Chapter X: Act 1875: , but that power is now rarely exercised, and new urban (2)

As a general rule, all the expenses of carrying into execution the
Public Health Acts in an urban district fall upon a fund which is
called the general district fund, and that fund is provided by means
of a rate called the general district rate. To this there are some
exceptions. First, in the case of boroughs where from the time of the
first adoption of the Sanitary Acts these expenses have been paid out
of the borough rate, the expenses continue to be so paid; and in an
urban district which was formerly subject to an Improvement Act, the
expenses may be payable out of the improvement rate authorized by that
act. The general rule, however, prevails over by far the greater part
of England and Wales. The general district rate is made and levied on
the occupiers of all kinds of property for the time being assessable
to any rate for the relief of the poor, subject to a few exceptions
and conditions. Of these the first is that the owner may be rated
instead of the occupier, at the option of the urban authority, where
the value of the premises is under L10, where the premises are let to
weekly or monthly tenants, or where the premises are let in separate
apartments, or the rents become payable or are collected at any
shorter period than quarterly. When the owner is rated he must be
assessed upon a certain proportion only of the net annual value of the
premises. The owners or occupiers of certain specified properties are
assessed in respect of the same in the proportion of one-fourth part
only of the net annual value thereof. These properties include tithes,
tithe commutation rent charge, land used as arable, meadow or pasture
ground only, or as woodlands, market gardens or nursery grounds,
orchards, allotments, any land covered with water such as the
reservoir of a waterworks company, or used only as a canal or
towing-path of the same, or as a railway constructed under the powers
of any Act of Parliament for public conveyance. The reason for these
partial exemptions apparently is that sanitary arrangements are made
chiefly for the benefit of houses and buildings, while the properties
just enumerated do not receive the same amount of benefit. The only
other point to be noticed in this connexion is that an urban council
may divide their district into parts for all or any of the purposes of
the act, rating each part separately for those purposes. The expenses
of highways in an urban district fall as a rule upon the general
district rate, but under certain conditions, which need not be here
set out, a separate highway rate may have to be levied. The urban
council have extensive powers of amending the rate, and the rate is
collected in such manner as the urban authority may appoint.

The expenses of a rural district council are of two kinds. Of these
the first is called general expenses, and it includes the expense of
the establishment and officers of the council, of disinfection,
providing of conveyance for infected persons, and the expenses of
highways. These expenses are payable out of a common fund which is
raised out of the poor rate of the several parishes in the district,
according to the rateable value of each. Special expenses include the
expenses of the construction and maintenance and cleansing of sewers,
providing water-supply, and all other expenses incurred or payable in
respect of a parish or contributory place within 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 special drainage district, that is
to say, a district formed out of one or more parishes or parts of
parishes for the purpose of the provision of a common water-supply, or
scheme of sewerage, or the like, and in the event of such a district
including part only of a parish, the remaining portion would, so far
as the special expenses for which the district was created are
concerned, be a separate contributory place. These special expenses
are chargeable to each parish or contributory place, and they are
defrayed by means of special sanitary rates, such rates being raised
on all property assessed to the relief of the poor, but with the same
exemptions of certain properties as have been mentioned under the head
of general district rate in urban districts.

Borrowing powers.

District councils are empowered to borrow with the sanction of the
Local Government Board, subject to certain restrictions and
regulations. The money must be borrowed for permanent works, the
expenses of which ought in the opinion of the Local Government Board
to be spread over a term of years which must not exceed sixty. The
sums borrowed must not exceed, with the outstanding loans, the amount
of the assessable value for two years of the district for which the
money is borrowed; and if the sum borrowed would, with the outstanding
loans, exceed the assessable value for one year, the sanction of the
Local Government Board may not be given except after local inquiry.
The money may be repaid by equal instalments of principal, or of
principal and interest, or by means of a sinking fund.

Audit.

Where the urban council are the council of a borough, their accounts
as urban council are made up and audited in the same ineffective
manner as has already been mentioned in the case of the accounts of
the council under the Municipal Corporations Act, but each of the
borough auditors receives remuneration for auditing the accounts of
the council as urban district council. Where the urban council are not
the council of a borough, the accounts are made up annually, and
audited by the district auditor in the same effective manner as has
already been mentioned in the case of the accounts of a county
council. The accounts of a rural district council are made up
half-yearly and are audited in the same way.

Proceedings against district councils.

The Public Authorities Protection Act 1893 was passed to repeal the
numerous provisions contained in many acts of parliament, whereby,
before legal proceedings could be taken against a public body, notice
of action had to be given and the proceedings commenced within a
certain limited time. The act applies to all public authorities,
including, of course, district councils, and it provides in effect
that where any action or legal proceeding is taken against a council
for any act done in pursuance or execution, or intended execution, 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 of injury or
damage, within six months next after the ceasing thereof. And it
provides further that, in the event of the judgment of the court being
given in favour of the council, the council shall be entitled to
recover their costs taxed as between solicitor and client. Notice of
action is abolished in every case.

