MODERN TOWN GOVERNMENT AND
PUBLIC SERVICES
In great contrast to the early period of its growth,
when ancient custom became established by prescription, the town government of Wilton was, from
the 16th century onwards, constantly subject to
attempts at definition by charter or by-law. As time
went on observations made on the charters revealed
increasingly how much of the earlier medieval
procedure had become stereotyped, and how much
was falling into disuse and being forgotten.
According to Hoare, a charter of incorporation
was granted in the reign of Henry VIII, (fn. 1) and
established a governing body consisting of the
mayor, recorder, 5 aldermen, 3 capital burgesses, 11
common council men, a town clerk and other
officials; this last general group included the portreeve, bailiffs, constables and other of the surviving
guild officials, such as the steward, market officials
and ale-tasters, who made up the elective body of
town officers. This charter, if it ever existed, would
have done little more than recognize an already
existing state of affairs, although it gave more prominence to the borough aldermen than hitherto. There
were five wards, namely, Kingsbury, East Street,
West Street, South Street and Minster Street; the
ward aldermen made presentments in court concerning offences in their wards against the by-laws
of the town, and most of these offences concerned
damage to property by stray pigs and other farm
animals. Pleas of debt were also held in these courts
of aldermen, and certain sales on which customary
tolls were levied were recorded, as for example the
sale of bay gelding by a Welshman to a servant of the
Earl of Pembroke in 1570, (fn. 2) on which a toll was
exacted according to the custom of the borough. It
is not possible to say at what point these courts of
ward aldermen were established, for the series of
minute books recording their proceedings only dates
from the reign of Elizabeth I, but possibly the
formal association of five aldermen in the town
government may have been the starting point of this
procedure.
The developments of the 16th century all point
to the conclusion that town government was passing
into the hands of a narrow oligarchy. Most burgesses
showed themselves indifferent to the fulfilment of
their civic duties, refusing to contribute towards the
expenses of ceremony, and neglecting to attend town
meetings; this last indifference contributed more
than anything else towards the growth of oligarchy.
In 1494 it became necessary to penalize men who
were elected mayor and refused to serve by a fine
of £20 to the king and £10 to the burgesses. (fn. 3) In
1527 it was laid down that the burgesses should be
summoned to appear before the mayor in council
by the serjeant of the mace, who should sound the
great bell of Holy Trinity Church for 80 strokes.
There was to be an appropriate fine if the mayor,
the serjeant of the mace, or the burgesses defaulted
in any way. (fn. 4) In 1544 the fine for refusing to act as
mayor was reduced to 40s., (fn. 5) but in 1585 it was
agreed that whoever bore the office of mayor and
was not present at election day should forfeit £5. (fn. 6)
In 1619 the common council ordained that every
master and burgess should accompany the mayor to
and from his house to church on all feast days, (fn. 7)
while in 1624 it was further ordained that every
burgess must provide himself with a gown before
the following Christmas to attend the mayor in
church on pain of expulsion from the company;
these gowns were to be worn on every feast day
under penalty of 1s. fine. (fn. 8) These examples show
the extent to which the civic pride of the past had
departed, and the wish felt, at any rate in some
quarters, to revive it. The more important borough
offices passed into the hands of a relatively small
group of the wealthier men, among whom the richer
16th-century clothiers were most prominent, (fn. 9) and
the affairs of the borough were henceforth in the
hands of a very narrow circle.
The conflicts of the 17th century affected Wilton
in common with most other boroughs. During the
Civil Wars Wilton House was garrisoned by the
royalists, (fn. 10) and it was possibly in consequence of
this that during the interregnum the county court
was removed from Wilton, only returning at the
Restoration. In 1665 it appeared that the court was
again to be moved to Devizes, but the king in a letter
to the high sheriff forbade this in view of the ancient
privileges and usages, and the state and condition of
Wilton. (fn. 11)
The attack upon the borough corporations that
the closing years of Charles II's reign witnessed
resulted at Wilton in the surrender of their charter
in October 1684. (fn. 12) The surrender was delivered by
Lord Pembroke, and contained a clause saving his
liberties and those of his friends. James II issued a
new charter in 1685 which limited the corporation
to the high steward, mayor, recorder, and 34 burgesses, of whom the mayor was to be one, the style
of the corporation being 'the Mayor and Burgesses
of the Borough of Wilton'. Four days after the grant
the mayor and burgesses named in the new charter
were sworn. In the course of 1688 many of the
burgesses were disfranchised, and others elected
in their place in conformity with orders in council.
