The Institutions responsible for the government of Stapleford.

Stapleford is in the county of Nottinghamshire and the District of Broxtowe-a name perpetuating the wapentake of Broxtowe of which Stapleford formed a part. The ancient institutions of the county and wapentake were essentially means by which the Crown could exercise control of the country and it was only slowly that they evolved to become instruments of government.

As the authority of the Manorial Courts waned its place was taken locally by the Vestry. These were meetings in the church vestry of the parish priest, the churchwardens and other local ratepayers. They were held to conduct the business of the church but over time began to pick up other duties of a non-religious nature which affected the local community. Government interference was minimal except when problems were recognised which were of a national scale’

Over the years other bodies came into existence which began to affect the life of the people of Stapleford. Poor Law Unions were established in 1834 and Sanitary Districts in 1872. Local Government as we know it today first affected Stapleford with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888 when county councils were created to take over the administrative functions of the magistrates of the Quarter Sessions courts. It was originally intended that District Councils should also be created at the same time but these clauses were withdrawn during the passage of the bill through Parliament and it was not until 1894 that the remaining part of the legislation was enacted when Parish Councils and Rural District Councils came into being. In 1935 Stapleford was incorporated into the Beeston and Stapleford Urban District Council and in 1974 the Beeston and Stapleford Urban District Council itself became part of the Broxtowe District. The  Broxtowe District Council was formed on 1 April 1974, following the amalgamation of the former Beeston and Stapleford Urban District Council with part of the Basford Rural District Council and Eastwood Urban District Council. In 1977 the Council was granted Borough status.[1]

Introduction.

The history of local government in Stapleford is complex. Its position on the border with Derbyshire has meant some of the bodies that had responsibility for government in Stapleford were based outside the county. The Erewash, a somewhat insignificant little river, has been the boundary ever since the two counties began to have a separate identity.  The river is the boundary not only between parish and county but also between districts, wapentakes, dioceses, provinces and electoral constituencies.

Stapleford was in the wapentake of Broxtowe, one of the six ancient divisions of the county of Nottinghamshire.  From Norman times it was also part of the Honor of Peverel-a jurisdiction that crossed wapentake and county boundaries.   The four levels of government with which we are familiar-parish, district, county and national-can be recognized at an early date, although the format evolved and changed over time.  The Court of the Honor of Peverel was the manorial court for Stapleford and, in its early days, linked Crown and parish with an immediacy which seems somewhat surprising given our modern understanding of government with its multiple layers of authority.

As the authority of the Court began to decline the local meeting of the ratepayers in the parish, the Vestry, began to become accepted as the instrument of organizing affairs at a local level.  On some occasions, action had to be taken by Parliament when it became obvious that national action was needed which transcended what could be achieved by local bodies.   In the eighteenth century, it was becoming clear that the instruments of local government then existing were not adequate to tackle problems such as issues of health and sanitation which the country was facing.  Social change was also leading to demands that the governing bodies of those instruments of government,  whose activities influenced the lives of so many people,  should contain representation from those so affected.  The scene was set for the biggest change in local government ever made, after the Norman conquest, in the country’s history.

Shardlow Poor Law Union

The care for the poor had, historically, been the responsibility of the parish.  The transfer of this duty to workhouses run jointly on behalf of a number of parishes was effected by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834. The Shardlow Union came into being in March 1837.  In a report in 1881,[2] the Union comprises 47 parishes/townships. 33 are in Derbyshire, 8 in Leicestershire and 6 in Nottinghamshire. The parishes in Nottinghamshire are Bramcote, Chilwell, Kingston, Ratcliffe on Soar, Stapleford and Toton. Stapleford is shown as having a population of 3,196, an area of 1450 acres (the figure before it was revised to 1253 acres in 1891) and a Rateable Value of £9637-the tenth largest in the Union.

However, Stapleford had acted together with other parishes for the purpose of implementing the Poor Law before the Union had been formed. In 1812 the parishes or townships of Shardlow and Wilne; Draycott and Wilne, Sawley;  Weston upon Trent in Derbyshire and Worthington in Leicestershire came together to build a workhouse or House of Industry in Shardlow. According to a report given by the governor to the Poor Law Commissioners, the idea of building a workhouse was originated when the magistrates made an award of one pound per week to a man with seven children named Roberts “against the sense and representation of the parish”.[3] In 1814 the parishes or townships of Alvaston, Bolton, Hopwell, Little Eaton, Littleover, Ockbrook, Osmaston, Risley and Stanton by Dale (in Derbyshire); Breedon, Coleorton, Hemington, Osgathorpe, Sheepshead and Thringstone (in Leicestershire); and Bramcote, Stapleford and Toton (in Nottinghamshire) also joined.[4]  It was undoubtedly the fact that a workhouse already existed and parishes were already cooperating in its management that the rather surprising choice of Shardlow as a centre for the Poor Law Union was made.

The Poor Law Union and the Board of Guardians were abolished under the Local Government Act 1929 and all their powers and responsibilities were transferred to the county council.

