pistols, and about as many firelocks. They were led on by Mr. Huson, a
puritan preacher, Captain Willers, and Lieutenant Benbow; then followed
some other musqueteers along the side of the Severn, under the Castle
Hill, and entered the town at the Water-lane Gate; after these marched
three hundred and fifty infantry, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel
Rinking. Having entered the streets of the town they marched to the
market place, surprised the guard, and put the captain to death; the rest
marched to the castle Foregate, which was also soon gained; the guard
having basely deserted it. The town being in possession of the
parliamentary forces, they let down the draw bridge, near the castle, and
the horse immediately entered under the command of Colonel Mytton and
Bowyer. It was now about break of day, and the inhabitants were filled
with consternation and surprise at beholding the enemy in the very heart
of the town, which, on retiring to rest the preceding night, they thought
the most secure in the island. About twelve o’clock the castle after a
feeble resistance surrendered, on condition that the English part of it
should march to Ludlow, but the Irish were delivered up to the
conquerors. At the time of the assault the governor, Sir Michael
Earnley, was confined by sickness to his bed; but waked by the noise of
the tumult, he sprang up at the moment the enemy were rushing into his
chamber, and with great courage refused to submit to the conquerors,
rejecting all quarter, he wantonly perished, covered more with wounds
than with glory. The loss in killed and wounded was inconsiderable; but
the prisoners and property seized by the victors was of great importance,
for here were taken eight knights and baronets, forty colonels, majors,
captains, and others of quality, besides the common soldiers, also
fifteen pieces of ordnance, several hundred stand of arms and powder, &c.
For these important services the general received the thanks of
parliament, and was made governor of the castle. The late lieutenant
governor was tried by a court martial at Gloucester, and afterwards
hanged, for negligence and cowardice, in suffering the place to be
surprised without his having made a suitable resistance. Prince Maurice
made his escape before the castle surrendered, but the whole of his
magazine fell into the hands of the victors.
In the contest between the king and the parliament, Colonel John Benbow,
uncle to the celebrated Admiral Benbow, united with the parliament
forces; but afterwards deserted his principles, and espoused the cause of
the monarch. He distinguished himself by opposing his former associates
at the taking of Shrewsbury, for which vacillating conduct he was
condemned by the parliament, and shot on the green before the castle,
October 15th, 1651. At the same time the parliament in order to strike
terror into those who favoured royalty, adjudged the Earl of Derby to
suffer at Bolton. Several other gentlemen of the first families in
England were also sentenced to death at the same period. An attempt was
made to reduce the town to loyal obedience, after the death of the
protector Cromwell, but the governor of the castle secured the place in
the interest of parliament.
At the restoration, notwithstanding the joy which was diffused through
the kingdom, it is probable there were some in every county who still
sighed for the Commonwealth. The municipal bodies of the realm,
terrified by the example of London, made haste to surrender the charters
they had received from former monarchs into the hands of the sovereign.
The corporation, however, of Shrewsbury stood out for a twelvemonth. At
length, on the 13th of June, 1684, it was agreed unanimously, that the
charter of the town should be surrendered and yielded up to his majesty,
when his pleasure should require it. On the 20th of August, it was
“Ordered that the mayor and committee attend the Lord Chief Justice
Jones, to discourse him, touching the renewing of the charter, and
unanimously agreed, that in the new charter there shall be only twelve
aldermen and twenty-four assistants.” The king’s death prevented this
instrument from passing the great seal in his name. Within a week after
that event, the corporation sent up an address to their new sovereign,
expressive of “their joyfulness in his succession, and humbly thanking
him for his gracious declaration in preferring the Protestant religion;”
no obscure intimation of their wishes on that momentous subject, which
engaged all ranks with an intensity of interest difficult to be conceived
by the present generation. On the 17th of March, 1684, the corporation
received their new charter, in which the king expresses his gracious
affection for the melioration of the town of Salop, and hopes that, if
the burgesses and inhabitants have more ample liberties and privileges,
they will be the better enabled and the more bound to render him the more
special service. He grants that the town shall be “a free town of
itself, and the burgesses and inhabitants shall be a body corporate, and
sue and be sued; that there shall be one good and discreet man of the
aldermen of the town who shall be mayor; twelve good and discreet men
(the mayor being one) who shall be aldermen; and twenty-four good and
discreet men, assistants.” Then follow various other officers, and a
clause empowering the corporation to supply vacancies occasioned by
death, &c. When James II. made a progress through this part of his
dominions, the corporation resolved to expend £200 in entertaining and
making a present to the king. They despatched two gentlemen to
Gloucester and Worcester for the purpose of ascertaining the manner in
which the royal traveller was entertained in those cities. They resolved
that the conduits should run with wine on the day of his majesty’s
entrance, and that the corporated companies should appear with their
drums, colours, flags, and streamers. The king arrived on the 24th of
August, and took up his abode at the Council House, where the corporation
presented him with a purse of gold containing one hundred guineas. On
the following morning, he exercised the gift of healing, by touching
several persons for the king’s evil. The king issued a proclamation on
the 17th of October for restoring corporations to their ancient charters
and franchises, and orders were the same day made in council for removing
all corporate officers, who had been put in by the crown since 1679.
