Books on Hertfordshire

The Corporation Records of St Albans

with a list of Mayors, High Stewards, Members of Parliament, &c.

by A. E. Gibbs

Gibbs & Bamforth, St Albans, 1890

Available on CD from ArchiveCDbooks

Preface

"In the year 1888 the Corporation of the City of St Albans were so kind as to pass a resolution giving me access to the books and documents in their safe, in order that I might write a series of articles upon them for publication in the Herts Advertiser. When I examined them I found so much of interest, especially in the old Court or Minute Books, that I was induced to deal with them at greater length than I at first intended. Excerpts were therefore taken of the Minutes from the earliest preserved entries in the year 1586 to the present time. An endeavour has thus been made to record every event of local or antiquarian interest of which mention is found in these old manuscripts.

"It was suggested to me that these articles would be useful if given to the public in a handier and more accessible form than in the columns of a newspaper. I have accordingly reproduced them, and venture to hope that this little book will be found of value, as giving a fairly complete History of the Ancient Corporation for the last three hundred years. ... ...  A. E. Gibbs

The Charter and Constitution

The Charter of Edward VI
Charters of Mary, Elizabeth and James I
Charter of Charles I
Charters of Charles II and James II
The Constitution

The Corporation Minutes

This chapter contains some 250 pages of selected material from minutes between 1586 and 1889. This material  contains many personal names. However it should be noted that the actual minutes (now on microfilm) very many more names as only the more "interesting" minutes are reported and the regular lists of new freemen being admitted into the borough are not included in this book. For this reason the book serves as a taster of the goodies that can be found in the full Corporation minutes.

For a sample see 16th Century Extracts of the Corporation Minutes.

Mayor's Accounts

Miscellaneous Papers

The Value of Goods in the Sixteenth Century
Wages in Olden Days
Teaching the Poor to Spin
Borough Boundaries
Post Horses
Letters
Deeds
Precedency of the Mayoress
Charles I's Charter

Lists of Borough Officers

Mayors
Chief Stewards or High Stewards
Stewards
Recorders
Chamberlains and Clerks of the Papers
Common Clerks, or Town Clerks
Aldermen of the Reformed Corporation
Town Councillors elected since 1835
Members of Parliament for the Borough of St Albans

Index

The book has a very good index of personal names, .

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