921) 132 Scarborough. Lists of the nineteen Guilds ; 18 books oi elections and corporate proceed- ings from Edward IV, very imperfect ; records of Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions from the fifteenth century in 15 unbound books (a). Charters, Records and Vellum Books {b). Thomas Hinderwell, History and Antiquities of Scarborough (1798, 1811 and 1832). J. B. Baker, History of Scarborough (1882). Arthur Rowntree, History of Scarborough (1931). Shaftesbury. Municipal Records of unspecified date (c). J. Hutchins, History of Dorset, 3rd edition (1861-73) (giving extracts from the Accounts and Court Rolls). C. H. Mayo, Municipal Records of Shaftesbury (1889) mentioning Court Rolls from 25 Henry VI. Shoreham. T. W. Horsfield, History, Antiquities and Topography of the County of Sussex (1835). Shrewsbury. Minutes from the fourteenth century ; Bailiffs' Accounts from 1256 ; Guild Merchant Roll from 1553, including notices of elections {d). Subsidy Rolls ; Registers ; Bailiffs' Accounts ; Court Rolls (c). Hugh Owen and J. B. Blakeway, History of Shrewsbury (1825). W. A. Leighton, Early Chronicles of Shrewsbury (1880). Calendar of the Muniments of Shrewsbury (1896). Shropshire Notes and Queries, Series 2, Vol. Ill, p. 92 (quoting Municipal books from 13 Richard II). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 5 1 . Southampton. Brokerage Books from 1440; Stewards' Accounts 1432-1699; Book of Remembrances, 1418-1601; "Black Book" (Deeds, Wills, etc.) from 1392 ; Entry of Burgessess, 1496-1704 (giving population in 1596 at 4,200) ; Journal of Corporation Proceedings, 1602-1734 (a). Mayors' payments 1535-1782 ; Town Court Books from 1482 ; Liber de Finibus, 1489-1593 {d). Rev. J. S. Davies, History of Southampton, partly from Speed's MSS,, 1883. A. B. Wallis-Chapman, Black Book of Southampton, 1388-1620, in Southampton Record Society Publications, 1912-15. R. C. Anderson, Letters of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries from the Archives of Southampton, in Southampton Record Society Publications for 1921. Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 16. Southwark. Any records in existence should be in the custody of the City Corporation (^). None known to be extant (/). Number of additional names so far recovered : — 1. (a) General Report of the Commissioners on Public Records (1837). A full catalogue is given on pp. 483-495 of the Report. {b) Third Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records (1919). (c) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). {d) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. {e) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. (/) Ex. inf. Miss Winifred Jay. 133 Stafford. No records before seventeenth century. William Worswick, Annals of Stafford (c. 1600) in MS. at the William Salt Library at Stafford. Number of additional names so far recovered : — 3. Stamford. Minute Books {a). J. Drakard, History of Stamford (1822). George Burton, Chronology of Stamford (1846). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 33. Steyning. T. W. Horsfield, History, Antiquities and Topography of the County of Sussex (1835). Taunton. Town records believed to be among the records of the manor of TauntoH Deane in Taunton Castle (6). No records prior to 1832 in the Town Clerk's custody (a). Somerset Archaeological Society Proceedings, 1898, p. li. Tavistock. R. N. Worth, Municipal Life in Tavistock in Devonshire Association Transactions, Vol. 21, p. 305. Western Antiquary, Vol. VI, p. 8, etc. Notes and Gleanings from Devon and Cornwall, Vol. 4. R. N. Worth, Calendar of Tavistock Parish Registers (1887). Thetford. Minute Books from 157 1 . No Corporation records earlier than Elizabeth's reign (c). Thomas Martin, History of the Town of Thetford (1779). H. Le Strange, Norfolk Official Lists (1890). Francis Blomefield, History of the Ancient City and Borough of Thetford (1739). Totnes. A vast mass of documents in the Corporation chest so old as not to be made out {d). Guild Rolls from 1260 ; Mayors' Court Rolls from 1406 ; a number of unarranged documents including some fifteenth century minutes (c). Guild Merchant Rolls ; Rolls of the Mayor's Court ; Accounts ; Letters {e). Devonshire Association Transactions, Vols. 6, 12, 32-34, 36-38, 40. Truro. Minute Books and many ancient documents {e). Complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, Vol. IV (1872). Wallingford. Accounts from very early times ; Burghmote Rolls from 1232 (c). J. K. Hedges, History of Wallingford (1881). (In Vol. II, p. 76, a Ledger Book and a Statute Book from the early sixteenth century are mentioned.) {a) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. (ft) Third Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records (1919). {c) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. {d) General Report of the Commissioners on Public Records (1837). {e) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). 134 Wareham. Ancient records lost ; " Great Black Book " (Henry IV-Elizabeth) was destroyed or secreted by a former Town Steward (a). John Hutchins, History of Dorset. 3rd Edition (1861-70). Warwick. " Black Book " (1555-1601) records elections of Members. It was written by John Fisher, Town Clerk and Member for the borough, 1572-84 {a). Corporation Minutes in " Black Book", 1580-88 (6). Minute Books and Accounts. MS. Index at the Court House, Warwick (c). T. Kemp, Municipal Archives of Warwick in British Archaeological Journal, Series 2, Vol. XVI, pp. 79-85. T. Kemp, The Black Book of Warwick (1898). Warwick Field Club Proceedings, 1896, pp. 1-14. Wells. Convocation Books (i.e. Minutes) from 1382 ; " all the elections of M.P.'s. are given " {d). Thomas Serel, Lecture on the Mayors of Wells from 1317 (quoting from Corporation Books from 1378). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 23. Wenlock. Three Ledgers {a). Ledger (containing inter alia Bailiffs' Accounts) going back to 8 Edward IV, and a few ancient deeds {d). One record book going back to 1465, but containing nothing which bears on parliamentary representation [e). H. F. J. Vaughan, Wenlock Corporation Records in Shropshire Archaeo- logical Society Transactions, Series 2, Vol. VI, p. 223. (Containing extracts from the Ledger with genealogical notes.) Westbury. Nothing {a). Sir R. C. Hoare, Modern History of South Wiltshire, Vol. III. Part I (1830). Westminster. John Noorthouck, A New History of London, including Westminster and Southwark (1773). J. E. Smith and W. Parkinson Smith, Parliamentary Representation of Westminster (MS. at Westminster Public Library, Buckingham Palace Road). Weymouth. Nothing before the union of the towns of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis {a). Among the MSS. of Mr. James Sherren are miscellaneous papers, accounts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and minutes from 1568 [d). G. A. Ellis, History and Antiquities of Weymouth amd Melcombe Regis 1829). H. J. Moule, Descriptive Catalogue of the Records of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (1883), (quoting Journals from 1567 and Accounts from 1546 and Letters). (a) General Report of the Commissioners on Public Records (1837). (6) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). (c) Third Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records (1919). {d) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. [e) Ex. inf. H. T. Weyman. 