Chapter XXI: Section XII: History of Wisbeach continued

Wisbeach was formerly a parliamentary borough, and that as early as the reign of Edward I. {99} The exact time when it ceased to be so, does not appear. That privilege was afterward restored to it under the protectorate, but withdrawn again at the restoration, and never restored since; while such insignificant places as Castle-Rising and others of a similar description, still continue (absurdly and ridiculously enough, it must be said) to enjoy that privilege. Were such paltry places disfranchised, to make room for the admission of such as Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Sheffield, it would appear very reasonable; but as that is not at present to be looked for, we will here dismiss the subject.

Ever since the reign of Edward VI. Wisbeach has been a corporate town, but of a sort most singular and whimsical, and at the same time the most harmless that can well be thought of. Had all our corporations been like it, there would have been, it is presumed, not much reason to complain of them. This corporation appears to have emanated from a religious fraternity, called the Guild of the Holy Trinity, instituted in 1379, and possessed of estates for pious and charitable purposes. This establishment shared the general fate of ecclesiastical foundations in the reign of Henry VIII; but Edward VI, on his accession to the throne, having passed an act which provided for the security of those institutions that had been originally founded, either as grammar-schools, for relief of poor persons, or for the maintenance of “piers, jetties, walls, or banks against the rage of the sea, &c.” the inhabitants of Wisbeach availed themselves of the statute, and through the solicitations of Gooderich, bishop of Ely, were elevated into a corporation, on the 1st of June, 1549, and invested with all the possessions of Trinity Guild, (lying in eight different parishes, and occupied by thirty-nine tenants) the revenues of which were then estimated at 28_l._ 2_s._ 3½_d._ but were, undoubtedly, much greater. {100}

By king Edward’s charter the inhabitants were directed to assemble annually, and elect _ten men_, who were to have the direction of the _business_ of the body-corporate: yet for the first thirty six years after the charter was obtained, they seem to have done little else than meet, once a month in the town-hall, and, “out of mutual love and amity,” immediately adjourn to a tavern, where having _dined_, {101} they decided petty controversies among the inhabitants. Afterwards they proceeded further than they were warranted by the charter: they took cognizance of the accounts of the churchwardens, and surveyors of the highways; they directed the application of money over which they had no right; assumed the privilege of levying an acre-tax; and moreover, during the _plague_, which raged here in 1588 and 1588, they summoned delinquents before them, and punished them at their own pleasure.

On the 28th of January 1610–11, the inhabitants obtained a renewal of their charter, at the great expence of 193_l._ 19_s._ 3_d._ They were then constituted a body-corporate, by the style of “the Burgesses of the town of Wisbeach;” but the right of election of the _ten men_, thenceforward named “Capital Burgesses,” was limited to the possessors of freeholds of the value of 40_s._ a year. From this period the said ten _men_, as we are informed, became objects of veneration and confidence, and were entrusted with the care of nearly all the donations for the benefit of the poor.

On the 17th of February 1669 they obtained a _second_ renewal or confirmation of their charter; on what occasion we cannot discover. Their executive officer is the _Town-Bailiff_, {102} who, though a person wholly unknown to the charter, has the entire management of the estates and affairs of the corporation. He is not at liberty, however, to expend more than 5_l._ at one time, without an express order of the body-corporate.—These Capital Burgesses have no connection with the jurisprudence of the town, her have they any degree of civil authority, as the civil government of the town is not distinct from the general magistracy of the Isle of Ely, in which it stands: their principal business is to regulate the management of the revenues of the estates bequeathed, partly for charitable, but chiefly for public purposes. The income, of which they direct the expenditure, amounts to about 800_l._ annually; and to the credit and honour of the parties concerned, we are told, that it appears to be not only honestly, but even wisely expended. Part of the said sum arises from a grant made to the corporation by the Trinity House, in 1710, of one penny per ton upon all goods exported and imported, for the purpose of maintaining buoys and beacons, and keeping clear the channel of the river.

