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Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "England" to "English Finance"

Author: Various

Release date: June 21, 2010 [eBook #32940]
                Most recently updated: January 6, 2021

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online
        Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, 11TH EDITION, "ENGLAND" TO "ENGLISH FINANCE" ***




Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net









Transcriber's notes:

(1) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
      paragraphs.

(2) The following typographical error has been corrected:

    Article ENGLISH FINANCE: "Almost at the opening of the age of
      parliamentary taxation one of the older sources of revenue ceased.
      The pressure of popular opinion forced Edward I. to decree the
      expulsion of the Jews (1290), though he naturally desired to retain
      such profitable subjects." 'opinion' amended from 'opinon'.




          ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA

  A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
           AND GENERAL INFORMATION

              ELEVENTH EDITION


            VOLUME IX, SLICE IV

         England to English Finance




ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:


  ENGLAND                          ENGLEWOOD
  ENGLAND, THE CHURCH OF           ENGLISH CHANNEL
  ENGLEFIELD, SIR FRANCIS          ENGLISH FINANCE
  ENGLEHEART, GEORGE




ENGLAND. Geographical usage confines to the southern part of the island
of Great Britain the name commonly given to the great insular power of
western Europe.[1] In this restricted sense the present article deals
with England, the predominant partner in the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, both as containing the seat of government and in
respect of extent, population and wealth.


1. TOPOGRAPHY.

England extends from the mouth of the Tweed in 55° 46' N. to Lizard
Point in 49° 57' 30" N., in a roughly triangular form. The base of the
triangle runs from the South Foreland to Land's End W. by S., a distance
of 316 m. in a straight line, but 545 m. following the larger curves of
the coast. The east coast runs N.N.W. from the South Foreland to
Berwick, a distance of 348 m., or, following the coast, 640 m. The west
coast runs N.N.E. from Land's End to the head of Solway Firth, a
distance of 354 m., or following the much-indented coast, 1225 m. The
total length of the coast-line may be put down as 2350 m.,[2] out of
which 515 m. belong to the western principality of Wales.[3] The most
easterly point is at Lowestoft, 1° 46' E., the most westerly is Land's
End, in 5° 43' W. The coasts are nowhere washed directly by the ocean,
except in the extreme south-west; the south coast faces the English
Channel, which is bounded on the southern side by the coast of France,
the two shores converging from 100 m. apart at the Lizard to 21 at
Dover. The east coast faces the shallow North Sea, which widens from the
point where it joins the Channel to 375 m. off the mouth of the Tweed,
the opposite shores being occupied in succession by France, Belgium,
Holland, Germany and Denmark. The west coast faces the Irish Sea, with a
width varying from 45 to 130 m.

  +---------------------+-------------+-------------+
  |                     |    Area     |             |
  |     Counties.       |   Statute   | Population. |
  |                     |    Acres.   |    1901.    |
  +---------------------+-------------+-------------+
  | Bedfordshire        |    298,494  |    171,240  |
  | Berkshire           |    462,208  |    256,509  |
  | Buckinghamshire     |    475,682  |    195,764  |
  | Cambridgeshire      |    549,723  |    190,682  |
  | Cheshire            |    657,783  |    815,099  |
  | Cornwall            |    868,220  |    322,334  |
  | Cumberland          |    973,086  |    266,933  |
  | Derbyshire          |    658,885  |    620,322  |
  | Devonshire          |  1,667,154  |    661,314  |
  | Dorsetshire         |    632,270  |    202,936  |
  | Durham              |    649,352  |  1,187,361  |
  | Essex               |    986,975  |  1,085,771  |
  | Gloucestershire     |    795,709  |    634,729  |
  | Hampshire           |  1,039,031  |    797,634  |
  | Herefordshire       |    537,363  |    114,380  |
  | Hertfordshire       |    406,157  |    250,152  |
  | Huntingdonshire     |    234,218  |     57,771  |
  | Kent                |    995,014  |  1,348,841  |
  | Lancashire          |  1,203,365  |  4,406,409  |
  | Leicestershire      |    527,123  |    434,019  |
  | Lincolnshire        |  1,693,550  |    498,847  |
  | Middlesex           |    181,320  |  3,585,323  |
  | Monmouthshire       |    341,688  |    292,317  |
  | Norfolk             |  1,308,439  |    460,120  |
  | Northamptonshire    |    641,992  |    338,088  |
  | Northumberland      |  1,291,530  |    603,498  |
  | Nottinghamshire     |    539,756  |    514,578  |
  | Oxfordshire         |    483,626  |    181,120  |
  | Rutland             |     97,273  |     19,709  |
  | Shropshire          |    859,516  |    239,324  |
  | Somersetshire       |  1,043,409  |    508,256  |
  | Staffordshire       |    749,602  |  1,234,506  |
  | Suffolk             |    952,710  |    384,293  |
  | Surrey              |    485,122  |  2,012,744  |
  | Sussex              |    933,887  |    605,202  |
  | Warwickshire        |    577,462  |    897,835  |
  | Westmorland         |    503,160  |     64,303  |
  | Wiltshire           |    879,943  |    273,869  |
  | Worcestershire      |    480,560  |    488,338  |
  | Yorkshire           |  3,882,328  |  3,584,762  |
  +---------------------+-------------+-------------+
  |        Total        | 32,544,685  | 30,807,232  |
  +---------------------+-------------+-------------+

The area of England and Wales is 37,327,479 acres or 58,324 sq. m.
(England, 50,851 sq. m.), and the population on this area in 1901 was
32,527,843 (England, 30,807,232). The principal territorial divisions of
England, as of Wales, Scotland and Ireland, are the counties, of which
England comprises 40. Their boundaries are not as a rule determined by
the physical features of the land; but localities are habitually defined
by the use of their names. A list of the English counties (excluding
Wales) is given in the table above.[4]

_Hills._--As an introduction to the discussion of the natural regions
into which England is divided (Section II.), and for the sake of
comparison of altitudes, size of rivers and similar details, the salient
geographical features may be briefly summarized. The short land-frontier
of England with Scotland (its length is only 100 m.) is in great measure
a physical boundary, as considerable lengths of it are formed on the
east side by the river Tweed, and on the west by Kershope Burn, Liddel
Water, and the river Sark; while for the rest it follows pretty closely
the summit of the Cheviot Hills, whose highest point is the Cheviot
(2676 ft.). A narrow but well-marked pass or depression, known as the
Tyne Gap, is taken to separate the Cheviot system from the Pennine
Chain, which is properly to be described as a wide tract of
hill-country, extending through two degrees of latitude, on an axis from
N. by W. to S. by E. The highest point is Cross Fell (2930 ft.). On the
north-west side of the Pennine system, marked off from it by the upper
valleys of the rivers Eden and Lune, lies the circular hill-tract whose
narrow valleys, radiating from its centre somewhat like wheel-spokes,
contain the beautiful lakes which give it the celebrated name of the
Lake District. In this tract is found the highest land in England,
Scafell Pike reaching 3210 ft. East of the Pennines, isolated on three
sides by lowlands and on the fourth side by the North Sea, lie the
highmoors of the North Riding of Yorkshire, with the Cleveland Hills,
and, to the south, the Yorkshire Wolds of the East Riding. Neither of
these systems has any great elevation; the moors, towards their
north-western edge, reaching an extreme of 1489 ft. in Urra Moor. The
tableland called the Peak of Derbyshire, in the south of the Pennine
system, is 2088 ft. in extreme height, but south of this system an
elevation of 2000 ft. is not found anywhere in England save at a few
points on the south Welsh border and in Dartmoor, in the south-west.
Wales, on the other hand, projecting into the western sea between
Liverpool Bay and the estuary of the Dee on the north, and the Bristol
Channel on the south, is practically all mountainous, and has in
Snowdon, in the north-west, a higher summit than any in England--3560
ft. But the midlands, the west, and the south of England, in spite of an
absence of great elevation, contain no plains of such extent as might
make for monotony. The land, generally undulating, is further
diversified with hills arranged in groups or ranges, a common
characteristic of which is a bold face on the one hand and a long gentle
slope, with narrow valleys deeply penetrating, on the other. Southward
from the Pennines there may be mentioned, in the midlands, the small
elevated tract of Charnwood Forest (Bardon Hill, 912 ft.) in
Leicestershire, and Cannock Chase (775 ft.) and the Clent Hills (928
ft.), respectively north and south of the great manufacturing district
of Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Of the western counties, the southern
half of Shropshire, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire are generally hilly.
Among the Shropshire Hills may be mentioned the isolated Wrekin (1335
ft.), Long Mynd (1674 ft.) and the Clee Hills (Brown Clee, 1805 ft.).
The long ridge of the Black Mountain reaches an extreme height of 2310
ft. on the Welsh border of Herefordshire. The Malvern Hills on the other
side of the county, which, owing to their almost isolated position among
lowlands, appear a far more prominent feature, reach only 1395 ft. In
western Monmouthshire, again belonging to the south Welsh system, there
are such heights as Sugar Loaf (1955 ft.) and Coity (1905 ft.).

[Illustration: Map of England and Wales]

In the south midlands of England there are two main ranges of hills,
with axes roughly parallel. The western range is the Cotteswold Hills of
Gloucestershire and the counties adjacent on the east running S.W. and
N.E. Its highest point is Cleeve Cloud (1134 ft.). The uplands of
Northamptonshire continue this range north-eastward, decreasing in
elevation. The eastern range, beginning in Wiltshire, runs E.N.E. as the
White Horse Hills (856 ft. at the highest point), and after the
interruption caused by the gap or narrow valley by which the river
Thames penetrates the hills near Goring, continues N.E. as the Chiltern
Hills (850 ft.). The East Anglian ridge continues the line E.N.E.,
gradually decreasing in altitude. In the south-east of England, the
North and South Downs are both well-defined ranges, but are
characterized by a number of breaches through which rivers penetrate, on
the one hand to the Thames or the North Sea and on the other to the
English Channel. Leith Hill in the North Downs reaches 965 ft., and
Butser Hill in the South Downs 889 ft.; Blackdown and Hindhead, two
almost isolated masses of high ground lying between the two ranges of
the Downs towards their western extremity, are respectively 918 and 895
ft. in height. In the north of Hampshire along its boundary with Surrey
and Berkshire, in the southern half of Wiltshire (where rises the upland
of Salisbury Plain), in Dorsetshire, and the south of Somersetshire, the
hills may be said to run in a series of connected groups. They cannot be
defined as a single range, nor are they named, as a rule, according to
the groups into which they fall, but the general title of the Western
Downs is applied to them. One point only in all these groups exceeds
1000 ft. in altitude, namely, Inkpen Beacon (1011 ft.) in the extreme
south-west of Berkshire, but heights above 900 ft. are not infrequent.
In the northern part of Somersetshire, two ranges, short but well
defined, lie respectively east and west of a low plain which slopes to
the Bristol Channel. These are the Mendips (Black Down, 1068 ft.) and
the Quantocks (Will's Neck, 1261 ft.). The Blackdown Hills, in
south-western Somersetshire and eastern Devonshire, reach 1035 ft. in
Staple Hill in the first-named county. In western Somersetshire and
north Devonshire the elevated mass of Exmoor reaches 1707 ft. in Dunkery
Beacon; and in south Devonshire the highest land in southern England is
found in the similar mass of Dartmoor (High Willhays, 2039 ft.). The
westward prolongation of the great south-western promontory of England,
occupied by the county of Cornwall, continues as a rugged ridge broken
by a succession of depressions, and exceeds a height of 800 ft., nearly
as far as the point where it falls to the ocean in the cliffs of Land's
End.

_Lowlands._--The localities of the more extensive lowlands of England
may now be indicated in their relation to the principal hill-systems,
and in this connexion the names of some of the more important rivers
will occur. In the extreme north-west is the so-called Solway Plain, of
no great extent, but clearly defined between the northern foothills of
the Lake District and the shore of Solway Firth. In Lancashire a flat
coastal strip occurs between the western front of the Pennine Chain and
the Irish Sea, and, widening southward, extends into Cheshire and
comprises the lower valleys of the Mersey and the Dee. In the preceding
review of the English hill-systems it may have been observed that
eastern England hardly enters into consideration. The reason now becomes
clear. From Yorkshire to the flat indented sea-coast north of the Thames
estuary, east of the Pennines and the slight hills indicated as the
Northampton uplands, and in part demarcated southward by the East
Anglian ridge in Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, the land,
although divided between a succession of river-systems, varies so little
in level as to be capable of consideration as a single plain. Its
character, however, varies in different parts. The Fens, the flat open
levels in the lower basins of the Witham, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse,
only kept from their former marshy conditions by an extensive system of
artificial drainage, and the similar levels round the head of the Humber
estuary, differ completely in appearance from the higher and firmer
parts of the plain. The coast-land north of the mouth of the Thames is a
low plain; and on the south coast somewhat similar tracts are found in
Romney Marsh, and about the shallow inlets (Portsmouth Harbour and
others) which open from Spithead. The vales of Kent and Sussex are rich
undulating lowlands within the area of the Weald, separated by the
Forest Ridges, and enclosed by the North and South Downs. In the
south-west there is a fairly extensive lowland in south Devonshire
watered by the Exe in its lower course. But the most remarkable plain is
that in Somersetshire, enclosed by the Mendips, the Western Downs,
Blackdown Hills and the Quantocks and entered by the Parrett and other
streams. The midlands, owing to the comparatively slight elevation of
the land, are capable of geographical consideration as a plain. But it
is not a plain in the sense of that of East Anglia. There is no quite
level tract of great extent, excepting perhaps the fertile and beautiful
district watered by the lower Severn and its tributary the Upper or
Warwickshire Avon, overlooked by the Cotteswolds on the one hand and the
Malvern and other hills on the other.

_Coast._--The coast-line of England is deeply indented by a succession
of large inlets, particularly on the east and west. Thus, from north to
south there are, on the east coast, the mouths of the Tyne and the Tees,
the Humber estuary, the Wash (which receives the waters of the Witham,
Welland, Nene and Great Ouse), the Orwell-Stour, Blackwater and
Thames-Medway estuaries. On the west there are Solway Firth, Morecambe
Bay, the estuaries of the Mersey and Dee, Cardigan Bay of the Welsh
coast, and the Bristol Channel and Severn estuary. In this way the land
is so deeply penetrated by the water that no part is more than 75 m.
from the sea. Thus Buckingham appears to be the most inland town in
England, being 75 m. from the estuaries of the Severn, Thames and Wash;
Coleshill, near Birmingham, is also almost exactly 75 m. from the
Mersey, Severn and Wash.

The east and south coasts show considerable stretches of uniform
uninflected coast-line, and except for the Farne Islands and Holy Island
in the extreme north, the flat islands formed by ramifications of the
estuaries on the Essex and north Kent coasts, and the Isle of Wight in
the south, they are without islands. The west coast, on the other hand,
including both shores of the great south-western promontory, is minutely
fretted into capes and bays, headlands and inlets of every size, and an
island-group lies off each of the more prominent headlands from Land's
End northward. The formation of the coast varies from low, shifting
banks of shingle or sand to majestic cliffs, and its character in
different localities has been foreshadowed in the previous consideration
of the hill-systems and lowlands. Thus in the north-east the coast is
generally of no great elevation, but the foothills of the Cheviot and
Pennine systems approach it closely. On the Yorkshire coast the
Cleveland Hills and the high moors are cut off on the seaward side in
magnificent cliffs, which reach the greatest elevation of sea-cliffs on
the English coast (666 ft.). The Yorkshire Wolds similarly terminate
seaward in the noble promontory of Flamborough Head. From this point as
far south as the North Foreland of Kent the coast, like the land, is
almost wholly low, though there are slight cliffs at some points, as
along the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk, on which the sea constantly
encroaches. On the south coast a succession of cliffs and low shores may
be correlated with the main physical features of the land. Thus in
succession there are the famous white cliffs about Dover, terminating
the North Downs, the low coast of Romney Marsh, projecting seaward in
Dungeness, the cliffs above Hastings, terminating an offshoot of the
Forest Ridges, the low shore between Hastings and Eastbourne, to which
succeeds the lofty Beachy Head, terminating the South Downs. A flat
coast follows as far as Selsey Bill and Spithead, but the south coast
of the Isle of Wight shows a succession of splendid cliffs. The shallow
inlet of Poole Bay is followed by the eminence of St Alban's Head, and
thereafter, right round the south-western promontory of England, the
cliff-bound coast, with its bays and inlets closely beset with hills,
predominates over the low shore-line, exhibits a remarkable series of
different forms, and provides the finest scenery of its kind in England.
The shores of the Severn estuary are low, but the Welsh coast, sharing
the general character of the land, is more or less elevated throughout,
though none of the higher mountain-masses directly approaches the sea.
Low shores correspond to the plains of Cheshire, Lancashire and the
Solway, while the intervening coast is of no great elevation, as only
the foothills of the Lake District approach it with a gradual slope.

  +---------------------------+--------+------------+
  |          Rivers.          | Length |  Drainage  |
  |                           | Miles. | Area sq. m.|
  +---------------------------+--------+------------+
  | 1. North-east--           |        |            |
  |     Tweed[5]              |   97   |    1870    |
  |     Tyne                  |   80   |    1130    |
  |     Wear                  |   60   |     458    |
  |     Tees                  |   85   |     708    |
  |                           |        |            |
  | 2. East--                 |        |            |
  |     Humber system[6]      |   ··   |    9293    |
  |     Witham                |   80   |    1079    |
  |     Welland               |   70   |     760    |
  |     Nene                  |   90   |    1077    |
  |     Ouse (Great)          |  160   |    2607    |
  |     Yare                  |   60   |     880    |
  |     Stour (Suffolk-Essex) |   60   |     407    |
  |     Thames[7]             |  209   |    5924    |
  |                           |        |            |
  | 3. South--                |        |            |
  |     Stour (Kent)          |   40   |     370    |
  |     Rother                |   32   |     312    |
  |     Arun                  |   43   |     370    |
  |     Avon (Hampshire)      |   60   |    1132    |
  |     Exe                   |   55   |     584    |
  |     Tamar                 |   58   |     384    |
  |                           |        |            |
  | 4. Bristol Channel        |        |            |
  |     (south-west)--        |        |            |
  |     Torridge              |   45   |     336    |
  |     Taw                   |   48   |     455    |
  |     Parrett               |   37   |     562    |
  |     Severn[8] [9]         |  210   |    6850    |
  |     Usk[9]                |   70   |     540    |
  |                           |        |            |
  | 5. North-west--           |        |            |
  |  (a) Cheshire-Lancashire--|        |            |
  |     Dee[9]                |   70   |     813    |
  |     Mersey[10]            |   70   |    1596    |
  |     Ribble                |   65   |     585    |
  |  (b) Solway--             |        |            |
  |     Eden                  |   70   |    1300    |
  +---------------------------+--------+------------+

A great extent of the English coast is constantly undergoing visible
alteration, the sea in some instances receding from the land, and in
others gaining upon it. The whole of Romney Marsh, in Kent and Sussex,
formerly constituted an arm of the sea, where vessels rode in deep
water, carrying produce to ports no longer in existence. Lydd and
Romney, though maritime still in name, retaining some of the ancient
privileges of the Cinque Ports, have become, through changes in the
coast-line, small inland towns; and the same has been the fate of Rye,
Winchelsea, and other places in that district. Again, the Isle of
Thanet, in the north-eastern corner of Kent, has practically ceased to
be an island. The wide estuary of the sea separating it from the
mainland, through which ships sailed from the English Channel into the
Thames, using it as the shortest route from the south to London, has
entirely disappeared, leaving only a flat lowland traversed by branches
of the river Stour to mark its former existence. The sea is encroaching
over a considerable extent of coast-line on the North Sea as well as on
the English Channel. Ravenspur, once an important town of Yorkshire,
where Bolingbroke, afterwards Henry IV., landed in 1399, is now
submerged; and Dunwich and other ancient ports in East Anglia have met
with the same fate. The process of destruction, slow in some places, is
so rapid in others that it can be traced even from month to month--the
incessant work of the waves washing away the soft strata at the base of
the cliffs and leaving the summits unsupported. Many cliffs of the east
coast, from the Humber to the mouth of the Thames, are suffering from
this destructive action, and instances also occur on the south coast. A
royal commission on Coast Erosion was appointed to inquire into this
question in 1906 (see _Report_, 1907 sqq.).

Except along the centre of the Irish Sea, at one point off the Tweed and
one between Devon and Normandy, the depth of water between England and
the nearest land nowhere exceeds 50 fathoms.

_Rivers._--The variations in length of the general slope of the land
towards successive natural divisions of the coast may be illustrated by
a comparative table of the mileage and drainage areas of the principal
English rivers. The mileage does not take account of the lesser
sinuosities of rivers.

With the exception of those in the Lake District (q.v.) the lakes of
England are few and insignificant. A number of small meres occur in a
defined area in Cheshire.     (O. J. R. H.)


II. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

The object of this section is to give a physical description of England
and Wales according to natural regions, which usually follow the geology
of the country very closely; although the relationship of configuration
and geology is not so simple or so clearly marked as in Scotland.

The land is highest in the west and north, where the rocks also are
oldest, most disturbed, and hardest, and the land surface gradually
sinks towards the east and south, where the rocks become successively
less disturbed, more recent, and softer. The study of the scenery of
England and Wales as a whole, or the study of orographical and
geological maps of the country, allows a broad distinction to be drawn
between the types of land-forms in the west and in the east. This
distinction is essential, and applies to all the conditions of which
geography takes account. The contrasted districts are separated by an
intermediate area, which softens the transition between them, and may be
described separately.

The Western Division is composed entirely of Archaean and Palaeozoic
rocks, embracing the whole range from pre-Cambrian up to Carboniferous.
The outcrops of these rocks succeed each other in order of age in
roughly concentric belts, with the Archaean mass of the island of
Anglesey as a centre, but the arrangement in detail is much disturbed
and often very irregular. Contemporary igneous outbursts are extremely
common in some of the ancient formations, and add, by their resistance
to atmospheric erosion, to the extreme ruggedness of the scenery. The
hills and uplands of ancient rocks do not form regular ranges, but rise
like islands in four distinct groups from a plain of New Red Sandstone
(Permian and Triassic), which separates them from each other and from
the newer rocks of the Eastern Division. Each of the uplands is a centre
for the dispersal of streams; but with only one prominent exception (the
Humber) these reach the sea without crossing into the Eastern Division
of the country.

The Eastern Division, lying to the east of the zone of New Red
Sandstone, may be defined on the west by a slightly curved line drawn
from the estuary of the Tees through Leicester and Stratford-on-Avon to
the estuary of the Severn, and thence through Glastonbury to Sidmouth.
It is built up of nearly uniform sheets of Mesozoic rock, the various
beds of the Jurassic lying above the New Red Sandstone (Triassic), and
dipping south-eastward under the successive beds of the Cretaceous
system. In exactly the same way the whole of the south-east of the
island appears to have been covered uniformly with gently dipping beds
of Tertiary sands and clays, beneath which the Cretaceous strata dipped.
At some period subsequent to this deposition there was a movement of
elevation, which appears to have thrown the whole mass of rocks into a
fold along an anticlinal axis running west and east, which was flanked
to north and south by synclinal hollows. In these hollows the Tertiary
rocks were protected from erosion, and remain to form the London and the
Hampshire Basins respectively, while on the anticlinal axis the whole of
the Tertiary and the upper Cretaceous strata have been dissected away,
and a complex and beautiful configuration has been impressed on the
district of the Weald. The general character of the landscape in the
Eastern Division is a succession of steep escarpments formed by the
edges of the outcropping beds of harder rock, and long gentle slopes or
plains on the dip-slopes, or on the softer layers; clay and hard rock
alternating throughout the series.

The contrast between the lower grounds of the Western and the Eastern
Divisions is masked in many places by the general covering of the
surface with glacial drift, which is usually a stiff clay composed on
the whole of the detritus of the rocks upon which it rests, though
containing fragments of rocks which have been transported from a
considerable distance. This boulder clay covers almost all the low
ground north of the Thames Basin, its southern margin fading away into
washed sands and gravels.

The history of the origin of the land-forms of England, as far as they
have been deduced from geological studies, is exceedingly complicated.
The fact that every known geological formation (except the Miocene) is
represented, proves of itself how long the history has been, and how
multifarious the changes. It must suffice to say that the separation of
Ireland from England was a comparatively recent episode, while the
severance of the land-connexion between England and the continent by the
formation of the Strait of Dover is still more recent and probably
occurred with the human period.


    The western division.

  _Natural Divisions._--The four prominent groups of high land rising
  from the plain of the Red Rocks are: (1) the _Lake District_, bounded
  by the Solway Firth, Morecambe Bay and the valleys of the Eden and the
  Lune; (2) the _Pennine Region_, which stretches from the Scottish
  border to the centre of England, running south; (3) _Wales_, occupying
  the peninsula between the Mersey and the Bristol Channel, and
  extending beyond the political boundaries of the principality to
  include Shropshire and Hereford; and (4) the peninsula of _Cornwall
  and Devon_. They are all similar in the great features of their
  land-forms, which have been impressed upon them by the prolonged
  action of atmospheric denudation rather than by the original order and
  arrangement of the rocks; but each group has its own geological
  character, which has imparted something of a distinctive individuality
  to the scenery. Taken as a whole, the Western Division depends for its
  prosperity on mineral products and manufactures rather than on
  farming; and the staple of the farmers is live-stock rather than
  agriculture. The people of the more rugged and remoter groups of this
  division are by race survivors of the early Celtic stock, which, being
  driven by successive invaders from the open and fertile country of the
  Eastern Division, found refuges in the less inviting but more easily
  defended lands of the west. Even where, as in the Pennine region and
  the Lake District, the people have been completely assimilated with
  the Teutonic stock, they retain a typical character, marked by
  independence of opinion approaching stubbornness, and by great
  determination and enterprise.

  _Lake District._--The Lake District occupies the counties of
  Cumberland, Westmorland and North Lancashire. It forms a roughly
  circular highland area, the drainage lines of which radiate outward
  from the centre in a series of narrow valleys, the upper parts of
  which cut deeply into the mountains, and the lower widen into the
  surrounding plain. Sheets of standing water are still numerous, and
  formerly almost every valley contained a single long narrow
  lake-basin; but some of these have been subdivided, drained or filled
  up by natural processes. The existing lakes include Windermere and
  Coniston, draining south; Wastwater, draining south-west, Ennerdale
  water, Buttermere and Crummock water (the two latter, originally one
  lake, are now divided by a lateral delta), draining north-west;
  Derwent water and Bassenthwaite water (which were probably originally
  one lake), and Thirlmere, draining north; Ullswater and Haweswater,
  draining north-east. There are, besides, numerous mountain tarns of
  small size, most of them in hollows barred by the glacial drift which
  covers a great part of the district. The central and most picturesque
  part of the district is formed of great masses of volcanic ashes and
  tuffs, with intrusions of basalts and granite, all of Ordovician
  (Lower Silurian) age. Scafell and Scafell Pike (3162 and 3210 ft.), at
  the head of Wastwater, and Helvellyn (3118), at the head of
  Ullswater, are the loftiest amongst many summits the grandeur of whose
  outlines is not to be estimated by their moderate height. Sedimentary
  rocks of the same age form a belt to the north, and include Skiddaw
  (3054 ft.); while to the south a belt of Silurian rocks, thickly
  covered with boulder clay, forms the finely wooded valleys of Coniston
  and Windermere. Round these central masses of early Palaeozoic rocks
  there is a broken ring of Carboniferous Limestone, and several patches
  of Coal Measures, while the New Red Sandstone appears as a boundary
  belt outside the greater part of the district. Where the Coal Measures
  reach the sea at Whitehaven, there are coal-mines, and the hematite of
  the Carboniferous Limestones has given rise to the active ironworks of
  Barrow-in-Furness, now the largest town in the district. Except in the
  towns of the outer border, the Lake District is very thinly peopled;
  and from the economic point of view, the remarkable beauty of its
  scenery, attracting numerous residents and tourists, is the most
  valuable of its resources. The very heavy rainfall of the district,
  which is the wettest in England, has led to the utilization of
  Thirlmere as a reservoir for the water supply of Manchester, over 80
  m. distant.

  _Pennine Region._--The Pennine Region, the centre of which forms the
  so-called Pennine Chain, occupies the country from the Eden valley to
  the North Sea in the north, and from the lower Tees, Yorkshire Ouse
  and Trent, nearly to the Irish Sea, in the south. It includes the
  whole of Northumberland and Durham, the West Riding of Yorkshire, most
  of Lancashire and Derbyshire, the north of Staffordshire and the west
  of Nottinghamshire. The region is entirely composed of Carboniferous
  rocks, the system which transcends all others in the value of its
  economic minerals. The coal and iron have made parts of the region the
  busiest manufacturing districts, and the centres of densest
  population, in the country, or even in the world. The whole region may
  be looked upon as formed by an arch or anticline of Carboniferous
  strata, the axis of which runs north and south; the centre has been
  worn away by erosion, so that the Coal Measures have been removed, and
  the underlying Millstone Grit and Carboniferous Limestone exposed to
  the influences which form scenery. On both sides of the arch, east and
  west, the Coal Measures remain intact, forming outcrops which
  disappear towards the sea under the more recent strata of Permian or
  Triassic age. The northern part of the western side of the anticline
  is broken off by a great fault in the valley of the Eden, and the
  scarp thus formed is rendered more abrupt by the presence of a sheet
  of intrusive basalt. Seen from the valley, this straight line of lofty
  heights, culminating in Crossfell, presents the nearest approach in
  England to the appearance of a mountain range. In the north the
  Pennine region is joined to the Southern Uplands of Scotland by the
  Cheviot Hills, a mass of granite and Old Red Sandstone; and the
  northern part is largely traversed by dykes of contemporary volcanic
  or intrusive rock. The most striking of these dykes is the Great Whin
  Sill, which crosses the country from a short distance south of Durham
  almost to the source of the Tees, near Crossfell. The elevated land is
  divided into three masses by depressions, which furnish ready means of
  communication between east and west. The South Tyne and Irthing
  valleys cut off the Cheviots on the north from the Crossfell section,
  which is also marked off on the south by the valleys of the Aire and
  Ribble from the Kinder Scout or Peak section. The numerous streams of
  the region carry off the rainfall down long valleys or dales to the
  east and the south, and by shorter and steeper valleys to the west.
  The dales are separated from each other by high uplands, which for the
  most part are heathery moorland or, at best, hill pastures. The
  agriculture of the region is confined to the bottoms of the dales, and
  is of small importance. Crossfell and the neighbouring hills are
  formed from masses of Carboniferous Limestone, which received its
  popular name of Mountain Limestone from this fact. Farther south, such
  summits as High Seat, Whernside, Bow Fell, Penyghent and many others,
  all over 2000 ft. in height, are capped by portions of the grits and
  sandstones, which rest upon the limestone. The belt of Millstone Grit
  south of the Aire, lying between the great coal-fields of the West
  Riding and Lancashire, has a lower elevation, and forms grassy uplands
  and dales; but farther south, the finest scenery of the whole region
  occurs in the limestones of Derbyshire, in which the range terminates.
  The rugged beauty of the south-running valleys, and especially of
  Dovedale, is enhanced by the rich woods which still clothe the slopes.
  There are remarkable features underground as well as on the surface,
  the caverns and subterranean streams of Yorkshire and Derbyshire being
  amongst the deepest that have yet been explored. Compared with the
  rugged and picturesque scenery of the Lower Carboniferous rocks, that
  of the Coal Measures is, as a rule, featureless and monotonous. The
  coal-fields on the eastern side, from the Tyne nearly to the Trent,
  are sharply marked off on the east by the outcrop of Permian dolomite
  or Magnesian limestone, which forms a low terrace dipping towards the
  east under more recent rocks, and in many places giving rise to an
  escarpment facing westward towards the gentle slope of the Pennine
  dales. To the west and south the Coal Measures dip gently under the
  New Red Sandstone, to reappear at several points through the Triassic
  plain. The clear water of the upland becks and the plentiful supply of
  water-power led to the founding of small paper-mills in remote valleys
  before the days of steam, and some of these primitive establishments
  still exist. The prosperity and great population of the Pennine
  region date from the discovery that pit-coal could smelt iron as well
  as charcoal; and this source of power once discovered, the people bred
  in the dales developed a remarkable genius for mechanical invention
  and commercial enterprise, which revolutionized the economic life of
  the world and changed England from an agricultural to an industrial
  country. The staple industry of the district in ancient times was
  sheep-rearing, and the villages in nearly all the dales carried on a
  small manufacture of woollen cloth. The introduction of cotton caused
  the woollen manufactures on the western side to be superseded by the
  working up of the imported raw material; but woollen manufactures,
  themselves carried on now almost entirely with imported raw material,
  have continued to employ the energies of the inhabitants of the east.
  Some quiet market-towns, such as Skipton and Keighley, remain, but
  most of them have developed by manufactures into great centres of
  population, lying, as a rule, at the junction of thickly peopled
  valleys, and separated from one another by the empty uplands. Such are
  Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Huddersfield and Halifax on the great and
  densely peopled West Riding coal-field, which lies on the eastern
  slope of the Pennines. The iron ores of the Coal Measures have given
  rise to great manufactures of steel, from cutlery to machinery and
  armour-plates. High on the barren crest of the Pennines, where the
  rocks yield no mineral wealth, except it be medicinal waters,
  Harrogate, Buxton and Matlock are types of health resorts, prosperous
  from their pure air and fine scenery. Across the moors, on the western
  side of the anticline, the vast and dense population of the Lancashire
  coal-field is crowded in the manufacturing towns surrounding the great
  commercial centre, Manchester, which itself stands on the edge of the
  Triassic plain. Ashton, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton and Wigan form
  a nearly confluent semicircle of great towns, their prosperity founded
  on the underlying coal and iron, maintained by imported cotton. The
  Lancashire coal-field, and the portion of the bounding plain between
  it and the seaport of Liverpool, contain a population greater than
  that borne by any equal area in the country, the county of London and
  its surroundings not excepted. In the south-west of the Pennine region
  the coal-field of North Staffordshire supports the group of small but
  active towns known collectively from the staple of their trade as "The
  Potteries." On the north-east the great coal-field of Northumberland
  and Durham, traversed midway by the Tyne, supports the manufactures of
  Newcastle and its satellite towns, and leaves a great surplus for
  export from the Tyne ports.

  _Wales._--The low island of Anglesey, which is built up of the
  fundamental Archaean rocks, is important as a link in the main line of
  communication with Ireland, because it is separated from the mainland
  by a channel narrow enough to be bridged, and lies not far out of the
  straight line joining London and Dublin. The mainland of Wales rises
  into three main highlands, the mountain groups of North, Mid and South
  Wales, connected together by land over 1000 ft. in elevation in most
  places, but separated by valleys affording easy highways. The streams
  of the southern and western slopes are short and many, flowing
  directly to the Bristol Channel and the Irish Sea; but the no less
  numerous streams of the eastern slopes gather themselves into three
  river systems, and reach the sea as the Dee, the Severn and the Wye.
  The mountain group of _North Wales_ is the largest and loftiest; its
  scenery resembles that of the Scottish Highlands because of the
  juxtaposition of ancient Palaeozoic rocks--Cambrian and Ordovician,
  often altered into slate--and contemporaneous volcanic outbursts and
  igneous intrusions. Here rises the peak of Snowdon (3560 ft.), the
  culminating point of South Britain, and near it half a dozen summits
  exceed 3000 ft., while Cader Idris, farther south, though slightly
  lower, presents a singularly imposing outline. The mild winter climate
  has fringed the coast with seaside resorts, the rugged heights attract
  tourists in summer, and the vast masses of slate have given rise to
  the largest slate quarries in the world. The heavy rainfall of the
  upper valleys unfits them for agriculture, and the farms are poor.
  There are several lakes: that of Bala being the largest, except the
  old lake of Vyrnwy, reconstituted artificially to store the rainfall
  for the water-supply of Liverpool, 68 m. distant. The Vyrnwy is
  tributary to the Severn; but north of it the streams gather into the
  Dee, and flow eventually northward. _Mid Wales_ is built up, for the
  most part, of Silurian or Ordovician rocks, practically free from
  igneous intrusions except in the south-west. There the resistance of a
  series of igneous dykes gives prominence to the Pembroke peninsula, in
  which the fine fjord-like harbour of Milford Haven lies far out
  towards the Atlantic. The coast north of Pembroke and Merioneth has
  been worked into the grand sweep of Cardigan Bay, its surface carved
  into gently rounded hills, green with rich grass, which sweep downward
  into wide rounded valleys. Plinlimmon (2468 ft.) is the highest of the
  hills, and forms a sort of hydrographic centre for the group, as from
  its eastern base the Severn and the Wye take their rise--the former
  describing a wide curve to east and south, the latter forming a chord
  to the arc in its southward course. Mid Wales is mainly a pastoral
  country, and very thinly peopled. A group of artificial lakes, one of
  them exceeded in area only by Windermere, has been formed in the
  valley of the Elan, a tributary of the Wye, for the supply of water to
  Birmingham. The group of heights of _South Wales_, running on the
  whole from west to east, marks the outcrops of the Old Red Sandstone
  and Carboniferous strata which lie within a vast syncline of the
  Silurian rocks. The Brecon Beacons of Old Red Sandstone are the
  highest (2907 ft.), but the Black Mountain bears a number of
  picturesque summits carved out of Millstone Grit and Carboniferous
  Limestone, which rise frequently over 2000 ft. Throughout Hereford,
  and in part of Monmouthshire, the Old Red Sandstone sinks to a great
  undulating plain, traversed by the exquisite windings of the Wye, and
  forming some of the richest pasture and fruit lands of England. This
  plain formed an easy passage from south to north, and since the time
  of the Romans was a strategical line of the greatest importance, a
  fact which has left its traces on the present distribution of towns.
  Around the western and northern edge of the Old Red Sandstone plain
  the underlying Silurian rocks (and even the Cambrian and Archaean in
  places) have been bent up so that their edges form hills of singular
  abruptness and beauty. Of these are the Malvern Hills, east of
  Hereford, and in particular the hills of Shropshire. Wenlock Edge,
  running from south-west to north-east, is an escarpment of Silurian
  limestone, while the broad upland of Long Mynd, nearly parallel to it
  on the north, is a mass of Archaean rock. The Wrekin, the Caradoc and
  Cardington Hills are isolated outbursts of pre-Cambrian volcanic
  rocks. The outer rim of the Welsh area contains a broken series of
  coal-fields, where patches of Carboniferous strata come to the surface
  on the edge of the New Red Sandstone plain. Such are the coal-fields
  of Flint in the north, the Forest of Wyre and the Forest of Dean,
  close to the Severn, on the east. The great coal-field on the south is
  a perfect example of a synclinal basin, the Millstone Grit and
  Carboniferous Limestone which underlie the Coal Measures appearing all
  round the margin. This coal-field occupies practically the whole of
  Glamorgan and part of Monmouth, and its surface slopes from the Black
  Mountain and Brecon Beacons to the sea as a gently inclined plateau,
  scored by deep valleys draining south. Each chief valley has a railway
  connecting a string of mining villages, and converging seaward to the
  busy ports of Newport, Cardiff and Barry (a town created on a sandy
  island by the excavation of a great dock to form an outlet for the
  mines). In the north of the field, where the limestone crops out and
  supplies the necessary flux, Merthyr Tydfil has become great through
  iron-smelting; and in the west Swansea is the chief centre in the
  world for copper and tin smelting. The unity and ruggedness of the
  highlands of Wales have proved sufficient to isolate the people from
  those of the rest of South Britain, and to preserve a purely Celtic
  race, still very largely of Celtic speech.

  _Cornwall and Devon._--The peninsula of Cornwall and Devon may be
  looked upon as formed from a synclinal trough of Devonian rocks, which
  appear as plateaus on the north and south, while the centre is
  occupied by Lower Carboniferous strata at a lower level. The northern
  coast, bordering the Bristol Channel, is steep, with picturesque
  cliffs and deep bays or short valleys running into the high land, each
  occupied by a little seaside town or village. The plateau culminates
  in the barren heathy upland of Exmoor, which slopes gently southward
  from a general elevation of 1600 ft., and is almost without
  inhabitants. The Carboniferous rocks of the centre form a soil which
  produces rich pasture under the heavy rainfall and remarkably mild and
  equable temperature, forming a great cattle-raising district. The
  Devonian strata on the south do not form such lofty elevations as
  those on the north, and are in consequence, like the plain of
  Hereford, very fertile and peculiarly adapted for fruit-growing and
  cider-making. The remarkable features of the scenery of South Devon
  and Cornwall are due to a narrow band of Archaean rock which appears
  in the south of the peninsulas terminating in Lizard Head and Start
  Point, and to huge masses of granite and other eruptive rocks which
  form a series of great bosses and dykes. The largest granite boss
  gives relief to the wild upland of Dartmoor, culminating in High
  Willhays and Yes Tor. The clay resulting from the weathering of the
  Dartmoor granite has formed marshes and peat bogs, and the desolation
  of the district has been emphasized by the establishment in its midst
  of a great convict prison, and in its northern portion of a range for
  artillery practice. The Tamar flows from north to south on the
  Devonian plain, which lies between Dartmoor on the east and the
  similar granitic boss of Bodmin Moor (where Brown Willy rises to 1345
  ft.) on the west. There are several smaller granite bosses, of which
  the mass of Land's End is the most important. Most of the Lizard
  peninsula, the only part of England stretching south of 50° N., is a
  mass of serpentine. The great variety of the rocks which meet the sea
  along the south of Cornwall and Devon has led to the formation of a
  singularly picturesque coast--the headlands being carved from the
  hardest igneous rocks, the bays cut back in the softer Devonian
  strata. The fjord-like inlets of Falmouth, Plymouth and Dartmouth are
  splendid natural harbours, which would have developed great commercial
  ports but for their remoteness from the centres of commerce and
  manufactures. China clay from the decomposing granites; tin and copper
  ore, once abounding at the contacts between the granite and the rocks
  it pierced, were the former staples of wealth, and the mining largely
  accounts for the exceptional density of population in Cornwall.
  Fishing has always been important, the numerous good harbours giving
  security to fishing-boats; and the fact that this coast is the mildest
  and almost the sunniest, though by no means the driest, part of Great
  Britain has led to the establishment of many health resorts, of
  which Torquay is the chief. The old Cornish language of the Celtic
  stock became extinct only in the 18th century, and the Cornish
  character remains as a heritage of the time when the land had leisure
  to mould the life and the habits of the man. Projecting farthest of
  all England into the Atlantic, it is not surprising that the West
  country has supplied a large proportion of the great naval commanders
  in British history, and of the crews of the navy.

  [Illustration: Map of ENGLAND & WALES--Section I.]


    The midland plain.

  Between the separate uplands there extends a plain of Permian and
  Triassic rocks, which may conveniently be considered as an
  intermediate zone between the two main divisions. To the eye it forms
  an almost continuous plain with the belt of Lias clays, which is the
  outer border of the Eastern Division; for although a low escarpment
  marks the line of junction, and seems to influence the direction of
  the main rivers, there is only one plain so far as regards free
  movement over its surface and the construction of canals, roads and
  railways. The plain usually forms a distinct border along the landward
  margins of the uplands of more ancient rock, though to the east of the
  Cornwall-Devon peninsula it is not very clear, and its continuity in
  other places is broken by inliers of the more ancient rocks, which
  everywhere underlie it. One such outcrop of Carboniferous Limestone in
  the south forms the Mendip Hills; another of the Coal Measures
  increases the importance of Bristol, where it stands at the head of
  navigation on the southern Avon. In the north-west a tongue of the Red
  rocks forms the Eden valley, separating the Lake District from the
  Pennine Chain, with Carlisle as its central town. Farther south, these
  rocks form the low coastal belt of Lancashire, edged with the longest
  stretches of blown sand in England, and dotted here and there with
  pleasure towns, like Blackpool and Southport. The plain sweeps round
  south of the Lancashire coal-field, forms the valley of the Mersey
  from Stockport to the sea, and farther south in Cheshire the
  salt-bearing beds of the Keuper marls give rise to a characteristic
  industry. The plain extends through Staffordshire and Worcester,
  forming the lower valley of the Severn. The greater part of
  Manchester, all Liverpool and Birkenhead, and innumerable busy towns
  of medium size, which in other parts of England would rank as great
  centres of population, stand on this soil. Its flat surface and low
  level facilitate the construction of railways and canals, which form a
  closer network over it than in other parts of the country. The great
  junction of Crewe, where railways from south-east, south-west, east,
  west and north converge, is thus explained. South of the Pennines, the
  Red rocks extend eastward in a great sweep through the south of
  Derbyshire, Warwick, the west of Leicestershire, and the east of
  Nottingham, their margin being approximately marked by the Avon,
  flowing south-west, and the Soar and Trent, flowing north-east. South
  and east of these streams the very similar country is on the Lias
  clay. Several small coal-fields rise through the Red rocks--the
  largest, between Stafford and Birmingham, forms the famous "Black
  Country," with Wolverhampton and Dudley as centres, where the
  manufacture of iron has preserved a historic continuity, for the great
  Forest of Arden supplied charcoal until the new fuel from the pits
  took its place. This coal-field, ministering to the multifarious metal
  manufactures of Birmingham, constitutes the centre of the Midlands.
  Smaller patches of the Coal Measures appear near Tamworth and Burton,
  while deep shafts have been sunk in many places through the overlying
  Triassic strata to the coal below, thus extending the mining and
  manufacturing area beyond the actual outcrop of the Coal Measures. A
  few small outcrops occur where still more ancient strata have been
  raised to the surface, as, for instance, in Charnwood Forest, where
  the Archaean rocks, with intrusions of granite, create a patch of
  highland scenery in the very heart of the English plain; and in the
  Lickey Hills, near Birmingham, where the prominent features are due to
  volcanic rocks of very ancient date. The "Waterstones," or Lower
  Keuper Sandstones,--forming gentle elevations above the softer marls,
  and usually charged with an abundant supply of water, which can be
  reached by wells,--form the site of many towns, such as Birmingham,
  Warwick and Lichfield, and of very numerous villages. The plain as a
  whole is fertile and undulating, rich in woods and richer in pasture:
  the very heart of rural England. Cattle-grazing is the chief farm
  industry in the west, sheep and horse-rearing in the east; the
  prevalence of the prefix "Market" in the names of the rural towns is
  noticeable in this respect. The manufacture of woollen and leather
  goods is a natural result of the raising of live stock; Leicester,
  Coventry and Nottingham are manufacturing towns of the region. The
  historic castles, the sites of ancient battles, and the innumerable
  mansions of the wealthy, combine to give to central England a certain
  aesthetic interest which the more purely manufacturing districts of
  the west and north fail to inspire. The midland plain curves northward
  between the outcrop of the Dolomite on the west and the Oolitic
  heights on the east. It sinks lowest where the estuary of the Humber
  gathers in its main tributaries, and the greater part of the surface
  is covered with recent alluvial deposits. The Trent runs north in the
  southern half of this plain, the Ouse runs south through the northern
  half, which is known as the Vale of York, lying low between the
  Pennine heights on the west and the Yorkshire moors on the east. Where
  the plain reaches the sea, the soft rocks are cut back into the
  estuary of the Tees, and there Middlesbrough stands at the base of the
  Moors. The quiet beauty of the rural country in the south, where the
  barren Bunter pebble-beds have never invited agriculture, and where
  considerable vestiges of the old woodland still remain in and near
  Sherwood Forest, has attracted so many seats of the landed aristocracy
  as to earn for that part the familiar name of "the Dukeries." The
  central position of York in the north made it the capital of Roman
  Britain in ancient times, and an important railway junction in our
  own.


    The eastern division.

  Five natural regions may be distinguished in the Eastern Division of
  England, by no means so sharply marked off as those of the west, but
  nevertheless quite clearly characterized. The first is the Jurassic
  Belt, sweeping along the border of the Triassic plain from the south
  coast at the mouth of the Exe to the east coast at the mouth of the
  Tees. This is closely followed on the south-east by the Chalk country,
  occupying the whole of the rest of England except where the Tertiary
  Basins of London and Hampshire cover it, where the depression of the
  Fenland carries it out of sight, and where the lower rocks of the
  Weald break through it. Thus the Chalk appears to run in four
  diverging fingers from the centre or palm on Salisbury Plain, other
  formations lying wedge-like between them. Various lines of reasoning
  unite in proving that the Mesozoic rocks of the south rest upon a mass
  of Palaeozoic rocks, which lies at no very great depth beneath the
  surface of the anticlinal axis running from the Bristol Channel to the
  Strait of Dover. The theoretical conclusion has been confirmed by the
  discovery of Coal Measures, with workable coal seams, at Dover at a
  depth of 2000 ft. below the surface.

  The Eastern Division is built up of parallel strata, the edges of the
  harder rocks forming escarpments, the sheets of clay forming plains;
  and on this account similar features are repeated in each of the
  successive geological formations. The rivers exhibit a remarkably
  close relation to the geological structure, and thus contrast with the
  rivers of the Western Division. There are two main classes of
  river-course--those flowing down the dip-slopes at right angles to the
  strike, and cutting through opposed escarpments by deep valleys, and
  those following the line of strike along a bed of easily eroded rock.
  A third class of streams, tributary to the second, flows down the
  steep face of the escarpments. By the study of the adjustment of these
  rivers to their valleys, and of the relation of the valleys to the
  general structure, Professor W. M. Davis has elaborated a theory of
  river classification, and a scheme of the origin of surface-features
  which is attractive in its simplicity. The Thames is the one great
  river of the division, rising on the Jurassic Belt, crossing the Chalk
  country, and finishing its course in the Tertiary London Basin,
  towards which, in its prevailing west-to-east direction, it draws its
  tributaries from north and south. The other rivers are shorter, and
  flow either to the North Sea on the east, or to the English Channel on
  the south. With the exception of the Humber, they all rise and pursue
  their whole course within the limits of the Eastern Division itself.

  The Eastern Division is the richest part of England agriculturally, it
  is the part most accessible to trade with the Continent, and that
  least adapted for providing refuges for small bodies of men in
  conflict with powerful invaders. Hence the latest of the conquerors,
  the Saxon and other Germanic tribes, obtained an easy mastery, and
  spread over the whole country, holding their own against marauding
  Northmen, except on the northern part of the east coast; and even
  after the political conquest by the Normans, continuing to form the
  great mass of the population, though influenced not a little by the
  fresh blood and new ideas they had assimilated. The present population
  is so distributed as to show remarkable dependence on the physical
  features. The chalk and limestone plateaus are usually almost without
  inhabitants, and the villages of these districts occur grouped
  together in long strings, either in drift-floored valleys in the
  calcareous plateaus, or along the exposure of some favoured stratum at
  their base. In almost every case the plain along the foot of an
  escarpment bears a line of villages and small towns, and on a good map
  of density of population the lines of the geological map may be
  readily discerned.

  _The Jurassic Belt._--The Jurassic belt is occupied by the counties of
  Gloucester, Oxford, Buckingham, Bedford, Northampton, Huntingdon,
  Rutland, Lincoln and the North Riding of Yorkshire. The rocks of the
  belt may be divided into two main groups: the Lias beds, which come
  next to the Triassic plain, and the Oolitic beds. Each group is made
  up of an alternation of soft marls or clays and hard limestones or
  sandstones. The low escarpments of the harder beds of the Lias are the
  real, though often scarcely perceptible, boundary between the Triassic
  plain and the Jurassic belt. They run along the right bank of the
  Trent in its northward course to the Humber, and similarly direct the
  course of the Avon southward to the Severn. The great feature of the
  region is the long line of the Oolitic escarpment, formed in different
  places by the edges of different beds of rock. The escarpment runs
  north from Portland Island on the English Channel, curves
  north-eastward as the Cotteswold Hills, rising abruptly from the
  Severn plain to heights of over 1000 ft.; it sinks to insignificance
  in the Midland counties, is again clearly marked in Lincolnshire, and
  rises in the North Yorkshire moors to its maximum height of over 1500
  ft. Steep towards the west, where it overlooks the low Lias plain as
  the Oolitic escarpment, the land falls very gently in slopes of Oxford
  Clay towards the Cretaceous escarpments on the south and east.
  Throughout its whole extent it yields valuable building-stone, and in
  the Yorkshire moors the great abundance of iron ore has created the
  prosperity of Middlesbrough, on the plain below. The Lias plain is
  rich grazing country, the Oxford Clay forms valuable agricultural
  land, yielding heavy crops of wheat. The towns of the belt are
  comparatively small, not one attains a population of 75,000, and the
  favourite site is on the Lias plain below the great escarpment. They
  are for the most part typical rural market-towns, the manufactures,
  where such exist, being usually of agricultural machinery, or woollen
  and leather goods. Bath, Gloucester, Oxford, Northampton, Bedford,
  Rugby, Lincoln and Scarborough are amongst the chief. North of the gap
  in the low escarpment in which the town of Lincoln centres, a close
  fringe of villages borders the escarpment on the west; and throughout
  the belt the alternations of clay and hard rock are reflected in the
  grouping of population.

  _The Chalk Country._--The dominating surface-feature formed by the
  Cretaceous rocks is the Chalk escarpment, the northern edge of the
  great sheet of chalk that once spread continuously over the whole
  south-east. It appears as a series of rounded hills of no great
  elevation, running in a curve from the mouth of the Axe to Flamborough
  Head, roughly parallel with the Oolitic escarpment. Successive
  portions of this line of heights are known as the Western Downs, the
  White Horse Hills, the Chiltern Hills, the East Anglian Ridge, the
  Lincolnshire Wolds and the Yorkshire Wolds. The rivers from the gentle
  southern slopes of the Oolitic heights pass by deep valleys through
  the Chalk escarpments, and flow on to the Tertiary plains within. The
  typical scenery of the Chalk country is unrelieved by small streams of
  running water; the hills rise into rounded downs, often capped with
  fine clumps of beech, and usually covered with thin turf, affording
  pasture for sheep. The chalk, when exposed on the surface, is an
  excellent foundation for roads, and the lines of many of the Roman
  "streets" were probably determined by this fact. The Chalk country
  extends over part of Dorset, most of Wiltshire, a considerable portion
  of Hampshire and Oxfordshire, most of Hertfordshire and
  Cambridgeshire, the west of Norfolk and Suffolk, the east of
  Lincolnshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire. From the upland of
  Salisbury Plain, which corresponds to the axis of the anticline
  marking the centre of the double fold into which the strata of the
  south of England have been thrown, the great Chalk escarpment runs
  north-eastward; fingers of Chalk run eastward one each side of the
  Weald, forming the North and South Downs, while the southern edge of
  the Chalk sheet appears from beneath the Tertiary strata at several
  places on the south coast, and especially in the Isle of Wight.
  Flamborough Head, the South Foreland, Beachy Head and the Needles are
  examples of the fine scenery into which chalk weathers where it fronts
  the sea, and these white cliffs gave to the island its early name of
  Albion. The Chalk is everywhere very thinly peopled, except where it
  is thickly covered with boulder clay, and so becomes fertile, or where
  it is scored by drift-filled valleys, in which the small towns and
  villages are dotted along the high roads. The thickest covering of
  drift is found in the Holderness district of Yorkshire, where, from
  the chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head to the sandspit of Spurn Point,
  the whole coast is formed of boulder-clay resting on chalk. Of the few
  towns in the Chalk country, the interest of which is largely
  historical or scholastic, Salisbury, Winchester, Marlborough and
  Cambridge are the most distinguished. Reading flourishes from its
  position on the edge of the London Tertiary Basin, Croydon is a suburb
  of London, and Hull, though on the Chalk, derives its importance from
  the Humber estuary, which cuts through the Chalk and the Jurassic
  belts, to drain the Triassic plain and the Pennine region. The narrow
  strip of Greensands appearing from beneath the Chalk escarpment on its
  northern side is crowded with small towns and villages on account of
  the plentiful water-supply. The distinction between the low grounds of
  the Jurassic belt and the Chalk country is not always very apparent on
  the surface, and from the historic point of view it is important to
  recognize the individuality of the Eastern plain which extends from
  the Vale of York across the Humber and the Wash into Essex. The
  Eastern plain thus includes a portion of the Triassic plain in the
  north, a portion of the Jurassic and Chalk belts in the middle, and a
  portion of the Tertiary plain of the London Basin in the south.

