The Freemen of Hale

The Modern Period (18-21st Century)

Notes on the mock corporations of Lanchasire

With the decline of the mediaeval borough of the 14th century Hale, along with some of its neighbouring communities, reverted to manorial control and as consequence remained largely an agricultural community. It became a "closed" village i.e. a village under the control of a single lord and subject to the Customs of the Manor!

However, in the 18th century we see a revival of interest in Hales burghal period with the formation of the "Ancient and Honourable Corporation of Hale". Similar institutions were relatively common in Lancashire during the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of them have now fallen into disuse, but some have left their records intact and from these we can glean an insight into their origin and peculiar ceremonies. On the whole they seem to have been a light-hearted body of men and women whose prime objective was to entertain and be entertained, whilst upholding a strict code of conduct reflecting their municipal cousins.

The Hale record books date back to 1793, but the survival of a pewter mace inscribed with the name of Edward Aspinwall, Lord of the Manor of Hale, who died in 1719, indicates an origin in the early part of the 18th century. The Hale record books give no clues as to it`s origin and comprise largely of a list of names of newly elected Freemen. The mock corporations that we know of seem to have a variety of origins and it would be of interest to make some sort of comparison of these to throw more light on the purpose for which they were created.

The Corporation which has left the most comprehensive records of its proceedings is that of Sefton, the earliest account of which dates back to 1753. To all intents and purposes, it appears to have originated as a social gathering of gentlemen, merchants and tradesmen from the localities of Liverpool who met each Sunday at an inn at Sefton to attend Sefton Chruch. After this they retired to the inn for pleasures of gastronomic enjoyment and the renewal of Oaths and induction of new freemen. It consisted of a Mayor, two Bailiffs, a Recorder, a Town Crier, Aldermen and Common Council men, A Swordbeare, a Macebearer, a Bellman and a number of Free Burgesses.

In contrast to this, the mock Corporation of Walton-le Dale near Preston, founded in 1701. appears to have had a direct and distinct political origin as a Jacobite club established by the Earl of Derwentwater and Duke of Norfolk and others. After the surender of Preston in 1715 it took on an entirely social form with mock ceremonies until at least the year 1800.

Dr. Whittaker in his history of a Richmonshire states that down to the year 1766 its meetings were respectable, but after that date "it fell into the hands of inferior tradesmen, who continued to assemble with some of the old formalities, but with neither the danger nor the dignity of their predeccessors".

According to Abram in his history of Balckburn; "the original object of the founders was to indulge in a practical satire upon the Corporation of Preston by a paraded travesty of civic dignataries and procedures, and the Whigs, being the ascendant party in Preston, the first members of the mock Corporation of Walton were chiefly high-church Tories and Jacobites". After 1800 the periods of activity appeared to have followed those of national events being revived in 1886 in connection with the jubilee of the following year and again in 1901 in readiness for the Coronation of Edward VII in 1902. it`s last recorded meeting being in 1903.

The Chief Officers of the mock Corporation of Walton were the Mayor, Recorder, Town Clerk, two Bailiffs, Deputy Mayor and Chaplin and, as if to emphasise the burlesque nature of the ceremonies, the minor officers included a jestor, house groper, custard eater and slut kisser!!

Liverpool also appears to have induldged in the pursuits of a mock Borough, but only on one day each year, St.Lukes Day, 18th October, the day on which the Mayor of Liverpool was elected. On this day a number of working men met at Page`s Tavern in Roscoe St for the purpose of electing a mock Mayor and calling themselves the "Corporation of Asses Green" after a tract of land fronting the tavern. The Mayor of Asses Green was carried in precession after dark, accompanied by drums and fifes, through the adjoining streets and singing "God save the King". It returned to the Tavern presumably to continue in its revelries. However, it appears to have discontinued in the early 1820s.

At Farnworth near Widnes a mock corporation was established whose role of members dates from 1714 to 1761 but is known to have existed until 1865 at the time of the last Farnworth wakes. It was about the same time as the Wakes, mid-October, that the Mayor was installed and who took part in the curious custom of greeting a bear and its keeper "with all due honours and cermony" prior to a bear-bating event. Charles Poole in "Old Widnes and its Neighbourhood" describes "a motley group of men clustered together at the top of the street, who were tricked out in all sorts of strange garments and gewgaws, meant to invest them with the dignity and pomp of a bogus Mayor and corporation". They proeceeded steadily down the street and "when the different parties met it would be hard to say which looked the most absurd, the hary beast and its swarthy keeper, or the motley company of the yokels, bedecked with ribbons, feathers and other cheap finery".

Once again there is nothing in the records which alludes to any specific origin other than social but, unlike Sefton and Walton, which were supported by wealthy merchants and prominent Lancashire families, Farnworth was composed mainly of tradesmen and professional men from the immediate localities. Charles Madeley, in 1915, suggests that there may be some tentative connections with the Manorial Borough of the 15th century and, whilst the Manor Court began to laps the meetings of the mock corporation have survived.

