SOUTH LANCASHIRE ELECTION, 1844. - The nominations of the candidates for this division took place at Newton in the Willows, on a temporary hustings erected in front of the church and facing the Horse and Jockey Inn. There were present about 4,000 persons. W. Brown, Esq., was the Free-trade candidate, and Mr. Entwistle the Tory candidate. After the candidates had addressed the electors, a show of hands was taken, which resulted in favour of Mr. Entwistle. A poll was demanded, and the contest closed with a majority of 573 for Mr. Entwistle. A total of 14, 458 votes was recorded at Newton, Ashton-under-Lyne, Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Liverpool, Ormskirk and Wigan.
The Newton Division comprises of townships and parishes of Ashton, Billinge, Burtonwood, Eccleston, Golborne, Haydock, Newton, Poulton-with-Fearnhead, Rainford, Rainhill, Rixton-with-Glazebrook, Sankey, Winwick, Woolston-with-Martinscroft, and the freeholders of St. Helens and Warrington, and numbers 15,069 electors.
IMPROVEMENT COMMISSIONERS. - Before 1848, there was not outside the municipal boroughs any system of district government in England. Local Acts of Parliament had been passed appointing improvement commissioners for the government of these places. In 1848, the first Public Health Act was passed, and "In 1855," a local newspaper informs us, "an improvement bill was hurried through the Houses of Parliament, handing over Newton to the tender mercies of a board of commissioners, whose powers enable them to sewer the town, repair and pave the roads, and provide gas and water. Without opposition the bill was carried, and in due time became an Act of Parliament. A little account of £800 for obtaining the act was duly presented. This sum represents a rate of 1s. 6d in the £. The bill undoubtably contains excellent provisions, if gradually and judiciously carried out, but its conception, birth, and early history were so contrary to the open and above-board system Englishmen like, that the bill will never be heartily approved of." At the meeting after this leaderette appeared, the reporter of the paper was told that the commissioners had decided not to admit reporters to their meetings. However, to their credit be it said, the commissioners afterwards altered that decision.
The number of commissioners was ten, and the meetings were held monthly in the new Legh Arms Hotel. The first members of the board were Messrs. Thomas Legh, Thomas Stone, William Stock, Joseph Hornby Birley , Edward Tayleur, Robert Houghton, George McCorquodale, William Mercer, Thomas Downing, amd the Rev. John Whitley. Mr. Birley was elected the first chairman. The board met on the 17th December, 1855, and commenced business by levying a rate of 9d. in the £ for improvements, by accepting a tender from Mr. Blacklock for gas at 3s. 6d. per 1,000 feet, and one for mains from Beveraige, Headley, and Chandler, of Preston. They also appointed Mr. Poulson, of Newton, surveyor at a salary of £80!
At a public meeting of ratepayers in August of the following year, in the Legh Arms Hotel, a ratepayer said that £200 a year for conducting the affairs of a small town like Newton was out of reason Shade of the mighty Matthew! if thou wert now in the flesh, what would thine exclamation be?
On June 10th, 1869, there was a meeting at Newton, on the Local Government ACt Adoption, and a notice appeared in the London Gazette, a few days afterwards, which stated that it having been certified to the Secretary of State for the Home Department that a copy of the notice of the adoption of the Local Government Act for the Newton-in-Makerfield district having been duly published by advertisement in the Warrington Guardian for three successive weeks, and whereas a petition was presented to the Secretary of State from the ratepayers of the said district against the adoption of the Act, and an enquiry held by Robert Rawlinson, Esq., C.B., the inspector appointed for that purpose, who has presented his report, it was ordered as follows: "(1) That the aforesaid petition of appeal against the adoption of the Local Government Act, 1858 be dismissed. (2) That the Local Government Act, shall, from the 21st day of June next, have the force of law within the said district of Newton-in-Makerfield, in the county of Lancaster."
For a time meetings were held in the new Legh Arms Hotel, in the long room approached by the flight of stone steps in Mill Lane. This room proving unsuitable, offices were added to the Assembly-rooms in High Street, and the business of the township was transacted there until 1894.
By the Public Health Act of 1872, a general system of sanitary districts was adopted, and this system has been maintained until the present time, with some important changes introduced by the Public Health Act of 1875 and the Local Government Act of 1894. Under this latter act all existing local boards and Improvement Act Commissioners became Urban District Councils. Before the act, the guardians of the poor of a union were the sanitary authority for the rural part of the union, with the result that guardians elected for urban parishes acted as to sanitary matters with respect to the rural parishes which had no voice in selecting them. The act provided that the councillors elected for a particular rural parish should also represent that parish on the board of guardians.