In October 1688, however, in pursuance of the
earlier order in council then issued quashing most
charters issued since 1679, the old burgesses were
restored, and elected a mayor. But the charter of
James II seems to have remained partially in force
until the 19th century, for in 1790, it was stated that
in some respects the corporation was governed by
the directions contained in that charter. (fn. 13) The
attempt to define the number of burgesses was in
itself an innovation, which was certainly ignored;
at the election of October 1688 the burgesses
numbered 41, and subsequent figures showed that
up to the middle of the 18th century the number
might vary between 34 and 82. (fn. 14)
The whole position was so uncertain that the
hundred or so years following the charter of 1685
witnessed constant and usually fruitless attempts at
precise definition by the framing of by-laws, and
finally, at the end of the 18th century, by suggestions
for a new charter. Many of the provisions made
towards this end were mutually contradictory; in
1691, for example, it was stated that there must be
24 hours notice of a common council, and that this
council must consist of at least 16 burgesses; a few
months later the number of the council was reduced
to the mayor and 10 burgesses, (fn. 15) while in 1706 it
was agreed that a common council should consist of
the mayor and 25 burgesses and that all must have
48 hours notice of the meeting. (fn. 16) The by-laws of
1691 relating to the chamber of the borough, which
had superseded the guild purse as the borough
treasury by the 17th century, established rather
more rigid rules for rendering account at the annual
audit, and constituted the recorder instead of the
previous year's mayor as ex officio auditor of the four
auditors of the borough. (fn. 17) No attempt was ever
again made to fix the number of burgesses, but in
1699 it was agreed that no one should be eligible for
burgesship who had not an estate within the
borough worth £50, while the total number of
burgesses should not exceed 91. (fn. 18)
In 1790 the project of a new charter came under
serious consideration. So little was recalled, however, either of the origin or of the validity of
constitutional practice, that it was generally agreed
that, in spite of the charter of James II, Wilton
possessed a constitution by prescription only, and
that it would be advisable for the corporation to
have certain written rules. But when certain specific
questions were put it was evident from the answers
that little was known of Wilton's past history before
the late 15th century when the Corporation Entry
Book begins. Since many of the borough offices
originated in the 13th and 14th centuries there
existed some considerable confusion when an
attempt was made to graft a modern constitution
upon ancient precedent.
The discussions of 1790 did not, however, result
in the framing of a new charter and fresh discussions,
which opened in 1816, were equally without result,
so that it was not until 1832, when the bounds of the
parliamentary borough were re-drawn, that the
constitution received an official definition. It was,
however, only a definition of already existing
practice, for the corporation was described as consisting of a mayor, recorder, high steward and 5
aldermen, besides an unlimited number of burgesses,
who could be increased at will by the corporation.
The official body was said to include also a town
clerk, 2 serjeants-at-mace, 4 constables, and other
inferior officers. The composition of this governing
body was thus substāntially the same as that of the
early 16th century, although much of it was meaningless by the 19th century.
In 1884 the inhabitant householders of the
borough petitioned for the grant of a municipal
charter of incorporation under the provisions of the
Municipal Corporations Act of 1882, proposing that
the boundaries of the new borough should be
identical with those of the parish. As a result,
however, of petitions from certain householders in
Ditchampton, Fugglestone, and South Newton the
boundary was extended to make the new borough
co-extensive with the town or built-up area. (fn. 19) The
Borough of Wilton scheme, approved in 1885,
adjusted the existing rights of the old corporation
to the new municipal borough in all matters,
including property, market rights, and charities. The
governing body established under the new charter
creating the municipal borough by Order in Council,
15 May 1885, consisted of a mayor, 4 aldermen and
12 councillors; the election of the mayor was to
follow immediately after that of the aldermen and
town councillors; the aldermen and town council
were to retire by thirds each year beginning with the
thirds which had received the lowest number of
votes. The first councillors were elected on 1 November 1885, and the first mayor and aldermen on
9 November 1885, on which day the first meeting of
the borough council was held. Thus Wilton among
the last of the old corporations, was brought into
line with municipal development in England, and
the charter swept away the last vestiges of the
medieval borough. (fn. 20)
The 19th century witnessed the gradual provision
of the more modern amenities of town life; this
aspect of local government had taken place to some
considerable extent well before the final emergence
of the modern town government in 1885. In 1832
most of the modern amenities were almost entirely
lacking; Wilton was policed as formerly by two
elected head constables, and two petty constables,
who succeeded them in due course; the town was
only partially lighted and watchmen only occasionally appointed, both by private subscription in the
absence of any local Act providing for these services.
But the following fifty or sixty years witnessed great
developments based, of course, on the organization
set up under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834,
and extended to other purposes.
The Public Health Act, 1848, was applied to the
whole parish of Wilton in 1855; (fn. 21) this followed a
virulent outbreak of cholera at Wilton in midSeptember 1854. The outbreak caused great alarm,
especially since at the time the parish and the
suburbs were surrounded by more than 200 navvies
at work on the construction of the adjoining railway.