Housing of the working classes.

Among other acts which are either incorporated with the Public Health
Acts or have been passed subsequently to them, one of the most
important is the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890. It contains
three distinct parts. Under the first an urban district council may,
by means of a scheme, acquire, rearrange and reconstruct an area which
has been proved to be insanitary. The scheme has to be confirmed by
the Local Government Board, and carried out by means of a provisional
order. The second part of the act deals with unhealthy
dwelling-houses, and requires the urban district council to take steps
for the closing of any dwelling-houses within their district which are
unfit for human habitation. The third part of the act deals with what
is called in the act working-class lodging-houses. But the expression
is a little misleading, for it includes separate houses or cottages
for the working classes, whether containing one or several tenements,
and the expression "cottage" may include a garden of not more than
half an acre, provided that the estimated annual value of such garden
shall not exceed L3. This part of the act may be adopted by a rural
district council, but an urban district council can carry it into
execution without formal adoption. Land may be acquired for erecting
lodging-houses as above defined, and these, when erected, may be
managed and let by the council.

Baths and wash-houses.

The urban district council may adopt the provisions of the Baths and
Washhouses Acts, and thereunder provide public baths, wash-houses,
open bathing-places, covered swimming baths, which they may close in
the winter months and use as gymnasia.

Tramways.

Under the Tramways Act 1870 the urban district council may obtain from
the Board of Trade a provisional order authorizing the construction of
tramways in their district by themselves. Any private persons, and any
corporation or company may, with the consent of the council, obtain
the like authority, but the Board of Trade have power in certain cases
to dispense with the consent of the local authority. Where the order
is obtained by a person or body other than the district council, the
council may purchase the undertaking at the end of twenty-one years
after the tramways have been constructed or at the expiration of every
subsequent period of seven years, and the terms of purchase are that
the person or company must sell the undertaking upon payment of the
then value, exclusive of any allowance for past or future profits of
the undertaking, or any compensation for compulsory sale or other
consideration whatsoever of the tramway, and all lands, buildings,
works, materials and plant suitable to and used for the purposes of
the undertaking. It should be observed, however, that although the
local authority may themselves construct, and may acquire from the
original promoters a system of tramways, they may not themselves work
them without special authority of the legislature, and must in general
let the working of the undertaking to some person or company.

Bills in Parliament and legal proceedings.

Under the Borough Funds Act 1872 the urban district council may, if in
their judgment it is expedient, promote or oppose any local and
personal bill or bills in parliament, or may prosecute or defend any
legal proceedings necessary for the promotion or protection of the
interests of the district, and may charge the costs incurred in so
doing to the rates under their control. The power to incur
parliamentary costs, however, is subject to several important
restrictions. The resolution to promote or oppose the bill must in the
first instance have been carried by an absolute majority of the whole
number of the council at a meeting convened by special notice, and
afterwards confirmed by the like majority. The resolution must have
been published in newspapers circulated in the district, and must have
received the consent of the Local Government Board or of a secretary
of state, if the matter is one within his jurisdiction; and further,
the expenses must not be incurred unless the promotion or opposition
has been assented to by the owners and ratepayers of the district
assembled at a meeting convened for the purpose of considering the
matter, and if necessary, signified by a poll. Moreover, the expenses
must, before they can be charged to the rates, be examined and allowed
by some person authorized by a secretary of state or the Local
Government Board, as the case may be.

Under the Pawnbrokers Act 1872 the licences to pawnbrokers, which were
formerly granted by justices, are now granted by district councils.

Adulteration.

Under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts certain important duties devolve
upon medical officers and inspectors of nuisances who are officers of
district councils. But for the most part the acts do not impose upon
district councils themselves any special powers or duties, although,
as a matter of fact, prosecutions for offences are usually undertaken
by the district councils, and the expenses of the execution of the
acts are paid out of their funds. In quarter sessions boroughs,
however, where the council have the duty of appointing a public
analyst, they are under an obligation to put the acts in force from
time to time, as occasion may arise. The acts themselves must be
consulted for the procedure, beginning with the taking of samples and
ending with the conviction of an offender.

Rivers pollution.

The powers and duties of a district council under the Rivers Pollution
Prevention Act 1876 have been incidentally noticed when dealing with
county councils, whose powers under the acts are precisely the same.

Electric lighting.

Under the Electric Lighting Acts the Board of Trade may license any
district council to supply electricity, or may grant to them a
provisional order for the same purpose. A similar licence or order may
be granted to a private person or company to supply electricity within
the district of a district council, but in that case the consent of
the district council must be given, unless the Board of Trade, for
special reasons, dispense with such consent. These licences are now
rarely applied for or granted, and the provisions which were formerly
contained in the provisional orders have now been consolidated by the
Electric Lighting Clauses Act 1899, the effect of which will be to
make provisional orders uniform for the future. It is now almost the
exception, at least in urban districts, to find a district council
which has not obtained a provisional order under these acts, and for
the most part the undertakings of local authorities in the way of
supplying electricity have been very prosperous.