Shardlow Rural Sanitary Authority.

In 1872 the Public Health Act was enacted and this passed responsibility for dealing with sanitation matters from the Vestry to a new body called a Rural Sanitary Authority based on the area of the Poor Law Union. The members of this Authority were the Guardians of the Union. Shardlow must have felt particularly aggrieved considering that the sewage of, seemingly, half the country passed through its area carried by the Trent, the Derwent, the Soar and the Erewash. The composition of the Union with its members being appointed by the parish meant that in any discussion on matters of sewage the vast majority had not the slightest interest in what was being decided for some other parish. The first meeting of the Rural Sanitary Authority was held after the meeting of the Board of Guardians on the 9th September 1872. It was resolved that the whole of the Guardians constitute the Sanitary Authority.

The Rural  Sanitary Authority had authority to delegate powers to a Parochial Committee consisting of members of the Rural Sanitary Authority and other ratepayers of that particular parish.

The functions of the Rural Sanitary Authority were transferred to the Rural District Council when that came into being.

Stapleford Rural District Council.

The Stapleford Rural District Council, which was composed of those parishes in the Shardlow Poor Law Union which were in Nottinghamshire, came into being as a result of the Local Government Act 1894. It held its first meeting on the 7th  January 1895. Each parish had the same number of councillors as the number of  Poor Law Guardians which it was entitled to elect. The Council, at its inception, consisted of five members. These were Mr H Willoughby (Bramcote), Mr.A H Pearson ( Chilwell), Mr W Mellors (Stapleford), Mr T Husbands (Toton) and Mr T Towle (Stapleford). The first meeting of the Council was on the 7th January 1895 and Mr Pearson was elected chairman and Mr Towle was elected as vice-chairman. Meetings were held at the Shardlow Union Workhouse every four weeks

The power of the Sanitary Authority to delegate its powers to a Parochial Committee was similarly given to the Rural District Council. At the first meeting, a Parochial Committee for Stapleford was set up consisting of the Rural District Councillors for the parish and five members of the Parish Council. This committee seems to have met to discuss local parish matters in detail before reporting to the main body for final decisions. In the case of Stapleford, these were G A Harrison, T.Northwood, Geo. Saxton, Chas. Moult and George Wainwright. 

Beeston and Stapleford Urban District Council.

In 1935 Stapleford, along with the other ex-Shardlow Union parishes in the Stapleford Rural District,  was merged with the Beeston Urban District Council to form the Beeston and Stapleford Urban District Council.

Broxtowe District Council.

Broxtowe District Council was formed on 1 April 1974, following the amalgamation of the former Beeston and Stapleford Urban District Council, part of the Basford Rural District Council and Eastwood Urban District Council.

In 1977 the Council was granted Borough status and the first Mayor was elected.

At the time of writing (2013) the Broxtowe District Council is comprised of 44 councillors of whom six come from Stapleford being two each from Stapleford North Ward, Stapleford South East Ward and Stapleford South West Ward. Stapleford and Bramcote together have two representatives on the County Council.

Stapleford Town Council.

In 1987 a Town Council was established with six representatives from each of three wards: North, South East and South West. It has little actual power but serves to ensure that the local voice is heard at a District level.  A Town Mayor is elected annually.

Nottinghamshire County Council.

County Councils were established by the Local Government Act 1888. Stapleford had one representative on the newly formed County Council in 1889. This was John Harrison, a lace manufacturer. In fact, the first person elected was J.P. Fearfield, also a lace manufacturer, but he was elected an Alderman by the first meeting of the provisional council and thus had an automatic seat on the council. A further election was held to fill the vacancy which had been created and  John Harrison was elected.

Commissioners of Sewers

Commissioners of Sewers dealt with the drainage of low-lying land and its protection against floods, whether of fresh or salt water. ‘Sewer' here bears its original meaning of watercourse, or channel for fresh water, and has nothing to do with the disposal of urban sewage. In Stapleford, there were two water courses that came under their jurisdiction-the Erewash and the Sick Dyke.  Their jurisdiction mainly centred on establishing responsibility for cleaning out the watercourse to ensure rapid removal of noxious matters from the immediate vicinity.

The Court of the Honor of Peverel.

William the Conqueror, as a mark of his favour, bestowed on William Peverel a large number of manors in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Stapleford was one of the manors so granted and, hence, came under the jurisdiction of the Court of the Honor of Peverel. [5] Hugh de Stapleford was High Steward of the Honor when it was granted to him for life in 1290[6].  In its later years----- the actions which came under the court’s jurisdiction are mainly those of debt and trespass.  The records of the Court contain instances where the thirdborrows of the parish attended the Court and swore the View of Frankpledge and made various presentments as the law-breaking activities of the parish’s inhabitants. The Court was abolished by the Small Debts Amendment Act (August 1st) 1849 and its jurisdiction transferred to the Court of Common Pleas and the County Court.[7] The last sitting of the Court was held in November 1849.[8]  In 1873 the Court of Common Pleas became part of the High Court of Justice.[9]