  _The Fenland._--The continuity of the belts of Chalk and of the Middle
  and Upper Oolites in the Eastern Plain is broken by the shallow
  depression of the Wash and the Fenland. The Fenland comprises a strip
  of Norfolk, a considerable part of Cambridgeshire, and the Holland
  district of Lincoln. Formerly a great inlet with vague borders of
  lagoons and marshes, the Fenland has been reclaimed partly by natural
  processes, partly by engineering works patiently continued for
  centuries. The whole district is flat and low, for the most part
  within 15 ft. of sea-level; the seaward edge in many places is below
  the level of high tide, and is protected by dykes as in Holland, while
  straight canals and ditches carry the sluggish drainage from the land.
  The soil is composed for the most part of silt and peat. A few small
  elevations of gravel, or of underlying formations, rise above the
  level of 25 ft.; these were in former times islands, and now they form
  the sites of the infrequent villages. Boston and King's Lynn are
  memorials of the maritime importance of the Wash in the days of small
  ships. The numerous ancient churches and the cathedrals of Ely and
  Peterborough bear witness to the share taken by religious communities
  in the reclamation and cultivation of the land.

  _The Weald._--The dissection of the great east and west anticline in
  the south-east of England has resulted in a remarkable piece of
  country, occupying the east of Hampshire and practically the whole of
  Sussex, Surrey and Kent, in which each geological stratum produces its
  own type of scenery, and exercises its own specific influence on every
  natural distribution. The sheet of Chalk shows its cut edges in the
  escarpments facing the centre of the Weald, and surrounding it in an
  oval ring, the eastern end of which is broken by the Strait of Dover,
  so that its completion must be sought in France. From the crest of the
  escarpment, all round on south, west and north, the dip-slope of the
  Chalk forms a gentle descent outwards, the escarpment a very steep
  slope inwards. The cut edges of the escarpment forming the Hog's Back
  and North Downs on the north, and the South Downs on the south, meet
  the sea in the fine promontories of the South Foreland and Beachy
  Head. The Downs are almost without population, waterless and
  grass-covered, with patches of beech wood. Their only important towns
  are on the coast, e.g. Brighton, Eastbourne, Dover, Chatham, or in the
  gaps where rivers from the centre pierce the Chalk ring, as at
  Guildford, Rochester, Canterbury, Lewes and Arundel. Within the Chalk
  ring, and at the base of the steep escarpment, there is a low terrace
  of the Upper Greensand, seldom so much as a mile in width, but in most
  places crowded with villages scarcely more than a mile apart, and
  ranged like beads on a necklace. Within the Upper Greensand an equally
  narrow ring of Gault is exposed, its stiff clay forming level plains
  of grazing pasture, without villages, and with few farmhouses even;
  and from beneath it the successive beds of the Lower Greensand rise
  towards the centre, forming a wider belt, and reaching a considerable
  height before breaking off in a fine escarpment, the crest of which is
  in several points higher than the outer ring of Chalk. Leith Hill and
  Hindhead are parts of this edge in the west, where the exposure is
  widest. Several towns have originated in the gaps of the Lower
  Greensand escarpment which are continuous with those through the
  Chalk: such are Dorking, Reigate, Maidstone and Ashford. Folkestone
  and Pevensey stand where the two ends of the broken ring meet the sea.
  It is largely a region of oak and pine trees, in contrast to the beech
  of the Chalk Downs. The Lower Greensand escarpment looks inwards in
  its turn over the wide plain of Weald Clay, along which the Medway
  flows in the north, and which forms a fertile soil, well cultivated,
  and particularly rich in hops and wheat. The primitive forests have
  been largely cleared, the primitive marshes have all been drained, and
  now the Weald Clay district is fairly well peopled and sprinkled with
  villages. From the middle of this plain the core of Lower Cretaceous
  sandstones known as the Hastings Beds emerges steeply, and reaches in
  the centre an elevation of 796 ft. at Crowborough Beacon. It is on the
  whole a region with few streams, and a considerable portion of the
  ancient woodland still remains in Ashdown Forest. The greater part of
  the Forest Ridges is almost without inhabitants. Towns are found only
  round the edge bordering the Weald Clay, such as Tonbridge, Tunbridge
  Wells and Horsham; and along the line where it is cut off by the sea,
  e.g. Hastings and St Leonards. The broad low tongue of Romney Marsh
  running out to Dungeness is a product of shore-building by the Channel
  tides, attached to the Wealden area, but not essentially part of it.

  _The London Basin._--The London Basin occupies a triangular depression
  in the Chalk which is filled up with clays and gravels of Tertiary and
  later age. It extends from the eastern extremity of Wiltshire in a
  widening triangle to the sea, which it meets along an irregular line
  from Deal to Cromer. It thus occupies parts of Wiltshire, Hampshire,
  Surrey, Kent, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, the whole of Middlesex, the
  county of London and Essex, and the eastern edge of Suffolk and
  Norfolk. The scenery is quiet in its character, but the gravel hills
  are often prominent features, as at Harrow and in the northern suburbs
  of London; the country is now mainly under grass or occupied with
  market and nursery gardens, and many parts, of which Epping Forest is
  a fine example, are still densely wooded, the oak being the prevailing
  tree. The coast is everywhere low and deeply indented by ragged and
  shallow estuaries, that of the Thames being the largest. Shallow
  lagoons formed along the lower courses of the rivers of Norfolk have
  given to that part of the country the name of the Broads, a district
  of low and nearly level land. Apart from the huge area of urban and
  suburban London, the London Basin has few large towns. Norwich and
  Ipswich, Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Harwich and Colchester may be mentioned
  in the north-eastern part, all depending for their prosperity on
  agriculture or on the sea; and a fringe of summer resorts on the low
  coast has arisen on account of the bracing climate. Reading and
  Windsor lie in the western portion, beyond the suburban sphere of
  London. The Bagshot Beds in the west form infertile tracts of sandy
  soil, covered with heath and pine, where space is available for the
  great camps and military training-grounds round Aldershot, and for the
  extensive cemeteries at Woking. The London Clay in the east is more
  fertile and crowded with villages, while the East Anglian portion of
  the basin consists of the more recent Pliocene sands and gravels,
  which mix with the boulder clay to form the best wheat-growing soil in
  the country.

  _The Hampshire Basin._--The Hampshire Basin forms a triangle with
  Dorchester, Salisbury and Worthing near the angles, and the rim of
  Chalk to the south appears in broken fragments in the Isle of Purbeck,
  the Isle of Wight, and to the east of Bognor. On the infertile Bagshot
  Beds the large area of the New Forest remains untilled under its
  ancient oaks. The London Clay of the east is more fertile, but the
  greatness of this district lies in its coast-line, which is deeply
  indented, like that of the London Basin. Southampton and Portsmouth
  have gained importance through their fine natural harbours, improved
  by engineering works and fortifications; Bournemouth and Bognor, from
  their favourable position in the sunniest belt of the country, as
  health resorts.

  _Communications._--The configuration of England, while sufficiently
  pronounced to allow of the division of the country into natural
  regions, is not strongly enough marked to exercise any very great
  influence upon lines of communication. The navigable rivers are all
  connected by barge-canals, even across the Pennine Chain. Although the
  waterways are much neglected, compared with those of France or of
  Germany, they might still be very useful if they were enlarged and
  improved and if free competition with railways could be secured. The
  main roads laid out as arteries of intercommunication by the Romans,
  suffered to fall into neglect, and revived in the coaching days of the
  beginning of the 19th century, fell into a second period of
  comparative neglect when the railway system was completed; but they
  have recovered a very large share of their old importance in
  consequence of the development of motor-traffic. Following the Roman
  roads, the high roads of the Eastern Division very frequently run
  along the crests of ridges or escarpments; but in the Western Division
  they are, as a rule, forced by the more commanding relief of the
  country to keep to the river valleys and cross the rougher districts
  through the dales and passes. The railways themselves, radiating from
  the great centres of population, and especially from London, are only
  in a few instances much affected by configuration. The Pennine Chain
  has always separated the traffic from south to north into an east
  coast route through the Vale of York, and a west coast route by the
  Lancashire plain. The Midland railway, running through the high and
  rugged country between the two, was the last to be constructed. The
  most notable bridges over navigable water affording continuous routes
  are those across Menai Strait, the Tyne at Newcastle, the Severn at
  Severn Bridge and the Manchester Ship Canal. It is more usual to
  tunnel under such channels, and the numerous Thames tunnels, the
  Mersey tunnel between Liverpool and Birkenhead, and the Severn tunnel,
  the longest in the British Islands (4½ m.), on the routes from London
  to South Wales, and from Bristol to the north of England, are all
  important. The Humber estuary is neither bridged nor tunnelled below
  Goole.

  _Density of Population._--The present distribution of population over
  England and Wales shows a dense concentration at all large seaports,
  in the neighbourhood of London, and on the coal-fields where
  manufactures are carried on. Agricultural areas are very thinly
  peopled; purely pastoral districts can hardly be said to have any
  settled population at all. There are very few dwellings situated at a
  higher level than 1000 ft., and on the lower ground the Chalk and the
  Oolitic limestones, where they crop out on the surface, are extremely
  thinly peopled, and so as a rule are areas of alluvial deposits and
  the Tertiary sands. But, on the other hand, the broad clay plains of
  all formations, the Cretaceous sandstones, and the Triassic plain, are
  peopled more densely than any other district without mineral wealth or
  sea trade.

  _Political Divisions._--In the partition of England and Wales into
  counties, physical features play but a small part. The forty ancient
  counties, remnants of various historical groupings and partings, are
  occasionally bounded by rivers. Thus the Thames divides counties along
  nearly its whole length, forming the southern boundary of four and the
  northern boundary of three. Essex and Suffolk, Suffolk and Norfolk,
  Cornwall and Devon, Durham and Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire, are
  all separated by rivers, while rivers form some part of the boundaries
  of almost every county. Still, it is noteworthy that the Severn and
  Trent nowhere form continuous county boundaries. Watersheds are rarely
  used as boundaries for any distance; but, although slightly
  overlapping the watershed on all sides, Yorkshire is very nearly
  coincident with the basin of the Ouse. The boundaries of the parishes,
  the fundamental units of English political geography, are very often
  either rivers or watersheds, and they frequently show a close relation
  to the strike of the geological strata. The hundreds, or groups of
  parishes, necessarily share their boundaries, and groups of hundreds
  are often aggregated to form larger subdivisions of counties. A wider
  grouping according to natural characteristics may now be recognized
  only in the cases of Wales, East Anglia, Wessex and such less definite
  groups as the Home Counties around London or the Midlands around
  Birmingham. Configuration is only one out of many conditions modifying
  distributions, and its effects on England as a whole appear to be
  suggestive rather than determinative.     (H. R. M.)


III. GEOLOGY

For an area so small, England is peculiarly rich in geological interest.
This is due in some degree to the energy of the early British
geologists, whose work profoundly influenced all subsequent thought in
the science, as may be seen by the general acceptation of so many of the
English stratigraphical terms; but the natural conditions were such as
to call forth and to stimulate this energy in an unusual way. Almost
every one of the principal geological formations may be studied in
England with comparative ease.

  If we lay aside for the moment all the minor irregularities, we find,
  upon examination of a geological map of England, two structural
  features of outstanding importance. (1) The first is the great
  anticline of the Pennine Hills which dominates the northern half of
  England from the Scottish border to Derby. Its central core of Lower
  Carboniferous rock is broadly displayed towards the north, while
  southward it contracts; on either side lie the younger rocks, the
  coal-fields, the Permian strata and the Triassic formations, the
  last-named, while sweeping round the southern extremity of the
  Carboniferous axis of the uplift from its eastern and western flanks,
  spread out in a large sheet over the midland counties. (2) The second
  striking feature is the regular succession of Jurassic and Cretaceous
  rocks which crop out in almost unbroken lines from the coast of
  Dorsetshire, whither they appear to converge, to the Cleveland Hills
  and the Yorkshire coast. Lying upon the Cretaceous rocks in the S.E.
  of England are the two Tertiary basins of London and Hampshire,
  separated by the dissected anticline of the Weald.

  [Illustration: Map of ENGLAND.

      Legend:

    _Recent & Pleistocene_            _Old Red Sandstone & Devonian_
    _Tertiary_                        _Silurian_
    _Cretaceous_                      _Ordovician_
    _Jurassic_                        _Cambrian_
    _Trias_                           _Metamorphic Group_
    _Permian_                         _Volcanic Rocks_
    _Coal Measures, Carboniferous_    _Basic Intrusive Rocks_
    _Millstone Grit Series & Culm_    _Granite & Acid Intrusive Rocks_
    _Lower Carboniferous_]

  The older rocks in England occupy relatively small areas. Pre-Cambrian
  rocks are represented by the gneisses of Primrose Hill and schists of
  Rushton in Shropshire; by the gneisses forming the core of the Malvern
  Hills, and by the ancient volcanic and other rocks of the Wrekin,
  Charnwood Forest and Nuneaton. The slates of the Long Mynd, on the
  Shropshire border, belong to this system. Cambrian strata appear in
  Shropshire in the form of sandstones and quartzites; in the Malvern
  Hills they are black shales, while in the Lake District they are
  represented by the Skiddaw slates. Next in point of age comes the
  Ordovician system, which is well developed upon the Shropshire border
  and in the Lake District. In the same two areas we find the Silurian
  rocks, shales and limestones with grits and flags. In N. and S. Devon
  are the Devonian limestones, grits and shales; the corresponding Old
  Red Sandstone type of the system (marls and sandstones) being exposed
  over a large part of Herefordshire, stretching also into Shropshire
  and Monmouth. Next in order of succession comes the Carboniferous
  system, with shales and limestones in the lower members, grits,
  sandstones and shales--the Millstone Grit series--in the middle of the
  system, followed by the Coal Measures--a great series of shales with
  coal, sandstones and ironstone at the top. This important system
  occupies a large area in England. The limestones and shales are well
  exposed in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, the Mendip Hills and
  at Clifton. The Millstone Grit series is prominent in Lancashire,
  Derbyshire, N. Staffordshire, Yorkshire and in the Forest of Dean. The
  Coal Measures rest upon the Millstone Grits in most places, generally
  in synclinal basins. On the eastern side of the Pennine range are the
  conterminous coal-fields of Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire,
  and the coal-field of Durham and Northumberland; on the western side
  are the Whitehaven, Burnley, S. Lancashire and N. Staffordshire
  coal-fields. Farther south are the S. Staffordshire, Warwickshire,
  Coalbrook Dale, Forest of Wyre, Forest of Dean and Bristol and
  Somerset coal-fields; while much concealed coal lies under younger
  formations in the south-east of England, as has been proved at Dover.
  A large part of N. Devon is occupied by the Culm shales, limestones
  and grits of Carboniferous age. The principal development of Permian
  rocks is the narrow strip which extends from Nottingham to Tynemouth;
  here the Magnesian limestone is the characteristic feature. On the
  other side of the Pennine Hills we find the Penrith sandstone of the
  Vale of Eden and the Brockram beds of the Lake District. Red
  sandstones and conglomerates of this age constitute some of the red
  rocks which form the picturesque scenery about Dawlish and Teignmouth.

  The Triassic rocks, red sandstones, marls and conglomerates cover a
  broad area in the Midlands in Worcestershire, Warwickshire and
  Leicestershire, whence they may be followed south-westward through
  Somerset to the coast at Sidmouth, and northward, round either flank
  of the Pennine Hills, through Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire to
  Middlesbrough on the one hand, and upon the other through
  Staffordshire, Cheshire and Lancashire to Carlisle.

  The outcrop of the Lias, mainly clay with thin limestones and
  ironstones, runs in an almost continuous band across the country from
  Lyme Regis, through Bath, Cheltenham, near Leicester, and Lincoln to
  Redcar in Yorkshire. Closely following the same line are the
  alternating clays and limestones of the Oolitic series. Next in order
  come the Greensands and Gault, which lie at the base of the Chalk
  escarpment, between that formation and the Oolites. The Chalk occupies
  all the remaining portion of the south-east of England, save the
  Wealden area, and extends northward as far as Flamborough in
  Yorkshire, forming the Yorkshire Wolds, the Lincolnshire Wolds, the
  Chiltern Hills, the N. and S. Downs, the Dorsetshire heights and
  Salisbury Plain. But in the eastern and southern counties the Chalk is
  covered by younger deposits of Tertiary age; the Pliocene Crags of
  Norfolk and Suffolk, the Lower London Tertiaries (London Clay,
  Woolwich and Reading Beds, &c.) of the London Basin comprising parts
  of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Bucks and Berks, and northern
  Kent. Again, in the Hampshire Basin and Isle of Wight, Eocene and
  Oligocene formations rest upon the Chalk.

  When we attempt to decipher the physical history of the country from
  the complicated record afforded by the stratigraphical palimpsest, we
  are checked at the outset by the dearth of information from being able
  to picture the geographical condition in the older Palaeozoic periods.
  All we can say is, that in those remote times what is now England had
  no existence; its site was occupied by seas which were tenanted by
  marine invertebrates, long since extinct. As for the boundaries of
  these ancient seas, we can say nothing with certainty, but it is of
  interest to note the evidence we possess of still older land
  conditions, such as we have in the old rocks of Shropshire, &c. In the
  Devonian period it is clear that an elevatory movement had set in
  towards the north, which gave rise to the formation of inland lakes
  and narrow estuaries in which the Old Red Sandstone rocks were formed,
  while in the south of England lay the sea with a vigorous coral fauna.
  This condition led up to the Carboniferous period, which began with
  fairly open sea over the south and north of England, but in the centre
  there rose an elevated land mass from which much of the Millstone Grit
  was derived; other land lay towards the north. Slowly this sea
  shallowed, giving rise to the alternating estuarine marine and
  freshwater deposits of the Coal Measures. Continual elevation of the
  land brought about the close of the coal-forming period and great
  changes ensued. Desert conditions, with confined inland seas, marked
  the Permian and Triassic periods. It was about this time that the
  Pennine Hills, the Lake District mountain mass, and the Mendip Hills
  were being most vigorously uplifted, while the granite masses of
  Cornwall and Devon were perhaps being injected into the Carboniferous
  and Devonian rocks. From this period, more or less of the Pennine
  ridge has always remained above the sea, along with much of Cornwall
  and parts of Devonshire.

  In early Jurassic times the sea probably again occupied most of
  England with the exception of the above-mentioned areas, the Lake
  District and eastern part of the London Basin; Wales, too, and much of
  Scotland were land. Elevation gradually caused more land to appear in
  later Jurassic and early Cretaceous times when a river system, now
  entirely obliterated, drained into the Purbeck estuary and Wealden
  lake; but a subsequent depression led to the wide extension of the
  Chalk sea. By the beginning of the Eocene period we find the sea
  limited to the S.E. of England, where the London Clay, &c., were being
  laid down. It was not until quite late in Tertiary time that these
  islands began to assume anything like their present form. In the
  earlier part of the Pleistocene period, England and Ireland were still
  incompletely severed, and the combined activity of certain extinct
  rivers and the sea had not yet cut through the land connexion with the
  continent. The last well-marked lowering of the land took place in the
  Pleistocene period, when it was accompanied by glacial conditions,
  through which the greater part of northern England and the Midlands
  was covered by ice; a state of things which led directly and
  indirectly to the deposition of those extensive boulder clays, sands
  and gravels which obscure so much of the older surface of the country
  in all but the southern counties.

  Throughout the whole period of its geological history, volcanic
  activity has found expression with varying degrees of intensity along
  what is now the western side of the island, with the exception that in
  the Mesozoic era this activity was in abeyance. We may note the
  pre-Cambrian lavas and tuffs of the Wrekin district in Shropshire and
  the somewhat later volcanic rocks of Charnwood; the porphyrites,
  andesites, tuffs and rhyolites of the Borrowdale volcanic centre,
  erupted in the Ordovician period, and the Silurian granites of the
  same region. The volcanic outbursts which followed became feebler in
  the Devonian and Carboniferous periods and ceased with the Permian.
  When again the volcanic forces became active, it was in the early
  Tertiary era; the evidences for this lie outside the English border.

  The principal directions of crust movement in England are: (1) north
  and south, by which the Pennine folds and faults, and the Malvern
  Hills have been produced; (2) east and west, by which the folds of the
  Weald and the Mendip Hills, and those of Devonshire have been formed.
  Another less important direction is N.W. and S.E., as in the Charnwood
  folding.

  Further details of the geology are given under the heads of the
  counties.     (J. A. H.)


IV. CLIMATE

    Climate.

  _Temperature._--The mean annual temperature of the whole of England
  and Wales (reduced to sea-level) is about 50° F., varying from
  something over 52° in the Scilly Isles to something under 48° at the
  mouth of the Tweed. The mean annual temperature diminishes very
  regularly from south-west to north-east, the west coast being warmer
  than the east, so that the mean temperature at the mouth of the Mersey
  is as high as that at the mouth of the Thames. During the coldest
  month of the year (January) the mean temperature of all England is
  about 40°. The influence of the western ocean is very strongly marked,
  the temperature falling steadily from west to east. Thus while the
  temperature in the west of Cornwall is 44°, the temperature on the
  east coast from north of the Humber to the Thames is under 38°, the
  coldest winters being experienced in the Fenland. In the hottest month
  (July) the mean temperature of England and Wales is about 61.5°, and
  the westerly wind then exercises a cooling effect, the greatest heat
  being found in the Thames basin immediately around London, where the
  mean temperature of the month exceeds 64°; the mean temperature along
  the south coast is 62°, and that at the mouth of the Tweed a little
  under 59°. In the centre of the country along a line drawn from London
  to Carlisle the mean temperature in July is found to diminish
  gradually at an average rate of 1° per 60 m. The coasts are cooler
  than the centre of the country, but the west coast is much cooler than
  the east, modified continental conditions prevailing over the North
  Sea. The natural effect of the heating of the air in summer and the
  cooling of the air in winter by contact with the land is largely
  masked in England on account of the strength of the prevailing
  south-westerly wind carrying oceanic influence into the heart of the
  country. This effect is well seen in the way in which the wind blowing
  directly up the Severn estuary is directed along the edges of the
  Oolitic escarpment north-eastward, thus displacing the centre of cold
  in winter to the east coast, and the centre of heat in summer to the
  lower Thames, from the position which both centres would occupy, if
  calms prevailed, in a belt running from Birmingham to Buckingham. As
  to how far the narrow portion of the North Sea modifies the influence
  of the European continent, there seems reason to believe that the
  prevailing winds blowing up the English Channel carry oceanic
  conditions some distance inland, along those parts of the continent
  nearest to England. The Mersey estuary, being partly sheltered by
  Ireland and North Wales, does not serve as an inlet for modifying
  influences to the same extent as the Bristol Channel; and as the wind
  entering by it blows squarely against the slope of the Pennine Chain,
  it does not much affect the climate of the midland plain.

  [Illustration: Map of ENGLAND & WALES--Section II.]

  _Winds._--The average barometric pressure over England is about
  29.94 in., and normally diminishes from south-west to north-east at
  all seasons, the mean pressure on the south coast being 29.97 and that
  on the northern border 29.88. The pressure at any given latitude is
  normally highest in the centre of the country and on the east coast,
  and lowest on the west coast. The direction of the mean annual isobars
  shows that the normal wind in all parts of England and Wales must be
  from the south-west on the west coast, curving gradually until in the
  centre of the country, and on the east coast it is westerly, without a
  southerly component. The normal seasonal march of pressure-change
  produces a maximum gradient in December and January, and a minimum
  gradient in April; but for every month in the year the mean gradient
  is for winds from southerly and westerly quarters. In April the
  gradient is so slight that any temporary fall of pressure to the south
  of England or any temporary rise of pressure to the north, which would
  suffice in other months merely to reduce the velocity of the
  south-westerly wind, is sufficient in that month to reverse the
  gradient and produce an east wind over the whole country. The
  liability to east wind in spring is one of the most marked features of
  the English climate, the effect being naturally most felt on the east
  coast. The southerly component in the wind is as a rule most marked in
  the winter months, the westerly component predominating in summer. The
  west end of a town receives the wind as it blows in fresh from the
  country at all seasons, and consequently the west end of an English
  town is with few exceptions the residential quarter, while
  smoke-producing industries are usually relegated to the east end.

  _Storms._--On account of the great frequency of cyclonic disturbances
  passing in from the Atlantic, the average conditions of wind over the
  British Islands give no idea of the frequency of change in direction
  and force. The chief paths of depressions are from south-west to
  north-east across England; one track runs across the south-east and
  eastern counties, and is that followed by a large proportion of the
  summer and autumn storms, thereby perhaps helping to explain the
  peculiar liability of the east of England to damage from hail
  accompanying thunderstorms. A second track crosses central England,
  entering by the Severn estuary and leaving by the Humber or the Wash;
  while a third crosses the north of England from the neighbourhood of
  Morecambe Bay to the Tyne. While these are tracks frequently followed
  by the centres of barometric depressions, individual cyclones may and
  do cross the country in all directions, though very rarely indeed from
  east to west or from north to south.

  _Rainfall._--The rainfall of England, being largely due to passing
  cyclones, can hardly be expected to show a very close relation to the
  physical features of the country, yet looked at in a general way the
  relation between prevailing winds and orographic structure is not
  obscure. The western or mountainous division is the wettest at all
  seasons, each orographic group forming a centre of heavy
  precipitation. There are few places in the Western Division where the
  rainfall is less than 35 in., while in Wales, the Cornwall-Devon
  peninsula, the Lake District and the southern part of the Pennine
  Region the precipitation exceeds 40 in., and in Wales and the Lake
  District considerable areas have a rainfall of over 60 in. In the
  Eastern Division, on the other hand, an annual rainfall exceeding 30
  in. is rare, and in the low ground about the mouth of the Thames
  estuary and around the Wash the mean annual rainfall is less than 25
  in. In the Western Division and along the south coast the driest month
  is usually April or May, while in the Eastern Division it is February
  or March. The wettest month for most parts of England is October, the
  most noticeable exception being in East Anglia, where, on account of
  the frequency of summer thunderstorms, July is the month in which most
  rain falls, although October is not far behind. In the Western
  Division there is a tendency for the annual maximum of rainfall to
  occur later than October. It may be stated generally that the Western
  Division is mild and wet in winter, and cool and less wet in summer;
  while the Eastern Division is cold and dry in winter and spring, and
  hot and less dry in summer and autumn. The south coast occupies an
  intermediate position between the two as regards climate. Attention
  has been called to the fact that the bare rocks and steep gradients
  which are common in the Western Division allow of the heavy rainfall
  running off the surface rapidly, while the flat and often clayey lands
  of the Eastern Division retain the scantier rainfall in the soil for a
  longer time, so that for agricultural purposes the effect of the
  rainfall is not very dissimilar throughout the country.

  _Sunshine._--The distribution of sunshine is not yet fully
  investigated, but it appears that the sunniest part is the extreme
  south coast, where alone the total number of hours of bright sunshine
  reaches an average of more than 1600 per annum. The north-east,
  including the Pennine Region and the whole of Yorkshire, has less than
  1300 hours of sunshine, and a portion of North Wales is equally
  cloudy. Although little more than a guess, 1375 hours may be put down
  as approximately the average duration of bright sunshine for England
  as a whole, which may be compared with 2600 hours for Italy, and
  probably about 1200 hours for Norway.

  For the purpose of forecasting the weather, the meteorological office
  divides England into six districts, which are known as England N.E.,
  Midland Counties, England East, London and Channel, England N.W. and
  North Wales, and England S.W. and South Wales.     (H. R. M.)


V. ENGLISH PLACE-NAMES

English place-names are of diverse origin and often extremely corrupt in
their modern form, so that the real etymology of the names can often be
discovered only by a careful comparison of the modern form with such
ancient forms as are to be found in charters, ancient histories, and
other early documents. By the aid of these a certain amount of work has
been done in the subject, but it is still largely an unworked field. The
most satisfactory method of characterizing English place-nomenclature is
to deal with it historically and chronologically, showing the influence
of the successive nations who have borne sway in this island. The Celtic
influence is to be found scattered evenly up and down the country so far
as names of rivers and mountains are concerned; in names of towns it is
chiefly confined to the west. Roman influence is slight but evenly
distributed. English influence is all-pervading, though in the northern
and north-midland counties this influence has been encroached upon by
Scandinavian influence. Norman influence is not confined to any
particular district.

  _Celtic._--Though scattered notices of towns, cities and rivers in
  Britain are to be found in various early Roman writers, it is not till
  the time of Ptolemy (2nd century), who constructed a map of the
  island, and of the itinerary of Antonine (beginning of the 3rd
  century) that we have much information as to the cities and towns of
  Britain. We there learn that the following place-names are ultimately
  of Celtic origin:--Brougham, Catterick, York, Lincoln (_Lindum_),
  Manchester (_Mancunium_), Doncaster (_Danum_), Wroxeter
  (_Viroconium_), Lichfield (_Letocetum_), Gloucester (_Glevum_),
  Cirencester (_Corinium_), Colchester (_Camulodunum_), London,
  Reculver, Richborough (_Rutupiae_), Dover, Lymne, Isle of Wight,
  Dorchester (_Durnovaria_), Sarum, Exeter (_Isca_), Brancaster
  (_Branodunum_), Thanet. We also have the names of the following
  rivers:--Eden, Dee, Trent, Yare, Colne, Thames, Kennet, Churne, Exe,
  Severn, Tamar. Gildas, writing in the 6th century, speaks of the
  twenty-eight cities of the Britons. Nennius' _Historia Britonum_ gives
  what purports to be a list of these cities. Of these, excluding Welsh
  ones, we may with some certainty identify Canterbury (_Caint_),
  Caerleon-on-Usk, Leicester (_Lerion_), Penzelwood, Carlisle,
  Colchester, Grantchester (_Granth_), London, Worcester
  (_Guveirangon_), Doncaster (_Daun_), Wroxeter (_Guoricon_), Chester
  (_Legion_--this is Roman), Lichfield (_Licitcsith_) and Gloucester
  (_Gloui_). Others less certain are Preston-on-Humber and Manchester
  (_Manchguid_).

  In modern place-names the suffix _don_ often goes back to the Celtic
  _dun_, a hill, e.g. Bredon, Everdon, but the suffix was still a living
  one in Saxon times. Of river-names the vast majority are Celtic
  (possible exceptions will be named later), and the same is true of
  mountains and hills. The forests of Wyre, Elmet and Sel (wood), and
  the districts of the Wrekin and the Peak are probably Celtic.

  _Roman._--We do not owe entire place-names to Roman influence, with
  the exception of a few such as Chester, Chester-le-Street (L. _strata_
  [_via_], a road) and Caistor, but Roman influence is to be found in
  many names compounded of Celtic and Roman elements. The chief of these
  is the element _chester_--(L. _castrum_, a fort), e.g. Ebchester,
  Silchester, Grantchester. Porchester is entirely Latin, but may not
  have been formed till Saxon times. The form _caster_ is found in the
  north and east, under Scandinavian influence, e.g. Tadcaster,
  Lancaster; and in the south-west and in the midlands we have a group
  of towns with the form _cester_:--Bicester, Gloucester, Cirencester,
  Worcester, Alcester, Leicester, Towcester. Exeter, Wroxeter and
  perhaps Uttoxeter show the suffix in slightly different form. In names
  like Chesterton, Chesterford, Chesterholm, Woodchester, the second
  element shows that the names are of later English or Scandinavian
  formation. In Lincoln we have a compound of the Celtic _Lindum_ and
  the Latin _colonia_.

  _Saxon._--The chief suffixes of Saxon origin to be found in English
  place-names are as follows (some of them being also used
  independently): _-burgh_, _-borough_, _-bury_ (O.E. _burh_, fortified
  town), e.g. Burgh, Bamborough, Aylesbury, Bury; _-bourne_, _-borne_,
  _-burn_ (O.E. _burne_, _-a_, a stream), e.g. Ashbourne, Sherborne,
  Sockburn; _-bridge_, e.g. Weybridge, Bridge; _-church_, e.g.
  Pucklechurch; _-den_, _-dean_ (O.E. _denu_, a valley), e.g. Gaddesden,
  Rottingdean; _-down_, _-don_, _-ton_ (O.E. _dun_ [Celtic], a hill),
  e.g. Huntingdon, Seckington, Edington; _-ey_, _-ea_, _-y_ (O.E. _ig_,
  an island), e.g. Thorney, Mersea, Ely; _-fleet_ (O.E. _fleot_, an
  estuary) e.g. Benfleet; _-field_, e.g. Lichfield; _-ford_, e.g.
  Bradford; _-ham_ (O.E. _ham_, a home, and _hamm_, an enclosure); these
  are not distinguished in modern English, e.g. Bosham, Ham; _-hall_
  (O.E. _healh_, a corner), e.g. Riccall, Tettenhall; _-head_, e.g.
  Gateshead; _-hill_, e.g. Tickhill; _-hurst_ (O.E. _hyrst_, copse,
  wood), e.g. Deerhurst; _-ing_ (patronymic suffix, plural form in
  O.E.), e.g. Basing, Reading; _-leigh_, _-ley_, _-lea_ (O.E. _leah_,
  meadow), e.g. Leigh, Stoneleigh, Whalley; _-lade_ (O.E. _lad_, path,
  course), e.g. Cricklade; _-land_, e.g. Crowland; _-lock_ (O.E. _loca_,
  enclosure), e.g. Porlock; _-minster_ (O.E. _mynster_, L.
  _monasterium_), e.g. Axminster, Minster; _-mouth_, e.g. Exmouth;
  _-port_ (O.E. _port_, market-town, a word of Latin origin), e.g.
  Bridport; _-sted_, _-stead_ (O. E. _stede_, a place), e.g. Stansted,
  Wanstead; _-stone_, _-ston_, e.g. Beverstone, Sherston; _-staple_
  (O.E. _stapol_, foundation), e.g. Barnstaple; _-stow_ (O.E. _stow_,
  place), e.g. Stow, Chepstow, Bristol (earlier Bristow); _-tree_,
  _-try_, e.g. Coventry, Elstree, Seasalter; _-ton_ (O.E. _tun_,
  enclosure), e.g. Milton; _-wark_ (O.E. _geweorc_, fortification), e.g.
  Southwark; _-well_, e.g. Bakewell; _-wich_, _-wick_ (O.E. _wic_, a
  dwelling), e.g. Norwich, Swanage (O.E. Swanawic), Warwick; _-worth_,
  _-worthy_ (O.E. _weorth_, _weorthig_, an enclosure), e.g. Polesworth,
  Holsworthy.

  Of river names the Blackwater, Witham, Ashburne, Swift, Washburn,
  Loxly, Wythburn, Eamont are perhaps English and so also may be the
  Waveney in Suffolk.

  _Scandinavian._--The following suffixes are Scandinavian in origin,
  some of them being also used independently: _-beck_ (O.N. _bekkr_,
  stream), e.g. Starbeck, Troutbeck; _-by_ (O.N. _byr_, town), e.g.
  Whitby; _-dale_ (O.N. _dalr_), e.g. Swaledale; _-car(r)_, _-ker_ (O.N.
  _kiörr_, marshy ground), e.g. Redcar, The Carrs, Muker; _-fell_ (O.N.
  _fjäll_, mountain), e.g. Scafell; _-force_, _-foss_ (O.N. _fors_,
  waterfall). High Force, Wilberfoss; _-garth_ (O.N. _garðr_,
  enclosure), e.g. Hoggarths; _-gill_ (O.N. _gil_, a deep narrow glen),
  e.g. Skelgill, Dungeon Ghyll; _-holm(e)_ (O.N. _hólmr_, island), e.g.
  Axholme, Durham (earlier Dunholm); _keld_ (O.N. _kelda_, well,
  spring), e.g. Threlkeld, Keld; _-lund_ (O.N. _lundr_, grove), e.g.
  Snelland, Timberland, Lound; _-how_ (O.N. _haugr_, hill), e.g.
  Greenhow; _-scale_ (O.N. _skále_, hut, shed), e.g. Seascale; _-skew_
  (O.N. _skógr_, forest), e.g. Litherskew; _-thorpe_ (O.N. _þorp_,
  village), e.g. Thorpe, Osgathorp; _-thwaite_ (O.N. _þveit_, a piece of
  land), e.g. Rosthwaite; _-toft_ (O.N. _topt_, a green knoll), e.g.
  Toft, Langtoft; _-with_ (O.N. _viðr_, a wood), e.g. Blawith, Stowiths.

  Tarn (a mountain pool), grain and sike (mountain streams) are also
  Scandinavian terms.

  _Norman._--Norman influence has not been very great in English
  place-nomenclature. The number of places with pure French names is
  extremely limited; a few such are Beaulieu, Belvoir, Beauchief,
  Beaudesert, Beaufort, Beaumont, also Theydon _Bois_, War-_boys_.
  Norman influence is marked more strongly in certain compound
  place-names, where one of the elements often represents the name of
  the original Norman tenant or holder, e.g. Thorpe _Mandeville_,
  _Helion_ Bumstead, Higham _Ferrers_, Swaffham _Bulbeck_, Stoke
  _Gifford_, Shepton _Mallet_; similarly names like Lyme _Regis_,
  _King's_ Sutton, _Monks'_ Kirby, Zeal _Monachorum_, Milton _Abbas_,
  _Bishop's_ Waltham, _Prior's_ Dean, Huish _Episcopi_ date from feudal
  times. Gallicized forms are also to be found in a few forms like
  Kirkby-le-Soken, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Alsop-en-le-Dale,
  Barnoldby-le-Beck. Ecclesiastical influence is to be found in such
  names as Aldwinkle St Peter, Barford St Martin, Belchamp St Paul, the
  name of the saint being the name either of the saint to whom the
  church at that place was dedicated or the patron-saint of the
  monastery or abbey to whom lands in that district belonged.
       (A. MW.)


VI. Population

Until the beginning of the 19th century there existed no other knowledge
of the actual area and population of the country but what was given in
the vaguest estimates. But there can be little doubt that the population
of England and Wales increased very slowly for centuries, owing largely
to want of intercommunication, which led to famines, more or less
severe--it being a common occurrence that, while one county, with a good
harvest, was enjoying abundance, the people of the adjoining one were
starving. The interpretation of certain figures given in the Domesday
Survey (which do not cover certain parts of modern England nor take
account of the ecclesiastical population) is a matter of widely
divergent opinion; but a total population of one million and a half has
been accepted by many for the close of the 11th century. In 1377 the
levying of a poll-tax provides partial figures from which a total of two
to two-and-a-half millions has been deduced, but again divergent views
have been expressed as to how far the number was still affected by the
Black Death of 1348-1349. It is calculated, on the basis of registers of
births and deaths, that the population of England and Wales numbered
5,475,000 in 1700, and 6,467,000 in 1750. From the later part of the
18th century a stronger tendency to increase set in, and at the taking
of the first census, in 1801, it was ascertained that the population
numbered 8,892,536, being--if the former estimates were approximately
correct--an increase of very nearly 2½ millions in little over fifty
years. This rate of increase was not only continued, but came to be
greatly exceeded.

Since the first census of 1801, regular enumerations of the people of
England and Wales have been taken every ten years. The results of these
enumerations are published in separate volumes for each county, in a
volume of summary tables, and in a general report. In the summaries
England and Wales are treated as one, and this treatment is followed
here. The following table gives the total numbers of the population of
England and Wales at each census, together with the absolute increase,
and growth per cent, during each decennial period:--

  +------------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+
  |     Dates of     |             | Increase at  |Decennial Rate|
  |   Enumeration.   | Population. | each Census. |  of Increase |
  |                  |             |              |   per Cent.  |
  +------------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+
  | 1801, March 10th |   8,892,536 |     · ·      |      · ·     |
  | 1811, May 27th   |  10,164,256 |  1,271,720   |     14.00    |
  | 1821, May 28th   |  12,000,236 |  1,835,980   |     18.06    |
  | 1831, May 30th   |  13,896,797 |  1,896,561   |     15.80    |
  | 1841, June 7th   |  15,914,148 |  2,017,351   |     14.27    |
  | 1851, March 31st |  17,927,609 |  2,013,461   |     12.65    |
  | 1861, April 8th  |  20,066,224 |  2,138,615   |     11.90    |
  | 1871, April 3rd  |  22,712,266 |  2,646,042   |     13.21    |
  | 1881, April 4th  |  25,974,439 |  3,262,173   |     14.36    |
  | 1891, April 6th  |  29,002,525 |  3,028,086   |     11.65    |
  | 1901, April 1st  |  32,527,843 |  3,525,318   |     12.17    |
  +------------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+

Allowing for a rate of increase equivalent to that which obtained
between 1891 and 1901, the estimated population was 34,152,977 in 1905,
and 36,169,150 in 1910.

  _Distribution._--A detailed map of the distribution of population in
  England and Wales[11] shows certain well-defined areas of very dense
  population. First for consideration, though not in geographical
  extent, stands the area round London, in Middlesex, Surrey, Kent,
  Essex and Hertfordshire. A great proportion of this population is
  purely residential, that is to say, its working members do not
  practise their professions at home or close to home, but in the
  metropolis, travelling a considerable distance between their
  residences and their offices. Just as London, in spite of its manifold
  industrial interests, is hardly to be termed a manufacturing centre,
  so the populous district surrounding it is not to be termed an
  industrial district in the sense in which that term is applied to the
  remaining regions of dense population which fall for consideration
  here. London gained its paramount importance from its favourable
  geographical position in respect of the rest of England on the one
  hand and the Continent on the other, and the populous district of the
  "home counties" owes its existence to that importance; whereas other
  populous districts have generally grown up at the point where some
  source of natural wealth, as coal or iron, lay to hand. The great
  populous area which covers south Lancashire and the West Riding of
  Yorkshire, and extends beyond them into Cheshire, Derbyshire,
  Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire, is not in reality a unit. The whole
  of the lowland in the south of Lancashire has almost the appearance of
  one vast town, whereas among the hills of the Pennine Chain the
  population crowds the valleys on either flank and leaves in the
  high-lying centre some of the largest tracts of practically
  uninhabited country in England. Moreover, the industries in different
  parts of this area (for it is strictly an industrial area) differ
  completely, as will be observed later, though coal-mining is common to
  all. The other most extensive centres of dense population are the
  coal-mining or manufacturing districts of Northumberland and Durham,
  of the midlands (parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and
  Leicestershire), and of South Wales and Monmouthshire; and it is in
  these districts, and others smaller, but of similar character, that
  the greatest increase of population has been recorded, since the
  extensive development of their resources during the 19th century.
  Thus the preceding counties[12] showed an increase, under normal
  conditions, exceeding 10% during the ten years 1891-1901, the
  percentage of increase in 1871-1891 being given for comparison.

    +---------------------------+-------------------------+
    |                           |   Increase per cent.    |
    |        Counties.          +------------+------------+
    |                           | 1871-1891. | 1891-1901. |
    +---------------------------+------------+------------+
    | Middlesex                 |   47.42    |   45.11    |
    | Essex                     |   31.54    |   39.60    |
    | Glamorganshire (S. Wales) |   30.72    |   25.10    |
    | Surrey                    |   25.03    |   24.78    |
    | Northumberland            |   14.42    |   19.19    |
    | Worcestershire            |   12.12    |   18.49    |
    | Nottinghamshire           |   19.30    |   18.09    |
    | Durham                    |   21.67    |   16.62    |
    | Leicestershire            |   17.43    |   16.46    |
    | Kent                      |   13.15    |   15.95    |
    | Hampshire                 |   12.73    |   15.33    |
    | Monmouthshire             |   12.08    |   14.97    |
    | Yorkshire (E. Riding)     |   14.31    |   13.49    |
    | Northamptonshire          |   11.40    |   13.27    |
    | Warwickshire              |   12.78    |   12.95    |
    | Staffordshire             |   12.15    |   12.92    |
    | Derbyshire                |   15.52    |   12.81    |
    | Yorkshire (W. Riding)     |   15.36    |   12.70    |
    | Cheshire                  |   14.62    |   12.56    |
    | Lancashire                |   17.92    |   12.05    |
    | Hertfordshire             |    5.08    |   10.91    |
    +---------------------------+------------+------------+

  It will be observed that three of the home counties occur in the first
  four in the above list. It is interesting to note, in this connexion,
  that the increase of population diminished steadily, in the three
  decades under notice, within the area covered by the administrative
  county of London, which is only the central part of urban London
  (compare the population table of the great urban districts, below).
  This was 17.44% in 1871-1881, 10.39 in 1881-1891, and 7.3 in
  1891-1901. This illustrates the constant tendency for the residential
  districts of a city to radiate away from its centre, which appears,
  though in a modified degree, in the case of all the great English
  cities.

  During the period 1891-1901 five English and five Welsh counties
  showed a decrease per cent in the population. The English counties
  were:--

    +--------------------+-------------------------+------------+
    |                    |Decrease or Increase(+). |  Decrease. |
    |                    +------------+------------+ 1891-1901. |
    |                    | 1871-1881. | 1881-1891. |            |
    +--------------------+------------+------------+------------+
    | Huntingdonshire    |    8.29    |    5.51    |    7.04    |
    | Rutland            |    1.55    |    3.73    |    5.59    |
    | Westmorland        |    1.25    |   +2.96    |    2.73    |
    | Oxfordshire        |   +1.27    |   +3.64    |    1.70    |
    | Herefordshire      |    3.26    |    4.02    |    1.62    |
    +--------------------+------------+------------+------------+


    Urban and rural districts.

  The Welsh counties were Montgomeryshire, Cardiganshire, Flintshire,
  Merionethshire and Brecknockshire, the first-named showing the highest
  decrease, 5.08%, in 1891-1901. These counties are principally
  agricultural, and it is in agricultural districts elsewhere that the
  increase of population is slightest. But in 1871-1881 a decrease was
  found in the case of fifteen counties in all, and in 1881-1891 in the
  case of thirteen, whereas in 1891-1901, although Radnorshire, which
  returned a decrease previously, now returned an abnormal increase
  owing to the temporary employment of workmen on the construction of
  the Birmingham waterworks, the number fell to 10, and the average
  percentage also fell. This suggested some tendency to return to a
  state of equilibrium as between urban and rural districts. This is in
  a measure borne out by the movement of population in the districts
  classed as purely rural in 1901. In these there was an increase per
  cent of 14.2 in 1811-1821, which fell off to 2.8 in 1841-1851. A
  decrease then set in and grew from 0.2 in 1851-1861 to 0.67 in
  1881-1891, but in 1891-1901 an increase, 1.95, was once more recorded.
  But the drain on the rural population continued heavy, for in the same
  purely rural area, which had a population in 1901 of 1,330,319, the
  excess of births over deaths was 150,437, but the actual increase of
  population was only 25,492, leaving a heavy loss (9.6%) to be
  accounted for by migration, the term used in this connexion in the
  general report of the Census to include movement of population to any
  new locality, home or foreign.

  _Housing._--The total area of England and Wales covered by urban
  districts (a term which coincides pretty nearly with that of towns,
  which bears no technical meaning in England) was 3,848,987 acres, and
  contained a population of 25,058,355 in 1901, the increase in the
  decade 1891-1901 being 15.2%. The number of inhabited houses in the
  whole country in 1901, namely 6,260,852, may be compared with the
  numbers in 1801 (1,575,923) and 1851 (3,278,039); it gives an average
  of 5.2 persons to each house. This average has decreased with some
  regularity from a _maximum_ of 5.75 in 1821, but there is no certain
  evidence on which to affirm or deny that the average cubic capacity of
  dwelling-houses has been maintained. The urban population averaged 5.4
  persons to a house, but varied greatly in different towns. Thus, an
  average below 4.4 is quoted for Rochdale, Halifax, Huddersfield,
  Yarmouth, Bradford and Stockport, while the average for London was
  7.93, and for Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and South Shields, in the
  northern industrial district of the Tyne, and for Devonport, the
  average exceeded 8. The average of persons to a house in rural
  districts was 4.6.

    +-------------+---------------------------+---------------------+
    |             |       Percentage of       | Excess of Estimated |
    |    Year.    +-------------+-------------+   over Enumerated   |
    |             | Increase by | Decrease by |     Population.     |
    |             |    Births.  |   Deaths.   |                     |
    +-------------+-------------+-------------+---------------------+
    |  1851-1861  |    36.19    |    23.58    |       122,111       |
    |  1861-1871  |    37.56    |    23.98    |        78,968       |
    |  1871-1881  |    37.89    |    22.80    |       164,307       |
    |  1881-1891  |    34.24    |    20.27    |       601,389       |
    |  1891-1901  |    31.57    |    19.18    |        68,330       |
    +-------------+-------------+-------------+---------------------+

  _Vital Statistics._--"The increase or decrease of population is
  governed by two factors: (1) the balance between births and deaths,
  and (2) the balance between immigration and emigration."[13] The
  following table is therefore given to show (1) the percentage of
  increase by births and decrease by deaths in each decade from 1851,
  and (2) the difference at the close of each decade (i.e. in the later
  year mentioned in each line) between the population which would have
  followed upon the natural increase unaffected by migration and the
  population as actually enumerated. In the case of (2) the actual
  population has always been exceeded by the estimate based on natural
  increase, and this demonstrates an excess of emigration over
  immigration.

  The proportion of males to females is 1000 to 1068, this being a
  higher proportion of females than any recorded in the 19th century,
  during which the lowest proportion of females was 1036 in 1821. The
  proportion rose at each census from 1851. But on the other hand 1000
  male children were born against only 965 female, on an average in
  1891-1901. This excess of male births, which is usual, has been
  ascertained to find its equilibrium, through a higher rate of infant
  mortality among the males, about the tenth year of life, and is
  finally changed by perilous male occupations and other causes,
  including the stronger tendency of males to emigration. The proportion
  of females varies much in different localities, being highest in such
  districts as London and the home counties, which are residential, and
  in which, therefore, many domestic servants are enumerated; and
  Somersetshire, Bedfordshire and other seats of industries which
  especially occupy women (e.g. the straw-plaiting of the county last
  named). It is lowest, naturally, in the mining districts, as
  Glamorgan, Monmouth, Durham, Northumberland; but an exception may be
  noted in the case of Cornwall, where a high proportion of females is
  attributed to the emigration of miners consequent upon the relative
  decrease in importance of the tin-mines. In 1901 the proportion of
  females to males in urban districts was 1086 to 1000, and in rural
  districts 1011 to 1000.

    _Urban Districts of England and Wales with Population exceeding
    80,000_ (1901).

    +---------------------+-----------------------+------------+
    |                     |       Population.     |  Increase  |
    |                     +-----------+-----------+  per cent. |
    |                     |   1891.   |   1901.   |            |
    +---------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
    | London *            | 4,228,317 | 4,536,541 |     7.3    |
    | Liverpool           |   629,548 |   684,958 |     8.8    |
    | Manchester          |   505,368 |   543,872 |     7.6    |
    | Birmingham          |   478,113 |   522,204 |     9.2    |
    | Leeds               |   367,505 |   428,968 |    16.7    |
    | Sheffield           |   324,243 |   380,793 |    17.4    |
    | Bristol             |   289,280 |   328,945 |    13.7    |
    | Bradford            |   265,728 |   279,767 |     5.3    |
    | West Ham **         |   204,903 |   267,358 |    30.5    |
    | Hull                |   200,472 |   240,259 |    19.8    |
    | Nottingham          |   213,877 |   239,743 |    12.1    |
    | Salford             |   198,139 |   220,957 |    11.5    |
    | Newcastle-upon-Tyne |   186,300 |   215,328 |    15.6    |
    | Leicester           |   174,624 |   211,579 |    21.2    |
    | Portsmouth          |   159,278 |   188,133 |    18.1    |
    | Bolton              |   146,487 |   168,215 |    14.8    |
    | Cardiff (Wales)     |   128,915 |   164,333 |    27.5    |
    | Sunderland          |   131,686 |   146,077 |    10.9    |
    | Oldham              |   131,463 |   137,246 |     4.4    |
    | Croydon **          |   102,695 |   133,895 |    30.4    |
    | Blackburn           |   120,064 |   127,626 |     6.3    |
    | Brighton            |   115,873 |   123,478 |     6.6    |
    | Willesden **        |    61,265 |   114,811 |    87.4    |
    | Rhondda (Wales)     |    88,351 |   113,735 |    28.7    |
    | Preston             |   107,573 |   112,989 |     5.0    |
    | Norwich             |   100,970 |   111,733 |    10.7    |
    | Birkenhead          |    99,857 |   110,915 |    11.1    |
    | Gateshead           |    85,692 |   109,888 |    28.2    |
    | Plymouth            |    88,931 |   107,636 |    21.0    |
    | Derby               |    94,146 |   105,912 |    12.5    |
    | Halifax             |    97,714 |   104,936 |     7.4    |
    | Southampton         |    82,126 |   104,824 |    27.6    |
    | Tottenham **        |    71,343 |   102,541 |    43.7    |
    | Leyton **           |    63,106 |    98,912 |    56.7    |
    | South Shields       |    78,391 |    97,263 |    24.1    |
    | Burnley             |    87,016 |    97,043 |    11.5    |
    | East Ham **         |    32,712 |    96,018 |   193.5    |
    | Walthamstow **      |    46,346 |    95,131 |   105.3    |
    | Huddersfield        |    95,420 |    95,047 |  0.4 decr. |
    | Swansea (Wales)     |    91,034 |    94,537 |     3.8    |
    | Wolverhampton       |    82,662 |    94,187 |    13.9    |
    | Middlesborough      |    75,532 |    91,302 |    20.9    |
    | Northampton         |    75,075 |    87,021 |    15.9    |
    | Walsall             |    71,789 |    86,430 |    20.4    |
    | St Helens           |    72,413 |    84,410 |    16.6    |
    | Rochdale            |    76,161 |    83,114 |     9.1    |
    +---------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
      * Administrative county.

