| AdminHistory | Until it became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney in 1900, Norton Folgate largely existed outside of the prevailing system of parochial governance. Most - but not all - of the area of Norton Folgate was a so-called 'liberty'. This is a term which originated in the Middle Ages - defined as an area in which rights reserved to the king had devolved into private hands. Liberties were often marked by a certain lawlessness among the inhabitants, but this did not stop them later becoming units of local government administration.
Liberties varied widely in size: the approximately 8.7 acres of the Liberty of Norton Folgate were bounded to the east by the parish of Christ Church Spitalfields and to the south by Bishopsgate and the Old Artillery Ground (another liberty). St Botolph Without Aldgate and St Leonard Shoreditch formed the western and northern boundaries respectively.
The first documentary evidence of Norton Folgate's existence dates to 1439. By the early eighteenth century the nature of administration of Norton Folgate was unclear. It is likely that a governing vestry of 'ancients' had been in existence for some time by then, along with the offices of headborough (originally referring to the man at the head of a tithing or frankpledge, the term came to be applied in some places to the constable or his deputy), constable and scavenger (waste picker). The Vestry was composed of those inhabitants who had served - or paid fines for refusing to serve - in the offices of overseer, constable or headborough.
The manner of practical governance became clearer after the passing of an Act in 1759 for the better lighting, cleansing and watching of the extra-parochial part of the liberty. This placed power to raise a rate for that purpose in the hands of some 20 trustees. Further legislation followed in 1810, when the trustees were charged with lighting the streets all year round and also supervising the workhouse. Paving the streets was unsatisfactory until an Act was passed in 1778 nominating 50 commissioners and empowering them to raise a rate not exceeding 1s 8d for the purposes of paving the streets. Responsibility for drainage was only resolved in 1778 with an Act of Parliament that constituted commissioners to pave, but not make, sewers in the liberty.
Therefore trustees under the 1759 Act were largely responsible for the physical care and maintenance of the Liberty and its people. Aside from the trustees and their responsibilities for lighting and cleansing, the other key officials in Norton Folgate were the Overseers of the Poor. Two were appointed annually. Overseers of the Poor was an unpaid office created in 1572 and defined by the 1601 Poor Law Act. Overseers collected the poor rate and supervised the relief of the poor. This included managing workhouses and arranging the apprenticeship of poor orphans.
Before 1855 parish vestries had met to discharge the business of both ecclesiastical and secular local government of conventional parishes. This early form of local government across the country was a fusion of ecclesiastical and civil functions that had evolved to meet the needs of the inhabitants as they arose. A generalised system of local government, separate to ecclesiastical concerns, slowly took shape. It was the 1855 Metropolis Management Act which saw a major break from the old tradition of local administration in London. The Liberty of Norton Folgate joined with the following areas to become part of the newly created Whitechapel District Board of Works:
- Parish of St Mary Whitechapel
- Parish of Christchurch
- Parish of St Botolph Without Aldgate
- The Parish of Holy Trinity, Minories
- The Precinct of St Katherine
- The Hamlet of Mile End New Town
- The Old Artillery Ground
- The District of Tower
Under the terms of the 1855 Act, Schedule B vestries elected a total of 619 members to serve on the London District Boards; more specifically, the nine constituent bodies of the Whitechapel Board elected 58 members: Norton Folgate elected three of these members.
The Whitechapel Board was a separate unit of local government (see ref: L/WBW). This oversaw public health and sanitary conditions until the creation of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney in 1900. A few residual responsibilities remained with the Norton Folgate Vestry after 1855 (see L/NTF/4)
Notable events
June 1779: Norton Folgate High Street is paved
1801: population recorded as 1,752 people
May 1813: Trustees sign an agreement with the Gas, Light and Coke Company and the Liberty becomes one of the earliest parts of London to have gas-lit streets
1820: Gas, Light and Coke Company establish the Curtain Road Works
1837: construction of the City of London Theatre
1851: population recorded as 1,771 people
1868: closure of the City of London Theatre
1871: closure of the Curtain Road Gas Works
1881: population recorded as 1,528 people
24 October 1900: last meeting of the Trustees of the Liberty of Norton Folgate
Sources:
- G. L. Gomme, London in the Reign of Victoria (London: Blackie and Son Ltd, 1898)
- F. H. W. Sheppard (general ed.), Survey of London: Vol. XXVII - Spitalfields and Mile End New Town (London: The Athlone Press, for the London County Council, 1957) |