135 Wigan. Deeds, records and surveys {b). D. Sinclair, History of Wigan (1882). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 2. Wilton. Corporation Ledgers from 1454 [a). H. J. F. Swayne, Wilton Corporation Ledgers from 1463 in Salisbury and Winchester Journal, 21 Oct., 1882 and 28 July, 1883. Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 6. Winchelsea. No records in the Town Clerk's possession. W. D. Cooper, History of Winchelsea (1850). Number of additional names so far recovered : — 16. Winchester. Chamberlains' Accounts from 1421 {b). Many Chamberlains' Accounts (a). Rev. John Milner, History and Survey of the Antiquities of Winchester (1798-1801). C. Bailey, Transcripts from the Municipal Archives of Winchester (1856). W. H. B. Bird, Black Book of Winchester (Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 6036), covering the period 2 Hen. IV to 5 Ed. VI (1925). Number of additional names so far recovered : — 14. Windsor. The Dean of Windsor, reporting on the Municipal Records, says " several references made to them in Tighe and Davis's Annals of Windsor, are sufficient to show that they are valuable and important " {a). R. R. Tighe and J. E. Davis, Annals of Windsor (1858) (mentioning accounts from Henry VIII and referring to Ashmole's collection). Number of additional names so far recovered : — 15. Wootton Basset. Three books of records dating from 1754 [a). Worcester. Enrolment of Wills, 1558-1652 ; Minutes from 1540 ; Chamberlains' Accounts from the reign of Elizabeth ; Guild Merchant Ordinances, 1466 and 1497 ; Records of Court of Pleas from the time of Henry VIII (c). " A few books and documents " (a). " Some records are in the Victoria Institute, and there is a catalogue of the records, published by Richard Woof in 1874 " {d). " Minutes Books going back many years " {e). Valentine Green, Survey of the City of Worcester (1764) (containing extracts from the Minutes). Wycombe, Chipping. Ledger Books from 1475, containing charters, inventories, orders, etc., from thirteenth century [b). John Parker, Early History and Antiquities of Wycombe (1878). (a) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). {b) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. (c) General Report of the Commissioners on Public Records (1837). [d) Third Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records (1919). {e) Ex. inf. Town Clerk. (9921) E** 136 Yarmouth, Great. Chamberlains' Accounts from 1488, but many stolen or lost since Man- ship's time. Assembly Books from 1550 {a). Henry Swinden, History and Antiquities of the Ancient Burgh of Great Yarmouth (1772). Henry Harrod, in Norfolk Archaeology, Vol. IV, pp. 239-66 (1852) (giving " Hutch " Books and Proceedings from 1541, and stating that many accounts and rolls printed by Swinden are not now to be found). Manship's History of Great Yarmouth (edition, C. J. Palmer, 1854). Henry Harrod, Repertory of Deeds and Documents relating to Great Yarmouth (1855). C. J. Palmer, History of Great Yarmouth (1856) (a continuation of Manship), C. J. Palmer, Perlustration of Great Yarmouth, etc. (1872-75). H. Le Strange, Norfolk Official Lists (1890). Number of additional names so far recovered from the borough records : — 13. York. Book of Accounts, 1449-1477 ; House Books (i.e. Minutes) from 1476 (a)» House Books from 1476 ; Chamberlains' Accounts from 1398, incomplete ; wills, deeds, original letters {b). Charters ; Freemen's Rolls, Chamberlains' Rolls ; Minute Books (c). A full list of the records, compiled by the Deputy Town Clerk, has been printed. Francis Drake, Eboracum, or the History and Antiquities of York (1736). Robert Davies, Extracts from Municipal Records of York during the Reigns of Edward IV, Edward V and Richard III (1843). \ Registers of Freemen from 1272 in Surtees Society Publications, Vols. 96 and 102. Testamenta Eboracensia in Surtees Society Publications, Vols. 4, 30, 45, 53, 79 and 106. I R. H. Skaife, York Civic Officials and Representatives in Parliament (inMS.) Number of additional names so far recovered from the city records : — 57. Cinque Ports. Three folio books containing the records of the Court of Loadmanage from 1496 {d). Many records in the Cottonian, Lansdowne, Egerton and Additional MSS. in the British Museum {e). {a) Historical Manuscripts Commission Report. (6) Report of the Committee on Local Records (1902). (c) Ex. inf. Dr. Maud Sellers, Hon. Archivist of the City of York. \d) General Report of the Commissioners on Public Records (1837). \e) Third Report of the Royal Commission on Public Records (1919). 137 APPENDIX IX. TABLE SHOWING IN RESPECT OF EACH PARLIAMENT BETWEEN 1459 AND 1546 THE TOTAL NUMBER OF MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, THE NUMBER OF NAMES GIVEN IN THE OFFICIAL RETURN, THE NUMBER OF NAMES RECOVERED, AND THE NUMBER STILL MISSING. Parliament. Probable Full House. No. of Names in Official Return. No. of Names recovered. btill missing. lUC • • • • 288 123 26 139 (a) 1460 290 160 34 96 1461 290 0 49 241 1463-65 294 {aa) 0 40 254 1467-68 294 264 16 14 1469 ? 294 (b) 0 24 ? 270 1470-71 ? 295 (c) 0 30 ? 265 1472-75 . . 295 281 1 13 (d) 1478 295 291 0 4 (e) 148.3 Tan 295 0 45 250 1483 Tune. . ? 295 {b) 0 25 ? 270 1483 Nov . . ? 295 [b) 0 18 ? 277 1484 295 0 48 247 1485-86 . . 295 0 56 239 1487 295 0 52 243 1489-90 295 0 49 246 1491-92 . . 296 0 294 2(/) 1495 296 0 51 245 1497 296 0 48 248 1504 296 0 44 252 1510 296 0 62 234 1512-14 . . 296 0 64 232 1515 296 0 55 241 1523 296 0 60 236 1529-36 . . 310 310 24 (g) 0 1536 316 {h) 0 57 259 1539-40 . . 316 0 65 251 1542-4 343 {i) 127 50 166 1545-47 . . 349 {k) 1 245 13 91 Total number of additional names, 1459 to 1545 — 1400. (a) No returns are extant for the counties of Bedford, Buckingham, Cambridge, Dorset, Hertford, Huntingdon, Somerset, Southampton, Stafford, Westmorland and Worcester. The circumstances of the election were peculiar, and it is quite likely that some sheriffs failed or refused to make returns. {aa) This number is arrived at by including Grantham, Stamford and Ludlow, and excluding Farnham, which only appears in 1460. (6) These Parliaments were countermanded and never met. It is not likely that all the constituencies had elected before the writs countermanding the Parliament were received. (c) It is not likely that complete returns were made for this Parliament. {d) i.e. Cornwall and the six Cornish Boroughs. (e) i.e. Grimsby and Grantham. (/) i.e. Bath. [g) The additional names are mostty those of Members returned at by- elections ; all differ from those given in the list found among the State Papers and printed in the Official Return. [h) This number is arrived at by including Liverpool and Wigan (though it is not certain that these returned Members before 1545), and Calais. [i) Wales and Monmouthshire are included. {k) Members first returned for Westminster, Cheshire and Chester in 1545. Peterborough and Brackley are not included, though they may have returned Members before 1552. (9921) E**2 138 APPENDIX X. STATEMENT SHOWING THE WILLS CONTAINED IN THE PRINCIPAL AND THE DISTRICT PROBATE REGISTRIES. COURT OF PROBATE. 