     ** These districts, administratively distinct, belong
        topographically to Greater London.

  The proportion of married adults (aged twenty and upwards) was found
  to decrease from 1881 to 1901, being 630 per thousand in the former
  and 604.5 in the latter year. The marriage-rate per thousand has
  ranged since 1841 from 14.2 in 1886 to 17.6 in 1873, and is evidently
  closely associated with the general prosperity of the country, for in
  the latter year the value of the total imports and exports per head of
  the population of the United Kingdom was at its highest, and in the
  former year at its lowest. The five years 1895-1899 exhibited a
  remarkable sequence illustrative of this:--

    +---------+---------------+-------------+
    |         |   Marriage-   |    Value,   |
    |  Years. |     Rate.     | Exports and |
    |         |               |   Imports.  |
    +---------+---------------+-------------+
    |         |               |   £  s.  d. |
    |  1895   |     15.0      |  17  19  3  |
    |  1896   |     15.8      |  18  14  1  |
    |  1897   |     16.0      |  18  14  3  |
    |  1898   |     16.3      |  19   0  5  |
    |  1899   |     16.5      |  20   1  8  |
    +---------+---------------+-------------+

  The marriage-rate declined, subsequently to the year last quoted in
  this table, to 15.6 in 1903.     (O. J. R. H.)

_Religion._--In attempting to give a concise account of the religious
conditions of England we are confronted from the outset with the absence
of any trustworthy statistics. A religious census, such as is customary
in other countries, has not been taken since 1851; nor is it probable
that such a census would be any true indication of the actual religious
beliefs of the population. Still less satisfactory, from this
standpoint, is the attempt to compile statistics of religious belief
from the registrar-general's report on the number of marriages
celebrated in the places of worship of the various denominations; for
among those who are practically attached to no religious body, and even
some Nonconformists, a prejudice survives in favour of having their
marriages celebrated and their funerals conducted by the clergy of the
Established Church. Nor is the test of "sittings" provided by the
various denominations, nor even the number of their communicants, a
trustworthy test of the relative number of their adherents. In Wales,
for instance, the rivalry of the sects has multiplied chapel
accommodation out of all proportion to the population; while everywhere
it happens that churches, at one time crowded every Sunday, have been
emptied by the shifting of population or other causes. As for the test
of communicancy, it is untrustworthy because the insistence on communion
as the pledge of membership varies with the different denominations and
even with different sections of opinion within those denominations. Any
statistics of this nature, then, however useful they may be as a general
indication, must not be treated as conclusive.


  The Church of England.

Whatever disputes there may be as to the relative strength of the
various churches and sects, there can be no questioning the fact that
the dominant religion in England is Protestant Christianity.
Protestantism, indeed, since the Act of Settlement in 1689, has been of
the essence of the Constitution, the sovereign forfeiting his or her
crown _ipso facto_ by acknowledging the authority of the pope, by
accepting "the Romish religion," or by marrying a Roman Catholic; and
though of late years efforts have been made to modify or to abrogate
this provision, the fact that such efforts have met with widespread
opposition shows that it still represents the general attitude of the
British nation. Protestantism, however, is a generic term which in
England covers a great variety of opinions, and a large number of rival
religious organizations. The state church, the Church of England as by
law established, represents the tradition of a time when church and
state were regarded as two aspects of one divinely ordered organism. In
law every subject of the state is also a member of the Established
Church, and can lay claim to its ministrations so long as he or she
obeys the ecclesiastical law, which is also the law of the state. No
Englishman, whatever his opinions, can be excommunicated without due
process of law. The Church of England is thus theoretically coextensive
with the English nation, each unit of which is legally assumed to belong
to it unless proof be brought to the contrary. To state the theory is,
however, to risk giving an entirely false impression of the facts. In
practice the Church of England is no longer regarded as coextensive with
the state; nor is nonconformity any longer, as it once was, an offence
against the law. Since the abolition of the Test Acts and the
emancipation of the Catholics no Englishman has suffered any civil
disability owing to his religion[14]; and the progress of democracy has
given to the great so-called "Free Churches" a political power that
rivals that of the Established Church. In the matter of the estimation
of their relative strength the main grievance of the Nonconformists is
that the law classes as members of the Church of England that enormous
floating population which is really conscious of no ecclesiastical
allegiance at all.

The Church of England, both in constitution and doctrine, represents in
general the mean between Roman Catholicism on the one hand and the more
advanced forms of Protestantism on the other (see EPISCOPACY). Though
its doctrine was reformed in the 16th century and the spiritual
supremacy of the pope was repudiated, the continuity of its organic life
was not interrupted, and historically as well as legally it is the same
church as that established before the Reformation. The ecclesiastical
system is episcopal, the whole of England (including for this purpose
Wales) being divided into two provinces, Canterbury and York, and 37
bishoprics (including the primatial sees of Canterbury and York). These
again are subdivided into 14,080 parishes (1901), the smallest
ecclesiastical units, which are grouped for certain administrative
purposes into 810 rural deaneries. The sovereign is by law the supreme
governor of the church, both in things spiritual and temporal, and he
has the right to nominate to vacant sees. In the case of sees of old
foundation this is done by means of the congé d'élire (q.v.), in that of
others by letters patent.[15] The bishops hold their temporalities as
baronies, for which they do homage in the ancient form, and are
spiritual peers of parliament. Only 26, however, have the right to seats
in the House of Lords, of whom five--viz. the two archbishops and the
bishops of London, Durham and Winchester--always sit, the others taking
their seats in order of seniority of consecration. Under the bishops the
affairs of the dioceses are managed by archdeacons (q.v.) and rural
deans (see ARCHPRIEST and DEAN). The cathedral churches are governed by
chapters consisting of a dean, canons and prebendaries (see CATHEDRAL).
The deaneries are in the gift of the crown, canonries and prebends
sometimes in that of the crown, sometimes in that of the bishops. The
parish clergy, with a few rare exceptions (when they are elected by the
ratepayers), are appointed by patronage. The right of presentation to
some 8500 benefices or "livings" is in the hands of private persons; the
right is regarded in law as property and is, under certain restrictions
for the avoidance of gross simony, saleable (see ADVOWSON). The
patronage of the remaining benefices belongs in the main to the crown,
the bishops and cathedral chapters, the lord chancellor, and the
universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

In spite of the fact that the Church of England is collectively one of
the wealthiest in Christendom, a large proportion of the "livings" are
extremely poor. To understand this and other anomalies it is necessary to
bear in mind that the church is not, like the established Protestant
churches of Germany, an elaborately organized state department, nor is it
a single corporation with power to regulate its internal polity. It is a
conglomeration of corporations. Even the incumbent of a parish is in law
a "corporation sole," his benefice a freehold; and until the
establishment in 1836, by act of parliament, of the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners (q.v.) nothing could be done to adjust the inequalities in
the emoluments of the clergy resulting from the natural rise and fall of
the value of property in various parts of the country. Even more
extraordinary is the effect of the singular constitution of the church on
its discipline. An incumbent, once inducted, can only be disturbed by
complicated and extremely costly processes of law; in effect, except in
cases of gross misconduct, he is only checked--so far as ecclesiastical
order is concerned--by his oath of canonical obedience to the "godly"
monitions of his bishop; and, since these monitions are difficult and
costly to enforce, while their "godliness" may be a matter of opinion, an
incumbent is practically himself the interpreter of the law as applied to
the doctrine and ritual of his particular church. The result has been the
development within the Established Church of a most startling diversity
of doctrine and ritual practice, varying from what closely resembles that
of the Church of Rome to the broadest Liberalism and the extremest
evangelical Protestantism. This broad comprehensiveness, which to
outsiders looks like ecclesiastical anarchy, is the characteristic note
of the Church of England; it may be, and has been, defended as consonant
with Christian charity and suited to the genius of a people not
remarkable for logical consistency; but it makes it all the more
difficult to say what the religion of Englishmen actually is, even within
the English Church.

The following is a list of the archiepiscopal and episcopal sees of
England and Wales--the latter arranged in alphabetical order,--with date
of their establishment and amount of emoluments:--

                                  Year of       Annual
                                Foundation.   Emoluments.
  Province of Canterbury--
    Canterbury (archbishopric)      597        £15,000
    Bangor                       c. 550          4,200
    Bath and Wells                 1139          5,000
    Birmingham                     1904          3,500
    Bristol                        1897*         3,000
    Chichester                     1075          4,200
    Ely                            1109          5,500
    Exeter                         1050          4,200
    Gloucester                     1541          4,300
    Hereford                        676          4,200
    Lichfield                       669          4,200
    Lincoln                        1067          4,500
    Llandaff                     c. 550          4,200
    London                          605         10,000
    Norwich                        1094          4,500
    Oxford                         1542          5,000
    Peterborough                   1541          4,500
    Rochester                       604          3,800
    St Albans                      1877          3,200
    St Asaph                     c. 550          4,200
    St David's                   c. 550          4,500
    Salisbury                      1075          5,000
    Southwark                      1904          3,000
    Southwell                      1884          3,500
    Truro                          1876          3,000
    Winchester                   c. 650          6,500
    Worcester                    c. 680          4,200
  Province of York--
    York (archbishopric)            625         10,000
    Carlisle                       1133          4,500
    Chester                        1541          4,200
    Durham                          995          7,000
    Liverpool                      1880          4,200
    Manchester                     1847          4,200
    Newcastle                      1882          3,500
    Ripon                          1836          4,200
    Sodor and Man                  1154          1,500
    Wakefield                      1888          3,000

       * Modern refoundation.

The following are suffragan or assistant bishoprics (the names of the
dioceses to which each belongs being given in brackets): Dover, Croydon
(Canterbury), Beverley, Hull, Sheffield (York), Stepney, Islington,
Kensington (London), Jarrow (Durham), Guildford, Southampton, Dorking
(Winchester), Barrow-in-Furness (Carlisle), Crediton (Exeter), Grantham
(Lincoln), Burnley (Manchester), Thetford, Ipswich (Norwich), Reading
(Oxford), Leicester (Peterborough), Richmond, Knaresborough (Ripon),
Colchester, Barking (St Albans), Swansea (St David's), Woolwich,
Kingston-on-Thames (Southwark), Derby (Southwell), St Germans (Truro).
See also ENGLAND, CHURCH OF; ANGLICAN COMMUNION; ECCLESIASTICAL
JURISDICTION; VESTMENTS; MASS.

  +------------------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+
  |                                    | Sittings. | Commun- | Ministers |   Local   |  Sunday  |
  |                                    |           |  icants.|(Pastoral).| Preachers.| Scholars.|
  +------------------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+
  | Baptists[16]                       | 1,421,742 | 424,741 |    2134   |   5,748   |  590,321 |
  | Congregationalists (1907)          | 1,801,447 | 498,953 |    3197   |   5,603   |  729,347 |
  | Presbyterian Church of England[17] |   173,047 |  85,755 |     323   |    · ·    |   98,258 |
  | Society of Friends                 |    · ·    |  17,442 |     · ·   |    · ·    |   62,347 |
  | Moravians                          |    10,100 |   2,999 |      34   |    · ·    |    4,542 |
  | Wesleyan Methodists[18]            | 2,500,000 | 620,350 |    2658   |  20,119   |1,039,437 |
  | Primitive Methodists[16]           | 1,017,690 | 205,407 |    1101   |  15,963   |  477,114 |
  | United Methodist Church[19]        |   738,840 | 158,095 |     833   |   5,577   |  315,993 |
  | Wesleyan Reform Union              |    47,435 |   8,717 |      19   |     508   |   23,008 |
  | Independent Methodists             |    33,000 |   9,732 |     · ·   |     375   |   28,387 |
  | Welsh Calvinistic Methodist        |   472,089 | 185,935 |     900   |     361   |  187,484 |
  | Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion |    12,347 |   2,469 |      26   |    · ·    |    3,040 |
  | Reformed Episcopal Church          |     6,000 |   1,090 |      28   |    · ·    |    2,600 |
  | Free Church of England             |     8,140 |   1,352 |      24   |    · ·    |    4,196 |
  +------------------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+


  Other Protestant communions.

The number of "denominations" by whom buildings were certified for
worship up to 1895 was 293 (see list in _Whitaker's Almanack_, 1886, p.
252), but in many instances such "denominations" consisted of two or
three congregations only, in some cases of a single congregation. The
more important nonconformist churches are fully dealt with under their
several headings. The above table, however, based on that in the
_Statesman's Year-Book_ for 1908, and giving the comparative statistics
of the chief nonconformist churches, may be useful for purposes of
comparison. It may be prefaced by stating that, according to returns
made in 1905, the Church of England provided sitting accommodation in
parish and other churches for 7,177,144 people; had an estimated number
of 2,053,455 communicants, 206,873 Sunday-school teachers, and 2,538,240
Sunday scholars. There were 14,029 incumbents (rectors, vicars, and
perpetual curates), 7500 curates, i.e. assistant clergy, and some 4000
clergy on the non-active list.

Besides the bodies enumerated in the table there are other churches
concerning which similar statistics are lacking, but which, in several
cases, have large numbers of adherents. The Unitarians are an important
body with (1908) 350 ministers and 345 places of worship. Most numerous,
probably, are the adherents of the Salvation Army, which with a
semi-military organization has in Great Britain alone over 60,000
officers, and "barracks," i.e. preaching stations, in almost every town.
The Brethren, generally known, from their place of origin, as the
Plymouth Brethren, have "rooms" and adherents throughout England; the
Catholic Apostolic Church ("Irvingites") have some 80 churches; the New
Jerusalem Church (Swedenborgians) had (1908) 75 "societies"; the
Christian Scientists, the Christadelphians, the British Israelites and
similar societies, such as the New and Latter House of Israel, the
Seventh Day Baptists, deserve mention. The Latter Day Saints (Mormons)
had (1908) 82 churches in Great Britain.


  Roman Catholics.

Roman Catholicism in England has shown a tendency to advance, especially
among the upper and upper-middle classes. The published lists of
"converts" are, however, no safe index to actual progress; for no
equivalent statistics are available for "leakage" in the opposite
direction. The membership of the Roman Catholic Church in England is
estimated at about 2,200,000. But though the growth of the church
relatively to the population has not been particularly startling, there
can be no doubt that, since the restoration of the Roman Catholic
hierarchy in 1851, its general political and religious influence has
enormously increased. A notable feature in this has been the great
development of monastic institutions, due in large measure to the
settlement in England of the congregations expelled from France. The
Roman Catholic Church in England is organized in 15 dioceses, which are
united in a single province under the primacy of the archbishop of
Westminster. In December 1907 there were 1736 Roman Catholic churches
and stations, and the number of the clergy was returned at 3524 (see
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH).

[Illustration: Map of ENGLAND & WALES--Section III.]


  Jews.

The Jews in Great Britain, chiefly found in London and other great
towns, number (1907) about 196,000 and have some 200 synagogues; at the
head of their organization is a chief Rabbi resident in London.

Finally it may be mentioned that a small number of Englishmen, chiefly
resident in Liverpool and London, have embraced Islam; they have a
mosque at Liverpool. Various foreign churches which have numbers of
adherents settled in England have also branch churches and organizations
in the country, notably the Orthodox Eastern Church,--with a
considerable number of adherents in London, Liverpool and
Manchester,--the Lutheran, and the Armenian churches.     (W. A. P.)


VII. COMMUNICATIONS

_Roads._--In England and Wales the high-roads, or roads on which wheeled
vehicles can travel, are of two classes: (1) the main roads, or great
arteries along which the main vehicular traffic of the country passes;
and (2) ordinary highways, which are by-roads serving only local areas.
The length of the main roads is about 22,000 m., and that of ordinary
highways about 96,000. The highways of England, the old coaching roads,
are among the best in the world, being generally of a beautiful
smoothness and well maintained; they vary, naturally, in different
districts, but in many even the local roads are superior to some main
roads in other countries. The supersession of the stage coach by the
railway took a vast amount of traffic away from the main roads, but
their proper maintenance did not materially suffer; and a larger
accession of traffic took place subsequently on the development of the
cycle and the motor-vehicle.

The system of road-building by private enterprise, the undertakers being
rewarded by tolls levied from vehicles, persons or animals using the
roads, was established in England in 1663, when an act of Charles II.
authorized the taking of such tolls at "turnpikes" in Hertfordshire and
Cambridgeshire. A century later, in 1767, the authorization was extended
over the whole kingdom by an act of George III. In its fulness the
system lasted just sixty years, for the first breach in it was made by
an act of George IV., in 1827, by which the chief turnpikes in London
were abolished. Further acts followed in the same direction, leading to
the gradual extinction, by due compensation of the persons interested,
of the old system, the maintenance of the roads being vested in
"turnpike trusts and highway boards," empowered to levy local rates. The
last turnpike trust ceased to exist on the 5th of November 1895, and the
final accounts in connexion with its debt were closed in 1898-1899.
Toll-gates are now met with only at certain bridges, where the right to
levy tolls is statutory or by prescription. By the Local Government Act
of 1888 the duty of maintaining main roads was imposed on the county
councils, but these bodies were enabled to make arrangements with the
respective highway authorities for their repair. Under the Local
Government Act of 1894 the duties of all the highway authorities were
transferred to the rural district councils on or before the 31st of
March 1899.

It was not until the close of the 18th century, when the period of
road-building activity already indicated set in, that English roads were
redeemed from an extraordinarily bad condition. The roads were until
then, as a rule, merely tracks, deeply worn by ages of traffic into the
semblance of ditches, and, under adverse weather conditions, impassable.
Travellers also had the risk of assault by robbers and highwaymen. As
early as 1285 a law provided for the cutting down of trees and bushes on
either side of highways, so as to deprive lawless men of cover.
Instances of legislation as regards the upkeep of roads are recorded
from time to time after this date, but (to take a single illustration)
even in the middle of the 18th century the journey from the village, as
it was then, of Paddington to London by stage occupied from 2½ to 3
hours. But from 1784 to 1792 upwards of 300 acts were passed dealing
with the construction of new roads and bridges.

_Railways._--The history and development of railways in England, their
birthplace, and in Ireland and Scotland, with illustrative statistics,
are considered under the heading UNITED KINGDOM. The following list
indicates the year of foundation, termini, chief offices and
geographical sphere of the chief railways of England and Wales.


  1. _Railways with Termini in London._

  (a) NORTHERN.

  _Great Northern_ (1846).--Terminus and offices, King's Cross. Main
  line--Peterborough, Grantham, Newark, Doncaster; forming, with the
  North-Eastern and North British lines, the "East Coast" route to
  Scotland. Serving also the West Riding of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire,
  Nottingham and other towns of the midlands, and Manchester (by running
  powers over the Great Central metals). This company has so extensive a
  system of running powers over other railways, and of lines held
  jointly with other companies, that few of its more important express
  trains from London complete their journeys entirely on the company's
  own lines.

  _Midland_ (1844, an amalgamation of the former North Midland, Midland
  Counties, Birmingham & Derby, and other lines).--Terminus, St Pancras;
  offices, Derby. Main line--Bedford, Leicester, Sheffield, Leeds and
  Carlisle, affording the "Midland" route to Scotland. Serving also
  Nottingham, Derby, and the principal towns of the midlands and West
  Riding, and Manchester. West and North line from Bristol, Gloucester
  and Birmingham to Leicester and Derby. Also an Irish section, the
  Belfast and Northern Counties system being acquired in 1903. Docks at
  Heysham, Lancashire; and steamship services to Belfast, &c.

  _London & North-Western_ (1846, an amalgamation of the London &
  Birmingham, Grand Junction, and Manchester & Birmingham
  lines).--Terminus and offices, Euston. Main line--Rugby, Crewe,
  Warrington, Preston, Carlisle; forming, with the Caledonian system,
  the "West Coast" route to Scotland. Serves also Manchester, Liverpool
  and all parts of the north-west, North Wales, Birmingham and the
  neighbouring midland towns, and by joint-lines, the South Welsh
  coal-fields. Maintains docks at Garston on the Mersey, a steamship
  traffic with Dublin and Greenore from Holyhead, and, jointly with the
  Lancashire & Yorkshire Company, a service to Belfast, &c., from
  Fleetwood.

  _Great Central_ (1846; until 1897, when an extension to London was
  undertaken, called the Manchester, Sheffield &
  Lincolnshire).--Terminus, Marylebone; offices, Manchester. Main
  line--Rugby, Nottingham, Leicester, Sheffield, Manchester. The former
  main line runs from Manchester and Sheffield east to Retford, thence
  serving Grimsby and Hull, with branches to Lincoln, &c. The main line
  reached from London by joining the line of the Metropolitan railway
  near Aylesbury and following it to Harrow. Subsequently an alternative
  route out of London was constructed between Neasden and Northolt,
  where it joins another line, of the Great Western railway, from Acton,
  and continues as a line held jointly by the two companies through
  Beaconsfield and High Wycombe. Here it absorbs the old Great Western
  line as far as Prince's Risborough, and continues thence to Grendon
  Underwood, effecting a junction with the original main line of the
  Great Central system. This line was opened for passenger traffic in
  April 1906. The Great Central company owns docks at Grimsby.

  (b) EASTERN.

  _Great Eastern_ (1862).--Terminus and offices, Liverpool Street.
  Serving Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk. Joint-line with Great
  Northern from March to Lincoln and Doncaster. Passenger steamship
  services from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, Antwerp, Rotterdam, &c.

  _London, Tilbury & Southend_ (1852).--Terminus and offices, Fenchurch
  Street. Serving places on the Essex shore of the Thames estuary,
  terminating at Shoeburyness.

  (c) WESTERN.

  _Great Western_ (1835, London to Bristol).--Terminus and offices,
  Paddington. Main line--Reading, Didcot, Swindon, Bath, Bristol,
  Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth, Penzance. Numerous additional main
  lines--Reading to Newbury, Weymouth and the west, a new line opened in
  1906 between Castle Cary and Langport effecting a great reduction in
  mileage between London and Exeter and places beyond; Didcot, Oxford,
  Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Chester with connexions northward, and to
  North Wales; Oxford to Worcester, and Swindon to Gloucester and the
  west of England; South Welsh system (through route from London via
  Wootton Bassett or via Bristol, and the Severn tunnel), Newport,
  Cardiff, Swansea, Milford. Steamship services to the Channel Islands
  from Weymouth to Waterford, Ireland from Milford, and to Rosslare,
  Ireland, from Fishguard, the route last named being opened in 1906.
  The line constructed jointly with the Great Central company (as
  detailed in the description above) was extended in 1910 from Ashendon
  to Aynho, to form a short route to the great centres north of Oxford.

  _London & South-Western_ (1839, incorporating the London & Southampton
  railway of 1835).--Terminus and offices, Waterloo. Main line--Woking,
  Basingstoke, Salisbury, Yeovil, Exeter, Plymouth; Woking, Guildford
  and Portsmouth; Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton, Bournemouth, &c.
  Extensive connexions in Surrey, Hampshire and the south-west, as far
  as North Cornwall. This company owns the great docks at Southampton,
  and maintains passenger services from that port to the Channel
  Islands, Havre, St Malo and Cherbourg.

  (d) SOUTHERN.

  _London, Brighton & South Coast_ (1846).--Termini, Victoria and London
  Bridge. Serving all the coast stations from Hastings to Portsmouth,
  with various lines in eastern Surrey and in Sussex. Maintains a
  service of passenger steamers between Newhaven and Dieppe.

  _South Eastern & Chatham_ (under a managing committee, 1899, of the
  South-Eastern company, 1836, and the London, Chatham & Dover company,
  1853).--Termini--Victoria, Charing Cross, Holborn Viaduct, Cannon
  Street. Offices, London Bridge Station. Various lines chiefly in Kent.
  Steamship services between Folkestone and Boulogne, Dover and Calais,
  &c.

  2. _Provincial Railways._

  The two most important railway companies not possessing lines to
  London are the North-Eastern and the Lancashire & Yorkshire.

  _North Eastern_ (1854, amalgamating a number of systems).--Offices,
  York. Main line--Leeds, Normanton and York to Darlington, Durham,
  Newcastle and Berwick-on-Tweed. Connecting with the Great Northern
  between Doncaster and York, and with the North British at Berwick, it
  forms part of the "East Coast" route to Scotland. Serving all ports
  and coast stations from Hull to Berwick, also Carlisle, &c. Owning
  extensive docks at Hull, Middlesbrough, South Shields, the
  Hartlepools, Blyth, &c.

  _Lancashire & Yorkshire_ (1847, an amalgamation of a number of local
  systems).--Offices, Manchester. Main line--Manchester, Rochdale,
  Tormorden, Wakefield and Normanton, with branches to Halifax,
  Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield and other centres of the West Riding.
  Extensive system in south Lancashire, connecting Manchester with
  Preston and Fleetwood (where the docks and steamship services to
  Ireland are worked jointly with the London & Northwestern company),
  Southport, Liverpool, &c.

  Among further provincial systems there should be mentioned:--

  _Cambrian._--Offices, Oswestry. Whitchurch, Oswestry, Welshpool to
  Barmouth and Pwllheli, Aberystwyth, &c.

  _Cheshire Lines_, worked by a committee representative of the Great
  Central, Great Northern and Midland Companies, and affording important
  connexions between the lines of these systems and south Lancashire and
  Cheshire (Godley, Stockport, Warrington, Liverpool; Manchester and
  Liverpool; Manchester and Liverpool to Southport; Godley and
  Manchester to Northwich and Chester, &c.).

  _Furness._--Offices, Barrow-in-Furness. Carnforth, Barrow, Whitehaven,
  with branches to Coniston, Windermere (Lakeside), &c. Docks at Barrow.

  _North Staffordshire._--Offices, Stoke-upon-Trent. Crewe and the
  Potteries, Macclesfield, &c., to Uttoxeter and Derby.

  _Cross-Country Connexions._--While London is naturally the principal
  focal point of the English railway system, the development of through
  connexions between the chief lines by way of the metropolis is very
  small. Some through trains are provided between the North-Western and
  the London, Brighton & South Coast lines via Willesden Junction,
  Addison Road and Clapham Junction; and a through connexion by way of
  Ludgate Hill has been arranged between main line trains of the
  South-Western and the Great Northern railways, but otherwise
  passengers travelling through London have generally to make their own
  way from one terminus to another. Certain cross-country routes,
  however, are provided to connect the systems of some of the companies,
  among which the following may be noticed.

  (1) Through connexions with the continental services from Harwich, and
  with Yarmouth and other towns of the East coast, are provided from
  Yorkshire, Lancashire, &c., by way of the Great Northern and Great
  Eastern Joint line from Doncaster and Lincoln to March.

  (2) Through connexions between the systems of the South-Eastern &
  Chatham and the Great Western companies are provided via Reading.

  (3) Through connexions between the systems of the Great Central and
  the Great Western companies are provided by the line connecting
  Woodford and Banbury.

  (4) Through connexions between the Midland and the South-Western
  systems are provided (a) by the Midland and South-Western Junction
  line connecting Cheltenham on the north-and-west line of the Midland
  with Andover Junction on the South-Western line; and (b) by the
  Somerset & Dorset line, connecting the same lines between Bath,
  Templecombe and Bournemouth.

  (5) The line from Shrewsbury to Craven Arms and Hereford, giving
  connexion between the north and the south-west, and Wales, is worked
  by the North-Western and Great Western companies.


    Canals and rivers.

  _Inland Navigation._--The English system of inland navigation is
  confined principally to the following districts: South Lancashire, the
  West Riding of Yorkshire, the Midlands, especially about Birmingham,
  the Fen district and the Thames basin (especially the lower part). All
  these districts are interconnected. The condition of inland
  navigation, as a whole, is not satisfactory. The Fossdyke in
  Lincolnshire, connecting the river Trent at Torksey with the Witham
  near Lincoln, and now belonging to the Great Northern and Great
  Eastern joint railways, is usually indicated as the earliest extant
  canal in England, inasmuch as it was constructed by the Romans for the
  purpose of drainage or water-supply, and must have been used for
  navigation at an early period. But the history of canal-building in
  England is usually dated from about 1760, and from the construction,
  at the instance of Francis, Duke of Bridgewater, of the Bridgewater
  canal in South Lancashire, now belonging to the Manchester Ship Canal
  Company. The activity in canal-building which prevailed during the
  later years of the 18th century was, in a measure, an earlier
  counterpart of the first period of railway development, which,
  proceeding subsequently along systematized lines not applied to
  canal-construction, and providing obvious advantages in respect of
  speed, caused railways to withdraw much traffic from canals. Some
  canals and river navigations have consequently become derelict, or are
  only maintained with difficulty and in imperfect condition. The inland
  navigation system suffers from a want of uniformity in the size of
  locks, depth of water, width of channels and other arrangements, so
  that direct intercommunication between one canal and another is often
  impossible in consequence; moreover, although the canals, like
  railways, are owned by many separate bodies, hardly any provision has
  been made, as it has in the case of railways, for such facilities as
  the working of through traffic over various systems at an inclusive
  charge. Lastly, the railway companies themselves have acquired control
  of about 30% of the total mileage of canals in England and Wales, and
  in many cases this has had a prejudicial effect on the prosperity of
  canals. Notwithstanding these disabilities, there has been in modern
  times a new development in the trade of some canals, born of a
  realization that for certain classes of goods water-transport is
  cheaper than the swifter rail-transport. Various proposals have been
  made for the establishment of a single control over all inland
  waterways.

  The lower or estuarine courses of some of the English rivers as the
  Thames, Tyne, Humber, Mersey and Bristol Avon, are among the most
  important waterways in the world, as giving access for seaborne
  traffic to great ports. From the Mersey the Manchester Ship Canal runs
  to Manchester. The manufacturing districts of South Lancashire and the
  West Riding of Yorkshire are traversed and connected by several canals
  following transverse valleys of the Pennine Chain. The main line of
  the Aire and Calder navigation runs from Goole by Castleford to Leeds,
  whence the Leeds and Liverpool canal, running by Burnley and
  Blackburn, completes the connexion between the Humber and the Mersey.
  Other canals are numerous, among which may be mentioned the Sheffield
  and South Yorkshire, connecting Sheffield with the Trent. The Trent
  itself affords an extensive navigation, from which, at Derwent mouth,
  the Trent and Mersey Canal runs near Burton and Stafford, and through
  the Potteries, to the Bridgewater Canal and so to the Mersey. This
  canal is owned by the North Staffordshire railway company. The river
  Weaver, a tributary of the Mersey, affords a waterway of importance to
  the salt-producing towns of Cheshire. The system of the Shropshire
  Union railways and canal company, which is connected by lease with the
  London & North-Western railway company, carries considerable traffic,
  especially in the neighbourhood of Ellesmere Port. In the Black
  Country and neighbourhood the numerous ramifications of the Birmingham
  Canal navigations bear a large mineral traffic. This system is
  connected with the rivers Severn and Trent and the canal system of the
  country at large, and is controlled by the London & North-Western
  company. The principal line of navigation from the Thames northward to
  the midlands is that of the Grand Junction, which runs from Brentford,
  is connected through London with the port of London by the Regent's
  Canal, and follows closely the main line of the North-Western railway.
  It connects with the Oxford Canal at Braunston in Northamptonshire,
  and through this with canals to Birmingham and the midlands, and
  continues to Leicester. Both the Severn up to Stourport and the Thames
  up to Oxford have a fair traffic, but the Thames and Severn Canal is
  not much used. There is some traffic on the navigable drainage cuts
  and rivers of the Fens, but beyond these, in a broad consideration of
  the waterways of England from the point of view of their commercial
  importance, it is unnecessary to go.

  See H. R. De Salis, _Bradshaw's Canals and Navigable Rivers of England
  and Wales_ (London, 1904); _Report_ of Royal Commission on Canals
  (London, 1909).

  _Oversea Communications._--The chief ports for continental passenger
  traffic are as follows:--

  _Harwich_ to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Hook of Holland, Rotterdam
  (Great Eastern railway); to Copenhagen and Esbjerg (Royal Danish mail
  route).

  _Queenborough_ to Flushing; (Zeeland Steamship company).

  _Dover_ to Calais (South-Eastern & Chatham railway); to Ostend
  (Belgian Royal mail steamers).

  _Folkestone_ to Boulogne (South Eastern & Chatham railway).

  _Newhaven_ to Dieppe (London, Brighton & South Coast railway).

  _Southampton_ to Cherbourg, Havre, St Malo (South-Western railway).

  The chief ports for trans-Atlantic traffic are Liverpool and
  Southampton, and special trains are worked in connexion with the
  steamers to and from London. The great development of harbour
  accommodation at Dover early in the 20th century brought
  trans-Atlantic traffic to this port also. Southampton and Liverpool
  are the two greatest English ports for all oceanic passenger traffic;
  but London has also a large traffic, both to European and to foreign
  ports. The passenger traffic to the Norwegian ports, always very heavy
  in summer, is carried on chiefly from Hull and Newcastle.


VIII. INDUSTRIES

_Agriculture._--In the agricultural returns for Great Britain, issued
annually by the government, the area of England (apart from Wales) has
been divided into two sections, "arable" and "grass," corresponding with
a former division into "corn counties" and "grazing counties," except
that Leicestershire is included not in the "grass" but in the "arable"
section. Most of the eastern part of England is "arable," while the
western and northern part is "grass," the boundary between the sections
being the western limit of Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire,
Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and of the East Riding of
Yorkshire.

  The division is thus as follows:--

            _Grass Counties._               _Arable Counties._

    Northumberland.                       Yorkshire, East Riding.
    Cumberland.                           Lincolnshire.
    Durham.                               Nottingham.
    Yorkshire, North and West Ridings.    Rutland.
    Westmorland.                          Huntingdonshire.
    Lancashire.                           Warwickshire.
    Cheshire.                             Leicestershire.
    Derbyshire.                           Northamptonshire.
    Staffordshire.                        Cambridgeshire.
    Shropshire.                           Norfolk.
    Worcestershire.                       Suffolk.
    Herefordshire.                        Bedfordshire.
    Monmouthshire.                        Buckinghamshire.
    Gloucestershire.                      Oxfordshire.
    Wiltshire.                            Berkshire.
    Dorsetshire.                          Hampshire.
    Somersetshire.                        Hertfordshire.
    Devonshire.                           Essex.
    Cornwall.                             Middlesex.
                                          Surrey.
                                          Kent.
                                          Sussex.

  The average area under cultivation of all the counties is about .76 of
  the whole area. The counties having the greatest area under
  cultivation (ranging up to about nine-tenths of the whole) may be
  taken to be--Leicestershire, the East Riding of Yorkshire,
  Lincolnshire, Huntingdonshire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire
  and Cambridgeshire. Those with the smallest proportional cultivated
  area are Westmorland, Middlesex, Northumberland, Surrey, Cumberland,
  the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham and
  Cornwall. Geographical considerations govern these conditions to a
  very great extent; thus the counties first indicated lie almost
  entirely within the area of the low-lying and fertile Eastern Plain,
  while the smallest areas of cultivation are found in the counties
  covering the Pennine hill-system, with its high-lying uncultivated
  moors. In the case of Cornwall and Cumberland the physical conditions
  are similar to these; but in that of Middlesex and Surrey the
  existence of large urban areas belonging or adjacent to London must be
  taken into account. These also affect the proportion of cultivated
  areas in the other home counties. The presence of a widespread urban
  population must also be remembered in the case of Lancashire and the
  West Riding of Yorkshire.


    Distribution of crops.

  The geographical distribution of the principal crops, &c., may now be
  followed. The grain crops grown in England consist almost exclusively
  of wheat, barley and oats. Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex,
  Cambridgeshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire are especially
  productive in all these; the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire
  produce a notable quantity of barley and oats; and the oat-crops in
  the following counties deserve mention--Devonshire, Hampshire,
  Lancashire, Cumberland, Cornwall, Cheshire and Sussex. There is no
  county, however, in which the single crop of wheat or barley stands
  pre-eminently above others, and in the case of the upland counties of
  Cumberland, Westmorland and Derbyshire, the metropolitan county of
  Middlesex, and Monmouthshire, these crops are quite insignificant. In
  proportion to their area, the counties specially productive of wheat
  are Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and
  Essex; and of barley, Norfolk, Suffolk and the East Riding of
  Yorkshire. In fruit-growing, Kent takes the first place, but a good
  quantity is grown in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Essex, in
  Worcestershire and other western counties, where, as in Herefordshire,
  Somerset and Devon, the apple is especially cultivated and cider is
  largely produced. Kent is again pre-eminent in the growth of hops;
  indeed this practice and that of fruit-growing give the scenery of the
  county a strongly individual character. Hop-growing extends from Kent
  into the neighbouring parts of Sussex and Surrey, where, however, it
  is much less important; it is also practised to a considerable degree
  in a group of counties of the midlands and west--Herefordshire,
  Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Shropshire. Market-gardening is
  carried on most extensively on suitable lands in the neighbourhood of
  the great areas of urban population; thus the open land remaining in
  Middlesex is largely devoted to this industry. From the Channel and
  Scilly Islands, vegetables, especially seasonable vegetables, and also
  flowers which, owing to the peculiar climatic conditions of these
  islands, come early to perfection, are imported to the London market.
  Considering the crops not hitherto specified, it may be indicated that
  turnips and swedes form the chief green crops in most districts;
  potatoes, mangels, beans and peas are also commonly grown, Beyond the
  three chief grain crops, only a little rye is grown. The cultivation
  of flax is almost extinct, but it is practised in a few districts,
  such as the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire.


    Livestock.

  The counties in which the greatest proportion of the land is devoted
  to permanent pasture may be judged roughly from the list of "grass
  counties" already given. Derbyshire, Leicestershire, the midland
  counties generally, and Somersetshire, have the highest proportion,
  and the counties of the East Anglian seaboard the lowest. But with
  lands thus classified heath, moor and hill pastures are not included;
  and the greatest areas of these are naturally found in the counties of
  the Pennines and the Lake District, especially in Northumberland,
  Cumberland, Westmorland and the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire.
  There is also plenty of hill-pasture in the south-western counties
  (from Hampshire and Berkshire westward), especially in Devonshire,
  Cornwall and Somersetshire, and also in Monmouthshire and along the
  Welsh marches, on the Cotteswold Hills, &c. In all these localities
  sheep are extensively reared, especially in Northumberland, but on the
  other hand in Lincolnshire the numbers of sheep are roughly equal to
  those in the northern county. Other counties in which the numbers are
  especially large are Devonshire, Kent, Cumberland and the North and
  West Ridings of Yorkshire. Cattle are reared in great numbers in
  Lincolnshire, Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, Devonshire,
  Somersetshire and Cornwall; but the numbers of both cattle and sheep
  are in no English county (save Middlesex) to be regarded as
  insignificant. Pigs are bred most extensively in Suffolk, Norfolk and
  Lincolnshire and in Somersetshire.


    Woodlands.

  It is often asserted that the scenery of rural England is of its kind
  unrivalled. Except in open lands like the Fens, the peculiarly rich
  appearance of the country is due to the closely-divided fields with
  their high, luxuriant hedges, and especially to the profuse growth of
  trees. There is not, however, any large continuous forested tract.
  Certain areas still bear the name of forest where there is now none;
  the term here possesses an historical significance, in many cases
  indicating former royal game-preserves. Great areas of England were
  once under forest. The clearing of land for agricultural purposes, the
  use of wood for the prosecution of the industries of an increasing
  population, and other causes, have led to the gradual disforesting of
  large tracts. There are still, however, some small well-defined
  woodland areas. The New Forest in Hampshire, the Forest of Dean in
  Gloucestershire, and Epping Forest, which is preserved as a public
  recreation-ground by the City of London, are the most notable
  instances. The counties comprising the greatest proportional amount of
  woodland fall into two distinct groups--Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and
  Kent, with Berkshire and Buckinghamshire; Monmouth, Herefordshire and
  Gloucestershire. Cambridgeshire, lying almost wholly within the area
  of the Fens, has the smallest proportional area of woodland of any
  English county.

  The number of persons engaged in agriculture in England and Wales was
  found by the census of 1901 to be 1,192,167; the total showing a
  steady decrease (e.g. from 1,352,389 in 1881), which is especially
  marked in the case of females. But the decrease lies mainly in the
  number of agricultural labourers; the number of farmers is not notably
  affected, and the increasing substitution of machinery for manual
  labour must be taken into consideration. The average size of holdings
  in England may be taken approximately as 66 acres, the average in 1903
  being 66.1, whereas in 1895 it was 65.3.

  (See also the article AGRICULTURE.)

  [Illustration: Map of ENGLAND & WALES--Section IV.]


    Sea fisheries.

  _Fisheries._--All the seas round Britain are rich in fish, and there
  are important fishing stations at intervals on all the English coasts,
  but those on the east coast are by far the most numerous. On an
  estimate of weight and value of the fish landed, Grimsby at the mouth
  of the Humber in Lincolnshire, stands pre-eminent as a fishing port.
  For example, the fish landed there in 1903 were of nearly four times
  the value of those landed at Hull, which was the second in order of
  all the English stations. Next in importance stand Lowestoft, Yarmouth
  and North Shields, Boston and Scarborough, and, among a large number
  of minor fishing stations, Hartlepool and Ramsgate. Great quantities
  of fish are also landed at the riverside market of Billingsgate in
  London, but the conditions here are exceptional, the landings being
  effected by carrier steamers, plying from certain of the fishing
  fleets, and not taking part in the actual process of fishing. On the
  south coast Newlyn ranks in the same category with Boston; at Plymouth
  considerable catches are landed; and Brixham ranks alongside the last
  ports named on the east coast. The chief fishing centres of the
  English Channel are thus seen to belong to the coast of Devonshire and
  Cornwall. On the west coast the Welsh port of Milford takes the first
  place, while Swansea and Cardiff have a considerable fishing industry,
  surpassed, however, by that of Fleetwood in Lancashire. Liverpool also
  ranks among the more important centres. As a comparison of the
  production of the east, south and west coast fisheries, an average may
  be taken of the annual catches recorded over a term of years. In the
  ten years 1894-1903 this average was 6,985,588 cwt. for the east coast
  stations, 669,759 cwt. for those of the south coast, and 884,932 for
  those of the west (including the Welsh stations).

  Distinctions may be drawn, as will be seen, between the nature and
  methods of the fisheries on the various coasts, and the relative
  prosperity of the industry from year to year cannot be considered as a
  whole. Thus in the period considered the recorded maximum weight of
  fish landed at the east coast ports was 9,539,114 cwt. in 1903 (the
  value being returned as £5,721,105); whereas on the south coast it was
  736,599 cwt. in 1899, and on the west 1,117,164 cwt. in 1898.
  Considered as a whole, the individual fish, by far the most important
  in the English fisheries, is the herring, for which Yarmouth and
  Lowestoft are the chief ports. The next in order are haddock, cod and
  plaice, and the east coast fisheries return the greatest bulk of these
  also. But whereas the south coast has the advantage over the west in
  the herring and plaice fisheries, the reverse is the case in the
  haddock and cod fisheries, haddock, in particular, being landed in
  very small quantities at the south coast ports. Mackerel, however, are
  landed principally at the southern ports, and the pilchard is taken
  almost solely off the south-western coast. A fish of special
  importance to the west coast fisheries is the hake. Among shell-fish,
  crabs and oysters are taken principally off the east coast; the oyster
  beds in the shallow water off the north Kent and Essex coasts, as at
  Whitstable and Colchester, being famous. Lobsters are landed in
  greatest number on the south coast.

  The number of vessels of every sort employed in fishing was returned
  in 1903 as 9721, and the number of persons employed as 41,539, of whom
  34,071 were regular fishermen. The development of the steam
  trawling-vessel is illustrated by the increase in numbers of these
  vessels from 480 in 1893 to 1135 in 1903. They belong chiefly to North
  Shields, Hull, Grimsby, Yarmouth and Lowestoft. There are a
  considerable number on the west coast, but very few on the south.
  These vessels have a wide range of operations, pursuing their work as
  far as the Faeroe Islands and Iceland on the one hand, and the Bay of
  Biscay and the Portuguese coast on the other.


    Freshwater fisheries.

  The English freshwater fisheries are not of great commercial
  importance, nor, from the point of view of sport, are the salmon and
  trout fisheries as a whole of equal importance with those of Scotland,
  Ireland or Wales. The English salmon and trout fisheries may be
  geographically classified thus: (1) _North-western division_, Rivers
  Eden, Derwent, Lune, Ribble: (2)_North-eastern_, Coquet, Tyne, Wear,
  Tees, &c.; (3) _Western_, Dee, Usk, Wye, Severn; (4) _South-western_,
  Taw, Torridge, Camel, Tamar, Dart, Exe, Teign, &c.; (5) _Southern_,
  Avon and Stour (Christchurch) and the Itchin and other famous trout
  streams of Hampshire. The rivers of the midlands and east are of
  little importance to salmon-fishers, though the Trent carries a few,
  and in modern times attempts have been made to rehabilitate the Thames
  as a salmon river. The trout-fishing in the upper Thames and many of
  its tributaries (such as the Kennet, Colne and Lea) is famous. But
  many of the midland, eastern and south-eastern rivers, the Norfolk
  Broads, &c., are noted for their coarse fish.

  _Mining._--Although the conditions of mining have, naturally,
  undergone a revolutionary development in comparatively modern times,
  yet some indications of England's mineral wealth are found at various
  periods of early history. The exploitation of tin in the south-west is
  commonly referred back to the time of the Phoenician sea-traders, and
  in the first half of the 13th century England supplied Europe with
  this metal. At a later period tin and lead were regarded as the
  English minerals of highest commercial value; whereas to-day both, but
  especially lead, have fallen far from this position. The Roman working
  of lead and iron has been clearly traced in many districts, as has
  that of salt in Cheshire. The subsequent development of the iron
  industry is full of interest, as, while extending vastly, it has
  entirely lapsed in certain districts. However long before it may have
  been known to a few, the use of coal for smelting iron did not become
  general till the later part of the 18th century, and down to that
  time, iron-working was confined to districts where timber was
  available for the supply of the smelting medium, charcoal. Thus the
  industry centred chiefly upon the Weald (Sussex and Kent), the Forest
  of Dean in Gloucestershire, and the Birmingham district; but from the
  first district named it afterwards wholly departed, following the
  development of the coal-fields. These have, in some cases, a record
  from a fairly early date; thus, an indication of the Northumberland
  coal-supply occurs in a charter of 1234, and the Yorkshire coal-field
  is first mentioned early in the following century. But how little this
  source of wealth was developed appears from an estimate of the total
  production of coal, which gives in 1700 only 2,612,000 tons, and, in
  1800, 10,080,000 tons, against the returned total (for the United
  Kingdom) of 225,181,300 tons in 1900.

  The chief minerals raised in England, as stated in the annual home
  office report on mines and quarries, appear in order of value, thus:
  coal, iron ore, clay and shale, sandstone, limestone, igneous rocks,
  salt, tin ore. Coal surpasses all the other minerals to such an extent
  that, taking the year 1903 as a type, when the total value of the
  mineral output was very nearly £70,000,000, that of coal is found to
  approach £61,000,000.


    Coal-fields.

  The position of the various principal coal-fields has been indicated
  in dealing with the physical geography of England, but the grouping of
  the fields adopted in the official report may be given here, together
  with an indication of the counties covered by each, and the percentage
  of coal to the total bulk raised in each county. These figures are
  furnished as a general demonstration of the geographical distribution
  of the industry, but are based on the returns for 1903.

    +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+
    |  Coal-fields.  |           Counties.         | Percentage. |
    +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+
    |    Northern    | Durham                      |    22.37    |
    |                | Northumberland              |     7.48    |
    +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+
    |                | Yorkshire (West Riding)[20] |    17.76    |
    | Yorkshire, &c. | Derbyshire                  |     9.40    |
    |                | Nottinghamshire             |     5.41    |
    +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+
    | Lancashire     | Lancashire                  |    15.26    |
    |   and Cheshire | Cheshire                    |     0.25    |
    |................| Leicestershire              |     1.31    |
    |                | Shropshire                  |     0.50    |
    |   Midland[21]  | Staffordshire               |     8.10    |
    |                | Warwickshire                |     2.12    |
    |                | Worcestershire              |     0.44    |
    +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+
    |                | Cumberland                  |     1.37    |
    |                | Gloucestershire[22]         |     0.87    |
    | Small detached | Somersetshire               |     0.62    |
    |                | Westmorland                 |     0.07    |
    |                | Yorkshire (North Riding)[20]|      ··     |
    +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+
    |                | Monmouthshire[23]           |     6.67    |
    +----------------+-----------------------------+-------------+

  The coal-fields on the eastern flank of the Pennines, therefore,
  namely, the Northern and the Yorkshire, are seen to be by far the most
  important in England. The carrying trade in coal is naturally very
  extensive, and may be considered here. The principal ports for the
  shipping of coal for export, set down in order of the amount shipped,
  also fall very nearly into topographical groups, thus:--Newcastle,
  South Shields and Blyth in the Northern District; Newport in
  Monmouthshire; Sunderland in the Northern District, Hull, Grimsby and
  Goole on the Humber, which forms the eastern outlet of the Yorkshire
  coal-fields; Hartlepool, in the Northern District, and Liverpool. The
  tonnage annually shipped ranges from about 4½ millions of tons in the
  case of Newcastle to some half a million in the case of Liverpool; but
  the export trade of Cardiff in South Wales far surpasses that of any
  English port, being more than three times that of Newcastle in 1903.
  The coastwise carrying trade is also important, the bulk being shared
  about equally by Sunderland, Newcastle, South Shields and Cardiff,
  while Liverpool has also a large share. Of the whole amount of coal
  received coastwise at English and Welsh ports (about 13½ million
  tons), London received considerably over one-half (nearly 8 million
  tons in 1903). The railways having the heaviest coal traffic are the
  North-Eastern, which monopolizes the traffic of Northumberland and
  Durham; the Midland, commanding the Derbyshire, Yorkshire and East
  Midland traffic, and some of the Welsh; the London & North Western,
  whose principal sources are the Lancashire, Staffordshire and South
  Welsh districts; the Great Western and the Taff Vale (South Welsh),
  with the Great Central, Lancashire & Yorkshire and Great Northern
  systems.

  In the face of railway competition, several of the canals maintain a
  fair traffic in coal, for which they are eminently suitable--the
  system of the Birmingham navigation, the Aire and Calder navigation of
  Yorkshire, and the Leeds and Liverpool navigation have the largest
  shares in this trade.


    Iron.

  The richest iron-mining district in England and in the United Kingdom
  is the Cleveland district of the North Riding of Yorkshire. It
  produces over two-fifths of the total amount of ore raised in the
  Kingdom, and not much less than one-half of that raised in England.
  The richness of the ore (about 30% of metal) is by no means so great
  as the red haematite ore found in Cumberland and north Lancashire
  (Furness district, &c.). Here the percentage is over 50, but the ore,
  though the richest found in the kingdom, is less plentiful, about 1½
  million tons being raised in 1903 as against more than 5½ millions in
  Cleveland. There is also a considerable working of brown iron ore at
  various points in Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire;
  with further workings of less importance in Staffordshire and several
  other districts. The total amount of ore raised in England is about
  12½ million tons, but it is not so high, in some iron-fields, as
  formerly. Some of the lesser deposits have been worked out, and even
  in the rich Furness fields it has been found difficult to pursue the
  ore. The import of ore (the bulk coming from Spain) has consequently
  increased, and the ports where the principal import trade is carried
  on are those which form the principal outlets of the iron-working
  districts of Cleveland and Furness, namely Middlesbrough and
  Barrow-in-Furness.

  The geographical distribution of the remaining more important English
  minerals may be passed in quicker review. Of the metals, the
  production of copper is a lapsing industry, confined to Cornwall. For
  the production of lead the principal counties are Derbyshire, Durham
  and Stanhope, but the industry is not extensive, and is confined to a
  few places in each county. Quarrying for limestone, clay and sandstone
  is general in most parts. For limestone the principal localities are
  in Durham, Derbyshire and Yorkshire, while for chalk-quarrying Kent is
  pre-eminent among a group of south-eastern counties, including
  Hampshire, Sussex and Surrey, with Essex. Fireclay is largely raised
  from coal-mines, while, among special clays, there is a considerable
  production of china and potter's clays in Cornwall, Devonshire and
  Dorsetshire. As regards igneous rocks, the Charnwood Forest quarries
  of Leicestershire, and those of Cornwall, are particularly noted for
  their granite. Slate is worked in Cornwall and Devon, and also in
  Lancashire and Cumberland, where, in the Lake District, there are
  several large quarries. Salt, obtained principally from brine but also
  as rock-salt, is an important object of industry in Cheshire, the
  output from that county and Staffordshire exceeding a million tons
  annually. In Worcestershire, Durham and Yorkshire salt is also
  produced from brine.

  The total number of persons in any way occupied in connexion with
  mines and quarries in England and Wales in 1901 was 805,185; the
  number being found to increase rapidly, as from 528,474 in 1881.
  Coal-mines alone occupied 643,654, and to development in this
  direction the total increase is chiefly due. The number of ironstone
  and other mines decreased in the period noticed from 55,907 to 31,606.

_Manufacturing Industries._--There are of course a great number of
important industries which have a general distribution throughout the
country, being more or less fully developed here or there in accordance
with the requirements of each locality. But in specifying the principal
industries of any county, it is natural to consider those which have an
influence more than local on its prosperity. In England, then, two broad
classes of industry may be taken up for primary consideration--the
textile and the metal. Long after textile and other industries had been
flourishing in the leading states of the continent, in the Netherlands,
Flanders and France, England remained, as a whole, an agricultural and
pastoral country, content to export her riches in wool, and to import
them again, greatly enhanced in value, as clothing. It is not to be
understood that there were no manufacturing industries whatever. Rough
cloth, for example, was manufactured for home consumption. But from
Norman times the introduction of foreign artisans, capable of
establishing industries which should produce goods fit for distant sale,
occupied the attention of successive rulers. Thus the plantation of
Flemish weavers in East Anglia, especially at the towns of Worstead (to
which is attributed the derivation of the term worsted) and Norwich,
dates from the 12th century. The industry, changing locality, like many
others, in sympathy with the changes in modern conditions, has long been
practically extinct in this district. Then, when religious persecution
drove many of the industrial population of the west of Europe away from
the homes of their birth, they liberally repaid English hospitality by
establishing their own arts in the country, and teaching them to the
inhabitants. Thus religious liberty formed part of the foundation of
England's industrial greatness. Then came the material agent, machinery
propelled by steam. The invention of the steam engine, following quickly
upon that of the carding machine, the spinning jenny, and other
ingenious machinery employed in textile manufactures, gave an
extraordinary impulse to their development, and, with them, that of
kindred branches of industry. At the basis of all of them was England's
wealth in coal. The vast development of industries in England during the
19th century may be further correlated with certain events in the
general history of the time. Insular England was not affected by the
disturbing influences of the Napoleonic period in any such degree as was
continental Europe. Such conditions carried on the work of British
inventors in helping to develop industries so strongly that
manufacturers were able to take full advantage of the opportunities
offered by the American Civil War (in spite of the temporary disability
it entailed upon the cotton industry) and by the Franco-German War.
These wars tended to paralyse industries in the countries affected,
which were thus forced to English markets to buy manufactured
commodities. That England, not possessing the raw material, became the
seat of the cotton manufacture, was owing to the ingenuity of her
inventors. It was not till the later part of the 18th century, when a
series of inventions, unparalleled in the annals of industry, followed
each other in quick succession, that the cotton manufacture took real
root in the country, gradually eclipsing that of other European nations,
although a linen manufacture in Lancashire had acquired some prominence
as early as the 16th century. But though the superior excellence of
their machinery enabled Englishmen to start in the race of competition,
it was the discovery of the new motive power, drawn from coal, which
made them win the race. In 1815 the total quantity of raw cotton
imported into the United Kingdom was not more than 99 millions of
pounds, which amount had increased to 152 millions of pounds in 1820,
and rose further to 229 millions in 1825, so that there was considerably
more than a doubling of the imports in ten years.


