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Author: ashelley

Admission to Borough (town or city) Freedom

Admission to Borough (town or city) Freedom

An Aide Memoire Recently, there has been a little confusion regarding the suitability of candidates and of their initiation. My following comments will apply singularly to borough (hereditary) freedom. I fully understand the dwindling nature of the uptake of candidates and am sympathetic toward its restoration. Firstly I will eliminate those seeking ‘Honorary’ freedom by alternative means. For example associate freemen of trade gilds/guilds. Such gilds are autonomous and possibly may engage associates of their gild. The Town Mayor’s Office…

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Abstract Reflections

Abstract Reflections

Of schoolboy walks through Dingley-dell on the way to church on Sundays ‘Righteousness’ or rectitude is the quality or state of being morally correct and justifiable. It can be considered synonymous with “rightness” or being “upright” or to-the-light and visible. It can be found in several religions and traditions. “ He does not die that can bequeath, Some influence on the land he knows. Or dares, persistent, interweave. Love permanent with the wild hedgerows”. Of the Norman church, St Mary’s,…

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The Red Triangle Club for Young Gentlemen

The Red Triangle Club for Young Gentlemen

I recently happened upon an interesting article concerning the origins of the YMCA. In a book about Wealdstone Village, Harrow, it refers to an old corrugated ‘Mission Hall’ that once stood in the High Street which became the local YMCA. This story recounts the background of Mr Jabez Barnes who came to live in Hindes Road Wealdstone, in order to have access to the railway for London and his business in Birmingham. Mr Barnes was a Somerset man, born in…

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Nicholas Breakspear, Pope Adrian IV

Nicholas Breakspear, Pope Adrian IV

On 4th December 1154 Nicholas Breakspear was elected as Pope Adrian IV, the only Englishman to have served on the papal throne. An article by Jessica Brain. He was born around 1100 in Bedmond, in the parish of Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire. He came from humble beginnings; his father Robert worked as a clerk in the low orders of the abbot of St Albans. Robert was an educated man but poor, making the decision to enter the monastery, probably after…

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Sudbury Manor, Harrow Middlesex

Sudbury Manor, Harrow Middlesex

St Mary’s, Harrow-on-the-Hill The hill at Harow is prominent over the landscape of London. In ancient times a small ‘Green Hill’ hamlet below the forested hill, developed in stature to become the London retreat of the Archbishops of Canterbury. It is reasonable to assume that, in later times, during the reign of the powerful Archbishop Simon of Sudbury, it would adopt the residential placename of Sudbury. It may also be intriguing to note that this lovely church had previously been…

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PHILOSOPHY OF FREEDOM

PHILOSOPHY OF FREEDOM

The Great Reform Act of 1832 brought enormous change to the hitherto heredity advantages enjoyed by the political aristocracy. This was further advanced by the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. The term Freeman of the Borough became no longer relevant with regard to inherited political advantages. The reforms of the 1830s were led in Parliament by Lord Grey and much resisted by Wellington. This website relates the importance of inherited rights and as ‘freedom’ has many facets to its meaning,…

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Guilds

Guilds

Their Strengths and Virtues Guilds in Britain have their origins in the Anglo-Saxon period, I have included some speculations in my notes below. The background to guilds (or gilds) could be likened to writing a history of commerce. However, the guilds did not necessarily begin as trading enterprises. The earliest of ‘gilds’, in their original form, tended to be fraternities with religious leanings. Historically, society was led by a monarchy and or their leading nobles. Merchants and craft artisans among…

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Saint Edmund

Saint Edmund

St Edmund, Martyred King of East Anglia The background of Edmund is somewhat questionable. He is purported to have been born in or around 841 in Nurenberg. It may possibly have been sometime before that. He died (was martyred) in the hands of the Viking Army in November 869. His origins are curious in that he was sought from Saxony where he had been brought up, and was elected to become king following a period of some desperation to find…

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