ENGLAND. Geographical usage confines to the southern part of the island of Great Britain the name commonly given to the great insular power of western Europe.[1] In this restricted sense the present article deals with England, the predominant partner in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, both as containing the seat of government and in respect of extent, population and wealth.
I. Topography.
England extends from the mouth of the Tweed in 55° 46′ N. toLizard Point in 49° 57′ 30″ N., in a roughly triangular form. Thebase of the triangle runs from the South Foreland to Land’s EndW. by S., a distance of 316 m. in a straight line, but 545 m.following the larger curves of the coast. The east coast runsN.N.W. from the South Foreland to Berwick, a distance of 348 m.,or, following the coast, 640 m. The west coast runs N.N.E. fromLand’s End to the head of Solway Firth, a distance of 354 m.,or following the much-indented coast, 1225 m. The total lengthof the coast-line may be put down as 2350 m.,[2] out of which 515 m. belong to the western principality of Wales.[3] The most easterly point is at Lowestoft, 1° 46′ E., the most westerly is Land’s End, in 5° 43′ W. The coasts are nowhere washed directly by the ocean, except in the extreme south-west; the south coast faces the English Channel, which is bounded on the southern side by the coast of France, the two shores converging from 100 m. apart at the Lizard to 21 at Dover. The east coast faces the shallow North Sea, which widens from the point where it joins the Channel to 375 m. off the mouth of the Tweed, the opposite shores being occupied in succession by France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Denmark. The west coast faces the Irish Sea, with a width varying from 45 to 130 m.
Counties. | Area Statute Acres. | Population 1901. |
Bedfordshire | 298,494 | 171,240 |
Berkshire | 462,208 | 256,509 |
Buckinghamshire | 475,682 | 195,764 |
Cambridgeshire | 549,723 | 190,682 |
Cheshire | 657,783 | 815,099 |
Cornwall | 868,220 | 322,334 |
Cumberland | 973,086 | 266,933 |
Derbyshire | 658,885 | 620,322 |
Devonshire | 1,667,154 | 661,314 |
Dorsetshire | 632,270 | 202,936 |
Durham | 649,352 | 1,187,361 |
Essex | 986,975 | 1,085,771 |
Gloucestershire | 795,709 | 634,729 |
Hampshire | 1,039,031 | 797,634 |
Herefordshire | 537,363 | 114,380 |
Hertfordshire | 406,157 | 250,152 |
Huntingdonshire | 234,218 | 57,771 |
Kent | 995,014 | 1,348,841 |
Lancashire | 1,203,365 | 4,406,409 |
Leicestershire | 527,123 | 434,019 |
Lincolnshire | 1,693,550 | 498,847 |
Middlesex | 181,320 | 3,585,323 |
Monmouthshire | 341,688 | 292,317 |
Norfolk | 1,308,439 | 460,120 |
Northamptonshire | 641,992 | 338,088 |
Northumberland | 1,291,530 | 603,498 |
Nottinghamshire | 539,756 | 514,578 |
Oxfordshire | 483,626 | 181,120 |
Rutland | 97,273 | 19,709 |
Shropshire | 859,516 | 239,324 |
Somersetshire | 1,043,409 | 508,256 |
Staffordshire | 749,602 | 1,234,506 |
Suffolk | 952,710 | 384,293 |
Surrey | 485,122 | 2,012,744 |
Sussex | 933,887 | 605,202 |
Warwickshire | 577,462 | 897,835 |
Westmorland | 503,160 | 64,303 |
Wiltshire | 879,943 | 273,869 |
Worcestershire | 480,560 | 488,338 |
Yorkshire | 3,882,328 | 3,584,762 |
Total | 32,544,685 | 30,807,232 |
The area of England and Wales is 37,327,479 acres or 58,324 sq. m. (England, 50,851 sq. m.), and the population on this area in 1901 was 32,527,843 (England, 30,807,232). The principal territorial divisions of England, as of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, are the counties, of which England comprises 40. Their boundaries are not as a rule determined by the physical features of the land; but localities are habitually defined by the use of their names. A list of the English counties (excluding Wales) is given in the table above.[4]
Hills.—As an introduction to the discussion of the natural regions into which England is divided (Section II.), and for the sake of comparison of altitudes, size of rivers and similar details, the salient geographical features may be briefly summarized. The short land-frontier of England with Scotland (its length is only 100 m.) is in great measure a physical boundary, as considerable lengths of it are formed on the east side by the river Tweed, and on the west by Kershope Burn, Liddel Water, and the river Sark; while for the rest it follows pretty closely the summit of the Cheviot Hills, whose highest point is the Cheviot (2676 ft.). A narrow but well-marked pass or depression, known as the Tyne Gap, is taken to separate the Cheviot system from the Pennine Chain, which is properly to be described as a wide tract of hill-country, extending through two degrees of latitude, on an axis from N. by W. to S. by E. The highest point is Cross Fell (2930 ft.). On the north-west side of the Pennine system, marked off from it by the upper valleys of the rivers Eden and Lune, lies the circular hill-tract whose narrow valleys, radiating from its centre somewhat like wheel-spokes, contain the beautiful lakes which give it the celebrated name of the Lake District. In this tract is found the highest land in England, Scafell Pike reaching 3210 ft. East of the Pennines, isolated on three sides by lowlands and on the fourth side by the North Sea, lie the high moors of the North Riding of Yorkshire, with the Cleveland Hills, and, to the south, the Yorkshire Wolds of the East Riding. Neither of these systems has any great elevation; the moors, towards their north-western edge, reaching an extreme of 1489 ft. in Urra Moor. The tableland called the Peak of Derbyshire, in the south of the Pennine system, is 2088 ft. in extreme height, but south of this system an elevation of 2000 ft. is not found anywhere in England save at a few points on the south Welsh border and in Dartmoor, in the south-west. Wales, on the other hand, projecting into the western sea between Liverpool Bay and the estuary of the Dee on the north, and the Bristol Channel on the south, is practically all mountainous, and has in Snowdon, in the north-west, a higher summit than any in England—3560 ft. But the midlands, the west, and the south of England, in spite of an absence of great elevation, contain no plains of such extent as might make for monotony. The land, generally undulating, is further diversified with hills arranged in groups or ranges, a common characteristic of which is a bold face on the one hand and a long gentle slope, with narrow valleys deeply penetrating, on the other. Southward from the Pennines there may be mentioned, in the midlands, the small elevated tract of Charnwood Forest (Bardon Hill, 912 ft.) in Leicestershire, and Cannock Chase (775 ft.) and the Clent Hills (928 ft.), respectively north and south of the great manufacturing district of Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Of the western counties, the southern half of Shropshire, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire are generally hilly. Among the Shropshire Hills may be mentioned the isolated Wrekin (1335 ft.), Long Mynd (1674 ft.) and the Clee Hills (Brown Clee, 1805 ft.). The
long ridge of the Black Mountain reaches an extreme height of 2310 ft. on the Welsh border of Herefordshire. The Malvern Hills on the other side of the county, which, owing to their almost isolated position among lowlands, appear a far more prominent feature, reach only 1395 ft. In western Monmouthshire, again belonging to the south Welsh system, there are such heights as Sugar Loaf (1955 ft.) and Coity (1905 ft.).
In the south midlands of England there are two main ranges of hills, with axes roughly parallel. The western range is the Cotteswold Hills of Gloucestershire and the counties adjacent on the east running S.W. and N.E. Its highest point is Cleeve Cloud (1134 ft.). The uplands of Northamptonshire continue this range north-eastward, decreasing in elevation. The eastern range, beginning in Wiltshire, runs E.N.E. as the White Horse Hills (856 ft. at the highest point), and after the interruption caused by the gap or narrow valley by which the river Thames penetrates the hills near Goring, continues N.E. as the Chiltern Hills (850 ft.). The East Anglian ridge continues the line E.N.E., gradually decreasing in altitude. In the south-east of England, the North and South Downs are both well-defined ranges, but are characterized by a number of breaches through which rivers penetrate, on the one hand to the Thames or the North Sea and on the other to the English Channel. Leith Hill in the North Downs reaches 965 ft., and Butser Hill in the South Downs 889 ft.; Blackdown and Hindhead, two almost isolated masses of high ground lying between the two ranges of the Downs towards their western extremity, are respectively 918 and 895 ft. in height. In the north of Hampshire along its boundary with Surrey and Berkshire, in the southern half of Wiltshire (where rises the upland of Salisbury Plain), in Dorsetshire, and the south of Somersetshire, the hills may be said to run in a series of connected groups. They cannot be defined as a single range, nor are they named, as a rule, according to the groups into which they fall, but the general title of the Western Downs is applied to them. One point only in all these groups exceeds 1000 ft. in altitude, namely, Inkpen Beacon (1011 ft.) in the extreme south-west of Berkshire, but heights above 900 ft. are not infrequent. In the northern part of Somersetshire, two ranges, short but well defined, lie respectively east and west of a low plain which slopes to the Bristol Channel. These are the Mendips (Black Down, 1068 ft.) and the Quantocks (Will’s Neck, 1261 ft.). The Blackdown Hills, in south-western Somersetshire and eastern Devonshire, reach 1035 ft. in Staple Hill in the first-named county. In western Somersetshire and north Devonshire the elevated mass of Exmoor reaches 1707 ft. in Dunkery Beacon; and in south Devonshire the highest land in southern England is found in the similar mass of Dartmoor (High Willhays, 2039 ft.). The westward prolongation of the great south-western promontory of England, occupied by the county of Cornwall, continues as a rugged ridge broken by a succession of depressions, and exceeds a height of 800 ft., nearly as far as the point where it falls to the ocean in the cliffs of Land’s End.
Lowlands.—The localities of the more extensive lowlands of England may now be indicated in their relation to the principal hill-systems, and in this connexion the names of some of the more important rivers will occur. In the extreme north-west is the so-called Solway Plain, of no great extent, but clearly defined between the northern foothills of the Lake District and the shore of Solway Firth. In Lancashire a flat coastal strip occurs between the western front of the Pennine Chain and the Irish Sea, and, widening southward, extends into Cheshire and comprises the lower valleys of the Mersey and the Dee. In the preceding review of the English hill-systems it may have been observed that eastern England hardly enters into consideration. The reason now becomes clear. From Yorkshire to the flat indented sea-coast north of the Thames estuary, east of the Pennines and the slight hills indicated as the Northampton uplands, and in part demarcated southward by the East Anglian ridge in Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, the land, although divided between a succession of river-systems, varies so little in level as to be capable of consideration as a single plain. Its character, however, varies in different parts. The Fens, the flat open levels in the lower basins of the Witham, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse, only kept from their former marshy conditions by an extensive system of artificial drainage, and the similar levels round the head of the Humber estuary, differ completely in appearance from the higher and firmer parts of the plain. The coast-land north of the mouth of the Thames is a low plain; and on the south coast somewhat similar tracts are found in Romney Marsh, and about the shallow inlets (Portsmouth Harbour and others) which open from Spithead. The vales of Kent and Sussex are rich undulating lowlands within the area of the Weald, separated by the Forest Ridges, and enclosed by the North and South Downs. In the south-west there is a fairly extensive lowland in south Devonshire watered by the Exe in its lower course. But the most remarkable plain is that in Somersetshire, enclosed by the Mendips, the Western Downs, Blackdown Hills and the Quantocks and entered by the Parrett and other streams. The midlands, owing to the comparatively slight elevation of the land, are capable of geographical consideration as a plain. But it is not a plain in the sense of that of East Anglia. There is no quite level tract of great extent, excepting perhaps the fertile and beautiful district watered by the lower Severn and its tributary the Upper or Warwickshire Avon, overlooked by the Cotteswolds on the one hand and the Malvern and other hills on the other.
Coast.—The coast-line of England is deeply indented by a succession of large inlets, particularly on the east and west. Thus, from north to south there are, on the east coast, the mouths of the Tyne and the Tees, the Humber estuary, the Wash (which receives the waters of the Witham, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse), the Orwell-Stour, Blackwater and Thames-Medway estuaries. On the west there are Solway Firth, Morecambe Bay, the estuaries of the Mersey and Dee, Cardigan Bay of the Welsh coast, and the Bristol Channel and Severn estuary. In this way the land is so deeply penetrated by the water that no part is more than 75 m. from the sea. Thus Buckingham appears to be the most inland town in England, being 75 m. from the estuaries of the Severn, Thames and Wash; Coleshill, near Birmingham, is also almost exactly 75 m. from the Mersey, Severn and Wash.
The east and south coasts show considerable stretches of uniform uninflected coast-line, and except for the Farne Islands and Holy Island in the extreme north, the flat islands formed by ramifications of the estuaries on the Essex and north Kent coasts, and the Isle of Wight in the south, they are without islands. The west coast, on the other hand, including both shores of the great south-western promontory, is minutely fretted into capes and bays, headlands and inlets of every size, and an island-group lies off each of the more prominent headlands from Land’s End northward. The formation of the coast varies from low, shifting banks of shingle or sand to majestic cliffs, and its character in different localities has been foreshadowed in the previous consideration of the hill-systems and lowlands. Thus in the north-east the coast is generally of no great elevation, but the foothills of the Cheviot and Pennine systems approach it closely. On the Yorkshire coast the Cleveland Hills and the high moors are cut off on the seaward side in magnificent cliffs, which reach the greatest elevation of sea-cliffs on the English coast (666 ft.). The Yorkshire Wolds similarly terminate seaward in the noble promontory of Flamborough Head. From this point as far south as the North Foreland of Kent the coast, like the land, is almost wholly low, though there are slight cliffs at some points, as along the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk, on which the sea constantly encroaches. On the south coast a succession of cliffs and low shores may be correlated with the main physical features of the land. Thus in succession there are the famous white cliffs about Dover, terminating the North Downs, the low coast of Romney Marsh, projecting seaward in Dungeness, the cliffs above Hastings, terminating an offshoot of the Forest Ridges, the low shore between Hastings and Eastbourne, to which succeeds the lofty Beachy Head, terminating the South Downs. A flat coast follows as far as Selsey Bill and Spithead, but the south coast of the Isle of Wight shows a succession of splendid cliffs. Theshallow inlet of Poole Bay is followed by the eminence of StAlban’s Head, and thereafter, right round the south-westernpromontory of England, the cliff-bound coast, with its baysand inlets closely beset with hills, predominates over the lowshore-line, exhibits a remarkable series of different forms, andprovides the finest scenery of its kind in England. The shoresof the Severn estuary are low, but the Welsh coast, sharing thegeneral character of the land, is more or less elevated throughout,though none of the higher mountain-masses directly approachesthe sea. Low shores correspond to the plains of Cheshire,Lancashire and the Solway, while the intervening coast is ofno great elevation, as only the foothills of the Lake Districtapproach it with a gradual slope.
A great extent of the English coast is constantly undergoingvisible alteration, the sea in some instances receding from theland, and in others gaining upon it. The whole of RomneyMarsh, in Kent and Sussex, formerly constituted an arm of thesea, where vessels rode in deep water, carrying produce to portsno longer in existence. Lydd and Romney, though maritimestill in name, retaining some of the ancient privileges of theCinque Ports, have become, through changes in the coast-line,small inland towns; and the same has been the fate of Rye,Winchelsea, and other places in that district. Again, the Isleof Thanet, in the north-eastern corner of Kent, has practicallyceased to be an island. The wide estuary of the sea separatingit from the mainland, through which ships sailed from theEnglish Channel into the Thames, using it as the shortest routefrom the south to London, has entirely disappeared, leavingonly a flat lowland traversed by branches of the river Stour tomark its former existence. The sea is encroaching over a considerableextent of coast-line on the North Sea as well as on theEnglish Channel. Ravenspur, once an important town ofYorkshire, where Bolingbroke, afterwards Henry IV., landedin 1399, is now submerged; and Dunwich and other ancientports in East Anglia have met with the same fate. The processof destruction, slow in some places, is so rapid in others thatit can be traced even from month to month—the incessantwork of the waves washing away the soft strata at the base ofthe cliffs and leaving the summits unsupported. Many cliffsof the east coast, from the Humber to the mouth of the Thames,are suffering from this destructive action, and instances alsooccur on the south coast. A royal commission on Coast Erosionwas appointed to inquire into this question in 1906 (see Report,1907 sqq.).
Except along the centre of the Irish Sea, at one point off theTweed and one between Devon and Normandy, the depth ofwater between England and the nearest land nowhere exceeds50 fathoms.
Rivers.—The variations in length of the general slope of theland towards successive natural divisions of the coast may beillustrated by a comparative table of the mileage and drainageareas of the principal English rivers. The mileage does nottake account of the lesser sinuosities of rivers.
Rivers. | Length Miles. | Drainage Area sq. m. |
1. North-east— | ||
Tweed[5] | 97 | 1870 |
Tyne | 80 | 1130 |
Wear | 60 | 458 |
Tees | 85 | 708 |
2. East— | ||
Humber system[6] | 9293 | |
Witham | 80 | 1079 |
Welland | 70 | 760 |
Nene | 90 | 1077 |
Ouse (Great) | 160 | 2607 |
Yare | 60 | 880 |
Stour (Suffolk-Essex) | 60 | 407 |
Thames[7] | 209 | 5924 |
3. South— | ||
Stour (Kent) | 40 | 370 |
Rother | 32 | 312 |
Arun | 43 | 370 |
Avon (Hampshire) | 60 | 1132 |
Exe | 55 | 584 |
Tamar | 58 | 384 |
4. Bristol Channel (south-west)— | ||
Torridge | 45 | 336 |
Taw | 43 | 455 |
Parrett | 37 | 562 |
Severn[8][9] | 210 | 6850 |
Usk[9] | 70 | 540 |
5. North-west— | ||
(a) Cheshire-Lancashire— | ||
Dee[9] | 70 | 813 |
Mersey[10] | 70 | 1596 |
Ribble | 65 | 585 |
(b) Solway— | ||
Eden | 70 | 1300 |
With the exception of those in the Lake District (q.v.) the lakes of England are few and insignificant. A number of small meres occur in a defined area in Cheshire. (O. J. R. H.)
II. Physical Geography
The object of this section is to give a physical description ofEngland and Wales according to natural regions, which usuallyfollow the geology of the country very closely; although therelationship of configuration and geology is not so simple or soclearly marked as in Scotland.
The land is highest in the west and north, where the rocks alsoare oldest, most disturbed, and hardest, and the land surfacegradually sinks towards the east and south, where the rocks becomesuccessively less disturbed, more recent, and softer. The studyof the scenery of England and Wales as a whole, or the study oforographical and geological maps of the country, allows a broaddistinction to be drawn between the types of land-forms in thewest and in the east. This distinction is essential, and applies toall the conditions of which geography takes account. Thecontrasted districts are separated by an intermediate area, whichsoftens the transition between them, and may be describedseparately.
The Western Division is composed entirely of Archaean andPalaeozoic rocks, embracing the whole range from pre-Cambrianup to Carboniferous. The outcrops of these rocks succeed eachother in order of age in roughly concentric belts, with the Archaeanmass of the island of Anglesey as a centre, but the arrangement indetail is much disturbed and often very irregular. Contemporaryigneous outbursts are extremely common in some of the ancientformations, and add, by their resistance to atmospheric erosion,to the extreme ruggedness of the scenery. The hills and uplandsof ancient rocks do not form regular ranges, but rise like islands infour distinct groups from a plain of New Red Sandstone (Permianand Triassic), which separates them from each other and from thenewer rocks of the Eastern Division. Each of the uplands is acentre for the dispersal of streams; but with only one prominentexception (the Humber) these reach the sea without crossinginto the Eastern Division of the country.
The Eastern Division, lying to the east of the zone of New RedSandstone, may be defined on the west by a slightly curved linedrawn from the estuary of the Tees through Leicester andStratford-on-Avon to the estuary of the Severn, and thencethrough Glastonbury to Sidmouth. It is built up of nearlyuniform sheets of Mesozoic rock, the various beds of the Jurassiclying above the New Red Sandstone (Triassic), and dippingsouth-eastward under the successive beds of the Cretaceoussystem. In exactly the same way the whole of the south-east ofthe island appears to have been covered uniformly with gently dipping beds of Tertiary sands and clays, beneath which theCretaceous strata dipped. At some period subsequent to thisdeposition there was a movement of elevation, which appears tohave thrown the whole mass of rocks into a fold along an anticlinalaxis running west and east, which was flanked to north andsouth by synclinal hollows. In these hollows the Tertiary rockswere protected from erosion, and remain to form the London andthe Hampshire Basins respectively, while on the anticlinal axisthe whole of the Tertiary and the upper Cretaceous strata havebeen dissected away, and a complex and beautiful configurationhas been impressed on the district of the Weald. The generalcharacter of the landscape in the Eastern Division is a successionof steep escarpments formed by the edges of the outcropping bedsof harder rock, and long gentle slopes or plains on the dip-slopes,or on the softer layers; clay and hard rock alternating throughoutthe series.
The contrast between the lower grounds of the Western andthe Eastern Divisions is masked in many places by the generalcovering of the surface with glacial drift, which is usually a stiffclay composed on the whole of the detritus of the rocks uponwhich it rests, though containing fragments of rocks which havebeen transported from a considerable distance. This boulderclay covers almost all the low ground north of the Thames Basin,its southern margin fading away into washed sands and gravels.
The history of the origin of the land-forms of England, as far asthey have been deduced from geological studies, is exceedinglycomplicated. The fact that every known geological formation(except the Miocene) is represented, proves of itself how long thehistory has been, and how multifarious the changes. It mustsuffice to say that the separation of Ireland from England was acomparatively recent episode, while the severance of the land-connexionbetween England and the continent by the formationof the Strait of Dover is still more recent and probably occurredwith the human period.
Natural Divisions.—The four prominent groups of high landrising from the plain of the Red Rocks are: (1) the Lake District,bounded by the Solway Firth, Morecambe Bay and thevalleys of the Eden and the Lune; (2) the PennineRegion, The
western division. which stretches from the Scottish border to thecentre of England, running south; (3) Wales, occupyingthe peninsula between the Mersey and the Bristol Channel, andextending beyond the political boundaries of the principality toinclude Shropshire and Hereford; and (4) the peninsula of Cornwalland Devon. They are all similar in the great features of theirland-forms, which have been impressed upon them by the prolongedaction of atmospheric denudation rather than by the original orderand arrangement of the rocks; but each group has its own geologicalcharacter, which has imparted something of a distinctive individualityto the scenery. Taken as a whole, the Western Divisiondepends for its prosperity on mineral products and manufacturesrather than on farming; and the staple of the farmers is live-stockrather than agriculture. The people of the more rugged and remotergroups of this division are by race survivors of the early Celtic stock,which, being driven by successive invaders from the open and fertilecountry of the Eastern Division, found refuges in the less invitingbut more easily defended lands of the west. Even where, as in thePennine region and the Lake District, the people have been completelyassimilated with the Teutonic stock, they retain a typicalcharacter, marked by independence of opinion approaching stubbornness,and by great determination and enterprise.
Lake District.—The Lake District occupies the counties of Cumberland,Westmorland and North Lancashire. It forms a roughlycircular highland area, the drainage lines of which radiate outwardfrom the centre in a series of narrow valleys, the upper parts ofwhich cut deeply into the mountains, and the lower widen into thesurrounding plain. Sheets of standing water are still numerous,and formerly almost every valley contained a single long narrowlake-basin; but some of these have been subdivided, drained orfilled up by natural processes. The existing lakes include Windermereand Coniston, draining south; Wastwater, draining south-west,Ennerdale water, Buttermere and Crummock water (the two latter,originally one lake, are now divided by a lateral delta), drainingnorth-west; Derwent water and Bassenthwaite water (which wereprobably originally one lake), and Thirlmere, draining north;Ullswater and Haweswater, draining north-east. There are,besides, numerous mountain tarns of small size, most of them inhollows barred by the glacial drift which covers a great part ofthe district. The central and most picturesque part of the districtis formed of great masses of volcanic ashes and tuffs, with intrusionsof basalts and granite, all of Ordovician (Lower Silurian)age. Scafell and Scafell Pike (3162 and 3210 ft.), at the headof Wastwater, and Helvellyn (3118), at the head of Ullswater, arethe loftiest amongst many summits the grandeur of whose outlinesis not to be estimated by their moderate height. Sedimentary rocksof the same age form a belt to the north, and include Skiddaw(3054 ft.); while to the south a belt of Silurian rocks, thicklycovered with boulder clay, forms the finely wooded valleys ofConiston and Windermere. Round these central masses of earlyPalaeozoic rocks there is a broken ring of Carboniferous Limestone,and several patches of Coal Measures, while the New Red Sandstoneappears as a boundary belt outside the greater part of thedistrict. Where the Coal Measures reach the sea at Whitehaven,there are coal-mines, and the hematite of the Carboniferous Limestoneshas given rise to the active ironworks of Barrow-in-Furness,now the largest town in the district. Except in the towns of theouter border, the Lake District is very thinly peopled; and from theeconomic point of view, the remarkable beauty of its scenery,attracting numerous residents and tourists, is the most valuableof its resources. The very heavy rainfall of the district, which isthe wettest in England, has led to the utilization of Thirlmere asa reservoir for the water supply of Manchester, over 80 m. distant.
Pennine Region.—The Pennine Region, the centre of whichforms the so-called Pennine Chain, occupies the country from theEden valley to the North Sea in the north, and from the lowerTees, Yorkshire Ouse and Trent, nearly to the Irish Sea, in thesouth. It includes the whole of Northumberland and Durham,the West Riding of Yorkshire, most of Lancashire and Derbyshire,the north of Staffordshire and the west of Nottinghamshire. Theregion is entirely composed of Carboniferous rocks, the system whichtranscends all others in the value of its economic minerals. Thecoal and iron have made parts of the region the busiest manufacturingdistricts, and the centres of densest population, in the country,or even in the world. The whole region may be looked upon asformed by an arch or anticline of Carboniferous strata, the axis ofwhich runs north and south; the centre has been worn away byerosion, so that the Coal Measures have been removed, and theunderlying Millstone Grit and Carboniferous Limestone exposedto the influences which form scenery. On both sides of the arch,east and west, the Coal Measures remain intact, forming outcropswhich disappear towards the sea under the more recent strata ofPermian or Triassic age. The northern part of the western side ofthe anticline is broken off by a great fault in the valley of the Eden,and the scarp thus formed is rendered more abrupt by the presenceof a sheet of intrusive basalt. Seen from the valley, this straightline of lofty heights, culminating in Crossfell, presents the nearestapproach in England to the appearance of a mountain range. Inthe north the Pennine region is joined to the Southern Uplands ofScotland by the Cheviot Hills, a mass of granite and Old Red Sandstone;and the northern part is largely traversed by dykes ofcontemporary volcanic or intrusive rock. The most striking of thesedykes is the Great Whin Sill, which crosses the country from a shortdistance south of Durham almost to the source of the Tees, nearCrossfell. The elevated land is divided into three masses by depressions,which furnish ready means of communication between east andwest. The South Tyne and Irthing valleys cut off the Cheviots onthe north from the Crossfell section, which is also marked off on thesouth by the valleys of the Aire and Ribble from the Kinder Scoutor Peak section. The numerous streams of the region carry offthe rainfall down long valleys or dales to the east and the south,and by shorter and steeper valleys to the west. The dales areseparated from each other by high uplands, which for the mostpart are heathery moorland or, at best, hill pastures. The agricultureof the region is confined to the bottoms of the dales, and is of smallimportance. Crossfell and the neighbouring hills are formedfrom masses of Carboniferous Limestone, which received its popularname of Mountain Limestone from this fact. Farther south, suchsummits as High Seat, Whernside, Bow Fell, Penyghent and manyothers, all over 2000 ft. in height, are capped by portions of the gritsand sandstones, which rest upon the limestone. The belt of MillstoneGrit south of the Aire, lying between the great coal-fields of theWest Riding and Lancashire, has a lower elevation, and forms grassyuplands and dales; but farther south, the finest scenery of the wholeregion occurs in the limestones of Derbyshire, in which the rangeterminates. The rugged beauty of the south-running valleys, andespecially of Dovedale, is enhanced by the rich woods which stillclothe the slopes. There are remarkable features underground aswell as on the surface, the caverns and subterranean streams ofYorkshire and Derbyshire being amongst the deepest that have yetbeen explored. Compared with the rugged and picturesque sceneryof the Lower Carboniferous rocks, that of the Coal Measures is, as arule, featureless and monotonous. The coal-fields on the easternside, from the Tyne nearly to the Trent, are sharply marked off onthe east by the outcrop of Permian dolomite or Magnesian limestone,which forms a low terrace dipping towards the east under more recentrocks, and in many places giving rise to an escarpment facing westwardtowards the gentle slope of the Pennine dales. To the west andsouth the Coal Measures dip gently under the New Red Sandstone,to reappear at several points through the Triassic plain. The clearwater of the upland becks and the plentiful supply of water-powerled to the founding of small paper-mills in remote valleys beforethe days of steam, and some of these primitive establishments still exist. The prosperity and great population of the Pennine regiondate from the discovery that pit-coal could smelt iron as well ascharcoal; and this source of power once discovered, the people bredin the dales developed a remarkable genius for mechanical inventionand commercial enterprise, which revolutionized the economiclife of the world and changed England from an agricultural to anindustrial country. The staple industry of the district in ancienttimes was sheep-rearing, and the villages in nearly all the dalescarried on a small manufacture of woollen cloth. The introductionof cotton caused the woollen manufactures on the western side to besuperseded by the working up of the imported raw material; butwoollen manufactures, themselves carried on now almost entirelywith imported raw material, have continued to employ the energiesof the inhabitants of the east. Some quiet market-towns, such asSkipton and Keighley, remain, but most of them have developedby manufactures into great centres of population, lying, as a rule,at the junction of thickly peopled valleys, and separated from oneanother by the empty uplands. Such are Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield,Huddersfield and Halifax on the great and densely peopled WestRiding coal-field, which lies on the eastern slope of the Pennines.The iron ores of the Coal Measures have given rise to great manufacturesof steel, from cutlery to machinery and armour-plates.High on the barren crest of the Pennines, where the rocks yield nomineral wealth, except it be medicinal waters, Harrogate, Buxtonand Matlock are types of health resorts, prosperous from theirpure air and fine scenery. Across the moors, on the western sideof the anticline, the vast and dense population of the Lancashirecoal-field is crowded in the manufacturing towns surrounding thegreat commercial centre, Manchester, which itself stands on the edgeof the Triassic plain. Ashton, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton andWigan form a nearly confluent semicircle of great towns, their prosperityfounded on the underlying coal and iron, maintained byimported cotton. The Lancashire coal-field, and the portion of thebounding plain between it and the seaport of Liverpool, contain apopulation greater than that borne by any equal area in the country,the county of London and its surroundings not excepted. In thesouth-west of the Pennine region the coal-field of North Staffordshiresupports the group of small but active towns known collectivelyfrom the staple of their trade as “The Potteries.” On the north-eastthe great coal-field of Northumberland and Durham, traversed midwayby the Tyne, supports the manufactures of Newcastle and itssatellite towns, and leaves a great surplus for export from theTyne ports.
Wales.—The low island of Anglesey, which is built up of thefundamental Archaean rocks, is important as a link in the mainline of communication with Ireland, because it is separated fromthe mainland by a channel narrow enough to be bridged, and liesnot far out of the straight line joining London and Dublin. Themainland of Wales rises into three main highlands, the mountaingroups of North, Mid and South Wales, connected together byland over 1000 ft. in elevation in most places, but separated byvalleys affording easy highways. The streams of the southern andwestern slopes are short and many, flowing directly to the BristolChannel and the Irish Sea; but the no less numerous streams ofthe eastern slopes gather themselves into three river systems, andreach the sea as the Dee, the Severn and the Wye. The mountaingroup of North Wales is the largest and loftiest; its scenery resemblesthat of the Scottish Highlands because of the juxtaposition ofancient Palaeozoic rocks—Cambrian and Ordovician, often alteredinto slate—and contemporaneous volcanic outbursts and igneousintrusions. Here rises the peak of Snowdon (3560 ft.), the culminatingpoint of South Britain, and near it half a dozen summits exceed3000 ft., while Cader Idris, farther south, though slightly lower,presents a singularly imposing outline. The mild winter climatehas fringed the coast with seaside resorts, the rugged heightsattract tourists in summer, and the vast masses of slate have givenrise to the largest slate quarries in the world. The heavy rainfallof the upper valleys unfits them for agriculture, and the farms arepoor. There are several lakes: that of Bala being the largest,except the old lake of Vyrnwy, reconstituted artificially to storethe rainfall for the water-supply of Liverpool, 68 m. distant. TheVyrnwy is tributary to the Severn; but north of it the streamsgather into the Dee, and flow eventually northward. Mid Wales isbuilt up, for the most part, of Silurian or Ordovician rocks, practicallyfree from igneous intrusions except in the south-west. There theresistance of a series of igneous dykes gives prominence to thePembroke peninsula, in which the fine fjord-like harbour of MilfordHaven lies far out towards the Atlantic. The coast north of Pembrokeand Merioneth has been worked into the grand sweep ofCardigan Bay, its surface carved into gently rounded hills, greenwith rich grass, which sweep downward into wide rounded valleys.Plinlimmon (2468 ft.) is the highest of the hills, and forms a sort ofhydrographic centre for the group, as from its eastern base theSevern and the Wye take their rise—the former describing a widecurve to east and south, the latter forming a chord to the arc in itssouthward course. Mid Wales is mainly a pastoral country, andvery thinly peopled. A group of artificial lakes, one of them exceededin area only by Windermere, has been formed in the valley of theElan, a tributary of the Wye, for the supply of water to Birmingham.The group of heights of South Wales, running on the whole fromwest to east, marks the outcrops of the Old Red Sandstone andCarboniferous strata which lie within a vast syncline of the Silurianrocks. The Brecon Beacons of Old Red Sandstone are the highest(2907 ft.), but the Black Mountain bears a number of picturesquesummits carved out of Millstone Grit and Carboniferous Limestone,which rise frequently over 2000 ft. Throughout Hereford, and inpart of Monmouthshire, the Old Red Sandstone sinks to a great undulatingplain, traversed by the exquisite windings of the Wye, andforming some of the richest pasture and fruit lands of England.This plain formed an easy passage from south to north, and since thetime of the Romans was a strategical line of the greatest importance,a fact which has left its traces on the present distribution of towns.Around the western and northern edge of the Old Red Sandstoneplain the underlying Silurian rocks (and even the Cambrian andArchaean in places) have been bent up so that their edges form hillsof singular abruptness and beauty. Of these are the Malvern Hills,east of Hereford, and in particular the hills of Shropshire. WenlockEdge, running from south-west to north-east, is an escarpmentof Silurian limestone, while the broad upland of Long Mynd, nearlyparallel to it on the north, is a mass of Archaean rock. The Wrekin,the Caradoc and Cardington Hills are isolated outbursts of pre-Cambrianvolcanic rocks. The outer rim of the Welsh area containsa broken series of coal-fields, where patches of Carboniferous stratacome to the surface on the edge of the New Red Sandstone plain.Such are the coal-fields of Flint in the north, the Forest of Wyreand the Forest of Dean, close to the Severn, on the east. The greatcoal-field on the south is a perfect example of a synclinal basin,the Millstone Grit and Carboniferous Limestone which underlie theCoal Measures appearing all round the margin. This coal-fieldoccupies practically the whole of Glamorgan and part of Monmouth,and its surface slopes from the Black Mountain and Brecon Beaconsto the sea as a gently inclined plateau, scored by deep valleys drainingsouth. Each chief valley has a railway connecting a string of miningvillages, and converging seaward to the busy ports of Newport,Cardiff and Barry (a town created on a sandy island by the excavationof a great dock to form an outlet for the mines). In the northof the field, where the limestone crops out and supplies the necessaryflux, Merthyr Tydfil has become great through iron-smelting; andin the west Swansea is the chief centre in the world for copper andtin smelting. The unity and ruggedness of the highlands of Waleshave proved sufficient to isolate the people from those of the restof South Britain, and to preserve a purely Celtic race, still very largelyof Celtic speech.