1. Origin, Constitution and Jurisdiction. — Before 1858 jurisdiction to grant or revoke Probate of Wills or Letters of Administration of the effects of a deceased person was vested in some 370 ecclesiastical and other courts or persons in England, in addition to the Prerogative Courts of Canterbury and York. It would appear that the archbishops of Canterbury began to claim their prerogative testamentary jurisdiction as early as the reign of Henry III, but a long period elapsed before such claim was fully recognised by their suffragans. It was not until the 23rd year of Henry VIII's reign that the ecclesiastical jurisdiction was definitely recognised by statute. In the same manner that a bishop claimed the inclusive right to issue a grant in cases where the deceased person had goods (" bona ") in divers archdeaconries or jurisdictions within his diocese, the archbishop asserted a claim whenever the goods were in more than one diocese within his province. In process of time there grew up a custom of limiting the archbishop's powers to cases in which the deceased had possessed " bona notabilia" outside the ■diocese in which the person's death took place, and a minimum sum of £5 was held to constitute this particular archiepiscopal jurisdiction. As was inevitable, the bishop and the archbishop were apt to encroach upon the testamentary jurisdiction of the archdeacons, until in the course of time the officials of the Prerogative Court acquired a prescriptive right to make a grant in the estate of any person dying within the province, and thus many of the smaller Courts were virtually superseded many years before the passing of the Court of Probate Act, 1857. In the year 1857 the Court of Probate Act (20 and 21 Vict. c. 77) was passed, by which the voluntary and contentious jurisdiction and authority of all ecclesiastical, royal peculiar, peculiar, manorial and other courts and persons in England, having jurisdiction or authority to grant or revoke probate of wills or letters of administration of the effects of a deceased person, absolutely ceased. Such jurisdiction or authority, together with full authority to hear and determine all questions relating to matters and causes testamentary (except as to suits for legacies or suits for the distribution of residue, s.23), was vested in the Court of Probate (s.4), and the Court of Probate Act came into operation on the 1 1th of January, 1858. Pursuant to Requisitions issued under Section 89 of 20 and 21 Vict. c. 77, certain Records, Wills, Grants, Probates, Letters of Administration, Adminis- tration Bonds, etc., were transmitted to the Court of Probate or the several Registries of the Court of Probate. Detailed lists of these are given in Annexes 1 and 2 which appear at the end of this Appendix. The earliest record of a will proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury is 1383. In addition to the testamentary disposition, the original will con- tained an endorsement to whom the grant was made, similar to the present Act on Will, but with fuller information, and a note of the value of the estate. It appears that in many instances the original will was handed out and a copy only was placed on Record. The Probate Act Books commence in 1535. Their contents are very similar to the present day Acts, consisting of the Testator's name, address, occupation, place of death, to whom the grant was issued, together with a note of any second or subsequent grants. 139 Administration Bonds and Administration Will Bonds commence in 1896. Administration Oaths and Bonds commence in 1858. They simply contain the names and addresses of the parties in the case, and the amount of security given. Probate Papers and Exhibits and Prerogative Court of Canterbury Exhibits commence in 1858, and contain the names and addresses of the parties and particulars of points in dispute with regard to certain Probate Actions, Libels and Allocations are filed intermittently to 1817. They contain particulars of the statements made with regard to disputed matters in Probate Cases. Proctors Acts commence in 1621 and end in 1811. They contain a record of the statements of the applicant for a grant and a record of the person or persons to whom the grant was made. Stamp Office Affidavits, 1815 to 1857, contain an inventory of the estate. They were discontinued when the Inland Revenue Affidavit was introduced in 1858. Inventories, 1702-1761, also contain particulars of the estate. Inventories ere not filed with regard to every estate, and for some time before 1761 it as only customary to ask for an inventory in the case of a minority or a life interest or by Order of "the Court. Warrants, 1679-1858. These are the authority to lead to Probates and Administrations, and also to lead to commissions to swear executors or administrators. They contain names, addresses and occupations of parties, date of death, and the amount of the estate. Sentences, 1600-1847. These contain a record of the granting of representation to a party, and give names, status and addresses of the parties. Processes, 1735-1857. These are in the nature of a citation to [appear, and give the names and addresses of the parties and their status. Decrees, 1802-1857. To accept or refuse Administration, or show cause. These give the name, address and date of death of the deceased, and the names, addresses and status of the parties cited. Prior to 1858, the principal value attached to the above documents is genealogical. The whole of the Records are indexed and accessible, but the value of an index is small unless the name and the approximate date of death of the individual concerned is known. The Records cannot materially assist in aug- menting the list of Members of Parliament as contained in the Official Return, but a search with regard to each individual might produce interesting data, biographical and otherwise, and in particular from a genealogical point of view. ANNEX I. Records at the Principal Probate Registry. Wi Is, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Safe Custody . . Living Persons War Office Foreign Office Commission . . Oaths . . 1383 to 1858 1858 to date. 1858 to date. 1868 to date. 1915 to date. 1784 to 1857. 1858 to date. 1858 to date. 140 Administration Bonds Will Bonds Oaths and Bonds Probate Papers and Exhibits Prerogative Court of Canterbury Exhibits Appearance Books . . Commission Books . . Depositions Prerogative Court of Canterbury Acts Proctors Acts Old Registers and Act Books Libels and Allocations Warrants Sentences Stamp Office Returns Orders of Court Processes Decrees Proxies Exhibits Inventories 1796 to 1858. 1796 to 1857. 1858 to date. 1858 to date. 1858 to date. 1858 to 1895. 1784 to 1858. 1656 to 1815. 1535 to 1660. 1621 to 1811. 1383 to 1634.'- Intermittently to 1817. 1679 to 1858. 1660 to 1847. 1815 to 1857. 1817 to 1857. 1735 to 1857. 1802 to 1857. 1645 to 1718. 1683 to 1857. 