    Textiles.

  The geographical analysis of the cotton industry in England is simple.
  It belongs almost entirely to south Lancashire--to Manchester and the
  great industrial towns in its neighbourhood. The industry has extended
  into the adjacent parts of Cheshire, the West Riding of Yorkshire and
  Derbyshire. The immediate neighbourhood of a coal-supply influenced
  the geographical settlement of this industry, like others; and the
  importance to the manufacture of a moist climate, such as is found on
  the western slope of the Pennines (in contradistinction to the
  eastern), must also be considered. The excess of the demand of the
  factories over the supply of raw material has become a remarkable
  feature of the industry in modern times.

  The distribution of the woollen industries peculiarly illustrates the
  changes which have taken place since the early establishment of
  manufacturing industries in England. It has been seen how completely
  the industry has forsaken East Anglia. Similarly, this industry was of
  early importance along the line of the Cotteswold Hills, from Chipping
  Camden to Stroud and beyond, as also in some towns of Devonshire and
  Cornwall, but though it survives in the neighbourhood of Stroud, the
  importance of this district is far surpassed by that of the West
  Riding of Yorkshire, where the woollen industry stands pre-eminent
  among the many which, as already indicated, have concentrated there.
  As the cotton industry has in some degree extended from Lancashire
  into the West Riding, so has the woollen from the West Riding into a
  few Lancastrian towns, such as Rochdale. Among other textile
  industries attaching to definite localities may be mentioned the silk
  manufacture of eastern Staffordshire and Cheshire, as at Congleton and
  Macclesfield; and the hosiery and lace manufactures of
  Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.


    Metal-working.

  The metal-working industries also follow a geographical distribution,
  mainly governed by the incidence of the coal-fields, as well as by
  that of the chief districts for the production of iron-ore already
  indicated, such as the Cleveland and Durham and the Furness districts.
  But the district most intimately connected with every branch of this
  industry, from engineering and the manufacture of tools, &c., to
  working in the precious metals, is the "Black Country" and Birmingham
  district of Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Apart from
  this district, large quantities of iron and steel are produced in the
  manufacturing areas of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire,
  and here, as in the Black Country, are found certain centres
  especially noted for the production of an individual class of goods,
  such as Sheffield for its cutlery. There is, further, a large
  engineering industry in the London district; and important
  manufactures of agricultural implements are found at many towns of
  East Anglia and in other agricultural localities. Birmingham and
  Coventry may be specially mentioned as centres of the motor and cycle
  building industry. The establishment of their engineering and other
  workshops at certain centres by the great railway companies has
  important bearing on the concentration of urban population. For
  example, by this means the London & North Western and the Great
  Western companies have created large towns in Crewe and Swindon
  respectively.

  Certain other important industries may be localized. Thus, the
  manufacture of china and pottery, although widespread, is primarily
  identified with Staffordshire, where an area comprising Stoke and a
  number of contiguous towns actually bears the name of the Potteries
  (q.v.). Derby has a similar fame, while the manufacture of glass,
  important in Leeds and elsewhere in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and
  in the London district, centres peculiarly upon a single town in South
  Lancashire--St Helens. Finally, the bootmakers of Northamptonshire (at
  Wellingborough, Rushden, &c.), and the straw-plaiters of Bedfordshire
  (at Luton and Dunstable), deserve mention among localized industrial
  communities.

_Occupations of the People._--The occupations of the people may be so
considered as to afford a conception of the relative extent of the
industries already noticed, and their importance in relation to other
occupations. The figures to be given are those of the census of 1901,
and embrace males and females of 10 years of age and upwards. The
textile manufactures occupied a total of 994,668 persons, of which the
cotton industry occupied 529,131. A high proportion of female labour is
characteristic of each branch of this industry, the number of females
employed being about half as many again as that of males (the proportion
was 1.47 to 1 in 1901). The metal industries of every sort occupied
1,116,202; out of which those employed in engineering (including the
building of all sorts of vehicles) numbered 741,346. Of the other broad
classes of industry already indicated, the manufacture of boots and
shoes occupied 229,257, and the pottery and glass manufactures 90,193.
For the rest, the numbers of persons occupied in agriculture has been
quoted as 1,192,167; and of those occupied in mining as 805,185. Among
occupations not already detailed, those of the male population include
transport of every sort (1,094,301), building and other works of
construction (1,042,864), manufacture of articles of human consumption,
lodging, &c. (774,291), commerce, banking, &c. (530,685), domestic
service, &c. (304,195), professional occupations (311,618). The service
of government in every branch occupied 171,687. Female workers were
occupied to the number of 1,664,381 in domestic service generally.
Tailoring and the textile clothing industries and trade generally
occupied 602,881; teaching 172,873; nursing and other work in
institutions 104,036; and the civil service, clerkships and similar
occupations 82,635.


IX. TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS, &C.

For various administrative and other purposes England and Wales have
been divided, at different times from the Saxon period onwards, into a
series of divisions, whose boundaries have been adjusted as each
purpose demanded, without much attempt to establish uniformity.
Therefore, although the methods of local government are detailed below
(Section X.), and other administrative arrangements are described under
the various headings dealing with each subject, it is desirable to give
here, for ease of reference and distinction, a schedule of the various
areas into which England and Wales are divided. The areas here given,
excepting the Poor Law Union, are those utilized in the Census Returns
(see the General Report, 1901).

                   _England and Wales; Areas._

                County (ancient or geographical).

   Parliamentary  / Division.
       Areas      \ Borough.

                   / Administrative County.
                  | County Borough.                      \ (City,
  Administrative  | Municipal Borough.                    > town)
    Areas        <  Urban District (other than borough). /
                  | Rural District.
                  | Civil Parish.
                  \ Poor Law Union.

                   / County Court Circuit.
  Judicial Areas  < County Court District.
                   \ Petty Sessional Division

  Ecclesiastical   / Province.
      Areas       < Diocese.
                   \ Parish

                   / Division.
   Registration   < County.
      Areas       | District.
                   \ Subdistrict.

The ancient counties were superseded for most practical purposes by the
administrative counties created by the Local Government Act of 1888. The
ancient division, however, besides being maintained in general speech
and usage, forms the basis on which the system of distribution of
parliamentary representation now in force was constructed. The
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 made a new division of the country into
county and borough constituencies. All the English counties, with the
exception of Rutland, are divided into two or more constituencies, each
returning one member, the number of English county parliamentary areas
being 234. In Wales eight smaller or less populous counties form each
one parliamentary constituency, while the four larger are divided, the
number of Welsh county parliamentary areas being 19. The number of
county areas for parliamentary purposes in England and Wales is thus
253, and the total number of their representatives is the same. Outside
the county constituencies are the parliamentary boroughs. Of these there
are 135 in England, one of them, Monmouth district, being made up of
three contributory boroughs, while many are divided into several
constituencies, the number of borough parliamentary areas in England
being 205, of which 61 are in the metropolis. Of the 205 borough
constituencies, 184 return each one member, and 21 return each two
members, so that the total number of English borough members is 226.
Besides the county and borough members there are in England five
university members, namely, two for Oxford, two for Cambridge and one
for London. In Wales there are 10 borough parliamentary areas, all of
which, except Merthyr Tydfil and Swansea town division, consist of
groups of several contributory boroughs. Each Welsh borough constituency
returns one member, except Merthyr Tydfil, which returns two, so that
there are eleven Welsh borough members.

The administrative counties, created in 1888, number 62, each having a
county council. They sometimes coincide in area with the ancient
counties of the same name, but generally differ, in a greater or less
degree, for the following reasons--(1) in some cases an ancient county
comprises (approximately) two or more administrative counties, in the
formation of which names of some ancient divisions were preserved,
thus:--

  _Ancient County._     _Administrative County._

  Cambridgeshire          / Cambridge.
                          \ Isle of Ely.

  Hampshire               / Southampton.
                          \ Isle of Wight.

                          / Parts of Holland.
  Lincolnshire           <  Parts of Kesteven.
                          \ Parts of Lindsey.

  Northamptonshire        / Northampton.
                          \ Soke of Peterborough.

  Suffolk                 / East Suffolk.
                          \ West Suffolk.

  Sussex                  / East Sussex.
                          \ West Sussex.

                          / East Riding.
  Yorkshire              <  North Riding.
                          \ West Riding.

The Scilly Islands, which form part of the ancient county of Cornwall,
without being ranked as an administrative county, are provided with a
county council and have separate administration. (2) The administrative
county of London has an area taken entirely from the counties of
Middlesex, Kent and Surrey. (3) All boroughs which on June 1, 1888, had
a population of not less than 50,000, boroughs which were already
counties having a population of not less than 20,000, and a few others,
were formed into separate administrative areas, with the name of county
boroughs. Of these there were originally 61, but their number
subsequently increased. (4) Provision was made by the act of 1888 for
including entirely within one administrative county each of such urban
districts as were situated in more than one ancient county.

The various urban and rural districts are described below (Section X.).
The _Civil Parish_ is defined (Poor Law Amendment Act 1866) as "a place
for which a separate poor-rate is or can be made," but the parish
council has local administrative functions beyond the administration of
the poor law. The civil parish has become more or less divorced in
relationship from the _Ecclesiastical Parish_ (a division which probably
served in early times for administrative purposes also), owing to
successive independent alterations in the boundaries of both (see
PARISH). _Poor-law unions_ are groups of parishes for the local
administration of the Poor Laws. Within the unions the local poor-law
authorities are the _Board of Guardians_. In rural districts the
functions of these boards are, under the Local Government Act of 1894,
performed by the district councils, and in other places their
constitution is similar to that of the urban and district councils (see
POOR LAW).

_Registration districts_ are generally, but not invariably, coextensive
with unions of the same name. These districts are divided into
sub-districts, within which the births and deaths are registered by
registrars appointed for that purpose. _Registration counties_ are
groups of registration districts, and their boundaries differ more or
less from those both of the ancient and the administrative counties. In
England and Wales there are eleven registration divisions, consisting of
groups of registration counties (see REGISTRATION).     (O. J. R. H.)


X. LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Reform Act of 1832 was the real starting-point for the overhauling
of English local government. For centuries before, from the reign of
Edward III., under a number of statutes and commissions, the
administrative work in the counties had been in the hands of the country
gentlemen and the clergy, acting as justices of the peace, and sitting
in petty sessions and quarter sessions. Each civil or "poor law" parish
was governed by the vestry and the overseers of the poor, dating from
the Poor Law of 1601; the vestry, which dealt with general affairs,
being presided over by the rector, and having the churchwardens as its
chief officials. In 1782 Gilbert's Act introduced the grouping of
parishes for poor law purposes, and boards of guardians appointed by the
justices of the peace. The municipal boroughs (246 in England and Wales
in 1832) were governed by mayor, aldermen, councillors and a close body
of burgesses or freemen, a narrow oligarchy. Reform began with the Poor
Law Amendment Act of 1834, grouping the parishes into Unions, making the
boards of guardians mainly elective, and creating a central poor law
board in London. The Municipal Corporations Act followed in 1835, giving
all ratepayers the local franchise. And as a result of the failure of
the Public Health Board established in 1848, the royal commission of
1869-1871 led to the establishment in 1871 of the Local Government Board
as a central supervising body. Meanwhile, the school boards resulting
from the Education Act of 1870 brought local government also into the
educational system; and the Public Health Act of 1875 put further duties
on the local authorities. By 1888 a new state of chaos had grown up as
the result of the multiplication of bodies, and the new Redistribution
Act of 1885 paved the way for a further reorganization of local matters
by the Local Government Act of 1888, followed by that of 1894. In
London, which required separate treatment, a similar process had been
going on. The Metropolis Management Act of 1855 established (outside the
city) two classes of parishes--the first class with vestries of their
own, the second class grouped under district boards elected by the
component vestries; and the Metropolitan Board of Works (abolished in
1888), elected by the vestries and the district boards, was made the
central authority.

In 1867 the Metropolitan Asylums Board took over its work from the
metropolitan boards of guardians. See further CHARITY AND CHARITIES,
PUBLIC HEALTH, EDUCATION, JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, VESTRY, &c.

The system of local government now existing in England (see also the
article LOCAL GOVERNMENT) may be said to have been founded in 1888, when
the Local Government Act of that year was passed. Since then the entire
system of the government of districts and parishes has been reorganized
with due regard to the preceding legislation. The largest area of local
government is the county; next to that the sanitary district, urban or
rural, including under this head municipal boroughs, all of which are
urban districts. The parish is, speaking generally, the smallest area,
though, as will hereafter be seen, part of a parish may be a separate
area for certain purposes; and there may be united districts or parishes
for certain purposes. It will be convenient to follow this order in the
present article. But before doing so, it should be pointed out that all
local bodies in England are to some extent subject to the control of
central authorities, such as the privy council, the home office, the
Board of Agriculture, the Board of Trade, the Board of Education or the
Local Government Board.


  The county and the county council.

_The Administrative County._--The administrative county includes all
places within its area, with two important exceptions. The first of
these consists of the county borough. The second is the quarter sessions
borough, which forms part of the county for certain specified purposes
only. But the county includes all other places, such as liberties and
franchises, which before 1888 were exempt from contribution to county
rate. For each administrative county a county council is elected. For
purposes of election the entire county is divided into divisions
corresponding to the wards of a municipal borough, and one councillor is
elected for each electoral division.


  County council elections.

The electors are the county electors, i.e. in a borough the persons
enrolled as burgesses, and in the rest of the county the persons who are
registered as county electors, i.e. those persons who possess in a
county the same qualification as burgesses must have in a borough, and
are registered.

  The qualification of a burgess or county elector is substantially the
  occupation of rated property within the borough or county, residence
  during a qualifying period of twelve months within the borough or
  county, and payment of rates for the qualifying property. A person so
  qualified is entitled to be enrolled as a burgess, or registered as a
  county elector (as the case may be), unless he is alien, has during
  the qualifying period received union or parochial relief or other
  alms, or is disentitled under some act of parliament such as the
  Corrupt Practices Act, the Felony Act, &c. The lists of burgesses and
  county electors are prepared annually by the overseers of each parish
  in the borough or county, and are revised by the revising barrister at
  courts holden by him for the purpose in September or October of each
  year. When revised they are sent to the town clerk of the borough, or
  to the clerk of the peace of the county, as the case may be, by whom
  they are printed. The lists are conclusive of the right to vote at an
  election, although on election petition involving a scrutiny the vote
  of a person disqualified by law may be struck off, notwithstanding the
  inclusion of his name in a list of voters.

  The qualification of a county councillor is similar to that required
  of a councillor in a municipal borough, with some modifications. A
  person may be qualified in any one of the following ways: viz. by
  being (1) enrolled as a county elector, and possessed of a property
  qualification consisting of the possession of real or personal
  property to the amount of £1000 in a county having four or more
  divisions, or of £500 in any other county, _or_ the being rated to the
  poor rate on an annual value of £30 in a county having four or more
  divisions, or of £15 in any other county; (2) enrolled in the
  non-resident list, and possessed of the same property qualification
  (the non-resident list contains the names of persons who are qualified
  for enrolment in all respects save residence in the county or within 7
  m. thereof, and are actually resident beyond the 7 m. and within 15
  m.); (3) entitled to elect to the office of county councillor (for
  this qualification no property qualification is required, but the
  office of a councillor elected on this qualification only becomes
  vacant if for six months he ceases to reside within the county); (4) a
  peer owning property in the county; (5) registered as a parliamentary
  voter in respect of the ownership of property in the county. Clerks in
  holy orders and ministers of religion are not disqualified as they are
  for being borough councillors, but in other respects the persons
  disqualified to be elected for a county are the same as those
  disqualified to be elected for a borough. Such disqualifications
  include the holding of any office or place of profit under the council
  other than the office of chairman, and the being concerned or
  interested in any contract or employment with, by or on behalf of
  the council. Women, other than married women, are eligible.

  [Illustration: Map of ENGLAND & WALES--Section V.]

  County councillors are elected for a term of three years, and at the
  end of that time they retire together. The ordinary day of election is
  the 8th March, or some day between the 1st and 8th March fixed by the
  council. Candidates are nominated in writing by a nomination paper
  signed by a proposer and seconder, and subscribed by eight other
  assenting county electors of the division; and in the event of there
  being more valid nominations than vacancies a poll has to be taken in
  the manner prescribed by the Ballot Act 1872. Corrupt and illegal
  practices at the election are forbidden by a statute passed in the
  year 1894, which imposes heavy penalties and disqualifications for the
  offences which it creates. These offences include not only treating,
  undue influence, bribery and personation, but certain others, of which
  the following are the chief. Payment on account of the conveyance of
  electors to or from the poll; payment for any committee room in excess
  of a prescribed number; the incurring of expenses in and about the
  election beyond a certain maximum; employing, for the conveyance of
  electors to or from the poll, hackney carriages or carriages kept for
  hire; payments for bands, flags, cockades, &c.; employing for payment
  persons at the election beyond the prescribed number; printing and
  publishing bills, placards or posters which do not disclose the name
  and address of the printer or publisher; using as committee rooms or
  for meetings any licensed premises, or any premises where food or
  drink is ordinarily sold for consumption on the premises, or any club
  premises where intoxicating liquor is supplied to members. In the
  event of an illegal practice, payment, employment or hiring, committed
  or done inadvertently, relief may be given by the High Court, or by an
  election court, if the validity of the election is questioned on
  petition; but unless such relief is given (and it will be observed
  that it cannot be given for a _corrupt_ as distinguished from an
  illegal practice), an infringement of the act may void the election
  altogether. The validity of the election may be questioned by election
  petition. Indeed, this is the only method when it is sought to set
  aside the election on any of the usual grounds, such as corrupt or
  illegal practices, or the disqualification of the candidate at the
  date of election. Election petitions against county councillors and
  members of other local bodies (borough councillors, urban and rural
  district councillors, members of school boards and boards of
  guardians) are classed together as municipal election petitions, and
  are heard in the same way, by a commissioner who must be a barrister
  of not less than fifteen years' standing. The petition is tried in
  open court at some place within the county, the expenses of the court
  being provided in the first instance by the Treasury, and repaid out
  of the county rates, except in so far as the court may order them to
  be paid by either of the parties. If a candidate is unseated a casual
  vacancy is created which has to be filled by a new election. A county
  councillor is required to accept office by making and subscribing a
  declaration in the prescribed form that he will duly and faithfully
  perform the duties of the office, and that he possesses the necessary
  qualification. The declaration may be made at any time within three
  months after notice of election. If the councillor does not make it
  within that time, he is liable to a fine the amount of which, if not
  determined by bye-law of the council, is £25 in the case of an
  alderman or councillor, and £50 in the case of the chairman. Exemption
  may, however, be claimed on the ground of age, physical or mental
  incapacity, previous service, or payment of the fine within five
  years, or on the ground that the claimant was nominated without his
  consent. If during his term of office a member of the council becomes
  bankrupt, or compounds with his creditors, or is (except in case of
  illness) continuously absent from the county, being chairman for more
  than two months, or being alderman or councillor for more than six
  months, his office becomes vacant by declaration of the council. In
  the case of disqualification by absence, the same fines are payable as
  upon non-acceptance of office, and the same liability arises on
  resignation. Acting without making the declaration, or without being
  qualified at the time of making the declaration, or after ceasing to
  be qualified, or after becoming disqualified, involves liability to a
  fine not exceeding £50, recoverable by action.


    Chairman, &c.

  The councillors who have been elected come into office on the 8th
  March in the year of election. The first quarterly meeting of the
  newly-elected council is held on the 16th or on such other day within
  ten days after the 8th as the county council may fix. The first
  business at that meeting is the election of the chairman, whose office
  corresponds to that of the mayor in a borough. He is elected for the
  ensuing year, and holds office until his successor has accepted
  office. The chairman must be a fit person, elected by the council from
  their own body or from persons qualified to be councillors. He may
  receive such remuneration as the council think reasonable. He is by
  virtue of his office a justice of the peace for the county. Having
  elected the chairman, the meeting proceeds to the election of
  aldermen, whose number is one-third of the number of councillors,
  except in London, where the number is one-sixth. An alderman must be a
  councillor or a person qualified to be a councillor. If a councillor
  is elected he vacates his office of councillor, and thus creates a
  casual vacancy in the council. In every third year one-half of the
  whole number of aldermen go out of office, and their places are filled
  by election, which is conducted by means of voting papers. It will be
  observed, therefore, that while a county councillor holds office for
  three years, a county alderman holds office for six. The council may
  also appoint a vice-chairman who holds office during the term of
  office of the chairman; in London the council have power to appoint a
  paid deputy chairman.


    Officers.

  It may be convenient at this point to refer to the officers of the
  county council. Of these, the chief are the clerk, the treasurer, and
  the surveyor. Before 1888 the clerk of the peace was appointed in a
  county by the _custos rotulorum_. He held office for life during good
  conduct, and had power to act by a sufficient deputy. Under the act of
  1888 existing clerks of the peace became clerks of the councils of
  their counties, holding office by the same tenure as formerly, except
  in the county of London, where the offices were separated. Thereafter
  a new appointment to the offices of clerk of the peace and clerk of
  the county council was to be made by the standing joint-committee, at
  whose pleasure he is to hold office. The same committee appoint the
  deputy-clerk, and fix the salaries of both officers. The clerk of the
  peace was formerly paid by fees which were fixed by quarter sessions,
  but he is now generally, if not in every case, paid by salary, the
  fees received by him being paid into the county fund. The county
  council may also employ such other officers and servants as they may
  think necessary.


    Business.

  Subject to a few special provisions in the Local Government Act of
  1888, the business of the county council is regulated by the
  provisions laid down in the Municipal Corporations Act 1882, with
  regard to borough councils. There are four quarterly meetings in every
  year, the dates of which may be fixed by the council, with the
  exception of that which must be held on the 16th March or some day
  within ten days after the 8th of March as already noticed when
  treating of elections. Meetings are convened by notices sent to
  members stating the time and place of the meeting and the business to
  be transacted. The chairman, or in his absence the vice-chairman, or
  in the absence of both an alderman or councillor appointed by the
  meeting, presides. All questions are determined by the votes of the
  majority of those present and voting, and in case of equality of votes
  the chairman has a casting vote. Minutes of the proceedings are taken,
  and if signed by the chairman at the same or the next meeting of the
  council are evidence of the proceedings. In all other respects the
  business of the council is regulated by standing orders which the
  council are authorized to make. Very full power is given to appoint
  committees, which may be either general or special, and to them may be
  delegated, with or without restrictions or conditions, any of their
  powers or duties except that of raising money by rate or loan. Power
  is also given to appoint joint-committees with other county councils
  in matters in which the two councils are jointly interested, but a
  joint-committee so appointed must not be confounded with the standing
  joint-committee of the county council and the quarter sessions, which
  is a distinct statutory body and is elsewhere referred to. The finance
  committee is also a body with distinct duties.


  Relation of county to boroughs.

In order to appreciate some of the points relating to the finance of a
county council, it is necessary to indicate the relations between an
administrative county and the boroughs which are locally situated within
it. The act of 1888 created a new division of boroughs into three
classes; of these the first is the county borough. A certain number of
boroughs which either had a population of not less than 50,000, or were
counties of themselves, were made counties independent of the county
council and free from the payment of county rate. In such boroughs the
borough council have, in addition to their powers under the Municipal
Corporations Act 1882, all the powers of a county council under the
Local Government Act. They are independent of the county council, and
their only relation is that in some instances they pay a contribution to
the county, e.g. for the cost of assizes where there is no separate
assize for the borough. The boroughs thus constituted county boroughs
enumerated in the schedule to the Local Government Act 1888 numbered
sixty-one, but additional ones are created from time to time.

The larger quarter sessions boroughs, i.e. those which had, according to
the census of 1881, a population exceeding 10,000, form part of the
county, and are subject to the control of the county council, but only
for certain special purposes. The reason for this is that while in
counties the powers and duties under various acts were entrusted to the
county authority, in boroughs they were exercised by the borough
councils. In the class of boroughs now under consideration these powers
and duties are retained by the borough council; the county council
exercise no jurisdiction within the borough in respect of them, and the
borough is not rated in respect of them to the county rate. The acts
referred to include those relating to the diseases of animals,
destructive insects, explosives, fish conservancy, gas meters,
margarine, police, reformatory and industrial schools, riot (damages),
sale of food and drugs, weights and measures. But for certain purposes
these boroughs are part of the county and rateable to county rate, e.g.
main roads, cost of assizes and sessions, and in certain cases pauper
lunatics. The county councillors elected for one of these boroughs may
not vote on any matter involving expenditure on account of which the
borough is not assessed to county rate.

The third class of boroughs comprises those which have a separate court
of quarter sessions, but had according to the census of 1881 a
population of less than 10,000. All such boroughs form part of the
county for the purposes of pauper lunatics, analysts, reformatory and
industrial schools, fish conservancy, explosives, and, of course, the
purposes for which the larger quarter sessions boroughs also form part
of the county, such as main roads, and are assessed to county rate
accordingly. And in a borough, whether a quarter sessions borough or
not, which had in 1881 a population of less than 10,000, all the powers
which the borough council formerly possessed as to police, analysts,
diseases of animals, gas meters, and weights and measures cease and are
transferred to the county council, the boroughs becoming in fact part of
the area of the county for these purposes.

It will be seen, therefore, that for some purposes, called in the act
general county purposes, the entire county, including all boroughs other
than county boroughs, is assessed to the county rate; while for others,
called special county purposes, certain boroughs are now assessed. This
explanation is necessary in order to appreciate what has now to be said
about county finance. But before leaving the consideration of the area
of the county it may be added that all liberties and franchises are now
merged in the county and subject to the jurisdiction of the county
council.


  Finance.

The county council is a body corporate with power to hold lands. Its
revenues are derived from various sources which will presently be
mentioned, but all receipts have to be carried to the county fund,
either to the general county account if applicable to general county
purposes, or to the special county account if applicable to special
county purposes. The county council may, with the consent of the Local
Government Board, borrow money on the security of the county fund or any
of its revenues, for consolidating the debts of the county; purchasing
land or buildings; any permanent work or other thing, the cost of which
ought to be spread over a term of years; making advances in aid of the
emigration or colonization of inhabitants of the county; and any purpose
for which quarter sessions or the county council are authorized by any
act to borrow. If, however, the total debt of the council will, with the
amount proposed to be borrowed, exceed one-tenth of the annual rateable
value of the property in the county, the money cannot be borrowed unless
under a provisional order made by the Local Government Board and
confirmed by parliament. The period for which a loan is made is fixed by
the county council with the consent of the Local Government Board, but
may not exceed thirty years, and the mode of repayment may be by equal
yearly or half-yearly instalments of principal or of principal and
interest combined, or by means of a sinking fund invested and applied in
accordance with the Local Government Acts. The loans authorized may be
raised by debentures or annuity certificates under these acts, or by the
issue of county stock, and in some cases by mortgage.

  The county council must appoint a finance committee for regulating and
  controlling the finance of the county, and the council cannot make any
  order for the payment of money out of the county fund save on the
  recommendation of that committee. Moreover, the order for payment of
  any sum must be made in pursuance of an order of the council signed by
  three members of the finance committee present at the meeting of the
  council, and countersigned by the clerk. The order is directed to the
  county treasurer, by whom authorized payments are then made.

  The accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the county council are
  made up for the twelve months ending the 31st March in each year, and
  are audited by a district auditor. The form in which the accounts must
  be made up is prescribed by the Local Government Board. The auditor is
  a district auditor appointed by the Local Government Board under the
  District Auditors Act 1879, and in respect of the audit the council is
  charged with a stamp duty, the amount of which depends on the total of
  the expenditure comprised in the financial statement. Before each
  audit the auditor gives notice of the time and place appointed, and
  the council publish the appointment by advertisement. A copy of the
  accounts has to be deposited for public inspection for seven days
  before the audit. The auditor has the fullest powers of investigation;
  he may require the production of any books or papers, and he may
  require the attendance before him of any person accountable. Any owner
  of property or ratepayer may attend the audit and object to the
  accounts, and either on such objection or on his own motion the
  auditor may disallow any payment and surcharge the amount on the
  persons who made or authorized it. Against any allowance or surcharge
  appeal lies to the High Court if the question involved is one of law,
  or to the Local Government Board, who have jurisdiction to remit a
  surcharge if, in the circumstances, it appears to them to be fair and
  equitable to do so. It will be seen that this is really an effective
  audit.


    Revenue of county council.

  The sources of revenue of the council are the exchequer contribution,
  income from property and fees, and rates. Before 1888 large grants of
  money had been made annually to local authorities in aid of local
  taxation. Such grants represented a contribution out of taxation for
  the most part arising out of property other than real property, while
  local taxation fell on real property alone. By the act of 1888 it was
  provided that for the future such annual grants should cease, and that
  other payments should be made instead thereof. The commissioners of
  Inland Revenue pay into the Bank of England, to an account called "the
  local taxation account," the sums ascertained to be the proceeds of
  the duties collected by them in each county on what are called local
  taxation licences, which include licences for the sale of intoxicating
  liquor, licences on dogs, guns, establishment licences, &c. The amount
  so ascertained to have been collected in each county is paid under
  direction of the Local Government Board to the council of that county.
  The commissioners of Inland Revenue also pay into the same account a
  sum equal to 1½% on the net value of personal property in respect of
  which estate duty is paid. Under the Local Taxation (Customs and
  Excise) Act 1890, certain duties imposed on spirits and beer (often
  referred to as "whisky money") are also to be paid to "the local
  taxation account." The sums so paid in respect of the duties last
  above mentioned, and in respect of the estate duty and spirits and
  beer additional duties, are distributed among the several counties in
  proportion to the share which the Local Government Board certify to
  have been received by each county during the financial year ending the
  31st March 1888, out of the grants theretofore made out of the
  exchequer in aid of local rates. The payments so made out of "the
  local taxation account" to a county council are paid to the county
  fund, and carried to a separate account called "the Exchequer
  contribution account." The money standing to the credit of this
  account is applied: (i.) in paying any costs incurred in respect
  thereof or otherwise chargeable thereon; (ii.) in payment of the sums
  required by the Local Government Act 1888 to be paid in substitution
  for local grants; (iii.) in payment of the new grant to be made by the
  county council in respect of the costs of union officers; and (iv.) in
  repaying to "the general county account" of the county fund the costs
  on account of general county purposes for which the whole area of the
  county (including boroughs other than county boroughs) is liable to be
  assessed to county contribution. Elaborate provision is made for the
  distribution of the surplus (if any), with a view to securing a due
  share being paid to the quarter sessions boroughs.

  The payments which the county council have to make in substitution for
  the local grants formerly made out of Imperial funds include payments
  for or towards the remuneration of the teachers in poor-law schools
  and public vaccinators; school fees paid for children sent from a
  workhouse to a public elementary school; half of the salaries of the
  medical officer of health and the inspector of nuisances of district
  councils; the remuneration of registrars for births and deaths; the
  maintenance of pauper lunatics; half of the cost of the pay and
  clothing of the police of the county, and of each borough maintaining
  a separate police force. In addition to the grants above mentioned,
  the county council is required to grant to the guardians of every
  poor-law union wholly or partly in their county an annual sum for the
  costs of the officers of the union and of district schools to which
  the union contributes. Another source is the income of any property
  belonging to the council, but the amount of this is usually small. The
  third source of revenue consists of the fees received by the different
  officers of the county councils or of the joint-committee. For
  example, fees received by the clerk of the peace, inspectors of
  weights and measures, and the like. These fees are paid into the
  county fund, and carried either to "the general county account" or, if
  they have been received in respect of some matter for which part only
  of the county is assessed, then to the special account to which the
  rates levied for that purpose are carried. The remaining source of
  income of a county council is the county rate, the manner of levying
  which is hereafter stated.

[Illustration: Map of ENGLAND & WALES--Section VI.]


  Powers transferred from quarter sessions.

Of the powers and duties of county councils, it may be convenient to
treat of these first, in so far as they are transferred to or conferred
on them by the Local Government Act 1888, under which they were created,
and afterwards in so far as they have been conferred by subsequent
legislation. Before the passing of the Local Government Act 1888, the
only form of county government in England was that of the justices in
quarter sessions (q.v.). Quarter sessions were originally a judicial
body, but being the only body having jurisdiction over the county as a
whole, certain powers were conferred and certain duties imposed upon
them with reference to various matters of county government from time to
time. The principal object of the act of 1888 was to transfer these
powers and duties from the quarter sessions to the new representative
body--the county council; and it may be said that substantially the
whole of the administrative business of quarter sessions was thus
transferred.

  The subjects of such transfer include (i.) the making, assessing and
  levying of county, police, hundred and all rates, and the application
  and expenditure thereof, and the making of orders for the payment of
  sums payable out of any such rate, or out of the county stock or
  county fund, and the preparation and revision of the basis or standard
  for the county rate. With regard to the county rate, a few words of
  description may be sufficient here. The council appoint a committee
  called a county rate committee, who from time to time prepare a basis
  or standard for county rate, that is to say, they fix the amount at
  which each parish in the county shall contribute its quota to the
  county rate. As a general rule the poor-law valuations are followed,
  but this is not universally the case, some county councils adopting
  the assessment to income tax, schedule A, and others forming an
  independent valuation of their own. The overseers of any parish
  aggrieved by the basis may appeal against it to quarter sessions, and
  it is to be noticed that this appeal is not interfered with, the
  transfer of the duties of justices relating only to administrative and
  not to judicial business. When a contribution is required from county
  rate, the county council assess the amount payable by each parish
  according to the basis previously made, and send their precept to the
  guardians of the unions comprising the several parishes in the county,
  the guardians in their turn requiring the overseers of each parish to
  provide the necessary quota of that parish out of the poor rate, and
  the sum thus raised goes into the county fund. The police rate is made
  for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the county police. It is
  made on the same basis as the county rate, and is levied with it. The
  hundred rate is seldom made, though in some counties it may be made
  for purposes of main roads and bridges chargeable to the hundred as
  distinguished from the county at large; (ii.) the borrowing of money;
  (iii.) the passing of the accounts of, and the discharge of the county
  treasurer; (iv.) shire halls, county halls, assize courts, the judges'
  lodgings, lock-up houses, court houses, justices' rooms, police
  stations and county buildings, works and property; (v.) the licensing
  under any general act of houses and other places for music or for
  dancing, and the granting of licences under the Racecourses Licensing
  Act 1879; (vi.) the provision, enlargement, maintenance and management
  and visitation of, and other dealing with, asylums for pauper
  lunatics; (vii.) the establishment and maintenance of, and the
  contribution to, reformatory and industrial schools; (viii.) bridges
  and roads repairable with bridges, and any powers vested by the
  Highways and Locomotives Amendment Act 1878 in the county authority.
  It may be observed that bridges have always been at common law
  repairable by the county, although, with regard to bridges erected
  since the year 1805, these are not to be deemed to be county bridges
  repairable by the county unless they have been erected under the
  direction or to the satisfaction of the county surveyor. The
  common-law liability to repair a bridge extends also to the road or
  approaches for a distance of 300 ft. on each side of the bridge. Of
  the powers vested in the county authority under the Highway Act 1878,
  the most important are those relating to main roads, which are
  specially noticed hereafter; (ix.) the tables of fees to be taken by
  and the costs to be allowed to any inspector, analyst or person
  holding any office in the county other than the clerk of the peace and
  the clerks of the justices; (x.) the appointment, removal and
  determination of salaries of the county treasurer, the county
  surveyor, the public analysts, any officer under the Explosives Act
  1875, and any officers whose remuneration is paid out of the county
  rate, other than the clerk of the peace and the clerks of the
  justices; (xi.) the salary of any coroner whose salary is payable out
  of the county rate, the fees, allowances and disbursements allowed to
  be paid by any such coroner, and the division of the county into
  coroners' districts and the assignments of such districts; (xii.) the
  division of the county into polling districts for the purposes of
  parliamentary elections, the appointment of the places of election,
  the places of holding courts for the revision of the lists of voters,
  and the costs of, and other matters to be done for the registration of
  parliamentary voters; (xiii.) the execution as local authority of the
  acts relating to contagious diseases of animals, to destructive
  insects, to fish conservancy, to wild birds, to weights and measures,
  and to gas meters, and of the Local Stamp Act 1869; (xiv.) any matters
  arising under the Riot (Damages) Act 1886. Under this act compensation
  is payable out of the police rate to any person whose property has
  been injured, stolen or destroyed by rioters; (xv.) the registration
  of rules of scientific societies, the registration of charitable
  gifts, the certifying and recording of places of religious worship,
  the confirmation and record of the rules of loan societies. These
  duties are imposed under various statutes.

  In addition to the business of quarter sessions thus transferred,
  there was also transferred to the county council certain business of
  the justices of the county out of session, that is to say, in petty or
  special sessions. This business consists of the licensing of houses or
  places for the public performance of stage plays, and the execution,
  as local authority, of the Explosives Act 1875. Power was given by the
  act to the Local Government Board to provide, by means of a
  provisional order, for transferring to county councils any of the
  powers and duties of the various central authorities which have been
  already referred to; but although such an order was at one time
  prepared, it has never been confirmed, and nothing has been done in
  that direction.


    Police.

  Apart from the business thus transferred to county councils, the act
  itself has conferred further powers or imposed further duties with
  reference to a variety of other matters, some of which must be
  noticed. But before passing to them it is necessary here to call
  attention to one important subject of county government which has not
  been wholly transferred to the county council, namely, the police. It
  was matter of considerable discussion before the passing of the act
  whether the police should remain under the control of the justices, or
  be transferred wholly to the control of the county council. Eventually
  a middle course was taken. The powers, duties and liabilities of the
  quarter sessions and justices out of session with respect to the
  county police were vested in the quarter sessions and the county
  council jointly, and are now exercised through the standing
  joint-committee of the two bodies. That committee consists of an equal
  number of members of the county council and of justices appointed by
  the quarter sessions, the number being arranged between the two bodies
  or fixed by the secretary of state. The committee are also charged
  with the duties of appointing or removing the clerk of the peace, and
  they have jurisdiction in matters relating to justices' clerks, the
  provision of accommodation for quarter sessions or justices out of
  session, and the like, and their expenses are paid by the county
  council out of the county fund. The standing joint-committee have
  power to divide their county into police districts, and, when required
  by order in council, are obliged to do so. In such a case, while the
  general expenditure in respect of the entire police force is defrayed
  by the county at large, the local expenditure, i.e. the cost of pay,
  clothing and such other expenses as the joint-committee may direct, is
  defrayed at the cost of the particular district for which it is
  incurred (see also POLICE).


    County coroners.

  Among the powers and duties given to county councils by the Local
  Government Act 1888, the first to be mentioned, following the order in
  the act itself, is that of the appointment of county coroners. The
  duties of a coroner are limited to the holding of inquiries into cases
  of death from causes suspected to be other than natural, and to a few
  miscellaneous duties of comparatively rare occurrence, such as the
  holding of inquiries relating to treasure trove, and acting instead of
  the sheriff on inquiries under the Lands Clauses Act, &c., when that
  officer is interested and thereby disabled from holding such
  inquiries. (For the history of the office of coroner, which is a very
  ancient one, see that title.) The county council may appoint any fit
  person, not being a county alderman or county councillor, to fill the
  office, and in the case of a county divided into coroners' districts,
  may assign him a district. It has been decided, however, that the
  power hereby conferred does not extend to the appointment of a coroner
  for a liberty or other franchise who would not under the old law have
  been appointed by the freeholders. It may be mentioned that though a
  coroner may have a district assigned to him, he is nevertheless a
  coroner for the entire county throughout which he has jurisdiction.


    Main roads.

  It was provided by the Highway Act 1878 that every road which was
  disturnpiked after the 31st of December 1870 should be deemed to be a
  main road, the expenses of the repair and maintenance of which were to
  be contributed as to one-half thereof by the justices in quarter
  sessions, then the county authority. By another section of the same
  act it was provided that where any highway in a county was a medium of
  communication between great towns, or a thoroughfare to a railway
  station, or otherwise such that it ought to be declared a main road,
  the county authority might declare it to be a main road, and thereupon
  one-half the expense of its maintenance would fall upon the county at
  large. Once a road became a main road it could only cease to be such
  by order of the Local Government Board. As already stated, the powers
  of the quarter sessions under the act of 1878 were transferred to the
  county council under the Local Government Act of 1888, and that body
  alone has now power to declare a road to be a main road. But the act
  of 1888 made some important changes in the law relating to the
  maintenance of main roads. It declared that thereafter not only the
  half but the whole cost of maintenance should be borne by the county.
  Provision is made for the control of main roads in urban districts
  being retained by the urban district council. In urban districts where
  such control has not been claimed, and in rural districts, the county
  council may either maintain the main roads themselves or allow or
  require the district councils to do so. The county council must in any
  case make a payment towards the costs incurred by the district
  council, and if any difference arises as to the amount of it, it has
  to be settled by the Local Government Board. In Lancashire the cost of
  main roads falls upon the hundred, as distinguished from the county at
  large, special provision being made to that effect. Special provision
  has also been made for the highways in the Isle of Wight and in South
  Wales, where the roads were formerly regulated by special acts, and
  not by the ordinary Highway Acts.


    Rivers pollution prevention.

  The county council have the same power as a sanitary authority to
  enforce the provisions of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Acts in
  relation to so much of any stream as passes through or by any part of
  their county. Under these acts a sanitary authority is authorized to
  take proceedings to restrain interference with the due flow of a
  stream or the pollution of its waters by throwing into it the solid
  refuse of any manufactory or quarry, or any rubbish or cinders, or any
  other waste or any putrid solid matter. They may also take proceedings
  in respect of the pollution of a stream by any solid or liquid sewage
  matter. They have the same powers with respect to manufacturing and
  mining pollutions, subject to certain restrictions, one of which is
  that proceedings are not to be taken without the consent of the Local
  Government Board. The county council may not only themselves institute
  proceedings under the acts, but they may contribute to the costs of
  any prosecution under the acts instituted by any other county or
  district council. The Local Government Board is further empowered by
  provisional order to constitute a joint-committee representing all the
  administrative counties through or by which a river passes, and confer
  on such committee all or any of the powers of a sanitary authority
  under the acts.


    Parliamentary and legal costs.

  A county council has the same power of opposing bills in parliament
  and of prosecuting or defending any legal proceedings necessary for
  the promotion or protection of the interests of the inhabitants of a
  county as are conferred on the council of a municipal borough by the
  Borough Funds Act 1872, with this difference, that in order to enable
  them to oppose a bill in parliament at the cost of the county rate, it
  is not necessary to obtain the consent of the owners and ratepayers
  within the county. The power thus conferred is limited to opposing
  bills. The council are not authorized to promote any bill, and
  although they frequently do so, they incur the risk that if the bill
  should not pass the members of the council will be surcharged
  personally with the costs incurred if they attempt to charge them to
  the county rate. Of course if the bill passes, it usually contains a
  clause enabling the costs of promotion to be paid out of the county
  rate. It must not be supposed, however, that the county council have
  no power to institute or defend legal proceedings or oppose bills save
  such as is expressly conferred upon them by the Local Government Act.
  In this respect they are in the same position as all other local
  authorities, with respect to whom it has been laid down that they may
  without any express power in that behalf use the funds at their
  disposal for protecting themselves against any attack made upon their
  existence as a corporate body or upon any of their powers or
  privileges.


    By-laws.

  The county council have also the same powers as a borough council of
  making by-laws for the good government of the county and for the
  suppression of nuisances not already punishable under the general law.
  This power has been largely acted upon throughout England, and the
  courts of law have on several occasions decided that such by-laws
  should be benevolently interpreted, and that in matters which directly
  arise and concern the people of the county, who have the right to
  choose those whom they think best fitted to represent them, such
  representatives may be trusted to understand their own requirements.
  Such by-laws will therefore be upheld, unless it is clear that they
  are uncertain, repugnant to the general law of the land, or manifestly
  unreasonable. It may be mentioned that, while by-laws relating to the
  good government of the county have to be confirmed by the secretary of
  state, those which relate to the suppression of nuisances have to be
  confirmed by the Local Government Board. Such confirmation, however,
  though necessary to enable the council to enforce them, does not
  itself confer upon them any validity in point of law.


    Medical officers.

  The county council have power to appoint and pay one or more medical
  officers of health, who are not to hold any other appointment or
  engage in private practice without the express written consent of the
  council. The council may make arrangements whereby any district
  council or councils may have the services of the county medical
  officer on payment of a contribution towards his salary, and while
  such arrangement is in force the duty of the district council to
  appoint a medical officer is to be deemed to have been satisfied.
  Every medical officer, whether of a county or district, must now be
  legally qualified for the practice of medicine, surgery and midwifery.
  Besides this, in the case of a county, or of any district or
  combination of districts of which the population exceeds 50,000, the
  medical officer must also have a diploma in public health, unless he
  has during the three consecutive years before 1892 been medical
  officer of a district or combination having a population of more than
  20,000, or has before the passing of the act been for three years a
  medical officer or inspector of the Local Government Board.


    Alterations of local areas.

  The only other powers and duties of a county council arising under the
  Local Government Act itself which it is necessary to notice are those
  relating to alterations of local areas. It may be convenient here to
  state that certain alterations of areas can only be effected through
  the medium of the Local Government Board after local inquiry. These
  cases include the alteration of the boundary of any county or borough,
  the union of a county borough with a county, the union of any counties
  or boroughs or the division of any county, the making of a borough
  into a county borough. In these cases the order of the Local
  Government Board is provisional only, and must be confirmed by
  parliament. The powers of a county council to make orders for the
  alteration of local areas are as follows: When a county council is
  satisfied that a prima facie case is made out as respects any county
  district not a borough, or as respects any parish, for a proposal for
  all or any of the things hereafter mentioned, they may hold a local
  inquiry after giving such notice in the locality and to such public
  departments as may be prescribed from time to time by the orders of
  the Local Government Board. The things referred to include the
  alteration of the boundary of the district or parish; the division or
  union thereof with any other district or districts, parish or
  parishes; the conversion of a rural district or part thereof into an
  urban district or vice versa. In these cases, after the local inquiry
  above referred to has been held, the county council, being satisfied
  that the proposal is desirable, may make an order for the same
  accordingly. The order has to be submitted to the Local Government
  Board, and that board must hold a local inquiry in order to determine
  whether the order should be confirmed or not, if the council of any
  district affected by it, or one-sixth of the total number of electors
  in the district or parish to which it relates, petition against it.
  The Local Government Board have power to modify the terms of the order
  whether it is petitioned against or not, but if there is no petition,
  they are bound to confirm, subject only to such modifications. Very
  large powers are conferred upon county councils for the purpose of
  giving full effect to orders made by them under these provisions. A
  considerable extension of the same powers was made by the Local
  Government Act 1894, which practically required every council to take
  into consideration the areas of sanitary districts and parishes within
  the entire administrative county, and to see that a parish did not
  extend into more than one sanitary district; to provide for the
  division of a district which did extend into more than one district
  into separate parishes, so that for the future the parish should not
  be in more than one county district; and to provide for every parish
  and rural sanitary district being within one county. An enormous
  number of orders under the act of 1894 was made by county councils,
  and, speaking generally, it will now be found that no parish extends
  into more than one county or county district. Other powers and duties
  of the county council under the act of 1894 will be noticed hereafter.

Of the statutes affecting county councils passed subsequent to 1888
mention need only be made of the chief.


    Education.

  Previous to the Education Act 1902, county councils had certain
  optional powers under the Technical Instruction Acts to supply or aid
  the supply of technical or manual instruction. Their duties in respect
  to education were, however, much enlarged by the act of 1902. That act
  abolished the old school boards and school attendance committees, and
  substituted a single authority for all kinds of schools and for all
  kinds of education. The county council or the council of a county
  borough is now in every case the local education authority, except
  that non-county boroughs with a population of over 10,000, and urban
  districts with a population of over 20,000, may be the local education
  authorities for elementary education only, but they may relinquish
  their powers in favour of the county council. For higher education
  county councils and county boroughs are the sole education
  authorities, except that non-county boroughs and urban councils are
  given a concurrent power of levying a rate for higher education not
  exceeding 1d. in the £. Under the act, an education committee must be
  established by all authorities. The majority of the members of the
  committee are appointed by the council, usually out of their own body,
  and the remainder are appointed by the council on the nomination or
  recommendation of other bodies. Some of the members of the committee
  must be women. All matters relating to the exercise of the powers of
  the education authority (except those of rating and borrowing) must be
  referred to the committee, and before exercising any of their powers
  the council must (except in cases of emergency) receive and consider
  the report of the education committee with respect to the matter in
  question. As to higher education the local education authority must
  consider the educational needs of their area and take such steps as
  seem to them desirable, after consultation with the Board of
  Education, to supply or aid the supply of education other than
  elementary, and to promote the general co-ordination of all forms of
  education. For this purpose they are authorized to levy a rate not
  exceeding 2d. in the £, except with the consent of the Local
  Government Board. They must also devote to the same purpose the sums
  received by them in respect of the residue of the English share of the
  local taxation (customs and excise) duties already referred to. See
  further EDUCATION and TECHNICAL EDUCATION.


    Midwives.

  Under the Midwives Act 1902, every council of a county or county
  borough is the local supervising authority over midwives within its
  area. The duty of the local supervising authority is to exercise
  general supervision over all midwives practising within their area in
  accordance with rules laid down in the act; to investigate charges of
  malpractices, negligence or misconduct on the part of a midwife, and
  if a prima facie case be established, to report it to the Central
  Midwives Board; to suspend a midwife from practice if necessary to
  prevent the spread of infection; to report to the central board the
  name of any midwife convicted of an offence; once a year (in January)
  to supply the central board with the names and addresses of all
  midwives practising within their area and to keep a roll of the names,
  accessible at all reasonable times for public inspection; to report at
  once the death of any midwife or change in name and address. The local
  supervising authority may delegate their powers to a committee
  appointed by them, women being eligible to serve on it. A county
  council may delegate its powers under the act to a district council.


    Lunatics.

  Part of the business transferred from quarter sessions to the council
  was that which related to pauper lunatics, but the whole subject of
  lunacy was consolidated by an act of the year 1890, which again has
  been amended by a later act. The councils of all administrative
  counties and county boroughs and the councils of a few specified
  quarter sessions boroughs, which before 1890 were independent areas
  for purposes of the Lunacy Acts, are local authorities for the
  purposes of the Lunacy Acts, and each of them is under an obligation
  to provide asylum accommodation for pauper lunatics. This
  accommodation may be provided by one council or by a combination of
  two or more, and such council or combination may provide one or more
  asylums. The county council exercise their powers through a visiting
  committee, consisting of not less than seven members, or, in the case
  of a combination, of a number of members appointed by each council in
  agreed proportions. In the case of a combination the expenses are
  defrayed by the several councils in such proportion as they may agree
  upon, and the proportion may be fixed with reference to either the
  accommodation required by each council or the population of the
  district. A county borough may also, instead of providing an asylum of
  its own, contract with the visiting committee of any asylum to receive
  the pauper lunatics from the borough. Private patients may be
  accommodated in the asylums provided by a county council, and received
  upon terms fixed by the visiting committee. The expenses of lunatic
  asylums are defrayed in the following manner: The guardians from whose
  union a lunatic is sent have to pay a fixed weekly sum, which may not
  exceed 14s. a week. A larger charge is made for lunatics received from
  unions outside the county, as these do not, of course, contribute
  anything towards the provision or up-keep of the asylum itself. In
  addition to the payments by guardians, there is a contribution of 4s.
  a week from "the exchequer contribution account" already mentioned,
  and the remaining expenses are defrayed out of the county rate.


    Allotments.

  Under the Allotments Acts 1887 to 1907, it is the duty of a county
  council to ascertain the extent to which there is a demand for
  allotments in the urban districts and parishes in the county, or would
  be a demand if suitable land were available, and the extent to which
  it is reasonably practicable, having regard to the provisions of the
  acts, to satisfy any such demand, and to co-operate with authorities,
  associations or persons best qualified to assist, and to take such
  steps as may be necessary. The powers of the Local Government Board
  under the Allotments Acts were transferred by the act of 1907 to the
  Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and by the same act the powers and
  duties of rural district councils were transferred to parish councils.
  The county council under these acts has compulsory powers of purchase
  or hire if they are unable to acquire land by agreement and on
  reasonable terms. If an objection is made to an order for compulsory
  purchase or hire, the order will not be confirmed by the Board of
  Agriculture until after a local inquiry has been held. If the Board of
  Agriculture is satisfied, after holding a local inquiry, that a county
  council have failed to fulfil their obligations as to allotments, the
  board may transfer all and any of the powers of the county council to
  the Small Holdings Commissioners.


    Small holdings.

  By the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1907, Small Holdings
  Commissioners are appointed by the Board of Agriculture to ascertain
  the extent of the demand for small holdings, and confer with county
  councils as to how best to provide them. Local authorities are
  required to furnish information and give assistance to the
  commissioners, who report to the board. If the board, after
  considering the report, consider it desirable, they require the county
  council concerned to prepare a scheme for the provision of small
  holdings; if the county council decline to prepare a scheme, the board
  may direct the commissioners to do so. A county council may also
  prepare a scheme on its own initiative. When a scheme has been
  confirmed, the county council must carry out the obligations imposed
  on it within a prescribed time; if they make default the board may
  direct the commissioners to assume all the powers of the county
  council, and the county council must repay to the board the expenses
  the commissioners may incur. A county council may delegate, by
  arrangement, to the council of any borough or urban district in the
  county their powers in respect of the act. A small holding is defined
  by the act as one which exceeds 1 acre, but must not exceed 50 acres
  or £50 annual value. Every county council must establish a small
  holdings and allotments committee, to which must be referred all
  matters relating to the exercise and performance by the council of
  their powers and duties as to small holdings and allotments.