A temporary hospital was built on a site adjoining
the workhouse garden, supported by a liberal subscription from the parish, but it was not used since
the outbreak was arrested by February 1855. (fn. 22) The
whole parish was included in the Wilton Urban
Sanitary District when it was set up in 1873. (fn. 23)
In 1854 it was proposed to light the town with
gas, and the Wilton Gas Company purchased a site
outside the borough at the back of the workhouse
garden. (fn. 24) There was no public lighting on the
Warminster road near the carpet factory, but gas
was supplied to private houses there. (fn. 25) In 1887 the
town council proposed to purchase all works, plant,
goodwill and effects from the company and to supply
gas within their district for public and private
purposes. A loan of £4,050 was sanctioned for this
purpose, and by the Wilton Gas Order of 1888 the
corporation was authorized to make the purchase
and to supply gas in the parishes of Wilton, Burcombe, Fugglestone St. Peter, and South Newton. (fn. 26)
In 1935 the gas-works were closed and Wilton
became dependent upon Salisbury for its supply of
gas. (fn. 27) Electricity was not brought to Wilton until
1928. (fn. 28)
Reports of the medical officer of health for the
urban sanitary district frequently underlined the
inadequacy of the water supply. The report for the
year ending 1877, for example, stated that the water
supply of Wilton was intermittent, hours of supply
extending only from 5.30 a.m. until 10 p.m., allowing for 35 gallons a head, although it was stressed
that there existed no manufacturing industries
requiring large quantities of water; the chief danger
was that of epidemics capable of diffusion by water
supply. (fn. 29) In due course these defects were remedied
and the water undertaking of the council satisfactorily supplied Wilton, Quidhampton, and
Netherhampton.
POOR RELIEF
The problem of poor relief in Wilton had become
acute by the 17th century, and was especially serious
during periods of depression in the textile industry. (fn. 30)
Attempts were made to apprentice some of the sons
of poor men to the textile trade, but there was not
always sufficient employment in Wilton to absorb
them; thus in 1631 the three overseers of the poor of
the borough and parish, and the churchwardens
with the assent of the mayor and the justices of the
peace, apprenticed the sixteen-year old Isaac Elliott,
son of a Wilton broadweaver, to a broadweaver of
New Salisbury. (fn. 31) In 1646 the mayor accused the
overseers of the poor before the Quarter Sessions of
complete neglect of their duty in time of plague; it
appears most of the poor were at this period lodged
in the almshouses of St. Giles at Fugglestone, where
some forty of them had sickened with plague, while
others were in almshouses at Wilton; the justices
ordered that 40s. should be raised weekly in the
hundred, but at the October Sessions Wilton
petitioned for a general tax upon the county or
adjacent parts; it was ordered that £30 should be
granted to the poor, but another petition in the
following January showed that distribution had
been slow. (fn. 32)
Very full details of receipts and disbursements of
money for poor relief have survived in the parish
records; they refer mostly to the 18th century, but
some exist for the late 17th century. (fn. 33) From October
1672 to September 1673 £15 16s. 1d. was received
from the county for the poor of Wilton; from October
1673 to September 1674 the mayor received £19 16s.
from the county, and £20 from the Earl of Pembroke; of this, £33 4s. 6d. was paid to the poor, a
further 5s. to the sick poor, 7s. 6d. towards the costs
of apprenticeship, £2 1s. for making clothes for the
poor, and the remainder in sundry expenses.
By the beginning of the 18th century at least,
a poorhouse had been established in Wilton; it
belonged to the corporation and was rented by the
parish, and the vestry appointed the master and
fixed his salary. In 1741 the overseers paid the corporation a rent of £6 a year for the workhouse, (fn. 34)
but by 1832 the rent had risen to £18 13s. 6d. a year.
Poor rates steadily increased so that between 1810
and 1812 they were as high as £1 1s. in the £ on a
valuation which was three-quarters of real value, and
although, on the same valuation, they had dropped
to 17s. in the £ by 1831, the Wilton poor rate was
still four times as great as that of the neighbouring
parishes. (fn. 35) In 1834 Wilton became the centre of the
newly-formed Wilton Poor Law Union and the
relief of Wilton's poor was taken over by the Wilton
Board of Poor Law Guardians. By March 1835, of
the £8,811 spent by the union on relief, £2,561 was
devoted to the parish of Wilton, and of the 170 ablebodied men, who were unemployed during the
winter, 40 or 50 came from Wilton alone. (fn. 36) The
union workhouse was opened on the outskirts of
Wilton, just within the parish of South Newton, in
1837. (fn. 37)