Allotments.

Under the Allotment Acts district councils were empowered to provide
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 reasonable rent by voluntary arrangement,
and that the land could 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, and they might provide common pasture. These powers
were, by an act of 1907, transferred to parish councils.

Public libraries.

The urban district council execute the Public Libraries Acts for their
district, and the rate for the expenses of the acts, which may not
exceed 1d. in the L, is in a borough in the nature of a borough rate,
and in any other urban district in the nature of a general district
rate. Under the acts not only public libraries, but also public
museums, schools for science, art galleries and schools for art, with
the necessary buildings, furniture, fittings and conveniences, may be
provided for the inhabitants of the district. Land may be acquired,
and money borrowed, for the purposes of the acts.

A great number of other statutes confer powers or impose duties upon
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 of
horse-flesh and shop hours.

The parish and the parish council.

Before the passing of the Local Government Act 1894 there was really nothing in the form of local government for a parish. It is true that the inhabitants in vestry had certain powers. They could adopt various acts, which will be more particularly referred to hereafter, and they could appoint the persons who were to carry these acts into execution. They elected the churchwardens and overseers, the highway surveyor, if the parish was a separate unit for highway purposes, and the waywardens if it was included in a highway district. But there was nothing in the nature of a representative body exercising any powers of government in the parish regarded as a separate area. Under the act of 1894 this was changed. In every rural parish, that is to say, in every parish which is not included within an urban district, there is a parish meeting, which consists of the parochial electors of the parish. As already stated, these are the persons whose names are on the parliamentary and local government registers. If the parish has a population exceeding 300, a parish council must be elected. If it has a population of 100 or upwards, the county council are bound to make an order for the election of a parish council if the parish meeting so resolves. Where there is no parish council, as will be seen hereafter, the various powers conferred upon a council are exercised by the parish meeting itself. Two or more parishes may be grouped together under a common parish council by order of the county council if the parish meetings of each parish consent. An annual parish meeting in every rural parish must be held on the 25th day of March or within seven days before or after that date; and if there is no parish council, there must be at least one other parish meeting in the year. At the annual parish meeting the parish council, if there is one, is elected, and the members of the council, who originally held office for one year only, now, under a subsequent act, hold office for three years. Any person who is a parochial elector, or who has for twelve months preceding the election resided in the parish, or within 3 m. thereof, may be elected parish councillor, and the number of councillors is to be fixed from time to time by the county council, not being less than five nor more than fifteen. Women, whether married or single, are eligible.

Powers to appoint overseers.

The council are elected in manner provided by the rules of the Local
Government Board. The rules now in force will be found in the
_Statutory Rules and Orders_. They are very similar to those which are
in force with reference to the elections of district councils, which
have already been noticed. If a poll is demanded, it must be taken
under the Ballot Act, as applied by the rules, and for all practical
purposes it may be taken that the election proceeds in the same manner
as that of a district council. The parish council elects a chairman
annually. He may be one of their own number, or some other person
qualified to be a parish councillor. The council is a body corporate,
may hold land in mortmain, and can appoint committees for its own
parish or jointly with any other parish council. Among the powers
conferred upon a parish council are those of appointing overseers and
of appointing and revoking the appointment of assistant overseers.
Churchwardens are no longer overseers, and the parish council may
appoint as overseers a number of persons equal to the number formerly
appointed as overseers and churchwardens. It may be useful to mention
here that for purposes of the administration of the poor law,
overseers no longer act, their duties in that respect having been
superseded by the guardians. They remain, however, the rating
authority so far as regards the poor rate and nearly all other rates,
the exceptions being the general district rate in an urban district
and the borough rate in a borough, made by the town council. They
still have power to give relief to poor persons in case of sudden and
urgent necessity, but their principal duty is that of rating
authority, and they are bound to make out the lists for their parishes
of jurors and electors. No payment is made to them. The office is
compulsory, but certain persons are privileged from being elected to
it. The assistant overseer, who was formerly nominated by the
inhabitants and vestry and then formally appointed by justices, is
now, as has been stated, appointed by the parish council. He holds
office at pleasure, and receives such remuneration as 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 the guardians. In that event,
an assistant overseer cannot be appointed to perform the duties of
collector of rates, but, on the other hand, the parish council may
invest the collector with any of the powers of an overseer. The parish
council may appoint a clerk, who may be either one of their own number
without payment, or the assistant overseer, rate collector or some
other fit person, with remuneration.

Powers and duties of parish councils.