Cornwall and Devon.—The peninsula of Cornwall and Devon maybe looked upon as formed from a synclinal trough of Devonianrocks, which appear as plateaus on the north and south, while thecentre is occupied by Lower Carboniferous strata at a lower level.The northern coast, bordering the Bristol Channel, is steep, withpicturesque cliffs and deep bays or short valleys running into thehigh land, each occupied by a little seaside town or village. Theplateau culminates in the barren heathy upland of Exmoor, whichslopes gently southward from a general elevation of 1600 ft., and isalmost without inhabitants. The Carboniferous rocks of the centreform a soil which produces rich pasture under the heavy rainfalland remarkably mild and equable temperature, forming a greatcattle-raising district. The Devonian strata on the south do notform such lofty elevations as those on the north, and are in consequence,like the plain of Hereford, very fertile and peculiarly adaptedfor fruit-growing and cider-making. The remarkable features of thescenery of South Devon and Cornwall are due to a narrow band ofArchaean rock which appears in the south of the peninsulas terminatingin Lizard Head and Start Point, and to huge masses of graniteand other eruptive rocks which form a series of great bosses anddykes. The largest granite boss gives relief to the wild upland ofDartmoor, culminating in High Willhays and Yes Tor. The clayresulting from the weathering of the Dartmoor granite has formedmarshes and peat bogs, and the desolation of the district has beenemphasized by the establishment in its midst of a great convictprison, and in its northern portion of a range for artillery practice.The Tamar flows from north to south on the Devonian plain, whichlies between Dartmoor on the east and the similar granitic boss ofBodmin Moor (where Brown Willy rises to 1345 ft.) on the west.There are several smaller granite bosses, of which the mass of Land’sEnd is the most important. Most of the Lizard peninsula, the onlypart of England stretching south of 50° N., is a mass of serpentine.The great variety of the rocks which meet the sea along the south ofCornwall and Devon has led to the formation of a singularly picturesquecoast—the headlands being carved from the hardest igneousrocks, the bays cut back in the softer Devonian strata. The fjord-likeinlets of Falmouth, Plymouth and Dartmouth are splendid naturalharbours, which would have developed great commercial ports butfor their remoteness from the centres of commerce and manufactures.China clay from the decomposing granites; tin and copper ore,once abounding at the contacts between the granite and the rocksit pierced, were the former staples of wealth, and the mining largelyaccounts for the exceptional density of population in Cornwall.Fishing has always been important, the numerous good harboursgiving security to fishing-boats; and the fact that this coast is themildest and almost the sunniest, though by no means the driest,part of Great Britain has led to the establishment of many health
resorts, of which Torquay is the chief. The old Cornish language ofthe Celtic stock became extinct only in the 18th century, and theCornish character remains as a heritage of the time when the landhad leisure to mould the life and the habits of the man. Projectingfarthest of all England into the Atlantic, it is not surprising that theWest country has supplied a large proportion of the great navalcommanders in British history, and of the crews of the navy.
Between the separate uplands there extends a plain of Permianand Triassic rocks, which may conveniently be considered as anintermediate zone between the two main divisions.To the eye it forms an almost continuous plain withthe belt of Lias clays, which is the outer border of theThe mid-land plain.Eastern Division; for although a low escarpment marks the line ofjunction, and seems to influence the direction of the main rivers,there is only one plain so far as regards free movement over itssurface and the construction of canals, roads and railways. Theplain usually forms a distinct border along the landward marginsof the uplands of more ancient rock, though to the east of theCornwall-Devon peninsula it is not very clear, and its continuity inother places is broken by inliers of the more ancient rocks, whicheverywhere underlie it. One such outcrop of Carboniferous Limestonein the south forms the Mendip Hills; another of the CoalMeasures increases the importance of Bristol, where it stands at thehead of navigation on the southern Avon. In the north-west atongue of the Red rocks forms the Eden valley, separating the LakeDistrict from the Pennine Chain, with Carlisle as its central town.Farther south, these rocks form the low coastal belt of Lancashire,edged with the longest stretches of blown sand in England, anddotted here and there with pleasure towns, like Blackpool and Southport.The plain sweeps round south of the Lancashire coal-field,forms the valley of the Mersey from Stockport to the sea, and farthersouth in Cheshire the salt-bearing beds of the Keuper marls giverise to a characteristic industry. The plain extends through Staffordshireand Worcester, forming the lower valley of the Severn. Thegreater part of Manchester, all Liverpool and Birkenhead, and innumerablebusy towns of medium size, which in other parts ofEngland would rank as great centres of population, stand on thissoil. Its flat surface and low level facilitate the construction ofrailways and canals, which form a closer network over it than inother parts of the country. The great junction of Crewe, whererailways from south-east, south-west, east, west and north converge,is thus explained. South of the Pennines, the Red rocks extendeastward in a great sweep through the south of Derbyshire, Warwick,the west of Leicestershire, and the east of Nottingham, their marginbeing approximately marked by the Avon, flowing south-west, andthe Soar and Trent, flowing north-east. South and east of thesestreams the very similar country is on the Lias clay. Several smallcoal-fields rise through the Red rocks—the largest, between Staffordand Birmingham, forms the famous “Black Country,” with Wolverhamptonand Dudley as centres, where the manufacture of iron haspreserved a historic continuity, for the great Forest of Arden suppliedcharcoal until the new fuel from the pits took its place. This coal-field,ministering to the multifarious metal manufactures of Birmingham,constitutes the centre of the Midlands. Smaller patches of theCoal Measures appear near Tamworth and Burton, while deep shaftshave been sunk in many places through the overlying Triassic stratato the coal below, thus extending the mining and manufacturing areabeyond the actual outcrop of the Coal Measures. A few smalloutcrops occur where still more ancient strata have been raised tothe surface, as, for instance, in Charnwood Forest, where the Archaeanrocks, with intrusions of granite, create a patch of highland sceneryin the very heart of the English plain; and in the Lickey Hills, nearBirmingham, where the prominent features are due to volcanicrocks of very ancient date. The “Waterstones,” or Lower KeuperSandstones,—forming gentle elevations above the softer marls, andusually charged with an abundant supply of water, which can bereached by wells,—form the site of many towns, such as Birmingham,Warwick and Lichfield, and of very numerous villages. The plainas a whole is fertile and undulating, rich in woods and richer inpasture: the very heart of rural England. Cattle-grazing is thechief farm industry in the west, sheep and horse-rearing in theeast; the prevalence of the prefix “Market” in the names of therural towns is noticeable in this respect. The manufacture ofwoollen and leather goods is a natural result of the raising of livestock; Leicester, Coventry and Nottingham are manufacturingtowns of the region. The historic castles, the sites of ancient battles,and the innumerable mansions of the wealthy, combine to give tocentral England a certain aesthetic interest which the more purelymanufacturing districts of the west and north fail to inspire. Themidland plain curves northward between the outcrop of the Dolomiteon the west and the Oolitic heights on the east. It sinks lowestwhere the estuary of the Humber gathers in its main tributaries,and the greater part of the surface is covered with recent alluvialdeposits. The Trent runs north in the southern half of this plain,the Ouse runs south through the northern half, which is known as theVale of York, lying low between the Pennine heights on the west andthe Yorkshire moors on the east. Where the plain reaches the sea,the soft rocks are cut back into the estuary of the Tees, and thereMiddlesbrough stands at the base of the Moors. The quiet beauty ofthe rural country in the south, where the barren Bunter pebble-bedshave never invited agriculture, and where considerable vestiges of theold woodland still remain in and near Sherwood Forest, has attractedso many seats of the landed aristocracy as to earn for that part thefamiliar name of “the Dukeries.” The central position of York inthe north made it the capital of Roman Britain in ancient times,and an important railway junction in our own.
Five natural regions may be distinguished in the Eastern Divisionof England, by no means so sharply marked off as those of the west,but nevertheless quite clearly characterized. The firstis the Jurassic Belt, sweeping along the border of theTriassic plain from the south coast at the mouth of theThe eastern division.Exe to the east coast at the mouth of the Tees. This isclosely followed on the south-east by the Chalk country, occupyingthe whole of the rest of England except where the Tertiary Basinsof London and Hampshire cover it, where the depression of the Fenlandcarries it out of sight, and where the lower rocks of the Wealdbreak through it. Thus the Chalk appears to run in four divergingfingers from the centre or palm on Salisbury Plain, other formationslying wedge-like between them. Various lines of reasoning unite inproving that the Mesozoic rocks of the south rest upon a mass ofPalaeozoic rocks, which lies at no very great depth beneath the surfaceof the anticlinal axis running from the Bristol Channel to the Straitof Dover. The theoretical conclusion has been confirmed by thediscovery of Coal Measures, with workable coal seams, at Dover ata depth of 2000 ft. below the surface.
The Eastern Division is built up of parallel strata, the edgesof the harder rocks forming escarpments, the sheets of clay formingplains; and on this account similar features are repeated in eachof the successive geological formations. The rivers exhibit a remarkablyclose relation to the geological structure, and thus contrastwith the rivers of the Western Division. There are two main classesof river-course—those flowing down the dip-slopes at right anglesto the strike, and cutting through opposed escarpments by deepvalleys, and those following the line of strike along a bed of easilyeroded rock. A third class of streams, tributary to the second,flows down the steep face of the escarpments. By the study of theadjustment of these rivers to their valleys, and of the relation of thevalleys to the general structure, Professor W. M. Davis has elaborateda theory of river classification, and a scheme of the origin of surface-featureswhich is attractive in its simplicity. The Thames is the onegreat river of the division, rising on the Jurassic Belt, crossing theChalk country, and finishing its course in the Tertiary London Basin,towards which, in its prevailing west-to-east direction, it draws itstributaries from north and south. The other rivers are shorter,and flow either to the North Sea on the east, or to the EnglishChannel on the south. With the exception of the Humber, theyall rise and pursue their whole course within the limits of the EasternDivision itself.
The Eastern Division is the richest part of England agriculturally,it is the part most accessible to trade with the Continent, and thatleast adapted for providing refuges for small bodies of men in conflictwith powerful invaders. Hence the latest of the conquerors,the Saxon and other Germanic tribes, obtained an easy mastery,and spread over the whole country, holding their own againstmarauding Northmen, except on the northern part of the eastcoast; and even after the political conquest by the Normans,continuing to form the great mass of the population, though influencednot a little by the fresh blood and new ideas they hadassimilated. The present population is so distributed as to showremarkable dependence on the physical features. The chalk andlimestone plateaus are usually almost without inhabitants, and thevillages of these districts occur grouped together in long strings,either in drift-floored valleys in the calcareous plateaus, or alongthe exposure of some favoured stratum at their base. In almostevery case the plain along the foot of an escarpment bears a lineof villages and small towns, and on a good map of density of populationthe lines of the geological map may be readily discerned.
The Jurassic Belt.—The Jurassic belt is occupied by the countiesof Gloucester, Oxford, Buckingham, Bedford, Northampton,Huntingdon, Rutland, Lincoln and the North Riding of Yorkshire.The rocks of the belt may be divided into two main groups: theLias beds, which come next to the Triassic plain, and the Ooliticbeds. Each group is made up of an alternation of soft marls or claysand hard limestones or sandstones. The low escarpments of theharder beds of the Lias are the real, though often scarcely perceptible,boundary between the Triassic plain and the Jurassic belt. Theyrun along the right bank of the Trent in its northward course to theHumber, and similarly direct the course of the Avon southward tothe Severn. The great feature of the region is the long line of theOolitic escarpment, formed in different places by the edges of differentbeds of rock. The escarpment runs north from Portland Island onthe English Channel, curves north-eastward as the Cotteswold Hills,rising abruptly from the Severn plain to heights of over 1000 ft.;it sinks to insignificance in the Midland counties, is again clearlymarked in Lincolnshire, and rises in the North Yorkshire moorsto its maximum height of over 1500 ft. Steep towards the west,where it overlooks the low Lias plain as the Oolitic escarpment,the land falls very gently in slopes of Oxford Clay towards theCretaceous escarpments on the south and east. Throughout itswhole extent it yields valuable building-stone, and in the Yorkshire moors the great abundance of iron ore has created the prosperity of Middlesbrough, on the plain below. The Lias plain is rich grazing country, the Oxford Clay forms valuable agricultural land, yielding heavy crops of wheat. The towns of the belt are comparatively small, not one attains a population of 75,000, and the favourite site is on the Lias plain below the great escarpment. They are for the most part typical rural market-towns, the manufactures, where such exist, being usually of agricultural machinery, or woollen and leather goods. Bath, Gloucester, Oxford, Northampton, Bedford, Rugby, Lincoln and Scarborough are amongst the chief. North of the gap in the low escarpment in which the town of Lincoln centres, a close fringe of villages borders the escarpment on the west; and throughout the belt the alternations of clay and hard rock are reflected in the grouping of population.
The Chalk Country.—The dominating surface-feature formed by the Cretaceous rocks is the Chalk escarpment, the northern edge of the great sheet of chalk that once spread continuously over the whole south-east. It appears as a series of rounded hills of no great elevation, running in a curve from the mouth of the Axe to Flamborough Head, roughly parallel with the Oolitic escarpment. Successive portions of this line of heights are known as the Western Downs, the White Horse Hills, the Chiltern Hills, the East Anglian Ridge, the Lincolnshire Wolds and the Yorkshire Wolds. The rivers from the gentle southern slopes of the Oolitic heights pass by deep valleys through the Chalk escarpments, and flow on to the Tertiary plains within. The typical scenery of the Chalk country is unrelieved by small streams of running water; the hills rise into rounded downs, often capped with fine clumps of beech, and usually covered with thin turf, affording pasture for sheep. The chalk, when exposed on the surface, is an excellent foundation for roads, and the lines of many of the Roman “streets” were probably determined by this fact. The Chalk country extends over part of Dorset, most of Wiltshire, a considerable portion of Hampshire and Oxfordshire, most of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, the west of Norfolk and Suffolk, the east of Lincolnshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire. From the upland of Salisbury Plain, which corresponds to the axis of the anticline marking the centre of the double fold into which the strata of the south of England have been thrown, the great Chalk escarpment runs north-eastward; fingers of Chalk run eastward one each side of the Weald, forming the North and South Downs, while the southern edge of the Chalk sheet appears from beneath the Tertiary strata at several places on the south coast, and especially in the Isle of Wight. Flamborough Head, the South Foreland, Beachy Head and the Needles are examples of the fine scenery into which chalk weathers where it fronts the sea, and these white cliffs gave to the island its early name of Albion. The Chalk is everywhere very thinly peopled, except where it is thickly covered with boulder clay, and so becomes fertile, or where it is scored by drift-filled valleys, in which the small towns and villages are dotted along the high roads. The thickest covering of drift is found in the Holderness district of Yorkshire, where, from the chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head to the sandspit of Spurn Point, the whole coast is formed of boulder-clay resting on chalk. Of the few towns in the Chalk country, the interest of which is largely historical or scholastic, Salisbury, Winchester, Marlborough and Cambridge are the most distinguished. Reading flourishes from its position on the edge of the London Tertiary Basin, Croydon is a suburb of London, and Hull, though on the Chalk, derives its importance from the Humber estuary, which cuts through the Chalk and the Jurassic belts, to drain the Triassic plain and the Pennine region. The narrow strip of Greensands appearing from beneath the Chalk escarpment on its northern side is crowded with small towns and villages on account of the plentiful water-supply. The distinction between the low grounds of the Jurassic belt and the Chalk country is not always very apparent on the surface, and from the historic point of view it is important to recognize the individuality of the Eastern plain which extends from the Vale of York across the Humber and the Wash into Essex. The Eastern plain thus includes a portion of the Triassic plain in the north, a portion of the Jurassic and Chalk belts in the middle, and a portion of the Tertiary plain of the London Basin in the south.
The Fenland.—The continuity of the belts of Chalk and of the Middle and Upper Oolites in the Eastern Plain is broken by the shallow depression of the Wash and the Fenland. The Fenland comprises a strip of Norfolk, a considerable part of Cambridgeshire, and the Holland district of Lincoln. Formerly a great inlet with vague borders of lagoons and marshes, the Fenland has been reclaimed partly by natural processes, partly by engineering works patiently continued for centuries. The whole district is flat and low, for the most part within 15 ft. of sea-level; the seaward edge in many places is below the level of high tide, and is protected by dykes as in Holland, while straight canals and ditches carry the sluggish drainage from the land. The soil is composed for the most part of silt and peat. A few small elevations of gravel, or of underlying formations, rise above the level of 25 ft.; these were in former times islands, and now they form the sites of the infrequent villages. Boston and King’s Lynn are memorials of the maritime importance of the Wash in the days of small ships. The numerous ancient churches and the cathedrals of Ely and Peterborough bear witness to the share taken by religious communities in the reclamation and cultivation of the land.
The Weald.—The dissection of the great east and west anticline in the south-east of England has resulted in a remarkable piece of country, occupying the east of Hampshire and practically the whole of Sussex, Surrey and Kent, in which each geological stratum produces its own type of scenery, and exercises its own specific influence on every natural distribution. The sheet of Chalk shows its cut edges in the escarpments facing the centre of the Weald, and surrounding it in an oval ring, the eastern end of which is broken by the Strait of Dover, so that its completion must be sought in France. From the crest of the escarpment, all round on south, west and north, the dip-slope of the Chalk forms a gentle descent outwards, the escarpment a very steep slope inwards. The cut edges of the escarpment forming the Hog’s Back and North Downs on the north, and the South Downs on the south, meet the sea in the fine promontories of the South Foreland and Beachy Head. The Downs are almost without population, waterless and grass-covered, with patches of beech wood. Their only important towns are on the coast, e.g. Brighton, Eastbourne, Dover, Chatham, or in the gaps where rivers from the centre pierce the Chalk ring, as at Guildford, Rochester, Canterbury, Lewes and Arundel. Within the Chalk ring, and at the base of the steep escarpment, there is a low terrace of the Upper Greensand, seldom so much as a mile in width, but in most places crowded with villages scarcely more than a mile apart, and ranged like beads on a necklace. Within the Upper Greensand an equally narrow ring of Gault is exposed, its stiff clay forming level plains of grazing pasture, without villages, and with few farmhouses even; and from beneath it the successive beds of the Lower Greensand rise towards the centre, forming a wider belt, and reaching a considerable height before breaking off in a fine escarpment, the crest of which is in several points higher than the outer ring of Chalk. Leith Hill and Hindhead are parts of this edge in the west, where the exposure is widest. Several towns have originated in the gaps of the Lower Greensand escarpment which are continuous with those through the Chalk: such are Dorking, Reigate, Maidstone and Ashford. Folkestone and Pevensey stand where the two ends of the broken ring meet the sea. It is largely a region of oak and pine trees, in contrast to the beech of the Chalk Downs. The Lower Greensand escarpment looks inwards in its turn over the wide plain of Weald Clay, along which the Medway flows in the north, and which forms a fertile soil, well cultivated, and particularly rich in hops and wheat. The primitive forests have been largely cleared, the primitive marshes have all been drained, and now the Weald Clay district is fairly well peopled and sprinkled with villages. From the middle of this plain the core of Lower Cretaceous sandstones known as the Hastings Beds emerges steeply, and reaches in the centre an elevation of 796 ft. at Crowborough Beacon. It is on the whole a region with few streams, and a considerable portion of the ancient woodland still remains in Ashdown Forest. The greater part of the Forest Ridges is almost without inhabitants. Towns are found only round the edge bordering the Weald Clay, such as Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells and Horsham; and along the line where it is cut off by the sea, e.g. Hastings and St Leonards. The broad low tongue of Romney Marsh running out to Dungeness is a product of shore-building by the Channel tides, attached to the Wealden area, but not essentially part of it.
The London Basin.—The London Basin occupies a triangular depression in the Chalk which is filled up with clays and gravels of Tertiary and later age. It extends from the eastern extremity of Wiltshire in a widening triangle to the sea, which it meets along an irregular line from Deal to Cromer. It thus occupies parts of Wiltshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Kent, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, the whole of Middlesex, the county of London and Essex, and the eastern edge of Suffolk and Norfolk. The scenery is quiet in its character, but the gravel hills are often prominent features, as at Harrow and in the northern suburbs of London; the country is now mainly under grass or occupied with market and nursery gardens, and many parts, of which Epping Forest is a fine example, are still densely wooded, the oak being the prevailing tree. The coast is everywhere low and deeply indented by ragged and shallow estuaries, that of the Thames being the largest. Shallow lagoons formed along the lower courses of the rivers of Norfolk have given to that part of the country the name of the Broads, a district of low and nearly level land. Apart from the huge area of urban and suburban London, the London Basin has few large towns. Norwich and Ipswich, Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Harwich and Colchester may be mentioned in the north-eastern part, all depending for their prosperity on agriculture or on the sea; and a fringe of summer resorts on the low coast has arisen on account of the bracing climate. Reading and Windsor lie in the western portion, beyond the suburban sphere of London. The Bagshot Beds in the west form infertile tracts of sandy soil, covered with heath and pine, where space is available for the great camps and military training-grounds round Aldershot, and for the extensive cemeteries at Woking. The London Clay in the east is more fertile and crowded with villages, while the East Anglian portion of the basin consists of the more recent Pliocene sands and gravels, which mix with the boulder clay to form the best wheat-growing soil in the country.
The Hampshire Basin.—The Hampshire Basin forms a triangle with Dorchester, Salisbury and Worthing near the angles, and therim of Chalk to the south appears in broken fragments in the Isleof Purbeck, the Isle of Wight, and to the east of Bognor. On theinfertile Bagshot Beds the large area of the New Forest remainsuntilled under its ancient oaks. The London Clay of the east ismore fertile, but the greatness of this district lies in its coast-line,which is deeply indented, like that of the London Basin. Southamptonand Portsmouth have gained importance through their finenatural harbours, improved by engineering works and fortifications;Bournemouth and Bognor, from their favourable position in thesunniest belt of the country, as health resorts.
Communications.—The configuration of England, while sufficientlypronounced to allow of the division of the country into naturalregions, is not strongly enough marked to exercise any very greatinfluence upon lines of communication. The navigable rivers areall connected by barge-canals, even across the Pennine Chain.Although the waterways are much neglected, compared with thoseof France or of Germany, they might still be very useful if theywere enlarged and improved and if free competition with railwayscould be secured. The main roads laid out as arteries of intercommunicationby the Romans, suffered to fall into neglect, andrevived in the coaching days of the beginning of the 19th century,fell into a second period of comparative neglect when the railwaysystem was completed; but they have recovered a very large shareof their old importance in consequence of the development of motor-traffic.Following the Roman roads, the high roads of the EasternDivision very frequently run along the crests of ridges or escarpments;but in the Western Division they are, as a rule, forced bythe more commanding relief of the country to keep to the rivervalleys and cross the rougher districts through the dales and passes.The railways themselves, radiating from the great centres of population,and especially from London, are only in a few instances muchaffected by configuration. The Pennine Chain has always separatedthe traffic from south to north into an east coast route through theVale of York, and a west coast route by the Lancashire plain.The Midland railway, running through the high and rugged countrybetween the two, was the last to be constructed. The most notablebridges over navigable water affording continuous routes are thoseacross Menai Strait, the Tyne at Newcastle, the Severn at SevernBridge and the Manchester Ship Canal. It is more usual to tunnelunder such channels, and the numerous Thames tunnels, the Merseytunnel between Liverpool and Birkenhead, and the Severn tunnel,the longest in the British Islands (412 m.), on the routes from Londonto South Wales, and from Bristol to the north of England, are allimportant. The Humber estuary is neither bridged nor tunnelledbelow Goole.
Density of Population.—The present distribution of populationover England and Wales shows a dense concentration at all largeseaports, in the neighbourhood of London, and on the coal-fieldswhere manufactures are carried on. Agricultural areas are verythinly peopled; purely pastoral districts can hardly be said to haveany settled population at all. There are very few dwellings situatedat a higher level than 1000 ft., and on the lower ground the Chalkand the Oolitic limestones, where they crop out on the surface,are extremely thinly peopled, and so as a rule are areas of alluvialdeposits and the Tertiary sands. But, on the other hand, thebroad clay plains of all formations, the Cretaceous sandstones, andthe Triassic plain, are peopled more densely than any other districtwithout mineral wealth or sea trade.
Political Divisions.—In the partition of England and Wales intocounties, physical features play but a small part. The forty ancientcounties, remnants of various historical groupings and partings,are occasionally bounded by rivers. Thus the Thames dividescounties along nearly its whole length, forming the southernboundary of four and the northern boundary of three. Essex andSuffolk, Suffolk and Norfolk, Cornwall and Devon, Durham andYorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire, are all separated by rivers,while rivers form some part of the boundaries of almost every county.Still, it is noteworthy that the Severn and Trent nowhere formcontinuous county boundaries. Watersheds are rarely used asboundaries for any distance; but, although slightly overlappingthe watershed on all sides, Yorkshire is very nearly coincidentwith the basin of the Ouse. The boundaries of the parishes, thefundamental units of English political geography, are very ofteneither rivers or watersheds, and they frequently show a close relationto the strike of the geological strata. The hundreds, or groups ofparishes, necessarily share their boundaries, and groups of hundredsare often aggregated to form larger subdivisions of counties. Awider grouping according to natural characteristics may now berecognized only in the cases of Wales, East Anglia, Wessex and suchless definite groups as the Home Counties around London or theMidlands around Birmingham. Configuration is only one out ofmany conditions modifying distributions, and its effects on Englandas a whole appear to be suggestive rather than determinative.(H. R. M.)
III. Geology
For an area so small, England is peculiarly rich in geologicalinterest. This is due in some degree to the energy of the earlyBritish geologists, whose work profoundly influenced all subsequentthought in the science, as may be seen by the generalacceptation of so many of the English stratigraphical terms; butthe natural conditions were such as to call forth and to stimulatethis energy in an unusual way. Almost every one of the principalgeological formations may be studied in England with comparativeease.
If we lay aside for the moment all the minor irregularities, wefind, upon examination of a geological map of England, two structuralfeatures of outstanding importance. (1) The first is the great anticlineof the Pennine Hills which dominates the northern half ofEngland from the Scottish border to Derby. Its central core ofLower Carboniferous rock is broadly displayed towards the north,while southward it contracts; on either side lie the younger rocks,the coal-fields, the Permian strata and the Triassic formations,the last-named, while sweeping round the southern extremity ofthe Carboniferous axis of the uplift from its eastern and westernflanks, spread out in a large sheet over the midland counties. (2)The second striking feature is the regular succession of Jurassicand Cretaceous rocks which crop out in almost unbroken lines fromthe coast of Dorsetshire, whither they appear to converge, to theCleveland Hills and the Yorkshire coast. Lying upon the Cretaceousrocks in the S.E. of England are the two Tertiary basins of Londonand Hampshire, separated by the dissected anticline of the Weald.
The older rocks in England occupy relatively small areas. Pre-Cambrianrocks are represented by the gneisses of Primrose Hilland schists of Rushton in Shropshire; by the gneisses forming thecore of the Malvern Hills, and by the ancient volcanic and other rocksof the Wrekin, Charnwood Forest and Nuneaton. The slates of theLong Mynd, on the Shropshire border, belong to this system. Cambrianstrata appear in Shropshire in the form of sandstones andquartzites; in the Malvern Hills they are black shales, while in the Lake District they are represented by the Skiddaw slates. Next inpoint of age comes the Ordovician system, which is well developedupon the Shropshire border and in the Lake District. In the sametwo areas we find the Silurian rocks, shales and limestones withgrits and flags. In N. and S. Devon are the Devonian limestones,grits and shales; the corresponding Old Red Sandstone type of thesystem (marls and sandstones) being exposed over a large part ofHerefordshire, stretching also into Shropshire and Monmouth.Next in order of succession comes the Carboniferous system, withshales and limestones in the lower members, grits, sandstones andshales—the Millstone Grit series—in the middle of the system,followed by the Coal Measures—a great series of shales with coal,sandstones and ironstone at the top. This important systemoccupies a large area in England. The limestones and shales arewell exposed in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, the MendipHills and at Clifton. The Millstone Grit series is prominent inLancashire, Derbyshire, N. Staffordshire, Yorkshire and in theForest of Dean. The Coal Measures rest upon the Millstone Gritsin most places, generally in synclinal basins. On the eastern sideof the Pennine range are the conterminous coal-fields of Yorkshire,Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and the coal-field of Durham andNorthumberland; on the western side are the Whitehaven, Burnley,S. Lancashire and N. Staffordshire coal-fields. Farther south arethe S. Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Coalbrook Dale, Forest of Wyre,Forest of Dean and Bristol and Somerset coal-fields; while muchconcealed coal lies under younger formations in the south-east ofEngland, as has been proved at Dover. A large part of N. Devon isoccupied by the Culm shales, limestones and grits of Carboniferousage. The principal development of Permian rocks is the narrowstrip which extends from Nottingham to Tynemouth; here theMagnesian limestone is the characteristic feature. On the otherside of the Pennine Hills we find the Penrith sandstone of the Vale ofEden and the Brockram beds of the Lake District. Red sandstonesand conglomerates of this age constitute some of the red rockswhich form the picturesque scenery about Dawlish and Teignmouth.
The Triassic rocks, red sandstones, marls and conglomeratescover a broad area in the Midlands in Worcestershire, Warwickshireand Leicestershire, whence they may be followed south-westwardthrough Somerset to the coast at Sidmouth, and northward, roundeither flank of the Pennine Hills, through Nottinghamshire andYorkshire to Middlesbrough on the one hand, and upon the otherthrough Staffordshire, Cheshire and Lancashire to Carlisle.
The outcrop of the Lias, mainly clay with thin limestones andironstones, runs in an almost continuous band across the countryfrom Lyme Regis, through Bath, Cheltenham, near Leicester, andLincoln to Redcar in Yorkshire. Closely following the same lineare the alternating clays and limestones of the Oolitic series. Nextin order come the Greensands and Gault, which lie at the base of theChalk escarpment, between that formation and the Oolites. TheChalk occupies all the remaining portion of the south-east of England,save the Wealden area, and extends northward as far as Flamboroughin Yorkshire, forming the Yorkshire Wolds, the Lincolnshire Wolds,the Chiltern Hills, the N. and S. Downs, the Dorsetshire heights andSalisbury Plain. But in the eastern and southern counties theChalk is covered by younger deposits of Tertiary age; the PlioceneCrags of Norfolk and Suffolk, the Lower London Tertiaries (LondonClay, Woolwich and Reading Beds, &c.) of the London Basincomprising parts of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Bucks andBerks, and northern Kent. Again, in the Hampshire Basin and Isleof Wight, Eocene and Oligocene formations rest upon the Chalk.
When we attempt to decipher the physical history of the countryfrom the complicated record afforded by the stratigraphical palimpsest,we are checked at the outset by the dearth of informationfrom being able to picture the geographical condition in the olderPalaeozoic periods. All we can say is, that in those remote timeswhat is now England had no existence; its site was occupied byseas which were tenanted by marine invertebrates, long sinceextinct. As for the boundaries of these ancient seas, we can saynothing with certainty, but it is of interest to note the evidence wepossess of still older land conditions, such as we have in the old rocksof Shropshire, &c. In the Devonian period it is clear that anelevatory movement had set in towards the north, which gave riseto the formation of inland lakes and narrow estuaries in which theOld Red Sandstone rocks were formed, while in the south of Englandlay the sea with a vigorous coral fauna. This condition led up to theCarboniferous period, which began with fairly open sea over thesouth and north of England, but in the centre there rose an elevatedland mass from which much of the Millstone Grit was derived;other land lay towards the north. Slowly this sea shallowed, givingrise to the alternating estuarine marine and freshwater depositsof the Coal Measures. Continual elevation of the land brought aboutthe close of the coal-forming period and great changes ensued.Desert conditions, with confined inland seas, marked the Permianand Triassic periods. It was about this time that the Pennine Hills,the Lake District mountain mass, and the Mendip Hills were beingmost vigorously uplifted, while the granite masses of Cornwalland Devon were perhaps being injected into the Carboniferousand Devonian rocks. From this period, more or less of the Pennineridge has always remained above the sea, along with much of Cornwalland parts of Devonshire.
In early Jurassic times the sea probably again occupied most ofEngland with the exception of the above-mentioned areas, the LakeDistrict and eastern part of the London Basin; Wales, too, andmuch of Scotland were land. Elevation gradually caused more landto appear in later Jurassic and early Cretaceous times when a riversystem, now entirely obliterated, drained into the Purbeck estuaryand Wealden lake; but a subsequent depression led to the wideextension of the Chalk sea. By the beginning of the Eocene periodwe find the sea limited to the S.E. of England, where the LondonClay, &c., were being laid down. It was not until quite late inTertiary time that these islands began to assume anything like theirpresent form. In the earlier part of the Pleistocene period, Englandand Ireland were still incompletely severed, and the combinedactivity of certain extinct rivers and the sea had not yet cut throughthe land connexion with the continent. The last well-markedlowering of the land took place in the Pleistocene period, when itwas accompanied by glacial conditions, through which the greaterpart of northern England and the Midlands was covered by ice; astate of things which led directly and indirectly to the depositionof those extensive boulder clays, sands and gravels which obscureso much of the older surface of the country in all but the southerncounties.
Throughout the whole period of its geological history, volcanicactivity has found expression with varying degrees of intensityalong what is now the western side of the island, with the exceptionthat in the Mesozoic era this activity was in abeyance. We maynote the pre-Cambrian lavas and tuffs of the Wrekin district inShropshire and the somewhat later volcanic rocks of Charnwood;the porphyrites, andesites, tuffs and rhyolites of the Borrowdalevolcanic centre, erupted in the Ordovician period, and the Siluriangranites of the same region. The volcanic outbursts which followedbecame feebler in the Devonian and Carboniferous periods andceased with the Permian. When again the volcanic forces becameactive, it was in the early Tertiary era; the evidences for this lieoutside the English border.
The principal directions of crust movement in England are:(1) north and south, by which the Pennine folds and faults, and theMalvern Hills have been produced; (2) east and west, by which thefolds of the Weald and the Mendip Hills, and those of Devonshirehave been formed. Another less important direction is N.W. andS.E., as in the Charnwood folding.
Further details of the geology are given under the heads of thecounties.(J. A. H.)