1702 to 1761. Records of Courts transferred to Principal Probate Registry. Arches, London, Shoreham and Croydon, Peculiar Courts of „ Wills, Bonds, Warrants „ Shoreham and Croydon Wills Shoreham and Croydon Warrants and Bonds. Aylesbury with Walton, Peculiar Court of. . Banbury, Peculiar Court of Bedwins and Collingborne. Berks, Archidiaconal Court of Bierton, Peculiar Court of Bishopstone, Prebendal Court of . . Booking, Peculiar Court of Dean of. Wills Buckden, Prebendal Court of Buckingham, Peculiar Court of Buckingham, Archidiaconal Court of (in- cludes Court of the Commissary of Bishop of Lincoln and Court of the Official of the Archdeacon within the Archdeaconry). Castle Coombe, Peculiar Court of Rector of Chantors Chardstock, Prebendal Court of Chute and Chisenbury, Prebendal Court of Cliffe, Peculiar Court of. Colchester, Archdeaconry Court of Coombe and Harham, Prebendal Court of . . 1661 to 1780. 1602 to 1670. 1665 to 1816. Up to 1800 at P.P.R. ; rest at Oxford. Do. Up to 1800 at P.P.R. ; rest at Oxford. Do. Up to 1799 at P.P.R. ; rest at Salisbury. 1627 to 1857. At Peterborough and P.P.R. Up to 1800 at P.P.R. ; rest at Oxford. Up to 1779 at P.P.R. ; rest at Salisbury. 1613 to 1641 ; 1661 to 1799. At P.P.R. to 1779; rest at Salisbury. Do. 1599 to 1858. Up to 1779 at P.P.R.; rest at Salisbury. 141 Corsham, Peculiar Court of Perpetual Vicar of. Delegates, Court of : — (1) 2 Boxes Exhibits. (2) Muniment Books, 12 vols.. . (3) Assignation Books, 2 vols. Dorchester, Court of Peculiar and Exempt Jurisdiction. Durnford, Prebendal Court of Essex, Courts of Archdeacon of. Wills, Administrations and Bonds. Faringdon, Peculiar Court of Fordington and Writhlington, Prebendal Court of. Gillingham, Royal Peculiar and Exempt Jurisdiction. Good Easter, Peculiar Court of. Wills and 1613 to 1847. Administrations. Halton, Peculiar Court of . . Do. 1651 to 1794. 1716 to 1838. Up to 1800 at P.P.R.; rest at Oxford. Up to 1779 at P.P.R.; rest at Salisbury. From 1400. Up to 1800 at P.P.R.; rest at Oxford. Up to 1779 at P.P.R.; rest at Salisbury. Do. Highworth, Prebendal Court of Hitchin, Archdeaconry of Huntingdon (Hitchin portion). Wills, Bonds and Inventories. Husborne and Burbage, Prebendal Court of Leighton Buzzard, Peculiar Court of London, Consistory Court of. Wills, Bonds and Acts. „ Depositions, Answers and Correc- tions. Exhibits Liber Actorum, 56 Vols. . . Liber Examinationum, 8 Vols. Assignation Books, 58 Vols. Liber Depositionum, 87 Vols. Consistory Court of (Wills) Warrants Exhibits and Af&davits Assignation Books Inventories Acts Administrations Bonds Commissary Court of, including Parts of Essex and Herts. Lyme Regis and Hal stock, Prebendal Court of. Middlesex, Essex and Herts, Archdeaconry Court of. Wills, Administrations and Warrants. Up to 1800 at P.P.R.; rest at Oxford. Up to 1799 at P.P.R.; rest at Salisbury. 1612 to 1857. Up to 1779 at P.P.R.; rest at Salisbury. Up to 1800 at P.P.R.; rest at Oxford. 1507 to 1858. 1554 to 1784. 1703 to 1817. 1529 to 1760. From 1529. To 1851. To 1860. 1480 to 1857. 1665 to 1705 ; 1741 to 1764. To 1856. To 1815. 1666 to 1672. 1662 to 1784. 1766 to 1824. 1672 to 1756. From 1483. Up to 1779 at P.P.R.; rest at Salisbury. To 1857. 142 Archdeaconry Court of London and Parts of Essex and Herts. Middleham, Court of Royal Peculiar of Monks Risborough, Peculiar Court of Netheravon, Prebendal Court of Netherbury in Ecclesia, Prebendal Court of Newington, Peculiar Court of Oxford, Archidiaconal Court of Oxford, Consistory Court of Bishop of Preston, Prebendal Court of Richmond, Courts of Lonsdale ,, ,, Kendal ,, ,, Furness ,, ,, Copeland ,, ,, Amounderness Consistory Court of Archdeacon of Western Deaneries. Rochester, Archdeaconry Court of and Con- sistory Court of. Wills. Bonds and Administrations ,, Inventories. Sarum, Consistory Court of Bishop of ,, Archidiaconal Court of ,, Archidiaconal Court of Sub-Dean of ,, Peculiar Court of Dean of . . ,, Peculiar Court of Dean and Chapter of „ Peculiar Court of Treasurer of Sibford, Manorial Court of St. Albans, Archdeaconry Court of . . St. Katharine's by the Tower, Peculiar Court of (Wills). Warrants and Bonds for Marriage Licences St. Paul's, Peculiar Court of Dean and Chapter. Savernake Forest, Peculiar Court of the Lord Warden of Surrey, Archdeaconry Court of „ Commissary Court of Thame, Peculiar Court of . . Uffculme, Prebendal Court of Westminster, Royal Peculiar Court of Dean and Chapter. Wilsford and Woodford, Prebendal Court of Wilts, Archidiaconal Court of Windsor, Peculiar Court of Deans and Canons. Writtle with Roxwell, Peculiar Court of. Wills and Administrations. Yetminster, Prebendal Court of 1524 to 1786. Up to 1799 at P.P.R.; rest at Salisbury. Do. Up to 1800 at P.P.R.; rest at Oxford. Do. Do. Up to 1799 at P.P.R. ; rest at Salisbury. 1535 to 1850. 1631 to 1748. 1551 to 1748. 1540 to 1748. 1660 to 1750. Up to 1748 at P.P.R. ; rest at Lancaster. 1498 to 1857. 1685 to 1857. Up to 1799 P.P.R.; rest at Salisbury. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. P.P.R. ; rest at Up to 1800 at at Oxford. 1518 to 1857. 1729 to 1800. 1755 to 1802. Up to 1799 at P.P.R. ; rest at Salisbury. 1534 to 1857. 1663 to 1858. Up to 1800 at P.P.R. ; rest at Oxford. Up to 1799 at P.P.R. ; rest at Salisbury. Up to 1799 at P.P.R.; rest at Salisbury. Do. Do. 1618 to 1851. Up to 1799 at P.P.R., rest at Salisbury. 143 ANNEX II. Records transferred to the District Probate Registries. Bangor : — Consistory Court of the Bishop ; earliest records 1635. Birmingham : — Earliest record 1675. Baddesley Clinton, Manorial Court of. Barston, Manorial Court of. Bishop's Itchington, Prebendal Court of. Bishop's Tachbrook, Prebendal Court of. Knowle, Manorial Court of. Packwood, Manorial and Peculiar Court of. Temple Balsall, Manorial Court of. Blandford : — Earliest record 1568. Bristol, Court of the Dorsetshire Division of the late Diocese of. Canford Magna and Poole, Peculiar Court of. Corfe Castle, Peculiar Court of. Dorset, Archidiaconal Court of. Milton A bbas. Court of the Royal Peculiar of. Sturminster Marshall, Peculiar Court of. Wimborne Minster, Peculiar Court of. Bodmin : — Earliest record 1601. Cornwall, Consistorial Archidiaconal Court of. St. Buryan, Court of the Royal Peculiar of. Bristol : — Earliest record 1572. Gloucester and Bristol, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Bury St. Edmunds : — Earliest record 1354. Sudbury, Archidiaconal Court of. Includes the Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of Norwich and the Court of the Official of the Arch- deacon within the Archdeaconry. Note. — These Records are now at Ipswich. Carlisle : — Earliest record 1564. Carlisle, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Ravenstondale, Manorial Court of. Temple Sowerby, Manorial Court of. Carmarthen : — Earliest record 1600. St. David's, Consistorial and Episcopal Court of, for the Archdeaconries of St. David's, Cardigan and Carmarthen at Carmarthen. Canterbury : — Earliest record 1396. Canterbury, Archidiaconal Court of. Canterbury, Consistory Court of the Archbishop of. All Records after 1857 at P.P.R. Chester : — Earliest record 1545. Chester, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Chester, Court of the Rural Deans of the Twelve Deaneries of the Ancient Archdeaconry of. Chichester : — Earliest record 1511. Canterbury, Peculiar Courts of the Archbishop of, for the Deaneries of Pagham and Tarring. Chichester, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Chichester, Peculiar Court of the Dean of. Note. — These Records are now at Winchester. 