Among the duties transferred to parish councils may be mentioned the
provision of parish books and of a vestry room or parochial office,
parish chest, fire engine or fire escape, the holding or management of
parish property, other than property relating to affairs of the church
or held for an ecclesiastical charity, the holding or management of
village greens or of allotments, the appointment of trustees of
parochial charities other than ecclesiastical charities in certain
cases, and certain limited powers with reference to the supply of
water to the parish, the removal of nuisances, and the acquisition of
rights of way which are beneficial to the inhabitants.

Among the most important of the matters which concern a rural parish
is the administration of what are commonly called the adoptive acts.
These include the Lighting and Watching Act, the Baths and Washhouses
Acts, the Burial Acts, the Public Improvement Act and the Public
Libraries Acts. The

Lighting and Watching Act.

Baths and Washhouses Acts.

Burial Acts.

Lighting and Watching Act was formerly adopted for a parish, or part
of a parish, by the inhabitants in vestry, who elected lighting
inspectors, of whom one-third went out of office in every year. The
inspectors took the necessary steps for having the parish lighted (the
provisions as to watching having been obsolete for many years), and
the expenses of lighting were raised by the overseers upon an order
issued to them by the inspectors. The owners and occupiers of houses,
buildings and property, other than land, pay a rate in the L three
times greater than that at which the owners and occupiers of land are
rated and pay for the purposes of the act. Now this act, like the
other adoptive acts, can only be adopted by the parish meeting, and
where adopted for part only of a parish, must be adopted by a parish
meeting held for that part. After the adoption of the act it is
carried into execution by the parish council, if there is one, and if
not, by the parish meeting, and the expenses are raised in the same
manner as heretofore. The Baths and Washhouses Acts have already been
referred to in dealing with district councils, and it is sufficient to
say that they are now adopted and administered in a rural parish in
the manner pointed out with reference to the Lighting and Watching
Act. The same may be said of the Burial Acts, but these are
sufficiently important to require special notice. These acts contain
provisions whereby burials may be prohibited in urban districts, and
churchyards or burial grounds already existing may be closed when
full. Formerly, when the acts had been adopted by the vestry, it was
necessary to appoint a burial board to carry the acts into execution
and provide and manage burial grounds. Now, in a rural parish which is
coextensive with an area for which the acts have been adopted, the
burial board is abolished and the acts are administered by the parish
council; and the acts cannot be adopted in a rural parish save by the
parish meeting. If the area under a burial board in 1894 was partly in
a rural parish and partly in an urban district, the burial board was
superseded, and the powers of the board are exercised by a joint
committee appointed partly by the urban district council and partly by
the parish council, or parish meeting, as the case may be. In a rural
parish where there is no parish council, though the acts are adopted
by the parish meeting, it is still necessary to elect the burial
board, and that board will be elected by the parish meeting. The
distinction between a burial ground under the Burial Acts and a
cemetery provided under the Public Health Acts has already been
noticed. A burial ground, properly so called, has to be divided into
consecrated and unconsecrated portions, and the former really takes
the place of the parish churchyard; and the incumbent of the parish
church, the clerk, and the sexton continue to receive the same fees
upon burials in the consecrated portion as they would have done in the
parish churchyard. It has been mentioned that a portion of the burial
ground must be left unconsecrated. But this is subject to one
important exception, that the parish meeting may unanimously resolve
that the whole of the burial ground shall be consecrated. In that
case, however, the parish council may, within ten years thereafter,
determine that a separate unconsecrated burial ground shall also be
provided for the parish. The expenses of the execution of the Burial
Acts are provided by the overseers out of the poor rate upon the
certificate of the body entrusted with the execution of them. In the
event of the acts being adopted for a portion only of a rural parish,
the burial board, or the parish meeting, may by resolution transfer
all the powers of the board to the parish council.

Public Improvement Act.

The Public Improvement Act, when adopted, enables a parish council to
purchase or lease, or accept gifts of land for the purpose of forming
public walks, exercise or play grounds, and to provide for the expense
by means of a parish improvement rate. Before any such rate is
imposed, however, a sum in amount not less than at least half of the
estimated cost of the proposed improvement must have been raised by
private subscription or donation, and the rate must not exceed
sixpence in the L.

Public Libraries Acts.

The Public Libraries Acts enable the authority adopting them to
provide public libraries, museums, schools for science, art galleries
and schools for art. The expenses in a rural parish are defrayed by
means of a rate raised with, and as part of, the poor rate, with a
qualification to the effect that agricultural land, market gardens and
nursery grounds are to be assessed to the rate at one-third only of
their rateable value.

Finance: expenses of parish council.

The expenses of a parish council may not, without the consent of a
parish meeting, exceed the amount of a rate of threepence in the L for
the financial year; but with the consent of the parish meeting the
limit may be increased to sixpence, exclusive of expenses under the
adoptive acts. If it is necessary to borrow, the consent of the parish
meeting and of the county council must be obtained. The expenses are
payable out of the poor rate by the overseers on the precept of the
parish council.