    Hospitals.

  Under the Isolation Hospitals Acts 1893 and 1901, a county council may
  provide for the establishment of isolation hospitals for the reception
  of patients suffering from infectious diseases on the application of
  any local authority within the county, or on the report of the medical
  officer of the county that hospital accommodation is necessary and has
  not been provided, or it may take over hospitals already provided by a
  local authority. The council by their order constitute a hospital
  district and form a committee for its administration. The committee
  have power to purchase land, erect a hospital, provide all necessary
  appliances, and generally administer a hospital for the purposes above
  mentioned.


    Parish councils.

  The powers and duties of a county council under the Local Government
  Act 1894 are numerous and varied, and the chief of them are mentioned
  hereafter in connexion with parish councils. The county council may
  establish a parish council in a parish which has a population of less
  than 300, and may group small parishes under a common parish council;
  in every case they fix the number of members of the parish council.
  They may authorize the borrowing of money by a parish council, and
  they may lend money to a parish council. They may hear complaints by a
  parish council that a district council has failed to provide
  sufficient sewerage or water-supply, or has failed to enforce the
  provisions of the Public Health Acts in their district, and on such
  complaint they may transfer to themselves and exercise the powers of
  the defaulting council, or they may appoint a person to perform those
  duties. They may make orders for the custody and preservation of
  public books, writings, papers and documents belonging to a parish.
  They may divide a parish into wards for purposes of elections or of
  parish meetings. They may authorize district councils to aid persons
  in maintaining rights of common. They may, on the petition of a
  district council, transfer to themselves the powers of a district
  council who have refused or failed to take the necessary proceedings
  to assert public rights of way or protect roadside wastes. They may
  dispense with the disqualification of a parish or district councillor
  arising only by reason of his being a shareholder in a water company
  or similar company contracting with the council, and, as has above
  been stated, they have large powers of altering the boundaries of
  parishes.


    Diseases of animals.

  Among the powers and duties of quarter sessions transferred to county
  councils were those arising under the acts relating to contagious
  diseases of animals. These acts were consolidated and amended by a
  statute of 1894, and the county council remain the local authority for
  the execution of that act in counties.


    Light railways.

  Under the Light Railways Act 1896 a county council may be authorized
  by order of the light railway commissioners to construct and work or
  contract for the construction or working of a light railway, lend
  money to a light railway company, or join any other council in these
  matters.


    Miscellaneous.

  Among other statutes conferring powers or imposing duties upon county
  councils, mention may be made of such acts as those relating to sea
  fisheries regulation, open spaces, police superannuation, railway and
  canal traffic, shop hours, weights and measures, fertilizing and
  feeding stuffs, wild birds' protection, land transfer, locomotives on
  highways and the acquisition of small dwellings. Sufficient has been
  said to indicate that the legislature from time to time recognizes the
  important position of the county council as an administrative body,
  and is continually extending its functions.


  The municipal borough and the borough council.

_The Urban District._--A municipal borough is a place which has been
incorporated by royal charter. In the year 1835 the Municipal
Corporations Act was passed, which made provision for the constitution
and government of certain boroughs which were enumerated in a schedule.
That act was from time to time amended, until in 1882 by an act of that
year the whole of the earlier acts were repealed and consolidated. A few
ancient corporations which were not enumerated in the schedule to the
act of 1835 continued to exist after that year, but by an act of 1883
all of these, save such as should obtain charters before 1886, were
abolished, the result being that all boroughs are now subject to the act
of 1882. A place is still created a borough by royal charter on the
petition of the inhabitants, and when that is done the provisions of the
act of 1882 are applied to it by the charter itself. The charter also
fixes the number of councillors, the boundaries of the wards (if any),
and assigns the number of councillors to each ward, and provides
generally for the time and manner in which the act of 1882 is first to
come into operation. The charter is supplemented by a scheme which makes
provision for the transfer to the new borough council of the powers and
duties of existing authorities, and generally for the bringing into
operation of the act of 1882. If the scheme is opposed by the prescribed
proportion (one-twentieth) of the owners and ratepayers of the proposed
new borough, it has to be confirmed by parliament. The governing body in
a borough is the council elected by the burgesses.


    Officers.

  The qualification of a burgess has been incidentally mentioned in
  connexion with that of a county elector, and need not be further
  noticed. A borough councillor must be qualified in the same manner as
  a county councillor, and he is disqualified in the same way, with this
  addition, that a peer or ownership voter is not qualified as such, and
  that a person is disqualified for being a borough councillor if he is
  in holy orders or is the regular minister of a Dissenting
  congregation. Women, other than married women, are eligible. Borough
  councillors are elected for a term of three years, one-third of the
  whole number going out of office in each year, and if the borough is
  divided into wards, these are so arranged that the number of
  councillors for each ward shall be three or a multiple of three. The
  ordinary day of election is the 1st of November. At an election for
  the whole borough the returning officer is the mayor; at a ward
  election he is an alderman assigned for that purpose by the council.
  The nomination and election of candidates and the procedure at the
  election are the same as have already been described in the case of
  the election of county councillors. The law as to corrupt and illegal
  practices at the election is also similar, and the election may be
  questioned by petition in exactly the same way. A borough councillor
  must, within five days after notice of his election, make a
  declaration of acceptance of office under a penalty, in the case of an
  alderman or councillor of £50, and in the case of a mayor of £100, or
  such other sums as the council may by by-law determine. A councillor
  may be disqualified in the same way as a county councillor, by
  bankruptcy or composition with creditors, or continuous absence from
  the borough (except in case of illness). In short it may be said that
  as the provisions relating to the election of borough councillors were
  merely extended to county councillors by the Local Government Act of
  1888 with a few modifications, these provisions, as already stated
  when dealing with county councils, apply generally to the election of
  borough councillors. After the annual election on the 1st of November
  the first quarterly meeting of the council is held on the 9th, and at
  that meeting the mayor and aldermen are elected. The election of the
  mayor and aldermen is again the same as has already been described in
  connexion with the election of the chairman and aldermen of a county
  council. The officers of a borough council are the town clerk and the
  treasurer, but the council have power to appoint such other officers
  as they think necessary. All these officers receive such remuneration
  as the council from time to time think fit, and hold office during
  pleasure. The provisions with respect to the transaction of the
  business of the council are also the same in the case of a borough as
  in that of a county council.


    Finance audit.

  The entire income of the borough council is paid into the borough
  fund, and that fund is charged with certain payments, which are
  specifically set out in the 5th schedule to the act of 1882. These
  include the remuneration of the mayor, recorder and officers of the
  borough, overseers' expenses, the expenses of the administration of
  justice in the borough, the payment of the borough coroner, police
  expenses and the like. An order of the council for the payment of
  money out of the borough fund must be signed by three members of the
  council and countersigned by the town clerk, and any such order may be
  removed into the king's bench division of the High Court of Justice by
  writ of _certiorari_ and may be wholly or partly disallowed or
  confirmed on the hearing. This is really the only way in which the
  validity of a payment by a borough council can be questioned, for, as
  will be seen hereafter, the audit in the borough is not an effective
  one. The borough fund is derived, in the first instance, from the
  property of the corporation. If the income from such property is
  insufficient for the purposes to which it is applicable, as usually is
  the case, it has to be supplemented by a borough rate, which may be a
  separate rate made by the council or may be levied through the
  overseers as part of the poor rate by means of a precept addressed to
  them. In the event of the borough fund being more than sufficient to
  meet the demands upon it without recourse to a borough rate, any
  surplus may be applied in payment of any expenses of the council as a
  sanitary authority or in improving the borough or any part thereof by
  drainage, enlargement of streets or otherwise. The borough treasurer
  is required to make up his accounts half-yearly, and to submit them,
  with the necessary vouchers and papers, to the borough auditors. These
  auditors are three in number--two of them elected annually by the
  burgesses. An elective auditor must be qualified to be a councillor,
  but may not be a member of the council. The third auditor is appointed
  by the mayor and is called the mayor's auditor. The auditors so
  appointed are charged with the duty of auditing the accounts of the
  treasurer, but they have no power of disallowance or surcharge, and
  their audit is therefore quite ineffective.


    Jurisdiction of justices; quarter sessions.

  Where a borough has not a separate court of quarter sessions, but has
  a separate commission of the peace, the justices of the county in
  which the borough is situate have a concurrent jurisdiction with the
  borough justices in all matters arising within the borough. Where,
  however, the borough has a court of quarter sessions, the county
  justices have no jurisdiction within the borough. In all cases,
  whether the borough has quarter sessions or a separate commission or
  not, the mayor, by virtue of his office, is a justice for the borough,
  and continues to be such justice during the year next after he ceases
  to be mayor. He takes precedence over all justices in and for the
  borough, and is entitled to take the chair at all meetings at which he
  is present by virtue of his office of mayor. A separate commission of
  the peace may be granted to a borough on the petition of the council.
  A borough justice is required to take the oaths of allegiance and the
  judicial oaths before acting; he must while acting reside in or within
  7 m. of the borough, or occupy a house, warehouse or other property in
  the borough; but he need not be a burgess nor have the qualification
  by estate required of a county justice. Where the borough has a
  separate commission, the borough justices have power to appoint a
  clerk, who is now paid by salary, the fees and costs pertaining to his
  office being paid into the borough fund, out of which his salary is
  paid. The council may by petition obtain the appointment of a
  stipendiary magistrate for the borough. The crown may also on petition
  of the council grant a separate court of quarter sessions for the
  borough, and in that event a recorder has to be appointed by the
  crown. He must be a barrister of not less than five years' standing,
  and he holds office during good behaviour; he receives a yearly
  salary. The recorder sits as sole judge of the court of quarter
  sessions of the borough. He has all the powers of a court of quarter
  sessions in a county, including the power to hear appeals from the
  borough justices; but to this there are a few exceptions, notably the
  power to grant licences for the sale of intoxicating liquor. The grant
  of a separate court of quarter sessions also involves the appointment
  by the council of a clerk of the peace for the borough. It should be
  added that the grant of a court of quarter sessions to any borough
  other than a county borough after the passing of the Local Government
  Act 1888, does not affect the powers, duties or liabilities of the
  county council as regards that borough, nor exempt the parishes in the
  borough from being assessed to county rate for any purposes to which
  such parishes were previously liable to be assessed.


    Sheriff, coroner.

  When a borough is a county of itself the council appoint a sheriff on
  the 9th of November in every year. And where the borough has a
  separate court of quarter sessions the council appoint a fit and
  proper person, not an alderman or councillor, to be the borough
  coroner, who holds office during good behaviour. If the borough has a
  civil court the recorder, if there is one, is judge of it. If there is
  no recorder, the judge of the court is an officer of the borough
  appointed under the charter.


    Power to acquire land.

  The provisions of the Municipal Corporations Act 1882 relate chiefly
  to the constitution of the municipal corporation. It does not itself
  confer many powers or impose many duties upon the council as a body.
  It does, however, enable a municipal corporation to acquire corporate
  land and buildings, the buildings including a town hall, council
  house, justices' room, police stations and cells, sessions house,
  judges' lodgings, polling stations and the like. The council may
  borrow money for the erection of such buildings; they may acquire and
  hold land in mortmain by virtue of their charter, or with the consent
  of the Local Government Board. Corporate land cannot be alienated
  without the consent of the same board. The council may convert
  corporate land, with the approval of the Local Government Board, into
  sites for workmen's dwellings.


    Borough bridges.

  Another duty imposed upon a borough council by the act of 1882 is the
  maintenance of bridges within the borough which are not repairable by
  the county in which the borough is locally situate. It may here be
  mentioned that a city or borough which is a county of itself is liable
  at common law to repair all public bridges within its limits. In a
  borough which is not a county of itself the inhabitants are only
  liable to repair bridges within the borough by immemorial usage or
  custom.


    By-laws.

  Of the other powers possessed by the council of a borough under the
  act of 1882, one of the most important is the power to make by-laws
  for the good rule and government of the borough, and for the
  prevention and suppression of nuisances not already punishable in
  summary manner by virtue of an act in force throughout the borough. It
  will be observed that these by-laws are of two classes. The former do
  not come into force until the expiration of forty days after a copy of
  them has been sent to the secretary of state, during which forty days
  the sovereign in council may disallow any by-law or part thereof. The
  latter require to be confirmed by the Local Government Board.


    Police.

  Under the act of 1882 every municipal borough might have its own
  separate police force. As has already been stated when dealing with
  county councils, boroughs having a population of less than 10,000
  according to the census of 1881 can no longer have a separate police
  force. But for some time before that year it had become the rule not
  to grant to any new borough with a population of less than 20,000 a
  separate police force. The subject of police is separately treated in
  the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, and it is not necessary to supplement
  what is there stated. Under an act of 1893 the borough police may, in
  addition to their ordinary duties, be employed to discharge the duties
  of a fire brigade.


  The district and the district council.

The powers and duties of a borough council in the Municipal Corporations
Act do not arise or exist to any great extent under that act. In a few
cases, those namely of county boroughs, the councils have the powers of
county councils. In the quarter sessions boroughs other than county
boroughs they have some only of these powers. But in every case the
council of the borough have the powers and duties of an urban district
council, and, except where they derive their authority from local acts,
it may be said that their principal powers and duties consist of those
which they exercise or perform as an urban council. These will now be
considered.

Before the year 1848 there was not outside the municipal boroughs any
system of district government in England. It is true that in some
populous places which were not corporate boroughs local acts of
parliament had been passed appointing improvement commissioners for the
government of these places. In many boroughs similar acts had been
obtained conferring various powers relating to sanitary matters, streets
and highways and the like. But there was no general system, nor was
there, save by special legislation, any means by which sanitary
districts could be constituted. In the year 1848 the first Public Health
Act was passed. It provided for the formation of local boards in
boroughs and populous places, such places outside boroughs being termed
local government districts. In boroughs the town council were generally
appointed the local board for purposes of the act. It was not, however,
until 1872 that a general system of sanitary districts was adopted. By
the Public Health Act of that year the whole country was mapped out into
urban and rural sanitary districts, and that system has been maintained
until the present time, with some important changes introduced by the
Public Health Acts 1875 to 1907, and the Local Government Act 1894.


    Constitution of district councils.

    United districts.

    Port sanitary authority.

    Powers of urban and rural councils compared.

  The whole of England and Wales is divided into districts, which are
  either urban or rural. Urban districts include boroughs and places
  which were formerly under the jurisdiction of local boards or
  improvement commissioners. The power to constitute new urban districts
  is now conferred upon county councils, as already stated. There is a
  concurrent power in the Local Government Board under the Public Health
  Act 1875, but that power is now rarely exercised, and new urban
  districts are in practice created only by orders of county councils
  made under the Local Government Act 1888, section 57. Rural districts
  were first created in 1872. Before that time there was practically no
  sanitary authority outside the urban district, for although the vestry
  of a parish had in some cases power to make sewers and had also some
  other sanitary powers, there was no authority for such a district as
  now corresponds to a rural district. There were, indeed, highway
  boards and burial boards which had powers for special purposes, but
  district authority in the sense in which it is now understood there
  was none. Before the year 1894 the rural district consisted of the
  area of the poor-law union, exclusive of any urban district which
  might be within it, and the guardians of the poor were the rural
  sanitary authority. Since 1894 this has been changed. By the Local
  Government Act of that year the guardians ceased to be the rural
  sanitary authority. The union was preserved as the rural sanitary
  district, with this qualification, that if it extended into more than
  one county it was divided so that no rural district should extend into
  more than one county. Rural district councillors are elected for each
  parish in the rural district, and they become by virtue of their
  office guardians of the poor for the union comprising the district, so
  that there is now no election of guardians in a rural district.
  Guardians are still elected as such for urban districts, but the rural
  district council have ceased to be the same body as the guardians and
  are now wholly distinct. A district councillor, whether urban or
  rural, holds office for a term of three years. One-third of the whole
  council retire in each year, the annual elections being held in March,
  but there may be a simultaneous retirement of the whole council in
  every third year if the county council at the instance of the district
  council so order. The qualification and disqualification of district
  councillors, whether urban or rural, now depend upon the Local
  Government Act 1894. Property qualification is abolished. Any person
  may be elected who is either a parochial elector of some parish within
  the district or has during the whole of the twelve months preceding
  his election resided in the district, and no person is disqualified
  by sex or marriage. The electors both in urban and rural districts are
  the body called the parochial electors. These are practically the
  persons whose names appear in the parliamentary register or in the
  local government register as being entitled to vote at elections for
  members of parliament or county or parish councillors as the case may
  be. The election takes place subject to rules made by the Local
  Government Board, these rules being largely founded upon adaptations
  of the Municipal Corporations Act 1882. The election is by ballot on
  the same lines as those prescribed for a municipal election, and the
  Corrupt Practices Act, the provisions of which have been referred to
  when dealing with county councils, applies to the elections of
  district councils. The provisions with reference to election
  petitions, the grounds upon which they may be presented and the
  procedure upon them, are the same in every respect as have already
  been mentioned when dealing with county councils. It may be convenient
  here to state that the Local Government Board has power to unite any
  number of districts or parts of districts into what is called a united
  district for certain special purposes such as water-supply, sewerage
  or the like. This is done by means of a provisional order made by the
  board and confirmed by parliament. In such a united district the
  governing body is a joint board constituted in manner provided by the
  order, and it has under the order such of the powers of a district
  council as are necessary for the purposes for which the united
  district is created. Thus a joint sewerage board would generally be
  invested by the order with all the powers of a district council
  relating to the provision and control of sewers and the disposal of
  sewage. It may also be convenient here to mention another special kind
  of district authority, that is, a port sanitary authority. It is also
  constituted by order of the Local Government Board, and it may include
  one or more sanitary districts or parts of districts abutting upon a
  port. In this case also the authority consists of such members and is
  elected in such manner as the order determines, and it has such of the
  powers of an ordinary district council as the order may confer upon
  it. These relate for the most part to nuisances and infectious
  disease, having special reference to ships. It has been thought
  convenient to deal here with district councils, whether urban or
  rural, together, but the powers of the former are much more extensive
  than those of the latter, and as the consideration of the subject
  proceeds it will be necessary to indicate what powers and duties are
  conferred or imposed upon urban district councils only. It must be
  pointed out, however, that when the necessity arises for conferring
  upon a rural district council any of the powers exercisable only by an
  urban district council, that can be done by means of an order of the
  Local Government Board. The necessity for this provision arises
  because it sometimes happens that in a district otherwise rural there
  are some centres of population, hardly large enough to be constituted
  urban districts, which nevertheless require the same control as an
  urban district.


    Business and offices.

  A district council may from time to time make regulations with respect
  to summoning, notice, place, management and adjournment of their
  meetings, and generally with respect to the transaction and management
  of their business. Three members must be present to constitute a
  quorum. At the annual meeting, which is held as soon as convenient
  after the 15th April in each year, a chairman for the succeeding year
  has to be appointed. He presides at all meetings, and in his absence
  another member appointed by the meeting takes his place. Questions are
  determined by the majority present and voting, the chairman having the
  casting vote. Minutes are taken and, if signed at the meeting or the
  next ensuing meeting, are made evidence. The officers of the council
  consist of a clerk, a medical officer, a surveyor, one or more
  inspectors of nuisances and a treasurer. Of these all but the medical
  officer of health and inspectors of nuisances hold office at pleasure
  and receive such remuneration as the council may determine. If the
  urban district is a borough, the town clerk and borough treasurer
  fulfil the same office for purposes of the Public Health Acts. The
  salaries of the medical officer of health and inspectors of nuisances
  are, as to one moiety thereof, paid out of "the exchequer contribution
  account" by the county council, if they are appointed in accordance
  with the requirements of the Local Government Board as to
  qualification, appointment, duties, salary and tenure of office. The
  orders of the Local Government Board as to these matters are set out
  in the _Statutory Rules and Orders_. District councils may also employ
  such other officers and servants as may be necessary and proper for
  the fulfilment of their duties. Officers and servants are prohibited
  from being concerned or interested in any bargain or contract made
  with their council, and from receiving under cover of their office or
  employment any fee or reward whatsoever other than their proper
  salaries, wages and allowances, under penalty of being rendered
  incapable of holding office under any district council, and of a
  pecuniary penalty of £50. There are some exceptions to this provision
  somewhat similar to those already mentioned with respect to the
  disqualification of members of the council. It may be mentioned here
  that by an act, called the Public Bodies' Corrupt Practices Act 1889,
  severe penalties are imposed alike upon members and officers of public
  bodies for corruption in office.


    Committees.

  A district council may appoint committees consisting wholly or partly
  of members of their own body for the exercise of any powers which in
  their opinion can properly be exercised by such committees. Such
  committees do not, however, hold office beyond the next annual meeting
  of the council, and their acts must be submitted to the council for
  their approval. If they are appointed for any purposes of the Public
  Health or Highway Acts, the council may authorize them to institute
  any proceedings or do any act which the council might have instituted
  or done, other than the raising of any loan or the making of any rate
  or contract. A rural district council may delegate their entire powers
  in any parish to a parochial committee. Such committee may consist
  wholly of members of their own body or of members of the parish
  council, or partly of members of both. Such a committee may be subject
  to any regulations and restrictions imposed upon it by the rural
  district council.


    Public Health Acts.

  In dealing with the powers and duties of district councils it will be
  convenient to treat of these first as they arise under the Public
  Health Acts, and afterwards as they arise under other statutes. In so
  far as such powers and duties are common to urban and rural district
  councils alike they will be referred to as appertaining to district
  councils. When reference is made to any power or duty of an urban
  council it is to be understood that the rural council have no such
  power or duty unless conferred or imposed upon them by order of the
  Local Government Board. And it must be borne in mind that in a borough
  the borough council is the urban district council.


    Sewerage and drainage.

  The district council are required to cause to be made such sewers as
  may be necessary for effectually draining their district. This duty
  may be enforced by the Local Government Board on complaint made to
  them that the council have failed in performing it, and in the case of
  a rural district by the county council on complaint of the parish
  council. All sewers, whether made by the council, by their
  predecessors, or by private persons, vest in the district council,
  that is to say, become their property, with some exceptions, of which
  the principal is sewers made by a person for his own profit. The owner
  or occupier of any premises is entitled as of right to cause his drain
  to be connected with any sewer, on condition only of his giving notice
  and complying with the regulations of the council as to the mode in
  which the communication is to be made, and subject to the control of
  any person appointed by the council to superintend the work. Moreover,
  the owner or occupier of premises without the district has the same
  right, subject only to such terms and conditions as may be agreed or,
  in ease of dispute, settled by justices or by arbitration. If a house
  does not possess a sufficient drain, the occupier may be required to
  provide one, and to cause it to discharge into a sewer if there is one
  within 100 ft. of the house, otherwise into a cesspool, as the council
  may direct. In the case of new houses, these may not be built or
  occupied in an urban district without their being first provided with
  sufficient drains as the council may require; and in an urban district
  it is forbidden to cause any building to be newly erected over a sewer
  without the consent of the council. For the purpose of sewage disposal
  a district council may construct any works and contract for the use or
  purchase or lease of any land, buildings, engines, materials or
  apparatus, and contract to supply for a period not exceeding
  twenty-five years any person with sewage. It may be pointed out here
  that these expressions are defined by the act, the effect of the
  definitions being shortly that a drain is a conduit for the drainage
  of one building or of several within the same curtilage, while a sewer
  comprises every kind of drain except that which is covered by the
  definition of a drain as above stated. The result has been that
  district councils frequently find themselves in the position of being
  responsible for the repair and condition of drains which, by reason of
  having been laid for more than one house, are sewers vested in and
  repairable by them. An attempt was made to remedy this state of things
  by the Public Health Amendment Act 1890, section 19, but the remedy so
  provided was very partial, and may be said to be confined to the case
  where two or more houses belonging to different owners are drained
  into a common drain laid under private land, and ultimately
  discharging into a sewer in a road or street.


    Sanitary accommodation for houses.

    Removal of refuse.

  The district council are charged with the duty of enforcing the
  provision of proper sanitary accommodation (water-closets, privies,
  ashpits, &c.) for all dwelling-houses, new or old, and for factories,
  and the maintenance of such conveniences in proper condition. The
  urban council have power to provide and maintain and make provision
  for the regulation of urinals, water-closets, earth-closets, privies,
  ashpits and other similar conveniences for public accommodation. In
  the event of a complaint being made to a district council that any
  drain, closet, privy, ashpit or cesspool is a nuisance or injurious to
  health, the council may empower their surveyor to enter and examine
  the premises, and, if the complaint is well founded, they may require
  the owner to do the necessary works. The district council are not
  bound to undertake the removal of house refuse from premises, or the
  cleansing of closets, privies, ashpits and cesspools. They may,
  however, undertake these duties, and, if the Local Government Board
  require, they must do so. An urban council and a rural council, if
  invested with the requisite power by the Local Government Board, may,
  and when required by order of that board must, provide for the proper
  cleansing of streets, and may also provide for the proper watering of
  streets. When they have undertaken, or are required to perform these
  duties, a penalty is imposed upon them for neglect. If they do not
  undertake these duties, they may make by-laws imposing on the
  occupiers of premises the duty of cleansing footways and pavements,
  the removal of house refuse, and the cleansing of earth-closets,
  privies, ashpits and cesspools; and an urban council may also make
  by-laws for the prevention of nuisances arising from snow, filth,
  dust, ashes and rubbish, and for the prevention of the keeping of
  animals on any premises so as to be injurious to health. The keeping
  of swine in a dwelling-house, or so as to be a nuisance, is made an
  offence punishable by a penalty in an urban district, as also is the
  suffering of any waste or stagnant water to remain in any cellar, or
  within any dwelling-house after notice, and the allowing of the
  contents of any closet, privy or cesspool to overflow or soak
  therefrom. Provision is also made for enforcing the removal of
  accumulations of manure, dung, soil or filth from any premises in an
  urban district, and for the periodical removal of manure or other
  refuse from mews, stables or other premises.


    Water-supply.

  With regard to water-supply, district councils have extensive powers.
  They may provide their district or any part of it with a supply of
  water proper and sufficient for public and private purposes, and for
  this purpose they may construct and maintain waterworks, dig wells,
  take on lease or hire any waterworks, purchase waterworks or water, or
  right to take or convey water either within or without their district,
  and any rights, powers and privileges of any water company, and
  contract with any person for the supply of water. They may not,
  however, commence to construct waterworks within the limits of supply
  of any water company empowered by act of parliament or provisional
  order to supply water without giving notice to the company, and not
  even then so long as the company are able and willing to supply the
  necessary water. Any dispute as to whether the company are able and
  willing has to be settled by arbitration. Where the council do supply
  water, they have the same powers of carrying mains under streets or
  through private lands as they have with respect to the laying of
  sewers, as already mentioned. They can charge water rents which depend
  upon agreements with consumers, or they may charge water rates
  assessed on the net annual value of the premises supplied. It is to be
  observed that they are not bound to charge for a supply of water at
  all, unless they are required to do so in an urban district by at
  least ten persons, rated to the poor rate, or in a parish in a rural
  district by at least five persons so rated in the parish. Even then
  the amount of the rate is left to the council, any deficiency in the
  cost of the water, in so far as it is not defrayed out of water rates
  or rents, being borne in an urban district by the general district
  rate, and in a rural district by the separate sanitary rates made for
  the parish or contributory place supplied. For the purpose of enabling
  them to supply water, most of the provisions of the Waterworks Clauses
  Acts are incorporated with the Public Health Act, and are made
  available for the district council. They are empowered to supply water
  by measure if they think fit, and may charge a rent for water-meters.
  The power of the district council to supply water is strictly limited
  to their own district, but they may, with the sanction of the Local
  Government Board, supply water to the council of an adjoining district
  on such terms as may be agreed upon, or as, in case of dispute, may be
  settled by arbitration. If any house is without a sufficient supply,
  and it appears that a supply can be furnished at a reasonable cost, as
  defined in the Public Health Act and the Public Health Water Act 1878,
  the owner may be required to provide the supply, and, if he fails, the
  council may themselves provide the supply and charge the owner with
  the cost. All public sources of water-supply such as streams, pumps,
  wells, reservoirs, conduits, aqueducts and works used for the
  gratuitous supply of water to the inhabitants of the district are
  vested in the council, who may cause all such works to be maintained
  and plentifully supplied with pure and wholesome water for the
  gratuitous use of the inhabitants, but not for sale by them. The
  council may supply water to public baths or wash-houses, or for trade
  or manufacturing purposes. In the case of the former the supply may be
  gratuitous. In the latter case it is to be on terms agreed between the
  parties. The urban council are required to cause fire-plugs, and all
  necessary works, machinery and assistance for securing a supply of
  water in case of fire, to be provided and maintained, and for this
  purpose they may enter into an agreement with any water company or
  person. Provision is made for preventing the pollution of water by gas
  refuse and enabling a district council, with the sanction of the
  attorney-general, to take any proceedings they may think fit for
  preventing the pollution of any stream in their district by sewage.
  The district council are also empowered to obtain an order of justices
  directing the closing of any well, tank or cistern, public or private,
  or any public pump the water from which is likely to be used for
  drinking or domestic purposes, or for manufacturing drinks for the use
  of man, if such water is found to be so polluted as to be injurious to
  health.


    Cellar dwellings.

  Power is given to prohibit the use as dwellings of any cellars, vaults
  or underground rooms built or occupied after 1875, and with regard to
  such cellars as were occupied as dwellings before 1875, the continued
  occupation of these is also forbidden unless they comply with certain
  stringent requirements as to the height of the rooms, height of the
  ceilings above the surface of the street, open areas in front,
  effectual drainage, sanitary conveniences appurtenant to the cellars,
  and the provision of fireplaces.


    Common lodging-houses.

  District councils are required to keep a register of the common
  lodging-houses in their district. No person is allowed to keep a
  common lodging-house unless he is registered, and a house may not be
  registered until it has been inspected and approved for the purpose by
  an officer of the council. Further, the council may refuse to register
  a keeper unless they are satisfied of his character and of his fitness
  for the position. The council are empowered to make by-laws for fixing
  the number of lodgers and separating the sexes therein, promoting
  cleanliness and ventilation, giving of notices and taking precautions
  in case of any infectious disease, and generally for the well-ordering
  of such houses. The keepers of common lodging-houses are required to
  limewash their walls and ceilings in the months of April and October
  in every year, and if paupers or vagrants are received to lodge, they
  may be required to report as to the persons who have resorted thereto.
  They must give notice of any infectious disease to the medical officer
  of health and to the poor-law relieving officer, and they must give
  free access for inspection. There is no definition of the expression
  "common lodging-house" in the Public Health Acts, and at one time the
  courts decided that shelters for the destitute kept by charitable
  persons were not common lodging-houses. That idea is now exploded, and
  the acts apply to charitable institutions which receive persons of the
  class ordinarily received into common lodging-houses.


    Houses let in lodgings.

  By-laws may also be made relating to houses let in lodgings which are
  not common lodging-houses. These by-laws are in practice limited to
  those inhabited by the poorer classes, although the act imposes no
  such restriction.


    Nuisances.

  The Public Health Acts 1875 to 1907 contain elaborate provisions for
  dealing with nuisances. Those which are dealt with summarily are thus
  enumerated:--(1) any premises in such a state as to be a nuisance or
  injurious to health; (2) any pool, ditch, gutter, watercourse, privy,
  urinal, cesspool, drain or ashpit so foul or in such a state as to be
  injurious to health; (3) any animal so kept as to be a nuisance or
  injurious to health; (4) any accumulation or deposit which is a
  nuisance or injurious to health; (5) any house or part of a house so
  overcrowded as to be dangerous or injurious to the health of the
  inmates, whether or not members of the same family; (6) any factory,
  workshop or workplace not already under the operation of any general
  act for the regulation of factories or bakehouses not kept in a
  cleanly state or not ventilated in such a manner as to render harmless
  as far as practicable any gases, vapours, dust or other impurities
  generated in the course of the work carried on therein that are a
  nuisance or injurious to health, or so overcrowded while work is
  carried on as to be dangerous or injurious to the health of those
  employed therein; (7) any fireplace or furnace which does not as far
  as practicable consume the smoke arising from the combustible used
  therein, and which is used for working engines by steam or in any
  mill, factory, dye-house, brewery, bakehouse or gas work, or in any
  manufacturing or trade process whatsoever; and (8) any chimney not
  being the chimney of a private dwelling-house sending forth black
  smoke in such quantity as to be a nuisance. The nuisances above
  enumerated are said to be nuisances liable to be dealt with summarily.
  It is the duty of every district council to inspect their district
  with a view to the discovery of any such nuisances. In the event of
  such discovery by them or of information given to them of the
  existence of any such nuisance, the district council are required to
  serve a notice requiring the abatement of the nuisance on the person
  by whose act, default or sufferance it arises or continues, or if such
  person cannot be found, on the owner or occupier of the premises at
  which the nuisance arises. The notice must require the abatement of
  the nuisance within a specified time, and must prescribe the works
  which in the opinion of the council are necessary to be done. If the
  nuisance arises from the absence or defective construction of any
  structural convenience, or if there is no occupier of the premises,
  the notice must be served upon the owner. If the person who causes the
  nuisance cannot be found, and it is clear that the nuisance does not
  arise or continue by the act, default or sufferance of the owner or
  occupier of the premises, the local authority may themselves abate the
  nuisance without further order. If the person on whom the notice is
  served objects to give effect to it, he may be summoned before
  justices, and the justices may make an order upon him to abate the
  nuisance, or prohibiting the recurrence of the nuisance if this is
  likely, and directing the execution of the necessary works. If the
  nuisance is such as to render a dwelling-house unfit for human
  habitation, the justices may close it until it is rendered fit for
  that purpose. Disobedience under the order of justices involves a
  penalty and a daily penalty for every day during which default
  continues. Private persons may complain to justices in respect of
  nuisances by which they are personally aggrieved, and if the district
  council make default in doing their duty, the Local Government Board
  may authorize any officer of police to institute any necessary
  proceedings at the cost of the defaulting council. The district
  council may, if in their opinion proceedings before justices afford an
  inadequate remedy, take proceedings in the high court, but in that
  case, if the nuisance is of a public nature, they must proceed by
  action in the name of the attorney-general. The provisions as to
  nuisances are extended to ships by an act of 1885.

  It is forbidden to establish within an urban district without the
  consent of the council any offensive trade, business or manufacture.
  With regard to any offensive trade which has been established or may
  be consented to in any urban district, if it is verified by the
  medical officer or any two legally qualified medical practitioners, or
  by any ten inhabitants of the district, to be a nuisance or injurious
  to health, the urban district council are required to take proceedings
  before magistrates with a view to the abatement of the nuisance
  complained of.


    Unsound meat.

  Any medical officer or inspector of nuisances may inspect any meat,
  &c., exposed for sale or deposited in any place for the purpose of
  sale or of preparation for sale and intended for the food of man. This
  power of inspection is, in districts where the Public Health Act 1890
  has been adopted, extended to all articles intended for the food of
  man. If upon such inspection the meat, &c., appears to be diseased,
  unsound or unwholesome, it may be taken before a justice for the
  purpose of being condemned, and the person to whom the meat, &c.,
  belongs or in whose possession it was found is liable to a penalty or,
  in the discretion of the justices, to imprisonment for three months
  without the option of a fine.


    Infectious diseases.

  The Public Health Acts contain important provisions relating to
  infectious disease. Any person who knows he is suffering from an
  infectious disease must not carry on any trade or business unless he
  can do so without risk of spreading the disease. Local authorities may
  require premises to be cleansed and disinfected; they may order the
  destruction of bedding, clothing or other articles which have been
  exposed to infection; they may provide proper places for the
  disinfection of infected articles free of charge; they may provide
  ambulances, &c. In the case of a person found suffering from
  infectious disease who has not proper lodging or accommodation, or is
  lodging in a room occupied by more than one family, or is on board any
  ship or vessel, such person may by means of a justice's order be
  removed to a hospital; a local authority may pay the expenses of a
  person in a hospital or, if necessary, provide nursing attendance; any
  person exposing himself or any other in his charge while suffering
  from infectious disease, or exposing infected bedding, clothing or the
  like, is made liable to a penalty. Owners and drivers of public
  conveyances must not knowingly convey any person suffering from
  infectious disease, and if any person suffering from such a disease is
  conveyed in any public vehicle the owner or driver as soon as it comes
  to his knowledge must give notice to the medical officer. It is also
  forbidden to let houses or rooms in which infected persons have been
  lodging, or to make false statements to persons negotiating for the
  hire of such rooms. An act was passed in the year 1890, called the
  Infectious Diseases Prevention Act. When adopted it enabled an urban
  or district council to obtain the inspection of dairies where these
  were suspected to be the cause of infectious disease, with a view to
  prohibiting the supply of milk from such dairies if the fact were
  established. The act of 1907 extended the provisions of the act of
  1890. It enables a local authority to require dairymen to furnish a
  complete list of sources of supply if the medical officer certifies
  that any person is suffering from infectious disease which he has
  reason to suspect is attributable to milk supplied within his
  district. It also compels dairymen to notify infectious diseases
  existing among their servants. The act of 1890 also forbids the
  keeping for more than forty-eight hours of the body of a person who
  has died of infectious disease in a room used at the time as a
  dwelling-place, sleeping-place or workshop. It provides for the bodies
  of persons dying of infectious diseases in a hospital being removed
  only for burial, and gives power to justices in certain cases to order
  bodies to be buried. The diseases to which the act applies are
  smallpox, cholera, membranous croup, erysipelas, scarlatina or scarlet
  fever, typhus, typhoid, enteric, relapsing, continued or puerperal
  fever, and any other infectious disease to which the act has been
  applied by the local authority of the district in the prescribed
  manner. The most important provision, however, relating to infectious
  disease is that contained in the Infectious Disease Notification Act
  1889. That was originally an adoptive act, but it is now extended to
  all districts in England and Wales. It requires the notification to
  the medical officer of health of the district of every case in which a
  person is suffering from one of the diseases above mentioned. The duty
  of notification is imposed upon the head of the family, and also upon
  the medical practitioner who may be in attendance on the patient. The
  medical attendant is entitled to receive in respect of each
  notification a fee of 2s. 6d. if the case occurs in his private
  practice, and of 1s. if the case occurs in his practice as medical
  officer of any public body or institution. These fees are paid by the
  urban or rural district council as the case may be. The provisions as
  to notification are applied to every ship, vessel, boat, tent, van,
  shed or similar structure used for human habitation in like manner as
  nearly as may be as if it were a building. Exception is made, however,
  in the case of a ship, vessel or boat belonging to a foreign
  government. It is not too much to say that this act has been one of
  the most effectual means of preventing the spread of infectious
  disease in modern times.


    Hospitals.

  The district council are empowered to provide hospitals or temporary
  places for the reception of the sick. They may build them, contract
  for the use of them, agree for the reception of the sick inhabitants
  of their district into an existing hospital, or combine with any other
  district council in providing a common hospital. As has already been
  mentioned when dealing with county councils, if a district council
  make default in providing hospital accommodation, the county council
  may put in operation the Isolation Hospitals Act. The power given to
  provide hospitals must be exercised so as not to create a nuisance,
  and much litigation has taken place in respect of the providing of
  hospitals for smallpox. Up to the present time, however, the courts
  have refused to accept as a principle that a smallpox hospital is
  necessarily a source of danger to the neighbourhood, and for the most
  part applications for injunction on that ground have failed.


    Epidemics.

  Where any part of the country appears to be threatened with or is
  affected by any formidable epidemic, endemic or infectious disease,
  the Local Government Board may make regulations for the speedy
  interment of the dead, house-to-house visitation, the provision of
  medical aid and accommodation, the promotion of cleansing, ventilation
  and disinfection, and the guarding against the spread of disease. Such
  regulations are made and enforced by the district councils. The
  provisions of the Public Health Acts relating to infectious disease
  are for the most part extended to ships by an act of the year 1885.


    Mortuaries.

  District councils may, and if required by the Local Government Board,
  must provide mortuaries, and they may make by-laws with respect to the
  management and charges for the use of the same. Where the body of a
  person who has died of an infectious disease is retained in a room
  where persons live or sleep, or the retention of any dead body may
  endanger health, any justice on the certificate of a medical
  practitioner may order the removal of a body to a mortuary and direct
  the body to be buried within a time limited by the friends of the
  deceased or in their default by the relieving officer. A district
  council may also provide and maintain a proper place (otherwise than
  at a workhouse or at a mortuary) for the reception of dead bodies
  during the time required to conduct any _post mortem_ examination
  ordered by a coroner.


    Cemeteries.

  Under an act of 1879 the district council have power to provide and
  maintain a cemetery either within or without their district, and they
  may purchase or accept a donation of land for that purpose. The
  provisions of the Cemeteries Clauses Act 1847 apply to a cemetery thus
  provided. These cannot all be referred to here, but it may be noted
  that no part of the cemetery need be consecrated, but that if any part
  is, such part is to be defined by suitable marks, and a chapel in
  connexion with the Established Church must be erected in it. A
  chaplain must also be appointed to officiate at burials in the
  consecrated portion. The power to provide a cemetery under the act
  under consideration must not be confounded with that of providing a
  burial ground under the Burial Acts. These acts will be mentioned
  later in connexion with the powers of parish councils, for in general
  they are adopted for a parish, part of a parish or combination of
  parishes, and are administered by a burial board, except where that
  body has been superseded by a parish council or joint committee. It
  may be mentioned, however, that under the Local Government Act 1894,
  where a burial board district is wholly in an urban district, the
  urban council may resolve that the powers, duties and liabilities of
  the burial board shall be transferred to the council, and thereupon
  the burial board may cease to exist. And it is provided by the same
  act that the Burial Acts shall not hereafter be adopted in any urban
  parish without the approval of the urban council. The distinction
  between a burial ground provided under the Burial Acts and a cemetery
  provided under the act of 1879 is important in many ways, of which one
  only need be mentioned here--the expenses under the Burial Acts are
  paid out of the poor rate, while the expenses under the act of 1879
  are paid in an urban district out of the general district rate, the
  incidence of which differs materially from that of the poor rate, as
  will be seen hereafter.


    Highways.

  In an urban district the urban council have always had all the powers
  and duties of a surveyor of highways under the Highway Acts. But
  before 1894 a rural district council had no power or duty in respect
  of highways except in a few cases where, by virtue of a provision in
  the Highway Act 1878, the rural sanitary authority of a district
  coincident in area with a highway district were empowered to exercise
  all the powers of a a highway board. Except in these cases the highway
  authority in a parish was the surveyor of highways, elected annually
  by the inhabitants in vestry, or in a highway district consisting of a
  number of parishes united by order of quarter sessions, the highway
  board composed of waywardens representing the several parishes. By the
  Local Government Act 1894, there were transferred to the district
  council of every rural district all the powers, duties and liabilities
  of every highway authority, surveyor or highway board within their
  district, and the former highway authorities ceased to exist. The
  highway authority in every district, rural as well as urban, is
  therefore the district council. Of the chief duties of a district
  council with regard to highways, the first and most obvious is the
  duty to repair. This duty was formerly enforceable by indictment of
  the inhabitants of the parish, but it is not quite clear whether this
  procedure is applicable, now that the liability to repair is
  transferred to a council representing a wider area. Under the Highway
  Acts it is enforceable by summary proceedings before justices and by
  orders of the county council, but in either case, if the liability to
  repair is disputed, that question has to be decided on indictment
  preferred against the highway authority alleged to be in default. In a
  rural district any parish council may complain to the county council
  that the district council have made default in keeping any highway in
  repair, and the county council may thereupon transfer to themselves
  and execute the powers of the district council at the cost of the
  latter body, or they may make an order requiring the district council
  to perform their duty, or they may appoint some person to do so at the
  cost of the district council. It is important to observe, however,
  that an action does not lie against a district council in respect of
  the failure to repair a highway even at the suit of a person who has
  thereby been injured. The reason assigned for this doctrine is that
  the council as highway surveyor stand in the same position as the
  inhabitants of the parish, against whom such an action would not lie.
  The district council are, however, liable for any injury caused
  through negligence on the part of their officers or servants in
  carrying out the work of repair.


    Streets.

  But while rural as well as urban district councils have the powers and
  duties of surveyors of highways, the provisions of the Public Health
  Acts relating to streets apply only in urban districts, except in so
  far as the Local Government Board may by order have conferred urban
  powers upon a rural district council. These provisions have now to be
  referred to. It may be convenient to state that the expression
  "street" is here used in a sense much wider than its ordinary meaning.
  It is defined by the act to include any highway and any public bridge
  (not being a county bridge), and any road, lane, footway, square,
  court, alley or passage, whether a thoroughfare or not. For certain
  purposes streets as thus defined are divided into two classes, viz.
  those which are and those which are not highways repairable by the
  inhabitants at large. But it has to be borne in mind that it is not
  every highway that is repairable by the inhabitants at large. Before
  the year 1836 as soon as a way was dedicated to public use and the
  public had by user signified their acceptance of it, it became without
  more notice repairable by the parish. Therefore every highway--whether
  carriage-way, driftway, bridleway or footway--which can be shown to
  have been in use before 1836, is presumably repairable by the
  inhabitants at large, the only exceptions being such highways as are
  repairable by private persons or corporate bodies _ratione clausurae_,
  _ratione tenurae_, or by prescription. But in the year 1836, when the
  Highway Act 1835 came into operation, the law was altered. It was
  possible, just as formerly, to dedicate a way to the use of the
  public, and it thereupon became a highway to all intents and purposes.
  But mere dedication did not make the way repairable by the public.
  That result was not to follow unless certain stringent requirements
  were fulfilled. When it is shown, therefore, that a highway has been
  dedicated after 1836, it is not repairable by the inhabitants at large
  unless it can be shown that these provisions have been complied with,
  or that it has been declared to be repairable under provisions of the
  Public Health Acts presently to be mentioned. (There was also power
  given to justices, by the Highway Act 1862, to declare a private road
  or occupation road in a highway district to be a public highway
  repairable by the parish; but this power does not appear to have been
  acted upon to any extent.)

  All streets being highways repairable by the inhabitants at large
  within an urban district, are vested in and under the control of the
  urban council. After much litigation it has now been established that
  this provision does not give the council an absolute property in the
  soil of the street, but merely such a qualified property in the
  surfaces as enables them to exercise control. The urban council are
  required from time to time to cause all such streets to be made up and
  repaired as occasion may require, and they are empowered to raise,
  lower or alter the soil of the street, and to place and keep in repair
  fences and posts for the safety of foot-passengers. The other class of
  streets consists of those which are not highways repairable by the
  inhabitants at large. Under the Public Health Act 1875 such streets
  may be dealt with in manner following:--If any such street or part
  thereof is not sewered, levelled, paved, metalled, flagged,
  channelled, made good or lighted to the satisfaction of the council,
  the council may cause it to be made up at the expense of the owners of
  premises fronting the street in proportion to their several frontages.
  When all or any of the works aforesaid have been executed in the
  street, and the council are of opinion that the street ought to become
  a highway repairable by the inhabitants at large, they may by notice
  to be fixed up in the street declare it to be a highway repairable by
  the inhabitants at large, and the declaration will be effective
  unless, within one month after the notice has been put up, the
  majority of the owners in the street object thereto. An alternative
  procedure has been provided by the Private Street Works Act, which may
  be adopted by any urban council. One important point of difference is
  that under the latter act the council may resolve that the expenses
  shall be apportioned among the owners not merely according to
  frontage, but according to the greater or less degree of benefit to
  be derived by any premises from the works.

  Where a house or building in a street is taken down to be rebuilt, the
  urban district council may prescribe the line to which it is to be
  rebuilt, paying compensation to the building owner for any damage
  which he may sustain consequent upon the requirement. Save to this
  extent, no power is given by the general law to a district council to
  prescribe a building line. But under an act of 1888 it is provided
  that it shall not be lawful in any urban district without the consent
  of the urban authority to erect or bring forward any house or building
  in any street or any part of such house or building beyond the front
  main wall of the house or building on either side thereof in the same
  street.

  The control exercised by an urban district council over streets and
  buildings is to a very large extent exercised through by-laws which
  they are empowered to make for various purposes relating to the laying
  out and formation of new streets, the erection and construction of new
  buildings, the provision of sufficient air-space about buildings to
  secure a free circulation of air, and the provision of suitable and
  sufficient sanitary conveniences. The manner in which such by-laws are
  made and confirmed will be hereafter noticed. In general, the by-laws
  require plans of new streets to be submitted to the council, and they
  are required to approve or disapprove of these plans within a month.
  They cannot disapprove of a plan unless it contravenes the provisions
  of some statute or by-law; but if a person builds otherwise than
  according to an approved plan he does so at the risk of having his
  work pulled down or destroyed. Among the miscellaneous powers of an
  urban council with respect to streets may be mentioned the power to
  widen or improve, and certain powers incorporated from the Towns
  Improvement Clauses Act 1847, with respect to naming streets,
  numbering houses, improving the line of streets, removing
  obstructions, providing protection in respect of ruinous or dangerous
  buildings, and requiring precautions to be taken during the
  construction and repair of sewers, streets and houses. An urban
  council may also provide for the lighting of any street in their
  district, and may contract with any person or company for that
  purpose. If there is no company having statutory powers of supply
  within their district, they may themselves undertake the supply of
  gas, and they may purchase the undertaking of any gas company within
  their district.


    Public parks.

  An urban council may acquire and maintain lands for the purpose of
  being used as public walks or pleasure-grounds, and may support or
  contribute to the support of such walks or grounds if provided by any
  other person. They may also contribute to the cost of laying out,
  planting or improvement of lands provided for this purpose by any
  person, in their own district or outside that district, if it appears
  that the walks or grounds could eventually be used by the inhabitants
  of that district. An urban council may also provide public clocks or
  pay for the reasonable cost of repairing and maintaining any public
  clocks in the district, though not vested in them.


    Markets and slaughter-houses.

  Where an urban council are the council of a borough, and in other
  cases with the consent of the owners and ratepayers of the district,
  they may provide market accommodation for their district. They may
  not, however, establish any market so as to interfere with any market
  already established in the district under a franchise or charter. For
  purposes of markets certain provisions of the Markets and Fairs
  Clauses Act 1847 are incorporated with the Public Health Act. The only
  one of these that need be noticed is that which provides that after
  the market is opened for public use every person, other than a
  licensed hawker, who shall sell or expose for sale in any place within
  the district, except in his own dwelling-place or shop, any articles
  in respect of which tolls are authorized to be taken shall be liable
  to a penalty. The tolls which may be taken by an urban council must be
  approved by the Local Government Board; and any by-laws which they
  make for the regulation of the market must be confirmed by the same
  body. An urban council may also provide slaughter-houses and make
  by-laws with respect to the management and charges for the use of
  them. Where they do not provide slaughter-houses, all previously
  existing slaughter-houses have to be registered and new ones licensed;
  and no person may lawfully use a slaughter-house which is not either
  registered or licensed. Licences may be suspended by justices in the
  event of their being used contrary to the provisions of the act or of
  the by-laws, and on a second conviction the licence may be revoked. On
  a conviction of selling or exposing for sale, or having in his
  possession or on his premises unsound meat, the court may also revoke
  the licence.


    Hackney carriages, &c.

  Certain police regulations contained in the Town Police Clauses Act
  1847 are by virtue of the Public Health Act 1875 in force in all urban
  districts. These relate to obstructions and nuisances in streets,
  fires, places of public resort, hackney carriages and public bathing.
  An urban council may also license proprietors, drivers and conductors
  of horses, ponies, mules or asses standing for hiring in the district
  in the same way as in the case of hackney carriages, and they may also
  license pleasure boats and vessels, and the boatmen or persons in
  charge thereof, and they may make by-laws for all these purposes.


    Contracts, purchase of lands.

  Every district council may enter into such contracts as are necessary
  for carrying into execution the various purposes of the Public Health
  Acts. A district council being a corporation, the general law applies
  in the case of a rural council that they must contract under their
  common seal, the exception to this rule including the doing of acts
  very frequently recurring or too insignificant to be worth the trouble
  of affixing the common seal. In the case of an urban council certain
  stringent regulations are laid down. A contract made by an urban
  council, whereof the value and amount exceed £50, must be under seal,
  and certain other formalities must be observed, some of which are
  imperative; for example, the taking of sureties from the contractor,
  and the making provision for penalties to be paid by him in case the
  terms of the contract are not observed. Every local authority may
  also, for purposes of the act, purchase or take on lease, sell or
  exchange, any lands. Such lands as are not required for the purpose
  for which they were purchased must, unless the Local Government Board
  otherwise direct, be sold. Powers of compulsory purchase of lands are
  also given under the Lands Clauses Acts, but before these can be put
  in operation certain conditions must be observed. The Local Government
  Board must make inquiry into the propriety of allowing the lands to be
  taken, and the power to acquire the lands compulsorily can only be
  conferred by means of a provisional order confirmed by parliament.


    By-laws.

  With regard to the by-laws which district councils may make for many
  purposes, the subjects of which have been already from time to time
  mentioned, it is only necessary to state that these require to be
  confirmed by the Local Government Board. Such confirmation does not,
  however, give validity to a by-law which cannot be justified by the
  provisions of the act, and many by-laws which have been so confirmed
  have been held to be invalid under the general law as being uncertain,
  unreasonable or repugnant to the law of the realm. For the guidance of
  local authorities, the Local Government Board have from time to time
  issued model series of by-laws dealing with the various subjects for
  which by-laws may be made, and these are for the most part followed
  throughout England and Wales.


    Finance.

  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 £10, 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 £3. 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 £, 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 £ 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 £.


    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 £ 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 ½ 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 12½ 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 Ælle. "Not 'Angli,'" said he, struck with the beauty of the
fair-haired boys, "but 'angeli' (angels), fleeing from wrath (_de ira_),
and Ælle'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
Æthelberht, 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
Æthelberht, 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
Æthelberht 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 Æthelberht, 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.