Richard Mickleston was at this time mayor of Shrewsbury; under the new
charter of 1685 he was discharged from his office, and John Hill, Esq.,
elected in his room, under the charter of 1638.
The various “compositions” which the burgesses of Shrewsbury appear to
have entered into amongst themselves for the government of this borough,
clearly indicate that a large share of power was exercised by “the
commons” in its municipal institutions. The liberties and customs of the
burgesses or commons were confirmed by the charter of Henry II., and by
various others granted before and after the date of the compositions
alluded to. But the constitution of the borough was materially altered
by a charter of the 14th of Charles I., transferring to a select body the
functions previously exercised by the commons. This charter continued to
be the governing one till the passing of the new municipal act, in 1835.
The corporation by it was appointed to consist of a mayor, twenty-four
aldermen, and forty-eight assistants, with an indefinite number of
burgesses or freemen, under the style of the “mayor, aldermen, and
burgesses of the town of Shrewsbury, in the county of Salop,” instead of
the “bailiffs and burgesses,” as in the old charter. The ministerial
officers named in the charter were, the recorder and his deputy, the
steward, town clerk, two coroners, four auditors, two chamberlains, a
sword bearer, three serjeants-at-mace, and three serjeants-yeomen.
Exclusive jurisdiction in the borough was granted, the magistrates being
the mayor and ex-mayor, the bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, the
chancellor of the diocese, the recorder, steward, and three senior
aldermen. Few of them, however, continued to act. Petty sessions were
authorised to be held weekly, quarter sessions for all criminal actions
not capital, a weekly court of record for all personal suits to any
amount, and for ejectments, and a court leet, with view of frank-pledge.
A court of requests was established in the 23rd of George III. for the
recovery of debts under 40s., which was held every alternate week. The
number of suits in the court in 1839 was 1011. This court has been
superseded by the new county court act.
Under the new municipal act, the borough is included in schedule A,
amongst boroughs to have a commission of the peace, which has accordingly
been granted, and the court of quarter sessions and recorder
re-appointed; and in section I. of that schedule among those the
parliamentary boundaries of which were to be taken till altered by
parliament. The limits of the borough extend considerably beyond the
ancient boundaries, and now include the whole town and its suburbs. It
has been divided into five wards, and appointed to be governed by ten
aldermen and thirty councillors under the usual corporate style. The
income of the corporation in 1840, was £1903. 10s. 8d. The income for
the year ending September 1st, 1850, was £3184. 6s. 9d. of which £515.
11s. 3d. arose from the rental of premises; £1750. 1s. 11d. from the
borough rate; and the remainder from miscellaneous sources. The
principal items of expenditure for the same period are—police, £832. 1s.
4d.; salaries, £346. 14s.; rent and taxes, £42. 8s.; reparations, £187.
6s. 5d.; turns in the quarry and other annual payments, £267. 19s. 2d.;
prosecutions, £217. 19s. 5d.; maintenance and removal of prisoners, £245.
17s. 11d.; expenses at sessions, including fees, &c., £395. 1s. 4d.;
inquests and coroners expenses, £72. 4s. 6d. There was also a balance of
£265. 0s. 9d. in the treasurer’s hands. Shrewsbury has regularly
returned two members to parliament since the reign of Edward I. Previous
to the passing of the reform act the franchise was in the burgesses
inhabiting within the ancient limits of the borough, paying scot and lot,
and not receiving alms or charity. The county assizes, and quarter
sessions, are held here; petty sessions are held every Tuesday, and the
borough magistrates sit daily.
The following is a list of the members of parliament, the corporate body,
and the municipal officers of the borough of Shrewsbury for the year
1851:—
MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.
Robert Anglionby Slaney, Esq., and Edward Holmes Baldock, Esq.
BOROUGH MAGISTRATES.
Edward Hughes, Esq., mayor; Joseph Birch, Esq., ex-mayor; Robert Burton,
Esq.; Edward Haycock, Esq.; William Henry Perry, Esq.; James Watkins,
Esq.; T. G. Gwyn, Esq.; Edward Morris, Esq., John Hazledine, Esq.