One of the most important powers conferred upon a parish council is
that which enables them to prevent stoppage or diversion of any public
right of way without their consent and without the approval of the
parish meeting. The council may also complain to the county council
that the district council have failed to sewer their parish or provide
a proper water-supply, or generally to enforce the provisions of the
Burial Acts; and upon such complaint, if ascertained to be well
founded, the county council may transfer to themselves the powers and
duties of the district council, or may appoint a competent person to
perform such powers and duties. In a parish which is not sufficiently
large to have a parish council, most of the powers and duties
conferred or imposed on the parish council are exercised by the parish
meeting. It may be convenient here to add that where, under the Local
Government Act 1894, the powers of a parish council are not already
possessed by an urban district council, the Local Government Board may
by order confer such powers on the urban council. This has been done
almost universally, as far as regards the power to appoint overseers
and assistant overseers, and in many cases urban councils have also
obtained powers to appoint trustees of parochial charities.

General observations.

The foregoing is a sketch of the scheme of local government carried out in England and Wales. No attempt has been made to deal with poor law (q.v.) or education (q.v.). The local administration of justice devolving upon the justices in quarter or petty sessions is hardly a matter of local government, although in one important respect, that, namely, of the licensing of premises for the sale of intoxicating liquors, it may be thought that the duties of justices fall within the scope of local government. It will be seen that the scheme, as at present existing, has for its object the simplification of local government by the abolition of unnecessary independent authorities, and that this has been carried out almost completely, the principal exception being that in some cases burial boards still exist which have not been superseded either by urban district councils or by parish councils or parish meetings. There are also some matters of local administration arising under what are called commissions of sewers. These exist for the purpose of regulating drainage, and providing defence against water in fen lands or lands subject to floods from rivers or tidal waters. The commissioners derive their authority from the Sewers Commission 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 powers exercised by commissioners of sewers in the few areas under their control.

AUTHORITIES.--G. L. Gomme, _Lectures on the Principles of Local
Government_; S. and B. Webb, _English Local Government_; Redlich and
Hirst, _Local Government in England_; Wright and Hobhouse, _Local
Government and Local Taxation_; W. Blake Odgers, _Local Government_;
Alex. Glen and W. E. Gordon, _The Law of County Government_; Alex.
Glen, _The Law relating to Public Health_; _The Law relating to
Highways_; W. J. Lumley, _The Public Health Acts_ (6th ed., by
Macmorran and Dill); Macmorran and Dill, _The Local Government 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, _Law of 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 subsequent editions; in
Latin, but translated by several successive writers both in Camden's
time and later); M. Drayton, _Poly-Olbion_ (a descriptive poem, first
issued in a complete form in 1622); T. Fuller, _History of the
Worthies of England_ (1662); J. Leland, _Itinerary_, and
_Collectanea_, edited by T. Hearne respectively in 1710 and 1715; T.
Cox and A. Hall, _Magna Britannia_ (1720, based on Camden's
_Britannia_, in English); D. Defoe, _Tour through the whole Island of
Great Britain ... divided into Circuits or Journeys_ (1724-1727);
various works of Thomas Pennant, published between 1741 and 1820, and,
at the same period, of Arthur Young (topographical treatises on
agriculture, &c.); W. Gilpin, _Observations on Picturesque Beauty 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 of England and Wales,
or, Original Delineation, Topographical, Historical and Descriptive,
of each County_ (1801-1818; both the authors named wrote other
descriptive works on special localities; Britton wrote _Architectural
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 of
Samuel Lysons in 1819 the work was stopped at Devonshire); Sir G.
Head, _Home Tour in the Manufacturing Districts of England_ (1835);
Nathaniel Hawthorne, _English Notebooks_ (1870). Among modern
publications, out of a great mass of works of more or less popular
character, there may be mentioned the well-known series of _Murray's
Guides_, in which each volume treats of a county or group of counties.

Early in the 20th century the _Victoria History of the Counties of
England_ (dedicated to Queen Victoria) began to appear; its volumes
deal with each county from every aspect--natural history, prehistoric
and 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 Surveys
delineate the configuration and geology of England and the adjacent
seas with a completeness unsurpassed in any other country. For
ordinary detailed work the best series of maps is found in
Bartholomew's _Survey Atlas of England and Wales_ (Edinburgh
Geographical Institute, 1903), which, besides small distributional,
physical and other maps and letterpress, contains a magnificent series
of coloured-contour maps on the scale of 1/2 in. to 1 m. (also issued
in larger separate sheets).

Statistics of every kind--of climate, agriculture, mining,
manufactures, trade, population, births, marriages, deaths, disease,
migration, education--are liberally furnished by government agencies.