The rise of Wessex to power seems to have been aided by a good
understanding between Ecgbert and the church, and his successors
employed bishops as their ministers. Æthelred, who was specially under
ecclesiastical influence, went on a pilgrimage to Rome, and before his
departure made large grants for pious uses. His donation, though not the
origin of tithes in England, illustrates the idea of the sacredness of
the tenth of income on which laws enforcing the payment of tithes were
founded. His pilgrimage was probably undertaken in the hope of averting
the attacks of the pagan Danes. Their invasions fell heavily on the
church; priests were slaughtered and churches sacked and burnt. Learning
disappeared in Northumbria, and things were little better in the south.
Bishops fought and fell in battle, the clergy lived as laymen, the
monasteries were held by married canons, heathen superstitions and
immorality prevailed among the laity. Besides bringing the Danish
settlers in East Anglia to profess Christianity in 878, Alfred set
himself to improve the religious and intellectual condition of his own
people (see ALFRED). The gradual reconquest of middle and northern
England by his successors was accompanied by the conversion of the
Danish population. A revival of religion was effected by churchmen
inspired by the reformed monasticism of France and Flanders, by Odo,
archbishop of Canterbury, Oswald, archbishop of York, and Dunstan (see
DUNSTAN), who introduced from abroad the strict life of the new
Benedictinism. King Edgar promoted the monastic reform, and by his
authority Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester turned canons out of the
monasteries and put monks in their place. Dunstan sought to reform the
church by ecclesiastical and secular legislation, forbidding immorality
among laymen, insisting on the duties of the clergy, and compelling the
payment of tithes and other church dues. After Edgar's death an
anti-monastic movement, chiefly in Mercia, nearly ended in civil war. In
this strife, which was connected with politics, the victory on the whole
lay with the monks' party, and in many cathedral churches the chapters
remained monastic. The renewed energy of the church was manifested by
councils, canonical legislation and books of sermons. In the homilies of
Abbot Ælfric, written for Archbishop Sigeric, stress is laid on the
purely spiritual presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but his words do
not indicate, as some have believed, that the English Church was not in
accord with Rome. The ecclesiastical revival was short-lived. Renewed
Danish invasions, in the course of which Archbishop Alphege was martyred
in 1012, and a decline in national character, injuriously affected the
church and, though in the reign of Canute it was outwardly prosperous,
spirituality and learning decreased. Bishoprics and abbacies were
rewards of service to the king, the bishops were worldly-minded,
plurality was frequent, and simony not unknown. Edward the Confessor
promoted foreign ecclesiastics; the connexion with Rome was
strengthened, and in 1062 the first legates since the days of Offa were
sent to England by Alexander II. A political conflict led to the
banishment of Robert, the Norman archbishop of Canterbury. An Englishman
Stigand received his see, but was excommunicated at Rome, and was
regarded even in England as schismatical. When William of Normandy
planned his invasion of England, Alexander II., by the advice of
Hildebrand, afterwards Gregory VII., moved doubtless by this schism and
by the desire to bring the English Church under the influence of the
Cluniac revival and into closer relation with Rome, gave the duke a
consecrated banner, and the Norman invasion had something of the
character of a holy war.


  Norman times.

Before the Norman Conquest the church had relapsed into deadness:
English bishops were political partisans, the clergy were married, and
discipline and asceticism, then the recognized condition of holiness,
were extinct. The Conqueror's relations with Rome ensured a reform; for
the papacy was instinct with the Cluniac spirit. In 1070 papal legates
were received and held a council by which Stigand was deposed. Lanfranc,
abbot of Bec, was appointed archbishop of Canterbury and worked
harmoniously with the king in bringing the English Church up to the
level of the church in Normandy. Many native bishops and abbots were
deposed, and the Norman prelates who succeeded them were generally of
good character, strict disciplinarians, and men of grander ideas. A
council of 1075 decreed the removal of bishops' sees from villages to
towns, as on the continent; the see of Sherborne, for example, was
removed to Old Sarum, and that of Selsey to Chichester, and many
churches statelier than of old were built in the Norman style which the
Confessor had already adopted for his church at Westminster. In another
council priests and deacons were thenceforward forbidden to marry.
William and Lanfranc also worked on Hildebrandine lines in separating
ecclesiastical from civil administration. Ecclesiastical affairs were
regulated in church councils held at the same time as the king's
councils. Bishops and archdeacons were no longer to exercise their
spiritual jurisdiction in secular courts, as had been the custom, but in
ecclesiastical courts and according to canon law. The king, however,
ruled church as well as state; Gregory granted him control over
episcopal elections, he invested bishops with the crozier and they held
their temporalities of him, and he allowed no councils to meet and no
business to be done without his licence. Gregory claimed homage from
him; but while the king promised the payment of Peter's pence and such
obedience as his English predecessors had rendered, he refused homage;
he allowed no papal letters to enter the kingdom without his leave, and
when an anti-pope was set up, he and Lanfranc treated the question as to
which pope should be acknowledged in England as one to be decided by the
crown. The Conquest brought the church into closer connexion with Rome
and gave it a share in the religious and intellectual life of the
continent; it stimulated and purified English monasticism, and it led to
the organization of the church as a body with legislative and
administrative powers distinct from those of the state. The relations
established by the Conqueror between the crown, the church and the pope,
its head and supreme judge, worked well as long as the king and the
primate were agreed, but were so complex that trouble necessarily arose
when they disagreed. William Rufus tried to feudalize the church, to
bring its officers and lands under feudal law; he kept bishoprics and
abbacies vacant and confiscated their revenues. He quarrelled with
Anselm (q.v.) who succeeded Lanfranc. Anselm while at Rome heard the
investiture of prelates by laymen denounced, and he maintained the papal
decree against Henry I. Bishops were vassals of the king, holding lands
of him, as well as officers of the church. How were they to be
appointed? Who should invest them with the symbols of their office? To
whom was their homage due? (see INVESTITURE). These questions which
agitated western Europe were settled as regards England by a compromise:
Henry surrendered investiture and kept the right to homage. The
substantial gain lay with the crown, for, while elections were
theoretically free, the king retained his power over them. Though Henry
in some degree checked the exercise of papal authority in England,
appeals to Rome without his sanction were frequent towards the end of
his reign. Stephen obtained the recognition of his title from Innocent
II., and was upheld by the church until he violently attacked three
bishops who had been Henry's ministers. The clergy then transferred
their allegiance to Matilda. His later quarrel with the papacy, then
under the influence of St Bernard, added to his embarrassments and
strengthened the Angevin cause.


  The Angevin kings.

During Stephen's reign the church grew more powerful than was for the
good either of the state or itself. Its courts encroached on the sphere
of the lay courts, and further claimed exclusive criminal jurisdiction
over all clerks whether in holy or minor orders, with the result that
criminous clerks, though degraded by a spiritual court, escaped temporal
punishment. Henry II., finding ecclesiastical privileges an obstacle to
administrative reform, demanded that the bishops should agree to observe
the ancient customs of the realm. These customs were, he asserted,
expressed in certain constitutions to which he required their assent at
a council at Clarendon in 1164. In spirit they generally maintained the
rights of the crown as they existed under the Conqueror. One provided
that clerks convicted of temporal crime in a spiritual court and
degraded should be sentenced by a lay court and punished as laymen.
Archbishop Becket (see BECKET) agreed, repented and refused his assent.
The king tried to ruin him by unjust demands; he appealed to Rome and
fled to France. A long quarrel ensued, and in 1170 Henry was forced to
be reconciled to Becket. The archbishop's murder consequent on the
king's hasty words shocked Christendom, and Henry did penance publicly.
By agreement with the pope he renounced the Constitutions, but the
encroachments of the church courts were slightly checked, and the king's
decisive influence on episcopal elections and some other advantages were
secured. The church in Wales had become one with the English Church by
the voluntary submission of its bishops to the see of Canterbury in 1192
and later. The Irish Church remained distinct, though the conquest of
Ireland, which was sanctioned by the English pope Adrian IV. (Nicholas
Breakspear), brought it into the same relations with the crown as the
English Church and into conformity with it. Under the guidance of
ecclesiastics employed as royal ministers, the church supported the
crown until, in 1206, Innocent III. refused to confirm the election of a
bishop nominated by King John to Canterbury; and representatives of the
monks of Christ Church, in whom lay the right of election, being at his
court, the pope bade them elect Stephen Langton whom he consecrated as
archbishop. John refused to receive Langton and seized the estates of
Christ Church. Innocent laid England under an interdict in 1208; the
king confiscated the property of the clergy, banished bishops and kept
sees vacant. Papal envoys excommunicated him and declared him deposed in
1211. Surrounded by enemies, he made his peace with the pope in 1213,
swore fealty to him before his envoy, acknowledged that he held his
kingdom of the Roman see, and promised a yearly tribute for England and
Ireland. Finally he surrendered his crown to a legate and received it
back from him. The banished clergy returned and an agreement was made as
to their losses. Langton guided the barons in their demands on the king
which were expressed in Magna Carta. The first clause provided, as
charters of Henry I. and Stephen had already provided, that the English
Church should be "free," adding that it should have freedom of election,
which John had promised in 1214. As John's suzerain, Innocent annulled
the charter, suspended Langton, and excommunicated the barons in arms
against the king. On John's death, Gualo, legate of Honorius III., with
the help of the earl marshal, secured the throne for Henry III., and he
and his successor Pandulf, as representatives of the young king's
suzerain, largely directed English affairs until 1221, when Pandulf's
departure restored Langton to his rightful position as head in England
of the church. Reforms in discipline and clerical work were inculcated
by provincial legislation, and two legates, Otho in 1237 and Ottoboni in
1268, promulgated in councils constitutions which were a fundamental
part of the canon law in England. Religious life was quickened by the
coming of the friars (see FRIARS). Parochial organization was
strengthened by the institution of vicars in benefices held by religious
bodies, which was regulated and enforced by the bishops. It was a time
of intellectual activity, in character rather cosmopolitan than
national. English clerks studied philosophy and theology at Paris or law
at Bologna; some remained abroad and were famous as scholars, others
like Archbishops Langton, and Edmund Rich, and Bishop Grosseteste
returned to be rulers of the church, and others like Roger Bacon to
continue their studies in England. The schools of Oxford, however, had
already attained repute, and Cambridge began to be known as a place of
study. The spirit of the age found expression in art, and English Gothic
architecture, though originally, like the learning of the time, imported
from France, took a line of its own and reached its climax at this
period. Henry's gratitude for the benefits which in his early years he
received from Rome was shown later in subservience to papal demands.
Gregory IX., and still more Innocent IV., sorely in need of money to
prosecute their struggle with the imperial house, laid grievous taxes on
the English clergy, supported the king in making heavy demands upon
them, and violated the rights of patrons by appointing to benefices by
"provisions" often in favour of foreigners. Churchmen, and prominently
Grosseteste, the learned and holy bishop of Lincoln, while recognizing
the pope as the divinely appointed source of all ecclesiastical
jurisdiction, were driven to resist papal orders which they held to be
contrary to apostolic precepts. Their remonstrances were seldom
effectual, and the state of the national church was noted by the
Provisions of Oxford in 1258 as part of the general misgovernment which
the baronial opposition sought to remedy. The alliance between the crown
and the papacy in this reign diminished the liberties of the church.


  13th and 14th centuries.

Edward I., who was a strong king, checked an attempt to magnify the
spiritual authority by the writ _Circumspecte agatis_, which defined the
sphere of the ecclesiastical courts, put a restraint on religious
endowments by the Statute of Mortmain, and desiring that every estate in
the realm should have a share in public burdens and counsels, caused the
beneficed clergy to be summoned to send proctors to parliament. The
clergy preferred to make their grants in their own convocations, and so
lost the position offered to them. For some years clerical taxation by
the crown was carried on with the good-will of the papacy; it was not
oppressive for unbeneficed clergy and incomes below ten marks were
exempt, and in theory the clergy were celibate. Papal demands, however,
were additional burdens. In 1296 Boniface VIII., by his bull _Clericis
laicos_, forbade the clergy to grant money to lay princes, and Edward's
request for a clerical subsidy was in 1297 refused by convocation led by
Archbishop Winchelsea. The king thereupon outlawed the clergy. The
northern province yielded, the southern held out longer; but finally the
clergy made their peace severally, each paying his share, and the royal
victory was complete. Winchelsea joined the baronial opposition which
forced Edward to grant the "Confirmation of the Charters." Edward
procured his disgrace from Clement V., and in return allowed Clement to
exact so much from the church that the doings of the papal agents
provoked an indignant remonstrance from parliament in 1307. With that
exception the king's dealings with the church were statesmanlike. He
employed clerical ministers and paid them by church preferments, but his
nominations to bishoprics did not always receive papal confirmation
which had become recognized as essential. His weak son Edward II.
yielded readily to papal demands. The majority of the bishops of the
reign, and specially those engaged in politics, were unworthy men;
religion was at a low ebb; plurality and non-residence were common. By
the constitution _Execrebilis_ John XXII. ordered that all cures held in
plurality save one should be vacated, and, which was not so well,
"reserved" all benefices so vacated for his own appointment. As the
residence of the popes at Avignon from 1308 to 1377 brought them under
French influence, Englishmen during the war with France were specially
displeased that large sums should be drawn from the kingdom for them and
that they should exercise patronage there. In the reign of Edward III.
the popes, though appointing to bishoprics by provision, did not give
them to foreigners, but they appointed foreigners, enemies of England,
to lesser preferments, deaneries and prebends. In 1351 the Statute of
Provisors declared provisions unlawful. Capitular elections, however,
remained mere forms; the king nominated, and the popes provided, and
took advantage of their claim to appoint to sees vacant by translation.
Papal interference in suits concerning temporalities was checked by a
law of 1353 (the first statute of _Praemunire_), which made punishable
by outlawry and forfeiture the carrying before a foreign tribunal of
causes cognizable by English courts. This measure was extended in 1365,
and in 1393 by the great statute of _Praemunire_. Indignant at the law
of 1365, Urban V. demanded payment of the tribute promised by John,
which was then thirty-three years in arrear, but parliament repudiated
the claim. The Black Death disorganized the church by thinning the ranks
of the clergy, who did their duty manfully during the plague. In the
diocese of Norwich, for example, 800 parishes lost their incumbents in
1349, 83 of them twice over (Jessopp). Large though insufficient numbers
were instituted to benefices and unfit persons received holy orders. The
value of livings decreased and many lay vacant. Some incumbents deserted
their parishes to take stipendiary work in towns or secular
employments, and unbeneficed clergy demanded higher stipends.
Greediness infected the church in common with society at large. Yet
Chaucer's ideal parish priest must have represented a familiar type, so
that we may believe that much good work was here and there unobtrusively
done by the clergy. Prominent among abuses were the sale of pardons, and
the extortions of the ecclesiastical courts; their decrees were enforced
by excommunication, and on a writ issued to the sheriff an
excommunicated person would be imprisoned until he satisfied the demands
of the church. The state needed money and attacks were made in
parliament on the wealth of the church. Already, in 1340, Edward III.,
who quarrelled with Archbishop Stratford on political grounds, had
appointed lay ministers, and in 1371 William of Wykeham, bishop of
Winchester, and other clerical ministers were turned out of office and
succeeded by laymen. A political crisis in 1376 was followed by a
struggle between the bishops and John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, the
head of the anticlerical party, who allied himself with John Wycliffe
(q.v.). He was unpopular, and when the bishops cited Wycliffe before
them in St Paul's, the duke's conduct provoked a riot and the
proceedings ended abruptly. Wycliffe held that the church was corrupted
by wealth; that only those in grace had a right to God's gifts, and that
temporal power belonged only to laymen and not to popes nor priests.
Later he attacked the papacy itself, which in 1378 was distracted by the
great schism; by 1380 he condemned pilgrimages, secret confession and
masses for the dead. While holding the presence of Christ in the
Eucharist, he denied a change of substance in the elements, arguing that
accidents or qualities, such as form and colour, could not exist without
substance. He taught that Holy Scripture was the only source of
religious truth, to the exclusion of church authority and tradition, and
he and his followers made the first complete English version of the
Bible. His opinions were spread by the poor priests whom he sent out to
preach and by his English tracts. That his teaching had any direct
effect on the insurrection of 1381, though commonly believed, appears to
be an unfounded idea; many priests were concerned in the rising, and
specially the mendicant orders, Wycliffe's bitter enemies, but the
motives of the insurrection were essentially secular (Oman, _The Great
Revolt of 1381_). The reaction which followed extended to religion, and
Wycliffe's doctrines were condemned by a church council in 1382.
Nevertheless he died in peace. He had many disciples, especially in
Oxford and in industrial centres. The Lollards, as his followers were
called, had supporters in parliament and among people of high rank in
the court of Richard II., and the king's marriage to Anne of Bohemia
brought about the importation of Wycliffe's writings into Bohemia, where
they had a strong influence on the religious movement led by Hus. At
first the bishops were not inclined to persecute, and the earlier
Lollards mostly recanted under pressure, but their number increased.


  The 15th century.

With the accession of the Lancastrian house the crown allied itself with
the church, and the bishops adopted a repressive policy towards the
Lollards. By the canon law obstinate heretics were to be burnt by the
secular power, and though England had hitherto been almost free from
heresy, one or two burnings had taken place in accordance with that law.
In 1401 a statute, _De heretico comburendo_, ordered that heretics
convicted in a spiritual court should be committed to the secular arm
and publicly burned, and, while this statute was pending, one Sawtre was
burned as a relapsed heretic. Henry V. was zealous for orthodoxy and the
persecution of Lollards increased; in 1414 Sir John Oldcastle, Lord
Cobham, who had been condemned as a heretic, escaped and made an
insurrection; he was taken in 1417 and hanged and burned. Lollardism was
connected with an insurrection in 1431; it then ceased to have any
political importance, but it kept its hold in certain towns and
districts on the lower classes; many Lollards were forced to recant and
others suffered martyrdom. The church was in an unsatisfactory state. As
regards the papacy, the crown generally maintained the position taken up
in the previous century, but its policy was fitful, and the custom of
allowing bishops who were made cardinals to retain their sees
strengthened papal influence. The bishops were largely engaged in
secular business; there was much plurality, and cathedral and collegiate
churches were frequently left to inferior officers whose lives were
unclerical. The clergy were numerous and drawn from all classes, and
humble birth did not debar a man from attaining the highest positions in
the church. Candidates for holy orders were still examined, but clerical
education seems to have declined. Preaching was rare, partly from
neglectfulness and partly because, in 1401, in order to prevent the
spread of heresy, priests were forbidden to preach without a licence.
While the marriage of the clergy was checked, irregular and temporary
connexions were lightly condoned. Discipline generally was lax, and
exhortations against field-sports, tavern haunting and other unclerical
habits seem to have had little effect. Monasticism had declined. Papal
indulgences and relics were hawked about chiefly by friars, though these
practices were discountenanced by the bishops. On the other hand, all
education was carried on by the clergy, and religion entered largely
into the daily life of the people, into their gild-meetings,
church-ales, mystery-plays and holidays, as well as into the great
events of family life--baptisms, marriages and deaths. Many stately
churches were built in the prevailing Perpendicular style, often by
efforts in which all classes shared, and many hamlet chapels
supplemented the mother church in scattered parishes. The revival of
classical learning scarcely affected the church at large. Greek learning
was regarded with suspicion by many churchmen, but the English humanists
were orthodox. The movement had little to do with the coming religious
conflicts, which indeed killed it, save that it awoke in some learned
men like Sir Thomas More a desire for ecclesiastical, though not
doctrinal, reform, and led many to study the New Testament of which
Erasmus published a Greek text and Latin paraphrases.


  The Reformation era.

During the earlier years of the 16th century Lollardism still existed
among the lower classes in towns, and was rife here and there in country
districts. Persecution went on and martyrdoms are recorded. The old
grievances concerning ecclesiastical exactions remained unabated and
were further strengthened by an ill-founded rumour that Richard Hunne, a
Londoner who had refused to pay a mortuary, was imprisoned for heresy in
the Lollards' tower, and was found hanged in his cell in 1514, had been
murdered. Lutheranism affected England chiefly through the surreptitious
importation of Tyndale's New Testament and heretical books. In 1521
Henry VIII. wrote a book against Luther in which he maintained the papal
authority, and was rewarded by Leo X. with the title of Defender of the
Faith. Henry, however, whose will was to himself as the oracles of God,
finding that the pope opposed his intended divorce from Catherine of
Aragon, determined to allow no supremacy in his realm save his own. He
carried out his ecclesiastical policy by parliamentary help. Parliament
was packed, and was skilfully managed; and he had on his side the
popular impatience of ecclesiastical abuses, a new feeling of national
pride which would brook no foreign interference, the old desire of the
laity to lighten their own burdens by the wealth of the church, and a
growing inclination to question or reject sacerdotal authority. He used
these advantages to forward his policy, and when he met with opposition,
enforced his will as a despot. The parliament of 1529 lasted until 1536;
it broke the bonds of Rome, established royal supremacy over the English
Church, and effected a redistribution of national wealth at the expense
of the spirituality. It began by acts abolishing ecclesiastical
exactions, such as excessive mortuaries and fees for probate, and by
prohibiting pluralities except in stated cases, application to Rome for
licence to evade the act being made penal. Henry having crushed his
minister Cardinal Wolsey, archbishop of York, declared the whole body of
the clergy involved in a _praemunire_ by their submission to Wolsey's
legatine authority, and ordered the convocation to purchase pardon by a
large payment, and by acknowledging him as "Protector and Supreme Head
of the English Church and Clergy." After much debate, the acknowledgment
was made in 1531, with the qualification "so far as the law of Christ
allows." A "supplication" against clerical jurisdiction and legislation
by convocation was obtained from the Commons in 1532, and Henry received
from convocation the "submission of the clergy," surrendering its
legislative power except on royal licence, and consenting to a revision
of the canon law by commissioners to be appointed by the king. A bill
for conditionally withholding the payment of _annates_, or first-fruits,
to Rome was passed, and Henry took advantage of the fear of the Roman
court lest it should lose these payments, to obtain without the usual
fees bulls promoting Cranmer to the see of Canterbury in 1533, and thus
was enabled to gain his divorce. Cranmer pronounced his marriage to
Catherine null, and declared him lawfully married to Anne Boleyn.
Clement VII. retorted by excommunicating the king, but for that Henry
cared not. Appeals to Rome were forbidden by statute, and the council
ordained that the pope should thenceforth only be spoken of as bishop of
Rome, as not having authority in England. In 1534 the restraint of
annates was confirmed by law, all payments to Rome were forbidden, and
it was enacted that, on receiving royal licence to elect, cathedral
chapters must elect bishops nominated by the king. The papal power was
extirpated by statute, parliament at the same time declaring that
neither the king nor kingdom would vary from the "Catholic faith of
Christendom." The submission of the clergy was made law. Appeals from
the archbishops' courts were to be to the king in chancery, and were to
be heard by commissioners, whence arose the Court of Delegates as the
court of final appeal in ecclesiastical cases. The first-fruits and
tenths of benefices were given to the king, and his title as "Supreme
Head in earth of the Church of England" was declared by parliament
without the qualification added by convocation. Fisher, bishop of
Rochester, and Sir Thomas More, lately chancellor, the two most eminent
Englishmen, were beheaded in 1535 on an accusation of attempting to
deprive the king of this title, and some Carthusian monks suffered a
more cruel martyrdom in the same cause. Meanwhile New Testaments were
burnt, and heretics, or reformers, forced to abjure or, remaining
steadfast, were sent to the stake, for though the heresy law of Henry
IV. was repealed, heresy was still punishable by death, and persecution
was not abated. By breaking the bonds of Rome Henry did not give the
church freedom; he substituted a single despotism for the dual authority
which pope and king had previously exercised over it. In 1535 Cromwell,
the king's vicar-general, began a visitation of the monasteries. The
reports (_comperta_) of his commissioners having been delivered to the
king and communicated to parliament in 1536, parliament declared the
smaller monasteries corrupt, and granted the king all of less value than
£200 a year. A rebellion in Lincolnshire and another in the north, the
formidable Pilgrimage of Grace, followed. The suppression of the greater
houses was effected gradually, surrenders were obtained by pressure, and
three abbots who were reluctant to give up the possessions of their
convents for confiscation were hanged. Monastic shrines and treasuries
were sacked and the spoil sent to the king, to whom parliament granted
all the houses, their lands and possessions. Of the enormous wealth thus
gained Henry spent a part on national defence, a little on the
foundation of the bishoprics of Westminster, dissolved in 1550, Bristol,
Chester, Gloucester, Oxford and Peterborough, and gave the lands to men
either useful to or favoured by himself, or sold them to rich
purchasers. In 1536 he dictated the belief and ceremonial of the church
by issuing Ten Articles which were subscribed by convocation. This first
formulary of the English Church as separate from Rome did not contravene
Catholic doctrine, though it showed the influence of Lutheran models.
Another exposition of Anglican doctrine was made in the _Institution of
a Christian Man_ or "Bishops' book," in some respects more likely to
satisfy those attached to the tenets of Rome, in others, as in the
distinct repudiation of purgatory and the declaration that salvation
depended solely on the merits of Christ, showing an advance. It was
published in 1537 with Henry's sanction but not by authority. In that
year licence was granted for the sale of a translation of the Bible, and
in 1538 another version called Matthew's Bible, was ordered to be kept
in all churches (see BIBLE). Pilgrimages were suppressed and images
used for worship destroyed. Denial of the king's supremacy, denial of
the corporal presence in the Eucharist, and insults to Catholic rites
were alike punished by cruel death. The publication abroad of the king's
excommunication rendered an assertion of orthodoxy advisable for
political reasons, and in 1539 came the Act of the Six Articles
attaching extreme penalties to deviations from Catholic doctrines. The
backward swing of the pendulum continued; Cromwell was beheaded and
three reforming preachers were burnt in 1540. Prosecutions for heresy
under the act were fitful: four gospellers were burnt in London in 1546,
of whom the celebrated Anne Askew was one. Cranmer, however, did not
lose the king's favour. A fresh attempt to define doctrine was made in
the _Necessary Doctrine and Erudition of a Christian Man_, the "King's
Book," published by authority in 1543, which, while repudiating the
pope, was a declaration of Catholic orthodoxy. A _Primer_, or private
prayer-book, of which parts were in English, as the litany composed by
Cranmer, and virtually the same as at present, was issued in 1546, and
further liturgical change seemed probable when Henry died in 1547.

Henry, while changing many things in the church, would not allow any
deviation in essentials from the religion of Catholic Europe, which was
not then so dogmatically defined as it was later by the council of
Trent. Edward VI. was a child, and the Protector Somerset and the
council favoured further changes, which were carried out with Cranmer's
help. They issued a book of _Homilies_ and a set of injunctions which
were enforced by a royal visitation. Pictures and much painted glass
were destroyed in churches, frescoed walls were whitewashed, and in
1548, the removal of all images was decreed. Parliament ordered that
bishops should be appointed by letters patent and hold their courts in
the king's name. An act of the last reign granting the king all
chantries and gilds was enlarged and enforced with cruel injustice to
the poor. On the petition of convocation parliament allowed the marriage
of priests; and it further ordered that the laity should receive the cup
in communion. A communion book was issued by the council in English, the
Latin mass being retained for a time. Many German reformers came to
England, were favoured by the council, and gained influence over
Cranmer. The first Book of Common Prayer was authorized by an Act of
Uniformity in 1549; it retained much from old service books, but the
communion office is Lutheran in character. It excited discontent, and a
serious insurrection broke out in the West, the insurgents demanding the
revival of the Act of the Six Articles and the withdrawal of the new
service as "like a Christmas game." After Somerset's fall the government
rapidly pushed forward reformation. A new _Ordinal_ issued with
parliamentary approval in 1550 was significant of the change in
sacramental doctrine, and the four minor orders disappeared. Altars were
destroyed and tables substituted. Five bishops, Bonner of London,
Gardiner of Winchester, and Heath of Worcester, then already in prison,
and two others, were deprived; and the Lady Mary, who would not give up
the mass, was harshly treated. The reformers were not tolerant; for a
woman was burnt for Arianism in 1550 and a male Anabaptist in 1551.
Under the influence of foreign reformers, who took a lower view of the
Eucharist than the Lutheran divines, Cranmer soon advanced beyond the
prayer-book of 1549. A second prayer-book, departing further from the
old order, appeared in 1552, and without being accepted by convocation
was enforced by another Act of Uniformity, and in 1553 a catechism and
forty-two articles of religion were authorized by Edward for
subscription by the clergy, though not laid before convocation. A
revision of the canon law in accordance with the act for "submission of
the clergy" was at last undertaken in 1551, but the only result was a
document entitled _Reformatio legum ecclesiasticarum_, which never
received authority. Edward died in 1553. Apart from matters of faith,
the church had fared ill under a royal supremacy exercised by
self-seeking nobles in the name of the boy-king. Convocation lost all
authority and bishops were treated as state officials liable to
deprivation for disobedience to the council. Means of worship were
diminished, and the poor were shamefully wronged by the suppression of
chantries, gilds and holy days; even the few sheep of the poor brethren
of a gild were seized to swell a sum which from 1550 was largely
diverted from public purposes to private gain. Churches were despoiled
of their plate; the old bishops were forced, the new more easily
persuaded, to give up lands belonging to their sees, and rich men grew
richer by robbing God.

When Mary succeeded her brother, the deprived bishops were restored,
some reforming bishops were imprisoned, and Cranmer, who was implicated
in the plot on behalf of Lady Jane Grey, was attainted of treason. As
regards doctrine, religious practices and papal supremacy, Mary was set
on bringing back her realm to the position existing before her father's
quarrel with Rome. Her first parliament repealed the ecclesiastical
legislation of Edward's reign, and convocation formally accepted
transubstantiation. Seven bishops were deprived in 1554, four of them as
married, and about a fifth of the beneficed clergy, though some received
other benefices after putting away their wives. Apparently Mary at first
believed that her authority would be accepted in religious matters; but
she met with opposition, partly provocative, for Wyat's rebellion
consequent on her intended marriage to Philip of Spain was closely
connected with religion, and more largely passive in the noble
resolution of those who chose martyrdom rather than denial of their
faith. To the nation at large, though not averse from the old doctrines
and practices of the church, a return to the Roman obedience was
distasteful. Nevertheless, Cardinal Pole was received as legate, and the
title of Supreme Head of the Church having been dropped, a parliament
carefully packed, and the fears of the rich appeased by the assurance
that they would not have to surrender the monastic lands, he absolved
the nation in parliament and reunited it to the Church of Rome on
November 30, 1554, the clergy being absolved in convocation. Parliament
repealed all acts against the Roman see since the twentieth year of
Henry VIII. The heresy laws were revived, and a horrible persecution of
those who refused to disown the doctrines of the prayer-book began in
1555, and lasted during the remainder of the reign. Nearly 300 persons
were burned to death as heretics in these four years, among them being
five bishops: Hooper of Gloucester, Ferrar of St David's, Ridley of
London, and Latimer (until 1539) of Worcester in 1555, and Archbishop
Cranmer in 1556. The chief responsibility for these horrors rests with
the queen; the bishops who examined the accused were less zealous than
she desired. The most prominent among them in persecution was Bonner of
London. The exiles for religion were received at Frankfort, Strassburg
and Zürich. At Frankfort a party among them objected to the ceremonies
retained in the prayer-book, and, encouraged by Calvin and by Knox, who
came to them from Geneva, quarrelled with those who desired to keep the
book unchanged. Mary died in 1558. Her reign arrested the rapid
spoliation of the church and possibly prevented the adoption of
doctrines which would have destroyed its apostolic character; the
persecution by which it was disgraced strengthened the hold of the
reformed religion on the people and made another acceptance of Roman
supremacy for ever impossible.


  Elizabethan settlement.

Elizabeth's accession was hailed with pleasure; she was known to dislike
her sister's ecclesiastical policy, and a change was expected. An Act of
Supremacy restored to the crown the authority over the church held by
Henry VIII., and provided for its exercise by commissioners, whence came
the court of High Commission nominated by the crown, as a high
ecclesiastical court; but Elizabeth rejected the title of Supreme Head,
and used that of Supreme Governor, as "over all persons and in all cases
within her dominions supreme." An Act of Uniformity prescribed the use
of the prayer-book of 1552 in a revised form which raised the level of
its doctrine, and injunctions enforced by a royal visitation
re-established the reformed order. All the Marian bishops save two
refused the oath of supremacy and were deprived, and eight were
imprisoned. Of the clergy generally few refused it; for only some 200
were deprived for religion during the first six years of the reign.
Bishops for the vacant sees were nominated by the crown and elected by
their chapters as in Henry's reign; Matthew Parker was canonically
consecrated archbishop of Canterbury. The orthodoxy of the church was
vindicated by Bishop Jewel's _Apologia ecclesiae Anglicanae_. Adherents
to Rome vainly tried to obtain papal sanction for attending the church
services, and were forced either to disobey the pope or become
"recusants"; many were fined, and those who attended mass were
imprisoned. Meanwhile a party, soon known as Puritans, rebelled against
church order; the exiles who had come under Genevan influence objecting
on their return to vestments and ceremonies enjoined by the prayer-book.
There was much nonconformity in the church which the queen ordered the
bishops to correct. Parker, though averse to violent measures, insisted
on obedience to his "Advertisements" of 1566, which, though not formally
authorized by the queen, expressed her will, and became held as
authoritative, and some of the refractory were punished. A company
engaged in irregular worship was discovered in London in 1567 and a few
persons were imprisoned by the magistrate. Active opposition to the
government was stirred up by Pius V., and in 1569 a rebellion in the
north, where the old religion was strong, was aided by papal money and
encouraged by hopes of Spanish intervention. In 1570 Pius published a
bull excommunicating and deposing the queen. Thenceforward recusants had
to choose between loyalty to the queen and loyalty to the pope. They lay
under suspicion, and severe penal laws were enacted against Romish
practices. About 1579 many seminary priests and Jesuits came over to
England as missionaries; some actively engaged in treason, all were
legally traitors. The country was threatened with foreign invasion,
plots against the government were detected, and the queen's life was
held to be endangered. The council hunted down these priests and their
abettors, and many were executed, martyrs to the doctrine of the pope's
power of deposition. The number put to death in this reign under the
penal laws was 187. The papal policy defeated itself; a large number of
the old religion while retaining their faith chose to be loyal to the
queen rather than lend themselves to the designs of her enemies. From
1571 recusants can no longer be reckoned as nonconforming members of the
English Church: the law recognized them as separate from it. The
church's doctrine was defined in the catechism of 1570, and in the
revised articles of religion which appeared as the XXXIX. Articles in
1571, and its law by a body of canons published with authority in 1576,
the attempt at codification made in the _Reformatio legum_ having been
laid aside.


  The Nonconformists.

From 1574 the Protestant Nonconformists strove to introduce
Presbyterianism. Cause for grievance existed in the state of the church
which had suffered from the late violent changes. Elizabeth plundered
it, and laymen who owned the rectories formerly held by monasteries
followed her example; bishoprics were impoverished by the queen and
parish cures by her subjects, and the reform of abuses was checked by
self-interest. As bishops, along with some able men, Elizabeth chose
others of an inferior stamp who consented to the plunder of their sees
and whom she could use to report on recusants and harry nonconformists.
Separation, or Independency, began about 1578 with the followers of
Robert Browne, who repudiated the queen's ecclesiastical authority; two
Brownists were executed in 1583. The nonconformists remained in the
church and continued their efforts to subvert its episcopal system.
Elizabeth, though personally little influenced by religion, understood
the political value of the church, and would allow no slackness in
enforcing conformity. Archbishop Grindal was sequestrated for defending
"prophesyings," or meetings of the Puritan clergy for religious
exercises. The House of Commons, in which there was a Puritan element,
repeatedly attempted to discuss church questions and was sharply
silenced by the queen, who would not allow any interference in
ecclesiastical matters. Whitgift, who succeeded Grindal in 1583, though
kind-hearted, was strict in his administration of the law. Violent
attacks were made upon the bishops in the Martin Marprelate tracts
printed by a secret press; their author is unknown, but some who were
probably connected with them were executed for publishing seditious
libels. Whitgift's firmness met with success. During the last years of
the reign the movement towards Presbyterianism was checked and
nonconformity was less prominent. The church regained a measure of
orderliness and vigour; its claims on allegiance were advocated by
eminent divines and expounded in the stately pages of Hooker. The queen,
who had so vigorously ordered ecclesiastical affairs, died in 1603.


  The Puritan rebellion.

On the accession of James I. the Puritans expressed their desire for
ecclesiastical change in the Millenary Petition which purported to come
from 1000 clergy; their requests were moderate, a sign of the success of
Whitgift's policy, but some could not have been granted without causing
widespread dissatisfaction. At a conference between divines of the two
parties at Hampton Court in 1604, James roughly decided against the
Puritans. Some small alterations were made in the prayer-book, and a new
version of the Bible was undertaken, which appeared in 1611 as the
"authorized version." In 1604 convocation framed a code of canons which
received royal authorization. Refusal to obey them was punished with
deprivation, and, according to S. R. Gardiner, about 300 clergy were
deprived, though a 17th century writer (Peter Heylyn) puts the number at
49 only, which W. H. Frere (_History of the English Church, 1558-1625_,
p. 321) thinks more credible. Conformity could still be enforced, but
before long the Puritan party grew in strength partly from religious and
partly from political causes. They would not admit any authority in
religion that was not based on the scriptures; their opponents
maintained that the church had authority to ordain ceremonies not
contrary to the scriptures. In doctrine the Puritans remained faithful
to the Calvinism in which most Englishmen of the day had been brought
up; they called the high churchmen Arminians, and asserted that they
were inclined to Rome. The Commons became increasingly Puritan; they
were strongly Protestant and demanded the enforcement of the laws
against recusants, who suffered much, specially after the Gunpowder Plot
of 1605, though they were sometimes shielded by the king. The Commons
regarded ecclesiastical jurisdiction with dislike, specially the Court
of High Commission, which had developed from the ecclesiastical
commissions of Elizabeth and was hated as a means of coercion based on
prerogative. The bishops derived their support from the king, and the
church in return supported the king's claim to absolutism and divine
right. It suffered heavily from this alliance. As men saw the church on
the side of absolutism, Puritanism grew strong both among the country
gentry, who were largely represented in the Commons, and among the
nation at large, and the church lost ground through the king's political
errors. A restoration of order and decency in worship and the
introduction of more ceremonial begun in James's reign were carried on
by Laud (q.v.) under Charles I. Laud aimed at silencing disputes about
doctrine and enforcing outward uniformity; the Puritans hated ceremonial
and wished to make every one accept their doctrines. Many of the reforms
introduced by Laud after he became archbishop in 1633 were needful, but
they offended the Puritans and were enforced in a harsh and tyrannical
manner, for he lacked wisdom and sympathy. Under his rule nonconforming
clergy were deprived and sometimes imprisoned. The cruel punishments
inflicted by the Court of Star Chamber of which he was a member, the
unpopularity of the High Commission Court, his own harsh dealing, and
the part which he took in politics as a confidential adviser of the
king, combined to bring odium upon him and upon the ecclesiastical
system which he represented. The church was weak, for the Laudian system
was disliked by the nation. A storm of discontent with the course of
affairs both in church and state gathered. In 1640 Charles, after
dissolving parliament, prolonged the session of convocation, which
issued canons magnifying the royal authority and imposing the so-called
"_et cetera_ oath" against innovations on all clergy, graduates and
others. The Long Parliament voted the canons illegal; Laud was
imprisoned, and in 1642 the bishops were excluded from parliament. The
civil war began in 1642; in 1643 a bill was passed for the taking away
of episcopacy, in 1645 Laud was beheaded, and parliament abolished the
prayer-book and accepted the Presbyterian directory, and from 1646
Presbyterianism was the legal form of church government. Many, perhaps
2000, clergy were deprived; some were imprisoned and otherwise
maltreated, though a fifth of their former revenues was assigned to the
dispossessed. The king, who was beheaded in 1649, might have extricated
himself from his difficulties if he had consented to the overthrow of
episcopacy, and may therefore be held a martyr to the church's cause.
The victory of the army over the parliament secured England against the
tyranny of Presbyterianism, but did not better the condition of the
episcopal clergy; the toleration insisted on by the Independents did not
extend to "prelacy." Churchmen, however, occasionally enjoyed the
ministrations of their own clergy in private houses, and though their
worship was sometimes disturbed they were not seriously persecuted for
engaging in it. Non-delinquent or non-sequestrated private patronage and
the obligation of tithes were retained. Community of suffering and the
execution of Charles I. brought the royalist country gentry into
sympathy with the clergy, and at the Restoration the church had the hold
upon the affection of the laity which it lacked under the Laudian rule.


  The Restoration period.

On the king's restoration the survivors of the ejected clergy quietly
regained their benefices. The Presbyterians helped to bring back the
king and looked for a reward. Charles II. promised them a limited
episcopacy and other concessions, but his plan was rejected by the
Commons. A conference at the Savoy between leading Presbyterians and
churchmen in 1661 was ineffectual, and a revision of the prayer-book by
convocation further discontented nonconformists. The parliament of 1661
was violently anti-Puritan, and in 1662 passed an Act of Uniformity
providing that all ministers not episcopally ordained or refusing to
conform should be deprived on St Bartholomew's day, the 14th of August
following. About 2000 ministers are said to have been ejected, and in
1665 ejected ministers were forbidden to come within five miles of their
former cures. Though some bishops and clergy showed kindness to the
ejected, churchmen generally approved of this oppressive legislation;
they could not forget the wrongs inflicted on their church by the once
triumphant Puritans. Nonconformist worship was made punishable by fine
and imprisonment, and on the third offence by transportation. In 1672
Charles, who had secretly promised the French king openly to profess
Roman Catholicism, issued a Declaration of Indulgence which applied both
to Romanists and Protestant Nonconformists, but parliament compelled him
to withdraw it, and, in 1673, passed a Test Act making reception of the
holy communion and a denial of transubstantiation necessary
qualifications for public office. Later, when the dissenters found
friends among the party in parliament opposed to the crown, the church
supported the king, and the doctrine of passive obedience was generally
accepted by the clergy. The church was popular, and among the great
preachers and theologians who adorned it in the Caroline period were
Jeremy Taylor, Pearson, Bull, Barrow, South and Stillingfleet. The lower
clergy were mostly poor, and their social position was consequently
often humble, but the pictures of clerical humiliation after 1660 are
generally overcoloured; the assertion that they commonly married
servants or cast-off mistresses of their patrons has been disproved, and
it is certain that men of good family entered holy orders. In accordance
with an agreement between Archbishop Sheldon and Lord Chancellor
Clarendon, the clergy ceased to tax themselves in convocation, and from
1665 have been taxed by parliament. James II., though a Romanist,
promised to protect the church, and the clergy were on his side in the
rebellion of the duke of Monmouth, who was supported by dissenters. The
church and the nation, however, were strongly Protestant and were soon
alarmed by his efforts to Romanize the country. James dispensed with the
law by prerogative and appointed Romanists to offices in defiance of
the Test Act. In 1688 he ordered that his declaration for liberty of
conscience, issued in the interest of Romanism, should be read in all
churches. His order was almost universally disobeyed. Archbishop
Sancroft and six bishops who remonstrated against it were brought to
trial, and were acquitted to the extreme delight of the nation. James's
attack on the church cost him his crown.


  Revolution period.

Sancroft and eight bishops would not belie their belief in the doctrines
of divine right and passive obedience by swearing allegiance to William
and Mary, and the archbishop, five bishops and over 400 clergy were
deprived. Certain of these nonjuring bishops consecrated others and a
schism ensued. The loss to the church was heavy; for among the nonjurors
were many men of holy lives and eminent learning, and the fact that some
suffered for conscience' sake seemed a reproach on the rest of the
clergy. After 1715 the secession became unimportant. Protestantism was
secured from further royal attack by the Bill of Rights; and in 1701 the
Act of Succession provided that all future sovereigns should be members
of the Church of England. That the king's title rested on a
parliamentary decision was destructive of the clerical theory of divine
right, and encouraged Erastianism, then specially dangerous to the
church; for William, a Dutch Presbyterian, gave bishoprics to men
personally worthy, but more desirous of union with other Protestant
bodies than jealous for the principles of their own church. A bill for
union was rejected in the Commons, where the church party had a
majority, though one for toleration of Protestant dissenters became law.
William, anxious for concessions to dissenters, appointed a committee of
convocation for altering the liturgy, canons and ecclesiastical courts,
but the Tory party in the lower house of convocation was strong and the
scheme was abortive. A long controversy began between the two houses:
the bishops were mostly Whigs with latitudinarian tendencies, the lower
clergy Tories and high churchmen. During most of the reign convocation
was suspended and the church was governed by royal injunctions, a system
injurious to its welfare. It had been the bulwark of the nation against
Romanism under James II., and the affection of the nation enabled it to
preserve its distinctive character amid dangers of an opposite kind
under William III. Its religious life was active; associations for
worship and the reformation of manners led to more frequent services,
the establishment of schools for poor children, and the foundation of
the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K.) and for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (S.P.G.). This activity and
the discord between the two houses of convocation continued during
Anne's reign. Anne was a strong church-woman, and under her the church
reached its highest point of popularity and influence. Its supposed
interests were used by the Tories for political ends. Hence the
Occasional Conformity Act, to prevent evasion of the Test Act, and a
tyrannical Schism Act, both repealed in 1718, belong rather to the
history of parties than to that of the church. So, too, does the case of
Dr Sacheverell, who was prosecuted for a violently Tory sermon. His
trial, in 1710, caused much excitement; mobs shouted for "High Church
and Dr Sacheverell," and the lightness of his sentence was hailed as a
Tory victory. Queen Anne is gratefully remembered by the church for her
"Bounty," which gave it the first-fruits and tenths (see ANNATES and
QUEEN ANNE'S BOUNTY).


  The 18th century.

With the accession of the Hanoverian line the church entered on a period
of feeble life and inaction: many church fabrics were neglected; daily
services were discontinued; holy days were disregarded; Holy Communion
was infrequent; the poor were little cared for; and though the church
remained popular, the clergy were lazy and held in contempt. In
accepting the settlement of the crown the clergy generally sacrificed
conviction to expediency, and their character suffered. Promotion
largely depended on a profession of Whig principles: the church was
regarded as subservient to the state; its historic position and claims
were ignored, and it was treated by politicians as though its principal
function was to support the government. This change was accelerated by
the silencing of convocation. A sermon by Hoadly, bishop of Bangor,
impugned the existence of a visible church, and the "Bangorian
controversy" which ensued threatened to end in the condemnation of his
opinions by convocation, or at least by the lower house. As this would
have weakened the government, convocation was prorogued, letters of
business were withheld, and from 1717 until 1852 convocation, the
church's constitutional organ of reform, existed only in name. Walpole
during his long ministry, from 1721 to 1742, discouraged activity in the
church lest it should become troublesome to his government. Preferment
was shamelessly sought after even by pious men, and was begged and
bestowed on the ground of political services. In this the clergy, apart
from the sacredness of clerical office, were neither better nor worse
than the laity; in morality and decency they were better even at the
lowest point of their decline, about the middle of the century. While
the church was inactive in practical work, it showed vigour in the
intellectual defence of Christianity. Controversies of earlier origin
with assailants of the faith were ably maintained by, among others,
Daniel Waterland, William Law, a nonjuror, Bishop Butler, whose
_Analogy_ appeared in 1736, and Bishop Berkeley. A revival of
spirituality and energy at last set in. Its origin has been traced to
Law's Serious Call, published in 1728. Law's teaching was actively
carried out by John Wesley (q.v.), a clergyman who from 1739 devoted
himself to evangelization. Though his preaching awoke much religious
feeling, specially among the lower classes, the excitement which
attended it led to a horror of religious enthusiasm, and his methods
irritated the parochial clergy. Some of them seconded his efforts, but
far more regarded them with violent and often unworthily expressed
dislike. While he urged his followers to adhere to the church, he could
not himself work in subordination to discipline; the Methodist
organization which he founded was independent of the church's system and
soon drifted into separation. Nevertheless, he did much to bring about a
revival of life in the church. Several clergy became his allies, and
some preached in Lady Huntingdon's chapels before her secession. These
were among the fathers of the Evangelical party: they differed from the
Methodists in not forming an organization, remaining in the church,
working on the parochial system, and generally holding Calvinistic
doctrine, being so far nearer to Whitfield than to Wesley, though
Calvinism gradually ceased to be a mark of the party. The Evangelicals
soon grew in number, and their influence for good was extensive. They
laid stress on the depravity of human nature, and on the importance of
conscious conversion, giving prominence to the necessity of personal
salvation rather than of incorporation with, and abiding in, the church
of the redeemed. Prominent among their early leaders after they became
distinct from the Methodists were William Romaine, Henry Venn and John
Newton. Bishop Porteus of London sympathized with them, Lord Dartmouth
was a liberal patron, and Cowper's poetry spread their doctrines in
quarters where sermons might have failed to attract. Religion was also
forwarded in the church by the example of George III. During his reign
the progress of toleration, though slow and fitful, greatly advanced
both as regards Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters. The spirit of
rationalism, which had been manifested earlier in attacks on revelation,
appeared in a movement against subscription to the Articles demanded of
the clergy and others which was defeated in parliament in 1772. The
alarm consequent on the French Revolution checked the progress of
toleration and was temporarily fatal to free-thinking; it strengthened
the position of the church, which was regarded as a bulwark of society
against the spread of revolutionary doctrines; and this caused the
Evangelicals to draw off more completely from the Methodists. The church
was active: the Sunday-school movement, begun in 1780, flourished; the
crusade against the slave-trade was vigorously supported by
Evangelicals; and the Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.), a distinctly
Evangelical organization, was founded. Excellent as were the results of
the revival generally, the Evangelicals had defects which tended to
weaken the church. Some characteristics of their teaching were
repellent to the young; they were deficient in theological learning, and
often in learning of any kind; they took a low view of the church,
regarding it as the offspring of the Protestant reformation; they
expounded the Bible without reference to the church's teaching, and paid
little heed to the church's directions. Dissent consequently grew
stronger. By the Act of Union with Ireland the Churches of England and
Ireland were united from the 1st of January 1801, and the continuance of
the united church was declared an essential part of the union. No
provision, however, was made giving the Irish clergy a place in
convocation, which was evidently held unlikely to revive. The union of
the churches was dissolved in 1871 by an act of 1869 for disestablishing
the Irish Church.


  The Oxford Movement.

Apart from the Evangelical revival, religion was advanced in the church.
In 1811 the education of the poor was provided for on church principles
by the National Society; the Church Building Society was founded in
1818; and the colonial episcopate was started by the establishment of
bishoprics in Calcutta in 1814, and in Jamaica and Barbados in 1824. Yet
reforms were urgently needed. In 1813, out of about 10,800 benefices,
6311 are said to have been without resident incumbents (_The Black
Book_, p. 34); the value of some great offices was enormous, while many
of the parochial clergy were wretchedly poor. The repeal of the Test
Act, long practically inoperative, in 1828, and Catholic emancipation in
1829, mark a change in the relations of church and state; and the Reform
Bill of 1832 transferred political power from a class which generally
supported the church to classes in which dissent was strong. The
national zeal for reform was directed towards the church, not always in
a friendly spirit. Yet wholesome changes were effected by legislation:
dioceses were rearranged and two new bishoprics founded at Manchester
and Ripon, the bishopric of Bristol, however, being suppressed;
plurality and non-residence were abolished; tithes were commuted, and
the Ecclesiastical Commission, which has effected reforms in respect of
endowments, was permanently established in 1836. Some changes and
proposals alarmed churchmen, specially as legislation for the church
proceeded from parliament, while convocation remained silenced.
Latitudinarian opinions revived, and the church was regarded merely as a
human institution. Among the clergy generally ritual observance was
neglected and rubrical directions disobeyed. A few churchmen, including
Keble and Newman, set themselves to revive church feeling, and Oxford
became the centre of a new movement. The publication of Keble's
_Christian Year_ prepared its way, and its aims were declared in his
assize sermon at Oxford on "National Apostasy" in 1833. Its promoters
urged their views in _Tracts for the Times_, and were strengthened by
the adhesion of Pusey. Hence they were nicknamed Tractarians or
Puseyites. Their cardinal doctrine was that the Church of England was a
part of the visible Holy Catholic Church and had unbroken connexion with
the primitive church; they inculcated high views of the sacraments, and
emphasized points of agreement with those branches of the Catholic
Church which claim apostolic succession. Their party grew in spite of
the opposition of low and broad churchmen, who, specially on the
publication of Tract XC. by Newman in 1841, declared that its teaching
was Romanizing. In 1845 Newman and several others seceded to Rome.
Newman's apostasy was a severe blow to the church, though permanent
injury was averted by the steadfastness of Pusey. The Oxford movement
was wrecked, but its effect survived both in the new high church party
and in the church at large. As a body the clergy rated more highly the
responsibilities and dignity of their profession, and became more
zealous in the performance of its duties and more ecclesiastically
minded. High churchmen carried out rubrical directions, and after a
while began to introduce changes into the performance of divine service
which had not been adopted by the early leaders of the party, were
deprecated by many bishops, and excited opposition.


  The church and the law courts.