Among other improvements to which their attention has been directed, was the building of an elegant stone bridge, in the room of the old wooden one, over the great river. This was done about 1767, at the expence of nearly 2,300_l._ It consists of one elliptical arch, very accurately proportioned. A new Custom-House has been also erected; and the streets are cleaned, lighted, and watched, at their expence. Of late a new Jail and Shire-hall have been likewise built; and when a few more improvements are made, and especially the finishing of the circus, but few towns will be more handsome than Wisbeach. The Theatre is a commodious buildings in nearly a central situation. The Rose Inn, where balls and monthly assemblies are held, is said to have been a place of public reception from the year 1475, at which period it was known by the sign of the Horn; and on one of the out-buildings, erected in 1601, the figure of a horn is yet to be seen.

The trade of Wisbeach is said to have much increased of late years, through the improved state of the drainage and navigation of the fens, and consequent augmentation of the produce and consumption of the country: and it would, no doubt, have increased much more, but for the bad state of the harbour or river below. The average of the exports and imports amounts to 40,000 tons annually. The principal articles of traffic are coals, corn, timber, and wine. The neighbouring lands are in high cultivation, chiefly on the grazing System. The Sheep and oxen grow to a great size, and considerable numbers of them are fattened, and sent twice every week to the London market. The inhabitants are employed in commerce, there being no manufacture of any kind in the place, though the surrounding country produces immense quantities of wool, hemp, and flax. The market is abundantly supplied with poultry, fish, and butchers meat; and the trade of the town is further promoted by six small fairs, for hemp and flax, horned cattle and horses. The canal, which was completed a few years ago, extending from Wisbeach river to the river Nene at Outwell, and thence to the river Ouse at Salters-Lode Sluice, opened a communication with Norfolk, Suffolk, and other counties, and has already benefited the town considerably. {104}

The Summer Assizes, and the January and Midsummer quarter sessions for the Isle of Ely, are held at Wisbeach; where the magistrates assemble also every Wednesday and Saturday to settle the assize of bread, and for other purposes. The chief Justice of the Isle, and all other magistrates are appointed by the bishop, who is here invested with temporal as well as spiritual jurisdiction. The education of youth at Wisbeach is provided for by a free school, and two charity schools, supported by voluntary contributions. The appointment of Master of the Free-School is vested in the Capital Burgesses, with the consent of any other ten inhabitants, having voices in the election of those Burgesses. It appears that the Trinity Guild used to allow the Schoolmaster the annual salary of 10_l._ 6_s._ 8_d._ and that they also distributed annually among the poor the sum of 3_l._ 15_s._ which last sum, as Mr. Hutchesson assures us, has been continued invariably to this day. But 3_l._ 15_s._ is now a very paltry sum, indeed, compared to what it was in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its value now is scarcely a tenth part of what it was then. {105}

An institution which has been justly deemed creditable to Wisbeach, is its _Literary Society_, formed in 1781, whose members sometime ago were about thirty, and its collection of books, or library, consisted of upwards of a thousand volumes.—Besides this institution, and some reading societies, or book-clubs, Wisbeach can also boast of a _Philosophical Society_, the President of which is _Mr. Wm. Skrimshire Junr._ a gentleman much and deservedly respected among his fellow-townsmen. He is allowed to be well qualified for the presidentship of such an institution, from his extensive knowledge of those subjects which it is the aim of the Society chiefly to cultivate; and in some branches of natural history he is said to be eminently conversant. He is a native of the town, as well as one of the most ingenious, intelligent, and respectable of its inhabitants.