MAYOR—Edward Hughes, Esq.
ALDERMEN—John Thomas Smitheman, Esq.; Edward Haycock, Esq.; William
Wyburgh How, Esq.; John Loxdale, Esq.; James Watkins, Esq.; John Bowen,
Esq.; Robert Burton, Esq.; Thomas Groves, Esq.; John Legh, Esq.; Charles
Lloyd, Esq.
COUNCILLORS.
_Castle Ward Within_—William James Clement, Joseph Birch, William Henry
Perry, Edwin Foulkes, Thomas Hall, Richard Jeffreys Mulckleston.
_Castle Ward Without_—James Smith, Thomas Birch, John Bishton Minor,
Joseph Chune, Benjamin Birch, James Moore.
_Stone Ward Within_—Thomas Campbell Eyton, William Richard Stokes, David
Evans, James Burrey, Edward Hughes, Lewis Meredith.
_Stone Ward Without_—William Burr, Charles Bowen Teece, John Hazledine,
George Harper, Richard Taylor, William Butler Lloyd.
_Welsh Ward_—Thomas William Trouncer, Robert Mortimer Healing, Robert
Baugh Blakemore, William Onions, Robert Haycock, Henry Keate.
_Recorder_, Charles Harwood, Esq. _Coroner_ (_borough_), Henry Keate,
Esq. _Town Clerk_, J. J. Peel, Esq. _Clerk of the Peace_, G. Gordon,
Esq. _Magistrates’ Clerk_, W. H. Cooper, Esq. _Chief Constable_,
Captain Mayne. _Borough Treasurer_, Mr. Henry Pidgeon. _Surveyor_, Mr.
Thomas Tisdale. _Governor of the Gaol_, Mr. John Sheppard, _Town
Marshall and senior Serjeant_, S. Farlow. _Chief Constable_, William
Harper. _Serjeant of Mace_, John Thomas. _Town Crier_, George Rowe.
THE BOROUGH POLICE FORCE consists of a chief constable, two
superintendents, two inspectors, and thirteen constables.
THE COUNTY CONSTABULARY consists of a chief constable, two first class
superintendents, four second class superintendents, ten first class
constables, and forty second class constables.
IN the year 1756, thirty-seven colliers were brought to gaol for rioting
and committing outrages in the county, it being a time of scarcity for
all kinds of provisions. The trial took place at the spring assizes of
the following year. Ten of the rioters were left for execution; but the
judge sent his report express to the attorney-general, with an intimation
fixed for the day of execution, and the individuals two in number, who,
as he deemed it should suffer the sentence of the law. The report having
been transmitted to Mr. Pitt, then secretary of state, it lay there
untouched, and was never laid before the king. The day of execution
arrived, without any reprieve, and Mr. Leek, the deputy sheriff, was
advised by several of the principal gentlemen in the town to leave the
prisoners to their fate. But he was so much shocked at the thought of
executing so large a number, which he was convinced could not be the
intention of the judge, that he ventured to postpone the execution, and
sent off an express to London, on the return of which he had the
satisfaction of finding that his conduct was highly approved of, and
still more, the consciousness that he had saved eight lives. The
following is part of a letter written to him on the occasion by Lord
Chief Justice Willes:—“Till I saw your letter I was under the greatest
uneasiness,—for I took it for granted that all the ten rioters had been
executed on Saturday last; and, upon my return from the Home Circuit, on
Thursday last, I found that by a shameful neglect in one of the secretary
of state’s officers, no reprieve had been sent down; and, as it was then
too late to send one down, I saw no reason to hope that their execution
would be deferred to a longer time. But though, to be sure, you have
acted contrary to your duty, you have acted a wise, prudent, and most
humane part; and you have not only my thanks, but the thanks of some of
the greatest men in the kingdom, for the part you have acted on this
occasion.” In a letter from Mr. Leek’s agent in town it is stated, “My
Lord Commissioner Willes was so afflicted . . . that it really made him
ill; and he did not for two days go into the king’s closet, so much he
feared the effect it might have upon the king’s mind, if the affair was
communicated to his majesty while it was under that state of uncertainty.
Thank God, your prudent and well judged respite has prevented all the
uneasiness and mischiefs that might have happened; and I have the
pleasure to assure you that no step was ever taken that has given more
satisfaction, than this of yours has done. My Lord Commissioner Willes
waited this day upon the king with your letter, and has directed me to
acquaint you, by his majesty’s orders, that his majesty entirely approves
of what you have done.”
CHURCHES.
