History of Parish Councils

THE HISTORY AND FUNCTIONS OF PARISH COUNCILS
Parish Councils have their origins in the development of villages, all over England, during Saxon and Norman times - 1000 or more years ago. Villages were ruled by the Lord of the Manor because as communications were poor and central government often weak, there was little national control. Sometimes the villages all met to make decisions which affected the whole community. Gradually, it seems, that Parish Priests and sometimes Schoolmasters joined the Lord of the Manor to become a kind of ruling clique because in small villages they were the only people who could reason right. It was probably them that became the first effective parish councils.

By the Year 1601, Church Vestry Meetings were so organised and workable that it was quite natural for legislators to give them the responsibility of levying the poor rate. These were the first effective local taxes. Everyone in the parish was entitled to attend Church Vestry Meetings but in practice the work fell to a few individuals, rather like Parish Councils today.

Although the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act removed from Parish Vestries the responsibility for poor relief and handed it to Poor Law Unions (the origins of our present District Councils) parishes had naturally accumulated responsibility for administering local charities, managing commons under distribution of land as a consequence of the 18th Century Enclosure Acts.

In 1894 although the Squire, the Parson and sometimes the Schoolmaster were still the leaders in the village, popular education was spreading and more people wanted a say in managing local affairs.

The great Victorian Prime Minister, W.E. Gladstone, piloted the 1894 Local Government Act through the House of Commons. It met a lot of opposition, for example there were over eight hundred amendments moved during its passage through the House. Nevertheless, the Act became law and Parish Councils were formed.

What happened next at Whetstone was probably fairly typical. In accordance with the terms of the Act the first Parish Meeting was called at the National School Room on Tuesday, 4th day of December, 1894 at 6.00 in the evening and the business to be transacted was to elect a Chairman for the meeting and to elect parish councillors. The number of parish councillors, it was declared, was to be seven. John Herrick, over-seer in charge of the meeting, asked for nomination to the Chair and eventually Mr. Joseph Buxton was duly elected. Joseph Buxton said then that there had been sixteen nominations for the seven places and that, therefore, an election at that meeting would have to be held. The election was held but William Burdett Kind, hosier, asked as he could under the Act, for a public poll to be held, and this was in fact agreed. Public voting took place on 17th December, 1894 and as a result of that the following people were elected as members of the first Parish Council:-
Samuel Curtis, Thomas Draycott, William Hammond, Timothy Kind, George Pawley, William Spence and John Wale.Joseph Buxton apparently was automatically elected as Chairman of the Parish Meeting. These councillors then met for the first meeting of the Parish Council on 3rd January,1895. The minute starts with this sentence:-
”In consequence of the workman being engaged in cleaning the National Schools, this meeting was held in the School Room at the Congregational Chapel.”

The meeting transacted only a little business. It elected a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman. The Chairman was, once again, Mr. Joseph Buxton and the Vice-Chairman was Councillor Timothy Kind, who, as a matter of interest was a relative of the present Clerk. It was then proposed that the manager of the Pars Leicestershire Banking Company at St. Martins, Leicester be invited to act as Treasurer to the Council and that Mr. Josiah Bonshor be asked to be Clerk to the Council, at a salary to be agreed upon “When the duties of the office are more fully ascertained”

Under the 1894 Act, Parish Councils were to receive their income from rates levied on agricultural land, but this was a time of agricultural depression and the money raised was so very low that soon this system was abandoned. Householders were then rated; something householders had never experienced before, and this lead to more opposition to Parish Councils. It wasn’t until after the first world war that Central Government began to give serious responsibilities to Parish Councils. The earliest among them being the provision of allotments and playing fields. Although an Act relating to allotments had been passed in 1908.

After the second world war the National Association of Parish Councils was formed, and by 1952 half of all parishes in the country were members. The Association became a national force and raised the profile and consequently the activity of parish councils.

Role of Parish Councils