Many remarkable personages may be supposed, one time and another, to have appeared among the natives of Wisbeach; but we shall here mention but two of them, and those of very unequal merit.—One of them was _Dr. Henry Southwell_, late rector of Asterby, and the reputed author of a well known and popular Commentary on the Old and New Testament, commonly called _Dr. Southwell’s Family Bible_; not a page of which, however, was written by him, being absolutely unequal to such an undertaking, and but a few degrees, if any, above an ideot. {106} But he sold his name to some London booksellers for a certain pecuniary consideration, and they employed one _Dr. Saunders_, a noted hackney writer, to do the work. They also produced Letters of approbation and recommendation, addressed to Dr. Southwell, from a great number of pretended eminent clergymen, in different parts of the kingdom. The trick succeeded, and the credulous public went taken in, as usual. It was, certainly, a most shameful business, and must be contemplated by all honest men with abhorrence and indignation: but the work brought no small gain to the publishers, for it had, it seems, a great run; and that, with them, would sufficiently sanctify the imposture. It is to be wished it could be said to be the only instance of the kind that occurs in the transactions of modern booksellers. But this is the age of imposition and humbugging, in which not only booksellers, but even ministers of State have sometimes been too fond of acting their parts.

The other person that shall be here named, as a native of Wisbeach, is _Thomas Clarkson_. He too is a clergyman; but of a character so very different from the former, that no two human beings could well be more unlike each other. His unparalleled exertions in behalf of the oppressed Africans, and for the abolition of the detestable _Slave-trade_, so long the disgrace and curse of this country, must place his name very high indeed, among the modern sons of Britain—even far above our _Burkes_, our _Pitts_, and our _Nelsons_, as the real friend of his country and his species, and the benefactor of the human race. Compared with such characters, he appears as an angel of light by the side of a group of demons. The honour of giving birth to so estimable and distinguished a person, must justly entitle the town of Wisbeach to no small degree of lasting celebrity. He should, certainly, be placed at the head of those memorable and venerable instruments, who contributed to the abolishment and annihilation of our most shameful, detestable, and horrid traffick in human flesh and blood. But for his vigorous and unwearied efforts, the names even of a _Fox_ and a _Wilberforce_ had never perhaps been known, as the promoters and champions of that honourable and sacred cause. But the virtues he displayed, and the service he performed, on that never to be forgotten occasion, are too well known, and too frequently acknowledged, to need any eulogy that this feeble pen is capable of attempting. Long may he live to enjoy his well-earned fame, and to exhibit still more widely among his contemporaries, by his future writings, the truth and importance of those exalted principles, for which he so nobly and so successfully contended.

The attention bestowed upon Wisbeach by _William_ I, in erecting there a stone castle, has been already noticed. To some of our succeeding monarchs it also appears to have been an object of partiality: we are accordingly informed that _Richard_ I, March 28th, 1190, granted the tenants of Wisbeach-Barton Manor an exemption or freedom from toll in all fairs and markets throughout England. This grant was confirmed, in 1214, by king _John_, who came to Wisbeach from Lynn in October 1216, as Dr. Brady has proved from original records preserved in the Tower. In the 12th of Henry IV. it was renewed, and again confirmed by writ of privy seal of Henry VI. Afterwards the privilege being forfeited, it was restored through the exertions of _Nicholas Sandford_, who died in 1608, and was buried in the church, where an inscription, on the brass plate inserted in his tomb-stone, commemorates his singular bounty and patriotism, as having, _at his own charge_, _freed the town from toll_.

After Oliver Cromwell had been appointed governor of the Isle of Ely, for his activity in swaying it to the interest of the Parliament, he caused fortifications to be raised near the Horse-shoe on the north side of Wisbeach, to secure the passes out of Lincolnshire, which continued attached to the king. The soldiers stationed to defend them were commanded by Colonel Sir John Palgrave, and Captain William Dodson; and the ammunition, and other warlike stores, were supplied from a Dutch ship, which the Queen had dispatched from Holland for the use of the royalists, but which, very seasonably and conveniently, fell into the hands of their opponents.