ST. MARY’S CHURCH stands in a commanding position in St. Mary’s street,
and is one of the most interesting ecclesiastical edifices in the
country. This fine structure is cruciform, and consists of nave, side
aisles, transept, chancel, two side chapels, and a tower, crowned with a
lofty and beautiful spire. In common with most of our early churches
there is no opportunity of ascertaining the precise date of its erection;
it is said to owe its foundation to Edgar, who, at the suggestion of
Archbishop Dunstan, placed in it a dean, seven prebends, and a parish
priest, with a stipend of £6. 6s. 8d. per annum. There is, however,
every probability that the foundation was antecedent to his reign. In
the time of Edward the Confessor, this college possessed a landed estate
of about 1300 acres, which it continued to hold at the Domesday survey,
but of which it was soon after deprived. From a very early period this
church enjoyed the privilege of a royal free chapel, and was therefore
exempt from the jurisdiction of the Bishops. These privileges formed a
frequent ground of contest between the sovereign pontiffs and the kings
of England. A particular instance relates to the church now under
consideration. About the year 1270, the dean had a dispute with the
Abbot of Salop, touching the right of presentation to the Church of
Fittes, or as it was then written, Fitesho, to which one Robert de Acton
had been instituted by the Bishop of Lichfield, and forcibly ejected by
the dean. Acton, being a crusader, was under the especial protection of
the pope, whose officer called “the Executor of the Cross,” sent an order
to the Abbot of Shrewsbury to restore the incumbent to his benefice.
This being done the king’s attorney-general filed an information against
the abbot, requiring him to answer ‘whereof he exercised jurisdiction in
the Chapel of Fitesho,’ appertaining to the King’s Free Chapel of St.
Mary, of Salop, which is exempt, so that neither our lord “the pope, nor
any other ecclesiastical judge hath jurisdiction therein.” Judgment
passed against the abbot, and he was sentenced to pay damages to the king
and to suffer imprisonment.
The Dean of St. Mary’s, had, from time immemorial, the power of
collecting and paying into the king’s exchequer, the tenths or other
subsidies arising from the deanery and prebends. Edward the first
confirmed this privilege; and his grandson, in the eighteenth year of his
reign, recognized by directing the sheriffs of Salop and Hereford not to
enter the jurisdiction of the royal chapel, or to levy a distress on the
possessions thereof, for any subsidies or tenths, unless the dean should
neglect to make a due return. At the dissolution of collegiate churches
1. of Edward VI., the revenues which consisted chiefly of tithe, amounted
to £42, the greatest portion of which was granted by that monarch towards
the endowment of the Free Schools. According to Leland it had a dean and
nine poor prebendaries, also vicars choral, two chauntry priests, a
parish priest, and a clerk or assistant. The peculiar jurisdiction of
the Royal Free Chapel remained till the recent act of parliament restored
it to the bishop of the diocese, and was held in lease at an annual rent
of £1. 6s. 8d., of the corporation to whom Queen Elizabeth granted it by
charter, dated 23rd May, 1571. The usual style of the minister was
“ordinary and official, principal of the peculiar and exempt jurisdiction
of the Free Royal Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” In his courts
wills were proved, letters of administration were granted, and all
ecclesiastical matters, arising within the parish and its subordinate
chapelries, adjudicated. In 1632, King Charles I., during his residence
at the council house, attended divine service here, received the
sacraments, and made solemn protestations of his fidelity to the
principles of the reformed religion.
This venerable edifice exhibits various styles of architecture: the
Anglo-Norman of the 12th century in the basement of the nave and most of
the doors; the lancet style of the 13th century, in the chancel and
transept, and the obtuse arch of the 15th century in the side aisles and
chapels. The basement of the tower is of red sand stone, and the upper
portion of grey, and in the Anglo-Norman and early pointed styles of
architecture. The dimensions of the church are—length from east to west
160 feet—breadth of nave and side aisles 53 feet—transept 90 feet, and
height of tower and steeple 223 feet; the height of the steeple from the
bed of the river 300 feet. The beautifully proportioned octagonal spire
which rises from a tower of noble proportions, is a conspicuous ornament
to the town, and is seen from the adjacent country to a considerable
distance. The nave and side aisles externally, in the pointed style of
the 15th century, are of the Grinshill free stone, and entered on the
north and south-west by beautiful semi-circular arches, adorned with
chevron, lozenged and foliated mouldings; the south-west porch is in the
Anglo-Norman style, having zigzag mouldings, issuing from clustered
columns, with foliated capitals. On each side is a small pointed window,
exhibiting specimens of the earliest rudiments of the millioned Gothic
architecture, in which has lately been placed some highly interesting
painted glass, of German execution, on which are depicted various
incidents, chiefly from the Apocrypha. A stone porch, entered by a
pointed arch, had recently been erected before the corresponding door on
the north side.