IV. Climate
Temperature.—The mean annual temperature of the whole ofEngland and Wales (reduced to sea-level) is about 50° F., varyingfrom something over 52° in the Scilly Isles to somethingunder 48° at the mouth of the Tweed. The mean annualtemperature diminishes very regularly from south-west to north-east,the west coast being warmer than the east, so that the meanClimate.temperature at the mouth of the Mersey is as high as that at themouth of the Thames. During the coldest month of the year(January) the mean temperature of all England is about 40°. Theinfluence of the western ocean is very strongly marked, the temperaturefalling steadily from west to east. Thus while the temperaturein the west of Cornwall is 44°, the temperature on the east coastfrom north of the Humber to the Thames is under 38°, the coldestwinters being experienced in the Fenland. In the hottest month(July) the mean temperature of England and Wales is about 61.5°,and the westerly wind then exercises a cooling effect, the greatestheat being found in the Thames basin immediately around London,where the mean temperature of the month exceeds 64°; the meantemperature along the south coast is 62°, and that at the mouth of theTweed a little under 59°. In the centre of the country along a linedrawn from London to Carlisle the mean temperature in July isfound to diminish gradually at an average rate of 1° per 60 m. Thecoasts are cooler than the centre of the country, but the west coastis much cooler than the east, modified continental conditions prevailingover the North Sea. The natural effect of the heating of theair in summer and the cooling of the air in winter by contact withthe land is largely masked in England on account of the strengthof the prevailing south-westerly wind carrying oceanic influenceinto the heart of the country. This effect is well seen in the wayin which the wind blowing directly up the Severn estuary is directedalong the edges of the Oolitic escarpment north-eastward, thus displacingthe centre of cold in winter to the east coast, and the centreof heat in summer to the lower Thames, from the position whichboth centres would occupy, if calms prevailed, in a belt runningfrom Birmingham to Buckingham. As to how far the narrow portionof the North Sea modifies the influence of the European continent,there seems reason to believe that the prevailing winds blowing upthe English Channel carry oceanic conditions some distance inland,along those parts of the continent nearest to England. The Merseyestuary, being partly sheltered by Ireland and North Wales, doesnot serve as an inlet for modifying influences to the same extentas the Bristol Channel; and as the wind entering by it blows squarelyagainst the slope of the Pennine Chain, it does not much affect theclimate of the midland plain.
Winds.—The average barometric pressure over England is about
29.94 in., and normally diminishes from south-west to north-eastat all seasons, the mean pressure on the south coast being 29.97and that on the northern border 29.88. The pressure at any givenlatitude is normally highest in the centre of the country and onthe east coast, and lowest on the west coast. The direction of themean annual isobars shows that the normal wind in all parts ofEngland and Wales must be from the south-west on the west coast,curving gradually until in the centre of the country, and on the eastcoast it is westerly, without a southerly component. The normalseasonal march of pressure-change produces a maximum gradientin December and January, and a minimum gradient in April;but for every month in the year the mean gradient is for windsfrom southerly and westerly quarters. In April the gradient isso slight that any temporary fall of pressure to the south of Englandor any temporary rise of pressure to the north, which would sufficein other months merely to reduce the velocity of the south-westerlywind, is sufficient in that month to reverse the gradient and producean east wind over the whole country. The liability to east wind inspring is one of the most marked features of the English climate,the effect being naturally most felt on the east coast. The southerlycomponent in the wind is as a rule most marked in the winter months,the westerly component predominating in summer. The west endof a town receives the wind as it blows in fresh from the country atall seasons, and consequently the west end of an English town iswith few exceptions the residential quarter, while smoke-producingindustries are usually relegated to the east end.
Storms.—On account of the great frequency of cyclonic disturbancespassing in from the Atlantic, the average conditions of windover the British Islands give no idea of the frequency of change indirection and force. The chief paths of depressions are from south-westto north-east across England; one track runs across thesouth-east and eastern counties, and is that followed by a largeproportion of the summer and autumn storms, thereby perhapshelping to explain the peculiar liability of the east of England todamage from hail accompanying thunderstorms. A second trackcrosses central England, entering by the Severn estuary and leavingby the Humber or the Wash; while a third crosses the north ofEngland from the neighbourhood of Morecambe Bay to the Tyne.While these are tracks frequently followed by the centres of barometricdepressions, individual cyclones may and do cross the countryin all directions, though very rarely indeed from east to west or fromnorth to south.
Rainfall.—The rainfall of England, being largely due to passingcyclones, can hardly be expected to show a very close relation to thephysical features of the country, yet looked at in a general waythe relation between prevailing winds and orographic structure isnot obscure. The western or mountainous division is the wettestat all seasons, each orographic group forming a centre of heavyprecipitation. There are few places in the Western Division wherethe rainfall is less than 35 in., while in Wales, the Cornwall-Devonpeninsula, the Lake District and the southern part of the PennineRegion the precipitation exceeds 40 in., and in Wales and the LakeDistrict considerable areas have a rainfall of over 60 in. In theEastern Division, on the other hand, an annual rainfall exceeding30 in. is rare, and in the low ground about the mouth of the Thamesestuary and around the Wash the mean annual rainfall is less than25 in. In the Western Division and along the south coast the driestmonth is usually April or May, while in the Eastern Division it isFebruary or March. The wettest month for most parts of Englandis October, the most noticeable exception being in East Anglia,where, on account of the frequency of summer thunderstorms, Julyis the month in which most rain falls, although October is not farbehind. In the Western Division there is a tendency for the annualmaximum of rainfall to occur later than October. It may be statedgenerally that the Western Division is mild and wet in winter,and cool and less wet in summer; while the Eastern Divisionis cold and dry in winter and spring, and hot and less dry in summerand autumn. The south coast occupies an intermediate positionbetween the two as regards climate. Attention has been called tothe fact that the bare rocks and steep gradients which are commonin the Western Division allow of the heavy rainfall running off thesurface rapidly, while the flat and often clayey lands of the EasternDivision retain the scantier rainfall in the soil for a longer time,so that for agricultural purposes the effect of the rainfall is not verydissimilar throughout the country.
Sunshine.—The distribution of sunshine is not yet fully investigated,but it appears that the sunniest part is the extreme southcoast, where alone the total number of hours of bright sunshinereaches an average of more than 1600 per annum. The north-east,including the Pennine Region and the whole of Yorkshire, has lessthan 1300 hours of sunshine, and a portion of North Wales is equallycloudy. Although little more than a guess, 1375 hours may beput down as approximately the average duration of bright sunshinefor England as a whole, which may be compared with 2600 hoursfor Italy, and probably about 1200 hours for Norway.
For the purpose of forecasting the weather, the meteorologicaloffice divides England into six districts, which are known as EnglandN.E., Midland Counties, England East, London and Channel,England N.W. and North Wales, and England S.W. and SouthWales.(H. R. M.)
V. English Place-Names
English place-names are of diverse origin and often extremelycorrupt in their modern form, so that the real etymology of thenames can often be discovered only by a careful comparison ofthe modern form with such ancient forms as are to be found incharters, ancient histories, and other early documents. By theaid of these a certain amount of work has been done in the subject,but it is still largely an unworked field. The most satisfactorymethod of characterizing English place-nomenclature is to dealwith it historically and chronologically, showing the influence ofthe successive nations who have borne sway in this island. TheCeltic influence is to be found scattered evenly up and down thecountry so far as names of rivers and mountains are concerned;in names of towns it is chiefly confined to the west. Romaninfluence is slight but evenly distributed. English influenceis all-pervading, though in the northern and north-midlandcounties this influence has been encroached upon by Scandinavianinfluence. Norman influence is not confined to anyparticular district.
Celtic.—Though scattered notices of towns, cities and rivers inBritain are to be found in various early Roman writers, it is nottill the time of Ptolemy (2nd century), who constructed a map of theisland, and of the itinerary of Antonine (beginning of the 3rd century)that we have much information as to the cities and towns of Britain.We there learn that the following place-names are ultimately ofCeltic origin:—Brougham, Catterick, York, Lincoln (Lindum),Manchester (Mancunium), Doncaster (Danum), Wroxeter (Viroconium),Lichfield (Letocetum), Gloucester (Glevum), Cirencester(Corinium), Colchester (Camulodunum), London, Reculver, Richborough(Rutupiae), Dover, Lymne, Isle of Wight, Dorchester(Durnovaria), Sarum, Exeter (Isca), Brancaster (Branodunum),Thanet. We also have the names of the following rivers:—Eden,Dee, Trent, Yare, Colne, Thames, Kennet, Churne, Exe, Severn,Tamar. Gildas, writing in the 6th century, speaks of the twenty-eightcities of the Britons. Nennius’ Historia Britonum gives whatpurports to be a list of these cities. Of these, excluding Welsh ones,we may with some certainty identify Canterbury (Caint), Caerleon-on-Usk,Leicester (Lerion), Penzelwood, Carlisle, Colchester, Grantchester(Granth), London, Worcester (Guveirangon), Doncaster(Daun), Wroxeter (Guoricon), Chester (Legion—this is Roman),Lichfield (Licitcsith) and Gloucester (Gloui). Others less certain arePreston-on-Humber and Manchester (Manchguid).
In modern place-names the suffix don often goes back to the Celticdun, a hill, e.g. Bredon, Everdon, but the suffix was still a living onein Saxon times. Of river-names the vast majority are Celtic (possibleexceptions will be named later), and the same is true of mountainsand hills. The forests of Wyre, Elmet and Sel (wood), and the districtsof the Wrekin and the Peak are probably Celtic.
Roman.—We do not owe entire place-names to Roman influence,with the exception of a few such as Chester, Chester-le-Street (L.strata [via], a road) and Caistor, but Roman influence is to be foundin many names compounded of Celtic and Roman elements. Thechief of these is the element chester—(L. castrum, a fort), e.g. Ebchester,Silchester, Grantchester. Porchester is entirely Latin, butmay not have been formed till Saxon times. The form caster isfound in the north and east, under Scandinavian influence, e.g.Tadcaster, Lancaster; and in the south-west and in the midlandswe have a group of towns with the form cester:—Bicester, Gloucester,Cirencester, Worcester, Alcester, Leicester, Towcester. Exeter,Wroxeter and perhaps Uttoxeter show the suffix in slightly differentform. In names like Chesterton, Chesterford, Chesterholm, Woodchester,the second element shows that the names are of later Englishor Scandinavian formation. In Lincoln we have a compound ofthe Celtic Lindum and the Latin colonia.
Saxon.—The chief suffixes of Saxon origin to be found in Englishplace-names are as follows (some of them being also used independently):-burgh, -borough, -bury (O.E. burh, fortified town), e.g.Burgh, Bamborough, Aylesbury, Bury; -bourne, -borne, -burn (O.E.burne, -a, a stream), e.g. Ashbourne, Sherborne, Sockburn; -bridge,e.g. Weybridge, Bridge; -church, e.g. Pucklechurch; -den, -dean(O.E. denu, a valley), e.g. Gaddesden, Rottingdean; -down, -don,-ton (O.E. dūn [Celtic], a hill), e.g. Huntingdon, Seckington, Edington;-ey, -ea, -y (O.E. īg, an island), e.g. Thorney, Mersea, Ely; -fleet(O.E. fleot, an estuary) e.g. Benfleet; -field, e.g. Lichfield; -ford,e.g. Bradford; -ham (O.E. hām, a home, and hamm, an enclosure);these are not distinguished in modern English, e.g. Bosham, Ham;-hall (O.E. healh, a corner), e.g. Riccall, Tettenhall; -head, e.g.Gateshead; -hill, e.g. Tickhill; -hurst (O.E. hyrst, copse, wood), e.g.Deerhurst; -ing (patronymic suffix, plural form in O.E.), e.g. Basing,Reading; -leigh, -ley, -lea (O.E. lēah, meadow), e.g. Leigh, Stoneleigh,Whalley; -lade (O.E. lād, path, course), e.g. Cricklade; -land,e.g. Crowland; -lock (O.E. loca, enclosure), e.g. Porlock; -minster(O.E. mynster, L. monasterium), e.g. Axminster, Minster; -mouth,e.g. Exmouth; -port (O.E. port, market-town, a word of Latin origin), e.g. Bridport; -sted, -stead (O. E. stede, a place), e.g. Stansted,Wanstead; -stone, -ston, e.g. Beverstone, Sherston; -staple (O.E.stapol, foundation), e.g. Barnstaple; -stow (O.E. stow, place), e.g.Stow, Chepstow, Bristol (earlier Bristow); -tree, -try, e.g. Coventry,Elstree, Seasalter; -ton (O.E. tŭn, enclosure), e.g. Milton; -wark(O.E. geweorc, fortification), e.g. Southwark; -well, e.g. Bakewell;-wich, -wick (O.E. wic, a dwelling), e.g. Norwich, Swanage (O.E.Swanawic), Warwick; -worth, -worthy (O.E. weorth, weorthig, anenclosure), e.g. Polesworth, Holsworthy.
Of river names the Blackwater, Witham, Ashburne, Swift, Washburn,Loxly, Wythburn, Eamont are perhaps English and so alsomay be the Waveney in Suffolk.
Scandinavian.—The following suffixes are Scandinavian in origin,some of them being also used independently: -beck (O.N. bekkr,stream), e.g. Starbeck, Troutbeck; -by (O.N. byr, town), e.g. Whitby;-dale (O.N. dalr), e.g. Swaledale; -car(r), -ker (O.N. kiörr, marshyground), e.g. Redcar, The Carrs, Muker; -fell (O.N. fjäll, mountain),e.g. Scafell; -force, -foss (O.N. fors, waterfall). High Force, Wilberfoss;-garth (O.N. garðr, enclosure), e.g. Hoggarths; -gill (O.N. gil,a deep narrow glen), e.g. Skelgill, Dungeon Ghyll; -holm(e) (O.N.hólmr, island), e.g. Axholme, Durham (earlier Dunholm); keld (O.N.kelda, well, spring), e.g. Threlkeld, Keld; -lund (O.N. lundr, grove),e.g. Snelland, Timberland, Lound; -how (O.N. haugr, hill), e.g.Greenhow; -scale (O.N. skále, hut, shed), e.g. Seascale; -skew (O.N.skógr, forest), e.g. Litherskew; -thorpe (O.N. þorp, village), e.g.Thorpe, Osgathorp; -thwaite (O.N. þveit, a piece of land), e.g.Rosthwaite; -toft (O.N. topt, a green knoll), e.g. Toft, Langtoft;-with (O.N. viðr, a wood), e.g. Blawith, Stowiths.
Tarn (a mountain pool), grain and sike (mountain streams) arealso Scandinavian terms.
Norman.—Norman influence has not been very great in Englishplace-nomenclature. The number of places with pure French namesis extremely limited; a few such are Beaulieu, Belvoir, Beauchief,Beaudesert, Beaufort, Beaumont, also Theydon Bois, War-boys.Norman influence is marked more strongly in certain compoundplace-names, where one of the elements often represents the name ofthe original Norman tenant or holder, e.g. Thorpe Mandeville, HelionBumstead, Higham Ferrers, Swaffham Bulbeck, Stoke Gifford,Shepton Mallet; similarly names like Lyme Regis, King’s Sutton,Monks’ Kirby, Zeal Monachorum, Milton Abbas, Bishop’s Waltham,Prior’s Dean, Huish Episcopi date from feudal times. Gallicizedforms are also to be found in a few forms like Kirkby-le-Soken,Chapel-en-le-Frith, Alsop-en-le-Dale, Barnoldby-le-Beck. Ecclesiasticalinfluence is to be found in such names as Aldwinkle St Peter,Barford St Martin, Belchamp St Paul, the name of the saint beingthe name either of the saint to whom the church at that place wasdedicated or the patron-saint of the monastery or abbey to whomlands in that district belonged.(A. Mw.)
VI. Population
Until the beginning of the 19th century there existed no otherknowledge of the actual area and population of the countrybut what was given in the vaguest estimates. But there canbe little doubt that the population of England and Walesincreased very slowly for centuries, owing largely to want ofintercommunication, which led to famines, more or less severe—itbeing a common occurrence that, while one county, with agood harvest, was enjoying abundance, the people of the adjoiningone were starving. The interpretation of certain figuresgiven in the Domesday Survey (which do not cover certain partsof modern England nor take account of the ecclesiastical population)is a matter of widely divergent opinion; but a totalpopulation of one million and a half has been accepted by manyfor the close of the 11th century. In 1377 the levying of a poll-taxprovides partial figures from which a total of two to two-and-a-halfmillions has been deduced, but again divergentviews have been expressed as to how far the number was stillaffected by the Black Death of 1348–1349. It is calculated,on the basis of registers of births and deaths, that the populationof England and Wales numbered 5,475,000 in 1700, and 6,467,000in 1750. From the later part of the 18th century a strongertendency to increase set in, and at the taking of the first census,in 1801, it was ascertained that the population numbered8,892,536, being—if the former estimates were approximatelycorrect—an increase of very nearly 212 millions in little overfifty years. This rate of increase was not only continued, butcame to be greatly exceeded.
Since the first census of 1801, regular enumerations of thepeople of England and Wales have been taken every ten years.The results of these enumerations are published in separatevolumes for each county, in a volume of summary tables, andin a general report. In the summaries England and Wales aretreated as one, and this treatment is followed here. Thefollowing table gives the total numbers of the population ofEngland and Wales at each census, together with the absoluteincrease, and growth per cent, during each decennial period:—
Dates of Enumeration. | Population. | Increase at each Census. | Decennial Rate of Increase per Cent. |
1801, March 10th | 8,892,536 | · · | · · |
1811, May 27th | 10,164,256 | 1,271,720 | 14.00 |
1821, May 28th | 12,000,236 | 1,835,980 | 18.06 |
1831, May 30th | 13,896,797 | 1,896,561 | 15.80 |
1841, June 7th | 15,914,148 | 2,017,351 | 14.27 |
1851, March 31st | 17,927,609 | 2,013,461 | 12.65 |
1861, April 8th | 20,066,224 | 2,138,615 | 11.90 |
1871, April 3rd | 22,712,266 | 2,646,042 | 13.21 |
1881, April 4th | 25,974,439 | 3,262,173 | 14.36 |
1891, April 6th | 29,002,525 | 3,028,086 | 11.65 |
1901, April 1st | 32,527,843 | 3,525,318 | 12.17 |
Allowing for a rate of increase equivalent to that whichobtained between 1891 and 1901, the estimated population was34,152,977 in 1905, and 36,169,150 in 1910.
Distribution.—A detailed map of the distribution of population inEngland and Wales[11] shows certain well-defined areas of very densepopulation. First for consideration, though not in geographicalextent, stands the area round London, in Middlesex, Surrey, Kent,Essex and Hertfordshire. A great proportion of this population ispurely residential, that is to say, its working members do not practisetheir professions at home or close to home, but in the metropolis,travelling a considerable distance between their residences and theiroffices. Just as London, in spite of its manifold industrial interests,is hardly to be termed a manufacturing centre, so the populousdistrict surrounding it is not to be termed an industrial district in thesense in which that term is applied to the remaining regions ofdense population which fall for consideration here. London gainedits paramount importance from its favourable geographical positionin respect of the rest of England on the one hand and the Continenton the other, and the populous district of the “home counties”owes its existence to that importance; whereas other populousdistricts have generally grown up at the point where some source ofnatural wealth, as coal or iron, lay to hand. The great populousarea which covers south Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire,and extends beyond them into Cheshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshireand Nottinghamshire, is not in reality a unit. The whole of thelowland in the south of Lancashire has almost the appearance of onevast town, whereas among the hills of the Pennine Chain the populationcrowds the valleys on either flank and leaves in the high-lyingcentre some of the largest tracts of practically uninhabited country inEngland. Moreover, the industries in different parts of this area(for it is strictly an industrial area) differ completely, as will beobserved later, though coal-mining is common to all. The othermost extensive centres of dense population are the coal-mining ormanufacturing districts of Northumberland and Durham, of themidlands (parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Leicestershire),and of South Wales and Monmouthshire; and it is in these districts,and others smaller, but of similar character, that the greatest increaseof population has been recorded, since the extensive development of their resources during the 19th century. Thus the preceding counties[12]showed an increase, under normal conditions, exceeding 10% duringthe ten years 1891–1901, the percentage of increase in 1871–1891being given for comparison.
Counties. | Increase per cent. | |
1871–1891. | 1891–1901. | |
Middlesex | 47.42 | 45.11 |
Essex | 31.54 | 39.60 |
Glamorganshire (S. Wales) | 30.72 | 25.10 |
Surrey | 25.03 | 24.78 |
Northumberland | 14.42 | 19.19 |
Worcestershire | 12.12 | 18.49 |
Nottinghamshire | 19.30 | 18.09 |
Durham | 21.67 | 16.62 |
Leicestershire | 17.43 | 16.46 |
Kent | 13.15 | 15.95 |
Hampshire | 12.73 | 15.33 |
Monmouthshire | 12.08 | 14.97 |
Yorkshire (E. Riding) | 14.31 | 13.49 |
Northamptonshire | 11.40 | 13.27 |
Warwickshire | 12.78 | 12.95 |
Staffordshire | 12.15 | 12.92 |
Derbyshire | 15.52 | 12.81 |
Yorkshire (W. Riding) | 15.36 | 12.70 |
Cheshire | 14.62 | 12.56 |
Lancashire | 17.92 | 12.05 |
Hertfordshire | 5.08 | 10.91 |
It will be observed that three of the home counties occur in thefirst four in the above list. It is interesting to note, in this connexion,that the increase of population diminished steadily, in the threedecades under notice, within the area covered by the administrativecounty of London, which is only the central part of urban London(compare the population table of the great urban districts, below).This was 17.44% in 1871–1881, 10.39 in 1881–1891, and 7.3 in 1891–1901.This illustrates the constant tendency for the residential districtsof a city to radiate away from its centre, which appears, thoughin a modified degree, in the case of all the great English cities.
During the period 1891–1901 five English and five Welsh countiesshowed a decrease per cent in the population. The English countieswere:—
Decrease or Increase(+). | Decrease. 1891–1901. | ||
1871–1881. | 1881–1891. | ||
Huntingdonshire | 8.29 | 5.51 | 7.04 |
Rutland | 1.55 | 3.73 | 5.59 |
Westmorland | 1.25 | +2.96 | 2.73 |
Oxfordshire | +1.27 | +3.64 | 1.70 |
Herefordshire | 3.26 | 4.02 | 1.62 |
The Welsh counties were Montgomeryshire, Cardiganshire, Flintshire,Merionethshire and Brecknockshire, the first-named showingthe highest decrease, 5.08%, in 1891–1901. Thesecounties are principally agricultural, and it is in agriculturalUrban and rural districts.districts elsewhere that the increase of population isslightest. But in 1871–1881 a decrease was found in thecase of fifteen counties in all, and in 1881–1891 in the caseof thirteen, whereas in 1891–1901, although Radnorshire, whichreturned a decrease previously, now returned an abnormal increaseowing to the temporary employment of workmen on the constructionof the Birmingham waterworks, the number fell to 10, and theaverage percentage also fell. This suggested some tendency toreturn to a state of equilibrium as between urban and rural districts.This is in a measure borne out by the movement of population in thedistricts classed as purely rural in 1901. In these there was anincrease per cent of 14.2 in 1811–1821, which fell off to 2.8 in 1841–1851.A decrease then set in and grew from 0.2 in 1851–1861 to0.67 in 1881–1891, but in 1891–1901 an increase, 1.95, was oncemore recorded. But the drain on the rural population continuedheavy, for in the same purely rural area, which had a population in1901 of 1,330,319, the excess of births over deaths was 150,437,but the actual increase of population was only 25,492, leaving a heavyloss (9.6%) to be accounted for by migration, the term used in thisconnexion in the general report of the Census to include movementof population to any new locality, home or foreign.
Housing.—The total area of England and Wales covered by urbandistricts (a term which coincides pretty nearly with that of towns,which bears no technical meaning in England) was 3,848,987 acres,and contained a population of 25,058,355 in 1901, the increase in thedecade 1891–1901 being 15.2%. The number of inhabited houses inthe whole country in 1901, namely 6,260,852, may be comparedwith the numbers in 1801 (1,575,923) and 1851 (3,278,039); it givesan average of 5.2 persons to each house. This average has decreasedwith some regularity from a maximum of 5.75 in 1821, but there isno certain evidence on which to affirm or deny that the averagecubic capacity of dwelling-houses has been maintained. The urbanpopulation averaged 5.4 persons to a house, but varied greatly indifferent towns. Thus, an average below 4.4 is quoted for Rochdale,Halifax, Huddersfield, Yarmouth, Bradford and Stockport, whilethe average for London was 7.93, and for Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyneand South Shields, in the northern industrial district of theTyne, and for Devonport, the average exceeded 8. The averageof persons to a house in rural districts was 4.6.
Year. | Percentage of | Excess of Estimated over Enumerated Population. | |
Increase by Births. | Decrease by Deaths. | ||
1851–1861 | 36.19 | 23.58 | 122,111 |
1861–1871 | 37.56 | 23.98 | 78,968 |
1871–1881 | 37.89 | 22.80 | 164,307 |
1881–1891 | 34.24 | 20.27 | 601,389 |
1891–1901 | 31.57 | 19.18 | 68,330 |
Vital Statistics.—“The increase or decrease of population isgoverned by two factors: (1) the balance between births and deaths,and (2) the balance between immigration and emigration.”[13] Thefollowing table is therefore given to show (1) the percentage ofincrease by births and decrease by deaths in each decade from 1851,and (2) the difference at the close of each decade (i.e. in the later yearmentioned in each line) between the population which would havefollowed upon the natural increase unaffected by migration and thepopulation as actually enumerated. In the case of (2) the actualpopulation has always been exceeded by the estimate based onnatural increase, and this demonstrates an excess of emigrationover immigration.
The proportion of males to females is 1000 to 1068, this being ahigher proportion of females than any recorded in the 19th century,during which the lowest proportion of females was 1036 in 1821.The proportion rose at each census from 1851. But on the otherhand 1000 male children were born against only 965 female, on anaverage in 1891–1901. This excess of male births, which is usual,has been ascertained to find its equilibrium, through a higher rateof infant mortality among the males, about the tenth year of life,and is finally changed by perilous male occupations and other causes,including the stronger tendency of males to emigration. The proportionof females varies much in different localities, being highestin such districts as London and the home counties, which are residential,and in which, therefore, many domestic servants are enumerated;and Somersetshire, Bedfordshire and other seats of industrieswhich especially occupy women (e.g. the straw-plaiting of the countylast named). It is lowest, naturally, in the mining districts, asGlamorgan, Monmouth, Durham, Northumberland; but an exceptionmay be noted in the case of Cornwall, where a high proportionof females is attributed to the emigration of miners consequent uponthe relative decrease in importance of the tin-mines. In 1901 theproportion of females to males in urban districts was 1086 to 1000,and in rural districts 1011 to 1000.
Urban Districts of England and Wales with Population
exceeding 80,000 (1901).
Population. | Increase per cent. | ||
1891. | 1901. | ||
London * | 4,228,317 | 4,536,541 | 7.3 |
Liverpool | 629,548 | 684,958 | 8.8 |
Manchester | 505,368 | 543,872 | 7.6 |
Birmingham | 478,113 | 522,204 | 9.2 |
Leeds | 367,505 | 428,968 | 16.7 |
Sheffield | 324,243 | 380,793 | 17.4 |
Bristol | 289,280 | 328,945 | 13.7 |
Bradford | 265,728 | 279,767 | 5.3 |
West Ham ** | 204,903 | 267,358 | 30.5 |
Hull | 200,472 | 240,259 | 19.8 |
Nottingham | 213,877 | 239,743 | 12.1 |
Salford | 198,139 | 220,957 | 11.5 |
Newcastle-upon-Tyne | 186,300 | 215,328 | 15.6 |
Leicester | 174,624 | 211,579 | 21.2 |
Portsmouth | 159,278 | 188,133 | 18.1 |
Bolton | 146,487 | 168,215 | 14.8 |
Cardiff (Wales) | 128,915 | 164,333 | 27.5 |
Sunderland | 131,686 | 146,077 | 10.9 |
Oldham | 131,463 | 137,246 | 4.4 |
Croydon ** | 102,695 | 133,895 | 30.4 |
Blackburn | 120,064 | 127,626 | 6.3 |
Brighton | 115,873 | 123,478 | 6.6 |
Willesden ** | 61,265 | 114,811 | 87.4 |
Rhondda (Wales) | 88,351 | 113,735 | 28.7 |
Preston | 107,573 | 112,989 | 5.0 |
Norwich | 100,970 | 111,733 | 10.7 |
Birkenhead | 99,857 | 110,915 | 11.1 |
Gateshead | 85,692 | 109,888 | 28.2 |
Plymouth | 88,931 | 107,636 | 21.0 |
Derby | 94,146 | 105,912 | 12.5 |
Halifax | 97,714 | 104,936 | 7.4 |
Southampton | 82,126 | 104,824 | 27.6 |
Tottenham ** | 71,343 | 102,541 | 43.7 |
Leyton ** | 63,106 | 98,912 | 56.7 |
South Shields | 78,391 | 97,263 | 24.1 |
Burnley | 87,016 | 97,043 | 11.5 |
East Ham ** | 32,712 | 96,018 | 193.5 |
Walthamstow ** | 46,346 | 95,131 | 105.3 |
Huddersfield | 95,420 | 95,047 | 0.4 decr. |
Swansea (Wales) | 91,034 | 94,537 | 3.8 |
Wolverhampton | 82,662 | 94,187 | 13.9 |
Middlesborough | 75,532 | 91,302 | 20.9 |
Northampton | 75,075 | 87,021 | 15.9 |
Walsall | 71,789 | 86,430 | 20.4 |
St Helens | 72,413 | 84,410 | 16.6 |
Rochdale | 76,161 | 83,114 | 9.1 |
* Administrative county.
** These districts, administratively distinct, belong topographically
to Greater London.
The proportion of married adults (aged twenty and upwards)was found to decrease from 1881 to 1901, being 630 per thousand in the former and 604.5 in the latter year. The marriage-rate perthousand has ranged since 1841 from 14.2 in 1886 to 17.6 in 1873,and is evidently closely associated with the general prosperity of thecountry, for in the latter year the value of the total imports andexports per head of the population of the United Kingdom was at itshighest, and in the former year at its lowest. The five years 1895–1899exhibited a remarkable sequence illustrative of this:—
Years. | Marriage- Rate. | Value, Exports and Imports. |
£.s. d. | ||
1895 | 15.0 | 17 19 3 |
1896 | 15.8 | 18 14 1 |
1897 | 16.0 | 18 14 3 |
1898 | 16.3 | 19 0 5 |
1899 | 16.5 | 20 1 8 |
The marriage-rate declined, subsequently to the year last quoted inthis table, to 15.6 in 1903.(O. J. R. H.)
Religion.—In attempting to give a concise account of thereligious conditions of England we are confronted from theoutset with the absence of any trustworthy statistics. Areligious census, such as is customary in other countries, has notbeen taken since 1851; nor is it probable that such a censuswould be any true indication of the actual religious beliefs ofthe population. Still less satisfactory, from this standpoint,is the attempt to compile statistics of religious belief from theregistrar-general’s report on the number of marriages celebratedin the places of worship of the various denominations; for amongthose who are practically attached to no religious body, andeven some Nonconformists, a prejudice survives in favour ofhaving their marriages celebrated and their funerals conductedby the clergy of the Established Church. Nor is the test of“sittings” provided by the various denominations, nor eventhe number of their communicants, a trustworthy test of therelative number of their adherents. In Wales, for instance,the rivalry of the sects has multiplied chapel accommodationout of all proportion to the population; while everywhere ithappens that churches, at one time crowded every Sunday,have been emptied by the shifting of population or other causes.As for the test of communicancy, it is untrustworthy becausethe insistence on communion as the pledge of membership varieswith the different denominations and even with different sectionsof opinion within those denominations. Any statistics of thisnature, then, however useful they may be as a general indication,must not be treated as conclusive.
Whatever disputes there may be as to the relative strengthof the various churches and sects, there can be no questioningthe fact that the dominant religion in England is ProtestantChristianity. Protestantism, indeed, since the Act of Settlementin 1689, has been of the essence of the Constitution, the sovereignforfeiting his or her crown ipso facto by acknowledging theauthority of the pope, by accepting “the Romish religion,”or by marrying a Roman Catholic; and though of late yearsefforts have been made to modify or to abrogate this provision,the fact that such efforts have met with widespread oppositionshows that it still represents the general attitude of the Britishnation. Protestantism, however, is a generic term which inEngland covers a great variety of opinions, and a large numberof rival religious organizations. The state church, the Churchof England as by law established, represents the tradition of aThe Church of England.time when church and state were regarded as twoaspects of one divinely ordered organism. In lawevery subject of the state is also a member of theEstablished Church, and can lay claim to its ministrationsso long as he or she obeys the ecclesiastical law, whichis also the law of the state. No Englishman, whatever hisopinions, can be excommunicated without due process of law.The Church of England is thus theoretically coextensive withthe English nation, each unit of which is legally assumed tobelong to it unless proof be brought to the contrary. To statethe theory is, however, to risk giving an entirely false impressionof the facts. In practice the Church of England is no longerregarded as coextensive with the state; nor is nonconformityany longer, as it once was, an offence against the law. Sincethe abolition of the Test Acts and the emancipation of theCatholics no Englishman has suffered any civil disability owingto his religion[14]; and the progress of democracy has given tothe great so-called “Free Churches” a political power thatrivals that of the Established Church. In the matter of theestimation of their relative strength the main grievance of theNonconformists is that the law classes as members of the Churchof England that enormous floating population which is reallyconscious of no ecclesiastical allegiance at all.
The Church of England, both in constitution and doctrine,represents in general the mean between Roman Catholicism onthe one hand and the more advanced forms of Protestantism onthe other (see Episcopacy). Though its doctrine was reformedin the 16th century and the spiritual supremacy of the popewas repudiated, the continuity of its organic life was not interrupted,and historically as well as legally it is the same churchas that established before the Reformation. The ecclesiasticalsystem is episcopal, the whole of England (including for thispurpose Wales) being divided into two provinces, Canterburyand York, and 37 bishoprics (including the primatial sees ofCanterbury and York). These again are subdivided into 14,080parishes (1901), the smallest ecclesiastical units, which aregrouped for certain administrative purposes into 810 ruraldeaneries. The sovereign is by law the supreme governor ofthe church, both in things spiritual and temporal, and he hasthe right to nominate to vacant sees. In the case of sees of oldfoundation this is done by means of the congé d’élire (q.v.), inthat of others by letters patent.[15] The bishops hold theirtemporalities as baronies, for which they do homage in theancient form, and are spiritual peers of parliament. Only 26,however, have the right to seats in the House of Lords, of whomfive—viz. the two archbishops and the bishops of London,Durham and Winchester—always sit, the others taking theirseats in order of seniority of consecration. Under the bishopsthe affairs of the dioceses are managed by archdeacons (q.v.)and rural deans (see Archpriest and Dean). The cathedralchurches are governed by chapters consisting of a dean, canonsand prebendaries (see Cathedral). The deaneries are in thegift of the crown, canonries and prebends sometimes in that ofthe crown, sometimes in that of the bishops. The parish clergy,with a few rare exceptions (when they are elected by the ratepayers),are appointed by patronage. The right of presentationto some 8500 benefices or “livings” is in the hands of privatepersons; the right is regarded in law as property and is, undercertain restrictions for the avoidance of gross simony, saleable(see Advowson). The patronage of the remaining beneficesbelongs in the main to the crown, the bishops and cathedralchapters, the lord chancellor, and the universities of Oxfordand Cambridge.