144 Derby : — No record prior to 1858. Dale Abbey, Peculiar Court of. Note. — These Records are now at Nottingham. Durham : — Earliest record 1540. North Riding, Co. York— A llerton and A llertonshire, Peculiar Court of the Bishop of Durham in the Peculiar of. Allerton and A llertonshire, Peculiar Court of the Dean and Chapter of Durham in the Peculiar of. Durham, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Exeter : — Earliest record 1545. Barnstaple, Archidiaconal Court of. Exeter, Consistorial Court of the Bishop of. Exeter, Principal Registry of the Bishop of. Exeter, Peculiar Court of the Dean and Chapter of. Exeter, Peculiar Court of the Dean of. Exeter, Archidiaconal Court of. Exeter, St. Peter in, Peculiar Court of the Custos and College of Vicars Choral of the Cathedral Church of. Totnes, Archidiaconal Court of. Gloucester : — Earliest record 1541. Bibury, Peculiar Court of. Bishops Cleeve, Peculiar Court of. Gloucester and Bristol, at Gloucester, Consistory Court of the Bishop of, Hereford : — Earliest record 1545. Brecon, Consistorial Archidiaconal Court of. Hereford, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Hereford, Consistory Court of the Dean of. Little Hereford with Ashford Carbonell, Peculiar Court of. Moreton Magna, Prebendal Peculiar Court of. Upper Bullinghope, Prebendal Peculiar Court of. Note. — These Records are now at LlandafE. Ipswich : — Earliest record 1444. Sokens in Essex, Court of the Commissary of the. Suffolk, Archidiaconal Court of. Includes the Court of Commissary of the Bishop of Norwich, and the Court of the Official of the Archdeacon within the Archdeaconry. Lancaster : — Earliest record 1748. Halton, in the County of Lancaster, Manorial Court of. Lancaster, Consistory Court of the Archdeaconry of Richmond. Kept at Western Deaneries after 1748 ; rest at Principal Probate Registry. Leicester : — Earliest record 1490. Evington, Peculiar and Manorial Court of. Groby, Peculiar and Manorial Court of. Ketton, Prebendal Court of. Leicester, Archidiaconal Courts of, viz.: — Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of Lincoln and Court of the Archdeacon within the Arch- deaconry. Leicester, St. Margaret in, Prebendal Court of. Liddington, Prebendal Court of. Rothley, Peculiar and Manorial Court of. 145 Lewes : — Earliest record 1541. Battle, Deanery Court of. Lewes, Consistorial Court for the Archdeaconry of, in the diocese ol Chichester. South Mailing, Peculiar Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury for the Deanery of. Lichfield :— Earliest record 1264. Alrewas and Weeford, Prebendal Court of. Alveston and Washerton, Peculiar Court of. Burton on Trent, Manorial Court of. • Colwich, Prebendal Court of. Eccleshall, Prebendal Court of. Gnosall, Peculiar and Manorial Court of. Hampton Lucy (Warwick), Peculiar Court of. Hansacre and Armitage, Prebendal Court of. Hartington, Deanery Court of. High Offley and Flixton, Prebendal Court of. Lichfield, iPeculiar Court of the Dean of. Lichfield, Peculiar Court of the Dean and Chapter of. Longdon, Prebendal Court of. Merevale, Peculiar and Manorial Court of. Peak Forest, Peculiar Court of. Penkridge, Court of the Royal Peculiar of. Prees, otherwise Pipe Minor, Prebendal Court of. Part of papers only ; some are at Shrewsbury. Sawley, Prebendal Court of. Tettenhall, Court of the Royal Peculiar of. Whittington and Baswich, Prebendal Court of. Wolverhampton, Court of the Royal Peculiar of. Lichfield and Coventry, Consistory Court of. Note. — These Records are now at Birmingham. liincoln : — Earliest record 1283. Bishops Norton, Prebendal Court of. Caistor, Prebendal Court of. Corringham, Prebendal Court of. Gretton, Prebendal Court of. Hey dour and Walton, Prebendal Court of. Kirton-in-Lindsey , Court of the Sub-Dean of Lincoln in the Peculiar of. Lincoln, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Lincoln, Archidiaconal Court of. Lincoln, Court of the Dean and Chapter of. Louth, Prebendal Court of. New Sleaford or Lafford, Prebendal Court of. Stow, Archidiaconal Court of. Stow-in-Lindsey , Prebendal Court of. Liverpool : — No Record prior to 1858. No papers from the Ecclesiastical Courts have been transferred to Liver- pool. Llandaf! : — Earliest record 1590. Llandaff, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Manchester : — No record prior to 1858. No papers from the Ecclesiastical Courts have been transferred to Manchester, 146 Newcastle-upon-Tyne : — No papers, etc., prior to 1858. Norwich : — Earliest record 1370. Castle Rising, Peculiar Court of. Great Cres sing ham, Court of the Royal Peculiar of. Norfolk, Archidiaconal Court of. Norwich, Archidiaconal Court of. Norwich, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Norwich, Peculiar Court of the Dean and Chapter of. Thorpe (next Norwich), Peculiar jurisdiction of the Bishop of Norwich in the Peculiar of. Northampton : — Earliest record 1496. Bedford, Archidiaconal Court of. Biggleswade, Prebendal Court of. Leighton Buzzard, otherwise Beaudesert, Peculiar Court of. Northampton, Archidiaconal Court of. Part of Papers. Peterborough, Consistorial Court of. Part of Papers. Nottingham : — Earliest record 1486. Gringley-on-the-Hill (Nottingham), Manorial Court of. Kinolton, Peculiar Court of the Vicar for the time being of. Mansfield, Peculiar Court of the Manor of. Southwell (Nottingham), Peculiar Court of the Chapter of the Collegiate Church of. Oxford : — Earliest record 1801. Ayleshury-with-Walton, Peculiar Court of. Banbury, Peculiar Court of. Berks, Archidiaconal Court of. Bierton, Peculiar Court of. Buckingham, Peculiar Court of. Dorchester, Court of the Peculiar and Exempt Jurisdiction of. Faringdon, Peculiar Court of. Halton, Peculiar Court of. Lang ford Ecclesia, Peculiar Jurisdiction of, Leighton Buzzard, Peculiar Court of. Monks Risborough, Peculiar Court of. Newington, Peculiar Court of. Oxford, Archidiaconal Court of. Oxford, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Sibford, Manorial Court of. Thame, Peculiar Court of. Peterborough : — Earliest record 1449. Apethorpe. See Nassington. Bar ham. See Longstow. Brampton, Peculiar Court of. Buckden, Prebendal Court of. Cambridge, Court of the Chancellor of the University of. Easton. See Longstow. Ely, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Ely, Archidiaconal Court of. Empingham, Peculiar Court of. Freckingham, Peculiar Court of. Huntingdon, Archidiaconal Court of. Isleham, Peculiar Court of. Leighton Bromswold or Leighton Ecclesia, Peculiar Court of. Longstow, Prebendal Court of, for Parishes of Spaldwick, Stow-with- Catworth, Barham and Easton. 