In 1833 the supreme jurisdiction of the Court of Delegates was
transferred to the judicial committee of the privy council. Before this
court came an appeal by a clerk named Gorham, whom the bishop of Exeter
refused to institute to a benefice because he denied unconditional
regeneration in baptism, and in 1850 the court decided in the
appellant's favour. The decision was followed by some secessions to
Rome, and high churchmen were dissatisfied that spiritual questions
should be decided by a secular court. The "papal aggression" of that
year, by which Pius IX. appeared to claim authority in England, roused
violent popular indignation which was used against the high church
party. However, it afforded an argument for the revival of convocation,
and, chiefly owing to the exertions of Bishop Wilberforce of Oxford,
convocation again met in 1852 (see CONVOCATION). Meanwhile broad church
opinions were gaining ground to some extent owing to a reaction from the
Oxford movement. Among the clergy the broad church party was
comparatively small, but it included some men of mark. In 1860 appeared
_Essays and Reviews_, a volume of essays by seven authors, of whom six
were in orders. The book as a whole had a rationalistic tendency and was
condemned by convocation: two of the essayists were suspended by the
Court of Arches, but its judgment was reversed by the judicial
committee. Crude attacks on the authority of the Scriptures and the
position of the English Church with respect to it having been published
by Colenso, bishop of Natal, he was deposed by his metropolitan, Bishop
Gray of Cape Town, in 1863, but the judicial committee decided that the
bishop of Cape Town had no coercive jurisdiction over Natal. Convocation
declared Colenso's books erroneous, abstaining in face of this judgment
from acknowledging as valid the excommunication which Bishop Gray
pronounced against him. It followed from the decision of the council
that the English Church in a self-governing colony is a voluntary
association. Opposition to the dogmatic principle in the church was
maintained. Some practices introduced by clergy desirous of bringing the
services of the church to a higher level came before the judicial
committee in the case of _Westerton_ v. _Liddell_ in 1857, with a result
encouraging to the ritualists, as they then began to be called. An
increase in ritual usages, such as eucharistic vestments, altar lights
and incense, followed. In 1859-1860 disgraceful riots took place at St
George's-in-the-East, London, where an advanced ritual was used. In 1860
the English Church Union was formed mainly to uphold high church
doctrine and ritual, and assist clergy prosecuted for either cause, and
in 1865 the Church Association, mainly to put down such doctrine and
ritual by prosecution. A royal commission appointed in 1867 recommended
that facilities should be granted for enabling parishioners aggrieved by
ritual to gain redress, and in 1870 that a revised lectionary and a
shortened form of service should be provided. A new lectionary was
approved by the two convocations and enacted, and convocation having
received letters of business in 1872 and 1874 drew up a shortened form
of prayer which was also enacted, but the commission had no further
direct results. Between 1867 and 1871 two decisions of the judicial
committee were adverse to the ritualists, and by exciting dislike to the
court among high churchmen indirectly led to an increase in ritual
usages. Among those who adopted them were many self-devoted men; their
practices, which they believed to be incumbent on them, were condemned
as illegal, yet they saw the rubrics daily disregarded with impunity by
others who trod the easy path of neglect. In 1873 a declaration against
sacramental confession received the assent of the bishops, and in 1874
Archbishop Tait of Canterbury introduced a bill for enforcing the law on
the ritualist clergy; it was transformed in committee, and was enacted
as the Public Worship Regulation Act. It provided for the appointment of
a new judge in place of the old ecclesiastical judges, the officials
principal, of the two provinces. Litigation increased, the only check on
prosecutions being the right of the bishop to veto proceedings, and in
1878-1881 four clergymen were imprisoned for disobedience to the orders
of courts against whose jurisdiction they protested. In consequence of
the scandal raised by this mode of dealing with spiritual causes, a
royal commission on ecclesiastical courts was appointed in 1881, but
its report in 1883 led to no results, and the bishops strove to mend
matters by exercising their veto. Advanced and illegal usages became
more frequent. Proceedings in respect of illegal ritual having been
instituted against Bishop King of Lincoln, the archbishop of Canterbury
(Benson) personally heard and decided the case in 1890, and his judgment
was upheld by the judicial committee (see LINCOLN JUDGMENT). The
spiritual character of the tribunal and the authority of the judgment
which sanctioned certain usages and condemned others, had a quieting
effect. Increase in ritualism, however, caused agitation in 1898, and in
1899 and 1900 the two archbishops, Temple of Canterbury and Maclagan of
York, delivered "opinions" condemning the use of incense and
processional lights, and the reservation of the consecrated elements.
Finding himself unable to put down illegal practices, Bishop Creighton
of London adopted a policy of compromise which was followed by other
bishops, and encouraged illegality. Disregard of law both in excess and
defect of ritual being common, a royal commission on ecclesiastical
discipline was appointed in 1904. The commissioners presented a
unanimous report in 1906, its chief recommendations being, briefly, that
practices significant of doctrines repugnant to those of the English
Church should be extirpated; that the convocations should prepare a new
ornaments rubric, and frame modifications in the conduct of divine
service; that the diocesan and provincial courts and the court of final
appeal should be reformed in accordance with the recommendations of
1883, the last to consist of a permanent body of lay judges who on all
doubtful questions touching the doctrine or use of the church should be
bound by the decision of an episcopal assembly; that the Public Worship
Regulation Act should be repealed, and the bishops' power of veto
abolished.


  Present life.

Since the Oxford movement the church has developed wonderful energy. Yet
it is beset with difficulties and dangers both from within and without.
Within, besides difficulties as regards ritual, it has to contend
against rationalism, which has been stimulated by scientific discoveries
and speculations, and far more by Biblical criticism. While this
criticism has been used by many as a means to a fuller comprehension of
divine revelation, much of it is simply destructive, and has led to
ill-considered expressions of opinion adverse to the doctrine of the
church. From without, the church has been threatened with
disestablishment both wholly and as regards the dioceses within the
Welsh counties; and the education of the poor, which from early days
depended on its care, has largely been taken out of its hands (see
EDUCATION). The amount contributed by the church to elementary
education, including the maintenance of Sunday schools, in 1907-8 was
£576,012. During the last sixty years the church has strengthened its
hold on the loyalty of the nation by its increased efficiency. Its
bishops are laborious and active. Since 1876 the home episcopate has
been increased by the creation of the dioceses of Truro, St Albans,
Liverpool, Newcastle, Southwell, Wakefield, Bristol, Southwark and
Birmingham, so that there are now (1910) thirty-seven diocesan bishops,
aided by twenty-eight suffragan and eight assistant bishops, and a
further subdivision of dioceses is contemplated. At no other time
probably have the clergy been so industrious. As a rule they are far
better instructed in theology than forty years ago, but they have not
advanced in secular learning. Changes in the university system have
contributed to draw off able young men to other professions which offer
greater worldly advantages. The poverty of many of the clergy stands in
strong contrast to the wealth around them. Of 14,242 benefices 4704 are
said to be below £200 a year net value. The value of £100 tithe rent
charge has sunk (1909) to £69: 18 : 5¼, the average value since the
Commutation Act of 1836 being £94 : 3 : 2¾. The number of assistant
clergy is (1910) about 7500, in spite of the hardships often attending
clerical life, the supply of men being kept up. The Queen Victoria
Clergy Fund and other voluntary associations and various educational
institutions have been founded to relieve clerical distress. In the
church at home there is much energy in numberless directions: cathedral
churches have become centres of religious activity, and in parish
churches the administration of the Holy Communion and weekday services
are frequent. Many of the laity co-operate in church work and liberally
support it. During the years 1898-1907 598 churches were built or
rebuilt, and during twenty-four years, 1884-1907, the voluntary
offerings for church building were £27,612,709, and for endowments and
parsonages £6,116,592, yet church extension fails to keep pace with the
increase of the population. Evangelistic efforts, the relief of the sick
and poor, and the inculcation of temperance are zealously carried on.
Good work is done by twenty-six sisterhoods and several institutions of
deaconesses, and one or two communities of celibate clergy. In the
British colonies and India the episcopate consists (1909) of seven
archbishops with two coadjutors; there are also seventy diocesan
bishops, and in other parts of the world thirty missionary bishops. The
S.P.G. has 847 ordained ministers, including thirty chaplains in Europe,
besides many female missionaries; the C.M.S. has 793 ordained ministers,
and many other missionaries of both sexes; the Zenana Missionary Society
has a staff of 1288; other church societies for foreign missions are
vigorous, and the S.P.C.K. in addition to its work at home spends large
sums in furthering the church abroad. The benefits arising from
conference have increasingly been valued since the revival of
convocation. Appreciation of the importance of lay support and counsel
has led to the institution of two voluntary elective assemblies called
Houses of Laymen, one for each province, and in 1905 an association of
the four houses of convocation and the two lay assemblies was formed
with the name of the Representative Church Council. During the last
forty years diocesan conferences, in which the laity are represented,
have become universal, while ruridecanal and other meetings of a like
kind are general. An annual church congress, established in 1861, held
its forty-ninth meeting in 1909. Of wider importance are the Lambeth
conferences, held since 1878 at intervals of ten years, to which the
bishops of the English Church and the churches in communion with it are
invited, and meet under the presidency of the archbishop of Canterbury.
The first of these conferences, which illustrate the dignity of the see
founded by St Augustine and now the head of a vast quasi-patriarchate,
was held under the presidency of Archbishop Longley in 1867 (see LAMBETH
CONFERENCES and ANGLICAN COMMUNION).

  AUTHORITIES.--General Histories, Narrative: J. Collier,
  _Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain_ (to 1685), ed. T. Lathbury
  (9 vols., London, 1852); T. Fuller, _Church History_ (to 1648), ed. J.
  S. Brewer (Oxford, 1845), valuable near the author's own time; C.
  Dodd, _Church History of England_ (to 1625, by a Roman Catholic), ed.
  M. A. Tierney (5 vols., London, 1839-1843); Dean W. F. Hook, Lives of
  the _Archbishops of Canterbury_ (to 1663) (12 vols., London,
  1860-1879); G. G. Perry, _Students' English Church History_ (to 1884)
  (London, 1887), a carefully written book; _A History of the English
  Church_, ed. Stephens and Hunt, in 8 vols., noticed below under
  various periods; H. O. Wakeman, _An Introduction to the History of the
  Church of England_ (London, 1896), a brightly written manual by a
  pronounced high churchman. Documents: D. Wilkins, _Concilia_
  (446-1717) (4 vols. fol., London, 1737), a splendid work; A. W. Haddan
  and Bishop W. Stubbs, _Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents_ (3
  vols., Oxford, 1869-1873), supersedes Wilkins so far as it goes, but
  deals with English Church only to 870, with Welsh, Scottish and
  Cumbrian churches to later dates; H. Gee and W. J. Hardy, _Documents
  of English Church History_ (to 1700) (London, 1896), useful for
  students. Constitutional: Bishop W. Stubbs, _Constitutional History of
  England_ (parts of) (3 vols., revised ed., Oxford, 1895-1897), a work
  of great learning; F. Makower, _Constitutional History of the Church
  of England_, from the German (London, 1895); F. W. Maitland, _Roman
  Canon Law in the Church of England_ (London, 1898), authoritative.
  (See under CONVOCATION.)

  From 597: Bede, _Historia ecclesiastica_, ed. C. Plummer (2 vols.,
  Oxford, 1896), the primary authority to 731, trans. by J. A. Giles
  (Bohn's Library) and others; see also Eddi's contemporary "Vita
  Wilfridi," in _Historians of York_, ed. James Raine, Rolls series (3
  vols., 1879-1894); W. Bright, _Early English Church History_ (to 709)
  (3rd ed., Oxford, 1897), a learned and beautiful book; articles in
  _Dictionary of Christian Biography_ (to 9th century), ed. W. Smith and
  H. Wace (4 vols., London, 1877-1887). Later Anglo-Saxon: In Chronicles
  and biographies, as _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Two of the Saxon
  Chronicles_, ed. C. Plummer (2 vols., 1892), trans. by B. Thorpe,
  Rolls series (1861), and others; Asser, _Life of Alfred_, ed. W. H.
  Stevenson (Oxford, 1904), trans. by Giles; _Memorials of Dunstan_,
  ed. W. Stubbs, Rolls series (1874). Modern: J. Lingard, _History of
  the Anglo-Saxon Church_ (2 vols., London, 2nd ed., printed 1858); W.
  Hunt, _History of the English Church_, 597-1066, ed. Stephens and Hunt
  (London, revised ed., 1901).

  For later medieval times: (1) Chroniclers, &c., after 1066, as
  Florence of Worcester, ed. B. Thorpe, Eng. Hist. Soc. (2 vols., 1878),
  trans. by J. Stevenson in _Church Historians_ (London, 1853); Symeon
  of Durham, ed. T. Arnold, Rolls series (2 vols., 1882); Eadmer (for
  Archbishop Anselm), ed. M. Rule, Rolls series (1884); William of
  Malmesbury, _Gesta regum_, &c. (to 1152), ed. W. Stubbs, Rolls series
  (2 vols., 1887), and _Gesta pontificum_, ed. N. E. S. A. Hamilton,
  Rolls series (1870); (John of Salisbury?) _Historia pontificalis_ (for
  Archbishop Theobald, 1139-1161), ed. Pertz, _Rerum Germ. scriptt._
  xx.; _Materials for the Life of Archbishop Becket_, ed. J. C.
  Robertson, Rolls series (7 vols., 1875-1885); Giraldus Cambrensis
  (12th century), _Gemma ecclesiastica and Speculum ecclesiae_, Works
  ii. and iv., ed. J. S. Brewer, Rolls series (1862, 1873); Matthew
  Paris, _Chronica majora_ (to 1259), ed. H. R. Luard, Rolls series (7
  vols., 1880-1883), and many more. (2) Letters, as Archbishop Lanfranc,
  _Epistolae_, ed. Giles (Oxford, 1844); Archbishop Anselm, _Epistolae_,
  ed. Migne (Paris, 1863); Robert Grosseteste, _Epistolae_, ed. H. R.
  Luard, Rolls series (1861), and others. (3) Bishops' Registers, as
  _Registrum J. Peckham_ (Archbishop of Canterbury, 1279-1292), ed. C.
  T. Martin, Rolls series (3 vols., 1882-1886); _Exeter Registers_, ed.
  Hingeston-Randolph (5 vols., 1889); _Registers_ of Bishops Drokensford
  and Ralph of Shrewsbury, ed. W. H. Dickinson and T. S. Holmes,
  Somerset Record Soc. (3 vols., 1887, 1895-1896), and others. For
  Wycliffe and early Lollards see WYCLIFFE. R. Pecock, _Repressor of
  Overmuch Blaming of the Clergy_, ed. C. Babington, Rolls series (2
  vols., 1860); and T. Gascoigne, _Loci e libro veritatum_, ed. J. T.
  Rogers (Oxford, 1881), which gives ample notices of abuses, should be
  consulted for 15th century. Modern books: W. R. W. Stephens, _The
  English Church, 1066-1272_ (revised edition, 1904), and W. W. Capes,
  _The English Church in the 14th and 15th Centuries_ (1900), both ed.
  Stephens and Hunt (London); J. Raine, _Archbishops of York_ (ends at
  1373) (London, 1863); F. A. Gasquet, _Henry III. and the Church_
  (London, 1905). Biographical: Dean R. W. Church, _Anselm_ (London,
  1870); M. Rule, _Life and Times of St Anselm_ (written from a Roman
  Catholic standpoint) (2 vols., London, 1883); C. de Rémusat, _Vie de
  S. Anselme_ (Paris, 1868); G. G. Perry, _St Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln_
  (London, 1879); F. S. Stevenson, _Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of
  Lincoln_ (London, 1899), and others.

  For the Reformation Period: Documentary: Notices in Letters and
  Papers, Henry VIII., ed. J. S. Brewer, J. Gairdner, R. H. Brodie,
  Record Publ. (19 vols., 1862-1905), and _Calendars of State Papers_
  for Henry VIII., Edward VI., ed. R. Lemon (1856) and M. A. Green
  (1870), for Mary, ed. Lemon (1856), Record Publ., and for Elizabeth,
  Hatfield MSS., Hist. MSS. Comm.; _Acts of the Privy Council_, ed. J.
  R. Dasent (1890), in progress; _Records of the Reformation_, ed. N.
  Pocock (2 vols., Oxford, 1870); E. Cardwell, _Documentary Annals_
  (Oxford, 1839); _Original Letters_, ed. H. Ellis (11 vols.,
  1824-1846); _Zurich Letters_ (2 vols.), _Original Letters_ (2 vols.),
  ed. Robinson (1842-1847); Latimer's _Sermons_ (1844), and _Archbishop
  Parker's Correspondence_, ed. J. Bruce and T. T. Perowne, all Parker
  Soc. Publ., Cambridge; see also _General Index to Parker Soc.'s Publ._
  (1855); R. Pole (Cardinal), _Epistolae_, ed. Quirini (5 vols.,
  Brescia, 1744-1757); G. W. Prothero, _Select Statutes_, &c.;
  _Elizabeth and James I._ (3rd ed., Oxford, 1906). Supplementary:
  Strype, _Ecclesiastical Memorials_ (6 vols., 1513-1556); _Annals_
  (Elizabeth) (7 vols.); _Memorials of Cranmer_ (2 vols.); _Lives_ of
  Parker (3 vols.), Grindal, Whitgift (3 vols.), all with a large
  repertory of documents, also of Cheke, T. Smith and Aylmer (all
  Oxford, 1820-1824); Burnet, _History of the Reformation_, ed. N.
  Pocock (7 vols., Oxford, 1865), with many documents. Chronicles and
  early Histories: W. Camden, _Annales_ (Elizabeth), ed. T. Hearne (3
  vols., 1717); _Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary_, ed. J. G.
  Nichols (Camden Soc., 1850); E. Hall, _Chronicle_ (Henry VIII.), ed.
  C. Whibley (2 vols., London, 1904); N. Harpsfield, _Treatise on the
  Pretended Divorce of Henry VIII._, ed. N. Pocock (Camden Soc., 1878);
  J. Foxe, _Acts and Monuments_ (often called "The Book of Martyrs"),
  ed. S. R. Cattley and G. Townsend (a book with many facts
  industriously gathered, many documents and some errors) (8 vols.,
  London, 1843-1849); H. Machyn, _Diary_ (1550-1563), and _Narratives of
  the Reformation_, both ed. J. G. Nichols (Camden Soc., 1854, 1859); W.
  Roper, _The Life of Sir Thomas More_, ed. S. Singer (1817), and other
  editions, a beautiful book by More's son-in-law; N. Sander, _De
  origins ac progressu schismatis Anglicani_, continued by E. Rishton
  (Rome, 1586), translated by D. Lewis (London, 1877) (Sander was a
  Roman Catholic priest who wrote in 1576; his language is violent but
  the narrative generally trustworthy); _The Presbyterian Movement in
  the Reign of Queen Elizabeth_, ed. R. G. Usher (R. Hist. Soc., 1905).
  Modern histories: J. H. Blunt, _History of the English Reformation_
  (London, 1878), a careful work, though of no great historical
  importance; T. E. Bridgett, _Life of Blessed John Fisher_ (London,
  1888); R. W. Dixon, _History of the Church of England from the
  Abolition of the Roman Jurisdiction_ (5 vols., London, 1878-1892), a
  book showing great knowledge and insight; V. M. Doreau, _Henry VIII et
  les martyres de la Chartreuse_ (Paris, 1890); H. Fisher, _History of
  England 1485-1547_, presents a brilliant and trustworthy narrative of
  ecclesiastical affairs during the reign of Henry VIII., and forms
  vol. v. of the _Political History of England_, ed. W. Hunt and R. L.
  Poole (London, 1906); P. Friedmann, _Anne Boleyn_ (London, 1884), an
  important work; W. H. Frere, _History of the English Church,
  1558-1625_, ed. W. R. W. Stephens and W. Hunt (1904), scholarly; J. A.
  Froude, _History of England_ (1527-1588), a work of literary beauty,
  research and historical grasp, from an anti-ecclesiastical standpoint,
  with some blemishes, but of increasing value after the reign of Henry
  VIII. (12 vols., London, 1856-1870, cheap editions, 1881-1882, 1893);
  J. Gairdner, _History of the English Church_, Henry VIII. to Mary, ed.
  Stephens and Hunt (London, 1902), by the highest authority on the
  period; H. E. Jacobs, _The Lutheran Movement in England_
  (Philadelphia, 1890), chiefly on progressive doctrinal change; A. F.
  Pollard, _Henry VIII._ (London, with illustrations 1902, with
  references 1905), an excellent general history of the reign, _England
  under Protector Somerset_ (London, 1900), and _Life of Cranmer_
  (London, 1904). For Rebellion Period: Contemporary and early: _State
  Papers_, Domestic, 1625-1649, ed. J. Bruce, W. D. Hamilton, Mrs S. C.
  Lomas (23 vols.), from 1649, ed. E. Green (13 vols.), and _Calendars
  of Committees for Plundered Ministers_, &c., all Record Publ.;
  _Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution_, ed. S. R.
  Gardiner (Oxford, 1899); J. Evelyn, _Diary_, ed. A. Dobson (3 vols.,
  London, 1906); also ed. W. Bray and ed. H. B. Wheatley; J. Hacket,
  _Scrinia reserata_, Life of Archbishop Williams (London, 1715); P.
  Heylyn, _Cyprianus Anglicanus_, Life of Archbishop Laud (Dublin,
  1668); W. Laud, Works, ed. W. Scott and W. Bliss, Library of
  Anglo-Catholic Theology (7 vols., Oxford, 1847-1860); J. Milton,
  various _Prose Works_, ed. C. Symmons (7 vols., London, 1806);
  _Puritan Visitations of Oxford_, ed. M. Burrows (Camden Soc., 1881).
  Later: W. H. Hutton, _History of the English Church_, 1625-1714, ed.
  Stephen and Hunt (London, 1903), and _William Laud_ (London, 1895); S.
  R. Gardiner, _History of England_, under various titles, _1603-1657_
  (London, 1863-1903), and cr. 8vo edition begun 1883, a work of vast
  research and learning, contains fair and careful accounts of religious
  matters; D. Masson, _Life of Milton_ (7 vols., London, 1859-1894); D.
  Neal, _History of the Puritans_, ed. J. Toulmin (3 vols., 1837); W. A.
  Shaw, _The English Church, 1640-1660_ (2 vols., London, 1900), and on
  the Westminster Assembly, _Cambridge Modern History_, iv. c. 12
  (Cambridge, 1906); J. Stoughton, _Ecclesiastical History of England_,
  _Civil Wars_, &c. (4 vols., London, 1867-1870), by a dissenting
  divine, a careful and unprejudiced history; J. Walker, _Sufferings of
  the Clergy_ (London, 1714). For Restoration and Revolution Period: R.
  Baxter, _Reliquiae Baxterianae_, ed. M. Sylvester (London, 1696); and
  E. Calamy, _Abridgment of Life of Baxter_ (2 vols., 1713); R. Bentley,
  _Life of Bishop Stillingfleet_, with _Works_ in 6 vols. (London,
  1710); Bishop G. Burnet, _History of his Own Time_ (6 vols., Oxford,
  1783); G. Doyly, _Life of Archbishop Sancroft_ (2 vols., London,
  1821); W. Kennett (Bishop), _Compleat History_, vol. iii. (London,
  1710); T. Lathbury, _History of the Nonjurors_ (London, 1843); T. B.
  Macaulay, _History of England_ (5 vols., London, 1858-1861); _Magdalen
  College and James II._, ed. J. R. Bloxam, Oxford Historical Society
  (Oxford, 1886); R. Nelson, _Life of Bishop Bull_, ed. Burton (Oxford,
  1827); J. H. Overton, _The Nonjurors_ (London, 1902), and _Life in the
  English Church, 1660-1714_ (2 vols., London, 1885); E. H. Plumptre,
  _Life of Bishop Ken_ (2 vols., London, 1888); I. Walton, _Lives_
  (Bishop G. Morley and others) (London, 1898, and frequently). For 18th
  century: C. J. Abbey, _The English Church and its Bishops, 1700-1800_
  (2 vols., London, 1887); C. J. Abbey and J. H. Overton, _The English
  Church in the 18th Century_ (London, revised ed., 1887), a pleasant
  and useful book; R. Cecil, _Life of John Newton_ (London, 1827); A.
  C. Fraser, _Life of Bishop Berkeley_, vol. iv. of _Works_ (Oxford,
  1871); Lord Hervey, _Memoirs of the Reign of George II._, ed. J. W.
  Croker (3 vols., London, 1884); A. H. Hore, _The Church of England
  from William III. to Victoria_ (2 vols., Oxford, 1886); J. Hunt,
  _Religious Thought in England_ (3 vols., London, 1873); _Huntingdon,
  Selina, Countess of, Life and Times_ (2 vols., London, 1839-1840); J.
  Keble, _Life of Bishop Wilson_ (Oxford, 1863): W. E. H. Lecky,
  _History of England in the 18th Century_, vols. i.-iii. and v. (8
  vols., London, 1879-1890); Bishop T. Newton, _Autobiography_, with
  _Works_ (6 vols., London, 1787); J. H. Overton and F. Relton, _History
  of the English Church, 1714-1800_, ed. Stephens and Hunt (London,
  1906); W. Roberts, _Memoir of Hannah More_ (4 vols., London, 1834); W.
  A. Spooner, _Bishop Butler_ (London, 1891); Sir J. Stephen, _Essays in
  Ecclesiastical Biography_ (2 vols., London, 1853), for an account of
  the Evangelicals early in the 19th century; Sir L. Stephen, _English
  Thought in the 18th Century_ (2 vols., London, 1881), for theological
  controversies; H. Thompson, _Life of Hannah More_ (London, 1838); R.
  Watson, _Anecdotes of the Life of Bishop R. Watson_ (2 vols., London,
  1818), presents a curious picture of a bishop's life 1782-1816; R. and
  S. Wilberforce, _Memoir of W. Wilberforce_ (5 vols., London, 1838).
  See under METHODISM; WESLEY (family); and WHITEFIELD, GEORGE.

  For the Oxford Movement and onwards: A. W. Benn, _English Rationalism
  in the 19th Century_ (2 vols., London, 1906); A. C. Benson, _Life of
  Archbishop E. W. Benson_ (2 vols., London, 1899); J. W. Burgon, _Lives
  of Twelve Good Men_ (2 vols., London, 1888); R. W. Church, _History of
  the Oxford Movement_ (London, 1891); J. T. Coleridge, _Life of Keble_
  (Oxford, 1869); R. T. Davidson and W. Benham, _Life of Archbishop A.
  C. Tait_ (2 vols., London, 1892); H. P. Liddon and J. O. Johnston,
  _Life of Pusey_ (4 vols., London, 1893-1895); T. Mozley,
  _Reminiscences of Oriel and the Oxford Movement_ (2 vols., London,
  1882); J. H. Newman, _Apologia pro Vita sua_ (London, 1864); R.
  Prothero, _Correspondence of Dean A. P. Stanley_ (2 vols., London,
  1893); R. G. Wilberforce and A. Ashwell, _Life of Bishop S.
  Wilberforce_ (3 vols., London, 1879) _Report of the Royal Commission
  on Ecclesiastical Courts_ (1883), and _Report of the Royal Commission
  on Ecclesiastical Discipline_ (1906), both H.M. Stationery Office;
  _Official Year Book of the Church of England_, S.P.C.K. (1906).
       (W. HU.)




ENGLEFIELD, SIR FRANCIS (c. 1520-1596), English Roman Catholic
politician, born probably about 1520, was the eldest son of Sir Thomas
Englefield of Englefield, Berkshire, justice of the common pleas. His
mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Robert Throckmorton, one of the
well-known Catholic family of Coughton, Warwickshire. Francis, who
succeeded his father in 1537, was too young to have taken any part in
the opposition to the abolition of the Roman jurisdiction and
dissolution of the monasteries; and he acquiesced in these measures to
the extent of taking the oath of royal supremacy, serving as sheriff of
Berkshire and Oxfordshire in 1546-1547, and accepting in 1545 a grant of
the manor of Tilehurst, which had belonged to Reading Abbey. He was even
knighted at the coronation of Edward VI. in February 1547. But the
progress of the Reformation during that reign alienated him, and he
attached his fortunes to the cause of the princess Mary, whose service
he entered before 1551. In August of that year he was sent to the Tower
for permitting Mass to be celebrated in Mary's household. He was
released in the following March, and permitted to resume his duties in
Mary's service. But in February 1553 he was again summoned before the
privy council, and may have been in confinement at the crisis of July;
perhaps he was only released on Mary's triumph, for his name does not
appear among those who exerted themselves on her behalf before the
middle of August. He was then sworn a member of the privy council like
many others who owed their promotion to their loyalty rather than to
their political abilities. Their numbers swelled the privy council and
sadly impaired its efficiency; but Mary resisted the various attempts to
get rid of them because she liked staunch friends, and regarded them as
a salutary check upon the abler but less scrupulous members who had
served Edward VI. as well as herself. Englefield sat as M.P. for
Berkshire in all Mary's parliaments except that of April 1554, but
received no higher political office than the lucrative mastership of the
court of wards.

He was an ardent believer in persecution, was present at Hooper's trial,
sought Ascham's ruin, and naturally lost his office and his seat on the
privy council at Elizabeth's succession. He retired to the continent
before May 1559, and from that time until his death was an active
participant in all schemes for the restoration of Roman Catholicism. At
first his ideas took such comparatively mild forms as inducing the pope
to send a legate to persuade Elizabeth to return to the fold; but
gradually they grew more violent and treasonable, until Englefield
became the close confidant of Cardinal Allen, Parsons and the "jesuited"
Catholics, who advocated forcible intervention by Spain and the
succession of the infanta; in 1585 Englefield thought that Mary's
succession, peaceful or other, would not be satisfactory unless it were
owing to Spanish support and she were dependent on Philip. Englefield
lived first at Rome, then in the Low Countries, and finally at
Valladolid. He was blind for the last twenty years of his life, and
received a pension of six hundred crowns from Philip. He had been
outlawed in 1564 and his estates sequestered, but they were not
forfeited until 1585, when an act of attainder was passed against
Englefield. Even then some legal difficulties stood in the way of their
appropriation by the crown, for Englefield, obviously with an eye to
this contingency, had conditionally settled them on his nephew Francis.
The long arguments on the point are given in Coke's _Reports_, and a
further act was passed in 1592 confirming the forfeiture to the crown.
The nephew, however, eventually recovered some of the family estates,
and was created a baronet in 1612. His uncle was alive in September
1596, but apparently died at Valladolid about the end of that year. His
tomb there used to be shown to visitors as that of an eminent man.

  See _Dict. of Nat. Biog._ xvii. 372-374; but additional light has been
  thrown on Englefield's career since the date of that article by the
  publication of the Spanish and Venetian Calendars, the Hatfield MSS.,
  the Acts of the Privy Council, and the Letters and Papers of Henry
  VIII.     (A. F. P.)




ENGLEHEART, GEORGE (1752-1829), English miniature painter, the great
rival of Richard Cosway, was born at Kew in October 1752, and received
his artistic training first under George Barret, R.A., and then under
Sir Joshua Reynolds. He started on his own account in 1773, and
exhibited in that year at the Royal Academy. He continued the active
pursuit of his profession down to 1813, when he retired, and his
fee-book, still in existence, records the names of his sitters, and the
amount paid for each portrait, proving that he painted 4853 miniatures
during that period of thirty-nine years, and that his professional
income for many years exceeded £1200 a year. During the greater part of
his life he resided in Hertford Street, Mayfair, where he lived till he
retired. He died at Blackheath in 1829, and was buried at Kew.

He painted George III. twenty-five times, and had a very extensive
circle of patrons, comprising nearly all the important persons connected
with the court. He made careful copies in miniature of many of the
famous paintings executed by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and in some cases
these constitute the only information we possess respecting portraits by
Sir Joshua that are now missing. His fee-book, colours, appliances and a
large collection of his miniatures still remain in the possession of his
descendants.

His nephew, JOHN COX DILLMAN ENGLEHEART (1784-1862), also a miniature
painter, entered George Engleheart's studio when he was but fourteen
years of age. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1801, and sent
in altogether 157 works. He was a man of substantial means, and in his
time a very popular painter, but his health broke down when he was
forty-four years old, and he had to relinquish the pursuit of his
profession. He lived at Tunbridge Wells for some years and died there in
1862.

  See _George Engleheart_, by G. C. Williamson and H. L. D. Engleheart
  (1902).     (G. C. W.)




ENGLEWOOD, a city of Bergen county, New Jersey, U.S.A., near the Hudson
river, 14 m. N. by E. of Jersey City. Pop. (1900) 6253, of whom 1548
were foreign-born and 386 negroes; (1905) 7922; (1910) 9924. It is
served by a branch of the Erie railway, and by an electric line
connecting with a ferry (at Fort Lee) to New York. Englewood is
primarily a residential suburb of New York. The site rises terrace above
terrace from the marshes in the valley of the Hackensack to the top of
the palisades overlooking the Hudson, from which Englewood is separated
by the borough of Englewood Cliffs (pop. in 1905, 266). There are
several fine residences, a hospital, a public library and the Dwight
school for girls (1859). The site of Englewood was for a long time a
part of "English Neighbourhood," and was known as Liberty Pole; but
until 1859, when the place was laid out, there were only a few houses
here, one of which was the "Liberty Pole Tavern." In 1871 Englewood was
set off from the township of Hackensack and was incorporated as a
separate township, and in 1896 it was chartered as a city; but the act
under which it was chartered was declared unconstitutional, and in 1899
Englewood was rechartered as a city by a special act of the state
legislature.




ENGLISH CHANNEL (commonly called "The Channel"; Fr. _La Manche_, "the
sleeve"), the narrow sea separating England from France. If its entrance
be taken to lie between Ushant and the Scilly Isles, its extreme breadth
(between those points) is about 100 m., and its length about 350. At the
Strait of Dover, its breadth decreases to 20 m. Along both coasts of the
Channel, cliffs and lowland alternate, and the geological affinities
between successive opposite stretches are well marked, as between the
Devonian and granitic rocks of Cornwall and Brittany, the Jurassic of
Portland and Calvados, and the Cretaceous of the Pays de Caux and the
Isle of Wight and the Sussex coast, as well as either shore of the
Strait of Dover. The English Channel is of comparatively recent
geological formation. The land-connexion between England and the
continent was not finally severed until the latter part of the
Pleistocene period. The Channel covers what was previously a wide
valley, and may be described now as a headless gulf. The action of waves
and currents, both destructive and constructive, is well seen at many
points; thus Shakespeare Cliff at Dover is said to have been cut back
more than a mile during the Christian era, and the cliffs of Grisnez
have similarly receded. Of the opposite process notable examples are the
building of the pebbly beaches of Chesil Bank and near Tréguier in Côtes
du Nord, and the promontory of Dungeness. The total drainage area of the
English rivers flowing into the Channel is about 8000 sq. m.; of the
French rivers, including as they do the Seine, it is about 41,000 sq. m.

From the Strait of Dover the bottom slopes fairly regularly down to the
western entrance of the Channel, the average depths ranging from 20 to
30 fathoms in the Strait to 60 fathoms at the entrance. An exception to
this condition, however, is found in Hurd's Deep, a narrow depression
about 70 m. long, lying north and north-west of the Channel Islands, and
at its nearest point to them only 5 m. distant from their outlying
rocks, the Casquets. Towards its eastern end Hurd's Deep has an extreme
depth of 94 fathoms, and in it are found steeper slopes from shoal to
deep water than elsewhere within the Channel. Nearing the entrance to
the Channel from the Atlantic, the 100 fathoms line may be taken to mark
the edge of soundings. Beyond this depth the bottom falls away rapidly.
The 100 fathoms line is laid down about 180 m. W. to 120 m. S.W. of the
Scilly Isles, and 80 m. W. of Ushant. Within it there are considerable
irregularities of the bottom; thus a succession of narrow ridges running
N.E. and S.W. occurs west of the Scillies, while only 4 m. N.W. of
Ushant there is a small depression in which a depth of 105 fathoms has
been found. As a general rule the slope from the English coast to the
deepest parts of the Channel is more regular than that from the French
coast, and for that reason, and in consideration of the greater dangers
to navigation towards the French shore, the fairway is taken to lie
between 12 and 24 m. from the principal promontories of the English
shore, as far up-channel as Beachy Head. These promontories (the Lizard,
Start Point, Portland Bill, St Alban's Head, St Catherine's Point of the
Isle of Wight, Selsey Bill, Beachy Head, Dungeness, the South Foreland)
demarcate a series of bays roughly of sickle-shape, the shores of which
run north and south, or nearly so, at their western sides, turn eastward
somewhat abruptly at their heads, and then trend more gently towards the
south-east. On the French coast the arrangement is similar but reversed;
Capes Grisnez, Antifer and La Hague, and the Pointe du Sillon
demarcating a series of bays (larger than those on the English coast)
whose shores run north and south on the eastern side, and have a gentler
trend westward from the head.

The configuration of the coasts is perhaps the chief cause of the
peculiarities of tides in the Channel. From the entrance as far as
Portland Bill the time of high water is found to be progressively later
in passing from west to east, being influenced by the oceanic tidal
stream from the west under conditions which are on the whole normal. But
eastward of a line between Portland Bill and the Gulf of St Malo these
conditions are changed and great irregularities are observed. On the
English coast between Portland Bill and Selsey a double tide is found.
At Portland this double tide corresponds approximately with the time of
low water in the regular tidal progression, and the result is the
occurrence of two periods of low water, separated by a slight rise known
locally as "gulder." But farther east the double tide corresponds more
nearly with the time of high water, and in consequence either the effect
is produced of a prolonged period of high water, or there are actually
two periods of high water, as at Southampton. Various causes apparently
contribute to this phenomenon. The configuration of the coast line is
such as to present at intervals barriers to the regular movement of the
tidal wave (west to east), so that reflex waves (east to west) are set
up. In the extreme case at Southampton the tidal effect is carried from
the outer Channel first by way of the Solent, the strait west of the
Isle of Wight, and later by way of Spithead, the eastern strait. Finally
the effect of the tidal stream entering the Channel through the Strait
of Dover from the North Sea must be considered. The set of this stream
towards the Strait of Dover from the east corresponds in time with that
of the Channel stream (i.e. the stream within an area defined by Start
Point, the Casquets, Beachy Head and the mouth of the Somme) towards the
strait from the west; the set of the two streams away from the strait
also corresponds, and consequently they alternately meet and separate.
The area in which the meeting and separation take place lies between
Beachy Head and the North Foreland, the mouth of the Somme and Dunkirk.
Within this area, therefore, a stream is formed, known as the
intermediate stream, which, running at first with the Channel stream and
then with the North Sea stream, changes its direction throughout its
length almost simultaneously, and is never slack. Under these
conditions, the time of high water eastward of Selsey Bill as far as
Dover is almost the same at all points, though somewhat earlier at the
east than at the west of this stretch of coast. The configuration of the
French coast causes a very strong tidal flow in the Gulf of St Malo,
with an extreme range at spring tides of 42 ft. at St Germain, compared
with a range of 12 ft. at Exmouth and 7 ft. at Portland. In the
neighbourhood of Beer Head and Portland and Weymouth Roads the streams
are found to form vortices with only a slight movement. On the eastern
(Selsey-Dover) section of the English coast the _maximum_ range of tide
is found at Hastings, with a decrease both eastward and westward of this
point.

Westerly winds are most prevalent in the Channel. The total number of
gales recorded in the period 1871-1885 was 190, of which 104 were
south-westerly. Gales are most frequent from October to January
(November during the above period had more than any other month, with an
average of 2.1), and most rare from May to July. It appears that gales
are generally more violent and prolonged when coincident with spring
tides than with neaps. The winds have naturally a powerful effect on the
tidal streams and currents, the latter being in these seas simply
movements of the water set up by gales, which may themselves be far
distant. Thus under the influence of westerly winds prevailing west of
the Iberian Peninsula a current may be set up from the Bay of Biscay
across the entrance of the Channel; this is called Rennell's current.
Fogs and thick weather are common in the Channel, and occur at all
seasons of the year. Observations during the period 1876-1890 at Dover,
Hurst Castle and the Scilly Isles showed that at the two first stations
fogs most frequently accompany anticyclonic conditions in winter, but at
the Scilly Isles they are much more common in summer than in winter, and
accompany winds of moderate strength more frequently than in the case of
the up-Channel stations.     (O. J. R. H.)

_Salinity and Temperature._--The waters of the English Channel are
derived partly from the west and partly from the English and French
rivers, and all observations tend to show that there is a slow and
almost continuous current through it from west to east. The western
supply comes from two sources, one of which, the more important, is the
relatively salt and warm water of the Bay of Biscay, which enters from
the south-west and has a salinity sometimes reaching 35.6 pro mille
(parts of salt per thousand by weight); the other consists of a
southerly current from the Irish Channel, and is colder and has a
salinity of 35.0 to 35.2 pro mille. As the water passes eastwards it
mixes with the fresher coastal water, so that the salinities generally
rise from the shore to the central line, and from east to west, though
south of Scilly Islands there is often a fall due to the influence of
the Irish Channel. The mean annual salinity decreases from between 35.4
and 35.5 pro mille in the western entrance to 35.2 pro mille at the
Strait of Dover on the central axis, and to about 34.7 pro mille under
the Isle of Wight and off the Bay of the Seine. The English Channel may
be divided into two areas by a line drawn from Start Point to Guernsey
and the Gulf of St Malo. In the eastern area the water is thoroughly
mixed owing to the action of the strong tidal currents and its
comparatively small depth, and salinities and temperatures are
therefore generally the same from surface to bottom; while westward of
this line there is often a strongly marked division into layers of
different salinity and temperature, especially in summer and autumn,
when the fresher water of the Irish Channel is found overlying the salt
water of the Bay of Biscay. The salinity of the English Channel
undergoes an annual change, being highest in winter and spring and
lowest in summer, and this change is better marked in the eastern area,
where the mean deviation from the annual mean reaches 0.3 pro mille,
than it is farther west with a mean deviation of 0.1 pro mille. There is
also reason to believe that there is a regular change with a two-year
period, years of high maximum and low minimum alternating with years of
low maximum and high minimum. Variations of long period or unperiodic
also occur, which are probably, and in one case (1905) almost certainly,
due to changes taking place some months earlier far out in the Atlantic
Ocean.

The mean annual _surface_ temperature increases from between 11° C. and
11.5° C. at the Strait of Dover to over 12° C. at the western
entrance.[1] The yearly range in the eastern area is considerable,
reaching 11° C. off the Isle of Wight and 10° C. in the Strait of Dover;
westward it gradually decreases to 5° C. a short distance north-west of
Ushant. The mean maximum temperature, over 16° C., is found under the
English coast from Start Point to the Strait of Dover about the 1st of
September and off the French coast eastward of Cape la Hague about
eleven days later. In the western area the maximum temperature is about
15° C. and occurs between September 1 and 11. The mean minimum surface
temperature is between 5° C. and 6° C. at the eastern end, and increases
to over 9° C. off the coast of Brittany. Owing to the thorough mixing of
the water in the eastern area the temperatures are here generally the
same at all depths, and the description of the surface conditions
applies equally to the bottom. In the western entrance, on the other
hand, the bottom temperature is often much lower than on the surface;
the range here is also much less, about 3° C., and the maximum is not
reached till about the 1st of October, or from three weeks to a month
later than on the surface.

  A detailed account of the mean conditions in the English Channel will
  be found in _Rap. et procès-verbaux_, vol. vi., and _Bulletin
  supplémentaire_ (1908) of the Conseil Permanent International pour
  l'Exploration de la Mer (Copenhagen).     (D. J. M.)

_Cross-Channel Communication._--An immense amount of time and thought
has been expended in the elaboration of schemes to provide unbroken
railway communication between Great Britain and the continent of Europe
and enable passengers and goods to be conveyed across the Channel
without the delay and expense involved by transhipping them into and out
of ordinary steamers. These schemes have taken three main forms: (1)
tunnels, either made through the ground under the sea, or consisting of
built-up structures resting upon the sea bed; (2) bridges, either
elevated high above the sea-level so as to admit of the unimpeded
passage of ships under them, or submerged below the surface; and (3)
train ferries, or vessels capable of conveying a train of railway
vehicles with their loads. A tunnel was first proposed at the very
beginning of the 19th century by a French mining engineer named Mathieu,
whose scheme was for a time favourably regarded by Napoleon, but it was
first put on a practical basis more than fifty years later by J. A.
Thomé de Gamond (1807-1876), whose plans were submitted to the French
emperor in 1856. This engineer had begun to work at the problem of
cross-Channel communication twenty years previously, and had considered
the possibility of a submerged tunnel or tube resting on the sea-level,
of steam ferries plying between huge piers thrown out from both coasts,
and of a bridge, for which he prepared five different plans. He again
brought forward his scheme for a tunnel, in a modified form, in 1867,
and exhibited his plans in the Universal Exhibition of that year. About
the same time an English engineer, William Lowe, of Wrexham, was also
working at the idea of a tunnel. Geological investigation convinced him
that between Fanhole, a point half a mile west of the South Foreland
light, and Sangatte on the French coast, 4 m. W. of Calais, the Dover
grey chalk was continuous from side to side, and he considered that this
stratum, owing to its comparative freedom from water and the general
absence of cracks and fissures, offered exceptional advantages for a
tunnel. He and Thomé de Gamond joined forces, and their plans were
adopted by an international committee whose object was to popularize the
idea of a tunnel both in England and France. Its engineers on the
English side were Lowe, Sir James Brunlees and Sir John Hawkshaw, the
last of whom in 1866 had made trial borings at St Margaret's and near
Sangatte; and on the French side Thomé de Gamond, Paulin Talabot and
Michael Chevalier. In 1868 they reported that there was a reasonable
prospect of completing the tunnel in ten or twelve years at a cost not
exceeding ten millions sterling. They admitted, however, that there was
some risk of an influx of the sea, but pointed out that this risk could
be determined by driving preliminary driftways, as suggested by Lowe,
and for this purpose asked for financial aid from the imperial treasury.
A commission of inquiry then appointed by the French ministry of public
works reported favourably on the plans, though it declined to, recommend
a grant of money; but the further progress of the scheme was interrupted
by the outbreak of the Franco-German war.

The tunnel was by no means the only plan in evidence at this period for
securing continuous railway communication between England and France. An
iron tube, resting on the bottom of the sea, had been proposed by
Tessier de Mottray in 1803, and had again been considered by Thomé de
Gamond in 1833; but after 1850 projects of this kind might almost be
counted by the dozen. Some of the structures were to be of iron, others
of concrete or masonry, and some were to be floated a moderate distance
below the surface. One of the most carefully worked out plans was that
of J. F. Bateman and J. Revy, who proposed to construct a continuous
tube, 13 ft. in internal diameter, of iron rings each 10 ft. long, each
ring being built out from the completed portion of the tube by means of
a horizontal chamber or bell, which slid telescopically over the last
few rings previously put in place, and was moved forward by hydraulic
power. About the same time Zerah Colburn produced plans for a tube
constructed of 1000 ft. sections, which were to be built in dry dock and
then successively attached by a ball and socket joint to the completed
portion, the whole being raised from the bottom and dragged out to sea,
by the aid of a large number of ships, as each section was attached and
launched. Thomas Page, again, the builder of Westminster Bridge,
proposed to place eight conical steel shafts at intervals across the
Strait of Dover, and to connect them by long sections of tube lowered
from the surface, the whole structure being covered with concrete when
finished. No attempt was made to put any of these plans into execution,
and the same was true of several bridge schemes propounded about the
same time; in one of these, spans one-half or three-quarters of a mile
in length were contemplated, while another required 190 towers, 500 ft.
apart and rising 500 ft. above the water-level, which obviously would
have constituted an intolerable nuisance to navigation. The case,
however, was different with a train ferry which was vigorously advocated
by Sir John Fowler. His proposal was to employ steamers 450 ft. long,
with a beam of 57 ft. and a speed of 20 knots, having railway lines laid
down on their decks on and off which railway vehicles could be run
directly at each side of the strait. Dover was to be the English port,
while on the French coast a new harbour was to be formed at
Audresselles, between Calais and Boulogne. This plan in 1872 received
the sanction of the House of Commons, but was rejected in the House of
Lords by the casting vote of the chairman of the committee. According to
another similar ferry scheme, which was worked out by Admiral Dupuy de
Lôme in 1870, a new maritime station was to be constructed at Calais, so
far off the shore that it would command deep water at every state of the
tide, and connected with the French railways by a bridge.

After the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian War, negotiations
concerning the tunnel were resumed between the French and British
governments, and in 1872 the latter intimated that it had "no objection
in principle." After some further communications between the two
governments in 1874, settling the basis on which the enterprise should
be allowed to proceed, a joint commission was appointed to arrange
details relating to jurisdiction, the right of blocking the tunnel, &c.,
and this commission's report was accepted as a basis of agreement
between the governments. In 1875 the Channel Tunnel Company obtained an
act authorizing it to undertake certain preliminary works at St
Margaret's Bay. In the same year the French Submarine Railway Company
obtained a concession, with the obligation to spend a minimum of
2,000,000 francs in making investigations; in fact it took over 3000
samples from the bottom of the sea in the strait, and made over 7000
soundings, and also sunk a shaft at Sangatte and started a heading. The
English company did not do so much, for it failed to raise the money it
required and its powers expired in 1880. Moreover, it was not the only
company in the field, and its programme was not universally accepted as
the best possible. Some authorities, such as Sir Joseph Prestwich,
doubted whether the tunnel should be attempted in the chalk because of
the likelihood of fissures being encountered while others who thought
the chalk suitable were dissatisfied With the actual plans and formed a
rival "Anglo-French Submarine Railway Company." In 1882 another tunnel
company made its appearance. In 1874 the South Eastern Railway Company
had obtained powers to sink experimental shafts on its property between
Dover and Folkestone, and in 1881 to acquire lands, including the beach
and foreshore, in that area in connexion with a Channel tunnel. These
powers resulted, in 1882, in the formation of the Submarine Continental
Railway Company which in that year sought parliamentary sanction for a
tunnel, starting from a point west of Dover, at Shakespeare's Cliff; and
at the same time the resuscitated Channel Tunnel Company applied for
powers to make one from Fanhole, instead of St Margaret's Bay as in its
former scheme. The whole question of the tunnel was then widely
discussed and considered by various committees, the last of which--a
joint select committee of the Lords and Commons--in 1883 expressed the
opinion by a majority that it was "inexpedient that parliamentary
sanction should be given to a submarine communication between England
and France." This decision for the time being disposed of the question
of making a tunnel, and though Sir Edward Watkin, one of its most
prominent advocates, brought bill after bill before parliament to
authorize experimental works in connexion with it, all were rejected. In
1882 the government interfered with the operations then in progress, and
they were ultimately discontinued. They included a driftway 7 ft. in
diameter which was driven for a distance of about 2300 yds. eastwards
under the sea at an inclination of 1 in 72 from the bottom of a shaft
sunk to a depth of 164 ft. in the chalk marl at Shakespeare's Cliff.

About this time the Channel Bridge and Railway Company took in hand the
design of a bridge, the preliminary plans for which were exhibited in
the Paris Exhibition of 1889. The terminal points were Folkestone and
Cap Grisnez, and for the sake of facilitating the laying of the pier
foundations it was proposed to take the bridge over the Varne and
Colbart shoals. The main girders were to be nearly 59 yds. above the
sea-level, the railway itself being more than 20 ft. higher still, and
the spans were to vary in length between 540 and 108 yds. As the result
of a survey of the sea bottom made in 1890, a modification in the line
of the bridge was adopted, and it was taken direct from Cap Blancnez to
the South Foreland. It was found that in this way an excellent bottom
would be obtained for the foundations, and the length of the bridge
would be 3 m. less, the number of piers, by employing spans of 434 and
542 yds. alternately, being reduced to 72. The cost of this structure
was estimated at £28,320,000, exclusive of interest on capital during
the period of construction, which was put at seven years. The same
company also worked out plans for a moving chariot or platform, capable
of holding a railway train and supported by long legs on a submerged
causeway or track constructed of steel or armoured concrete 45 or 50
ft. below low-water level. No attempt has been made actually to carry
out either this project or that of a bridge.

In 1905 the question of establishing a train ferry from Dover across the
Channel was brought forward by the Intercontinental Railway Company, and
in the following year the Channel Ferry (Dover) Act was passed
authorizing the work. About the same period the Channel Tunnel Company,
which had amalgamated with the Submarine Railway Company, awoke to
activity and started a campaign in favour of its scheme; but the bill
which it promoted was opposed by the government and accordingly was
withdrawn in March 1907.

  See _Blue-book, Correspondence respecting the proposed Channel
  Tunnel_, Commercial No. 6 (1875); _Blue-book, Correspondence with
  reference to the proposed Construction of a Channel Tunnel_, C. 3358
  (1882); _Blue-book, Report from the Joint Select Committee of the
  House of Lords and House of Commons on the Channel Tunnel_ (1883); F.
  J. Bramwell, "The Making and Working of a Channel Tunnel," _Proc. Roy.
  Inst._, May 1882; Tylden Wright, "The Channel Tunnel," _North of
  England Inst. Min. and Mech. Eng._ vol. 33 (1882); W. Boyd Dawkins,
  "The Channel Tunnel," _Manchester Geol. Soc._, May 1882, and _Brit.
  Assoc. Rep._ (1882, 1899); E. de Rodakowski, _The Channel Ferry_
  (London, 1905).     (H. M. R.)


FOOTNOTE:

  [1] 50° F. = 10° C.; 60.8° F. = 16° C.




ENGLISH FINANCE. The history of the English fiscal system affords the
best example known of continuous financial development, in respect both
of institutions and methods. Though certain great periods of change can
be readily noticed, yet from the time of the Norman Conquest to the
beginning of the 20th century the line of connexion is substantially
unbroken. Perhaps the most revolutionary changes occurred in the 17th
century, as the outcome of the Civil War, and, later on, the revolution
of 1688. But even in this case there was no real breach of continuity.
It is, therefore, possible to trace the normal growth and expansion of
British finance as one of the aspects of the nation's history.

The primitive financial institutions of England centre round the king's
household, or, in other words, the royal economy precedes the national
one. Revenue dues collected by the king's agents, rents, or rather
returns of produce, from land, and special levies for emergencies form
the elements of the royal income, which gradually acquired greater
regularity and consistency. There is, however, little or no evidence of
any effective financial organization until we approach the 11th century.
The influence exercised from Normandy, which so powerfully affected the
English rulers at this time, tended towards the creation of records of
revenue claims and also of a central treasury.

With the union of England and Normandy under the same head the idea of
settled administrative methods was definitely fixed and became of
special importance in the field of finance. The systematizing spirit, so
characteristic of both the Norman and Angevin kings, produced the great
institution of the exchequer (q.v.) with its judicial and administrative
sides, and its elaborate forms of account and control. Even before this
organization was developed the Domesday Survey (see DOMESDAY BOOK)--now
recognized as having a purely fiscal object (in Maitland's words "a tax
book, a geld book")--shows the movement towards careful observation of
the sources of revenue. It is clear that William I. initiated a policy
which was followed by his successors, in spite of the serious
difficulties of the period of anarchy during Stephen's nominal reign.
The obscure question as to the real origin of the special contrivances
employed by the exchequer is, strictly speaking, irrelevant to the
financial inquirer, who may be content to hold that, granting the
existence of some Old English analogies, the system, as it appears in
the 12th century, was a peculiar product of the conceptions as to fiscal
organization formed by Norman subtlety. It is the manner in which this
institution held together and focused the revenues and expenditure of
the kingdom that has to be considered. The picture presented by the
"Dialogue of the Exchequer" (c. 1176) is that of a comprehensive system
which secured the receipt of the royal income, and provided a thorough
audit of the accounts by employing processes adapted to the
circumstances of the time. It is, in fact, through the description of
financial institutions that it is possible to ascertain the forms of
revenue possessed by the crown. The ingenuity expended on the
administrative machinery of the exchequer had as its aim the increase of
the king's resources, an object in which the official class of churchmen
and lawyers was deeply interested.

In order to understand the character Of English finance in the middle
ages it is absolutely essential to bear constantly in mind the
identification of the king with the state. Though feudalism (q.v.) was,
in one of its aspects, a powerful instrument for division of political
authority, it, nevertheless, in the particular form in which the
Conqueror introduced it into England, enabled the fiscal rights of the
crown to be established in a more definite shape than was possible under
the older condition. For, in the first place, the actual property of the
crown was more carefully administered as each royal manor came under the
system of accounting. Again, the various claims or dues of the king took
more decidedly the feudal type and received stricter legal definition.
Further, the higher judicial organization assisted the expansion of
court fees; while, above all, the increased authority of the state made
the casual receipts (for such they were) from trade more profitable.