Childwall, of which parish the chapelry of Hale formed a part prior to its separation in 1856, also held its mock courts. These were held at the bi-annual rent and dinner given by the Marquess of Salisbury, Lord of the Manor of Childwall, and the oath taken by the newly invested Freemen bears a strong similarity to that of the Hale oath.

"Sir, you must true fidelity bear to our sovereign lady the Queen and to the Mayor of this Corporation. You must be a free drinker, a true joker, a free payer, a thorough smoker, a jolly fox hunter and above all a dear lover of the female sex.

You must drink the Queen`s health and the health of the Lord and Lady of the Manor. And attend at every town`s meeting so long as duly summoned and in every way conduct yourself as an Honourable member of this ancient and loyal Corporation - so help yourself"

The Ancient and Honorable Corporation of Hale

The record books provide few clues as to the origin of the "Ancient and Honorable Corporation of Hale", but there seems always to have been an association with the manorial courts and estate rent dinners, which is not surprising in a village where these institutions played a prominent role in the daily lives of many of those who lived in Hale. The Freemen of Hale met on the Manor Court and Rent Days which took place in mid-January, May and Michaelmas day, 29th of September, and were held at the Childe of Hale Inn

Hale appears to have admitted a wide variety of occupations which relfect the make-up of society at this period in cluding members of the landed gentry, merchants and their retainers, curates, professional people, tradesmen, farmers and workers in general. Among the list of landowning families we find the Blackburnes of Hale and their Liverpool cousins, John Blackburne, Mayor Of Liverpool in 1788 and proprietor of the liverpool and later Garston salt refinery. The meeting held on 1st December 1800 was attended by several members of the Blackburne family and their staff.

Paid

John Fleetwood - Second Coachman to John Blackburne of Wavertree 1s 0d

Miss Mary Eling - Second Nurse to Mr Gilbert Rodbard Blackburne of Hale 1s 0d

John Hughs - Footman to John Blackburne Esq. of Wavertree Hall 1s 0d

John Blackburne Esq. Wavertree Hall 10s 6d

John Ireland Blackburne Esq. of Hale 10s 6d

Gilbert Rodbard Blackburne Esq. of Hale 7s 6d

The latter was the third son of John Blackburne of Hale Hall, born in 1800 and later Rector of Crofton in Yorkshire. Mary Eling, his nurse, was also made a Freewoman on this occasion.

John Blackburne of Liverpool Wavertree

John Blakburne was the eldest son of John Blackburne of Liverpool and of Dorothy Borret of Appleby in Westmorelan and cousin to John Blackburne M.P. of Hale and Orford. He inherited the family intersts in the salt refining industry at Liverpool, Garston and Anderton in Cheshire. Having purchased the Manor of Garston in 1792 he obtained an Act of Parliment permitting him to build a new slat works and dock at Garston to replace the Liverpool salt works which had been situated on the edge of the Pool now Salthouse dock.

He built a new house in Hope Street between 1785 and 1790 to which he moved from his former home in Hanover Street. This was subsequently purchased by George Holt to establish a girls school of the Liverpool Institute known as Blackburne House. He was elected Mayor of Liverpool in 1788, a postition which his father held in 1760 and he later purchased Wavertree Hall before moving to Hawford near Droitwich, an area also rich in salt deposits. His only daughter Alice Hannah inherited her fathers estate and disposed of the principle part of the Garston propert with the manorial rights to the Garston Land Company which included the St Helen`s Canal and Railway Company.

John Ireland Blackburne

John Ireland Blackburne inherited the Hale and Orford estates on the death of his farther, John, in 1833. His career was divided between politics and the military as well as the management of his estates. His first involvement in military strategy was at the age of 20 in 1803 when he joined a body of volunteers to defend the coast of Essex at a time when Napoleon was threatening to invade England. The following year he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire and in 1806 he was in command as Colonel of the Warrington local miltia which had been formed in that year.

In 1807 he was elected as a member of Parliament for Newton and qualified as a magistrate in 1816, returning to Parliament in 1835 as a member for Warrington.

He was keen to continue his fathers plans for Hale to create a well-managed country

estate and as model gentleman and farmer he was patron of various agricultural

meetings and shows. Under his guidence, and with the assistance of his head gardener,

John Nickson, Hale became one of the best sporting estates in southwest Lancashire.

His full and active life must have contributed to his longevity as, at the time of his death

in 1874, he was 91 years of age.

The Modern Period (18-21st Century)

The Ancient and Honorable Corporation of Hale

Apart from thses fixed dates the record books show us that Freemen were installed on frequent but irregular intervals throughought the year, occasionally at an unexpected venue-

"19 May 1853

Mr Phillip Coulter

Mr Charles Millward

Mr J.C. Spence

were serverally made Freemen of Hale on the bowling green of a meeting of the members of the Hale Cricket Club-paying a very handsome fee.

John Penketh.Mayor"