See also A. J. Jukes-Brown, _The Building of the British Islands_
(London, 1888); Sir A. C. Ramsay, _Physical Geography and Geology of
Great Britain_, edited by H. B. Woodward (London, 1894); Lord Avebury,
_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, _Universal Geography_, 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 of Towns and Villages in
England," in _Geographical Journal_, vol. ix. (1897), pp. 76-87; vol.
x. (1897), pp. 511-530; A. Haviland, _The Geographical Distribution of
Disease in Great Britain_ (London, 1892); A. Buchan, "The Mean
Atmospheric Temperature and Pressure of the British Islands" (with
maps), _Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society_, vol. xi.
(1898), pp. 3-41; W. M. Davis, "The Development of Certain English
Rivers," _Geographical Journal_, vol. v. (1895), pp. 127-148; H. R.
Mill, "The Mean and Extreme Rainfall of the British Isles," _Min.
Proc. Inst. C.E._ (1904), vol. clv. part i.; "A Fragment of the
Geography of England--South-west Sussex," _Geographical Journal_, vol.
xv. (1900), p. 205; "England and Wales viewed Geographically,"
_Geographical Journal_, vol. xxiv. (1904), pp. 621-636.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The general questions capable of a single treatment for England,
Scotland and Ireland are considered under UNITED KINGDOM.

[2] Measurements made on a map on the scale of 12-1/2 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.

[3] 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.

[4] 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.

[5] Partly belonging to Scotland.

[6] 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.

[7] Including the Medway (680 sq. m.) in the drainage area.

[8] Including the Wye (1609 sq. m.) and the Lower Avon (891 sq. m.)
in the drainage area.

[9] 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).

[10] From the source of its headstream the Goyt.

[11] As in Bartholomew's Survey Atlas of England and Wales (1903).

[12] The figures are for Registration Counties (see classification of
_Territorial Divisions_, below).

[13] Census of England and Wales, 1901; General Report, p. 15.

[14] Certain great offices of state are closed to Roman Catholics.

[15] The actual selection of the bishops is in practice in the hands
of the prime minister for the time being. This formerly led to purely
political appointments; but it is usual now to select clergymen
approved by public opinion.

[16] In 1906.

[17] There are in addition some thousands of Presbyterians
unconnected with the church, including members of the Church of
Scotland.

[18] Great Britain and Ireland, 1906.

[19] On September 17, 1907, the United Methodist Free Churches, the
Methodist New Connexion, and the Bible Christians were united under
the name of the United Methodist Church.

[20] The figure 17.76 is the percentage for the whole of Yorkshire.

[21] The West Midlands (Shropshire, &c.) include the coal-fields of
Shrewsbury, Leebotwood, Coalbrookdale, the Clee Hills and the Forest
of Wyre.

[22] The Forest of Dean coal-field is in Gloucestershire.

[23] The coal-field of Monmouthshire belongs properly to, and in the
Report is classified with, the great coal-field of South Wales.

ENGLAND, THE CHURCH OF. The Church of England claims to be a branch of the Catholic and Apostolic Church; it is episcopal in its essence and administration, and is established by law in that the state recognizes it as the national church of the English people, an integral part of the constitution of the realm. It existed, in name and in fact, as the church of the English people centuries before that people became a united nation, and, in spite of changes in doctrine and ritual, it remains the same church that was planted in England at the end of the 6th century. From it the various tribes which had conquered the land received a bond of union, and in it they beheld a pattern of a single organized government administered by local officers, to which they gradually attained in their secular polity. In England, then, the state is in a sense the child of the church. The doctrines of the English Church may be gathered from its Book of Common Prayer (see PRAYER, BOOK OF COMMON) as finally revised in 1661, with the form of ordaining and consecrating bishops, priests and deacons, with the exception of the services for certain days which were abrogated in 1859; from the XXXIX Articles (see CREEDS), published with royal authority in 1571; and from the First and Second Books of Homilies of 1549 and 1562 respectively, which are declared in Article XXXV. to contain sound doctrine.

Christianity in Roman Britain.

The British church.

