Harwich - (Part Two)

The name of Harwich is supposed to be derived from the Saxon words here, an army, and Wic, a castle or fortification, and hence it is supposed that a Saxon army was stationed here to prevent the descent of invaders. It is also probable that the Romans had a considerable station near the town, as the remains of an ancient camp, of great extent, may still be traced southward from the town to Beaconhill Field, in which is a tumulus. On one side the rampart, or vallum, is, in several places, from 10 to 12 feet high, and the ditch, now chiefly filled up, was 6 feet deep and 40 feet wide. Another earthwork extends from this on the top of the hill, and the road leading to it bears the name, and has in parts of it considerable remains of a stone pavement, proving it to have been a military way of the Romans; and several of their coins have been found in it. A tesselated pavement was discovered many years ago, near this road, in a farm belonging to Dover Court Vicarage; and a wall, pulled down about the same time, was found to be completed of Roman material. The earliest historical record relating to this neighbourhood, occurs in the Saxon Chronicle, where a battle is mentioned to have been fought at the mouth of the Stour, between the fleet of King Alfred and sixteen Danish ships, in the year 885. The Danes were completely defeated, and every sail taken, but the English were soon worsted in a second engagement with a more powerful fleet of the enemy. Harwich did not obtain any importance as a town till after the Norman Conquest. Its first considerable increase arose from the decay of Orwell, which is said to have been overwhelmed by the sea, as already noticed. Edward II., through the influence of his brother, Thomas de Brotherton, then lord of the manor, made it a borough corporation and market town, by charter in 1318; but it is said to have been a borough by prescription long before that period. Other charters were granted to it by Edward III., Richard II., Henry IV., V., and VI., James I., and Charles II. The charter of James I., was the basis of the municipal constitution previous to the passing of the Municipal Reform Act of 1835. Under that charter, the corporate body consisted of a mayor, 8 aldermen, and 24 capital burgesses, with a recorder, high-steward, town clerk, and other officers. The mayor was elected by the capital burgesses, out of the aldermen; the aldermen by the capital burgesses, and the capital burgesses by themselves! and most of the freemen were non-resident. This select body was also entrusted by the charters with the choice of two discreet and honest men, to be burgesses of the Parliament for the borough; and the honesty and discretion they sought was found for many years among the members of the government, who,in return found lucrative places for many members of the corporation! They held quarter sessions and a court of pleas every Tuesday, for the recovery of debts, not exceeding £100. A court of admiralty was instituted at an early period, but fell into disuse about the end of last century. The municipal commissioners state, in their report on the borough in 1833, that the loss of this court was the subject of regret among those interested in the shipping of the port, as disputes could be settled in it at much less cost than in other courts; but more than half of the harbour is subject to the jurisdiction of Ipswich. The borough is now governed by a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors, with a commission of the peace, embracing nine or ten magistrates; a town clerk, high steward, and other officers. The income of the borough in 1839 was £621. 16s. 6d., chiefly arising from land, buildings, market tolls, and port dues. The Corporation Property comprises a farm and lands in Beaumont, Tendring, and Thorpe, purchased in 1715, and let for about £150; a farm at Gt. Holland let for £100; and various houses, stores, shops, and other tenements in the borough, built at various periods on the waste, and now let for upwards of £100 per annum. In 1814 the corporation expended £1200 in building a new farm-house at Beaumont, £800 in building the National School, ans £300 in erecting a new Look Out House The mayor and magistrates hold petty sessions every Tuesday at the Guildhall, an old brick building, in which is the police station, with a lock-up for the temporary confinement of prisoners, who, if convicted, are sent to Colchester; the old Bridewell here being now disused and offered for sale. The Local Acts are as follows:- one passed in 1821, for completing the rebuilding of St. Nicholas church; one passed in 1824, for amending the said act; and another passed in 1819, for paving, lighting, cleaning, watching, and otherwise improving the town, and supplying it with water. The workhouse (now a brewery) was sold in 1836, after the borough had been joined to Tendring Union. A COUNTY COURT is held monthly at the Guildhall, for the borough and 16 neighbouring parishes in Tendring Hundred, and for this district Edward Chapman, Esq., is clerk; and Mr. James Pain, bailiff. Harwich returned two members of Parliament before the reign of Edward III., when the privelege was suspended; but it was restored by the charter of James I. The right of voting, previous to the passing of the Parliamentary Reform Act, in 1832, was in the mayor, aldermen, and capital burgesses, and the greatest number of electors polled within 30 years previous to 1831 was 20. In 1837, the number of registered voters 167, of whom 12 were freemen. At the general election in 1847 John Bagshaw and John Attwood, Esqrs., were elected as the representatives of this borough; but the latter gentleman was ousted for bribery, in March 1848, when Sir John Cam Hobhouse, Bart., was elected in his place. A petition has been presented against the return of the latter, alleging bribery and government interference, by sending the cutters to sea with voters on board. Mr. Bagshaw is also high steward of the borough, and is a liberal, in favour of the ballot. He was formerly an East India merchant, at the head of the firm Bagshaw and Co., of Calcutta.