WARDS. - In November of 1893, a deputation of ratepayers of the Newton portion of the township, headed by Mr. Robert Stone, waited upon the Commissioners to urge the desirability of dividing the township into wards, on the plea that the Newton ratepayers were not adequately represented on the board, and that they were entirely at the mercy of another part of the township whether they had any representation at all. A plan of the proposed scheme, showing the boundaries of the wards was handed in, and the deputation hoped the Commissioners would accede to their request. A long discussion followed, and at the end it was decided that a special meeting shoudl be called to consider the matter. This meeting acknowledged the reasonableness of the request, and the scheme was recommended to the County Council for adoption.
URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL. - The first meeting of Commissioners in the new Town Hall at Earlestown was held on the 8th January, 1894, and this year the Local Government Act creating urban district councils came into force. The first election under the act tok place on December 17th, and out of thirty-one candidates the following were returned:-
| Chairmen of Commissioners and Council | ||||
| 1855 | - | 1857 | - | Joseph Hornby Birley, Esq. |
| 1857 | - | 1863 | - | Edward Tayleur, Esq. |
| 1863 | - | 1864 | - | J. H. Birley, Esq.and William Mercer, Esq. |
| 1864 | - | 1879 | - | George McCorquodale, Esq. |
| 1879 | - | 1889 | - | William F. Gooch, Esq. |
| 1889 | - | 1895 | - | James Watson Emmett, Esq. |
| 1895 | - | 1900 | - | Charles B. F. Borron, Esq. |
| 1900 | - | 1904 | - | William Collingwood, Esq. |
| 1904 | - | 1909 | - | Thomas Ormand, Esq. |
| 1909 | - | 1912 | - | William Thompson, Esq. |
The Urban District Council Rates for 1912-1913 are:-
| Amount in the £ | S. | D. |
| General Improvement Rate | 1 | 4 |
| Highway Rate | 0 | 6 |
| Water Rate | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 10 |
COUNTY COUNCIL. - County Councils were created by the Local Government Act, 1888, as the central administration authority for a county. The County Council consists of a chairman, county aldermen, and councillors; the number of councillors is fixed by the Local Government Board, that of the aldermen is one-third the number of councillors. A County Council is the authority to fix the county rate; to maintain the county buildings, main roads, bridges and lunatic asylums; to appoint and pay the salaries of officers such as the county surveyor, treasurer, coroners, and public analysts; and to carry out the acts as to diseases of animals, protection of wild birds, fish conservancy, weights and measures, explosives, reformatory and industrial schools, and the licensing of playhouses. In the discussion of the Education Bill of 1903, it was claimed that the school-board areas were in general too small for efficiency, amd the County Council was substituted as the authority.
The first County Council election for the Newton electoral district took place on January 15th, 1889, the contestants being Mr. G. W. Rawlins, manufacturere, of Rainhill, and Mr. T. H. Pearson, colliery proprietor, of Golborne. Mr. Rawlins was returned with a majority of 243. On the retirement of Mr. Rawlins after a few years of service. Mr. C. B. F. Borron was returned unopposed. He retired from the position in 1910, and in March of the same year the district was contested by Mr. W. Collingwood and Mr. W. Goslin, the former being returned by a majority of 291.
The County Council Rates for 1912-1913 are:-
| Amount in the £ | S. | D. |
| Relief of the Poor and other expenses of the Guardians | 1 | 2 |
| County Contributions | 2 | 1½ |
| Higher Education | 0 | 1 |
| Overseers' Expenses | 0 | ½ |
| 3 | 5 |
OVERSEERS. - The Poor Relief Act of 1601 is usually taken as the beginning of the history of the English Poor Law. It provided for a general assessment in place of the voluntary contributions which, under ecclesiastical persuasion, the public had been expected to make. It also provided that the churchwardens of every parish, together with four, three or two substantial householders (according to the size of the parish) should be nominated yearly by the justices of the peace under their hands and seals, and should be called overseers of the poor. Churchwardens, however, having a distinct business of their own, usually left the care of the poor to the overseers; and, at the present day, they are not entitled to act ex officio as overseers. Their duties are the preparation of new valuation lists, or supplemental lists, giving particulars as to the rateable properties in the parish; the making, collection, and recovery of the poor-rate and the defence of appeals against the poor-rate where the assessment committee do not resolve to defend the appeal; the preparation and submission to the revising barrister of the lists of parliamentary and local government electors; the removal to an asylum of lunatics wandering at large, and the supervision of the collector of poor-rates or assistant overseer.
