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The parish of St Botolph without Aldgate lay partly within the liberties of the City. This was an area co-terminous with Portsoken Ward and partly outside the City of London in the former County of Middlesex. This split resulted in complex governance of the parish. Botolph was the patron saint of boundaries, trade and travel - hence the probable reason why churches at a number of city gates have this particular dedication.
The much-restored church which currently stands on the site was designed by George Dance the Elder and built between 1741 and 1744. The interior was redecorated according to the designs of John Francis Bentley in 1887-1891. The ecclesiastical parish was united with that of the Church of Holy Trinity, Minories, in 1893.
Purpose
Before 1855 parish vestries met to discharge the business of both ecclesiastical and secular local government. These vestries were committees of prominent householders and church officials. More specifically, the vestry of St Botolph Without Aldgate was composed of those persons who had served in all of the parochial offices, namely headborough, constable, churchwarden and overseer. This early form of local government across the country was a fusion of ecclesiastical and civil functions. It evolved to meet the needs of the inhabitants as they arose.
A generalised system of planned 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. Under the terms of the 1855 Act, St Botolph without Aldgate was joined with the following to become part of the newly created Whitechapel District Board of Works:
- Parish of Christ Church
- Parish of St Mary Whitechapel
- Parish of Holy Trinity, Minories
- The Precinct of St Katherine
- The Hamlet of Mile End New Town
- The Liberty of Norton Folgate
- The Old Artillery Ground
- The District of Tower
The Whitechapel District Board of Works was a separate unit of local government which oversaw public health and sanitary conditions (see ref: L/WBW). Some residual responsibilities remained with the parish after 1855: the activities of the parish in this respect are documented in the minute books in L/SBW/1.
Activities
The two main secular functions of the parish of St Botolph were:
(i) the care of the poor and the administration of parochial charities.
(ii) the maintenance of roads.
There was also some management of petty law and order. Vestries also acquired some additional powers relating to public baths and wash-houses, and libraries under national legislation passed in the mid nineteenth century. St Botolph, however, appears not to have used these powers.
One of the key officials in St Botolph responsible for 'local authority' parish functions was the overseer of the poor. This was an unpaid office created in 1572. Officials were initially responsible for supervising endowments and charitable funds. Following the 1601 Poor Law Act, the churchwardens of the parish together with two or more substantial local landowners were to act as overseers. Their role was to collect the poor rate and supervise the relief of the poor. This included managing workhouses and arranging the apprenticeship of poor orphans. The 1662 Law of Settlement Act empowered overseers to remove 'strangers' from the parish. Sometimes referred to as 'aliens' these were people who did not have rights to settle, because, for example, they were born outside the parish. Overseers were chosen at vestry meetings to administer the Poor Law for the ensuing year. Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, Boards of Guardians replaced the overseers and administration of poor relief left the parish's powers. The overseers kept accounts and were answerable to the Justices of the Peace.
Sources
- Steven Friar, The Local History Companion (Stroud: Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2001)
- G. L. Gomme, London in the Reign of Victoria (London: Blackie and Son Ltd, 1898)
- David Hey (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Family and Local History (Oxford: OUP, 2010)
- Ben Weinrab, Christopher Hibbert, Julia Keay and John Keay, The London Encyclopaedia, 3rd edn (London: Macmillan, 2008) |