To Mr. G. W. Fulcher, Sudbury 1856 Dear Sir. – Knowing the interest you take in anything connected with the history and antiquities of your native town, I send you the enclosed document. It contains a curious tale of old ancestral times, and its own history is not less remarkable. A friend of mine who happens to be an architect, discovered its original amongst a mass of unintelligible papers (for most of them were written in cypher) in a cupboard,…
Charles Sparrow QC 1973 and 1991 Claiming freedom otherwise than through a father. I am of opinion that, as a general principle, freedom by birth may be established through a grandfather or other ancestor more remote than a father. And I consider that freedom as a “son of a freeman” is available in the same way. At the outset it seems to me important to reflect that, in every place, one is dealing with a matter of custom, which will…
The Freeman (Admission) Act 1763 The Freeman (Admission) Act 1763 is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (3 Geo III c. 15). The Act withheld the right to vote in Parliamentary elections, in those boroughs where honorary freemen could vote, from any freemen admitted to the freedom within twelve months of the first day of the election; it did not affect the rights of ordinary freemen, admitted by the custom of the borough in question. The Act was passed in response to a number of…
(Information taken from ‘Suffolk County Town: A Sudbury Miscellany’ by Allan W. Berry; ‘A Short History of the Borough of Sudbury’ compiled from materials collected by W.W. Hodson, by C.F.D. Sperling; ‘History of Sudbury Suffolk’ by C.G. Grimwood and S.A. Kay; Sudbury ‘Cocket Books’ transcribed by Allan W. Berry The Freedom of Sudbury is a concept of rights and obligations derived from custom and tradition. A Freeman of Sudbury, (the title applies to both men and women), is any person…
A Statement on behalf of Freemen and Guilds of England and Wales 1) ‘Freedom’ in the context of the Guilds of Freemen in England and Wales, has no connection with the release from the bondage of slavery, but rather the completion of a term of servitude through apprenticeship and the hereditary rights acquired through it. Nor must it be confused with the ‘honorary Freedom’ conferred on individuals by some cities, towns, or boroughs. 2) The power to create Freemen is…
To the Council of the Executive of F.E.W (15-02-2020) I feel duty bound to bring attention to the weakening of regulatory control over Admissions to Borough Freedom. Firstly, I am one who is ambivalent over the various forms of freemen within our Association. I also recognise the dichotomy affecting our wishes to increase the numbers within our Society. Everyone of us recognise the diminishing nature of take-up of freedom in the modern day. However, this surely must not be allowed…
For many years the Executive of our Association has been disturbed by the corrupt admissions of ‘Unentitled Freemen’. The dwindling uptake of responsible freemen has generated discussions among the Gilds leading to considerable concern regarding sustainability. Most gild committees are made up of elderly experienced freemen, faced with finding responsible replacements. We must all recognise that Borough Freedom status requires a genuine applicant to be either a descendant or an authorised apprentice. Since the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835 and subsequent…
EXPLANATORY NOTES INTRODUCTION These explanatory notes relate to the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act, which received Royal Assent on 12th November 2009. They have been prepared by the Department for Communities and Local Government in order to assist the reader of the Act. CHAPTER 5: LOCAL FREEDOMS AND HONORARY TITLES Introduction and background 63. This Chapter makes amendments to provisions in the Local Government Act 1972 concerning freemen (local freedoms), and honorary aldermen and honorary freemen (honorary titles). …
DNA indicates the family originates from Northern Europe and Anglo-Saxon in establishment. The surname Shelley has been attributed to an English locality of that name*. Three locations named Shelley anciently existed, in Suffolk nr Sudbury, in Essex nr Ongar and in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The earliest of these places, recorded in Old English, is ‘Schelfeage’ in Suffolk c 995. In the Domesday Book it is Sceveleia. The name precisely describes the home manor location. ‘Shelley’ is derived from…
(Old English Trade Descriptions) As a result of a question raised in the Open Forum at the 2012 FEW AGM as to what the difference between a Freeman and a Burgess was, I produced the following paper. To this I have added a dictionary of olden terms relating to civic and trade descriptions for ease of reference. Burgess or Freeman – is there a difference? Some confusion arises out of the use of these two expressions. The terms can be…