England Parish Constable - International Institute

Appointments of Parish Constables
Anciently the parish constable was the man who preserved the peace and was appointed annually and regulated by the manorial court. He was also known as a Petty Constable or Bylawman, and in some places was synonymous with the Headborough, Thirdborough or Tithingman. In some boroughs the constable was known as the dozener, a term derived from the head of the dozen or jury.

In 1381 Justices of the Peace were established to whom he then reported, but for certain duties he was responsible to the Head or Chief Constable of the county division known as a hundred or wapentake.

As manors decayed during the 17th and 18th centuries, the parish vestry took over appointing the constable, but the head constable would be appointed by the quarter sessions, and was paid £5 per quarter. A constable was unpaid, (but did get expenses re-imbursed), and had to be an able-bodied male resident aged 25-55 who was required to serve when called unless he could pay for a substitute, or belonged to one of the exempted occupations (Arnold-Baker). Constables expenditures were paid for out of a separateconstables rate or from the poor rate from 1778.

From 1842 paid constables were appointed by the JPs, and county police forces were established from 1839, gradually replacing the parish constables.

Examples
Appointment of Headboroughs Vestry Minutes, St. George-in-The East, MDDX 

Appointment of Constables at Berkshire Quarter Sessions 1794-1813

Duties of Constables
The constable had a wide variety of responsibilities (Church, Hey, Fitzhugh):


 * The village stocks, pillory and cage or lock-up. The 1841 census for St. Osyth, Essex (HO107/338) shows three people confined in the parish cage for the night! In Bexleyheath, Kent on census night in 1851 the four Simpson children, ages 13 to 5, were left to fend for themselves, as a side note reveals thatthe father and mother were prisoners on the 30th in the police cells at the Station, Bexleyheath.


 * Watch and Ward, the mediaeval and early modern system of patrolling of towns for security. The night patrol was the watch, and the daytime was the ward, a rotating duty for all male citizens. They raised the hue and cry which was a parish responsibility whereby victims of, and witnesses to, crimes had to shout an alarm, and all who heard this were required to pursue the felon. If the latter succeeded in crossing the parish boundary the responsibility for his capture devolved upon the next parish.


 * Vagabonds and intruders who had no right of settlement in the parish, and whipping vagrants.


 * Securing prisoners and transporting them to quarter sessions or assizes.


 * Escaped prisoners, riots and unlawful assemblies. He was supported by the Riot Act of 1715 which, when he was faced by 12 or more persons whom he considered to be gathered riotously or unlawfully, allowed him to read a certain section of the Act forcing them to disperse within an hour or be considered felons.


 * Collection of county rates (taxes) which paid for the house of correction (later the county gaol), roads and bridges, lame soldiers, travellers with passes, and the assizes. Before the rates were amalgamated the annual payment from each parish to the High Constable of the hundred for the maintenance of prisoners in the county gaol was called rogue money.


 * Collection of national taxes like the poll tax, hearth tax and land tax.


 * Organizing ballots from 1757 for raising local militia and compiling muster rolls.


 * Providing lodging and transport for armed forces.


 * Lighting of beacons.


 * Weights and measures.


 * Supervision of alehouses and providing a list of them for licensing at the brewster sessions.


 * Non-attendance at church.


 * Oppression by other officers.


 * Commercial irregularities.


 * Compiling jurors’ lists.


 * Drunkenness.


 * Unauthorized building of additional cottages and dovecotes.


 * Poaching and orchard robbery.


 * Hedge-breaking.


 * Taking lewd women before the Justices of the Peace and control of bawdy houses.


 * Detaining fathers of bastards.


 * Destroying vermin.


 * Appearing at inquests.


 * Assault complaints.


 * Restraining loose animals in the pound or pinfold, the former name for the keeper of the pound being the pinder. For illustrations and descriptions of animal pounds see Parish.


 * The parish bull.

The position of constable was thus exceedingly time-consuming and resented by many who had to take their turn, with concomitant inefficiencies. Church has edited a contemporary account of the parish constable’s duties, and a detailed account of how they were appointed with a long list of those who were exempt is in Charles Arnold-Baker’s Parish Administration. From the time of Charles II cities employed night watchmen as assistants to the constables. These were usually old, infirm men who were virtually useless for the position, so quickly acquired the nicknames (right) Charlies. Their watchhouses, some also used as cages to hold prisoners, were sometimes converted into early police stations later on.

Constables Records and Accounts
Some constables accounts survive, for example those for two constables in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, William Boddington and John Joy can be found on. Another documents relating to the varied duties of the constables is shown below.

Assault Complaint 1831 Rogate, Sussex

A person capturing a felon who was later found guilty was issued a certificate called a Tyburn Ticket, named after the place in London where criminals were executed. This ticket was a valuable commodity as it exempted him from serving parochial office, and as it was transferable it could be sold for a good price, actually more than a labourer’s annual wage (Burchall, Cole, Sue May).

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online course English: Poor Law and Parish Chest Records offered by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies. To learn more about this course or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at [mailto:wiki@genealogicalstudies.com wiki@genealogicalstudies.com]

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