Notes on Bridgwater’s Town Clerk

Origins of the Office of Town Clerk

By T Bruce Dilks, from the Bridgwater Town Council Archive BRITC : 2013/55/5

Bridgwater was created a mesne bourough by King John in 1200. Under a Charter of King Edward IV it received a Mayor. This was in 1468.

In the pre-mayoral days it is possible to discriminate between two sides of the town administration the provostry and the Community.

(1) The provostry represents the lords of the Borough. Two provosts or reeves preside over his Borough Court monthly and has view of Frank pledge. They are responsible to the Lords for his dues (I have said they preside. Rather I think there was a steward who presided over the Courts, but the reeves were responsible for the monies).

(2) The community – the burgesses – had at first no officials and so no money store of their own. But they adopted the structure of the Gild Merchants. Its officers – two stewards – became the stewards of the community – the common stewards – up to the time of the establishment of the mayorality. The bailiff of the Stewards became the bailiff of the community as distinct from the bailiffs of the reeves.

It is on the side of the community that we must look for the forerunner of the Town Clerk.

The first mention of the Clerk of the Community occurs in the account of the baliff of the Community for the year March 1399 ? March 1400. there is a payment of 2d. to the Clerk of the Community for parchment and another of 6s. 8d. For his stipend. In the accounts of 1431-32 we have now in English: “Item to ye Comyn Clerke 6s. 8d.” In 1440-41 he is described as “common clerk of the common stewards and the common bailiff” and is in receipt of the same salary. Later he is the “clerk of the common stewards of the Gild of Brigge”. In 1444-45 he is given 10s. of which it is possible that 3s. 4d. as for the clerk who wrote the account for later his stipend is again 6s. 8d.

After the mayorality was established in 1468 it may be presumed that the office of the Town Clerk was completely recognised as a borough function and assumed the duties, gradually enlarged, which it discharged to-day. From the account rolls of the water bailiffs of Henry VII’s and Henry VIII’s reigns we learn that the annual payments to the chief officials were then:-

to the Mayor £5

to the Recorder 20s

to the Water Bailiff 15s 4d

and

to the Town Clerk 26s 8d

Dr Peter Cattermole 1 March 2013 revised 14 April 2013.

Description of the Office of Town Clerk 1834

The Town Clerk is called in the charter of Charles 2, “Common Clerk, Prothonotary and Clerk of the Peace of the Borough.” He acts as clerk to the magistrates and solicitor to the corporation. His appointment is during good behaviour, and is made by the common council, or the major part of them. He has the power of appointing a deputy. He receives no salary. It was stated to us by the late town clerk to be an office of no emolument, but it appeared that he had in some years paid his predecessor an annuity of £50. He receives fees on the preparation of the corporation leases, on the admission of freemen, and also the coroner’s fees.

For the full report see here. Note that later in the century there was a separate office of ‘Clerk to the Borough Magistrates’ , this role apparently being split from that of Town Clerk. There were to more offices in the town ‘Clerk of the Peace’ and ‘Clerk of the County Magistrates’.

List of Known Town Clerks of Bridgwater

Humsheer: mentioned in the life of William Penn (1644-1718) for persecuting Quakers.

John Webber. Unknown – 1730. Mentioned as ‘common clerk’ 1729. Mentioned as the ‘present’ Town Clerk by John Oldmixon in his History of England (1730). Webber had been a supporter of the Duke of Monmouth. Removed in 1830 for his ‘age, abuses and mistakes’.

James Bryant sen. Oath of Office 1730. Served to 1744.

James Bryant jun. Oath of Office 1744. Died in office c.1771.

Richard Codrington 1771-1776.

Robert Codrington: Oath of Office 1805. Still active 1821.

John William Trevor: Oath of Office 1823. Re-elected 1827.

John Trevor: Oath of Office 1833. Removed 1836.

Thomas Ford: Appointed 1836. Still active 1839

Matthew Paramore: Mentioned 1840. Still active 1845.

Richard Smith jun.: 1847-1854

John H.B. Carslake: 1854-1877 [Son of Captain John Carslake who had been a midshipman on HMS Victory at Trafalar and hoisted the famous ‘England Expects’ signal. His son was John Barham Carslake the Queen’s Prize Winner]

Arthur King: 1913-1926

Served in the Tank Corps in the First World War.

C.C. Byers: 1926-1928

Arthur Smart: 1928-1929

Harold Bedale: 1929-1936

John L. Turner: 1961-1973

In 1973 the role of Town Clerk was abolished in advance of the Borough of Bridgwater being replaced with Sedgemoor District Council the following year. The position was revived in 2003 with the re-establishment of a Town Council. In the intervening time the council’s old regalia, paintings and artifacts were kept – and the Mayor was appointed – by a body called the Charter Trustees. They also had a role in naming streets. The trustees has a secretary, essentially filling some role of town clerk (with thanks to Brian Smedley for filling in this gap)

Janet Palfrey – secretary to the Charter Trustees

Alan Hurford: 2003-2018

David Mears: 2018 – Present

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Magistrates’ Clerks

Work in Progress.

Clerks to the Bridgwater Borough Magistrates

William Brice 1867-1902. Was clerk in 1896 during the brickyard strikes – stood by Mayor Pollard’s side while the Riot Act was read. Died 1902.

F.P. Tyrrell Mentioned 1926 and 1939

Clerks to the Bridgwater County Magistrates

John and James Trevor clerks to the County Magistrates in the 1880 and 1889 Whitby Almancks. These two men were brothers and both died in 1888.

Edward Trevor 1886 to 1940 . He was the son of James Trevor.

J.H Barrington 1940 onwards.

Miles Kerr-Peterson 31 December 2024