_Precursors._--Christianity reached Britain during the 3rd century, and perhaps earlier, probably from Gaul. An early tradition records the death of a martyr Alban at Verulamium, the present St Albans. A fully grown British Church existed in the 4th century: bishops of London, York and Lincoln attended the council of Arles in 314; the church assented to the council of Nicaea in 325, and some of its bishops were present at the council of Rimini in 359. The church held the Catholic faith. Britons made pilgrimages, to Rome and to Palestine, and some joined the monks who gathered round St Martin, bishop of Tours. Among these was Ninian, who preached to the southern Picts, and about 400 built a church of stone on Wigton Bay; its whiteness struck the people and their name for it is commemorated in the modern name Whithorn. From northern Britain, St Patrick (see PATRICK, ST) went to accomplish his work as the apostle of Ireland. Early in the 5th century Britain was infected by the heresy of Pelagius, himself a Briton by birth, but in 429 Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, and Lupus, bishop of Troyes, recalled the church to orthodoxy and, according to tradition, led their converts to victory, the "Hallelujah victory," over the Picts and Scots. When the Britons were hard pressed by Saxon invaders large bodies of them found shelter in western Armorica, in a lesser Britain, which gave its name to Brittany. A British Church was founded there, and bishops, scholars and recluses of either Britain seem constantly to have visited the other. The Saxon invasion cut off Britain from communication with Rome; and the British Church having no share in the progressive life of the Roman Church, differences gradually arose between them. The organization of the British Church was monastic, its bishops being members, usually abbots, of monasteries, and not strictly diocesan, for the monasteries to which the clergy were attached had a tribal character. The monastic communities were large, Bangor numbered 2000 monks. From Gildas, a British monk, who wrote about 550, we gather that the bishops were rich and powerful and claimed apostolical succession; that though governed by synods the church lacked discipline; that simony was rife, and that bishops and clergy were neglectful. He evidently draws too dark a picture, for religious activity was not extinct. Gildas himself and others preached in Ireland, and from them the Scots, the dominant people of Ireland, received a ritual. The organization of the Scotic Church in Ireland was similar to that of the British Church. Its monastic settlements or schools were many and large, and were the abodes of learning. Bishops dwelt in them and were reverenced for their office, but each was subject to the direction of the abbot and convent. In 565 (?) St Columba, the founder and head of several Scotic monasteries, left Ireland and founded a monastery in Hii or Iona, which afforded gospel teaching to the Scots of Dalriada and the northern Picts, and later did a great work in evangelizing many of the Teutonic conquerors of Britain. By 602 the British Church, in common with the Irish Scots, followed practices which differed from the Roman use as it then was; it kept Easter at a different date; its clergy wore a different tonsure, and there was some defect in its baptismal rite. The conquerors of Britain--Saxons, Angles and Jutes--were heathens; the Britons gradually retreated before them to Wales, and to western and northern districts, or dwelt among them either as slaves or as outlaws hiding in swamps and forests, and they made no attempts to evangelize the conquering race.

Foundation of the English church.

About 587 a Roman abbot, Gregory, afterwards Pope Gregory the Great, is said to have seen some English boys exposed for sale in Rome and asked of what people they were, of what kingdom and who was their king. They were "Angli," he was told, of Deira, the modern Yorkshire, and their king was AElle. "Not 'Angli,'" said he, struck with the beauty of the fair-haired boys, "but 'angeli' (angels), fleeing from wrath (_de ira_), and AElle's people must sing Alleluia." He wished himself to go as a missionary to the English, but was prevented. After he became pope he sent a mission to England headed by Augustine. The way was prepared, for AEthelberht, king of Kent, had married a Christian, a Frankish princess Berhta, and allowed her to worship the true God. She brought with her a bishop who ministered to her in St Martin's church outside Canterbury, but evidently made no effort to spread the faith. Augustine and his band landed probably at Ebbsfleet in 597. They were well received by AEthelberht, who was converted and baptized. On the 16th of November Augustine was consecrated by the archbishop of Arles to be the archbishop of the English, and by Christmas had baptized 10,000 Kentish men. Thus the fathers of the English Church were Pope Gregory and St Augustine. Augustine restored a church of the Roman times at Canterbury to be the church of his see. The mission was reinforced from Rome; and Gregory sent directions for the rule of the infant church. There were to be two archbishops, at London and York; London, however, was not fully Christianized for some years, and the primatial see remained at Canterbury. Augustine held two conferences with British bishops; he bade them give up their peculiar usages, conform to the Roman ritual, and join him in evangelizing the English. His haughtiness is said to have offended them; they refused, and the English Church owes nothing to its British predecessor. The mission prospered, and bishops were consecrated for Rochester, and for London for the East Saxons. After Augustine and AEthelberht died a short religious reaction took place in Kent, and the East Saxons apostatized. In 627 Edwin, king of Northumbria, who had married a daughter of AEthelberht, was converted and baptized with his nobles by Paulinus, who became the first bishop of York. As Edwin's kingdom extended from the Humber to the Forth and included the Trent valley, while he exercised superiority over all the other English kingdoms, except Kent, his conversion promised well for the church, but he was slain and his kingdom overrun by Penda, the heathen king of Mercia, the central part of England. Penda's victories endangered the cause of Christianity. The Roman mission was dying out. Kent and East Anglia, which was evangelized by Felix, a Burgundian bishop sent from Canterbury, were settled in the faith. Though Bernicia, the northern part of Northumbria, was little affected by the gospel, and after Edwin's death heathenism became dominant in his kingdom, Christianity did not die out in Northumbria. The East Saxons had heard the gospel, and in 634 the conversion of the West Saxons was begun by Birinus, an Italian missionary. Central England and the South Saxons, however, were wholly untouched by Christianity.