The election of overseers generally took place at a vestry meeting, and in Newton the assistant-overseer was publicly elected down to 1868. The first assistant-overseer in our day was one Mr. Richard Owen, who apparently was a much respected and obliging official, for on May 15th, 1853, he was presented by the Rev. Peter Legh, the vicar of St. Peter's , on behalf of the ratepayers, with a testimonial and various articles consisting of a silver teapot and goblet and a purse containing upwards of twenty-five sovereigns. The articles bore this inscription: "Presented to Mr. Richard Owen, a silver teapot, together with a silver goblet and a purse of sovereigns (by the ratepayers of Newton and friends) for his faithful and efficient service as assistant-overseer and collector of taxes, in the parish of Newton-in-Makerfield, for nearly thirty years." One of his duties was to collect the compulsory church rate, and this no doubt would greatly endear him to the vicar and wardens of his day.*
But the actions of the poor-law officials of those days were not always of a testimonial-producing character, as the following extract will prove:-
CUTTING UP THE GOOSE. - Our neighbours at Newton Junction have been crowing lately on their prosperity. The Vulcan Works have been going on prosperously; the Railway Company has engaged several hundred hands, and erected 300 cottages during the past two years; and soap works, brick works, etc., have all been adding to the importance of Newton. It is therefore with astonishment we learn that the overseers, not satisfied with the rates they got from the Vulcan Foundry, have brought over a Mr. Somebody from Manchester to value the Vulcan Foundry, and this Mr. Somebody declares that, in his estimation - he living where land is often £5 a yard - the Vulcan Foundry should be rated at £580 instead of £400. This is pretty good for a start. Let our neighbours take care. Trade is very coy; It makes to itself wings often, and flies away from overtaxed places, or never goes to them. - Warrington Guardian, 3rd March, 1855.
Mr. Henry Appleton was the next assistant-overseer whom we knew. He was accidentally killed on the railway, and, to fill the vacancy caused by his death, an electio took place on December 24th, 1868. Twelve candidates appeared, but eight of them failed to get proposers. Messrs. Henry Houghton, James Liptrott, John Elliott, and W. Thomas only going to the poll. On the first show of hands, the two last named were disposed of. The final contest then lay between Mr. Houghton and MR. Liptrott, the result being 68 votes for Mr. Houghton and 57 for Mr. Liptrott. Mr. Houghton was therefore elected.
By the Local Government Act of 1894 the power of appointment can be conferred on the Urban District Council by an order of the Local Government Board. At the first meeting of the newly-elected Urban District Council of Newton-in-Makerfield, in the Earlestown Town Hall, on January 6th, 1895, it was moved , seconded, and carried eith only one dissentient, that application be made to the Local Government Board for an order conferring on the Urban District Council the appointment of overseers and assistant-overseers. This order was obtained in due course, and thus quietly passed away, after an existence of two hundred four score and fourteen years, the custom of the public election of the overseers by the ratepayers.
In this Act of 1894 there is nothing to debar the appointment of a member of an urban district council to the office of overseer provided he possesses the necessary qualification of being a substantial householder in the parish for which he will act; but, in our stidy of the act and overseers' manuals, we have not yet discovered the reason why all the overseers should be members or officials of the Councils.
After the death of Mr. Henry Houghton, at an ordinary meeting of the Council on the 2nd of November, 1908, it was resolved that, subject to the relinquishment of the powers of the Warrington Board of Guardians in the matter of poor-rate collection in the township, the common seal of the Council be affixed - (a) To the appointment of the Clerk of the Council as assistant-overseer of Newton-in-Makerfield, to perform all such duties as appertain and are incident to the office of an overseer of the poor, with the exception of the actual collection of poor rates; (b) To the appointment of the collector of the Council rates as an assistant-overseer of the township of Newton-in-Makerfield to collect the poor rates. The common seal was accordingly affixed to the Clerk's appointment, such appointment not being affected by any powers of the Warrington Board of Guardians. A letter was read from the clerk to the Warrington Board of Guardians, stating that they were satisfied, in the interests of all concerned, that the Council should apply to the Local Government Board for an order vesting the powers of appointment of poor-rate collector in the Council, and that they (the Guardians) would support such application. And so
"The old order changeth, yielding place to the new."
Henry Appleton married Miss Gilson. a friend of my sister, and we often visited their amiable and intelligent family. Henry Houghton was our faithful friend from earliest youth. We saw his rise and progress with pleasure, from the thatched cottage at Ashton Lane end to the "receipt of customs." He was, like all his kith and kin, a stalwart, and saw the Volunteers "in" and "out." - P.M.C.
*Though not to the Nonconformists, for he had to distrain on the Rev. Robert Massie, a COngregational minister, for the rate; but from knowing him intimately as a public official and shopkeeper can be known, and from the fact that the Rev. Peter Legh made the presentation, I know that he was well worthy of it. Of course it was only to be expected that ribald youth would scoff at his "Oyez, oyez," when he read the charter granting a fair, as he did from the steps of the obelisk in the churchyard, and again perched on a chair at the "Oak Tree." I remember him collecting the stallage dues from "Owd Taypot" (John Brown), an oddity, of Ashton, and marching along with the steward at the fair. He was a dapper little man was Richard Owen. - P.M.C.
Newton in Makerfield:
Its History,
with some account of its people.
Compiled from Authentic sources
by
John Henry Lane,
with Notes and Reminiscences
by
Peter Mayor Campell.
Printed and Published by the Compiler
1914.
This version copyright © John Rouse, May 2003.
A reprint of this book (Volumes I and II) is available from Peter Riley
Return to the Newton-in-Makerfield index.