147 Peterborough — continued. Nassington, Prebendal Court of, for Parishes of Apethorpe, Nassington, Wood Newton and Yarwell. Peterborough, Consistory Court of the Bishop of (Part of Papers). Peterborough, Consistorial Archidiaconal Court of (Part of Papers) . Spaldwick. See Longstow. Stow. See Longstow. Thorney, Peculiar Jurisdiction of (Isle of Ely). Wood Newton. See Nassington . Yarwell. See Nassington. St. Asaph : — Earliest record 1565. Hawarden, Peculiar Court of. St. Asaph, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Note. — These Records are now at Bangor. Salisbury : — Earliest record 1800. Bishopstone, Prebendal Court of. Chardstock, Prebendal Court of. Chute and Chisenbury, Prebendal Court of. Coombe and Harnham, Prebendal Court of. Cor sham. Peculiar Court of the Perpetual Vicar of. Durnford, Prebendal Court of. Fordington and Writhlington, Prebendal Court of. Gillingham, Royal Peculiar and Exempt Jurisdiction of. Highworth, Prebendal Court of. Husborne and Burbage, Prebendal Court of. Lyme Regis and Halstock, Prebendal Court of. N ether avon, Prebendal Court of. Netherbury in Ecclesia, Prebendal Court of. Preston, Prebendal Court of. Sarum, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Sarum, Archidiaconal Court of. Sarum, Archidiaconal Court of the Sub-Dean of. Sarum, Peculiar Court of the Dean of. Sarum, Peculiar Court of the Treasurer of the Cathedral Church of (and the Prebendal Court of Calne united thereto) . Sarum, Peculiar Court of the Dean and Chapter of, Sarum, Peculiar Court of the Precentor of. Savernake Forest, Peculiar Court of the Lord Warden of. Uffculme, Prebendal Court of. Wilsford and Woodford, Prebendal Court of. Wilts, Archidiaconal Court of. Windsor, Peculiar Court of the Dean and Canons of. Yetminster, Prebendal Court of. Note. — These Records are now at Winchester. Shrewsbury : — Earliest record 1635. Bridgnorth, Court of the Royal Peculiar of. Buildwas Abbey, Peculiar Court of. Ellesmere, Manorial Court of. Ellesmere, Court for the Town and Liberties of. Hampton and Colemere, Manorial Court of. Lineal or Lineale, Manorial Court of. Longdon-upon-Terne, Manorial Court of. Frees, Prebendal Court of. Part of Papers only ; some at Lichfield. St. Mary, Shrewsbury, Court of the Royal Peculiar of. Tyrley, Manorial Court of. Wombridge, Peculiar Court of. 148 Taunton : — Earliest record 1538. Ilminster, Peculiar Court of. Taunton, Consistorial Archidiaconal Court of. Wakefield -.—Earliest record 1858. Barnoldswick, Manorial Court of. Bolster stone, Court of Town End in. Crossley, Bingley and Pudsey, Manorial Court of. Marsden, Manorial Court of. Silsden, Manorial Court of. Temple Newsam, Manorial Court of. Wells : — Earliest record 1530. A skill, Prebendal Court of. Banwell, Peculiar Court of. Buckland Dinham, Prebendal Court of. Compton Bishop, Prebendal Court of. Compton Dundon, Prebendal Court of. Cudworth, Prebendal Court of. East Harptree, Prebendal Court of. Easton-in-Gordano, Prebendal Court of. Hazelhere, Prebendal Court of. Henstridge, Prebendal Court of. I Hon, Prebendal Court of. Kingsbury Episcopi, Peculiar Court of. Litton, Prebendal Court of. 5^. Decumans, Prebendal Court of. Timber scomhe, Prebendal Court of. Wells, Consistory Court of the Bishop of, called otherwise the Consistorial Episcopal Court of Wells. Wells, Consistory Court of the Dean and Chapter of. Wells, Consistorial Archidiaconal Court of. Wells, Consistory Court of the Dean of, called otherwise the Consistorial Decanal Court of Wells. Wells, Peculiar Court of the Precentor of the Cathedral Church of, called otherwise the Prebendal Court of Litton. Wells, Peculiar Court of the Sub-Dean of the Cathedral Church of, called otherwise the Peculiar Court of Wookey. Wells, Peculiar Court of the Chancellor of the Cathedral Church of, called otherwise the Peculiar Court of Kingsbury Episcopi. West Lydford, Peculiar Court of. Whitelackington, Prebendal Court of. Witham Priory, Peculiar Court of. Wiveliscombe, Prebendal Court of. Wookey, Peculiar Court of. See Court of Sub-Dean of Wells. Yatton, Prebendal Court of. Note. — These records are now at Exeter. Winchester : — Earliest record 1398. Nortk Baddesley, Donative Court of. Soutkampton, Peculiar Courts of the Rectors and Vicars of. Winckester, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Winckester, Archidiaconal Court of. Worcester : — Earliest record 1451. Alveckurck, Peculiar Court of the Rector of. Bredon, Peculiar Court of the Rector of. Fladbury, Peculiar Court of the Rector of. Hampton Lucy (Warwick), Peculiar Court of Rector of. See Lichfield. Hanbury, Peculiar Court of the Rector of. 149 Worcester — continued. Hartlehury, Peculiar Court of the Rector of. Knowle, Manorial Court of. A few Wills. See Birmingham. Ripple, Peculiar Court of the Rector of. Stratford-on-Avon, Peculiar Court of the Vicar of. Tredington, Peculiar Court of the Rector of. Worcester, Consistory Court of the Bishop of. Worcester, Peculiar Court of the Dean and Chapter. Note. — These records are now at Birmingham. York : — Earliest record 1389. Adcomb, Peculiar Court of. Alne and Tollerton, Peculiar Court of. Ampleford or Ampleforth, Preb^endal Court of. Apesthorpe, Prebendal Court of. Askham Bryan, Manor of. Beeford, Manor of. Beningbrough, Manorial Court of. Beverley, Peculiar and Exempt Jurisdiction of the Provost of the Col- legiate Church of. Bilton, Prebendal Court of. Bishop Wilton, Peculiar Court of. Bole, Prebendal Court of. Bugthorpe, Prebendal Court of. Cold Kirby, Manorial Court of. Driffield, Prebendal Court of. Fenton, Prebendal Court of. Hexhamshire, Peculiar Jurisdiction of the Archbishop in the Peculiar of. Holme, Prebendal Court of. Howden, Howdenshire and Hemingbrough, Peculiar Court of. Hunsingore, Peculiar Court of. Husthwaite, Prebendal Court of. Knaresborough, Peculiar Court of. Langtoft, Prebendal Court of. Laughton-en-le-Morthen, Peculiar Court of the Chancellorship of the Cathedral Church of York with the Prebendal Court of, annexed. Masham, Peculiar Court of. Newton with Beningbrough, Manorial Court of. North Newbald, Prebendal Court of. Osbaldwick, Prebendal Court of. Riccall, Prebendal Court of. Richmond, Archdeaconry of, Eastern Deaneries. Ripon, Peculiar Jurisdiction of the Archbishop in the Peculiar of. Salton, Peculiar Court of the Impropriator of. Selby, Peculiar Court of. Shipton with Overton, Manorial Court of. Snaith, Peculiar Court of. South Cave, Peculiar Court of. Stillington, Prebendal Court of. Strensall, Prebendal Court of. Wadsworth, Prebendal Court of. Warthill, Prebendal Court of. Weighton, Prebendal Court of. Westerdale, Manorial Court of. Wetwang, Prebendal Court of. Wistow, Prebendal Court of. York, Peculiar Court of the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St. Peter at. 150 York — continued. York, Peculiar Court of the Deanery of the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St. Peter at. York, Peculiar Court of the Chancellorship of the Cathedral Church of (with the Prebend of Laughton-en-le-Morthen annexed). York, Peculiar Court of the Precentor ship of the Cathedral Church of (with the Prebend of Driffield annexed) . York, Peculiar Court of the Sub-Dean of. York, Peculiar Court of the Succentorship of the Canon of the Cathedral Church of. York, East Riding of, Archidiaconal Court of the. York, Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of. York, Exchequer Court of. York, Consistory Court of. York, Peculiar Court of the Archdeacon of. APPENDIX XI. LIST OF PRINTED INDEXES OF WILLS, ETC. Diocese of Bath and Wells. Wells Wills. 1528 to 1536. Abstracts. F. W. Weaver, 1890. Medieval Wills in the Diocesan Registry, Wells. 1543 to 1556. Abstracts. D. O. Shilton and R. Holworthy. Somerset Record Society. Vol. xl. Wells Wills. 1539 to 1541. Abstracts. Proceedings of Somerset Archaeolo- gical Society. Vol. xli. 1915. Taunton Wills and Administrations. 1537 to 1799. British Record Society. Vols, xlv., liii. Royal Peculiar of Ilminster. 1690 to 1857. British Record Society. 1921. Somerset Wills. See under Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Diocese of Bristol. Bristol Wills. 