In spite of the fact that the Church of England is collectivelyone of the wealthiest in Christendom, a large proportion of the“livings” are extremely poor. To understand this and otheranomalies it is necessary to bear in mind that the church is not,like the established Protestant churches of Germany, an elaboratelyorganized state department, nor is it a single corporationwith power to regulate its internal polity. It is a conglomerationof corporations. Even the incumbent of a parish is in law a“corporation sole,” his benefice a freehold; and until theestablishment in 1836, by act of parliament, of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners(q.v.) nothing could be done to adjust the inequalitiesin the emoluments of the clergy resulting from thenatural rise and fall of the value of property in various parts of thecountry. Even more extraordinary is the effect of the singularconstitution of the church on its discipline. An incumbent, onceinducted, can only be disturbed by complicated and extremely
costly processes of law; in effect, except in cases of gross
misconduct, he is only checked—so far as ecclesiastical order isconcerned—by his oath of canonical obedience to the “godly”monitions of his bishop; and, since these monitions are difficultand costly to enforce, while their “godliness” may be a matterof opinion, an incumbent is practically himself the interpreter ofthe law as applied to the doctrine and ritual of his particularchurch. The result has been the development within theEstablished Church of amost startling diversity ofdoctrine and ritual practice,varying from what closelyresembles that of theChurch of Rome to thebroadest Liberalism and theextremest evangelicalProtestantism. This broadcomprehensiveness, whichto outsiders looks likeecclesiastical anarchy, is thecharacteristic note of theChurch of England; it maybe, and has been, defendedas consonant with Christiancharity and suited to thegenius of a people not remarkable for logical consistency; butit makes it all the more difficult to say what the religion ofEnglishmen actually is, even within the English Church.
The following is a list of the archiepiscopal and episcopal seesof England and Wales—the latter arranged in alphabeticalorder,—with date of their establishment and amount ofemoluments:—
Year of Foundation. | Annual Emoluments. | |
Province of Canterbury— | ||
Canterbury (archbishopric) | 597 | £15,000 |
Bangor | c. 550 | 4,200 |
Bath and Wells | 1139 | 5,000 |
Birmingham | 1904 | 3,500 |
Bristol | 1897* | 3,000 |
Chichester | 1075 | 4,200 |
Ely | 1109 | 5,500 |
Exeter | 1050 | 4,200 |
Gloucester | 1541 | 4,300 |
Hereford | 676 | 4,200 |
Lichfield | 669 | 4,200 |
Lincoln | 1067 | 4,500 |
Llandaff | c. 550 | 4,200 |
London | 605 | 10,000 |
Norwich | 1094 | 4,500 |
Oxford | 1542 | 5,000 |
Peterborough | 1541 | 4,500 |
Rochester | 604 | 3,800 |
St Albans | 1877 | 3,200 |
St Asaph | c. 550 | 4,200 |
St David’s | c. 550 | 4,500 |
Salisbury | 1075 | 5,000 |
Southwark | 1904 | 3,000 |
Southwell | 1884 | 3,500 |
Truro | 1876 | 3,000 |
Winchester | c. 650 | 6,500 |
Worcester | c. 680 | 4,200 |
Province of York— | ||
York (archbishopric) | 625 | 10,000 |
Carlisle | 1133 | 4,500 |
Chester | 1541 | 4,200 |
Durham | 995 | 7,000 |
Liverpool | 1880 | 4,200 |
Manchester | 1847 | 4,200 |
Newcastle | 1882 | 3,500 |
Ripon | 1836 | 4,200 |
Sodor and Man | 1154 | 1,500 |
Wakefield | 1888 | 3,000 |
* Modern refoundation. |
The following are suffragan or assistant bishoprics (the namesof the dioceses to which each belongs being given in brackets):Dover, Croydon (Canterbury), Beverley, Hull, Sheffield (York),Stepney, Islington, Kensington (London), Jarrow (Durham),Guildford, Southampton, Dorking (Winchester), Barrow-in-Furness(Carlisle), Crediton (Exeter), Grantham (Lincoln),Burnley (Manchester), Thetford, Ipswich (Norwich), Reading(Oxford), Leicester (Peterborough), Richmond, Knaresborough (Ripon),Colchester, Barking (St Albans), Swansea (St. David’s), Woolwich,Kingston-on-Thames (Southwark), Derby (Southwell), St Germans(Truro). See also England, Church of; Anglican Communion;Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction; Vestments; Mass.
Sittings. | Com- municants. | Ministers (Pastoral). | Local Preachers. | Sunday Scholars. | |
Baptists[16] | 1,421,742 | 424,741 | 2134 | 5,748 | 590,321 |
Congregationalists (1907) | 1,801,447 | 498,953 | 3197 | 5,603 | 729,347 |
Presbyterian Church of England[17] | 173,047 | 85,755 | 323 | · · | 98,258 |
Society of Friends | · · | 17,442 | · · | · · | 62,347 |
Moravians | 10,100 | 2,999 | 34 | · · | 4,542 |
Wesleyan Methodists[18] | 2,500,000 | 620,350 | 2658 | 20,119 | 1,039,437 |
Primitive Methodists[16] | 1,017,690 | 205,407 | 1101 | 15,963 | 477,114 |
United Methodist Church[19] | 738,840 | 158,095 | 833 | 5,577 | 315,993 |
Wesleyan Reform Union | 47,435 | 8,717 | 19 | 508 | 23,008 |
Independent Methodists | 33,000 | 9,732 | · · | 375 | 28,387 |
Welsh Calvinistic Methodist | 472,089 | 185,935 | 900 | 361 | 187,484 |
Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion | 12,347 | 2,469 | 26 | · · | 3,040 |
Reformed Episcopal Church | 6,000 | 1,090 | 28 | · · | 2,600 |
Free Church of England | 8,140 | 1,352 | 24 | · · | 4,196 |
The number of “denominations” by whom buildings werecertified for worship up to 1895 was 293 (see list in Whitaker’sAlmanack, 1886, p.252), but in many instances such“denominations” consisted of two or three congregationsonly, in some cases of a single congregation. TheOther Protestant com-munions.more important nonconformist churches are fully dealtwith under their several headings. The above table, however,based on that in the Statesman’s Year-Book for 1908, andgiving the comparative statistics of the chief nonconformist churches,may be useful for purposes of comparison. It may be prefaced bystating that, according to returns made in 1905, the Church ofEngland provided sitting accommodation in parish and otherchurches for 7,177,144 people; had an estimated number of2,053,455 communicants, 206,873 Sunday-school teachers, and2,538,240 Sunday scholars. There were 14,029 incumbents(rectors, vicars, and perpetual curates), 7500 curates, i.e.assistant clergy, and some 4000 clergy on the non-active list.
Besides the bodies enumerated in the table there are otherchurches concerning which similar statistics are lacking, butwhich, in several cases, have large numbers of adherents. TheUnitarians are an important body with (1908) 350 ministers and345 places of worship. Most numerous, probably, are theadherents of the Salvation Army, which with a semi-militaryorganization has in Great Britain alone over 60,000 officers, and“barracks,” i.e. preaching stations, in almost every town. TheBrethren, generally known, from their place of origin, as thePlymouth Brethren, have “rooms” and adherents throughoutEngland; the Catholic Apostolic Church (“Irvingites”) havesome 80 churches; the New Jerusalem Church (Swedenborgians)had (1908) 75 “societies”; the Christian Scientists, the Christadelphians,the British Israelites and similar societies, such as theNew and Latter House of Israel, the Seventh Day Baptists,deserve mention. The Latter Day Saints (Mormons) had (1908)82 churches in Great Britain.
Roman Catholicism in England has shown a tendency toadvance, especially among the upper and upper-middle classes.The published lists of “converts” are, however,no safe index to actual progress; for no equivalentstatistics are available for “leakage” in the oppositeRoman Catholics.direction. The membership of the Roman Catholic Church inEngland is estimated at about 2,200,000. But though the growth of the church relatively to the population has not beenparticularly startling, there can be no doubt that, since therestoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in 1851, its generalpolitical and religious influence has enormously increased. Anotable feature in this has been the great development of monasticinstitutions, due in large measure to the settlement in England ofthe congregations expelled from France. The Roman CatholicChurch in England is organized in 15 dioceses, which are unitedin a single province under the primacy of the archbishop ofWestminster. In December 1907 there were 1736 RomanCatholic churches and stations, and the number of the clergy wasreturned at 3524 (see Roman Catholic Church).
The Jews in Great Britain, chiefly found in London and othergreat towns, number (1907) about 196,000 and havesome 200 synagogues; at the head of their organizationis a chief Rabbi resident in London.Jews.
Finally it may be mentioned that a small number of Englishmen,chiefly resident in Liverpool and London, have embracedIslam; they have a mosque at Liverpool. Various foreignchurches which have numbers of adherents settled in Englandhave also branch churches and organizations in the country,notably the Orthodox Eastern Church,—with a considerablenumber of adherents in London, Liverpool and Manchester,—theLutheran, and the Armenian churches. (W. A. P.)
VII. Communications
Roads.—In England and Wales the high-roads, or roads onwhich wheeled vehicles can travel, are of two classes: (1) themain roads, or great arteries along which the main vehiculartraffic of the country passes; and (2) ordinary highways, whichare by-roads serving only local areas. The length of the mainroads is about 22,000 m., and that of ordinary highways about96,000. The highways of England, the old coaching roads, areamong the best in the world, being generally of a beautifulsmoothness and well maintained; they vary, naturally, indifferent districts, but in many even the local roads are superiorto some main roads in other countries. The supersession of thestage coach by the railway took a vast amount of traffic awayfrom the main roads, but their proper maintenance did notmaterially suffer; and a larger accession of traffic took placesubsequently on the development of the cycle and the motor-vehicle.
The system of road-building by private enterprise, the undertakersbeing rewarded by tolls levied from vehicles, persons oranimals using the roads, was established in England in 1663,when an act of Charles II. authorized the taking of such tollsat “turnpikes” in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. A centurylater, in 1767, the authorization was extended over the wholekingdom by an act of George III. In its fulness the systemlasted just sixty years, for the first breach in it was made by anact of George IV., in 1827, by which the chief turnpikes in Londonwere abolished. Further acts followed in the same direction,leading to the gradual extinction, by due compensation of thepersons interested, of the old system, the maintenance of theroads being vested in “turnpike trusts and highway boards,”empowered to levy local rates. The last turnpike trust ceasedto exist on the 5th of November 1895, and the final accountsin connexion with its debt were closed in 1898–1899. Toll-gatesare now met with only at certain bridges, where the right to levytolls is statutory or by prescription. By the Local GovernmentAct of 1888 the duty of maintaining main roads was imposedon the county councils, but these bodies were enabled to makearrangements with the respective highway authorities for theirrepair. Under the Local Government Act of 1894 the dutiesof all the highway authorities were transferred to the ruraldistrict councils on or before the 31st of March 1899.
It was not until the close of the 18th century, when theperiod of road-building activity already indicated set in, thatEnglish roads were redeemed from an extraordinarily badcondition. The roads were until then, as a rule, merely tracks,deeply worn by ages of traffic into the semblance of ditches,and, under adverse weather conditions, impassable. Travellersalso had the risk of assault by robbers and highwaymen. Asearly as 1285 a law provided for the cutting down of trees andbushes on either side of highways, so as to deprive lawless menof cover. Instances of legislation as regards the upkeep of roadsare recorded from time to time after this date, but (to take asingle illustration) even in the middle of the 18th century thejourney from the village, as it was then, of Paddington to Londonby stage occupied from 212 to 3 hours. But from 1784 to 1792upwards of 300 acts were passed dealing with the constructionof new roads and bridges.
Railways.—The history and development of railways inEngland, their birthplace, and in Ireland and Scotland, withillustrative statistics, are considered under the heading United Kingdom.The following list indicates the year of foundation,termini, chief offices and geographical sphere of the chief railwaysof England and Wales.
1. Railways with Termini in London.
(a) Northern.
Great Northern (1846).—Terminus and offices, King’s Cross. Mainline—Peterborough, Grantham, Newark, Doncaster; forming, withthe North-Eastern and North British lines, the “East Coast” routeto Scotland. Serving also the West Riding of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire,Nottingham and other towns of the midlands, and Manchester(by running powers over the Great Central metals). This companyhas so extensive a system of running powers over other railways,and of lines held jointly with other companies, that few of its moreimportant express trains from London complete their journeysentirely on the company’s own lines.
Midland (1844, an amalgamation of the former North Midland,Midland Counties, Birmingham & Derby, and other lines).—Terminus,St Pancras; offices, Derby. Main line—Bedford, Leicester, Sheffield,Leeds and Carlisle, affording the “Midland” route to Scotland.Serving also Nottingham, Derby, and the principal towns of themidlands and West Riding, and Manchester. West and North linefrom Bristol, Gloucester and Birmingham to Leicester and Derby.Also an Irish section, the Belfast and Northern Counties systembeing acquired in 1903. Docks at Heysham, Lancashire; andsteamship services to Belfast, &c.
London & North-Western (1846, an amalgamation of the London& Birmingham, Grand Junction, and Manchester & Birminghamlines).—Terminus and offices, Euston. Main line—Rugby, Crewe,Warrington, Preston, Carlisle; forming, with the Caledoniansystem, the “West Coast” route to Scotland. Serves also Manchester,Liverpool and all parts of the north-west, North Wales,Birmingham and the neighbouring midland towns, and by joint-lines,the South Welsh coal-fields. Maintains docks at Garston onthe Mersey, a steamship traffic with Dublin and Greenore fromHolyhead, and, jointly with the Lancashire & Yorkshire Company,a service to Belfast, &c., from Fleetwood.
Great Central (1846; until 1897, when an extension to Londonwas undertaken, called the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire).—Terminus,Marylebone; offices, Manchester. Main line—Rugby,Nottingham, Leicester, Sheffield, Manchester. The former mainline runs from Manchester and Sheffield east to Retford, thenceserving Grimsby and Hull, with branches to Lincoln, &c. The mainline reached from London by joining the line of the Metropolitanrailway near Aylesbury and following it to Harrow. Subsequentlyan alternative route out of London was constructed between Neasdenand Northolt, where it joins another line, of the Great Westernrailway, from Acton, and continues as a line held jointly by thetwo companies through Beaconsfield and High Wycombe. Here itabsorbs the old Great Western line as far as Prince’s Risborough,and continues thence to Grendon Underwood, effecting a junctionwith the original main line of the Great Central system. This linewas opened for passenger traffic in April 1906. The Great Centralcompany owns docks at Grimsby.
(b) Eastern.
Great Eastern (1862).—Terminus and offices, Liverpool Street.Serving Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk. Joint-line withGreat Northern from March to Lincoln and Doncaster. Passengersteamship services from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, Antwerp,Rotterdam, &c.
London, Tilbury & Southend (1852).—Terminus and offices,Fenchurch Street. Serving places on the Essex shore of the Thamesestuary, terminating at Shoeburyness.
(c) Western.
Great Western (1835, London to Bristol).—Terminus and offices,Paddington. Main line—Reading, Didcot, Swindon, Bath, Bristol,Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth, Penzance. Numerous additional mainlines—Reading to Newbury, Weymouth and the west, a new lineopened in 1906 between Castle Cary and Langport effecting a greatreduction in mileage between London and Exeter and places beyond;Didcot, Oxford, Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Chester with connexionsnorthward, and to North Wales; Oxford to Worcester, and Swindon to Gloucester and the west of England; South Welsh system(through route from London via Wootton Bassett or via Bristol,and the Severn tunnel), Newport, Cardiff, Swansea, Milford. Steamshipservices to the Channel Islands from Weymouth to Waterford,Ireland from Milford, and to Rosslare, Ireland, from Fishguard,the route last named being opened in 1906. The line constructedjointly with the Great Central company (as detailed in the descriptionabove) was extended in 1910 from Ashendon to Aynho, to form ashort route to the great centres north of Oxford.
London & South-Western (1839, incorporating the London &Southampton railway of 1835).—Terminus and offices, Waterloo.Main line—Woking, Basingstoke, Salisbury, Yeovil, Exeter, Plymouth;Woking, Guildford and Portsmouth; Basingstoke, Winchester,Southampton, Bournemouth, &c. Extensive connexionsin Surrey, Hampshire and the south-west, as far as North Cornwall.This company owns the great docks at Southampton, and maintainspassenger services from that port to the Channel Islands, Havre, StMalo and Cherbourg.
(d) Southern.
London, Brighton & South Coast (1846).—Termini, Victoria andLondon Bridge. Serving all the coast stations from Hastings toPortsmouth, with various lines in eastern Surrey and in Sussex.Maintains a service of passenger steamers between Newhaven andDieppe.
South Eastern & Chatham (under a managing committee, 1899,of the South-Eastern company, 1836, and the London, Chatham &Dover company, 1853).—Termini—Victoria, Charing Cross, HolbornViaduct, Cannon Street. Offices, London Bridge Station. Variouslines chiefly in Kent. Steamship services between Folkestone andBoulogne, Dover and Calais, &c.
2. Provincial Railways.
The two most important railway companies not possessing linesto London are the North-Eastern and the Lancashire & Yorkshire.
North Eastern (1854, amalgamating a number of systems).—Offices,York. Main line—Leeds, Normanton and York to Darlington,Durham, Newcastle and Berwick-on-Tweed. Connecting withthe Great Northern between Doncaster and York, and with theNorth British at Berwick, it forms part of the “East Coast” routeto Scotland. Serving all ports and coast stations from Hull toBerwick, also Carlisle, &c. Owning extensive docks at Hull, Middlesbrough,South Shields, the Hartlepools, Blyth, &c.
Lancashire & Yorkshire (1847, an amalgamation of a number oflocal systems).—Offices, Manchester. Main line—Manchester, Rochdale,Tormorden, Wakefield and Normanton, with branches toHalifax, Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield and other centres of the WestRiding. Extensive system in south Lancashire, connecting Manchesterwith Preston and Fleetwood (where the docks and steamshipservices to Ireland are worked jointly with the London & Northwesterncompany), Southport, Liverpool, &c.
Among further provincial systems there should be mentioned:—
Cambrian.—Offices, Oswestry. Whitchurch, Oswestry, Welshpoolto Barmouth and Pwllheli, Aberystwyth, &c.
Cheshire Lines, worked by a committee representative of theGreat Central, Great Northern and Midland Companies, and affordingimportant connexions between the lines of these systems and southLancashire and Cheshire (Godley, Stockport, Warrington, Liverpool;Manchester and Liverpool; Manchester and Liverpool to Southport;Godley and Manchester to Northwich and Chester, &c.).
Furness.—Offices, Barrow-in-Furness. Carnforth, Barrow, Whitehaven,with branches to Coniston, Windermere (Lakeside), &c.Docks at Barrow.
North Staffordshire.—Offices, Stoke-upon-Trent. Crewe and thePotteries, Macclesfield, &c., to Uttoxeter and Derby.
Cross-Country Connexions.—While London is naturally theprincipal focal point of the English railway system, the developmentof through connexions between the chief lines by way of themetropolis is very small. Some through trains are provided betweenthe North-Western and the London, Brighton & South Coast linesvia Willesden Junction, Addison Road and Clapham Junction;and a through connexion by way of Ludgate Hill has been arrangedbetween main line trains of the South-Western and the Great Northernrailways, but otherwise passengers travelling through London havegenerally to make their own way from one terminus to another.Certain cross-country routes, however, are provided to connect thesystems of some of the companies, among which the following maybe noticed.
(1) Through connexions with the continental services fromHarwich, and with Yarmouth and other towns of the East coast, areprovided from Yorkshire, Lancashire, &c., by way of the GreatNorthern and Great Eastern Joint line from Doncaster and Lincolnto March.
(2) Through connexions between the systems of the South-Eastern& Chatham and the Great Western companies are provided viaReading.
(3) Through connexions between the systems of the Great Centraland the Great Western companies are provided by the line connectingWoodford and Banbury.
(4) Through connexions between the Midland and the South-Westernsystems are provided (a) by the Midland and South-WesternJunction line connecting Cheltenham on the north-and-west lineof the Midland with Andover Junction on the South-Western line;and (b) by the Somerset & Dorset line, connecting the same linesbetween Bath, Templecombe and Bournemouth.
(5) The line from Shrewsbury to Craven Arms and Hereford,giving connexion between the north and the south-west, and Wales,is worked by the North-Western and Great Western companies.
Inland Navigation.—The English system of inland navigation isconfined principally to the following districts: South Lancashire,the West Riding of Yorkshire, the Midlands, especiallyabout Birmingham, the Fen district and the Thamesbasin (especially the lower part). All these districts areCanals and rivers.interconnected. The condition of inland navigation, as a whole,is not satisfactory. The Fossdyke in Lincolnshire, connectingthe river Trent at Torksey with the Witham near Lincoln, andnow belonging to the Great Northern and Great Eastern joint railways,is usually indicated as the earliest extant canal in England,inasmuch as it was constructed by the Romans for the purposeof drainage or water-supply, and must have been used for navigationat an early period. But the history of canal-building in England isusually dated from about 1760, and from the construction, at theinstance of Francis, Duke of Bridgewater, of the Bridgewater canalin South Lancashire, now belonging to the Manchester Ship CanalCompany. The activity in canal-building which prevailed duringthe later years of the 18th century was, in a measure, an earliercounterpart of the first period of railway development, which,proceeding subsequently along systematized lines not applied tocanal-construction, and providing obvious advantages in respect ofspeed, caused railways to withdraw much traffic from canals. Somecanals and river navigations have consequently become derelict,or are only maintained with difficulty and in imperfect condition.The inland navigation system suffers from a want of uniformityin the size of locks, depth of water, width of channels and otherarrangements, so that direct intercommunication between one canaland another is often impossible in consequence; moreover, althoughthe canals, like railways, are owned by many separate bodies,hardly any provision has been made, as it has in the case of railways,for such facilities as the working of through traffic over varioussystems at an inclusive charge. Lastly, the railway companiesthemselves have acquired control of about 30% of the total mileageof canals in England and Wales, and in many cases this has had aprejudicial effect on the prosperity of canals. Notwithstandingthese disabilities, there has been in modern times a new developmentin the trade of some canals, born of a realization that for certainclasses of goods water-transport is cheaper than the swifter rail-transport.Various proposals have been made for the establishmentof a single control over all inland waterways.
The lower or estuarine courses of some of the English rivers as theThames, Tyne, Humber, Mersey and Bristol Avon, are among themost important waterways in the world, as giving access for seabornetraffic to great ports. From the Mersey the Manchester ShipCanal runs to Manchester. The manufacturing districts of SouthLancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire are traversed andconnected by several canals following transverse valleys of thePennine Chain. The main line of the Aire and Calder navigationruns from Goole by Castleford to Leeds, whence the Leeds andLiverpool canal, running by Burnley and Blackburn, completesthe connexion between the Humber and the Mersey. Other canalsare numerous, among which may be mentioned the Sheffield andSouth Yorkshire, connecting Sheffield with the Trent. The Trentitself affords an extensive navigation, from which, at Derwentmouth, the Trent and Mersey Canal runs near Burton and Stafford,and through the Potteries, to the Bridgewater Canal and so to theMersey. This canal is owned by the North Staffordshire railwaycompany. The river Weaver, a tributary of the Mersey, affords awaterway of importance to the salt-producing towns of Cheshire.The system of the Shropshire Union railways and canal company,which is connected by lease with the London & North-Westernrailway company, carries considerable traffic, especially in theneighbourhood of Ellesmere Port. In the Black Country andneighbourhood the numerous ramifications of the BirminghamCanal navigations bear a large mineral traffic. This system isconnected with the rivers Severn and Trent and the canal systemof the country at large, and is controlled by the London & North-Westerncompany. The principal line of navigation from theThames northward to the midlands is that of the Grand Junction,which runs from Brentford, is connected through London with theport of London by the Regent’s Canal, and follows closely the mainline of the North-Western railway. It connects with the OxfordCanal at Braunston in Northamptonshire, and through this withcanals to Birmingham and the midlands, and continues to Leicester.Both the Severn up to Stourport and the Thames up to Oxford havea fair traffic, but the Thames and Severn Canal is not much used.There is some traffic on the navigable drainage cuts and rivers of theFens, but beyond these, in a broad consideration of the waterwaysof England from the point of view of their commercial importance,it is unnecessary to go.
See H. R. De Salis, Bradshaw’s Canals and Navigable Rivers ofEngland and Wales (London, 1904); Report of Royal Commission onCanals (London, 1909).
Oversea Communications.—The chief ports for continental passengertraffic are as follows:—
Harwich to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Hook of Holland,Rotterdam (Great Eastern railway); to Copenhagen and Esbjerg(Royal Danish mail route).
Queenborough to Flushing; (Zeeland Steamship company).
Dover to Calais (South-Eastern & Chatham railway); to Ostend(Belgian Royal mail steamers).
Folkestone to Boulogne (South Eastern & Chatham railway).
Newhaven to Dieppe (London, Brighton & South Coast railway).
Southampton to Cherbourg, Havre, St Malo (South-Westernrailway).
The chief ports for trans-Atlantic traffic are Liverpool and Southampton,and special trains are worked in connexion with the steamersto and from London. The great development of harbour accommodationat Dover early in the 20th century brought trans-Atlantictraffic to this port also. Southampton and Liverpool are the twogreatest English ports for all oceanic passenger traffic; but Londonhas also a large traffic, both to European and to foreign ports.The passenger traffic to the Norwegian ports, always very heavy insummer, is carried on chiefly from Hull and Newcastle.
VIII. Industries
Agriculture.—In the agricultural returns for Great Britain,issued annually by the government, the area of England (apartfrom Wales) has been divided into two sections, “arable” and“grass,” corresponding with a former division into “corncounties” and “grazing counties,” except that Leicestershireis included not in the “grass” but in the “arable” section.Most of the eastern part of England is “arable,” while thewestern and northern part is “grass,” the boundary betweenthe sections being the western limit of Hampshire, Berkshire,Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire,and of the East Riding of Yorkshire.
The division is thus as follows:—
Grass Counties. | Arable Counties. |
Northumberland. | Yorkshire, East Riding. |
Cumberland. | Lincolnshire. |
Durham. | Nottingham. |
Yorkshire, North and West Ridings. | Rutland. |
Westmorland. | Huntingdonshire. |
Lancashire. | Warwickshire. |
Cheshire. | Leicestershire. |
Derbyshire. | Northamptonshire. |
Staffordshire. | Cambridgeshire. |
Shropshire. | Norfolk. |
Worcestershire. | Suffolk. |
Herefordshire. | Bedfordshire. |
Monmouthshire. | Buckinghamshire. |
Gloucestershire. | Oxfordshire. |
Wiltshire. | Berkshire. |
Dorsetshire. | Hampshire. |
Somersetshire. | Hertfordshire. |
Devonshire. | Essex. |
Cornwall. | Middlesex. |
Surrey. | |
Kent. | |
Sussex. |
The average area under cultivation of all the counties is about.76 of the whole area. The counties having the greatest area undercultivation (ranging up to about nine-tenths of the whole) may betaken to be—Leicestershire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire,Huntingdonshire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshireand Cambridgeshire. Those with the smallest proportional cultivatedarea are Westmorland, Middlesex, Northumberland, Surrey, Cumberland,the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durhamand Cornwall. Geographical considerations govern these conditionsto a very great extent; thus the counties first indicated lie almostentirely within the area of the low-lying and fertile Eastern Plain,while the smallest areas of cultivation are found in the countiescovering the Pennine hill-system, with its high-lying uncultivatedmoors. In the case of Cornwall and Cumberland the physicalconditions are similar to these; but in that of Middlesex and Surreythe existence of large urban areas belonging or adjacent to Londonmust be taken into account. These also affect the proportion ofcultivated areas in the other home counties. The presence of a widespreadurban population must also be remembered in the case ofLancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.
The geographical distribution of the principal crops, &c., maynow be followed. The grain crops grown in England consist almostexclusively of wheat, barley and oats. Lincolnshire,Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and the EastRiding of Yorkshire are especially productive in allDistribution of crops.these; the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire producea notable quantity of barley and oats; and the oat-crops inthe following counties deserve mention—Devonshire, Hampshire,Lancashire, Cumberland, Cornwall, Cheshire and Sussex. There isno county, however, in which the single crop of wheat or barleystands pre-eminently above others, and in the case of the uplandcounties of Cumberland, Westmorland and Derbyshire, the metropolitancounty of Middlesex, and Monmouthshire, these crops arequite insignificant. In proportion to their area, the counties speciallyproductive of wheat are Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Hertfordshire,Bedfordshire and Essex; and of barley, Norfolk, Suffolk andthe East Riding of Yorkshire. In fruit-growing, Kent takes thefirst place, but a good quantity is grown in Cambridgeshire, Norfolkand Essex, in Worcestershire and other western counties, where,as in Herefordshire, Somerset and Devon, the apple is especiallycultivated and cider is largely produced. Kent is again pre-eminentin the growth of hops; indeed this practice and that of fruit-growinggive the scenery of the county a strongly individual character.Hop-growing extends from Kent into the neighbouring parts ofSussex and Surrey, where, however, it is much less important; itis also practised to a considerable degree in a group of counties ofthe midlands and west—Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershireand Shropshire. Market-gardening is carried on most extensivelyon suitable lands in the neighbourhood of the great areas ofurban population; thus the open land remaining in Middlesex islargely devoted to this industry. From the Channel and ScillyIslands, vegetables, especially seasonable vegetables, and also flowerswhich, owing to the peculiar climatic conditions of these islands,come early to perfection, are imported to the London market.Considering the crops not hitherto specified, it may be indicatedthat turnips and swedes form the chief green crops in most districts;potatoes, mangels, beans and peas are also commonly grown,Beyond the three chief grain crops, only a little rye is grown. Thecultivation of flax is almost extinct, but it is practised in a fewdistricts, such as the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire.
The counties in which the greatest proportion of the land isdevoted to permanent pasture may be judged roughly from the listof “grass counties” already given. Derbyshire, Leicestershire,the midland counties generally, and Somersetshire,have the highest proportion, and the counties of the East AnglianLive stock.seaboard the lowest. But with lands thus classified heath, moor andhill pastures are not included; and the greatest areas of these arenaturally found in the counties of the Pennines and the Lake District,especially in Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland and theNorth and West Ridings of Yorkshire. There is also plenty of hill-pasturein the south-western counties (from Hampshire and Berkshirewestward), especially in Devonshire, Cornwall and Somersetshire,and also in Monmouthshire and along the Welsh marches, on theCotteswold Hills, &c. In all these localities sheep are extensivelyreared, especially in Northumberland, but on the other hand inLincolnshire the numbers of sheep are roughly equal to those in thenorthern county. Other counties in which the numbers are especiallylarge are Devonshire, Kent, Cumberland and the North and WestRidings of Yorkshire. Cattle are reared in great numbers in Lincolnshire,Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, Devonshire,Somersetshire and Cornwall; but the numbers of both cattle andsheep are in no English county (save Middlesex) to be regarded asinsignificant. Pigs are bred most extensively in Suffolk, Norfolkand Lincolnshire and in Somersetshire.
It is often asserted that the scenery of rural England is of its kindunrivalled. Except in open lands like the Fens, the peculiarly richappearance of the country is due to the closely-dividedfields with their high, luxuriant hedges, and especiallyto the profuse growth of trees. There is not, however,Woodlands.any large continuous forested tract. Certain areas still bear thename of forest where there is now none; the term here possesses anhistorical significance, in many cases indicating former royal game-preserves.Great areas of England were once under forest. Theclearing of land for agricultural purposes, the use of wood for theprosecution of the industries of an increasing population, and othercauses, have led to the gradual disforesting of large tracts. There arestill, however, some small well-defined woodland areas. The NewForest in Hampshire, the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, andEpping Forest, which is preserved as a public recreation-ground bythe City of London, are the most notable instances. The countiescomprising the greatest proportional amount of woodland fall intotwo distinct groups—Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent, withBerkshire and Buckinghamshire; Monmouth, Herefordshire andGloucestershire. Cambridgeshire, lying almost wholly within thearea of the Fens, has the smallest proportional area of woodland ofany English county.
The number of persons engaged in agriculture in England andWales was found by the census of 1901 to be 1,192,167; the totalshowing a steady decrease (e.g. from 1,352,389 in 1881), which isespecially marked in the case of females. But the decrease liesmainly in the number of agricultural labourers; the number offarmers is not notably affected, and the increasing substitution ofmachinery for manual labour must be taken into consideration.The average size of holdings in England may be taken approximatelyas 66 acres, the average in 1903 being 66.1, whereas in 1895 itwas 65.3.
(See also the article Agriculture.)
Fisheries.—All the seas round Britain are rich in fish, and there areimportant fishing stations at intervals on all the English coasts,but those on the east coast are by far the most numerous.On an estimate of weight and value of the fish landed,Grimsby at the mouth of the Humber in Lincolnshire,stands pre-eminent as a fishing port. For example, the fish landedSea fisheries.there in 1903 were of nearly four times the value of those landed atHull, which was the second in order of all the English stations.Next in importance stand Lowestoft, Yarmouth and North Shields,Boston and Scarborough, and, among a large number of minorfishing stations, Hartlepool and Ramsgate. Great quantities of fishare also landed at the riverside market of Billingsgate in London,but the conditions here are exceptional, the landings being effectedby carrier steamers, plying from certain of the fishing fleets, and nottaking part in the actual process of fishing. On the south coastNewlyn ranks in the same category with Boston; at Plymouthconsiderable catches are landed; and Brixham ranks alongside thelast ports named on the east coast. The chief fishing centres of theEnglish Channel are thus seen to belong to the coast of Devonshireand Cornwall. On the west coast the Welsh port of Milford takesthe first place, while Swansea and Cardiff have a considerable fishingindustry, surpassed, however, by that of Fleetwood in Lancashire.Liverpool also ranks among the more important centres. As a comparisonof the production of the east, south and west coast fisheries,an average may be taken of the annual catches recorded over aterm of years. In the ten years 1894–1903 this average was 6,985,588cwt. for the east coast stations, 669,759 cwt. for those of thesouth coast, and 884,932 for those of the west (including the Welshstations).
