CHAPTER II
The Parish and Vestry of St. James
In April 1664 the inhabitants of the Bailiwick
of St. James petitioned the House of Commons
that the bailiwick might be constituted a
separate parish from St. Martin in the Fields, with
its own church. Leave was granted to Edmund
Waller, who lived in St. James's Street, to bring in
a Bill, (ref. 1) but neither this nor another Bill for the
same purpose which was considered in November
1664 proceeded further than the second reading
stage. (ref. 2) Other Bills introduced in 1668 and 1670
were equally unsuccessful, (ref. 3) the chief opponents
being Dr. Harding, the incumbent of St. Martin's,
and members of the vestry of the parish of St. Martin in the Fields. (ref. 4) It was said that Dr. Harding
would give way to the new church 'as a chapel-ofease belonging to his parish, but not to be a distinct
parish of itself'. The Bill of 1670 was referred to
as 'the Earl of St. Alban's Bill'—the first mention
of his name in connexion with the proposal. (ref. 4)
After the consecration of the church of St.
James in 1684 the formation of a new parish could
no longer be successfully resisted, and in 1685 Sir
Thomas Clarges introduced a Bill for making the
new church 'and the Precinct adjoining' parochial; (ref. 5) members of the committee to whom the
Bill was referred included Sir Christopher Wren
and Samuel Pepys. (ref. 6) The vestry of St. Martin's
maintained its previous opposition and paid twelve
shillings to 'severall Inhabitants, in Scotland Yard,
who came to attend Sir Christopher Wrenn . . . to
make out their Allegacons', (ref. 7) but the Bill nevertheless was passed rapidly through Parliament and
at the end of June 1685 (ref. 8) the Act 'for erecting a
new Parish, to be called the Parish of Saint James
within the Liberty of Westminster' was passed. (ref. 9)
To the south of Piccadilly the new parish
included the whole of the area described in these
volumes (see index map); to the north of Piccadilly
and Coventry Street the parish was bounded
(approximately) on the west by Bond Street, Conduit Street and Regent Street, on the north by
Oxford Street and on the east by Wardour Street.
The Act also established a select vestry of
thirty-four, including the rector and churchwardens. After the adoption of Hobhouse's
Vestry Act the select vestry was replaced in 1832
by an elected vestry of thirty-six. Twelve additional vestrymen were authorized by the Metropolis Management Act of 1855. (ref. 10)
The secular duties of the vestry were regulated
by both public and local Acts of Parliament and
the most important of these which affected St.
James's parish as a whole are mentioned below.
The Act which applied only to St. James's Square
is mentioned in Chapter IV; those regulating the
management of the poor will be included in the
volume dealing with the workhouse, which was
built in the northern part of the parish; those
affecting the New Street (i.e. Regent Street) will
also be included in a future volume.
Paving, Cleansing and Lighting
An Act of 1761 established commissioners for
paving, cleansing and lighting the streets of Westminster and certain adjoining parishes. (ref. 11) In 1762
the vestry of St. James obtained statutory power
to cleanse its own streets and raise a separate rate
for this purpose. (ref. 12) By an Act of 1771 the Westminster Paving Commissioners' powers were
considerably diminished, each vestry being authorized to elect a committee to supervise newly
paved streets, except the so-called 'optional'
streets where the occupants preferred to remain
under the authority of the commissioners. (ref. 13) In
1790 the optional streets in St. James's were transferred to the parish paving committee, (ref. 14) but they
continued to be rated by the commissioners until
1819. (ref. 15) They were Bury, Charles (II), Vine and
Little St. James's Streets, Thatched House Court
and Paved Alley (now Crown Passage).
In 1835 the application of the existing Act
to St. James's and certain other Westminster
parishes was repealed and the St. James's vestry
was required to appoint its own commissioners to
pave, clean, light and rate the streets of the parish,
except the New Street, Golden Square and the
north, east and west sides of St. James's Square. (ref. 16)
Watching
Although the parish had been provided with a
watch house from the time of its constitution in
1685 (see page 54), the vestry lacked the revenue
to maintain a proper watch. An Act of 1735
enabled the vestries of St. James and St. George,
Hanover Square, to collect a rate for the maintenance of a regular watch in each parish. The
occupiers of the north, east and west sides of St.
James's Square were exempted from payment of
this rate. (ref. 17) Some fifty watchmen were employed
at first, but the number varied from year to year in
relation to the length and number of the watchmen's beats. (ref. 18) In 1774 an extra ten patrolling
watchmen were appointed and equipped with
rattles, carbines and cutlasses. (ref. 19) More patrolling
watchmen were appointed in 1793 to combat 'the
alarming Increase of a most daring and desperate
Set of Thieves, who are harbored in and nightly
infest this parish'. (ref. 20) In January 1797 the watch
committee reported that no 'Burglary or Street
Robbery' had taken place since the reorganization
of the watch in the preceding June, and that the
offer of rewards for 'apprehending offenders' had
put an end to the stealing of iron railings. (ref. 21)
In 1829 the parish watch came under the
jurisdiction of the new Commissioners of Metropolitan Police, and some of the watchmen were
recommended for recruitment into the new police
force. (ref. 22)
Maps and Surveys
In 1685 George Clysbee (Clisby) and Jonathan
Wilcox undertook to prepare a map of the parish
for the vestry, and in the same year £1 15s. was
paid for measuring the parish 'in order to the Mapping it'; (ref. 24) this map does not appear to have survived. The map by Richard Blome (Plate 3),
'taken from the last Survey', is based on one published in 1681–2 and surveyed by Ogilby and
Morgan (Plate 2); (ref. 25) it is inaccurate in the delineation of the parish boundary, the area between Park
Place and Cleveland Row, which Blome excludes,
having always been within the parish of St. James.
The map by William Rhodes of Great Marlborough Street, surveyor, was made in 1770 for
the information of a committee of the House of
Commons which was considering amendments to
a paving Act. (ref. 26) In 1777 Rhodes sold his survey
to the parish for £50 and in the following year one
hundred copies were engraved by Faden. (ref. 27)
In the Public Record Office there are two
large-scale maps (ref. 28) of Pall Mall Field and the areas
between Green Park and St. James's Street and
between Pall Mall and St. James's Park. These
two maps are evidently based on a survey made by
Matthew Wren in 1767 and closely resemble each
other. They were made on the orders of Zachary
Chambers, 'Register of His Majesty's Lands', and
are both dated 10 April 1769. They contain the
names of all the occupants or lessees of Crown
property, and the larger of the two also contains
the names of owners or occupants of houses not
owned by the Crown. In the Crown Estate
Office there is a manuscript numerical register (in
book form) relating to these two maps; it contains
particulars of the leases of all the Crown property
within the area covered by the maps.
The Westminster Public Library contains a
detailed plan of the parish showing all the buildings. This plan, which was prepared by Charles
Mayhew, the parish surveyor, was measured in
1831–2 and corrected up to 1836. (ref. 29) There is
also a supplementary volume of plans showing
alterations and new buildings added between 1836
and 1848. (ref. 30)