In 1643 the burgesses lent 150_l._ to Captain Dodson, who was then engaged in the siege of Croyland; and on the 25th of March 1644, they delivered to Major John Ireton four muskets, three bandeliers, and two swords, for the service of the Parliament. They also furnished the latter with a loan of 250_l._ towards raising a troop of horse for the defence of the Isle. This troop seems to have been supported even after the Revolution, as on the 6th of June, 1690, 4_l._ were ordered to be paid towards the expence of a horse to serve in “the Troop,” and the town-bailiff was directed to defray a moiety of the charge for arms and furniture.

Between the restoration and the year 1672, cities, towns, and even individuals, were allowed to coin copper money for the convenience of trade: the Capital Burgesses of Wisbeach, therefore, in February, 1670, ordered the town-bailiff to expend 20_l._ in coining halfpence, with the words “A Wisbeach Half-penny,” on one side; and on the other, the impression of the town-seal. In 1722, the poor-house was erected, at the expence of 2000_l._ borrowed for that purpose by the Capital Burgesses, on their corporation seal:—for being an invisible body, (like other bodies-corporate) whose intentions cannot be manifested or expressed by personal acts, or oral discourse, they could act and speak only by their common seal. {109}

The frequent journeys made by George II. to Hanover, (whither it was supposed he transported a large share of the national treasure,) and his attachment to Lady Kilmarnock, afterwards Countess of Yarmouth, excited the displeasure of some of the inhabitants of this town; and the Rev. _Thomas Whiston_, curate to Dr. Bell, preached a sermon full of asperity against the King’s conduct. His text was from Proverbs vii, 19–22. “The good man is not at home, he is gone a long journey, he hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed. With her much fair speech she caused him to yield. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks.” Mr. Whiston seems to have been endued with that talent which gives its possessor a facility in adapting the language and circumstances of distant ages to the occurrences of modern times; of which he gave further proof after the suppression of the rebellion in 1745, and the return of the Pretender into France, when he zealously defended the succession of the House of Brunswick, taking for his text, 2 Kings, xix, 33. “By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord.” {110} One would suppose this clergyman to have been in his day somewhat of an uncommon and singular, though not apparently of a disreputable character. He was evidently a patriot and anti-jacobite; and, unlike most of his order, he could discern the errors and misdoings of the great, and even testify against them in a very open and pointed manner. On the prudence and propriety, or expediency of this part of his conduct, different persons, no doubt, would entertain different opinions. What he would have thought, said, or done, had he lived in the present reign, and to this very time, it is impossible to know. Of royal journeys to Hanover, and of female favourites, or mistresses of the sovereign, one may presume he would have seen no cause of complaint. But that the same would have been the case, as to all our state maxims, and public measures, and especially our three last wars, is more, perhaps, than we are warranted to conclude; as it seems rather probable, not to say more than probable, that Mr. Whiston would have discovered in some, if not in all of them, no slight cause of disgust and animadversion. How he would have stood affected toward some of our princes of the blood, or royal dukes, and what texts, or passages of scripture he would have applied to them, or made the groundwork of sermons or addresses to his parishioners concerning them, are questions that cannot now be answered or resolved.

The river Nene, being navigable from Wisbeach to Peterborough, and many other more distant inland parts, contributes much to the commercial importance of the former. There are also passage-boats on this river, which prove very convenient to travellers, in their progress to, or from the great north road.—Before we quit Wisbeach it may be here just hinted, that some of its inhabitants have often been heard loudly congratulating themselves, on the very superior advantages of their town, compared with Lynn and most other boroughs, where the corporation spirit is too apt to encroach and bear hard upon the unprivileged part of the community; but which, happily, never haunts, molests, or disturbs the people of Wisbeach. If that be really the case, they have, certainly, cause for boasting; and we can do no less than hail them on the occasion.—The population of Wisbeach, as ascertained by the late act, amounts to near five thousand: so that it is the most populous town in the county, except Cambridge.