Distinctions may be drawn, as will be seen, between the natureand methods of the fisheries on the various coasts, and the relativeprosperity of the industry from year to year cannot beconsidered as a whole. Thus in the period considered the recordedmaximum weight of fish landed at the east coast ports was9,539,114 cwt. in 1903 (the value being returned as £5,721,105);whereas on the south coast it was 736,599 cwt. in 1899, andon the west 1,117,164 cwt. in 1898. Considered as a whole, theindividual fish, by far the most important in the English fisheries,is the herring, for which Yarmouth and Lowestoft are the chiefports. The next in order are haddock, cod and plaice, and the eastcoast fisheries return the greatest bulk of these also. But whereasthe south coast has the advantage over the west in the herring andplaice fisheries, the reverse is the case in the haddock and codfisheries, haddock, in particular, being landed in very small quantitiesat the south coast ports. Mackerel, however, are landed principallyat the southern ports, and the pilchard is taken almost solely offthe south-western coast. A fish of special importance to the westcoast fisheries is the hake. Among shell-fish, crabs and oysters aretaken principally off the east coast; the oyster beds in the shallowwater off the north Kent and Essex coasts, as at Whitstable andColchester, being famous. Lobsters are landed in greatest numberon the south coast.
The number of vessels of every sort employed in fishing wasreturned in 1903 as 9721, and the number of persons employed as41,539, of whom 34,071 were regular fishermen. The developmentof the steam trawling-vessel is illustrated by the increase in numbersof these vessels from 480 in 1893 to 1135 in 1903. They belongchiefly to North Shields, Hull, Grimsby, Yarmouth and Lowestoft.There are a considerable number on the west coast, but very fewon the south. These vessels have a wide range of operations, pursuingtheir work as far as the Faeroe Islands and Iceland on theone hand, and the Bay of Biscay and the Portuguese coast on theother.
The English freshwater fisheries are not of great commercialimportance, nor, from the point of view of sport, are the salmonand trout fisheries as a whole of equal importance withthose of Scotland, Ireland or Wales. The English salmonand trout fisheries may be geographically classified thus:(1) North-western division, Rivers Eden, Derwent, Lune,Freshwater fisheries.Ribble: (2)North-eastern, Coquet, Tyne, Wear, Tees, &c.; (3)Western, Dee, Usk, Wye, Severn; (4) South-western, Taw, Torridge,Camel, Tamar, Dart, Exe, Teign, &c.; (5) Southern, Avon and Stour(Christchurch) and the Itchin and other famous trout streams ofHampshire. The rivers of the midlands and east are of little importanceto salmon-fishers, though the Trent carries a few, and inmodern times attempts have been made to rehabilitate the Thamesas a salmon river. The trout-fishing in the upper Thames andmany of its tributaries (such as the Kennet, Colne and Lea) is famous.But many of the midland, eastern and south-eastern rivers, theNorfolk Broads, &c., are noted for their coarse fish.
Mining.—Although the conditions of mining have, naturally,undergone a revolutionary development in comparatively moderntimes, yet some indications of England’s mineral wealth are foundat various periods of early history. The exploitation of tin in thesouth-west is commonly referred back to the time of the Phoeniciansea-traders, and in the first half of the 13th century England suppliedEurope with this metal. At a later period tin and lead were regardedas the English minerals of highest commercial value; whereas to-dayboth, but especially lead, have fallen far from this position. TheRoman working of lead and iron has been clearly traced in manydistricts, as has that of salt in Cheshire. The subsequent developmentof the iron industry is full of interest, as, while extendingvastly, it has entirely lapsed in certain districts. However longbefore it may have been known to a few, the use of coal for smeltingiron did not become general till the later part of the 18th century,and down to that time, iron-working was confined to districts wheretimber was available for the supply of the smelting medium, charcoal.Thus the industry centred chiefly upon the Weald (Sussexand Kent), the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, and the Birminghamdistrict; but from the first district named it afterwards whollydeparted, following the development of the coal-fields. These have,in some cases, a record from a fairly early date; thus, an indicationof the Northumberland coal-supply occurs in a charter of 1234, andthe Yorkshire coal-field is first mentioned early in the followingcentury. But how little this source of wealth was developed appearsfrom an estimate of the total production of coal, which gives in1700 only 2,612,000 tons, and, in 1800, 10,080,000 tons, againstthe returned total (for the United Kingdom) of 225,181,300 tonsin 1900.
The chief minerals raised in England, as stated in the annualhome office report on mines and quarries, appear in order of value,thus: coal, iron ore, clay and shale, sandstone, limestone, igneousrocks, salt, tin ore. Coal surpasses all the other minerals to such anextent that, taking the year 1903 as a type, when the total value ofthe mineral output was very nearly £70,000,000, that of coal isfound to approach £61,000,000.
The position of the various principal coal-fields has been indicatedin dealing with the physical geography of England, but the groupingof the fields adopted in the official report may be givenhere, together with an indication of the counties coveredby each, and the percentage of coal to the total bulkraised in each county. These figures are furnished as a generalCoal-fields.demonstration of the geographical distribution of the industry,but are based on the returns for 1903.
Coal-fields. | Counties. | Percentage. | |
Northern | Durham | 22·37 | |
Northumberland | 7·48 | ||
Yorkshire, &c. | Yorkshire (West Riding)[20] | 17·76 | |
Derbyshire | 9·40 | ||
Nottinghamshire | 5·41 | ||
Lancashire and Cheshire | Lancashire | 15·26 | |
Cheshire | 0·25 | ||
Midland[21] | Leicestershire | 1·31 | |
Shropshire | 0·50 | ||
Staffordshire | 8·10 | ||
Warwickshire | 2·12 | ||
Worcestershire | 0·44 | ||
Small detached | Cumberland | 1·37 | |
Gloucestershire[22] | 0·87 | ||
Somersetshire | 0·62 | ||
Westmorland | 0·07 | ||
Yorkshire (North Riding)[20] | · · | ||
Monmouthshire[23] | 6·67 |
The coal-fields on the eastern flank of the Pennines, therefore,namely, the Northern and the Yorkshire, are seen to be by far themost important in England. The carrying trade in coal is naturallyvery extensive, and may be considered here. The principal portsfor the shipping of coal for export, set down in order of the amountshipped, also fall very nearly into topographical groups, thus:—Newcastle,South Shields and Blyth in the Northern District;Newport in Monmouthshire; Sunderland in the Northern District,Hull, Grimsby and Goole on the Humber, which forms the easternoutlet of the Yorkshire coal-fields; Hartlepool, in the NorthernDistrict, and Liverpool. The tonnage annually shipped rangesfrom about 412 millions of tons in the case of Newcastle to some halfa million in the case of Liverpool; but the export trade of Cardiffin South Wales far surpasses that of any English port, being morethan three times that of Newcastle in 1903. The coastwise carryingtrade is also important, the bulk being shared about equally bySunderland, Newcastle, South Shields and Cardiff, while Liverpoolhas also a large share. Of the whole amount of coal received coastwiseat English and Welsh ports (about 1312 million tons), Londonreceived considerably over one-half (nearly 8 million tons in 1903).The railways having the heaviest coal traffic are the North-Eastern,which monopolizes the traffic of Northumberland and Durham;the Midland, commanding the Derbyshire, Yorkshire and EastMidland traffic, and some of the Welsh; the London & NorthWestern, whose principal sources are the Lancashire, Staffordshire and South Welsh districts; the Great Western and the Taff Vale(South Welsh), with the Great Central, Lancashire & Yorkshire andGreat Northern systems.
In the face of railway competition, several of the canals maintaina fair traffic in coal, for which they are eminently suitable—thesystem of the Birmingham navigation, the Aire and Calder navigationof Yorkshire, and the Leeds and Liverpool navigation have the largestshares in this trade.
The richest iron-mining district in England and in the UnitedKingdom is the Cleveland district of the North Riding of Yorkshire.It produces over two-fifths of the total amount of oreraised in the Kingdom, and not much less than one-halfof that raised in England. The richness of the ore (about 30% ofIron.metal) is by no means so great as the red haematite ore found inCumberland and north Lancashire (Furness district, &c.). Here thepercentage is over 50, but the ore, though the richest found in thekingdom, is less plentiful, about 112 million tons being raised in 1903as against more than 512 millions in Cleveland. There is also a considerableworking of brown iron ore at various points in Lincolnshire,Northamptonshire and Leicestershire; with further workings ofless importance in Staffordshire and several other districts. Thetotal amount of ore raised in England is about 1212 million tons,but it is not so high, in some iron-fields, as formerly. Some of thelesser deposits have been worked out, and even in the rich Furnessfields it has been found difficult to pursue the ore. The import ofore (the bulk coming from Spain) has consequently increased, and theports where the principal import trade is carried on are those whichform the principal outlets of the iron-working districts of Clevelandand Furness, namely Middlesbrough and Barrow-in-Furness.
The geographical distribution of the remaining more importantEnglish minerals may be passed in quicker review. Of the metals,the production of copper is a lapsing industry, confined to Cornwall.For the production of lead the principal counties are Derbyshire,Durham and Stanhope, but the industry is not extensive, and isconfined to a few places in each county. Quarrying for limestone,clay and sandstone is general in most parts. For limestone theprincipal localities are in Durham, Derbyshire and Yorkshire, whilefor chalk-quarrying Kent is pre-eminent among a group of south-easterncounties, including Hampshire, Sussex and Surrey, withEssex. Fireclay is largely raised from coal-mines, while, amongspecial clays, there is a considerable production of china and potter’sclays in Cornwall, Devonshire and Dorsetshire. As regards igneousrocks, the Charnwood Forest quarries of Leicestershire, and those ofCornwall, are particularly noted for their granite. Slate is workedin Cornwall and Devon, and also in Lancashire and Cumberland,where, in the Lake District, there are several large quarries. Salt,obtained principally from brine but also as rock-salt, is an importantobject of industry in Cheshire, the output from that county andStaffordshire exceeding a million tons annually. In Worcestershire,Durham and Yorkshire salt is also produced from brine.
The total number of persons in any way occupied in connexionwith mines and quarries in England and Wales in 1901 was 805,185;the number being found to increase rapidly, as from 528,474 in 1881.Coal-mines alone occupied 643,654, and to development in thisdirection the total increase is chiefly due. The number of ironstoneand other mines decreased in the period noticed from 55,907 to31,606.
Manufacturing Industries.—There are of course a great numberof important industries which have a general distributionthroughout the country, being more or less fully developed hereor there in accordance with the requirements of each locality.But in specifying the principal industries of any county, it isnatural to consider those which have an influence more thanlocal on its prosperity. In England, then, two broad classesof industry may be taken up for primary consideration—thetextile and the metal. Long after textile and other industrieshad been flourishing in the leading states of the continent, inthe Netherlands, Flanders and France, England remained, as awhole, an agricultural and pastoral country, content to exporther riches in wool, and to import them again, greatly enhancedin value, as clothing. It is not to be understood that therewere no manufacturing industries whatever. Rough cloth, forexample, was manufactured for home consumption. But fromNorman times the introduction of foreign artisans, capable ofestablishing industries which should produce goods fit fordistant sale, occupied the attention of successive rulers. Thusthe plantation of Flemish weavers in East Anglia, especiallyat the towns of Worstead (to which is attributed the derivationof the term worsted) and Norwich, dates from the 12th century.The industry, changing locality, like many others, in sympathywith the changes in modern conditions, has long been practicallyextinct in this district. Then, when religious persecution drovemany of the industrial population of the west of Europe awayfrom the homes of their birth, they liberally repaid Englishhospitality by establishing their own arts in the country, andteaching them to the inhabitants. Thus religious liberty formedpart of the foundation of England’s industrial greatness. Thencame the material agent, machinery propelled by steam. Theinvention of the steam engine, following quickly upon that ofthe carding machine, the spinning jenny, and other ingeniousmachinery employed in textile manufactures, gave an extraordinaryimpulse to their development, and, with them, thatof kindred branches of industry. At the basis of all of themwas England’s wealth in coal. The vast development of industriesin England during the 19th century may be furthercorrelated with certain events in the general history of the time.Insular England was not affected by the disturbing influencesof the Napoleonic period in any such degree as was continentalEurope. Such conditions carried on the work of British inventorsin helping to develop industries so strongly that manufacturerswere able to take full advantage of the opportunities offered bythe American Civil War (in spite of the temporary disability itentailed upon the cotton industry) and by the Franco-GermanWar. These wars tended to paralyse industries in the countriesaffected, which were thus forced to English markets to buymanufactured commodities. That England, not possessing theraw material, became the seat of the cotton manufacture, wasowing to the ingenuity of her inventors. It was not till the laterpart of the 18th century, when a series of inventions, unparalleledin the annals of industry, followed each other in quick succession,that the cotton manufacture took real root in the country,gradually eclipsing that of other European nations, althougha linen manufacture in Lancashire had acquired some prominenceas early as the 16th century. But though the superior excellenceof their machinery enabled Englishmen to start in the race ofcompetition, it was the discovery of the new motive power,drawn from coal, which made them win the race. In 1815 thetotal quantity of raw cotton imported into the United Kingdomwas not more than 99 millions of pounds, which amount hadincreased to 152 millions of pounds in 1820, and rose furtherto 229 millions in 1825, so that there was considerably more thana doubling of the imports in ten years.
The geographical analysis of the cotton industry in England issimple. It belongs almost entirely to south Lancashire—to Manchesterand the great industrial towns in its neighbourhood.The industry has extended into the adjacent parts ofCheshire, the West Riding of Yorkshire and Derbyshire. TheTextiles.immediate neighbourhood of a coal-supply influenced the geographicalsettlement of this industry, like others; and the importanceto the manufacture of a moist climate, such as is found on the westernslope of the Pennines (in contradistinction to the eastern), must alsobe considered. The excess of the demand of the factories over thesupply of raw material has become a remarkable feature of theindustry in modern times.
The distribution of the woollen industries peculiarly illustratesthe changes which have taken place since the early establishmentof manufacturing industries in England. It has been seen howcompletely the industry has forsaken East Anglia. Similarly, thisindustry was of early importance along the line of the CotteswoldHills, from Chipping Camden to Stroud and beyond, as also in sometowns of Devonshire and Cornwall, but though it survives in theneighbourhood of Stroud, the importance of this district is farsurpassed by that of the West Riding of Yorkshire, where the woollenindustry stands pre-eminent among the many which, as alreadyindicated, have concentrated there. As the cotton industry hasin some degree extended from Lancashire into the West Riding, sohas the woollen from the West Riding into a few Lancastrian towns,such as Rochdale. Among other textile industries attaching todefinite localities may be mentioned the silk manufacture of easternStaffordshire and Cheshire, as at Congleton and Macclesfield; andthe hosiery and lace manufactures of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshireand Leicestershire.
The metal-working industries also follow a geographical distribution,mainly governed by the incidence of the coal-fields, as wellas by that of the chief districts for the production ofiron-ore already indicated, such as the Cleveland andDurham and the Furness districts. But the district mostMetal-working.intimately connected with every branch of this industry, fromengineering and the manufacture of tools, &c., to working in theprecious metals, is the “Black Country” and Birmingham districtof Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Apart from thisdistrict, large quantities of iron and steel are produced in the manufacturingareas of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, and here, as in the Black Country, are found certain centresespecially noted for the production of an individual class of goods,such as Sheffield for its cutlery. There is, further, a large engineeringindustry in the London district; and important manufactures ofagricultural implements are found at many towns of East Angliaand in other agricultural localities. Birmingham and Coventrymay be specially mentioned as centres of the motor and cyclebuilding industry. The establishment of their engineering and otherworkshops at certain centres by the great railway companies hasimportant bearing on the concentration of urban population. Forexample, by this means the London & North Western and theGreat Western companies have created large towns in Crewe andSwindon respectively.
Certain other important industries may be localized. Thus, themanufacture of china and pottery, although widespread, is primarilyidentified with Staffordshire, where an area comprising Stoke and anumber of contiguous towns actually bears the name of the Potteries(q.v.). Derby has a similar fame, while the manufacture of glass,important in Leeds and elsewhere in the West Riding of Yorkshire,and in the London district, centres peculiarly upon a single town inSouth Lancashire—St Helens. Finally, the bootmakers of Northamptonshire(at Wellingborough, Rushden, &c.), and the straw-plaitersof Bedfordshire (at Luton and Dunstable), deserve mentionamong localized industrial communities.
Occupations of the People.—The occupations of the peoplemay be so considered as to afford a conception of the relativeextent of the industries already noticed, and their importancein relation to other occupations. The figures to be given arethose of the census of 1901, and embrace males and femalesof 10 years of age and upwards. The textile manufacturesoccupied a total of 994,668 persons, of which the cotton industryoccupied 529,131. A high proportion of female labour is characteristicof each branch of this industry, the number of femalesemployed being about half as many again as that of males(the proportion was 1.47 to 1 in 1901). The metal industriesof every sort occupied 1,116,202; out of which those employedin engineering (including the building of all sorts of vehicles)numbered 741,346. Of the other broad classes of industryalready indicated, the manufacture of boots and shoes occupied229,257, and the pottery and glass manufactures 90,193. Forthe rest, the numbers of persons occupied in agriculture has beenquoted as 1,192,167; and of those occupied in mining as 805,185.Among occupations not already detailed, those of the malepopulation include transport of every sort (1,094,301), buildingand other works of construction (1,042,864), manufacture ofarticles of human consumption, lodging, &c. (774,291), commerce,banking, &c. (530,685), domestic service, &c. (304,195), professionaloccupations (311,618). The service of government inevery branch occupied 171,687. Female workers were occupiedto the number of 1,664,381 in domestic service generally. Tailoringand the textile clothing industries and trade generallyoccupied 602,881; teaching 172,873; nursing and other workin institutions 104,036; and the civil service, clerkships andsimilar occupations 82,635.
IX. Territorial Divisions, &c.
For various administrative and other purposes England andWales have been divided, at different times from the Saxonperiod onwards, into a series of divisions, whose boundaries havebeen adjusted as each purpose demanded, without much attemptto establish uniformity. Therefore, although the methods oflocal government are detailed below (SectionX.), and otheradministrative arrangements are described under the variousheadings dealing with each subject, it is desirable to give here, forease of reference and distinction, a schedule of the various areasinto which England and Wales are divided. The areas here given,excepting the Poor Law Union, are those utilized in the CensusReturns (see the General Report, 1901).
England and Wales; Areas. | ||||||
County (ancient or geographical). | ||||||
Parliamentary Areas | Division | |||||
Borough. | ||||||
Administrative Areas | Administrative County. | |||||
County Borough. | (City, town) | |||||
Municipal Borough. | ||||||
Urban District (other than borough) | ||||||
Rural District. | ||||||
Civil Parish. | ||||||
Poor Law Union. | ||||||
Judicial Areas | County Court Circuit. | |||||
County Court District. | ||||||
Petty Sessional Division. | ||||||
Ecclesiastical Areas | Province. | |||||
Diocese. | ||||||
Parish. | ||||||
Registration Areas | Division. | |||||
County. | ||||||
District. | ||||||
Subdistrict. |
The ancient counties were superseded for most practicalpurposes by the administrative counties created by the LocalGovernment Act of 1888. The ancient division, however,besides being maintained in general speech and usage, formsthe basis on which the system of distribution of parliamentaryrepresentation now in force was constructed. The Redistributionof Seats Act 1885 made a new division of the country intocounty and borough constituencies. All the English counties,with the exception of Rutland, are divided into two or moreconstituencies, each returning one member, the number ofEnglish county parliamentary areas being 234. In Wales eightsmaller or less populous counties form each one parliamentaryconstituency, while the four larger are divided, the number ofWelsh county parliamentary areas being 19. The number ofcounty areas for parliamentary purposes in England and Wales isthus 253, and the total number of their representatives is thesame. Outside the county constituencies are the parliamentaryboroughs. Of these there are 135 in England, one of them,Monmouth district, being made up of three contributory boroughs,while many are divided into several constituencies, the number ofborough parliamentary areas in England being 205, of which 61are in the metropolis. Of the 205 borough constituencies, 184return each one member, and 21 return each two members, sothat the total number of English borough members is 226.Besides the county and borough members there are in Englandfive university members, namely, two for Oxford, two forCambridge and one for London. In Wales there are 10 boroughparliamentary areas, all of which, except Merthyr Tydfil andSwansea town division, consist of groups of several contributoryboroughs. Each Welsh borough constituency returns onemember, except Merthyr Tydfil, which returns two, so that thereare eleven Welsh borough members.
The administrative counties, created in 1888, number 62, eachhaving a county council. They sometimes coincide in area withthe ancient counties of the same name, but generally differ, in agreater or less degree, for the following reasons—(1) in somecases an ancient county comprises (approximately) two or moreadministrative counties, in the formation of which names ofsome ancient divisions were preserved, thus:—
Ancient County. | Administrative County. | |
Cambridgeshire | Cambridge. | |
Isle of Ely | ||
Hampshire | South Hampshire. | |
Isle of Wight. | ||
Lincolnshire | Parts of Holland. | |
Parts of Kresteven. | ||
Parts of Lindsey. | ||
Northamptonshire | Northampton. | |
Soke of Peterborough. | ||
Suffolk | East Suffolk. | |
West Suffolk. | ||
Sussex | East Sussex. | |
West Sussex. | ||
Yorkshire | East Riding. | |
North Riding. | ||
West Riding. |
The Scilly Islands, which form part of the ancient county ofCornwall, without being ranked as an administrative county,are provided with a county council and have separate administration.(2) The administrative county of London has an areataken entirely from the counties of Middlesex, Kent and Surrey.(3) All boroughs which on June 1, 1888, had a population of notless than 50,000, boroughs which were already counties havinga population of not less than 20,000, and a few others, were formedinto separate administrative areas, with the name of county boroughs. Of these there were originally 61, but their numbersubsequently increased. (4) Provision was made by the act of1888 for including entirely within one administrative countyeach of such urban districts as were situated in more than oneancient county.
The various urban and rural districts are described below(Section X.). The Civil Parish is defined (Poor Law AmendmentAct 1866) as “a place for which a separate poor-rate is or can bemade,” but the parish council has local administrative functionsbeyond the administration of the poor law. The civil parish hasbecome more or less divorced in relationship from the EcclesiasticalParish (a division which probably served in early times foradministrative purposes also), owing to successive independentalterations in the boundaries of both (see Parish). Poor-lawunions are groups of parishes for the local administration of thePoor Laws. Within the unions the local poor-law authorities arethe Board of Guardians. In rural districts the functions of theseboards are, under the Local Government Act of 1894, performedby the district councils, and in other places their constitution issimilar to that of the urban and district councils (see Poor Law).
Registration districts are generally, but not invariably, coextensivewith unions of the same name. These districts aredivided into sub-districts, within which the births and deaths areregistered by registrars appointed for that purpose. Registrationcounties are groups of registration districts, and their boundariesdiffer more or less from those both of the ancient and the administrativecounties. In England and Wales there are elevenregistration divisions, consisting of groups of registration counties(see Registration). (O. J. R. H.)
X. Local Government
The Reform Act of 1832 was the real starting-point for theoverhauling of English local government. For centuries before,from the reign of Edward III., under a number of statutes andcommissions, the administrative work in the counties had been inthe hands of the country gentlemen and the clergy, acting asjustices of the peace, and sitting in petty sessions and quartersessions. Each civil or “poor law” parish was governed by thevestry and the overseers of the poor, dating from the Poor Law of1601; the vestry, which dealt with general affairs, being presidedover by the rector, and having the churchwardens as its chiefofficials. In 1782 Gilbert’s Act introduced the grouping ofparishes for poor law purposes, and boards of guardians appointedby the justices of the peace. The municipal boroughs (246 inEngland and Wales in 1832) were governed by mayor, aldermen,councillors and a close body of burgesses or freemen, a narrowoligarchy. Reform began with the Poor Law Amendment Act of1834, grouping the parishes into Unions, making the boards ofguardians mainly elective, and creating a central poor law boardin London. The Municipal Corporations Act followed in 1835,giving all ratepayers the local franchise. And as a result of thefailure of the Public Health Board established in 1848, the royalcommission of 1869–1871 led to the establishment in 1871 of theLocal Government Board as a central supervising body. Meanwhile,the school boards resulting from the Education Act of1870 brought local government also into the educational system;and the Public Health Act of 1875 put further duties on the localauthorities. By 1888 a new state of chaos had grown up as theresult of the multiplication of bodies, and the new RedistributionAct of 1885 paved the way for a further reorganization of localmatters by the Local Government Act of 1888, followed by that of1894. In London, which required separate treatment, a similarprocess had been going on. The Metropolis Management Act of1855 established (outside the city) two classes of parishes—thefirst class with vestries of their own, the second class groupedunder district boards elected by the component vestries; and theMetropolitan Board of Works (abolished in 1888), elected by thevestries and the district boards, was made the central authority.
In 1867 the Metropolitan Asylums Board took over itswork from the metropolitan boards of guardians. See furtherCharity and Charities, Public Health, Education, Justice of the Peace, Vestry, &c.
The system of local government now existing in England (seealso the article Local Government) may be said to have beenfounded in 1888, when the Local Government Act of that yearwas passed. Since then the entire system of the governmentof districts and parishes has been reorganized with due regardto the preceding legislation. The largest area of local governmentis the county; next to that the sanitary district, urbanor rural, including under this head municipal boroughs, all ofwhich are urban districts. The parish is, speaking generally,the smallest area, though, as will hereafter be seen, part of aparish may be a separate area for certain purposes; and theremay be united districts or parishes for certain purposes. It willbe convenient to follow this order in the present article. Butbefore doing so, it should be pointed out that all local bodiesin England are to some extent subject to the control of centralauthorities, such as the privy council, the home office, the Boardof Agriculture, the Board of Trade, the Board of Education orthe Local Government Board.
The Administrative County.—The administrative county includesall places within its area, with two important exceptions.The first of these consists of the county borough.The second is the quarter sessions borough, whichforms part of the county for certain specified purposesThe county and the county council.only. But the county includes all other places, suchas liberties and franchises, which before 1888 were exempt fromcontribution to county rate. For each administrative countya county council is elected. For purposes of election the entirecounty is divided into divisions corresponding to the wardsof a municipal borough, and one councillor is elected for eachelectoral division.
The electors are the county electors, i.e. in a borough thepersons enrolled as burgesses, and in the rest of the county thepersons who are registered as county electors, i.e.those persons who possess in a county the samequalification as burgesses must County council elections.have in a borough,and are registered.
The qualification of a burgess or county elector is substantiallythe occupation of rated property within the borough or county,residence during a qualifying period of twelve months within theborough or county, and payment of rates for the qualifying property.A person so qualified is entitled to be enrolled as a burgess, orregistered as a county elector (as the case may be), unless he isalien, has during the qualifying period received union or parochialrelief or other alms, or is disentitled under some act of parliamentsuch as the Corrupt Practices Act, the Felony Act, &c. The listsof burgesses and county electors are prepared annually by theoverseers of each parish in the borough or county, and are revisedby the revising barrister at courts holden by him for the purpose inSeptember or October of each year. When revised they are sent tothe town clerk of the borough, or to the clerk of the peace of thecounty, as the case may be, by whom they are printed. The listsare conclusive of the right to vote at an election, although on electionpetition involving a scrutiny the vote of a person disqualified bylaw may be struck off, notwithstanding the inclusion of his namein a list of voters.
The qualification of a county councillor is similar to that requiredof a councillor in a municipal borough, with some modifications.A person may be qualified in any one of the following ways: viz.by being (1) enrolled as a county elector, and possessed of a propertyqualification consisting of the possession of real or personal propertyto the amount of £1000 in a county having four or more divisions,or of £500 in any other county, or the being rated to the poor rateon an annual value of £30 in a county having four or more divisions,or of £15 in any other county; (2) enrolled in the non-resident list,and possessed of the same property qualification (the non-residentlist contains the names of persons who are qualified for enrolment inall respects save residence in the county or within 7 m. thereof, andare actually resident beyond the 7 m. and within 15 m.); (3) entitledto elect to the office of county councillor (for this qualification noproperty qualification is required, but the office of a councillor electedon this qualification only becomes vacant if for six months he ceasesto reside within the county); (4) a peer owning property in thecounty; (5) registered as a parliamentary voter in respect of theownership of property in the county. Clerks in holy orders andministers of religion are not disqualified as they are for being boroughcouncillors, but in other respects the persons disqualified to beelected for a county are the same as those disqualified to be electedfor a borough. Such disqualifications include the holding of anyoffice or place of profit under the council other than the office of
chairman, and the being concerned or interested in any contract or
employment with, by or on behalf of the council. Women, otherthan married women, are eligible.
County councillors are elected for a term of three years, and atthe end of that time they retire together. The ordinary day ofelection is the 8th March, or some day between the 1st and 8thMarch fixed by the council. Candidates are nominated in writingby a nomination paper signed by a proposer and seconder, andsubscribed by eight other assenting county electors of the division;and in the event of there being more valid nominations than vacanciesa poll has to be taken in the manner prescribed by the Ballot Act1872. Corrupt and illegal practices at the election are forbiddenby a statute passed in the year 1894, which imposes heavy penaltiesand disqualifications for the offences which it creates. Theseoffences include not only treating, undue influence, bribery andpersonation, but certain others, of which the following are the chief.Payment on account of the conveyance of electors to or from thepoll; payment for any committee room in excess of a prescribednumber; the incurring of expenses in and about the election beyonda certain maximum; employing, for the conveyance of electorsto or from the poll, hackney carriages or carriages kept for hire;payments for bands, flags, cockades, &c.; employing for paymentpersons at the election beyond the prescribed number; printing andpublishing bills, placards or posters which do not disclose the nameand address of the printer or publisher; using as committee rooms orfor meetings any licensed premises, or any premises where food ordrink is ordinarily sold for consumption on the premises, or any clubpremises where intoxicating liquor is supplied to members. In theevent of an illegal practice, payment, employment or hiring, committedor done inadvertently, relief may be given by the High Court,or by an election court, if the validity of the election is questionedon petition; but unless such relief is given (and it will be observedthat it cannot be given for a corrupt as distinguished from an illegalpractice), an infringement of the act may void the election altogether.The validity of the election may be questioned by election petition.Indeed, this is the only method when it is sought to set aside theelection on any of the usual grounds, such as corrupt or illegalpractices, or the disqualification of the candidate at the date ofelection. Election petitions against county councillors and membersof other local bodies (borough councillors, urban and rural districtcouncillors, members of school boards and boards of guardians) areclassed together as municipal election petitions, and are heard in thesame way, by a commissioner who must be a barrister of not lessthan fifteen years’ standing. The petition is tried in open court atsome place within the county, the expenses of the court being providedin the first instance by the Treasury, and repaid out of thecounty rates, except in so far as the court may order them to be paidby either of the parties. If a candidate is unseated a casual vacancyis created which has to be filled by a new election. A countycouncillor is required to accept office by making and subscribing adeclaration in the prescribed form that he will duly and faithfullyperform the duties of the office, and that he possesses the necessaryqualification. The declaration may be made at any time withinthree months after notice of election. If the councillor does notmake it within that time, he is liable to a fine the amount of which,if not determined by bye-law of the council, is £25 in the case of analderman or councillor, and £50 in the case of the chairman. Exemptionmay, however, be claimed on the ground of age, physical ormental incapacity, previous service, or payment of the fine withinfive years, or on the ground that the claimant was nominated withouthis consent. If during his term of office a member of the councilbecomes bankrupt, or compounds with his creditors, or is (except incase of illness) continuously absent from the county, being chairmanfor more than two months, or being alderman or councillor for morethan six months, his office becomes vacant by declaration of thecouncil. In the case of disqualification by absence, the same finesare payable as upon non-acceptance of office, and the same liabilityarises on resignation. Acting without making the declaration, orwithout being qualified at the time of making the declaration, orafter ceasing to be qualified, or after becoming disqualified, involvesliability to a fine not exceeding £50, recoverable by action.
The councillors who have been elected come into office on the8th March in the year of election. The first quarterly meeting ofthe newly-elected council is held on the 16th or on suchother day within ten days after the 8th as the countycouncil may fix. The first business Chairman, &c.at that meeting isthe election of the chairman, whose office corresponds to that of themayor in a borough. He is elected for the ensuing year, and holdsoffice until his successor has accepted office. The chairman mustbe a fit person, elected by the council from their own body or frompersons qualified to be councillors. He may receive such remunerationas the council think reasonable. He is by virtue of his officea justice of the peace for the county. Having elected the chairman,the meeting proceeds to the election of aldermen, whosenumber is one-third of the number of councillors, except in London,where the number is one-sixth. An alderman must be a councilloror a person qualified to be a councillor. If a councillor is electedhe vacates his office of councillor, and thus creates a casual vacancyin the council. In every third year one-half of the whole numberof aldermen go out of office, and their places are filled by election,which is conducted by means of voting papers. It will be observed,therefore, that while a county councillor holds office for three years,a county alderman holds office for six. The council may also appointa vice-chairman who holds office during the term of office of thechairman; in London the council have power to appoint a paiddeputy chairman.
It may be convenient at this point to refer to the officers of thecounty council. Of these, the chief are the clerk, the treasurer,and the surveyor. Before 1888 the clerk of the peacewas appointed in a county by the custos rotulorum.He held office for life during good conduct, Officers.and had power to act bya sufficient deputy. Under the act of 1888 existing clerks of thepeace became clerks of the councils of their counties, holding officeby the same tenure as formerly, except in the county of London,where the offices were separated. Thereafter a new appointment tothe offices of clerk of the peace and clerk of the county councilwas to be made by the standing joint-committee, at whose pleasurehe is to hold office. The same committee appoint the deputy-clerk,and fix the salaries of both officers. The clerk of the peacewas formerly paid by fees which were fixed by quarter sessions,but he is now generally, if not in every case, paid by salary, the feesreceived by him being paid into the county fund. The county councilmay also employ such other officers and servants as they may thinknecessary.
Subject to a few special provisions in the Local Government Actof 1888, the business of the county council is regulated by the provisionslaid down in the Municipal Corporations Act1882, with regard to borough councils. There are fourquarterly meetings in every year, the dates of Business.which may be fixedby the council, with the exception of that which must be held onthe 16th March or some day within ten days after the 8th of Marchas already noticed when treating of elections. Meetings are convenedby notices sent to members stating the time and place ofthe meeting and the business to be transacted. The chairman, orin his absence the vice-chairman, or in the absence of both analderman or councillor appointed by the meeting, presides. Allquestions are determined by the votes of the majority of thosepresent and voting, and in case of equality of votes the chairmanhas a casting vote. Minutes of the proceedings are taken, and ifsigned by the chairman at the same or the next meeting of thecouncil are evidence of the proceedings. In all other respects thebusiness of the council is regulated by standing orders which thecouncil are authorized to make. Very full power is given to appointcommittees, which may be either general or special, and to themmay be delegated, with or without restrictions or conditions, anyof their powers or duties except that of raising money by rate orloan. Power is also given to appoint joint-committees with othercounty councils in matters in which the two councils are jointlyinterested, but a joint-committee so appointed must not be confoundedwith the standing joint-committee of the county counciland the quarter sessions, which is a distinct statutory body and iselsewhere referred to. The finance committee is also a body withdistinct duties.
In order to appreciate some of the points relating to the financeof a county council, it is necessary to indicate the relationsbetween an administrative county and the boroughswhich are locally situated within it. The act of 1888created a new division of boroughs Relation of county to boroughs.into three classes;of these the first is the county borough. A certainnumber of boroughs which either had a population of not lessthan 50,000, or were counties of themselves, were made countiesindependent of the county council and free from the paymentof county rate. In such boroughs the borough council have,in addition to their powers under the Municipal CorporationsAct 1882, all the powers of a county council under the LocalGovernment Act. They are independent of the county council,and their only relation is that in some instances they pay acontribution to the county, e.g. for the cost of assizes wherethere is no separate assize for the borough. The boroughs thusconstituted county boroughs enumerated in the schedule to theLocal Government Act 1888 numbered sixty-one, but additionalones are created from time to time.