The work of the Romans was taken up by Scotic missionaries. Oswald, under whom the Northumbrian power revived, had lived as an exile among the Scots, and asked them for a bishop to teach his people. Aidan was sent to him by the monks of Iona in 635, and fixed his see in Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, where he founded a monastery. Saintly, zealous and supported by Oswald's influence, he brought Northumbria generally to accept the gospel. The conversion of the Middle Angles and Mercians, and the reconversion of the East Saxons, were also achieved by Scots or by disciples of the Scotic mission. After Aidan's death in 651 the differences between the Roman and Scotic usages, and specially that concerning the date of Easter, led to bitter feelings, were inconvenient in practice, and must have hindered the church in its warfare against heathenism. Oswio, who reigned over both the Northumbrian kingdoms, was, like his brother Oswald, a disciple of the Scots, his son and his queen, the daughter of Edwin, held to the Roman usages, and these usages were maintained by Wilfrid, who on his return from Rome in 658 was appointed abbot of Ripon. By Oswio's command a conference between the two parties was held at the present Whitby in 664. Oswio decided in favour of the Roman usages. This was the end of the Scotic mission. The Scots left Lindisfarne, and their disciples generally adopted the Roman usages. The Scots were admirable missionaries, holy and self-devoted, and building partly on Roman foundations and elsewhere breaking new ground, they and their English disciples, as Ceadda (St Chad), bishop of the Mercians, and Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, who were by no means inferior to their teachers, almost completed the conversion of the country. But they practised an excessive asceticism and were apt to abandon their work in order to live as hermits. Great as were the benefits which the English derived from their teaching, its cessation was not altogether a loss, for the church was passing beyond the stage of mission teaching and needed organization, and that it could not have received from the Scots.

Organization of the English Church.

Its organization like its foundation came from Rome. An archbishop-designate who was sent to Rome for consecration having died there, Pope Vitalian in 668 consecrated Theodore of Tarsus as archbishop of Canterbury. The Scots had no diocesan system, and the English bishoprics were vast in extent, followed the lines of the kingdoms and varied with their fortunes. The church had no system of government nor means of legislation. Theodore united it in obedience to himself, instituted national synods and subdivided the over-large bishoprics. At his death, in 690, the English dominions were divided into fourteen dioceses. Wilfrid, who had become bishop of Northumbria, resisted the division of his diocese and appealed to the pope. He was imprisoned by the Northumbrian king and was exiled. While in exile he converted the South Saxons, and their conversion led to that of the Isle of Wight, then subject to them, in 686, which completed the evangelization of the English. After long strife Wilfrid, who was supported by Rome, regained a part of his former diocese. Theodore also gave the church learning by establishing a school at Canterbury, where many gained knowledge of the Scriptures, of Latin and Greek, and other religious and secular subjects. In the north learning was promoted by Benedict Biscop in the sister monasteries which he founded at Wearmouth and Jarrow. There Bede (q.v.) received the learning which he imparted to others. In the year of Bede's death, 735, one of his disciples, Ecgbert, bishop of York, became the first archbishop of York, Gregory III. giving him the _pallium_, a vestment which conferred archiepiscopal authority. He established a school or university at York, to which scholars came from the continent. His work as a teacher was carried on by Alcuin, who later brought learning to the court and Frankish dominions of Charlemagne. The infant church, following the example of the Irish Scots, showed much missionary zeal, and English missionaries founded an organized church in Frisia and laboured on the lower Rhine; two who attempted to preach in the old Saxon land were martyred. Most famous of all, Winfrid, or St Boniface, the apostle of Germany, preached to the Frisians, Hessians and Thuringians, founded bishoprics and monasteries, became the first archbishop of Mainz, and in 754 was martyred in Frisia. He had many English helpers, some became bishops, and some were ladies, as Thecla, abbess of Kitzingen, and Lioba, abbess of Bischofsheim. After his death, Willehad laboured in Frisia, and later, at the bidding of Charlemagne, among the Saxons, and became the first bishop of Bremen. Religion, learning, arts, such as transcription and illumination, flourished in English monasteries. Yet heathen customs and beliefs lingered on among the people, and in Bede's time there were many pseudo-monasteries where men and women made monasticism a cloak for idleness and vice. In the latter part of the 8th century Mercia became the predominant kingdom under Offa, and he determined to have an archbishop of his own. By his contrivance two legates from Adrian I. held a council at Chelsea in 787 in which Lichfield was declared an archbishopric, and seven of the twelve suffragan bishoprics of Canterbury were apportioned to it. In 802, however, Leo III. restored Canterbury to its rights and the Lichfield archbishopric was abolished.

Later Anglo-Saxon times.