1572 to 1792. British Record Society. Vol. xvii. Wills in the Great Orphan Books, Bristol. 1379 to 1674. British Record Society. Vol. xvii. Abstracts of Wills in the first Great Orphan Book, Bristol. Bristol and Gloucester Archaeological Society. 1886. Consistory Court (Dorset Division), 1681 to 1799, and Archdeaconry Court of Dorset, 1568 to 1792, and Peculiars, 1660 to 1799. British Record Society. Vols, xxi, liii. Dorset Administrations. See under Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Wills. 1383 to 1629. British Record Society. 6 volumes. Book of Probates. 1630 to 1653. J. and G. F. Matthews. 7 volumes. Wills. 1653 to 1656. British Record Society. Vol. liv. Wills. 1657 to 1660. British Record Society. (In progress.) Administrations. 1559 to 1580. R. M. Glencross. 2 volumes. Register " Soame ". 1620. Abstracts. J. H. Lea. Register " Wootton ". 1658 to folio 362. Abstracts. Wm. Brigg. Register " Greenly " . 1750. Abstracts. G.Sherwood. 3 volumes. Typewritten. The Fifty Earliest English Wills. 1387 to 1439. Early English Text Society. 1882. Lancashire and Cheshire Wills. 1650 to 1660. Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society. Vol. iv. Yorkshire Wills and Administrations. 1649 to 1660. Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Association . Record Series. Vol. i. Yorkshire entries in the Act Books, 1679 to 1689. Northern Genealogist. Vol. ii, et seq. 151 Somerset Medieval Wills. 1383 to 1558. Abstracts. F. W. Weaver. Somer- set Record Society. Vols, xvi, xix, xxi. Dorset Administrations. 1558 to 1725. Abstracts. G. S. Fry. Somerset and Dorset Notes and Queries. 1891, et seq. Suffolk Wills in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. 1383 to 1604. C. W. S. Randall Cloke. Edited by T. W. Oswold-Hicks. 1913. Dorset Wills in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. 1383 to 1700. E. A. Fry. Dorset Records. 1911. Shropshire Probates. 1700 to 1749. G. F. Matthews. 1928. Diocese of Canterbury. Testamenta Cantiana. Kent Archaeological Society. 1906-7. Sede Vacante Wills, from 997. Kent Archaeological Society. Records Branch. 1914. Wills and Administrations at Canterbury. 1396 to 1558, and 1640 to 1650. British Record Society. Vol. 1. Commissary of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury. 1343 to 1503. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report viii. App. p. 332. Report ix. App. p. 109 Archbishops' Peculiars. 1362 to 1644. Genealogist. Vols, v, vi, vii. New Series. Vol. i. Wills in the Archbishops' Registers. Fourteenth to sixteenth centuries Genealogist. New Series. Vols, xxxiv, xxxv. Diocese of Carlisle. Registers of the Bishops of Carlisle. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report ix. Appendix, p. 196. Abstracts. 1353 to 1386. Cumberland and Westmorland Anti- quarian Society. 1893. Diocese of Chester. Lists of Wills, etc., at the Diocesan Registry, Chester. 1487-1800. Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society. Vols, xxxiii, xliii, lii. Wills at Chester. 1545 to 1820. Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society. Vols, ii, iv, XV, xviii, xx, xxii, xxv, xxxvii, xxxviii, xliv, xlv, Ixii, Ixiii, Ixxviii, Ixxix. Stonyhurst College. 1700. (Five Wills.) Historical MSS. Comm. Report x. Appendix iv, p. 183. Lancashire and Cheshire Wills. 1301 to 1752. Lancashire Record Society. Vol. XXX. Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories now preserved at Chester, 1563-1807. Chetham Society. New Series. Vol. xxxvii. Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories from the Ecclesiastical Court, Chester. Chetham Society. Old Series, Vols, xxxiii, li, liv. Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories at Chester. 1477-1746. With an Appendix of Abstracts of Wills now lost or destroyed. 1545-1650. Chetham Society. New Series. Vol. iii. Lancashire -and Cheshire Wills and Inventories now preserved at Chester. 1572-1696. With an Appendix of Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories proved at York or Richmond. 1542-1649. Chetham Society. New Series. Vol. xxviii. {See also under Prerogative Court of Canterbury ; Province and Diocese of York.) Diocese of Chichester. Sussex Wills at Lewes. 1541 to 1652. British Record Society. Vol. xxiv. Chichester Wills. 1482 to 1800. British Record Society. Vol. xlix. Diocese of Durham. ASee under York — AUertonshire.) ■A^ills and Inventories. 1095 to 1649. Surtees Society. Vols, ii, xxxviii, ' cxii, cxlii. Wills. 1540 to 1599. Antiquarian Society of Newcastle. Record Series. Vol. viii. 152 Diocese of Ely. Calendar of Wills proved in the Vice-Chancellor's Court at Cambridge. 1501 to 1765. Cambridge, 1907. Diocese of Exeter. Principal Court. 1559 to 1799. British Record Society. Vol. xxxv. Archdeaconry Court of Exeter. 1540 to 1799. British Record Society. Vol. xxxv. Consistory Court. 1532 to 1800. British Record Society. Vol. xlvi. Registers of the Bishops of Exeter. 1257 to 1415. F. C. H. Randolph. 2 volumes. 1886, etc. Customary Court of the City of Exeter. Abstracts from 1281. S. Isacke. 1736. List in Antiquities of Exeter. S. Isacke. 1681. Wills and Administrations in the Archdeaconry Court of Cornwall. 1569 to 1699. British Record Society. Vol. Ivi. Wills and Administrations in the Archdeaconry Court of Cornwall. 1700 to 1799 (in progress). Peculiar of Uffculme. Sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Genealogists Magazine. Vol. v, p. 140, et seq. Diocese of Gloucester. Wills proved in the Consistory Court and Peculiars of Bibury and Bishops Cleeve. 1541 to 1800. British Record Society. Vols, xii, xxxiv. Gloucester Municipal Records from 1454. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report xii. Appendix ix, p. 415. Diocese of Hereford. Hereford Corporation, from 1378. Abstracts. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report xiii. Appendix, part iv, p. 302. Diocese of Lichfield. Lichfield Wills and Administrations. 1510 to 1652. With various Peculiars. 1529 to 1790. British Record Society. Vol. vii. Corporation of Shrewsbury, from 1336. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report xv. Appendix x, p. 11. Dean and Chapter of Lichfield, from 1461. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report xiv. Appendix vii, p. 205. Shropshire Probates. See under Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Diocese of Lincoln. Leicester Wills. 1495 to 1750. With several Rutland Peculiars. British Record Society. Vols, xxvii, li. Lincoln Wills and Administrations. 1320 to 1652. British Record Society. Vols, xxviii, xii, 1, Ivii. Bishops Registers. 1280 to 1547. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report xii, part ix, p. 573. List 1280 to 1547. A. Gibbons. 1887. Abstracts by A. Gibbons. 1888. Dean and Chapter of Lincoln. 1534 to 1780. A. to R. Notes on the Visitation of Lincoln of 1634. A. Gibbons. 1898, etc. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report xii, part ix, p. 573. Prebend of Caister from 1636. Index. Northern Genealogist. Vol. i, p. 42. Prebend of Louth. From 1659. Index. Northern Genealogist. Vols, i and ii. Corporation of Lincoln from 1492. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report xiv. Appendix, part viii, p. 23. Lincoln Wills. 1271 to 1532. Lincoln Record Society. 