The larger quarter sessions boroughs, i.e. those which had,according to the census of 1881, a population exceeding 10,000,form part of the county, and are subject to the control of thecounty council, but only for certain special purposes. Thereason for this is that while in counties the powers and dutiesunder various acts were entrusted to the county authority, inboroughs they were exercised by the borough councils. In theclass of boroughs now under consideration these powers andduties are retained by the borough council; the county councilexercise no jurisdiction within the borough in respect of them,and the borough is not rated in respect of them to the county rate. The acts referred to include those relating to the diseasesof animals, destructive insects, explosives, fish conservancy,gas meters, margarine, police, reformatory and industrial schools,riot (damages), sale of food and drugs, weights and measures.But for certain purposes these boroughs are part of the countyand rateable to county rate, e.g. main roads, cost of assizes andsessions, and in certain cases pauper lunatics. The countycouncillors elected for one of these boroughs may not vote onany matter involving expenditure on account of which theborough is not assessed to county rate.
The third class of boroughs comprises those which have aseparate court of quarter sessions, but had according to thecensus of 1881 a population of less than 10,000. All suchboroughs form part of the county for the purposes of pauperlunatics, analysts, reformatory and industrial schools, fishconservancy, explosives, and, of course, the purposes for whichthe larger quarter sessions boroughs also form part of the county,such as main roads, and are assessed to county rate accordingly.And in a borough, whether a quarter sessions borough or not,which had in 1881 a population of less than 10,000, all the powerswhich the borough council formerly possessed as to police,analysts, diseases of animals, gas meters, and weights andmeasures cease and are transferred to the county council, theboroughs becoming in fact part of the area of the county forthese purposes.
It will be seen, therefore, that for some purposes, called in theact general county purposes, the entire county, including allboroughs other than county boroughs, is assessed to the countyrate; while for others, called special county purposes, certainboroughs are now assessed. This explanation is necessary inorder to appreciate what has now to be said about county finance.But before leaving the consideration of the area of the countyit may be added that all liberties and franchises are now mergedin the county and subject to the jurisdiction of the countycouncil.
The county council is a body corporate with power to holdlands. Its revenues are derived from various sources whichwill presently be mentioned, but all receipts have tobe carried to the county fund, either to the generalcounty account if applicable to general Finance.county purposes, orto the special county account if applicable to special countypurposes. The county council may, with the consent of theLocal Government Board, borrow money on the security of thecounty fund or any of its revenues, for consolidating the debtsof the county; purchasing land or buildings; any permanentwork or other thing, the cost of which ought to be spread overa term of years; making advances in aid of the emigration orcolonization of inhabitants of the county; and any purpose forwhich quarter sessions or the county council are authorized byany act to borrow. If, however, the total debt of the councilwill, with the amount proposed to be borrowed, exceed one-tenthof the annual rateable value of the property in the county,the money cannot be borrowed unless under a provisional ordermade by the Local Government Board and confirmed by parliament.The period for which a loan is made is fixed by the countycouncil with the consent of the Local Government Board, butmay not exceed thirty years, and the mode of repayment maybe by equal yearly or half-yearly instalments of principal or ofprincipal and interest combined, or by means of a sinking fundinvested and applied in accordance with the Local GovernmentActs. The loans authorized may be raised by debentures orannuity certificates under these acts, or by the issue of countystock, and in some cases by mortgage.
The county council must appoint a finance committee for regulatingand controlling the finance of the county, and the councilcannot make any order for the payment of money out of the countyfund save on the recommendation of that committee. Moreover,the order for payment of any sum must be made in pursuance of anorder of the council signed by three members of the finance committeepresent at the meeting of the council, and countersignedby the clerk. The order is directed to the county treasurer, by whomauthorized payments are then made.
The accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the countycouncil are made up for the twelve months ending the 31st Marchin each year, and are audited by a district auditor. The form inwhich the accounts must be made up is prescribed by the LocalGovernment Board. The auditor is a district auditor appointedby the Local Government Board under the District Auditors Act1879, and in respect of the audit the council is charged with astamp duty, the amount of which depends on the total of the expenditurecomprised in the financial statement. Before each auditthe auditor gives notice of the time and place appointed, and thecouncil publish the appointment by advertisement. A copy ofthe accounts has to be deposited for public inspection for sevendays before the audit. The auditor has the fullest powers of investigation;he may require the production of any books or papers,and he may require the attendance before him of any person accountable.Any owner of property or ratepayer may attend the auditand object to the accounts, and either on such objection or on hisown motion the auditor may disallow any payment and surchargethe amount on the persons who made or authorized it. Againstany allowance or surcharge appeal lies to the High Court if thequestion involved is one of law, or to the Local Government Board,who have jurisdiction to remit a surcharge if, in the circumstances,it appears to them to be fair and equitable to do so. It will be seenthat this is really an effective audit.
The sources of revenue of the council are the exchequer contribution,income from property and fees, and rates. Before 1888 largegrants of money had been made annually to localauthorities in aid of local taxation. Such grants representeda contribution out of taxation for the most Revenue
of county council.partarising out of property other than real property, whilelocal taxation fell on real property alone. By the act of 1888 itwas provided that for the future such annual grants should cease,and that other payments should be made instead thereof. Thecommissioners of Inland Revenue pay into the Bank of England, toan account called “the local taxation account,” the sums ascertainedto be the proceeds of the duties collected by them in each countyon what are called local taxation licences, which include licencesfor the sale of intoxicating liquor, licences on dogs, guns, establishmentlicences, &c. The amount so ascertained to have been collectedin each county is paid under direction of the Local GovernmentBoard to the council of that county. The commissioners of InlandRevenue also pay into the same account a sum equal to 112%on the net value of personal property in respect of which estateduty is paid. Under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act1890, certain duties imposed on spirits and beer (often referred to as“whisky money”) are also to be paid to “the local taxation account.”The sums so paid in respect of the duties last above mentioned,and in respect of the estate duty and spirits and beer additionalduties, are distributed among the several counties in proportion tothe share which the Local Government Board certify to have beenreceived by each county during the financial year ending the 31stMarch 1888, out of the grants theretofore made out of the exchequerin aid of local rates. The payments so made out of “the localtaxation account” to a county council are paid to the county fund,and carried to a separate account called “the Exchequer contributionaccount.” The money standing to the credit of this account isapplied: (i.) in paying any costs incurred in respect thereof or otherwisechargeable thereon; (ii.) in payment of the sums required by theLocal Government Act 1888 to be paid in substitution for localgrants; (iii.) in payment of the new grant to be made by the countycouncil in respect of the costs of union officers; and (iv.) in repayingto “the general county account” of the county fund thecosts on account of general county purposes for which the wholearea of the county (including boroughs other than county boroughs)is liable to be assessed to county contribution. Elaborate provisionis made for the distribution of the surplus (if any), with a view tosecuring a due share being paid to the quarter sessions boroughs.
The payments which the county council have to make in substitutionfor the local grants formerly made out of Imperial funds includepayments for or towards the remuneration of the teachers in poor-lawschools and public vaccinators; school fees paid for childrensent from a workhouse to a public elementary school; half of thesalaries of the medical officer of health and the inspector of nuisancesof district councils; the remuneration of registrars for births anddeaths; the maintenance of pauper lunatics; half of the cost of thepay and clothing of the police of the county, and of each boroughmaintaining a separate police force. In addition to the grants abovementioned, the county council is required to grant to the guardiansof every poor-law union wholly or partly in their county an annualsum for the costs of the officers of the union and of district schools towhich the union contributes. Another source is the income of anyproperty belonging to the council, but the amount of this is usuallysmall. The third source of revenue consists of the fees received bythe different officers of the county councils or of the joint-committee.For example, fees received by the clerk of the peace, inspectors ofweights and measures, and the like. These fees are paid into thecounty fund, and carried either to “the general county account” or,if they have been received in respect of some matter for which partonly of the county is assessed, then to the special account to whichthe rates levied for that purpose are carried. The remaining sourceof income of a county council is the county rate, the manner oflevying which is hereafter stated.
Of the powers and duties of county councils, it may be convenientto treat of these first, in so far as they are transferredto or conferred on them by the Local GovernmentAct 1888, under which they were created, and afterwardsin so far as they have been conferred by Powers transferred from quart-er sessions.subsequentlegislation. Before the passing of the LocalGovernment Act 1888, the only form of county governmentin England was that of the justices in quarter sessions(q.v.). Quarter sessions were originally a judicial body,but being the only body having jurisdiction over the county asa whole, certain powers were conferred and certain duties imposedupon them with reference to various matters of county governmentfrom time to time. The principal object of the act of 1888was to transfer these powers and duties from the quarter sessionsto the new representative body—the county council; and itmay be said that substantially the whole of the administrativebusiness of quarter sessions was thus transferred.
The subjects of such transfer include (i.) the making, assessingand levying of county, police, hundred and all rates, and the applicationand expenditure thereof, and the making of orders for thepayment of sums payable out of any such rate, or out of the countystock or county fund, and the preparation and revision of the basisor standard for the county rate. With regard to the county rate,a few words of description may be sufficient here. The councilappoint a committee called a county rate committee, who fromtime to time prepare a basis or standard for county rate, that is tosay, they fix the amount at which each parish in the county shallcontribute its quota to the county rate. As a general rule the poor-lawvaluations are followed, but this is not universally the case,some county councils adopting the assessment to income tax,schedule A, and others forming an independent valuation of theirown. The overseers of any parish aggrieved by the basis mayappeal against it to quarter sessions, and it is to be noticed thatthis appeal is not interfered with, the transfer of the duties ofjustices relating only to administrative and not to judicial business.When a contribution is required from county rate, the countycouncil assess the amount payable by each parish according to thebasis previously made, and send their precept to the guardians ofthe unions comprising the several parishes in the county, theguardians in their turn requiring the overseers of each parish toprovide the necessary quota of that parish out of the poor rate, andthe sum thus raised goes into the county fund. The police rate ismade for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the countypolice. It is made on the same basis as the county rate, and islevied with it. The hundred rate is seldom made, though in somecounties it may be made for purposes of main roads and bridgeschargeable to the hundred as distinguished from the county atlarge; (ii.) the borrowing of money; (iii.) the passing of the accountsof, and the discharge of the county treasurer; (iv.) shire halls,county halls, assize courts, the judges’ lodgings, lock-up houses,court houses, justices’ rooms, police stations and county buildings,works and property; (v.) the licensing under any general act ofhouses and other places for music or for dancing, and the granting oflicences under the Racecourses Licensing Act 1879; (vi.) the provision,enlargement, maintenance and management and visitation of,and other dealing with, asylums for pauper lunatics; (vii.) theestablishment and maintenance of, and the contribution to, reformatoryand industrial schools; (viii.) bridges and roads repairable withbridges, and any powers vested by the Highways and LocomotivesAmendment Act 1878 in the county authority. It may be observedthat bridges have always been at common law repairable by thecounty, although, with regard to bridges erected since the year 1805,these are not to be deemed to be county bridges repairable by thecounty unless they have been erected under the direction or to thesatisfaction of the county surveyor. The common-law liability torepair a bridge extends also to the road or approaches for a distanceof 300 ft. on each side of the bridge. Of the powers vested in thecounty authority under the Highway Act 1878, the most importantare those relating to main roads, which are specially noticed hereafter;(ix.) the tables of fees to be taken by and the costs to be allowedto any inspector, analyst or person holding any office in the countyother than the clerk of the peace and the clerks of the justices;(x.) the appointment, removal and determination of salaries of thecounty treasurer, the county surveyor, the public analysts, anyofficer under the Explosives Act 1875, and any officers whose remunerationis paid out of the county rate, other than the clerk of thepeace and the clerks of the justices; (xi.) the salary of any coronerwhose salary is payable out of the county rate, the fees, allowancesand disbursements allowed to be paid by any such coroner, and thedivision of the county into coroners’ districts and the assignmentsof such districts; (xii.) the division of the county into pollingdistricts for the purposes of parliamentary elections, the appointmentof the places of election, the places of holding courts for the revisionof the lists of voters, and the costs of, and other matters to be donefor the registration of parliamentary voters; (xiii.) the execution aslocal authority of the acts relating to contagious diseases of animals,to destructive insects, to fish conservancy, to wild birds, to weightsand measures, and to gas meters, and of the Local Stamp Act 1869;(xiv.) any matters arising under the Riot (Damages) Act 1886.Under this act compensation is payable out of the police rate toany person whose property has been injured, stolen or destroyed byrioters; (xv.) the registration of rules of scientific societies, theregistration of charitable gifts, the certifying and recording of placesof religious worship, the confirmation and record of the rules of loansocieties. These duties are imposed under various statutes.
In addition to the business of quarter sessions thus transferred,there was also transferred to the county council certain business ofthe justices of the county out of session, that is to say, in petty orspecial sessions. This business consists of the licensing of housesor places for the public performance of stage plays, and the execution,as local authority, of the Explosives Act 1875. Power wasgiven by the act to the Local Government Board to provide, bymeans of a provisional order, for transferring to county councilsany of the powers and duties of the various central authoritieswhich have been already referred to; but although such an orderwas at one time prepared, it has never been confirmed, and nothinghas been done in that direction.
Apart from the business thus transferred to county councils, theact itself has conferred further powers or imposed further dutieswith reference to a variety of other matters, some ofwhich must be noticed. But before passing to themit is necessary here to call attention to one important Police.subject ofcounty government which has not been wholly transferred to thecounty council, namely, the police. It was matter of considerablediscussion before the passing of the act whether the police shouldremain under the control of the justices, or be transferred whollyto the control of the county council. Eventually a middle coursewas taken. The powers, duties and liabilities of the quarter sessionsand justices out of session with respect to the county police werevested in the quarter sessions and the county council jointly, andare now exercised through the standing joint-committee of thetwo bodies. That committee consists of an equal number of membersof the county council and of justices appointed by the quartersessions, the number being arranged between the two bodies orfixed by the secretary of state. The committee are also chargedwith the duties of appointing or removing the clerk of the peace,and they have jurisdiction in matters relating to justices’ clerks,the provision of accommodation for quarter sessions or justices outof session, and the like, and their expenses are paid by the countycouncil out of the county fund. The standing joint-committeehave power to divide their county into police districts, and, whenrequired by order in council, are obliged to do so. In such a case,while the general expenditure in respect of the entire police forceis defrayed by the county at large, the local expenditure, i.e. thecost of pay, clothing and such other expenses as the joint-committeemay direct, is defrayed at the cost of the particular district forwhich it is incurred (see also Police).
Among the powers and duties given to county councils by theLocal Government Act 1888, the first to be mentioned, followingthe order in the act itself, is that of the appointmentof county coroners. The duties of a coroner are limitedCounty coroners.to the holding of inquiries into cases of death from causessuspected to be other than natural, and to a few miscellaneousduties of comparatively rare occurrence, such as the holding ofinquiries relating to treasure trove, and acting instead of the sheriffon inquiries under the Lands Clauses Act, &c., when that officer isinterested and thereby disabled from holding such inquiries. (Forthe history of the office of coroner, which is a very ancient one,see that title.) The county council may appoint any fit person, notbeing a county alderman or county councillor, to fill the office, andin the case of a county divided into coroners’ districts, may assignhim a district. It has been decided, however, that the power herebyconferred does not extend to the appointment of a coroner for aliberty or other franchise who would not under the old law havebeen appointed by the freeholders. It may be mentioned thatthough a coroner may have a district assigned to him, he is neverthelessa coroner for the entire county throughout which he hasjurisdiction.
It was provided by the Highway Act 1878 that every road whichwas disturnpiked after the 31st of December 1870 should be deemedto be a main road, the expenses of the repair and maintenanceof which were to be contributed as to one-halfthereof by the justices in quarter sessions, then Main
roads.thecounty authority. By another section of the same act it wasprovided that where any highway in a county was a medium ofcommunication between great towns, or a thoroughfare to a railwaystation, or otherwise such that it ought to be declared a main road,the county authority might declare it to be a main road, and thereuponone-half the expense of its maintenance would fall upon thecounty at large. Once a road became a main road it could only ceaseto be such by order of the Local Government Board. As alreadystated, the powers of the quarter sessions under the act of 1878were transferred to the county council under the Local GovernmentAct of 1888, and that body alone has now power to declare a roadto be a main road. But the act of 1888 made some important changes in the law relating to the maintenance of main roads. Itdeclared that thereafter not only the half but the whole cost ofmaintenance should be borne by the county. Provision is madefor the control of main roads in urban districts being retained bythe urban district council. In urban districts where such controlhas not been claimed, and in rural districts, the county council mayeither maintain the main roads themselves or allow or require thedistrict councils to do so. The county council must in any casemake a payment towards the costs incurred by the district council,and if any difference arises as to the amount of it, it has to be settledby the Local Government Board. In Lancashire the cost of mainroads falls upon the hundred, as distinguished from the county atlarge, special provision being made to that effect. Special provisionhas also been made for the highways in the Isle of Wight and inSouth Wales, where the roads were formerly regulated by specialacts, and not by the ordinary Highway Acts.
The county council have the same power as a sanitary authority toenforce the provisions of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Acts inrelation to so much of any stream as passes throughor by any part of their county. Under these acts asanitary authority is authorized to take proceedings Rivers pollution prevention.torestrain interference with the due flow of a stream or thepollution of its waters by throwing into it the solid refuse of anymanufactory or quarry, or any rubbish or cinders, or any other wasteor any putrid solid matter. They may also take proceedings inrespect of the pollution of a stream by any solid or liquid sewagematter. They have the same powers with respect to manufacturingand mining pollutions, subject to certain restrictions, one of which isthat proceedings are not to be taken without the consent of the LocalGovernment Board. The county council may not only themselvesinstitute proceedings under the acts, but they may contribute tothe costs of any prosecution under the acts instituted by any othercounty or district council. The Local Government Board is furtherempowered by provisional order to constitute a joint-committeerepresenting all the administrative counties through or by which ariver passes, and confer on such committee all or any of the powersof a sanitary authority under the acts.
A county council has the same power of opposing bills in parliamentand of prosecuting or defending any legal proceedings necessaryfor the promotion or protection of the interests of theinhabitants of a county as are conferred on the councilof a municipal borough by the Borough Funds Act Parlia-mentary and legal costs.1872,with this difference, that in order to enable them to opposea bill in parliament at the cost of the county rate, it is notnecessary to obtain the consent of the owners and ratepayers withinthe county. The power thus conferred is limited to opposing bills.The council are not authorized to promote any bill, and althoughthey frequently do so, they incur the risk that if the bill should notpass the members of the council will be surcharged personally withthe costs incurred if they attempt to charge them to the county rate.Of course if the bill passes, it usually contains a clause enabling thecosts of promotion to be paid out of the county rate. It must not besupposed, however, that the county council have no power toinstitute or defend legal proceedings or oppose bills save such as isexpressly conferred upon them by the Local Government Act. Inthis respect they are in the same position as all other local authorities,with respect to whom it has been laid down that they may withoutany express power in that behalf use the funds at their disposal forprotecting themselves against any attack made upon their existenceas a corporate body or upon any of their powers or privileges.
The county council have also the same powers as a borough councilof making by-laws for the good government of the county and forthe suppression of nuisances not already punishableunder the general law. This power has been largelyacted upon throughout England, and the courts of law have By-laws.onseveral occasions decided that such by-laws should be benevolentlyinterpreted, and that in matters which directly arise and concernthe people of the county, who have the right to choose those whomthey think best fitted to represent them, such representatives maybe trusted to understand their own requirements. Such by-lawswill therefore be upheld, unless it is clear that they are uncertain,repugnant to the general law of the land, or manifestly unreasonable.It may be mentioned that, while by-laws relating to the good governmentof the county have to be confirmed by the secretary of state,those which relate to the suppression of nuisances have to be confirmedby the Local Government Board. Such confirmation, however,though necessary to enable the council to enforce them, doesnot itself confer upon them any validity in point of law.
The county council have power to appoint and pay one or moremedical officers of health, who are not to hold any other appointmentor engage in private practice without the expresswritten consent of the council. The council may make arrangements whereby any district council or Medical officers.councilsmay have the services of the county medical officer on payment ofa contribution towards his salary, and while such arrangementis in force the duty of the district council to appoint a medicalofficer is to be deemed to have been satisfied. Every medical officer,whether of a county or district, must now be legally qualified forthe practice of medicine, surgery and midwifery. Besides this, inthe case of a county, or of any district or combination of districts ofwhich the population exceeds 50,000, the medical officer must alsohave a diploma in public health, unless he has during the threeconsecutive years before 1892 been medical officer of a district orcombination having a population of more than 20,000, or has beforethe passing of the act been for three years a medical officer or inspectorof the Local Government Board.
The only other powers and duties of a county council arisingunder the Local Government Act itself which it is necessary tonotice are those relating to alterations of local areas.It may be convenient here to state that certain alterationsof areas can only be effected through the Alterations of local areas.mediumof the Local Government Board after local inquiry.These cases include the alteration of the boundary of any county orborough, the union of a county borough with a county, the unionof any counties or boroughs or the division of any county, themaking of a borough into a county borough. In these cases theorder of the Local Government Board is provisional only, and mustbe confirmed by parliament. The powers of a county council tomake orders for the alteration of local areas are as follows: Whena county council is satisfied that a prima facie case is made out asrespects any county district not a borough, or as respects anyparish, for a proposal for all or any of the things hereafter mentioned,they may hold a local inquiry after giving such notice in the localityand to such public departments as may be prescribed from time totime by the orders of the Local Government Board. The thingsreferred to include the alteration of the boundary of the districtor parish; the division or union thereof with any other district ordistricts, parish or parishes; the conversion of a rural district or partthereof into an urban district or vice versa. In these cases, after thelocal inquiry above referred to has been held, the county council,being satisfied that the proposal is desirable, may make an order forthe same accordingly. The order has to be submitted to the LocalGovernment Board, and that board must hold a local inquiry inorder to determine whether the order should be confirmed or not, ifthe council of any district affected by it, or one-sixth of the totalnumber of electors in the district or parish to which it relates, petitionagainst it. The Local Government Board have power to modify theterms of the order whether it is petitioned against or not, but ifthere is no petition, they are bound to confirm, subject only to suchmodifications. Very large powers are conferred upon county councilsfor the purpose of giving full effect to orders made by them underthese provisions. A considerable extension of the same powerswas made by the Local Government Act 1894, which practicallyrequired every council to take into consideration the areas of sanitarydistricts and parishes within the entire administrative county, andto see that a parish did not extend into more than one sanitarydistrict; to provide for the division of a district which did extendinto more than one district into separate parishes, so that for thefuture the parish should not be in more than one county district;and to provide for every parish and rural sanitary district beingwithin one county. An enormous number of orders under the act of1894 was made by county councils, and, speaking generally, it willnow be found that no parish extends into more than one county orcounty district. Other powers and duties of the county council underthe act of 1894 will be noticed hereafter.
Of the statutes affecting county councils passed subsequentto 1888 mention need only be made of the chief.
Previous to the Education Act 1902, county councils had certainoptional powers under the Technical Instruction Acts to supply oraid the supply of technical or manual instruction. Theirduties in respect to education were, however, muchenlarged by the act of 1902. That act abolished the Education.old school boardsand school attendance committees, and substituted a single authorityfor all kinds of schools and for all kinds of education. The countycouncil or the council of a county borough is now in every case thelocal education authority, except that non-county boroughs with apopulation of over 10,000, and urban districts with a population ofover 20,000, may be the local education authorities for elementaryeducation only, but they may relinquish their powers in favour of thecounty council. For higher education county councils and countyboroughs are the sole education authorities, except that non-countyboroughs and urban councils are given a concurrent power of levyinga rate for higher education not exceeding 1d. in the £. Under theact, an education committee must be established by all authorities.The majority of the members of the committee are appointed bythe council, usually out of their own body, and the remainder areappointed by the council on the nomination or recommendationof other bodies. Some of the members of the committee must bewomen. All matters relating to the exercise of the powers of theeducation authority (except those of rating and borrowing) must bereferred to the committee, and before exercising any of their powersthe council must (except in cases of emergency) receive and considerthe report of the education committee with respect to the matter inquestion. As to higher education the local education authority mustconsider the educational needs of their area and take such steps asseem to them desirable, after consultation with the Board of Education,to supply or aid the supply of education other than elementary,and to promote the general co-ordination of all forms of education.For this purpose they are authorized to levy a rate not exceeding 2d. in the £, except with the consent of the Local Government Board.They must also devote to the same purpose the sums received bythem in respect of the residue of the English share of the localtaxation (customs and excise) duties already referred to. See furtherEducation and Technical Education.
Under the Midwives Act 1902, every council of a county or countyborough is the local supervising authority over midwives within itsarea. The duty of the local supervising authority is toexercise general supervision over all midwives practisingwithin their area in accordance with rules laid down in the Midwives.act;to investigate charges of malpractices, negligence or misconduct onthe part of a midwife, and if a prima facie case be established, toreport it to the Central Midwives Board; to suspend a midwifefrom practice if necessary to prevent the spread of infection; toreport to the central board the name of any midwife convicted ofan offence; once a year (in January) to supply the central boardwith the names and addresses of all midwives practising withintheir area and to keep a roll of the names, accessible at all reasonabletimes for public inspection; to report at once the death of anymidwife or change in name and address. The local supervisingauthority may delegate their powers to a committee appointed bythem, women being eligible to serve on it. A county council maydelegate its powers under the act to a district council.
Part of the business transferred from quarter sessions to thecouncil was that which related to pauper lunatics, but the wholesubject of lunacy was consolidated by an act of the year1890, which again has been amended by a later act. Thecouncils of all administrative counties and county boroughs Lunatics.and thecouncils of a few specified quarter sessions boroughs, which before1890 were independent areas for purposes of the Lunacy Acts, arelocal authorities for the purposes of the Lunacy Acts, and each ofthem is under an obligation to provide asylum accommodation forpauper lunatics. This accommodation may be provided by onecouncil or by a combination of two or more, and such council orcombination may provide one or more asylums. The county councilexercise their powers through a visiting committee, consisting of notless than seven members, or, in the case of a combination, of a numberof members appointed by each council in agreed proportions. Inthe case of a combination the expenses are defrayed by the severalcouncils in such proportion as they may agree upon, and the proportionmay be fixed with reference to either the accommodationrequired by each council or the population of the district. A countyborough may also, instead of providing an asylum of its own, contractwith the visiting committee of any asylum to receive the pauperlunatics from the borough. Private patients may be accommodatedin the asylums provided by a county council, and received upon termsfixed by the visiting committee. The expenses of lunatic asylumsare defrayed in the following manner: The guardians from whoseunion a lunatic is sent have to pay a fixed weekly sum, which maynot exceed 14s. a week. A larger charge is made for lunatics receivedfrom unions outside the county, as these do not, of course, contributeanything towards the provision or up-keep of the asylum itself.In addition to the payments by guardians, there is a contributionof 4s. a week from “the exchequer contribution account” alreadymentioned, and the remaining expenses are defrayed out of thecounty rate.
Under the Allotments Acts 1887 to 1907, it is the duty of a countycouncil to ascertain the extent to which there is a demand forallotments in the urban districts and parishes in the county,or would be a demand if suitable land were available, andthe extent to which it is reasonably practicable, Allotments.havingregard to the provisions of the acts, to satisfy any such demand,and to co-operate with authorities, associations or persons bestqualified to assist, and to take such steps as may be necessary. Thepowers of the Local Government Board under the Allotments Actswere transferred by the act of 1907 to the Board of Agriculture andFisheries, and by the same act the powers and duties of rural districtcouncils were transferred to parish councils. The county councilunder these acts has compulsory powers of purchase or hire if theyare unable to acquire land by agreement and on reasonable terms.If an objection is made to an order for compulsory purchase or hire,the order will not be confirmed by the Board of Agriculture untilafter a local inquiry has been held. If the Board of Agriculture issatisfied, after holding a local inquiry, that a county council havefailed to fulfil their obligations as to allotments, the board maytransfer all and any of the powers of the county council to the SmallHoldings Commissioners.
By the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1907, Small HoldingsCommissioners are appointed by the Board of Agriculture to ascertainthe extent of the demand for small holdings, and conferwith county councils as to how best to provide them.Local authorities are required to furnish information Small holdings.andgive assistance to the commissioners, who report to the board.If the board, after considering the report, consider it desirable,they require the county council concerned to prepare a scheme forthe provision of small holdings; if the county council decline toprepare a scheme, the board may direct the commissioners to do so.A county council may also prepare a scheme on its own initiative.When a scheme has been confirmed, the county council must carryout the obligations imposed on it within a prescribed time; if theymake default the board may direct the commissioners to assumeall the powers of the county council, and the county council mustrepay to the board the expenses the commissioners may incur. Acounty council may delegate, by arrangement, to the council of anyborough or urban district in the county their powers in respect ofthe act. A small holding is defined by the act as one which exceeds1 acre, but must not exceed 50 acres or £50 annual value. Everycounty council must establish a small holdings and allotments committee,to which must be referred all matters relating to the exerciseand performance by the council of their powers and duties as to smallholdings and allotments.
Under the Isolation Hospitals Acts 1893 and 1901, a county councilmay provide for the establishment of isolation hospitals for thereception of patients suffering from infectious diseases onthe application of any local authority within the county,or on the report of the medical officer of the county that Hospitals.hospitalaccommodation is necessary and has not been provided, or it maytake over hospitals already provided by a local authority. Thecouncil by their order constitute a hospital district and form a committeefor its administration. The committee have power to purchaseland, erect a hospital, provide all necessary appliances, and generallyadminister a hospital for the purposes above mentioned.
The powers and duties of a county council under the Local GovernmentAct 1894 are numerous and varied, and the chief of them arementioned hereafter in connexion with parish councils.The county council may establish a parish council in aparish which has a population of less than 300, and Parish councils.maygroup small parishes under a common parish council; in every casethey fix the number of members of the parish council. They mayauthorize the borrowing of money by a parish council, and they maylend money to a parish council. They may hear complaints by aparish council that a district council has failed to provide sufficientsewerage or water-supply, or has failed to enforce the provisions ofthe Public Health Acts in their district, and on such complaint theymay transfer to themselves and exercise the powers of the defaultingcouncil, or they may appoint a person to perform those duties.They may make orders for the custody and preservation of publicbooks, writings, papers and documents belonging to a parish. Theymay divide a parish into wards for purposes of elections or of parishmeetings. They may authorize district councils to aid persons inmaintaining rights of common. They may, on the petition of adistrict council, transfer to themselves the powers of a district councilwho have refused or failed to take the necessary proceedings toassert public rights of way or protect roadside wastes. They maydispense with the disqualification of a parish or district councillorarising only by reason of his being a shareholder in a water companyor similar company contracting with the council, and, as has abovebeen stated, they have large powers of altering the boundaries ofparishes.
Among the powers and duties of quarter sessions transferred tocounty councils were those arising under the acts relatingto contagious diseases of animals. These acts wereconsolidated and amended by a statute of 1894, and thecounty council remain the local authority for the execution Diseases of animals.of thatact in counties.
Under the Light Railways Act 1896 a county council may beauthorized by order of the light railway commissioners toconstruct and work or contract for the construction orworking of a light railway, lend money to a light railwaycompany, or join any other Light railways.council in these matters.
Among other statutes conferring powers or imposing dutiesupon county councils, mention may be made of such acts as thoserelating to sea fisheries regulation, open spaces, policesuperannuation, railway and canal traffic, shop hours,weights and measures, fertilizing and feeding stuffs, Miscel-laneous.wildbirds’ protection, land transfer, locomotives on highways and theacquisition of small dwellings. Sufficient has been said to indicatethat the legislature from time to time recognizes the importantposition of the county council as an administrative body, and iscontinually extending its functions.
The Urban District.—A municipal borough is a place which hasbeen incorporated by royal charter. In the year 1835 theMunicipal Corporations Act was passed, which madeprovision for the constitution and government ofThe municipal borough and the borough council.certain boroughs which were enumerated in a schedule.That act was from time to time amended, until in 1882by an act of that year the whole of the earlier acts wererepealed and consolidated. A few ancient corporationswhich were not enumerated in the schedule to the act of 1835continued to exist after that year, but by an act of 1883 all ofthese, save such as should obtain charters before 1886, wereabolished, the result being that all boroughs are now subject tothe act of 1882. A place is still created a borough by royalcharter on the petition of the inhabitants, and when that is donethe provisions of the act of 1882 are applied to it by the charteritself. The charter also fixes the number of councillors, the boundaries of the wards (if any), and assigns the number ofcouncillors to each ward, and provides generally for the time andmanner in which the act of 1882 is first to come into operation.The charter is supplemented by a scheme which makes provisionfor the transfer to the new borough council of the powers andduties of existing authorities, and generally for the bringing intooperation of the act of 1882. If the scheme is opposed by theprescribed proportion (one-twentieth) of the owners and ratepayersof the proposed new borough, it has to be confirmed byparliament. The governing body in a borough is the councilelected by the burgesses.
The qualification of a burgess has been incidentally mentionedin connexion with that of a county elector, and need not be furthernoticed. A borough councillor must be qualified in the same manneras a county councillor, and he is disqualified in the same way,with this addition, that a peer or ownership voter is not qualifiedas such, and that a person is disqualified for being a borough councillorif he is in holy orders or is the regular minister of a Dissentingcongregation. Women, other than married women, are eligible.Borough councillors are elected for a term of three years, one-thirdof the whole number going out of office in each year, and if theborough is divided into wards, these are so arranged that the numberof councillors for each ward shall be three or a multiple of three. Theordinary day of election is the 1st of November. At an election forthe whole borough the returning officer is the mayor; at a wardelection he is an alderman assigned for that purpose by the council.The nomination and election of candidates and the procedure at theelection are the same as have already been described in the case ofthe election of county councillors. The law as to corrupt and illegalpractices at the election is also similar, and the election may bequestioned by petition in exactly the same way. A borough councillormust, within five days after notice of his election, make adeclaration of acceptance of office under a penalty, in the case of analderman or councillor of £50, and in the case of a mayor of £100, orsuch other sums as the council may by by-law determine. Acouncillor may be disqualified in the same way as a county councillor,by bankruptcy or composition with creditors, or continuous absencefrom the borough (except in case of illness). In short it may be saidthat as the provisions relating to the election of borough councillorswere merely extended to county councillors by the Local GovernmentAct of 1888 with a few modifications, these provisions, as alreadystated when dealing with county councils, apply generally to theelection of borough councillors. After the annual election on the1st of November the first quarterly meeting of the council is heldon the 9th, and at that meeting the mayor and aldermen are elected.The election of the mayor and aldermen is again the same as hasalready been described in connexion with the election of the chairmanOfficers.and aldermen of a county council. The officers of aborough council are the town clerk and the treasurer,but the council have power to appoint such other officers as theythink necessary. All these officers receive such remuneration as thecouncil from time to time think fit, and hold office during pleasure.The provisions with respect to the transaction of the business of thecouncil are also the same in the case of a borough as in that of acounty council.