In a broad view the sources of revenue fall under the following
heads:--(1) The royal estates which were distributed over England,
derived in part from the possessions of the old English kings, but
increased by the confiscations that followed the events of the
Conqueror's reign, as well as by the doctrine that unowned land was the
king's (_terra regis_). Over fourteen hundred manors appear in Domesday
as royal property. The forests, placed under special laws, yielded
little revenue, except in the form of penalties on offenders. The rural
tenants, who at first paid their rents in produce, gradually commuted
them into money payments. As the royal demesne was favourable for the
growth of towns the rents derived from urban tenants became a valuable
part of the yield from the demesne; this, later, took the shape of a
payment from the town as a unit (the _firma burgi_), a method which
secured to the burghers freedom from the exactions of the sheriff and
which was purchased by special payments. (2) The feudal rights. These
included the claim to military service; the three regular aids and the
payments of relief at succession to a fief, as also the profits on
wardships and marriages. Escheats and forfeitures completed the list.
The yield from this source varied with the power of the king and was
kept within bounds by the resistance of the tenants as shown in the
provisions of Magna Carta. (3) The administration of justice was a
lucrative prerogative of the crown. Suitors had to pay for securing the
hearing of their cases in addition to the fees for writs, and both
amercements and compositions increased the receipts under this head. (4)
Two special classes contributed to the royal exchequer. As a great deal
of the wealth of the country was in the hands of the church the
opportunities afforded by the vacancies of sees, abbacies and priories
were utilized for the purpose of securing the profits of these offices
during the time in which there was no occupant; and this term was
frequently prolonged by the king's action or inaction. The Jews, until
their expulsion, were an even more profitable class to the revenue.
Being under the absolute control of the crown, they could be taxed at
pleasure, either by taking a percentage of their property (e.g. in one
case, one-fourth), or by levies for alleged offences. The existence of a
separate exchequer for the Jews is an indication of their fiscal value.
(5) Direct taxation formed an extraordinary or occasional head of
revenue. The Danegeld was succeeded by the carucage, and the commutation
of military service introduced the scutage, but these forms were of
little immediate importance, though very significant for the future
course of development. (6) Lastly come the dues claimed at the ports,
which contain in germ the customs system of later times, though they
rather resemble the harbour charges of modern ports and were very
trivial in amount.

The history of the English financial system consists largely in the
exhibition of the different fortunes of these several component parts of
the exchequer receipts; for it must be remembered that the sheriff was
bound to account to that tribunal for all that he should have received,
and by this agency the local contributions passed into the king's
possession for the service of the state, During the century and a half
that lay between the Conquest and the granting of the Great Charter the
account given above holds good. The character of the ruler affected the
vigour of the fiscal, as well as the general, administration. Henry I.
and Henry II. secured much better results than Stephen or John; but the
collection of the rent and profits of the royal manors and the feudal
and other dues continued as the mainstay of revenue. Indications of
change are, however, to be found. Thus the substitution of the
"carucage" or plough tax for the "Danegeld" marks an advance towards
direct taxation of land through its produce, and the introduction of
"scutage" is not only further evidence of the same tendency, but also a
step in the development of "money economy" in place of the earlier
"natural economy" or system of payments in kind. The special levies or
"tallages" imposed at times of need on the towns in the king's demesne
appear to have been a doubtful exercise of the royal prerogative, but
scientifically they belong to the same class as the Danegeld and
scutage. Perhaps the most important advance made in this period is the
beginning of taxation of movables, first applied in the Saladin tithe of
1189 and, later, expanded into a general system.

In the reign of John (1199-1216) the loss of Normandy and the concession
of the barons' demands by the issue of Magna Carta rendered financial
readjustments inevitable. During the long reign of Henry III. the
struggle to maintain the privileges granted by the Charter acted on the
fiscal system by checking the arbitrary use of tallages, and as a
consequence, encouraging the regular assessment of the tax on movables,
which was becoming more prominent. The fruitful idea that it was
necessary to obtain the consent of the payers of taxes before the
imposition operated powerfully in favour of the establishment of bodies
representing the several estates. It is through the reaction of
constitutional on fiscal development that the transition from feudal to
parliamentary taxation in its earlier form is made.

Almost at the opening of the age of parliamentary taxation one of the
older sources of revenue ceased. The pressure of popular opinion forced
Edward I. to decree the expulsion of the Jews (1290), though he
naturally desired to retain such profitable subjects. It is, indeed,
probable that, owing to the exactions practised on them, the Jewish
usurers had become less serviceable to the exchequer; while it is
certain that the general resources of the kingdom had so increased as to
make their contribution relatively much smaller. The first effects of
the representative influence in the fiscal domain are the abandonment of
the tallages on towns and the decline of scutage as a mode of levy. The
tax on movables was framed in a more systematic way. Instead of distinct
charges on different classes, or variations in proportion of levy from
one-fourth to one-fortieth, the policy of imposing a tax of one-tenth on
the towns and one-fifteenth on the counties was adopted. Greater
strictness in assessment was sought by the appointment of commissioners
for each county, supplied with special instructions as to taxable goods
and exemptions. This method continued in force for the tax on movables
from 1290 till 1334, though in some cases the proportions imposed on the
towns and counties were varied (e.g. an eighth and a fifth were granted
in 1297, and a tenth and a sixth in 1322). A more general influence was
the growing national economy which led to greater activity on the part
of the king as administrator, and which also increased the need of the
state for revenue. Though the doctrine that "The king should live of his
own" was generally accepted as a constitutional maxim, the force of
events was making it obsolete. From being an infrequent and uncertain
kind of taxation the direct tax on movables, which was practically
absorbing the older forms, became usual and regular. Under medieval
conditions the collection of a general property tax (for such, in fact,
was the nature of "the tenth and fifteenth") presented serious
difficulties. Each locality gained by keeping its assessment down to the
lowest point, while the borough authorities were naturally not eager to
enforce the charge on their fellow-citizens. England in the 14th century
was not ripe for a system that has been found hard to make effective in
more advanced societies. Hence, from 1334 onward, the method of
"apportionment" was employed, i.e. the tenth and fifteenth was taken as
affording a definite sum measured by the yield on the ancient valuation.
As this gave, in the aggregate, between £38,000 and £39,000, "the tenth
and fifteenth" became for the future "practically a fiscal expression
for a sum of about £39,000"; the total to be divided or "apportioned"
between the several counties, cities and boroughs according to their
former payments. This settlement, which remained in force for centuries
and affected all the later direct taxes, had the great advantages of
certainty and adaptability. The inhabitants of any particular town knew
their total liability and could distribute it amongst themselves in the
manner most convenient to them. From the royal standpoint also the
arrangement was satisfactory, for the "tenth and fifteenth" could be
multiplied (e.g. in 1352 three "tenths and fifteenths" were voted for
three years), and supplied a stable revenue for the service of the
kingdom. To the parliament the power of regulating the policy of the
crown by the bestowal or refusal of grants was naturally agreeable.
Thus, all sections of the nation united in support of the system
established in 1334, just before the opening of the Hundred Years' War,
in connexion with which it was particularly serviceable.

Akin to the tax that has just been described, at least in its nature as
a direct impost, is the poll or capitation tax. Financial pressure at
the close of Edward III.'s reign (1377) led to the adoption of a tax of
fourpence per head on all persons in the kingdom (mendicants and persons
under fourteen years being excepted). This "tallage of groats," which
seems to be derived by analogy from the hearth money for Peter's pence,
was followed by the graduated poll taxes of 1379 and 1380. In the former
the scale ranged from ten marks (£6:13:4) imposed on the royal dukes and
the viscounts, through six marks on earls, bishops and abbots, and three
on barons, down to the groat or fourpence payable by all persons over
sixteen years of age. Such a form of taxation approximated--as Adam
Smith saw--to an income tax, but it proved to be unproductive, only half
of the estimated yield of £50,000 being obtained. The tax of 1380 varied
within narrower limits; from twenty shillings to fourpence (or sixty
groats to three), with the proviso that "the strong should aid the
weak." But this particular tax is chiefly memorable as the
occasion--whatever may have been the real causes--of the great
"Peasants' Revolt" of 1381. This unlucky association sealed the fate of
the poll tax as a fiscal expedient. It was abandoned, with one
exception, for nearly three hundred years; and its occasional employment
in the 17th century did not result in its permanent revival. Apart from
special circumstances it is plain that the "tenth and fifteenth" was
better suited than the poll tax for the purpose of English finance. The
machinery for collection was ready to hand for the former, while special
agents had to gather the latter, even from the poorest classes. In fact,
the episode of the poll taxes may be regarded as an attempt--fortunately
unsuccessful--to relieve the propertied classes at the expense of the
peasants and poorer burghers. Failure in this respect helped in the
maintenance of the settlement of direct taxation devised in 1334.

Parallel with the evolution of direct taxation, but decidedly lagging
behind, is the progress of indirect taxation. As already mentioned, the
right of levying dues on goods entering or leaving English ports
belonged from very early times to the king. Whether this power was, in
its origin, due to the protection afforded to traders and thus a kind of
insurance, or the result of the royal prerogative of pre-emption is
immaterial for finance. What is established is that the "prisage" of
wine or levy of one cask in ten, and the taking of one-tenth or
one-fifteenth of other commodities was in force. Attempts to impose
additional dues were forbidden by an important article (41) of the Great
Charter which recognized "the ancient and just customs." One of the
earliest effects of parliamentary influence is manifested in the
establishment of duties on wool, woolfells and leather by Edward I.'s
first parliament. After some efforts by the king to gather increased
duties, the "Confirmation of the Charters" (1297) forbade any increases
on the amounts fixed in 1275, which were henceforth known as the ancient
customs. Another attempt was made to obtain a higher scale of duties by
arrangement with the merchants. The foreign traders consented to the
royal proposals, which comprised duties on wine, wool, hides and wax, as
well as a general tax of 1¼% on all imports and exports. Thus, in
addition to the old customs of half a mark (6s. 8d.) per sack of wool
and on each three hundred woolfells, and one mark (13s. 4d.) per last or
load of leather, the foreign merchants paid an extra duty (or surtax) of
50% and also 2s. on the tun of wine--the so-called "butlerage." The
privileges granted in the Carta Mercatoria (1303) were probably the
consideration for accepting these enhanced dues. The English merchants,
however, for the time, successfully resisted the application in their
case of the higher charges, and consequently remained under the old
prisage of wine. In spite of parliamentary opposition, on the ground
that they amounted to an infringement of the Great Charter, the new
customs were maintained in force. After being suspended in 1311 they
were revived in 1322, confirmed by royal authority in 1328, and finally
sanctioned by parliament in the Statute of the Staple (1353). They
became a part of the permanent crown revenue from the ports, and, with
the old customs, were the basis for further development.

Just as the old direct taxes were first supplemented by, and then
absorbed in, the general taxation of movables, so the customs, in the
strict sense, were followed by the subsidies or parliamentary grants.
One great source of English wealth in the 14th century was the export of
the peculiarly fine wool of the country, and the political circumstances
of Edward III.'s time suggested the manipulation of the trade in this
commodity for purposes of policy as well as revenue. Sometimes, in order
to influence the towns of Flanders, the export of wool was absolutely
prohibited; at others, export duties of varying amounts were imposed on
wool, skins and leather. In the early years of the reign these
arrangements were settled by agreement with the merchants. The subsidies
of this class began in 1340 and henceforward were frequently granted,
though complaints were very often made. Thus, in 1348 the Commons
objected to the subsidy of an export duty of £2 per sack on wool on the
ground that it was really a tax on the landowners, who received a lower
price for their wool in consequence of the duty. Bargains between the
king and the merchants were forbidden, and this species of taxation was
brought under parliamentary control by statutes passed in 1362 and 1371.
Along with the special duties on wool there was an increase of the
imposts on wine and general goods. By agreement with the merchants a
charge of 2s. per tun on wine and 2½% on goods was levied in 1347.
Between 1371 and 1376 these dues were established as parliamentary
grants under the names of "Tunnage" and "Poundage," leaving the older
dues intact.

One class or "estate" occupied a peculiar position. The clergy still
claimed the privilege of self-taxation, and therefore it was
convocation, not parliament, that voted the tenths imposed on clerical
property. In some instances much heavier charges (e.g. in 1296
one-third) were decreed by the king, but the taxation of the clergy
declined in productiveness during the 14th century. By the close of the
reign of Richard II. the results of the transition from feudalism to a
parliamentary constitution were practically complete. In respect to
finance the most important of these were: (1) The disappearance or
reduction to unimportance of the feudal dues. The fact that this change
occurred at, relatively speaking, so early a date is of special
significance for English development. (2) The royal demesne, though it
had not suffered the losses that the grants of later times inflicted on
it, had also lost some of its value as a source of revenue. (3) In
compensation the direct taxation of property had become a ready means of
supplying the growing requirements of the administration, and the mode
of levy had been reduced to a well-recognized form, unsatisfactory
experiments--such as the poll tax--being withdrawn. (4) The growth of
import and export duties through the "old" and "new" customs and the
subsidies furnished a large part of the requisite funds. In fact, in
the course of a little over three hundred years the constituent parts of
the public income had, without any violent change, been completely
altered in relative value and in organization.

The period of the Lancastrian kings, extending over two-thirds of the
15th century (1399-1471), is noticeable for various experiments in the
system of direct taxation. The standard tax--"the tenth and
fifteenth"--failed to suit the changed conditions. In consequence of the
decay of some of the towns allowances had to be made to them, amounting
to over 15% (£6000), which, with other deductions, lowered the yield
from a "tenth and fifteenth" to £31,000. As a supplement a land tax,
affecting only the large owners, was voted at the rate of 5% in 1404,
and repeated with wider scope, but at the lower rate of 1-2/3%, in
1411. A house tax made its appearance in 1428. Taxes on knight's fees
and other freeholds were also tried, while in 1435 and 1450 the
graduated income tax was employed. The minimum rate, 2½%, applied to
incomes under £100 (or under £20 in the tax of 1450), and rose to 10% on
the higher incomes. These devices are evidence of the demand for larger
revenue, and also of the increasing unfitness of the existing direct
taxation. It may be added that they indicate a disposition to adopt
foreign models, particularly the methods of taxation in use in France
and Italy. As to indirect taxation the receipts seem at first to have
declined, and the subsidies were only granted for fixed terms (the
victory of Agincourt gained a life grant to Henry V.). After the
establishment of Edward IV. on the throne, the idea of a "tenth," in the
literal sense, was taken up and voted (1472) by the two houses as a
special military provision; but it failed to bring in the required
revenue, and the king had to fall back on grants of the old-established
form. Extra taxes on aliens were levied under both Lancastrian and
Yorkist rulers with little profit. The most original contribution of
Edward IV. to fiscal policy was the "benevolence" (q.v.) or payment by
wealthy subjects of sums requested by the king. Voluntary in form, these
payments were, in fact, compulsory, and became in later times one of the
great grievances against which parliament had to struggle.

Broader issues in finance marked the course of the Tudor period, and
these were connected with the general history of the time. The era of
national monarchies had arrived, necessitating the maintenance of
greater military and naval forces, as well as more costly machinery of
administration. External policy was affected by the set of ideas that
developed into mercantilism (see MERCANTILE SYSTEM); but so also was
fiscal policy. Finance reflected the actions of the personal rule that
was the characteristic of the 16th century. Within the period, however,
some decided contrasts are to be found. Prudence, carried to parsimony
with Henry VII., is followed by lavish prodigality in the case of Henry
VIII. Elizabeth, again, presents in her reign a very different financial
policy from that of either her father or her grandfather. The desire for
a vigorous foreign policy, the hope of encouraging native industry, and
the sentiment of retaliation against the trade regulations of other
countries are found to interfere with the aim--strictly followed in
earlier times--of obtaining the largest possible yield. All the
different parts of the public economy were regarded as existing only in
order to be utilized for the furtherance of national power. It is this
more complex character in policy, coupled with the new influences, that
the discovery of America, the Renaissance and the Reformation brought
into operation, which gives special interest to the financial problems
of the 16th century.

Taking in order the great heads of public income placed at the disposal
of the sovereign, it appears that the first head of the old
receipts--the crown lands--had been from time to time diminished by
grants to the king's relatives and favourites, but had also gained
through resumptions and forfeitures. On the whole, the loss and gain
down to the close of the 14th century was probably balanced. The revenue
was, however, inelastic, and declined in relative importance. It has
been said that "it was in the 15th century that the great impoverishment
of the crown estate began." The Lancastrian kings (especially Henry VI.)
lost most of the lands attached to the crown through pressure of
expenditure and the wholesale plunder of officials. Though the civil
wars of the 15th century brought in many forfeited estates the grants of
Edward IV. kept down the increase. But the chief opportunity for
aggrandizement was afforded by the dissolution of the monasteries and
gilds under Henry VIII. The great mass of property that passed into the
royal possession in this way was in part assigned to nobles and
officials, while most of the remainder was distributed in the reigns of
his children. The dwindling importance of the public revenue from land
and rent charges is as noticeable under the Tudors as in earlier times.
In like manner the feudal dues had fallen into a very subordinate place
notwithstanding the attempts made on particular occasions to enforce
them with greater rigour. The force of personal monarchy exercised by
the Tudors, depending as it did on popular support, tended to encourage
the collection of dues which had a legal ground in preference to
taxation of the community. Of similar character was the employment of
the old right of purveyance (q.v.), in restraint of which a series of
statutes had been passed.

Whatever possibilities of obtaining some additional revenue from the
crown lands or prerogative rights may have existed in the 16th century,
and these were slight, all the political and social conditions tended
more and more to make the need of taxation as the principal financial
resource imperative. Amongst the cases of increased calls for funds to
maintain the machinery of state, the rise of prices, due to increased
supplies of the precious metals, must be included as one of the chief,
and its effect extends into the 17th century. It was under this
influence that the old forms of revenue became less profitable and that
fresh developments were necessitated.

Direct taxation still retained in one of its branches the pattern set in
the reign of Edward III. "Tenths and fifteenths" continued to be voted,
and for some time all attempts to introduce new methods failed. In 1488
a military grant framed on the model of the abortive tax of 1472 yielded
only a little over one-third of the estimate (£27,000 out of £75,000),
and the unsatisfactory result prevented further experiments on the part
of Henry VII. The foreign policy of Henry VIII.--particularly his French
expedition--with its attendant outlay, accounts for the graduated
capitation tax of 1513, which was even less in accordance with
anticipation than the tax of 1488 (it yielded only £50,000 instead of
£160,000). But these failures cleared the way for a more effective form
of direct impost, which appeared in the "subsidy" or general tax on land
and goods. The first case of this tax (1514) was a modest one-2½%; it,
however, soon took on a typical form, so that the subsidy came to mean a
charge of 4s. in the pound on land and 2s. 8d. in the pound on goods, a
scale evidently devised with reference to the older tenth and fifteenth,
which was henceforth put in a subordinate position. The subsidy became
the established mode of grant under both Tudors and Stuarts, though by
degrees it underwent a change similar to that experienced by its
predecessor. The taxing statutes made elaborate provisions for the
assessment and collection of the tax in order to secure a full return.
Old habits proved too strong and the subsidy "slipped into the same kind
of groove as that of the fifteenth and tenth, and became, in practice, a
grant of a sum of money of about the same amount as the yield of the
last preceding subsidy" (Dowell). The consequence was that each subsidy
came, in the middle of the 16th century, to be a sum of £100,000, and at
its close only £80,000. The parallel vote of the clergy in convocation
(which after 1533 had to be confirmed in parliament) amounted to
£20,000. The usual parliamentary proceeding was to vote so many "tenths
and fifteenths" and so many subsidies, e.g. Elizabeth's first parliament
voted her "two fifteenths and tenths and a subsidy," or, taking the
usual values, £160,000. At times of crisis such as the arrival of the
Armada the votes were enlarged by granting more tenths and fifteenths
and subsidies. The history of the subsidy is instructive as to the
tendencies of direct taxation in all countries. The assessment becomes
inelastic and approximates to a fixed sum. As the subsidy follows the
course of the later medieval taxation, so it is the undesigned model of
the later land and property tax.

In the history of the port duties under the Tudors the first point for
notice is the life grant to each of the sovereigns of the subsidies on
wool, hides and leather, together with tunnage at 3s. and poundage at
5%; thus, with the hereditary customs, supplying a considerable revenue
for the crown's use. No better indication of the increased power and
popularity of the monarchy could be found. The contrast with the
suspicious and grudging attitude of the Plantagenet and Lancastrian
parliaments is significant of the change in national sentiment. A duty
on malmsey (1490) had a retaliatory rather than a fiscal aim, being
directed against the Venetians who had imposed restrictions on English
trade. In several later cases wine became liable to extra duties,
chiefly applied to French trade in further pursuance of the policy of
retaliation. Restrictions on import and export as well as the hostile
measures against foreign merchants were matters of economic policy
rather than finance, but they had the indirect effect of increasing the
control exercised at the ports. The loss of Calais (1558) dislocated the
system of the staple and cut off one centre of customs revenue; and it
was also probably the cause of an important change in the mode of
valuing goods for duty. For the declaration on oath of the merchant a
fixed valuation was substituted and set forth in a book of rates, the
first of its class (1558). Following this reform came more stringent
regulations against smuggling and fraud on the part of officials. All
through the Tudor period the cost of collection was unduly high. For the
first six years of Elizabeth it has been estimated at one-sixth of the
gross receipts.

Just as in the 14th century the subsidy had followed the "old" and "new"
customs, so in the 16th the "impositions" levied by royal prerogative
formed a supplement to the parliamentary subsidy; but the principal
employment of this expedient occurs in the next century. Another
significant indication of the future course of indirect taxation was
furnished by the grants of monopolies to inventors, producers and
traders. These privileges, when they affected important commodities,
operated in the same way as taxes farmed out to collectors, and, though
the profit to the crown was small, they enhanced prices and excited
discontent. The wisdom of Elizabeth (or her ministers) was shown in the
promise of redress after the hostile debate of 1601.

From one point of view it may fairly be said that the great struggle of
the Stuart kings with the parliament centred round financial issues. It
is, at all events, beyond dispute that questions of taxation were the
chosen ground of conflict. Taking the period from the accession of James
I. to the opening of the Civil War (1603-42) it appears that the legal
basis of indirect taxation was tested for the port duties in the "Great
Case of Impositions" (known as Bates' case, see BATES, JOHN), while that
of direct taxation was considered in the even more famous "Ship Money"
case (for ever associated with the name of Hampden). In parliament the
debates deal with impositions, monopolies, the grounds for voting
subsidies, and the proper application of the funds granted; in fact,
with nearly all the financial questions of the time. Notwithstanding
these difficulties and disputes the financial system shows evident signs
of expansion and adaptation to the needs of the state.

The direct grants of the parliaments of James I. far exceeded those of
earlier periods (in 1606 six "fifteenths and tenths," three lay and four
clerical subsidies), but the efforts to extend the other sources of
revenue by the exercise of the prerogative naturally reacted on this
spirit of liberality. The last "fifteenth and tenth" was voted in 1624,
from which date this old-established form disappears, and the subsidy
alone is used. In spite of Charles I.'s high-handed policy five
subsidies were voted after the Petition of Right had been accepted, and
even the Long Parliament made similar grants. Almost at the outbreak of
the Civil War it also gave the king a graduated capitation tax. Other
modes of direct taxation were used without parliamentary sanction. The
collection of the antiquated feudal dues was enforced through the
special courts (particularly the Star Chamber) with a rigour long
unknown; James had tried the French device of a "tariff of honors." Both
kings employed the "benevolence" until the Petition of Right made such
a levy illegal. But by far the most serious innovation was the
collection of the "ship money," a course forced on Charles by his
determination not to meet the representatives of the nation. The writs
"embodied the ultimate expression of the ingenuity of the king's
advisers in the invention of means to enable him to rule without a
parliament." The first writs secured over £100,000, and were followed by
five further issues (1634-1639) bringing in an average return of
£200,000 or about three lay subsidies. Like the "benevolence," the ship
money was declared to be illegal (1641).

The contest respecting monopolies, settled by Elizabeth's withdrawal,
was revived under James I., and had to be finally closed by the Statute
of Monopolies (1624), declaring such grants to be utterly void. Certain
exceptions (as in the case of the soap-boilers) permitted the raising of
revenue by what was in fact a rudimentary excise, and plans for a
general excise were discussed, especially as a substitute for the feudal
dues, though they were not reduced to practice. In the earlier 17th
century the customs show a steady increase. From £127,000 in 1604 they
rose to nearly £500,000 in 1641. This fourfold increase was due in part
to the growth of English trade, but it was also influenced by the
adoption of new "Books of rates" in 1608 and 1635, fixing higher
valuations, and by the inclusion of new commodities with definite
duties. Wine, currants (the subject of controversy in Bates' case) and
tobacco are particularly noticeable. Sugar also appears as a
contributory. An interesting development was the adoption on a larger
scale of the "farming" system, an evident imitation from France. A
distinction was made between the "great," the "petty" and the "sugar"
farms, and opportunities for gain were afforded to the officials. On the
constitutional side the life grant of subsidies, made in accordance with
Tudor usage to James, was temporarily withheld from Charles, a
restriction which his own overbearing policy led the parliament to
maintain. Practically, the whole customs revenue between 1628 and 1640
was raised by the use of the prerogative without any parliamentary
sanction. The Tunnage and Poundage Act of 1641 pronounced definitely
against the legality of any extra parliamentary customs and thus closed
another of the constitutional problems of finance.

In the progress from the Conquest to the crisis of the Great Rebellion
there is noticeable a practically complete shifting of the classes of
revenue. The king had ceased "to live of his own"; the royal demesne and
the prerogative rights included in feudalism had become very
subordinate. The direct taxation of property and income, and the
indirect taxation on imported or exported commodities became the
principal forms of receipt.

In the long course of English financial history the nearest approach to
the new departure and an abandonment of old devices is found at the time
of the Civil War and Commonwealth. The actual outlines of the now
existing system made their appearances, while the older portions of the
revenue--particularly the survivals of feudalism--are eliminated. Thus
the Civil War and the Interregnum (1642-60) may be regarded as marking a
watershed in the financial history of the country. At the beginning of
the struggle both sides had to rely on voluntary contributions. Plate
and ornaments were melted down and useful commodities were furnished by
the adherents of the king and by those of the parliament. As holding
possession of London and the central organization the parliament voted
subsidies and a poll tax. Such imports could hardly be levied with
success and new forms became necessary. The direct taxation took the
shape of a "monthly assessment" which was fixed from time to time, and
which was collected under strict regulations, in marked contrast to the
lax management of the former subsidies. As the amount for each district
was fixed, the systematic collection secured "the more equitable
adjustment of the burden of the tax as regards the various taxpayers"
without hardship to the community. In spite of its origin, the
"assessment" was the model for later taxation of property. The yield of
this tax--exceeding for the whole period £32,000,000--is a proof of its
importance. Minor contrivances, e.g. the "weekly meal" tax, indicate
the financial difficulties of the parliament, but are otherwise
unimportant. Owing to its control of the sea and the principal ports the
parliament was able to command the customs revenue; and in this case
also it remodelled the duties, abolishing the wool subsidy and
readjusting the general customs by a new book of rates. A more extensive
tariff was adopted in 1656, and various restrictions in harmony with the
mercantilist ideas of the time were enforced. Thus French wines, silk
and wool were excluded from 1649 to 1656. Far more revolutionary in its
effects was the introduction of the excise or inland duties on goods--a
step which Elizabeth, James I. and Charles I. had hesitated to take.
Beginning (1643) with duties on ale, beer and spirits, it was soon
extended to meat, salt and various textiles. Meat and domestic salt were
relieved in 1647, and the taxation became definitely established under
the administration of commissioners appointed for the purpose. Powers to
let out the collection to farmers were granted, and a bid for both
excise and customs amounted in 1657 to £1,100,000. Confiscations of
church lands and those belonging to royalists, feudal charges and
special collections helped to make up the total of £83,000,000 raised
during the nineteen years of this revolutionary period. Another mark of
change was the removal of the exchequer to Oxford, leaving, however, the
real fiscal machinery at the disposal of the committees that directed
the affairs of the parliament. Under Cromwell the exchequer was
re-established (1654) in a form suited for the changes in the finances,
the office of treasurer being placed in the hands of commissioners.

A complete reconstruction of the revenue system became necessary at the
Restoration. The feudal tenures and dues, with the prerogative rights of
purveyance and pre-emption, which had been abolished by order of the
parliament, could not be restored. Their removal was confirmed, and the
new revenues that had been developed were resorted to as a substitute.
Careful inquiry showed that just before the Civil War the king's annual
revenue had reached nearly £900,000. The needs of the restored monarchy
were estimated at £1,200,000 per annum, and the loyal spirit of the
commons provided sources of revenue deemed sufficient for this amount.
An hereditary excise on beer and ale was voted as a compensation for the
loss of the feudal dues, and temporary excises on spirits, vinegar,
coffee, chocolate and tea were added. All differences of "old" and "new"
customs and subsidies had disappeared under the Commonwealth. The
general or "great statute" (1660) provided a scale of duties--5% on
imports and exports, with special duties on wines and woollen
cloths--accompanied by a new book of rates. A house tax, levied after
the French pattern, on each hearth, was introduced in 1662 and became
established. Poll taxes were used as an extraordinary resource, as were
the last subsidies, voted in 1663, and then for ever abandoned. Licences
on retailers and fees on law proceedings were further aids to the
revenue, which, in the later years of Charles II. and in the short reign
of his successor, was with difficulty kept up to the level of the
increasing expenditure. The Commonwealth assessments were revived on
several occasions, and indirect taxation was made more rigorous by the
imposition of extra duties on brandy, tobacco and sugar, as also on
French linens and silks. A very important development was the placing of
the customs (1670) and the excise (1683) in the hands of special
commissioners, instead of the system of farming them out to private
collectors. The approach to modern conditions is further evidenced by
the greater care in the administration. Amongst expert officials Dudley
North (q.v.), as commissioner of customs, was the most distinguished. In
this period, too, the beginning of the public debt as in the
appropriation of the bankers' deposits may be found.

The Revolution of 1688 may be regarded both on its constitutional and
financial sides as the completion of the work of the Long Parliament. In
the latter respect its chief effects were: (1) the transfer of the
administration of the finances from the king's nominees to officials
under parliamentary control, (2) the consequent application of the
revenue to the purposes designated by parliamentary appropriation, (3)
the rapid expansion of the various kinds of revenue, particularly the
indirect taxes, (4) the rise and growth of the national debt, combined
with the creation of an effective banking system. The greater part of
the 18th century was occupied with the working out of these results.

The government of William III. had to face the expenses of a great war
and to allay discontent at home. As a preliminary step to the necessary
settlement of the revenue a return was prepared, showing the tax
receipts at over £1,800,000 and the peace expenditure at about
£1,100,000. Parliament accepted the view that £1,200,000 per annum would
suffice for the ordinary requirements of the kingdom. It, further,
introduced the system of the Civil List (q.v.) and assigned £600,000 for
the fixed payments placed under that head, leaving the remainder to be
appropriated for the other needs of the state. As the "hearth money" had
proved to be a very unpopular charge, it was, in spite of its yield
(£170,000), given up. The temporary excise duties were voted for "their
majesties' lives" and the customs for a limited term. These branches of
revenue were altogether insufficient to meet the pressure of the war
outlay, and in consequence new heads of taxation--or old ones
revived--came into use. A series of poll and capitation taxes were
imposed between 1689 and 1698, but were after that date abandoned for
the same reason as that for the repeal of the hearth money. The monthly
assessment was tried in 1688; then came an income tax followed by
"twelve months'" assessments in 1690 and 1691. The way was thus prepared
for the property tax of 1692, imposing a rate of 4s. in the pound on
real estate, offices and personal property. The old difficulties of
securing returns made the tax chiefly one on land. It was under the name
of "the land tax" that it was generally known. The 4s. rate brought in
£1,922,712, a return which declined in the following years. To meet this
a fixed quota of nearly half a million (a 1s. rate) was adopted in 1697,
the amount to be apportioned in specified sums to the several counties
and towns. The framework of the tax remained without substantial change
till 1798, the time of Pitt's redemption scheme. In 1696 houses were
taxed 2s. each, with higher rates for extra windows. The beginning of
the "window tax," licences on pedlars, and a temporary tax on the stocks
of companies complete the imposts of this kind. Stamp duties--imitated
from Holland--were adopted in 1694 and extended in 1698: they mark the
beginnings of the modern duties on transactions and the "death duties."
Large additions were made to the excise. Breweries and distilleries were
placed under charge, and such important commodities as salt, coal, malt,
leather and glass were included in the list of taxable articles, but the
two last mentioned were soon relieved for the time. The customs rates
were also increased. In 1698 the general 5% duty was raised by the new
subsidy to 10%. French goods became liable to surtaxes, first of 25%,
afterwards of 50%; those of other countries had to pay similar charges
of smaller amount. Spirits, wines, tea and coffee were taxed at special
rates. How great was the expansion of the fiscal system may be best
realized from the fact that during the comparatively short reign of
William III. (1689-1702) the land tax produced £19,200,000, the customs
£13,296,000, and the excise £13,650,000, or altogether £46,000,000. In
the last year of the reign, the opening one of the 18th century, the
returns from these taxes respectively were: land tax (at 2s.), £990,000,
customs £1,540,000, excise £986,000, or a total exceeding three and a
half millions. The removal of the regular export duties in respect of
(a) domestic woollen manufactures, (b) corn, was the only alleviation of
taxation, and in both cases it was due to special reasons of policy.

Quite as remarkable as the growth of revenue is the sudden appearance of
the use of public loans. In earlier periods a ruler had accumulated
treasure (Henry VII. left £1,800,000) or had pledged "his jewels or the
customs or occasionally the persons of his friends for the payment" of
his borrowings. Edward III.'s dealings with the Florentine bankers are
well known; but it was only after the Revolution that the two conditions
essential for a permanent public debt were realized, viz.: (1) the
responsibility of the government to the people, and (2) an effective
market for floating capital. At the close of the war in 1697 a debt of
£21,500,000 had been incurred, over £16,000,000 of which remained due at
William III.'s death. Connected with the public debt is the foundation
of the Bank of England (see BANKS AND BANKING), which more and more
became the agent for dealing with the state revenue and expenditure;
though the exchequer continued to exist until 1834 as a real, even if
antiquated institution.

Thus it is clear that by the end of the 17th century the new influences
which date from the Civil War had brought into being all the elements of
the modern financial system. Expenditure, revenue, borrowing to meet
deficiencies are all, in a sense, developed into their present-day form.
Increase in amount and some refinements in procedure, combined with
improved views of public policy, are the only changes that occur later
on.

Regarded broadly, the 18th and 19th centuries exhibit several distinct
periods with definite financial aspects. In the ninety years from the
death of William III. (1702) to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War
with France (1793) there are four serious wars, covering nearly
thirty-five years. There is the long peace administration of Walpole,
and there are the shorter intervals of rest following each of the
contests. From the beginning of the war with the French Republic to the
year of Waterloo there is a nearly unbroken war time of over twenty
years. The forty years' peace is closed by the Crimean War (1854-56);
and another forty years of peace ends with the South African War
(1899-1902). During this time the older mercantilism passes into
protectionism; and this, again, gives way before the gradual adoption of
the free trade policy. At each time of war, taxation (particularly in
the indirect form) and debt increase. Financial reform is connected with
the maintenance of peace. Among the great financial ministers Walpole,
the younger Pitt, Peel and Gladstone are conspicuous; while Huskisson's
services in the kindred field of economic policy deserve special notice
in their financial bearing.

By taking the several great heads of revenue in order it is
comparatively easy to understand the nature of the progress made in
subsequent years. (1) The land tax, established on a definite basis in
1692, was the great 18th century form of direct taxation. Varying in
rate from 1s. (as in 1731) to 4s. (as in most war years), it was
converted by Pitt in 1798 into a redeemable charge on the lands of each
parish, and by this process has sunk from the amount of £1,911,000 in
1798 to £730,000 in 1907-1908. The great increase in other heads had
impaired the value of the land tax as a fiscal support. (2) Parallel
with the movement of the land tax but showing much more rapid growth was
the excise of the 18th century. Most of the articles of common
consumption were permanently taxed. Soap, salt, candles and leather are
described by Adam Smith as taxed, and that taxation is unreservedly
condemned by him. In 1739 the excise duties brought in £3,000,000. By
1792 they had risen to £10,000,000. Their continued expansion was due
both to the wider area covered and to the increased consuming power of
the country. (3) The customs were equally serviceable, and in their case
the increased duties were even more considerable. The general 10% of
1698 became 15% in 1704, a fourth 5% was imposed in 1748, and in 1759
the general duties were raised to 25%. Coincidently with this general
extension of the customs duties special articles such as tea were
subjected to increased duties. The American War of Independence brought
about a further general increase of 10%, together with special extra
duties on tobacco and sugar. In 1784 the customs revenue came to over
£3,000,000. Two circumstances account for this slower growth. (1) The
extreme rigour of the duties and prohibitions, aimed chiefly against
French trade; and (2) the absence of care in estimating the point of
maximum productiveness for each duty. Swift's famous saying that "in the
arithmetic of the customs two and two sometimes, made only one" is well
exemplified in England at this time. The smuggler did a great deal of
the foreign trade of the country. Efforts at reform were not, however,
altogether wanting. Walpole succeeded in carrying several useful
adjustments. He abolished the general duties on exports and also several
of those on imported raw materials such as silk, beaver, indigo and
colonial timber. His most ambitious scheme--that for the warehousing of
wine and tobacco in order to relieve exporters--failed, in consequence
of the popular belief that it was the forerunner of a general excise.
Walpole's treatment of the land tax, which he kept down to the lowest
figure (1s.), and his earlier funding plan deserve notice. His
determination to preserve peace assisted his fiscal reforms. Pitt's
administration from 1783 to 1792 marks another great period of
improvement. The consolidation of the customs laws (1787), the reduction
of the tea duty to nearly one-tenth of its former amount, the conclusion
of a liberal commercial treaty with France, and the attempted trade
arrangement with Ireland, tend to show that "Pitt would have anticipated
many of the free trade measures of later years if it had been his lot to
enjoy ten more years of peaceful administration." One of the financial
problems which excited the interest and even the alarm of the students
of public affairs was the rapid increase of the public debt. Each war
caused a great addition to the burden; the intervals of peace showed
very little diminution in it. From sixteen millions in 1702, the debt
rose to £53,000,000 at the treaty of Utrecht (1713). In 1748 it reached
£78,000,000, at the close of the Seven Years' War it was £137,000,000,
and when the American colonies had established their independence it
exceeded £238,000,000. Apprehensions of national bankruptcy led to the
adoption of the device of a sinking fund, and in this case Pitt's usual
sagacity seems to have failed him. The influence of R. Price's theory
induced the policy of assigning special sums for debt reduction, without
regard to the fundamental condition of maintaining a real surplus.

The revolutionary and Napoleonic wars mark an important stage in English
finance. The national resources were strained to the utmost, and the
"whip and spur" of taxation was used on all classes of the community. In
the earlier years of the struggle the expedient of borrowing enabled the
government to avoid the more oppressive forms of charge; but as time
went on every possible expedient was brought into play. One class of
taxes had been organized during peace--the "assessed taxes" on houses,
carriages, servants; horses, plate, &c. These duties were raised by
several steps of 10% each until, in 1798, their total charge was
increased threefold (for richer persons four- or fivefold) under the
plan of a "triple assessment." The comparative failure of this scheme
(which did not bring in the estimated yield of £4,500,000) prepared the
way for the most important development of the tax system--the
introduction of the income-tax in 1798. Though a development of the
triple assessment, the income-tax was also connected with the permanent
settlement of the land tax as a redeemable charge. It is possible to
trace the progress of direct taxation from the scutage of Norman days
through "the tenth and fifteenth," the Tudor "subsidies," the
Commonwealth "monthly assessments," and the 18th century land tax, to
the income-tax as applied by Pitt, and, after an interval of disuse,
revived by Peel (1842). The immediate yield of the income-tax was rather
less than was expected (£6,000,000 out of £7,500,000); but by alteration
of the mode of assessment from that of a general declaration to returns
under the several schedules, the tax became, first at 5%, afterwards at
10%, the most valuable part of the revenue. In 1815 it contributed 22%
of the total receipts (i.e. £14,600,000 out of £67,000,000). If employed
at the beginning of the war, it would probably have obviated most of the
financial difficulties of the government. The window tax, which
continued all through the 18th century, had been supplemented in the
American War by a tax on inhabited houses (one of Adam Smith's many
suggestions), a group to which the assessment taxes were naturally
joined. During the 18th century the probate duty had been gradually
raised, and in 1780 the legacy duty was introduced; but these charges
were moderate in character and did not affect land. Though the direct
and quasi-direct taxes had been so largely increased, their growth was
eclipsed by that of the excise and customs. With each succeeding year of
war new articles for duties were detected and the rates of old taxes
raised. The maxim, said to have guided the financiers of another
country--"Wherever you see an object, tax it"--would fairly express the
guiding policy of the English system of the early 19th century.
Eatables, liquors, the materials of industry, manufactures, and the
transactions of commerce had in nearly all their forms to pay toll. To
take examples:--salt paid 15s. per bushel; sugar 30s. per cwt.; beer
10s. per barrel (with 4s. 5d. per bushel on malt and a duty on hops);
tea 96% _ad valorem_. Timber, cotton, raw silk, hemp and bar iron were
taxed, so were leather, soap, glass, candles, paper and starch. In spite
of the need of revenue, many of the customs duties were framed on the
protective system and thereby gave little returns; e.g. the import duty
on salt in 1815 produced £547, as against £1,616,124 from excise;
pill-boxes brought in 18s. 10d., saltpetre 2d., with 1d. for the war
duties. The course of the war taxation was marked by varied experiments.
Duties were raised, lowered, raised again, or given some new form in the
effort to find additional revenue. Some duties, e.g. that on gloves,
were abandoned as unproductive; but the conclusion is irresistible that
the financial system suffered from over-complication and absence of
principle. In the period of his peace administration Pitt was prepared
to follow the teaching of _The Wealth of Nations_. The strain of a
gigantic war forced him and his successors to employ whatever heads of
taxation were likely to bring in funds without violating popular
prejudices. Along with taxation, debt increased. For the first ten years
the addition to it averaged £27,000,000 per annum, bringing the total to
over £500,000,000. By the close of the war period in 1815 the total
reached over £875,000,000, or a somewhat smaller annual increase--a
result due to the adoption of more effective tax forms, and particularly
the income tax. The progress of English trade was another contributing
agency towards securing higher revenue. The import of articles such as
tea advanced with the growing population; so that the tea duty of 96%
yielded in 1815 no less than £3,591,000. It is, however, true that by
the year just mentioned the tax system had reached its limit. Further
extension (except by direct confiscation of property) was hardly
possible. The war closed victoriously at the moment when its
prolongation seemed unendurable.

A particular aspect of the English financial system is its relation to
the organization of the finance of territories connected with the
English crown. The exchequer may be plausibly held to have been derived
from Normandy, and wherever territory came under English rule the
methods familiar at home seem to have been adopted. With the loss of the
French possessions the older cases of the kind disappeared. Ireland,
however, had its own exchequer, and Scotland remained a distinct
kingdom. The 18th century introduced a remarkable change. One of the
aims of the union with Scotland was to secure freedom of commerce
throughout Great Britain, and the two revenue systems were amalgamated.
Scotland was assigned a very moderate share of the land tax (under
one-fortieth), and was exempted from certain stamp duties. The attempt
to apply selected forms of taxation--custom duties (1764), stamp duties
(1765), and finally the effort to collect the tea duty (1773)--to the
American colonies are indications of a movement towards what would now
be called "imperialist" finance. The complete plan of federation for the
British empire, outlined by Adam Smith, is avowedly actuated by
financial considerations. Notwithstanding the failure of this movement
in the case of the colonies, the close of the century saw it successful
in respect to Ireland, though separate financial departments were
retained till after the close of the Napoleonic War and some fiscal
differences still remain. By the consolidation of the English and Irish
exchequers and the passage from war to peace, the years between 1815 and
1820 may be said to mark a distinct step in the financial development of
the country. The connected change in the Bank of England by the
resumption of specie payments supports this view. Moreover, the
political conditions in their influence on finance were undergoing a
revolution. The landed interest, though powerful at the moment, had
henceforth to face the rivalry of the wealthy manufacturing communities
of the north of England, and it may be added that the influence of
theoretic discussion was likely to be felt in the treatment of the
financial policy of the nation. Canons as to the proper system of
administration, taxation and borrowing come to be noticed by statesmen
and officials.

These influences may be followed out in their working by observing the
chief lines of adjustment and modification that followed the conclusion
of peace. Relieved from the extraordinary outlay of the preceding years,
the government felt bound to propose reductions. With commendable
prudence it was resolved to retain the income-tax at 5% (one-half of the
former rate), and to join with this reduction the removal of some war
duties on malt and spirits. Popular feeling against direct taxation was
so strong that the income-tax had to be surrendered _in toto_, a course
which seriously embarrassed the finances of the following years. For
over twenty-five years the income-tax remained in abeyance, to the great
detriment of the revenue system. Its revival by Peel (1842), intended as
a temporary expedient, proved its services as a permanent tax: it has
continued and expanded considerably since. Both the excise and customs
at the close of the war were marked by some of the worst defects of a
vicious kind of taxation. The former had the evil effect of restricting
the progress of industry and hampering invention. The raw materials and
the auxiliary substances of industry were in many cases raised in price.
The duties on salt and glass specially illustrated the bad results of
the excise. New processes were hindered and routine made compulsory. The
customs duties were still more restrictive of trade; as they practically
excluded foreign manufactures, and were both costly and in many
instances unproductive of revenue. As G. R. Porter has shown, the really
profitable customs taxes were few in number. Less than a score of
articles contributed more than nineteen-twentieths of the revenue from
import duties. The duties on transactions, levied chiefly by stamps,
were ill-graded and lacking in comprehensiveness. From the standpoint of
equity the ground for criticism was equally plain. The great weight of
taxation fell on the poorer classes. The owners of land escaped giving
any return for the property that they held under the state, and other
persons were not taxed in proportion to their abilities, which had been
long recognized as the proper criterion.

The grievance as to distribution has been modified, if not removed, by
the great development of (1) the income-tax, (2) the "death" or
inheritance duties. Beginning at the rate of 7d. per pound (1842-1854),
the income-tax was raised to 1s. 4d. for the Crimean War, and then
continued at varying rates; reduced to 2d. in 1874, it rose to 5d., then
in 1894 to 8d., and by 1909 appeared to be fixed as a minimum at 1s., or
5% on income from property. The yield per penny on the £ has risen
almost uninterruptedly. From £710,000 in 1842, it now exceeds
£2,800,000, though the exemptions and abatements are much more
extensive. In fact, all incomes of £3 per week are absolutely free (£160
per annum is the precise exemption limit), and an income of £400 derived
from personal exertion pays less than 5½d. per pound, or 2¼%. The great
productiveness of the tax is equally remarkable. From £5,600,000 in 1843
(with a rate of 7d.) the return rose to £32,380,000 in 1907-1908, having
been at the maximum of £38,800,000 in 1902-1903, with a tax rate of 6¼%.
The income-tax thus supplies about one-fifth of the total revenue, or
one-fourth of that obtained by taxation. Several fundamental questions
of finance are connected with the taxation of income and have been dealt
with by English practice. Small incomes claim lenient treatment; and, as
mentioned above, this leniency means in England complete freedom. Again,
earned incomes appear to represent lower ability to pay than unearned
ones. Long refused on practical grounds (as by Gladstone and Lowe), the
concession of an abatement of 25% on earned incomes of £2000 and under
was granted in 1907. The question whether savings should be exempt from
taxation as income has (with the exception of life insurance premiums)
been decided in the negative. Allowances for depreciation and cost of
repairs are partially recognized. Far more important than these special
problems is the general one of increased tax rates on large incomes. Up
to 1908-1909 the tax above the abatement limit of £700 remained
strictly proportional; but opinion showed a decided tendency in favour
of extra rates or a "super tax" on incomes above an assigned amount
(e.g. £5000), and this was included in the budget of 1909-1910 (see
INCOME-TAX).

In close relation with the income-tax is the estate duty, with its
adjuncts of Legacy and Succession Duties. After Pitt's failure to carry
the succession duty in 1796, no change was made till Gladstone's
introduction in 1853 of a duty on land and settled property parallel to
the legacy duty on free personality. Apart from certain minor
alterations, the really vital change was the extension in 1894 of the
old Probate Duty into a comprehensive impost (entitled the Estate Duty)
applicable to all the possessions of a deceased person. This
"Inheritance Tax"--to give it its scientific title--operates as a
complementary property tax, and is thus an addition to the contribution
from incomes derived from large properties. By graduation the charges on
large estates in 1908-1909 (before the proposal for further increase in
1909-1910) came to 10% on £1,000,000, and reached the maximum of 15% at
£3,500,000. From the several forms of the "Inheritance Taxes" the
national revenue gained £14,500,000, with 4½ millions as a supplementary
yield for local finance. The immense expansion of direct taxation is
evident on comparing 1840 with 1908. In the former year the Probate and
legacy duties brought in about one million; the other direct taxes, even
including the "House duty," did not raise the total to £3,000,000. In
1908 the direct taxation of property and income supplied £51,500,000, or
one-third of the total receipts as against less than one-twentieth in
1840.

But though this wider employment of direct taxation--a characteristic of
European finance generally--reduced the _relative_ position of the
taxation of commodities, there was a growth in the absolute amount
obtained from this category of duties. There were also considerable
alterations, the result of changes in the views respecting fiscal
policy. At the close of the Great War the excise duties were at first
retained, and even in some cases increased. After some years reforms
began. The following articles amongst others were freed from charge:
salt (1825); leather and candles (1830); glass (1845); soap (1853); and
paper (1860). The guiding principles were: (1) the removal of raw
materials from the list of goods liable to excise, (2) the limitation of
the excise to a small number of productive articles, with (3) the
placing of the greater part (practically nearly the whole) of this form
of taxation on alcoholic drinks. Apart from breweries and distilleries,
the excise had little field for its work. The large revenue of
£35,700,000 in 1907-1908 was derived one-half from spirits
(£17,700,000), over one-third from beer, while most of the remainder was
obtained from business taxation in the form of licences, the raising of
which was one of the features of the budget in 1909. As a feeder of the
revenue the excise might be regarded as equal to the income-tax, but
less to be relied on in times of depression. Valuable as were the
reforms of the excise after 1820, they were insignificant as compared
with the changes in the customs. The particular circumstances of English
political life have led to perhaps undue emphasis being placed on this
particular branch of financial development. Between 1820 and 1860 the
customs system was transformed from a highly complicated arrangement of
duties, pressing with severity on nearly all foreign imports, into a
simple and easily understood set of charges on certain specially
selected commodities. All favours or preferences to home or colonial
producers disappeared. Expressed in financial terms, all duties were
imposed "for revenue only," and estimated in reference to their
productiveness. An assimilation between the excise and customs rates
necessarily followed. The stages of the development under the guidance
of (1) Huskisson, (2) Peel, and (3) Gladstone are commonly regarded as
part of the movement for Free Trade; but the financial working of the
alteration is understood only by remembering that the duties removed by
"tens" or by "hundreds" were quite trivial in yield, and did not involve
any serious loss to the revenue. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of
the English customs of the 19th century was the steadiness of the
receipts. In spite of trade depressions, commercial crises and sweeping
changes in rates, the annual revenue in the period 1815-1900 only varied
between £19,000,000 and £24,000,000; though, on balance, duties
amounting to £30,000,000 were remitted. The potential resources of this
branch of revenue were made evident in the rapid rise of the yield by
the new taxation imposed for the South African War (1899-1902). In
consequence of this increase the customs became equal to the excise in
return, and, combined, they collected over £60,000,000 annually from the
consumption of commodities. They accordingly afforded a counterpoise to
the burden put on income and property, or, more accurately speaking,
they obtained due, or somewhat more than due, contribution from the
smaller incomes, particularly those of the working class.

The exemption of raw materials and food; the absence of duties on
imported, as on home manufactures; the selection of a small number of
articles for duty; the rather rigorous treatment of spirits and tobacco,
were the salient marks of the English fiscal system which grew up in the
19th century. The part of the system most criticised was the very narrow
list of dutiable articles. Why, it was asked, should a choice be made of
certain objects for the purpose of imposing heavy taxation on them? The
answer has been that they were taken as typical of consumption in
general and were easily supervised for taxation. Moreover, the sumptuary
element is introduced by the policy of putting exceptionally heavy
duties on spirits and tobacco, with lighter charges on the less
expensive wines and beers. Facility of collection and distribution of
taxation over a larger class appear to be the grounds for the inclusion
of the tea and coffee duties, which are further supported by the need
for obtaining a contribution of, roughly speaking, over half the tax
revenue by duties on commodities. The last consideration led, at the
beginning of the 20th century, to the sugar tax and the temporary duties
on imported corn and exported coal.

As a support to the great divisions of income-tax, Death Duties, Excise
and Customs, the stamps, fees and miscellaneous taxes are of decided
service. A return of £9,000,000 was secured by stamp duties.

In recent years the so-called "non-tax" revenue largely increased, owing
to the extension of the postal and telegraphic services. The real gain
is not so great, as out of gross receipts of £22,000,000 over
£17,500,000 is absorbed in expenses, while the carriage of ordinary
letters seems to be the only profitable part of these services. Crown
lands and rights (such as vintage charges) are of even less financial
value.

One cardinal principle of the greatest English finance ministers has
been the avoidance of deficits or undue surpluses. Gladstone's
inheritance of doctrine from Peel "was to estimate expenditure
liberally, to estimate revenue carefully, to make each year pay its own
expenses, and to take care that your charge is not greater than your
income." This method of treatment requires that taxation shall be
productive in yield, and that it shall be so elastic as to admit of
expansion, a function specially assigned to the income-tax. It may also
be said to involve due care in the treatment of the national resources.
The reaction of ill-chosen taxes on industry is a hindrance to their
productiveness and their growth.

  AUTHORITIES.--The constitutional historians--Stubbs, Gneist,
  Hallam--deal with the legal and constitutional aspects of finance.
  Special financial histories are: Sir J. Sinclair, _History of the
  Public Revenue of the British Empire_ (3 vols., 3rd ed., London,
  1803); S. Dowell, _History of Taxation and Taxes in England_ (4 vols.,
  2nd ed., London, 1888); Schanz, _Englische Handelspolitik_ (2 vols.,
  Leipzig, 1881), and H. Hall, _History of the Customs Revenue of
  England_ (2 vols., London, 1885), are valuable for the earlier
  periods. W. Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_ (2
  vols., Cambridge, 1903-1907); H. O. Meredith, _Economic History of
  England_ (London, 1908), devote sections to finance. A. Smith, _Wealth
  of Nations_ (1776), Tooke and Newmarch, _History of Prices_ (6 vols.,
  London, 1837-1856), give financial details. G. R. Porter, _Progress of
  the Nation_ (3rd ed., London, 1851); Sir S. Northcote, _Twenty Years
  of Financial Policy_ (London, 1862); S. Buxton, _Finance and Politics_
  (2 vols., London, 1888); J. R. McCulloch, _Taxation and Funding_ (3rd
  ed., London, 1863); W. M. J. Williams, _The King's Revenue_ (London,
  1908), for 19th-century finance.     (C. F. B.)











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