3 Volumes. 1914, etc. Lincoln Wills. 1500 to 1617. A. R. Maddison. 2 Volumes. 1888. 153 Diocese of London. Ancient Testamentary Records of Westminster. 1540 to 1700. A. M. Burke. 1913. Archdeaconry Court of St. Albans, from 1415. Herts. Genealogist and Antiquary. Vol. i, et seq. Archdeaconry Court of Hitchin. 1579 to 1614. Herts. Genealogist and Antiquary. Vol. i, et seq. Archdeaconry Court of Hitchin. 1579 to 1614. Herts. Genealogist and Antiquary. Vols, ii and iii. Herts. Wills in the Archdeaconry Court of Middlesex, Essex and Herts. Abstracts, from 1554. Herts. Genealogist and Antiquary. Vol. i, et seq. Wills from Doctors Commons. 1495 to 1695. Camden Society. Vol. Ixxxiii. Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's. 1226 to 1679. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report ix. Appendix p. 45. Court of Hustings. 1258 to 1688. R. R. Sharpe. Abstracts. 2 Vols. Diocese of Norwich. Archdeaconry Court of Suffolk. 1444 to 1600. F. A. Crisp. 1895. Also East Anglian. New Series. Vol. i, p. 340, et seq. Pre-Reformation Wills and Administrations at Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk. 1354 to 1535. V. B. Redstone. 1907. Consistory Court of Norwich. 1370 to 1383. Norfolk Antiquarian Miscellany. Vol. i, p. 345. King's Lynn Red Book, from 1276. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report xi. Appendix iii, pp. 152, 231. King's L3mn, Roll of Wills, from 1385. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report xi. Appendix iii, pp. 211, 234. Suffolk Wills. See under Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Diocese of Oxford. Berkshire Wills and Administrations. 1508 to 1652. British Record Society. Vol. viii. Index to Wills and other Testamentary Documents proved in the Court of the Chancellor of Oxford University. 1436 to 1814. Rev. J. Griffiths, M.A. 1862. Diocese of Peterborough. Northampton and Rutland Wills. 1510 to 1652. British Record Society. Vol. i. Huntingdon Wills. 1479 to 1652. British Record Society. Vol. xhi. Northampton. Halmote of Higham Ferrers, from 1228. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report xii. Appendix ix, p. 530. Diocese of Rochester. Wills, 1440 to 1561. Kent Archaeological Society, Record branch. Vol. ix. Diocese of Salisbury. Dean and Chapter, from 1261. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report. Various Collec- tions. Vol. i, pp. 343, 375. Wills in the Diocesan Registry, Sarum. Sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Genealogists Magazine. Vol. 5, p. 140, et seq. Dorset Wills. See under Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Diocese of Winchester. Southampton Black Book. 1383 to 1570. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report xi. Appendix, part ii, p. 8. Surrey Wills in Register Spage. 1484 to 1490. Abstracts. Surrey Record Society. 1921. Surrey Wills in Register Herringham. 1594 to 1608. Abstracts. Surrey Record Society. 1920. 154 Diocese of Worcester. Worcester Wills. 1451 to 1652. British Record Society. Vols, xxxi, xxxix. Stratford-on-Avon Borough Records. 1585 to 1701. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report ix. Appendix 1, p. 290. Bishops' Registers. 1268 to 1535. Worcester Historical Society. Province and Diocese of York. Wills and Administrations. 1389 to 1680. Yorkshire Archaeological Society. 15 Volumes. 1889 to 1926. Peculiar Court of Selby. Yorkshire Archaeological Society. Peculiar Court of the Dean and Chapter, from 132 1 . Yorkshire Archaeological Society. Will and Inventories in the Archdeaconry Court of Richmond. 1442 to 1579. Surtees Society. Vol. xxvi. Testamenta Eboracensia. Wills registered at York from 1300. Surtees Society. 6 volumes. 1836 to 1902. Archdeaconry Court of Richmond. Deaneries of Bowbridge, Catterick and Richmond from 1457. Northern Genealogist. Vol. ii, p. 209. Lancashire Wills proved at Richmond . 1457 to 1812. Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society. Vols, x, xiii, xxiii, Ixvi. Lancashire Wills proved at Halton. 1615 to 1812. Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society. Vols, xxiii, Ixvi. Lancashire and Cheshire Wills and Inventories proved at York or Richmond. 1542-1649. Chetham Society. New Series. Vol. xxviii. Peculiar of the Bishop of Durham in Allertonshire. 1311 to 1599, Surtees Society. Vols, ii, xxxvii. Manor Court of Altofts in Normanton, from 1629. Northern Genealogist. Vol. i, p. 130. Manor Court of Arkingarthdale and New Forest, from 1724. Northern Genealogist. Vol. iv, et seq. Manor Court of Barnoldswick, from 1660. Northern Genealogist, Vol, i, p, 113, Manor Court of Silsden, 1547 to 1737. Northern Genealogist. Vol. i, pp. 37, 110. Manor Courts of Crossley, Bingley and Pudsey, from 1610. Northern Genea- logist. Vol. i, p. 33. Manor Court of Marsden, from 1654. Northern Genealogist, Vol. ii, pp, 102, 168. Honour of Knaresborough. 1509 to 1660. Surtees Society, Vols, civ, ex. Peculiar of Masham and Kirkby Malzeard, 1550 to 1709, Northern Genea- logist. Vol. iv, et seq. Manor Court of Warmfield with Heath, from 1642, Northern Genealogist. Vol. i, p. 129. Manor Court of Temple Newsam, from 1612. Northern Genealogist. Vol. i, p. 34. Red Book of Hull from 1309. Northern Genealogist. Vol. ii, p. 181. Some Wills in the Muniments of the Corporation of Hull, A, Gibbons, Abstracts of Halifax Wills in York Courts. 1389 to 1544. J. W. Clay and E. W. Crossley. 1893, etc. Peculiar of Edwinston, co. Nottmgham, from 1534. Northern Genealogist. Vol. i, p. 20, Register of Chapter Acts of Southwell Cathedral, co. Nottingham. 1470 to 1547. Hist. MSS. Comm. Report xii. Appendix ii, p. 540. Yorkshire Wills. 1649 to 1660. See under Prerogative Court of Canterbury. 155 PRINTED INDEXES AVAILABLE AT THE LITERARY INQUIRY DEPARTMENT, PRINCIPAL PROBATE REGISTRY. Bury Wills and Administrations (1354-1 535) . Court of Delegates to 1832. Lambeth Wills (1313-1644). Wills at Oxford proved in the Court of the Chancellor (1436-1814). Leicester Wills (1660-1750). The Wayman Wills (Family) 1383-1821 (Prerogative Court of Canterbury). Ipswich Wills (1444-1600 at Ipswich). Knaresborough Wills (1507-1661). Chester Wills (1545-1810 at Chester). Lancashire and Cheshire Wills (1487-1800). Lancashire Wills proved at Richmond (1457-1812). Hampton Court Wills (1374-1810). Cambridge Wills proved in Vice-Chancellor's Court (1501-1765). Berkshire Wills (1508-1652). Northants and Rutland Wills (1510-1652). Kentish Wills (1384-1559). Selby Wills (1634-1710). Wills from the Dean and Chapter's Court at York (1321-1636). Wills at York (1389-1652). Wills and Administrations (Peculiar of the Deanery of South Mailing). Consistory Court of Rochester (1440-1561). Canterbury Wills and Administrations (1396-1558 and 1640-50). Lincoln Administrations, 1540-1659. Chichester Wills, 1482-1800. Consistory Court of Exeter Wills, 1532-1800. Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1383-1656 (Wills only). Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1559-80 (Administrations only). Committee on House of Commons Personnel and Politics 1 2 64- 1832 Presented to Parliament by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury by Command of His Majesty, July, 1932. LONDON PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2 ; 120, George Street, £