The entire income of the borough council is paid into the boroughfund, and that fund is charged with certain payments, which arespecifically set out in the 5th schedule to the act of 1882.These include the remuneration of the mayor, recorderand officers of the borough, overseers’ expenses, theFinance audit.expenses of the administration of justice in the borough, the paymentof the borough coroner, police expenses and the like. An order of thecouncil for the payment of money out of the borough fund must besigned by three members of the council and countersigned by thetown clerk, and any such order may be removed into the king’s benchdivision of the High Court of Justice by writ of certiorari and may bewholly or partly disallowed or confirmed on the hearing. This isreally the only way in which the validity of a payment by a boroughcouncil can be questioned, for, as will be seen hereafter, the auditin the borough is not an effective one. The borough fund is derived,in the first instance, from the property of the corporation. If theincome from such property is insufficient for the purposes to which itis applicable, as usually is the case, it has to be supplemented by aborough rate, which may be a separate rate made by the councilor may be levied through the overseers as part of the poor rate bymeans of a precept addressed to them. In the event of the boroughfund being more than sufficient to meet the demands upon it withoutrecourse to a borough rate, any surplus may be applied in paymentof any expenses of the council as a sanitary authority or in improvingthe borough or any part thereof by drainage, enlargement of streetsor otherwise. The borough treasurer is required to make up hisaccounts half-yearly, and to submit them, with the necessaryvouchers and papers, to the borough auditors. These auditors arethree in number—two of them elected annually by the burgesses.An elective auditor must be qualified to be a councillor, but may notbe a member of the council. The third auditor is appointed by themayor and is called the mayor’s auditor. The auditors so appointedare charged with the duty of auditing the accounts of the treasurer,but they have no power of disallowance or surcharge, and their auditis therefore quite ineffective.
Where a borough has not a separate court of quarter sessions, buthas a separate commission of the peace, the justices of the countyin which the borough is situate have a concurrent jurisdictionwith the borough justices in all matters arisingwithin the borough. Where, however, the borough hasJurisdiction of justices; quarter sessions.a court of quarter sessions, the county justices have nojurisdiction within the borough. In all cases, whetherthe borough has quarter sessions or a separate commissionor not, the mayor, by virtue of his office, is a justice for the borough,and continues to be such justice during the year next after he ceasesto be mayor. He takes precedence over all justices in and for theborough, and is entitled to take the chair at all meetings at whichhe is present by virtue of his office of mayor. A separate commissionof the peace may be granted to a borough on the petition of thecouncil. A borough justice is required to take the oaths of allegianceand the judicial oaths before acting; he must while acting residein or within 7 m. of the borough, or occupy a house, warehouse orother property in the borough; but he need not be a burgess norhave the qualification by estate required of a county justice. Wherethe borough has a separate commission, the borough justices havepower to appoint a clerk, who is now paid by salary, the fees andcosts pertaining to his office being paid into the borough fund, outof which his salary is paid. The council may by petition obtainthe appointment of a stipendiary magistrate for the borough. Thecrown may also on petition of the council grant a separate court ofquarter sessions for the borough, and in that event a recorder hasto be appointed by the crown. He must be a barrister of not lessthan five years’ standing, and he holds office during good behaviour;he receives a yearly salary. The recorder sits as sole judge of thecourt of quarter sessions of the borough. He has all the powers ofa court of quarter sessions in a county, including the power to hearappeals from the borough justices; but to this there are a fewexceptions, notably the power to grant licences for the sale ofintoxicating liquor. The grant of a separate court of quartersessions also involves the appointment by the council of a clerk ofthe peace for the borough. It should be added that the grant of acourt of quarter sessions to any borough other than a county boroughafter the passing of the Local Government Act 1888, does not affectthe powers, duties or liabilities of the county council as regards thatborough, nor exempt the parishes in the borough from being assessedto county rate for any purposes to which such parishes were previouslyliable to be assessed.
When a borough is a county of itself the council appoint a sheriffon the 9th of November in every year. And where the borough hasa separate court of quarter sessions the council appointa fit and proper person, not an alderman or councillor, tobe the borough coroner, who holds office during Sheriff, coroner.goodbehaviour. If the borough has a civil court the recorder, if thereis one, is judge of it. If there is no recorder, the judge of the courtis an officer of the borough appointed under the charter.
The provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act 1882 relatechiefly to the constitution of the municipal corporation. It doesnot itself confer many powers or impose many dutiesupon the council as a body. It does, however, enable amunicipal corporation to acquire corporate land andPower to acquire land.buildings, the buildings including a town hall, councilhouse, justices’ room, police stations and cells, sessions house,judges’ lodgings, polling stations and the like. The council mayborrow money for the erection of such buildings; they may acquireand hold land in mortmain by virtue of their charter, or with theconsent of the Local Government Board. Corporate land cannotbe alienated without the consent of the same board. The councilmay convert corporate land, with the approval of the Local GovernmentBoard, into sites for workmen’s dwellings.
Another duty imposed upon a borough council by the act of1882 is the maintenance of bridges within the borough which arenot repairable by the county in which the borough islocally situate. It may here be mentioned that a cityor borough which is a county of itself is liable at commonBorough bridges.law to repair all public bridges within its limits. In a borough whichis not a county of itself the inhabitants are only liable to repairbridges within the borough by immemorial usage or custom.
Of the other powers possessed by the council of a borough underthe act of 1882, one of the most important is the power to makeby-laws for the good rule and government of the borough,and for the prevention and suppression of nuisances notalready punishable in summary manner by virtue of an act in forceBy-laws.throughout the borough. It will be observed that these by-laws areof two classes. The former do not come into force until the expirationof forty days after a copy of them has been sent to the secretary ofstate, during which forty days the sovereign in council may disallowany by-law or part thereof. The latter require to be confirmed by theLocal Government Board.
Under the act of 1882 every municipal borough might have itsown separate police force. As has already been stated when dealingwith county councils, boroughs having a population of less than10,000 according to the census of 1881 can no longer have a separate police force. But for some time before that year it hadbecome the rule not to grant to any new borough with a populationPolice.of less than 20,000 a separate police force. The subject ofpolice is separately treated in the Encyclopaedia Britannica,and it is not necessary to supplement what is there stated.Under an act of 1893 the borough police may, in addition totheir ordinary duties, be employed to discharge the duties of a firebrigade.
The powers and duties of a borough council in the MunicipalCorporations Act do not arise or exist to any great extent underthat act. In a few cases, those namely of countyboroughs, the councils have the powers of countycouncils. In the quarter sessions boroughs other thanThe district and the district council.county boroughs they have some only of these powers.But in every case the council of the borough have the powers andduties of an urban district council, and, except where theyderive their authority from local acts, it may be said that theirprincipal powers and duties consist of those which they exercise orperform as an urban council. These will now be considered.
Before the year 1848 there was not outside the municipalboroughs any system of district government in England. It istrue that in some populous places which were not corporateboroughs local acts of parliament had been passed appointing improvementcommissioners for the government of these places. Inmany boroughs similar acts had been obtained conferring variouspowers relating to sanitary matters, streets and highways andthe like. But there was no general system, nor was there, save byspecial legislation, any means by which sanitary districts could beconstituted. In the year 1848 the first Public Health Act waspassed. It provided for the formation of local boards in boroughsand populous places, such places outside boroughs being termedlocal government districts. In boroughs the town council weregenerally appointed the local board for purposes of the act.It was not, however, until 1872 that a general system of sanitarydistricts was adopted. By the Public Health Act of that year thewhole country was mapped out into urban and rural sanitarydistricts, and that system has been maintained until the presenttime, with some important changes introduced by the PublicHealth Acts 1875 to 1907, and the Local Government Act 1894.
The whole of England and Wales is divided into districts, whichare either urban or rural. Urban districts include boroughs andplaces which were formerly under the jurisdiction of localboards or improvement commissioners. The power toconstitute new urban districts is now conferred uponConstitu-tion of district councils.county councils, as already stated. There is a concurrentpower in the Local Government Board under the PublicHealth Act 1875, but that power is now rarely exercised, and newurban districts are in practice created only by orders of countycouncils made under the Local Government Act 1888, section 57.Rural districts were first created in 1872. Before that time therewas practically no sanitary authority outside the urban district, foralthough the vestry of a parish had in some cases power to makesewers and had also some other sanitary powers, there was noauthority for such a district as now corresponds to a rural district.There were, indeed, highway boards and burial boards which hadpowers for special purposes, but district authority in the sense inwhich it is now understood there was none. Before the year 1894the rural district consisted of the area of the poor-law union, exclusiveof any urban district which might be within it, and theguardians of the poor were the rural sanitary authority. Since1894 this has been changed. By the Local Government Act ofthat year the guardians ceased to be the rural sanitary authority.The union was preserved as the rural sanitary district, with thisqualification, that if it extended into more than one county it wasdivided so that no rural district should extend into more than onecounty. Rural district councillors are elected for each parish inthe rural district, and they become by virtue of their office guardiansof the poor for the union comprising the district, so that there isnow no election of guardians in a rural district. Guardians arestill elected as such for urban districts, but the rural district councilhave ceased to be the same body as the guardians and are nowwholly distinct. A district councillor, whether urban or rural, holdsoffice for a term of three years. One-third of the whole councilretire in each year, the annual elections being held in March, butthere may be a simultaneous retirement of the whole council inevery third year if the county council at the instance of the districtcouncil so order. The qualification and disqualification of districtcouncillors, whether urban or rural, now depend upon the LocalGovernment Act 1894. Property qualification is abolished. Anyperson may be elected who is either a parochial elector of someparish within the district or has during the whole of the twelvemonths preceding his election resided in the district, and no personis disqualified by sex or marriage. The electors both in urban andrural districts are the body called the parochial electors. Theseare practically the persons whose names appear in the parliamentaryregister or in the local government register as being entitled tovote at elections for members of parliament or county or parishcouncillors as the case may be. The election takes place subject torules made by the Local Government Board, these rules beinglargely founded upon adaptations of the Municipal Corporations Act1882. The election is by ballot on the same lines as those prescribedfor a municipal election, and the Corrupt Practices Act, the provisionsof which have been referred to when dealing with countycouncils, applies to the elections of district councils. The provisionswith reference to election petitions, the grounds upon which theymay be presented and the procedure upon them, are the same inevery respect as have already been mentioned when dealing withcounty councils. It may be convenient here to state that the LocalUnited districts.Government Board has power to unite any number ofdistricts or parts of districts into what is called a uniteddistrict for certain special purposes such as water-supply,sewerage or the like. This is done by means of a provisional ordermade by the board and confirmed by parliament. In such a uniteddistrict the governing body is a joint board constituted in mannerprovided by the order, and it has under the order such of the powersof a district council as are necessary for the purposes for which theunited district is created. Thus a joint sewerage board wouldgenerally be invested by the order with all the powers of a districtcouncil relating to the provision and control of sewers and thedisposal of sewage. It may also be convenient here to mentionPort sanitary authority. Powers of urban and rural councils compared.
A district council may from time to time make regulations withrespect to summoning, notice, place, management and adjournmentof their meetings, and generally with respect to thetransaction and management of their business. Threemembers must be present to constitute a quorum. At theBusiness and offices.annual meeting, which is held as soon as convenient afterthe 15th April in each year, a chairman for the succeeding year hasto be appointed. He presides at all meetings, and in his absenceanother member appointed by the meeting takes his place. Questionsare determined by the majority present and voting, the chairmanhaving the casting vote. Minutes are taken and, if signed atthe meeting or the next ensuing meeting, are made evidence. Theofficers of the council consist of a clerk, a medical officer, a surveyor,one or more inspectors of nuisances and a treasurer. Of these all butthe medical officer of health and inspectors of nuisances hold officeat pleasure and receive such remuneration as the council maydetermine. If the urban district is a borough, the town clerk andborough treasurer fulfil the same office for purposes of the PublicHealth Acts. The salaries of the medical officer of health andinspectors of nuisances are, as to one moiety thereof, paid out of “theexchequer contribution account” by the county council, if they areappointed in accordance with the requirements of the Local GovernmentBoard as to qualification, appointment, duties, salary andtenure of office. The orders of the Local Government Board as tothese matters are set out in the Statutory Rules and Orders. Districtcouncils may also employ such other officers and servants as may benecessary and proper for the fulfilment of their duties. Officers andservants are prohibited from being concerned or interested in anybargain or contract made with their council, and from receivingunder cover of their office or employment any fee or reward whatsoeverother than their proper salaries, wages and allowances, underpenalty of being rendered incapable of holding office under anydistrict council, and of a pecuniary penalty of £50. There are someexceptions to this provision somewhat similar to those alreadymentioned with respect to the disqualification of members of thecouncil. It may be mentioned here that by an act, called the PublicBodies’ Corrupt Practices Act 1889, severe penalties are imposedalike upon members and officers of public bodies for corruption inoffice.
A district council may appoint committees consisting wholly orpartly of members of their own body for the exercise of any powerswhich in their opinion can properly be exercised bysuch committees. Such committees do not, however,hold office beyond the next annual meeting of the council,Com-mittees.and their acts must be submitted to the council for their approval.If they are appointed for any purposes of the Public Health orHighway Acts, the council may authorize them to institute anyproceedings or do any act which the council might have institutedor done, other than the raising of any loan or the making of any rateor contract. A rural district council may delegate their entirepowers in any parish to a parochial committee. Such committeemay consist wholly of members of their own body or of members ofthe parish council, or partly of members of both. Such a committeemay be subject to any regulations and restrictions imposed upon itby the rural district council.
In dealing with the powers and duties of district councils it willbe convenient to treat of these first as they arise under the PublicHealth Acts, and afterwards as they arise under otherstatutes. In so far as such powers and duties are commonto urban and rural district councils alike they will bePublic Health Acts.referred to as appertaining to district councils. Whenreference is made to any power or duty of an urban council it is tobe understood that the rural council have no such power or dutyunless conferred or imposed upon them by order of the Local GovernmentBoard. And it must be borne in mind that in a borough theborough council is the urban district council.
The district council are required to cause to be made such sewers asmay be necessary for effectually draining their district. This dutymay be enforced by the Local Government Board oncomplaint made to them that the council have failed inperforming it, and in the case of a rural district by theSewerage and drainage.county council on complaint of the parish council. Allsewers, whether made by the council, by their predecessors, or byprivate persons, vest in the district council, that is to say, becometheir property, with some exceptions, of which the principal issewers made by a person for his own profit. The owner or occupierof any premises is entitled as of right to cause his drain to be connectedwith any sewer, on condition only of his giving notice andcomplying with the regulations of the council as to the mode inwhich the communication is to be made, and subject to the controlof any person appointed by the council to superintend the work.Moreover, the owner or occupier of premises without the districthas the same right, subject only to such terms and conditions asmay be agreed or, in ease of dispute, settled by justices or by arbitration.If a house does not possess a sufficient drain, the occupiermay be required to provide one, and to cause it to discharge intoa sewer if there is one within 100 ft. of the house, otherwise into acesspool, as the council may direct. In the case of new houses, thesemay not be built or occupied in an urban district without their beingfirst provided with sufficient drains as the council may require;and in an urban district it is forbidden to cause any building to benewly erected over a sewer without the consent of the council. Forthe purpose of sewage disposal a district council may construct anyworks and contract for the use or purchase or lease of any land,buildings, engines, materials or apparatus, and contract to supplyfor a period not exceeding twenty-five years any person with sewage.It may be pointed out here that these expressions are defined by theact, the effect of the definitions being shortly that a drain is aconduit for the drainage of one building or of several within the samecurtilage, while a sewer comprises every kind of drain except thatwhich is covered by the definition of a drain as above stated. Theresult has been that district councils frequently find themselves inthe position of being responsible for the repair and condition ofdrains which, by reason of having been laid for more than one house,are sewers vested in and repairable by them. An attempt was madeto remedy this state of things by the Public Health AmendmentAct 1890, section 19, but the remedy so provided was very partial,and may be said to be confined to the case where two or more housesbelonging to different owners are drained into a common drain laidunder private land, and ultimately discharging into a sewer in a roador street.
The district council are charged with the duty of enforcing theprovision of proper sanitary accommodation (water-closets, privies,ashpits, &c.) for all dwelling-houses, new or old, andfor factories, and the maintenance of such conveniencesin proper condition. The urban council have power toSanitary accommo-dation for houses. Removal
of refuse.
With regard to water-supply, district councils have extensivepowers. They may provide their district or any part of it with asupply of water proper and sufficient for public andprivate purposes, and for this purpose they may constructand maintain waterworks, dig wells, take onWater-supply.lease or hire any waterworks, purchase waterworks or water, orright to take or convey water either within or without their district,and any rights, powers and privileges of any water company, andcontract with any person for the supply of water. They may not,however, commence to construct waterworks within the limits ofsupply of any water company empowered by act of parliament orprovisional order to supply water without giving notice to thecompany, and not even then so long as the company are able andwilling to supply the necessary water. Any dispute as to whetherthe company are able and willing has to be settled by arbitration.Where the council do supply water, they have the same powers ofcarrying mains under streets or through private lands as they havewith respect to the laying of sewers, as already mentioned. Theycan charge water rents which depend upon agreements with consumers,or they may charge water rates assessed on the net annualvalue of the premises supplied. It is to be observed that they arenot bound to charge for a supply of water at all, unless they arerequired to do so in an urban district by at least ten persons, ratedto the poor rate, or in a parish in a rural district by at least fivepersons so rated in the parish. Even then the amount of the rateis left to the council, any deficiency in the cost of the water, in sofar as it is not defrayed out of water rates or rents, being borne inan urban district by the general district rate, and in a rural districtby the separate sanitary rates made for the parish or contributoryplace supplied. For the purpose of enabling them to supply water,most of the provisions of the Waterworks Clauses Acts are incorporatedwith the Public Health Act, and are made available for thedistrict council. They are empowered to supply water by measure ifthey think fit, and may charge a rent for water-meters. The powerof the district council to supply water is strictly limited to theirown district, but they may, with the sanction of the Local GovernmentBoard, supply water to the council of an adjoining district onsuch terms as may be agreed upon, or as, in case of dispute, may besettled by arbitration. If any house is without a sufficient supply,and it appears that a supply can be furnished at a reasonable cost,as defined in the Public Health Act and the Public Health WaterAct 1878, the owner may be required to provide the supply, and,if he fails, the council may themselves provide the supply andcharge the owner with the cost. All public sources of water-supplysuch as streams, pumps, wells, reservoirs, conduits, aqueducts andworks used for the gratuitous supply of water to the inhabitants ofthe district are vested in the council, who may cause all such worksto be maintained and plentifully supplied with pure and wholesomewater for the gratuitous use of the inhabitants, but not for sale bythem. The council may supply water to public baths or wash-houses,or for trade or manufacturing purposes. In the case of theformer the supply may be gratuitous. In the latter case it is to beon terms agreed between the parties. The urban council are requiredto cause fire-plugs, and all necessary works, machinery and assistancefor securing a supply of water in case of fire, to be provided andmaintained, and for this purpose they may enter into an agreementwith any water company or person. Provision is made for preventingthe pollution of water by gas refuse and enabling a district council,with the sanction of the attorney-general, to take any proceedingsthey may think fit for preventing the pollution of any stream intheir district by sewage. The district council are also empoweredto obtain an order of justices directing the closing of any well, tankor cistern, public or private, or any public pump the water fromwhich is likely to be used for drinking or domestic purposes, or formanufacturing drinks for the use of man, if such water is found to beso polluted as to be injurious to health.
Power is given to prohibit the use as dwellings of any cellars,vaults or underground rooms built or occupied after 1875, and withregard to such cellars as were occupied as dwellings before 1875, the continued occupation of these is also forbidden unless theyCellar dwellings.comply with certain stringent requirements as to the height ofthe rooms, height of the ceilings above the surface ofthe street, open areas in front, effectual drainage, sanitaryconveniences appurtenant to the cellars, and the provisionof fireplaces.
District councils are required to keep a register of the commonlodging-houses in their district. No person is allowed to keep acommon lodging-house unless he is registered, and ahouse may not be registered until it has been inspectedand approved for the purpose by an officer of the council.Common lodging-houses.Further, the council may refuse to register a keeperunless they are satisfied of his character and of his fitness for theposition. The council are empowered to make by-laws for fixing thenumber of lodgers and separating the sexes therein, promotingcleanliness and ventilation, giving of notices and taking precautionsin case of any infectious disease, and generally for the well-orderingof such houses. The keepers of common lodging-houses are requiredto limewash their walls and ceilings in the months of April andOctober in every year, and if paupers or vagrants are received tolodge, they may be required to report as to the persons who haveresorted thereto. They must give notice of any infectious diseaseto the medical officer of health and to the poor-law relieving officer,and they must give free access for inspection. There is no definitionof the expression “common lodging-house” in the Public HealthActs, and at one time the courts decided that shelters for the destitutekept by charitable persons were not common lodging-houses. Thatidea is now exploded, and the acts apply to charitable institutionswhich receive persons of the class ordinarily received into commonlodging-houses.
By-laws may also be made relating to houses let in lodgingswhich are not common lodging-houses. These by-lawsare in practice limited to those inhabited bythe poorer classes, although the act imposes no suchrestriction.Houses let in lodgings.
The Public Health Acts 1875 to 1907 contain elaborate provisionsfor dealing with nuisances. Those which are dealt with summarilyare thus enumerated:—(1) any premises in such a stateas to be a nuisance or injurious to health; (2) any pool,ditch, gutter, watercourse, privy, urinal, cesspool, drain or ashpit soNuisances.foul or in such a state as to be injurious to health; (3) any animal sokept as to be a nuisance or injurious to health; (4) any accumulationor deposit which is a nuisance or injurious to health; (5) any houseor part of a house so overcrowded as to be dangerous or injurious tothe health of the inmates, whether or not members of the samefamily; (6) any factory, workshop or workplace not already underthe operation of any general act for the regulation of factories orbakehouses not kept in a cleanly state or not ventilated in such amanner as to render harmless as far as practicable any gases, vapours,dust or other impurities generated in the course of the work carried ontherein that are a nuisance or injurious to health, or so overcrowdedwhile work is carried on as to be dangerous or injurious to the healthof those employed therein; (7) any fireplace or furnace which doesnot as far as practicable consume the smoke arising from the combustibleused therein, and which is used for working engines bysteam or in any mill, factory, dye-house, brewery, bakehouse or gaswork, or in any manufacturing or trade process whatsoever; and(8) any chimney not being the chimney of a private dwelling-housesending forth black smoke in such quantity as to be a nuisance.The nuisances above enumerated are said to be nuisances liable tobe dealt with summarily. It is the duty of every district councilto inspect their district with a view to the discovery of any suchnuisances. In the event of such discovery by them or of informationgiven to them of the existence of any such nuisance, the districtcouncil are required to serve a notice requiring the abatementof the nuisance on the person by whose act, default or sufferance itarises or continues, or if such person cannot be found, on the owneror occupier of the premises at which the nuisance arises. The noticemust require the abatement of the nuisance within a specified time,and must prescribe the works which in the opinion of the council arenecessary to be done. If the nuisance arises from the absence ordefective construction of any structural convenience, or if there is nooccupier of the premises, the notice must be served upon the owner.If the person who causes the nuisance cannot be found, and it is clearthat the nuisance does not arise or continue by the act, default orsufferance of the owner or occupier of the premises, the local authoritymay themselves abate the nuisance without further order. If theperson on whom the notice is served objects to give effect to it, hemay be summoned before justices, and the justices may make anorder upon him to abate the nuisance, or prohibiting the recurrenceof the nuisance if this is likely, and directing the execution of thenecessary works. If the nuisance is such as to render a dwelling-houseunfit for human habitation, the justices may close it until it isrendered fit for that purpose. Disobedience under the order ofjustices involves a penalty and a daily penalty for every day duringwhich default continues. Private persons may complain to justicesin respect of nuisances by which they are personally aggrieved, andif the district council make default in doing their duty, the LocalGovernment Board may authorize any officer of police to instituteany necessary proceedings at the cost of the defaulting council. Thedistrict council may, if in their opinion proceedings before justicesafford an inadequate remedy, take proceedings in the high court,but in that case, if the nuisance is of a public nature, they mustproceed by action in the name of the attorney-general. The provisionsas to nuisances are extended to ships by an act of 1885.
It is forbidden to establish within an urban district without theconsent of the council any offensive trade, business or manufacture.With regard to any offensive trade which has been established ormay be consented to in any urban district, if it is verified by themedical officer or any two legally qualified medical practitioners, orby any ten inhabitants of the district, to be a nuisance or injuriousto health, the urban district council are required to take proceedingsbefore magistrates with a view to the abatement of the nuisancecomplained of.
Any medical officer or inspector of nuisances may inspect anymeat, &c., exposed for sale or deposited in any place for the purposeof sale or of preparation for sale and intended for thefood of man. This power of inspection is, in districtswhere the Public Health Act 1890 has been adopted,Unsound meat.extended to all articles intended for the food of man. If uponsuch inspection the meat, &c., appears to be diseased, unsound orunwholesome, it may be taken before a justice for the purpose ofbeing condemned, and the person to whom the meat, &c., belongsor in whose possession it was found is liable to a penalty or, in thediscretion of the justices, to imprisonment for three months withoutthe option of a fine.
The Public Health Acts contain important provisions relating toinfectious disease. Any person who knows he is suffering from aninfectious disease must not carry on any trade or businessunless he can do so without risk of spreading the disease.Local authorities may require premises to be cleansedInfectious diseases.and disinfected; they may order the destruction of bedding, clothingor other articles which have been exposed to infection; they mayprovide proper places for the disinfection of infected articles free ofcharge; they may provide ambulances, &c. In the case of a personfound suffering from infectious disease who has not proper lodging oraccommodation, or is lodging in a room occupied by more than onefamily, or is on board any ship or vessel, such person may by meansof a justice’s order be removed to a hospital; a local authoritymay pay the expenses of a person in a hospital or, if necessary,provide nursing attendance; any person exposing himself or anyother in his charge while suffering from infectious disease, or exposinginfected bedding, clothing or the like, is made liable to a penalty.Owners and drivers of public conveyances must not knowingly conveyany person suffering from infectious disease, and if any personsuffering from such a disease is conveyed in any public vehiclethe owner or driver as soon as it comes to his knowledge must givenotice to the medical officer. It is also forbidden to let houses orrooms in which infected persons have been lodging, or to make falsestatements to persons negotiating for the hire of such rooms. Anact was passed in the year 1890, called the Infectious DiseasesPrevention Act. When adopted it enabled an urban or districtcouncil to obtain the inspection of dairies where these were suspectedto be the cause of infectious disease, with a view to prohibiting thesupply of milk from such dairies if the fact were established. Theact of 1907 extended the provisions of the act of 1890. It enables alocal authority to require dairymen to furnish a complete list ofsources of supply if the medical officer certifies that any person issuffering from infectious disease which he has reason to suspect isattributable to milk supplied within his district. It also compelsdairymen to notify infectious diseases existing among their servants.The act of 1890 also forbids the keeping for more than forty-eighthours of the body of a person who has died of infectious disease in aroom used at the time as a dwelling-place, sleeping-place or workshop.It provides for the bodies of persons dying of infectious diseases in ahospital being removed only for burial, and gives power to justicesin certain cases to order bodies to be buried. The diseases to whichthe act applies are smallpox, cholera, membranous croup, erysipelas,scarlatina or scarlet fever, typhus, typhoid, enteric, relapsing,continued or puerperal fever, and any other infectious disease towhich the act has been applied by the local authority of the districtin the prescribed manner. The most important provision, however,relating to infectious disease is that contained in the InfectiousDisease Notification Act 1889. That was originally an adoptiveact, but it is now extended to all districts in England and Wales. Itrequires the notification to the medical officer of health of thedistrict of every case in which a person is suffering from one of thediseases above mentioned. The duty of notification is imposed uponthe head of the family, and also upon the medical practitioner whomay be in attendance on the patient. The medical attendant isentitled to receive in respect of each notification a fee of 2s. 6d. ifthe case occurs in his private practice, and of 1s. if the case occursin his practice as medical officer of any public body or institution.These fees are paid by the urban or rural district council as the casemay be. The provisions as to notification are applied to everyship, vessel, boat, tent, van, shed or similar structure used forhuman habitation in like manner as nearly as may be as if it werea building. Exception is made, however, in the case of a ship,vessel or boat belonging to a foreign government. It is not toomuch to say that this act has been one of the most effectual means of preventing the spread of infectious disease in moderntimes.
The district council are empowered to provide hospitals or temporaryplaces for the reception of the sick. They may build them,contract for the use of them, agree for the reception ofthe sick inhabitants of their district into an existinghospital, or combine with any other district council in providingHospitals.a common hospital. As has already been mentioned when dealingwith county councils, if a district council make default in providinghospital accommodation, the county council may put in operationthe Isolation Hospitals Act. The power given to provide hospitalsmust be exercised so as not to create a nuisance, and much litigationhas taken place in respect of the providing of hospitals for smallpox.Up to the present time, however, the courts have refused to acceptas a principle that a smallpox hospital is necessarily a source ofdanger to the neighbourhood, and for the most part applicationsfor injunction on that ground have failed.
Where any part of the country appears to be threatened withor is affected by any formidable epidemic, endemic or infectiousdisease, the Local Government Board may make regulationsfor the speedy interment of the dead, house-to-housevisitation, the provision of medical aid and accommodation,Epidemics.the promotion of cleansing, ventilation and disinfection, and theguarding against the spread of disease. Such regulations are madeand enforced by the district councils. The provisions of thePublic Health Acts relating to infectious disease are for the mostpart extended to ships by an act of the year 1885.
District councils may, and if required by the Local GovernmentBoard, must provide mortuaries, and they may make by-laws withrespect to the management and charges for the use ofthe same. Where the body of a person who has died of aninfectious disease is retained in a room where persons live or sleep,Mortuaries.or the retention of any dead body may endanger health, any justiceon the certificate of a medical practitioner may order the removalof a body to a mortuary and direct the body to be buriedwithin a time limited by the friends of the deceased or in their defaultby the relieving officer. A district council may also provide andmaintain a proper place (otherwise than at a workhouse or at amortuary) for the reception of dead bodies during the time requiredto conduct any post mortem examination ordered by a coroner.
Under an act of 1879 the district council have power to provideand maintain a cemetery either within or without their district,and they may purchase or accept a donation of landfor that purpose. The provisions of the CemeteriesClauses Act 1847 apply to a cemetery thus provided. TheseCemeteries.cannot all be referred to here, but it may be noted that no partof the cemetery need be consecrated, but that if any part is,such part is to be defined by suitable marks, and a chapel in connexionwith the Established Church must be erected in it. A chaplainmust also be appointed to officiate at burials in the consecratedportion. The power to provide a cemetery under the act under considerationmust not be confounded with that of providing a burialground under the Burial Acts. These acts will be mentioned later inconnexion with the powers of parish councils, for in general they areadopted for a parish, part of a parish or combination of parishes,and are administered by a burial board, except where that body hasbeen superseded by a parish council or joint committee. It may bementioned, however, that under the Local Government Act 1894,where a burial board district is wholly in an urban district, theurban council may resolve that the powers, duties and liabilitiesof the burial board shall be transferred to the council, and thereuponthe burial board may cease to exist. And it is provided by thesame act that the Burial Acts shall not hereafter be adopted in anyurban parish without the approval of the urban council. Thedistinction between a burial ground provided under the BurialActs and a cemetery provided under the act of 1879 is importantin many ways, of which one only need be mentioned here—theexpenses under the Burial Acts are paid out of the poor rate, whilethe expenses under the act of 1879 are paid in an urban districtout of the general district rate, the incidence of which differs materiallyfrom that of the poor rate, as will be seen hereafter.
In an urban district the urban council have always had all thepowers and duties of a surveyor of highways under the HighwayActs. But before 1894 a rural district council had nopower or duty in respect of highways except in a fewcases where, by virtue of a provision in the Highway Act 1878,Highways.the rural sanitary authority of a district coincident in area witha highway district were empowered to exercise all the powers of aa highway board. Except in these cases the highway authority ina parish was the surveyor of highways, elected annually by theinhabitants in vestry, or in a highway district consisting of a numberof parishes united by order of quarter sessions, the highway boardcomposed of waywardens representing the several parishes. By theLocal Government Act 1894, there were transferred to the districtcouncil of every rural district all the powers, duties and liabilities ofevery highway authority, surveyor or highway board within theirdistrict, and the former highway authorities ceased to exist. Thehighway authority in every district, rural as well as urban, is thereforethe district council. Of the chief duties of a district council withregard to highways, the first and most obvious is the duty to repair.This duty was formerly enforceable by indictment of the inhabitantsof the parish, but it is not quite clear whether this procedure isapplicable, now that the liability to repair is transferred to a councilrepresenting a wider area. Under the Highway Acts it is enforceableby summary proceedings before justices and by orders of the countycouncil, but in either case, if the liability to repair is disputed, thatquestion has to be decided on indictment preferred against the highwayauthority alleged to be in default. In a rural district any parishcouncil may complain to the county council that the district councilhave made default in keeping any highway in repair, and the countycouncil may thereupon transfer to themselves and execute thepowers of the district council at the cost of the latter body, or theymay make an order requiring the district council to perform theirduty, or they may appoint some person to do so at the cost of thedistrict council. It is important to observe, however, that anaction does not lie against a district council in respect of the failureto repair a highway even at the suit of a person who has therebybeen injured. The reason assigned for this doctrine is that thecouncil as highway surveyor stand in the same position as theinhabitants of the parish, against whom such an action would notlie. The district council are, however, liable for any injury causedthrough negligence on the part of their officers or servants in carryingout the work of repair.
But while rural as well as urban district councils have the powersand duties of surveyors of highways, the provisions of the PublicHealth Acts relating to streets apply only in urbandistricts, except in so far as the Local GovernmentBoard may by order have conferred urban powers upon a ruralStreets.district council. These provisions have now to be referred to. Itmay be convenient to state that the expression “street” is hereused in a sense much wider than its ordinary meaning. It is definedby the act to include any highway and any public bridge (notbeing a county bridge), and any road, lane, footway, square, court,alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not. For certainpurposes streets as thus defined are divided into two classes, viz.those which are and those which are not highways repairable bythe inhabitants at large. But it has to be borne in mind that itis not every highway that is repairable by the inhabitants at large.Before the year 1836 as soon as a way was dedicated to public useand the public had by user signified their acceptance of it, it becamewithout more notice repairable by the parish. Therefore everyhighway—whether carriage-way, driftway, bridleway or footway—whichcan be shown to have been in use before 1836, is presumablyrepairable by the inhabitants at large, the only exceptions beingsuch highways as are repairable by private persons or corporatebodies ratione clausurae, ratione tenurae, or by prescription. Butin the year 1836, when the Highway Act 1835 came into operation,the law was altered. It was possible, just as formerly, to dedicatea way to the use of the public, and it thereupon became a highwayto all intents and purposes. But mere dedication did not makethe way repairable by the public. That result was not to followunless certain stringent requirements were fulfilled. When it isshown, therefore, that a highway has been dedicated after 1836, itis not repairable by the inhabitants at large unless it can be shownthat these provisions have been complied with, or that it has beendeclared to be repairable under provisions of the Public Health Actspresently to be mentioned. (There was also power given to justices,by the Highway Act 1862, to declare a private road or occupationroad in a highway district to be a public highway repairable by theparish; but this power does not appear to have been acted upon toany extent.)
All streets being highways repairable by the inhabitants at largewithin an urban district, are vested in and under the control of theurban council. After much litigation it has now been establishedthat this provision does not give the council an absolute propertyin the soil of the street, but merely such a qualified property inthe surfaces as enables them to exercise control. The urban councilare required from time to time to cause all such streets to be madeup and repaired as occasion may require, and they are empoweredto raise, lower or alter the soil of the street, and to place and keepin repair fences and posts for the safety of foot-passengers. Theother class of streets consists of those which are not highwaysrepairable by the inhabitants at large. Under the Public HealthAct 1875 such streets may be dealt with in manner following:—Ifany such street or part thereof is not sewered, levelled, paved,metalled, flagged, channelled, made good or lighted to the satisfactionof the council, the council may cause it to be made upat the expense of the owners of premises fronting the street in proportionto their several frontages. When all or any of the worksaforesaid have been executed in the street, and the council are ofopinion that the street ought to become a highway repairable bythe inhabitants at large, they may by notice to be fixed up in thestreet declare it to be a highway repairable by the inhabitants atlarge, and the declaration will be effective unless, within one monthafter the notice has been put up, the majority of the owners in thestreet object thereto. An alternative procedure has been providedby the Private Street Works Act, which may be adopted by anyurban council. One important point of difference is that underthe latter act the council may resolve that the expenses shall beapportioned among the owners not merely according to frontage, but according to the greater or less degree of benefit to be derivedby any premises from the works.
Where a house or building in a street is taken down to be rebuilt,the urban district council may prescribe the line to which it is tobe rebuilt, paying compensation to the building owner for anydamage which he may sustain consequent upon the requirement.Save to this extent, no power is given by the general law to a districtcouncil to prescribe a building line. But under an act of 1888 it isprovided that it shall not be lawful in any urban district withoutthe consent of the urban authority to erect or bring forward anyhouse or building in any street or any part of such house or buildingbeyond the front main wall of the house or building on either sidethereof in the same street.
The control exercised by an urban district council over streetsand buildings is to a very large extent exercised through by-lawswhich they are empowered to make for various purposes relating tothe laying out and formation of new streets, the erection and constructionof new buildings, the provision of sufficient air-spaceabout buildings to secure a free circulation of air, and the provisionof suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences. The manner inwhich such by-laws are made and confirmed will be hereafter noticed.In general, the by-laws require plans of new streets to be submittedto the council, and they are required to approve or disapprove ofthese plans within a month. They cannot disapprove of a plan unlessit contravenes the provisions of some statute or by-law; but if aperson builds otherwise than according to an approved plan he doesso at the risk of having his work pulled down or destroyed. Amongthe miscellaneous powers of an urban council with respect to streetsmay be mentioned the power to widen or improve, and certain powersincorporated from the Towns Improvement Clauses Act 1847, withrespect to naming streets, numbering houses, improving the line ofstreets, removing obstructions, providing protection in respect ofruinous or dangerous buildings, and requiring precautions to be takenduring the construction and repair of sewers, streets and houses.An urban council may also provide for the lighting of any street intheir district, and may contract with any person or company forthat purpose. If there is no company having statutory powers ofsupply within their district, they may themselves undertake thesupply of gas, and they may purchase the undertaking of any gascompany within their district.
An urban council may acquire and maintain lands for the purposeof being used as public walks or pleasure-grounds, and may supportor contribute to the support of such walks or grounds ifprovided by any other person. They may also contributeto the cost of laying out, planting or improvement ofPublic parks.lands provided for this purpose by any person, in their own districtor outside that district, if it appears that the walks or grounds couldeventually be used by the inhabitants of that district. An urbancouncil may also provide public clocks or pay for the reasonablecost of repairing and maintaining any public clocks in the district,though not vested in them.
Where an urban council are the council of a borough, and inother cases with the consent of the owners and ratepayers of thedistrict, they may provide market accommodation fortheir district. They may not, however, establish anymarket so as to interfere with any market already establishedMarkets and slaughter-houses.in the district under a franchise or charter. Forpurposes of markets certain provisions of the Markets andFairs Clauses Act 1847 are incorporated with the Public Health Act.The only one of these that need be noticed is that which providesthat after the market is opened for public use every person, otherthan a licensed hawker, who shall sell or expose for sale in any placewithin the district, except in his own dwelling-place or shop, anyarticles in respect of which tolls are authorized to be taken shall beliable to a penalty. The tolls which may be taken by an urbancouncil must be approved by the Local Government Board; andany by-laws which they make for the regulation of the market mustbe confirmed by the same body. An urban council may also provideslaughter-houses and make by-laws with respect to the managementand charges for the use of them. Where they do not provideslaughter-houses, all previously existing slaughter-houses have to beregistered and new ones licensed; and no person may lawfully use aslaughter-house which is not either registered or licensed. Licencesmay be suspended by justices in the event of their being usedcontrary to the provisions of the act or of the by-laws, and ona second conviction the licence may be revoked. On a convictionof selling or exposing for sale, or having in his possessionor on his premises unsound meat, the court may also revoke thelicence.
Certain police regulations contained in the Town Police ClausesAct 1847 are by virtue of the Public Health Act 1875 in forcein all urban districts. These relate to obstructionsand nuisances in streets, fires, places of public resort,hackney carriages and public bathing. An urban councilHackney carriages, &c.may also license proprietors, drivers and conductors ofhorses, ponies, mules or asses standing for hiring in the district inthe same way as in the case of hackney carriages, and they mayalso license pleasure boats and vessels, and the boatmen orpersons in charge thereof, and they may make by-laws for all thesepurposes.
Every district council may enter into such contracts as are necessaryfor carrying into execution the various purposes of the PublicHealth Acts. A district council being a corporation,the general law applies in the case of a rural councilthat they must contract under their common seal, theContracts, purchase of lands.exception to this rule including the doing of acts veryfrequently recurring or too insignificant to be worth the trouble ofaffixing the common seal. In the case of an urban council certainstringent regulations are laid down. A contract made by an urbancouncil, whereof the value and amount exceed £50, must be underseal, and certain other formalities must be observed, some of whichare imperative; for example, the taking of sureties from the contractor,and the making provision for penalties to be paid by himin case the terms of the contract are not observed. Every localauthority may also, for purposes of the act, purchase or take onlease, sell or exchange, any lands. Such lands as are not requiredfor the purpose for which they were purchased must, unless the LocalGovernment Board otherwise direct, be sold. Powers of compulsorypurchase of lands are also given under the Lands Clauses Acts, butbefore these can be put in operation certain conditions must beobserved. The Local Government Board must make inquiry intothe propriety of allowing the lands to be taken, and the power toacquire the lands compulsorily can only be conferred by means of aprovisional order confirmed by parliament.
With regard to the by-laws which district councils may makefor many purposes, the subjects of which have been already fromtime to time mentioned, it is only necessary to statethat these require to be confirmed by the Local GovernmentBoard. Such confirmation does not, however, give validityBy-laws.to a by-law which cannot be justified by the provisions of the act,and many by-laws which have been so confirmed have been heldto be invalid under the general law as being uncertain, unreasonableor repugnant to the law of the realm. For the guidance of localauthorities, the Local Government Board have from time to timeissued model series of by-laws dealing with the various subjects forwhich by-laws may be made, and these are for the most part followedthroughout England and Wales.
As a general rule, all the expenses of carrying into execution thePublic Health Acts in an urban district fall upon a fund which iscalled the general district fund, and that fund is providedby means of a rate called the general district rate. Tothis there are some exceptions. First, in the case of boroughsFinance.where from the time of the first adoption of the Sanitary Actsthese expenses have been paid out of the borough rate, the expensescontinue to be so paid; and in an urban district which was formerlysubject to an Improvement Act, the expenses may be payable outof the improvement rate authorized by that act. The generalrule, however, prevails over by far the greater part of Englandand Wales. The general district rate is made and levied on theoccupiers of all kinds of property for the time being assessable toany rate for the relief of the poor, subject to a few exceptions andconditions. Of these the first is that the owner may be ratedinstead of the occupier, at the option of the urban authority, wherethe value of the premises is under £10, where the premises are letto weekly or monthly tenants, or where the premises are let inseparate apartments, or the rents become payable or are collected atany shorter period than quarterly. When the owner is rated hemust be assessed upon a certain proportion only of the net annualvalue of the premises. The owners or occupiers of certain specifiedproperties are assessed in respect of the same in the proportion ofone-fourth part only of the net annual value thereof. Theseproperties include tithes, tithe commutation rent charge, land usedas arable, meadow or pasture ground only, or as woodlands, marketgardens or nursery grounds, orchards, allotments, any land coveredwith water such as the reservoir of a waterworks company, or usedonly as a canal or towing-path of the same, or as a railway constructedunder the powers of any Act of Parliament for publicconveyance. The reason for these partial exemptions apparentlyis that sanitary arrangements are made chiefly for the benefit ofhouses and buildings, while the properties just enumerated do notreceive the same amount of benefit. The only other point to benoticed in this connexion is that an urban council may divide theirdistrict into parts for all or any of the purposes of the act, ratingeach part separately for those purposes. The expenses of highwaysin an urban district fall as a rule upon the general district rate,but under certain conditions, which need not be here set out, aseparate highway rate may have to be levied. The urban councilhave extensive powers of amending the rate, and the rate is collectedin such manner as the urban authority may appoint.
The expenses of a rural district council are of two kinds. Ofthese the first is called general expenses, and it includes the expenseof the establishment and officers of the council, of disinfection,providing of conveyance for infected persons, and the expenses ofhighways. These expenses are payable out of a common fundwhich is raised out of the poor rate of the several parishes in thedistrict, according to the rateable value of each. Special expensesinclude the expenses of the construction and maintenance andcleansing of sewers, providing water-supply, and all other expensesincurred or payable in respect of a parish or contributory placewithin the district determined by order of the Local Government Board to be special expenses. The expression “contributory place”means a place other than a parish chargeable with special expenses.For the most part it has reference only to what is called a specialdrainage district, that is to say, a district formed out of one or moreparishes or parts of parishes for the purpose of the provision of acommon water-supply, or scheme of sewerage, or the like, and in theevent of such a district including part only of a parish, the remainingportion would, so far as the special expenses for which the districtwas created are concerned, be a separate contributory place. Thesespecial expenses are chargeable to each parish or contributory place,and they are defrayed by means of special sanitary rates, such ratesbeing raised on all property assessed to the relief of the poor, butwith the same exemptions of certain properties as have been mentionedunder the head of general district rate in urban districts.
District councils are empowered to borrow with the sanction ofthe Local Government Board, subject to certain restrictions andregulations. The money must be borrowed for permanentworks, the expenses of which ought in the opinion of theLocal Government Board to be spread over a term of yearsBorrowing powers.which must not exceed sixty. The sums borrowed must notexceed, with the outstanding loans, the amount of the assessablevalue for two years of the district for which the money is borrowed;and if the sum borrowed would, with the outstanding loans, exceedthe assessable value for one year, the sanction of the Local GovernmentBoard may not be given except after local inquiry. The moneymay be repaid by equal instalments of principal, or of principal andinterest, or by means of a sinking fund.
Where the urban council are the council of a borough, theiraccounts as urban council are made up and audited in the sameineffective manner as has already been mentioned inthe case of the accounts of the council under the MunicipalCorporations Act, but each of the borough auditors receives remunerationAudit.for auditing the accounts of the council as urban districtcouncil. Where the urban council are not the council of a borough,the accounts are made up annually, and audited by the districtauditor in the same effective manner as has already been mentionedin the case of the accounts of a county council. The accounts of arural district council are made up half-yearly and are audited inthe same way.
The Public Authorities Protection Act 1893 was passed to repealthe numerous provisions contained in many acts of parliament,whereby, before legal proceedings could be taken against apublic body, notice of action had to be given and theproceedings commenced within a certain limited time.Proceedings against district councils.The act applies to all public authorities, including, ofcourse, district councils, and it provides in effect thatwhere any action or legal proceeding is taken against acouncil for any act done in pursuance or execution, or intendedexecution, of an act of parliament, or of any public duty or authority,the action must be commenced within six months next after the act,neglect or default complained of, or in the case of a continuance ofinjury or damage, within six months next after the ceasing thereof.And it provides further that, in the event of the judgment of thecourt being given in favour of the council, the council shall be entitledto recover their costs taxed as between solicitor and client. Notice ofaction is abolished in every case.
Among other acts which are either incorporated with the PublicHealth Acts or have been passed subsequently to them, one of themost important is the Housing of the Working Classes Act1890. It contains three distinct parts. Under the first anurban district council may, by means of a scheme, acquire,Housing of the working classes.rearrange and reconstruct an area which has been provedto be insanitary. The scheme has to be confirmed by theLocal Government Board, and carried out by means of a provisionalorder. The second part of the act deals with unhealthy dwelling-houses,and requires the urban district council to take steps for theclosing of any dwelling-houses within their district which are unfitfor human habitation. The third part of the act deals with what iscalled in the act working-class lodging-houses. But the expression isa little misleading, for it includes separate houses or cottages for theworking classes, whether containing one or several tenements, andthe expression “cottage” may include a garden of not more thanhalf an acre, provided that the estimated annual value of such gardenshall not exceed £3. This part of the act may be adopted by a ruraldistrict council, but an urban district council can carry it into executionwithout formal adoption. Land may be acquired for erectinglodging-houses as above defined, and these, when erected, may bemanaged and let by the council.
The urban district council may adopt the provisions of the Bathsand Washhouses Acts, and thereunder provide publicbaths, wash-houses, open bathing-places, covered swimmingbaths, which they may close in the winter monthsand use as gymnasia.Baths and wash-houses.
Under the Tramways Act 1870 the urban district council mayobtain from the Board of Trade a provisional order authorizing theconstruction of tramways in their district by themselves.Any private persons, and any corporation or companymay, with the consent of the council, obtain the like authority,Tramways.but the Board of Trade have power in certain cases to dispensewith the consent of the local authority. Where the order is obtainedby a person or body other than the district council, the council maypurchase the undertaking at the end of twenty-one years after thetramways have been constructed or at the expiration of everysubsequent period of seven years, and the terms of purchase arethat the person or company must sell the undertaking upon paymentof the then value, exclusive of any allowance for past or future profitsof the undertaking, or any compensation for compulsory sale or otherconsideration whatsoever of the tramway, and all lands, buildings,works, materials and plant suitable to and used for the purposes ofthe undertaking. It should be observed, however, that althoughthe local authority may themselves construct, and may acquirefrom the original promoters a system of tramways, they may notthemselves work them without special authority of the legislature,and must in general let the working of the undertaking to someperson or company.
Under the Borough Funds Act 1872 the urban district councilmay, if in their judgment it is expedient, promote or oppose anylocal and personal bill or bills in parliament, or mayprosecute or defend any legal proceedings necessary forthe promotion or protection of the interests of the district,Bills in Parliament and legal pro-ceedings.and may charge the costs incurred in so doing to therates under their control. The power to incur parliamentarycosts, however, is subject to several importantrestrictions. The resolution to promote or oppose the bill mustin the first instance have been carried by an absolute majorityof the whole number of the council at a meeting convened by specialnotice, and afterwards confirmed by the like majority. The resolutionmust have been published in newspapers circulated in thedistrict, and must have received the consent of the Local GovernmentBoard or of a secretary of state, if the matter is one within hisjurisdiction; and further, the expenses must not be incurred unlessthe promotion or opposition has been assented to by the ownersand ratepayers of the district assembled at a meeting convenedfor the purpose of considering the matter, and if necessary, signifiedby a poll. Moreover, the expenses must, before they can be chargedto the rates, be examined and allowed by some person authorizedby a secretary of state or the Local Government Board, as the casemay be.
Under the Pawnbrokers Act 1872 the licences to pawnbrokers,which were formerly granted by justices, are now granted by districtcouncils.
Under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts certain important dutiesdevolve upon medical officers and inspectors of nuisances who areofficers of district councils. But for the most part theacts do not impose upon district councils themselvesany special powers or duties, although, as a matter ofAdultera-tion.fact, prosecutions for offences are usually undertaken by the districtcouncils, and the expenses of the execution of the acts are paidout of their funds. In quarter sessions boroughs, however, wherethe council have the duty of appointing a public analyst, they areunder an obligation to put the acts in force from time to time, asoccasion may arise. The acts themselves must be consulted for theprocedure, beginning with the taking of samples and ending with theconviction of an offender.
The powers and duties of a district council under the RiversPollution Prevention Act 1876 have been incidentallynoticed when dealing with county councils, whose powersunder the acts are precisely the same.Rivers pollution.
Under the Electric Lighting Acts the Board of Trade may licenseany district council to supply electricity, or may grant to them aprovisional order for the same purpose. A similarlicence or order may be granted to a private person orcompany to supply electricity within the district of aElectric lighting.district council, but in that case the consent of the district councilmust be given, unless the Board of Trade, for special reasons,dispense with such consent. These licences are now rarely appliedfor or granted, and the provisions which were formerly containedin the provisional orders have now been consolidated by the ElectricLighting Clauses Act 1899, the effect of which will be to makeprovisional orders uniform for the future. It is now almost theexception, at least in urban districts, to find a district councilwhich has not obtained a provisional order under these acts, andfor the most part the undertakings of local authorities in the wayof supplying electricity have been very prosperous.
Under the Allotment Acts district councils were empowered toprovide allotments for the labouring population of their district,if they were satisfied that there was a demand for allotments,that these could not be obtained at a reasonablerent by voluntary arrangement, and that the land couldAllotments.be let at such a price as would not involve a loss to the council.The district council might acquire land, let it and regulate it, andthey might provide common pasture. These powers were, by anact of 1907, transferred to parish councils.
The urban district council execute the Public Libraries Acts fortheir district, and the rate for the expenses of the acts, which maynot exceed 1d. in the £, is in a borough in the natureof a borough rate, and in any other urban district inthe nature of a general district rate. Under the actsPublic libraries.not only public libraries, but also public museums, schools forscience, art galleries and schools for art, with the necessary buildings, furniture, fittings and conveniences, may be provided for the inhabitantsof the district. Land may be acquired, and moneyborrowed, for the purposes of the acts.
A great number of other statutes confer powers or impose dutiesupon district councils, such as the acts relating to town gardens,agricultural gangs, fairs, petroleum, infant life protection, commons,open spaces, canal boats, factories and workshops, margarine, sale ofhorse-flesh and shop hours.
Before the passing of the Local Government Act 1894 therewas really nothing in the form of local government for a parish.It is true that the inhabitants in vestry had certainpowers. They could adopt various acts, which will bemore particularly referred to hereafter, and they couldThe parish and the parish council.appoint the persons who were to carry these acts intoexecution. They elected the churchwardens and overseers, thehighway surveyor, if the parish was a separate unit for highwaypurposes, and the waywardens if it was included in a highwaydistrict. But there was nothing in the nature of a representativebody exercising any powers of government in the parish regardedas a separate area. Under the act of 1894 this was changed. Inevery rural parish, that is to say, in every parish which is notincluded within an urban district, there is a parish meeting, whichconsists of the parochial electors of the parish. As already stated,these are the persons whose names are on the parliamentary andlocal government registers. If the parish has a populationexceeding 300, a parish council must be elected. If it has apopulation of 100 or upwards, the county council are bound tomake an order for the election of a parish council if the parishmeeting so resolves. Where there is no parish council, as will beseen hereafter, the various powers conferred upon a council areexercised by the parish meeting itself. Two or more parishes maybe grouped together under a common parish council by order ofthe county council if the parish meetings of each parish consent.An annual parish meeting in every rural parish must be held onthe 25th day of March or within seven days before or after thatdate; and if there is no parish council, there must be at least oneother parish meeting in the year. At the annual parish meetingthe parish council, if there is one, is elected, and the members ofthe council, who originally held office for one year only, now,under a subsequent act, hold office for three years. Any personwho is a parochial elector, or who has for twelve months precedingthe election resided in the parish, or within 3 m. thereof, may beelected parish councillor, and the number of councillors is to befixed from time to time by the county council, not being less thanfive nor more than fifteen. Women, whether married or single,are eligible.
The council are elected in manner provided by the rules of theLocal Government Board. The rules now in force will be foundin the Statutory Rules and Orders. They are very similar to thosewhich are in force with reference to the elections of district councils,which have already been noticed. If a poll is demanded, it must betaken under the Ballot Act, as applied by the rules, and for allpractical purposes it may be taken that the election proceeds inthe same manner as that of a district council. The parish councilelects a chairman annually. He may be one of their own number,or some other person qualified to be a parish councillor. The councilis a body corporate, may hold land in mortmain, and can appointcommittees for its own parish or jointly with any other parish council.Powers to appoint overseers.Among the powers conferred upon a parish council arethose of appointing overseers and of appointing and revokingthe appointment of assistant overseers. Churchwardensare no longer overseers, and the parish councilmay appoint as overseers a number of persons equal to the numberformerly appointed as overseers and churchwardens. It may beuseful to mention here that for purposes of the administration ofthe poor law, overseers no longer act, their duties in that respecthaving been superseded by the guardians. They remain, however,the rating authority so far as regards the poor rate and nearlyall other rates, the exceptions being the general district rate in anurban district and the borough rate in a borough, made by thetown council. They still have power to give relief to poor personsin case of sudden and urgent necessity, but their principal duty isthat of rating authority, and they are bound to make out the listsfor their parishes of jurors and electors. No payment is made tothem. The office is compulsory, but certain persons are privilegedfrom being elected to it. The assistant overseer, who was formerlynominated by the inhabitants and vestry and then formally appointedby justices, is now, as has been stated, appointed by the parishcouncil. He holds office at pleasure, and receives such remunerationas the council fix, and he performs all the duties of an overseer,or such of them as may be prescribed by the terms of his appointment.There may be in a parish a collector of rates appointed by theguardians. In that event, an assistant overseer cannot be appointedto perform the duties of collector of rates, but, on the other hand,the parish council may invest the collector with any of the powersof an overseer. The parish council may appoint a clerk, who may beeither one of their own number without payment, or the assistantoverseer, rate collector or some other fit person, with remuneration.
Among the duties transferred to parish councils may be mentionedthe provision of parish books and of a vestry room or parochialoffice, parish chest, fire engine or fire escape, the holdingor management of parish property, other than propertyrelating to affairs of the church or held for an ecclesiasticalPowers and duties of parish councils.charity, the holding or management of village greens orof allotments, the appointment of trustees of parochialcharities other than ecclesiastical charities in certain cases, andcertain limited powers with reference to the supply of water to theparish, the removal of nuisances, and the acquisition of rights of waywhich are beneficial to the inhabitants.
Among the most important of the matters which concern a ruralparish is the administration of what are commonly called the adoptiveacts. These include the Lighting and Watching Act, theBaths and Washhouses Acts, the Burial Acts, the PublicImprovement Act and the Public Libraries Acts. TheLighting and Watching Act.Lighting and Watching Act was formerly adopted for aparish, or part of a parish, by the inhabitants in vestry,who elected lighting inspectors, of whom one-third went out of officein every year. The inspectors took the necessary steps for havingthe parish lighted (the provisions as to watching having been obsoletefor many years), and the expenses of lighting were raised by theoverseers upon an order issued to them by the inspectors. Theowners and occupiers of houses, buildings and property, other thanland, pay a rate in the £ three times greater than that at which theowners and occupiers of land are rated and pay for the purposes ofthe act. Now this act, like the other adoptive acts, can only beadopted by the parish meeting, and where adopted for part only of aparish, must be adopted by a parish meeting held for that part.After the adoption of the act it is carried into execution by the parishcouncil, if there is one, and if not, by the parish meeting, and theexpenses are raised in the same manner as heretofore.Baths and Wash-housesActs. Burial Acts.
The Public Improvement Act, when adopted, enables a parishcouncil to purchase or lease, or accept gifts of land for the purposeof forming public walks, exercise or play grounds, andto provide for the expense by means of a parish improvementrate. Before any such rate is imposed, however, a sum in amountPublic Imp-
rovement Act.not less than at least half of the estimatedcost of the proposed improvement must have been raised by private subscription or donation, and the rate must not exceed sixpencein the £.
The Public Libraries Acts enable the authority adopting them toprovide public libraries, museums, schools for science, art galleriesand schools for art. The expenses in a rural parish aredefrayed by means of a rate raised with, and as part of,the poor rate, with a qualification to the effect that agriculturalPublic Libraries Acts.land, market gardens and nursery grounds areto be assessed to the rate at one-third only of their rateable value.
The expenses of a parish council may not, without the consent ofa parish meeting, exceed the amount of a rate of threepence in the£ for the financial year; but with the consent of theparish meeting the limit may be increased to sixpence,exclusive of expenses under the adoptive acts. If itFinance: expenses of parish council.is necessary to borrow, the consent of the parish meetingand of the county council must be obtained. Theexpenses are payable out of the poor rate by the overseers on theprecept of the parish council.
One of the most important powers conferred upon a parish councilis that which enables them to prevent stoppage or diversion of anypublic right of way without their consent and without the approvalof the parish meeting. The council may also complain to the countycouncil that the district council have failed to sewer their parish orprovide a proper water-supply, or generally to enforce the provisionsof the Burial Acts; and upon such complaint, if ascertained to bewell founded, the county council may transfer to themselves thepowers and duties of the district council, or may appoint a competentperson to perform such powers and duties. In a parish which is notsufficiently large to have a parish council, most of the powers andduties conferred or imposed on the parish council are exercised bythe parish meeting. It may be convenient here to add that where,under the Local Government Act 1894, the powers of a parish councilare not already possessed by an urban district council, the LocalGovernment Board may by order confer such powers on the urbancouncil. This has been done almost universally, as far as regardsthe power to appoint overseers and assistant overseers, and in manycases urban councils have also obtained powers to appoint trusteesof parochial charities.
The foregoing is a sketch of the scheme of local governmentcarried out in England and Wales. No attempt has been madeto deal with poor law (q.v.) or education (q.v.). Thelocal administration of justice devolving upon thejustices in quarter or petty sessions is hardly a matterof local government, although in one important respect,General observations.that, namely, of the licensing of premises for the sale of intoxicatingliquors, it may be thought that the duties of justices fallwithin the scope of local government. It will be seen that thescheme, as at present existing, has for its object the simplificationof local government by the abolition of unnecessary independentauthorities, and that this has been carried out almost completely,the principal exception being that in some cases burial boardsstill exist which have not been superseded either by urbandistrict councils or by parish councils or parish meetings. Thereare also some matters of local administration arising under whatare called commissions of sewers. These exist for the purposeof regulating drainage, and providing defence against water infen lands or lands subject to floods from rivers or tidal waters.The commissioners derive their authority from the SewersCommission Acts, which date from the time of Henry VIII.,from the Land Drainage Act 1861, and from various local acts.It is unnecessary, however, to consider in any detail the powersexercised by commissioners of sewers in the few areas undertheir control.
Authorities.—G. L. Gomme, Lectures on the Principles of LocalGovernment; S. and B. Webb, English Local Government; Redlichand Hirst, Local Government in England; Wright and Hobhouse,Local Government and Local Taxation; W. Blake Odgers, LocalGovernment; Alex. Glen and W. E. Gordon, The Law of CountyGovernment; Alex. Glen, The Law relating to Public Health; TheLaw relating to Highways; W. J. Lumley, The Public Health Acts(6th ed., by Macmorran and Dill); Macmorran and Dill, The LocalGovernment Act 1888, &c.; The Local Government Act 1894, &c.;Hobhouse and Fairbairn, The County Councillors’ Guide; Pratt,The Law of Highways (15th ed., by W. Mackenzie); Archbold, Lawof Quarter Sessions (4th ed., by Mead and Croft); J. Brooke Little,The Law of Burials; Archbold, On Lunacy (4th ed., by S. G.Lushington). (A. McM.; T. A. I.)
General Bibliography
Among earlier works devoted to, or dealing largely with topography,a few may be mentioned out of a considerable mass. W.Camden, Britannia; sive florentissimorum regnorum Angliae,Scotiae, Hiberniae ... chorographica descriptio (1586 and subsequenteditions; in Latin, but translated by several successive writersboth in Camden’s time and later); M. Drayton, Poly-Olbion (adescriptive poem, first issued in a complete form in 1622); T. Fuller,History of the Worthies of England (1662); J. Leland, Itinerary, andCollectanea, edited by T. Hearne respectively in 1710 and 1715;T. Cox and A. Hall, Magna Britannia (1720, based on Camden’sBritannia, in English); D. Defoe, Tour through the whole Island ofGreat Britain ... divided into Circuits or Journeys (1724–1727);various works of Thomas Pennant, published between 1741 and1820, and, at the same period, of Arthur Young (topographicaltreatises on agriculture, &c.); W. Gilpin, Observations on PicturesqueBeauty made in the Year 1776 in several Parts of Great Britain (1778);Essays on Prints and Early Engravings; Western Parts of England(1798), and other works on various districts; Gentleman’s Magazine(1731–1868); E. W. Brayley, J. Britton and others, Beauties ofEngland and Wales, or, Original Delineation, Topographical, Historicaland Descriptive, of each County (1801–1818; both the authors namedwrote other descriptive works on special localities; Britton wroteArchitectural Antiquities of Great Britain, 1835); Daniel Lysons(with the collaboration of his brother Samuel), Magna Britannia,Topographical Account of the several Counties of Great Britain (1806–1822;the counties were taken alphabetically but on the death ofSamuel Lysons in 1819 the work was stopped at Devonshire); SirG. Head, Home Tour in the Manufacturing Districts of England(1835); Nathaniel Hawthorne, English Notebooks (1870). Amongmodern publications, out of a great mass of works of more or lesspopular character, there may be mentioned the well-known series ofMurray’s Guides, in which each volume treats of a county or groupof counties.
Early in the 20th century the Victoria History of the Counties ofEngland (dedicated to Queen Victoria) began to appear; its volumesdeal with each county from every aspect—natural history, prehistoricand historic antiquities, ethnography, history, economic conditions,topography and sport being dealt with by authorities in all branches.
The maps of the Ordnance, Geological and Hydrographic Surveysdelineate the configuration and geology of England and the adjacentseas with a completeness unsurpassed in any other country. Forordinary detailed work the best series of maps is found in Bartholomew’sSurvey Atlas of England and Wales (Edinburgh GeographicalInstitute, 1903), which, besides small distributional, physical andother maps and letterpress, contains a magnificent series of coloured-contourmaps on the scale of 12 in. to 1 m. (also issued in larger separatesheets).
Statistics of every kind—of climate, agriculture, mining, manufactures,trade, population, births, marriages, deaths, disease,migration, education—are liberally furnished by governmentagencies.
See also A. J. Jukes-Brown, The Building of the British Islands(London, 1888); Sir A. C. Ramsay, Physical Geography and Geologyof Great Britain, edited by H. B. Woodward (London, 1894); LordAvebury, The Scenery of England and the Causes to which it is due(London, 1902); Sir A. Geikie, Geological Map of England and Wales(scale, 10 m. to 1 in.; Edinburgh, 1897); E. Reclus, UniversalGeography, vol. iv., The British Isles, edited by E. G. Ravenstein(London, 1880); H. J. Mackinder, Britain and the British Seas(2nd ed., Oxford, 1907); G. G. Chisholm, “On the Distribution ofTowns and Villages in England,” in Geographical Journal, vol. ix.(1897), pp. 76-87; vol. x. (1897), pp. 511-530; A. Haviland, TheGeographical Distribution of Disease in Great Britain (London, 1892);A. Buchan, “The Mean Atmospheric Temperature and Pressure ofthe British Islands” (with maps), Journal of the Scottish MeteorologicalSociety, vol. xi. (1898), pp. 3-41; W. M. Davis, “The Developmentof Certain English Rivers,” Geographical Journal, vol. v. (1895),pp. 127-148; H. R. Mill, “The Mean and Extreme Rainfall of theBritish Isles,” Min. Proc. Inst. C.E. (1904), vol. clv. part i.; “AFragment of the Geography of England—South-west Sussex,”Geographical Journal, vol. xv. (1900), p. 205; “England and Walesviewed Geographically,” Geographical Journal, vol. xxiv. (1904), pp.621-636.
- ↑ The general questions capable of a single treatment for England, Scotland and Ireland are considered under United Kingdom.
- ↑ Measurements made on a map on the scale of 1212 m. to 1 in., the coast being assumed to run up estuaries until the breadth became 1 m., and no bays or headlands of less than 1 m. across being reckoned. The coast-line of Anglesea and the Isle of Wight, but of no other islands, is included.
- ↑ A separate topographical notice is given under the heading Wales, but the consideration of certain points affecting Wales as linked with England is essential in this article.
- ↑ The figures given here are for the ancient or geographical counties. Section IX., on Territorial Divisions, indicates the departures from the ancient county boundaries made for certain purposes of administration. Each county is treated in a separate article in the topographical, geological, economical and historical aspects. Further topographical details are given in separate articles on the more important hill-systems, rivers, &c.
- ↑ Partly belonging to Scotland.
- ↑ The principal members of the Humber-system are the Ouse of Yorkshire (121 m. long from the source of the Swale or Ure) and the Trent (170 m.), qq.v. for their numerous important tributaries.
- ↑ Including the Medway (680 sq. m.) in the drainage area.
- ↑ Including the Wye (1609 sq. m.) and the Lower Avon (891 sq. m.) in the drainage area.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 These rivers have their earlier courses in Wales, and flow at first to some point of east. Of wholly Welsh rivers only the Towy and the Teifi are comparable in length and drainage area with the smaller rivers in the above list (see Wales).
- ↑ From the source of its headstream the Goyt.
- ↑ As in Bartholomew’s Survey Atlas of England and Wales (1903).
- ↑ The figures are for Registration Counties (see classification ofTerritorial Divisions, below).
- ↑ Census of England and Wales, 1901; General Report, p. 15.
- ↑ Certain great offices of state are closed to Roman Catholics.
- ↑ The actual selection of the bishops is in practice in the handsof the prime minister for the time being. This formerly led to purelypolitical appointments; but it is usual now to select clergymenapproved by public opinion.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 In 1906.
- ↑ There are in addition some thousands of Presbyterians unconnected withthe church, including members of the Church of Scotland.
- ↑ Great Britain and Ireland, 1906.
- ↑ On September 17, 1907, the United Methodist Free Churches, theMethodist New Connexion, and the Bible Christians were united under thename of the United Methodist Church.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 The figure 17·76 is the percentage for the whole of Yorkshire.
- ↑ The West Midlands (Shropshire, &c.) include the coal-fields ofShrewsbury, Leebotwood, Coalbrookdale, the Clee Hills and the Forest of Wyre.
- ↑ The Forest of Dean coal-field is in Gloucestershire.
- ↑ The coal-field of Monmouthshire belongs properly to, and in the Report is classified with, the great coal-field of South Whales.