El centro de acopio

I t has been argued in Chapter IV th at the Corporation did not open i t s doors to o u ts id e r s a f t e r the new Charter o f 1819, nor did th e number o f tradesm en e n te r in g i t s ranks v i s i b l y in c r e a se . The merchants remained dom inant, even though th ere was a con sid erab le in flu x o f a tto r n ie s a ft e r 1 8 1 9* Yet in th e s e years o f economic un certain ty and Corporate indebtedness th e number o f decision-m aking b odies grew. The Lancaster Improvement Act o f 1824- s e t up a body r e p r e se n ta tiv e o f a wider c r o s s -s e c tio n o f p rop ertied i n t e r e s t s in th e town than the C orporation. In a d d itio n th ere were

numerous ad hoc com mittees s e t up a t p u b lic m eetings to cope w ith a la r g e v a r ie t y o f problem s. On th ese committees the lead was taken by the

m erchants, but t h e ir s o c i a l membership was much wider than th a t o f the Common C o u n cil.

A s e l e c t i o n o f nin e committee l i s t s has been gleaned from th e G azette fo r th e p e r io d 1812-35 to provide an id ea o f the s o c ia l s ta tu s o f th ose w ith some say in m unicipal a f f a i r s but who were not members o f the

C o rp o ra tio n . Such committees were concerned with a mb-ltitude o f d if fe r e n t q u e s t io n s . Most were engaged in c o lle c t i n g money, whether fo r d is a s te r r e l i e f abroad (R u ssia 1812, Miramichi 1825) or fo r the more frequent demands o f supplem entary poor r e l i e f in L ancaster, as in 1819 uud 1830. Other

com m ittees whose membership was noted were th ose e sta b lis h e d fo r economic e n t e r p r is e s such as th e Lancaster Banking Company o f 1826, and fo r drawing up p e t i t i o n s to Parliam ent on the Corporation on such m atters as the

fu tu r e o f th e County A s s iz e s , or th e lig h t in g and p o lic in g o f the town. They d id not in clu d e the members o f e ith e r o f the two s ta tu to r y b o d ies, th e P o rt Commission and th e Improvement Commission, or th e committee o f th e P i t t Club, a l l o f which bod ies were made up e x c lu s iv e ly o f members o f th e C orporation , merchants and n o ta b le s .

TABLE

1812-35

N o n -C o u n cilo r Com m ittee Men

S o c ia l Comp o s itio n o f D e c is io n - M s l^ 1

Gent. M ercht./M fr. Trade/Craft

2 15 13 ( & ) ( ^

3

37

(37*0

8

The above t a b l e compares th e f u l l group o f Councilmen in th e y e a r s 18 1 1 -3 5 w ith a sam ple o f committeemen who a t no s ta g e were members o f th e Common C o u n c il. There were s i g n i f i c a n t l y more in th e t r a d e /c r a f t c a teg o r y among t h e com m ittee men than among th e Common Councilmen. Of th e t r a d e / c r a f t c a t e g o r y among th e com m ittee members th er e were th r e e g r o c e r s , fou r w o o lle n d r a p e r s , a c o a l m erchant, s t a t io n e r , in n k eep er, f lo u r merchant and c h e e s e f a c t o r and a t o b a c c o n is t . S im ila r ly th e 'g e n tlem en 1 and

' p r o f e s s i o n a l ' c a t e g o r ie s were fa r s tr o n g e r in th e C orporation than among t h e o u t s i d e r s . A l l th e p r o f e s s io n a l men i d e n t i f i e d a s com m ittee members b u t n o t Councilm en were o f low er s t a t u s than t h e ir c o u n ter p a rts in th e S e l e c t B o d y . Whereas th e tw enty Councilmen in clu d ed tw e lv e a t t o r n i e s , fo u r s u r g e o n s and a m ixture o f c le r g y , o r g a n is t s and gao 1- k e e p e r s , th e f i v e com m ittee members in c lu d e d no a t t o r n i e s , th r e e su rg eo n s, a c o l l e c t o r o f cu stom s and a b a n k e r 's c le r k .

The number o f D is s e n te r s in th e m erca n tile/m a n u fa ctu rin g group s u g g e s ts t h a t w h ile n o n -A n g lica n s were n ot members o f th e o ld C o rp oration , t h e ir i n f l u e n c e and a u t h o r it y were o f t e n sou ght f o r com m ittees o f primary m u n ic ip a l im p o rta n ce. T h is was e s p e c i a l l y tr u e o f th e w ealth y Quaker f a m i l i e s , whose w ea lth and in f lu e n c e in th e town and whose fa m ily and com m ercial t i e s o u t s id e i t made them in d is p e n s a b le to any major m u n icip al u n d e r ta k in g . 2 I t i s n o t s u r p r is in g to f in d th e freq u en t appearance o f th e C r o s f i e l d s , th e Quaker sugar r e f i n e r s , who mdved to L iv e r p o o l m th e 1830' s . G eorge C r o s f ie ld (175^ -1820) was on th e com m ittee to r a i s e funds fo r R u ssia i n 1 8 1 2 , f i r s t s e c r e ta r y and t r e a s u r e r o f th e L a n ca ster Board o f H ea lth in 1 8 1 5 , and on th e com m ittee s e t up to a d m in iste r emergency poor r e l i e f

i n L a n c a s t e r i n 1 8 1 9 . H is s o n Jam es was a p p o i n t e d t o t h e M ir a m ic h i r e l i e f c o m m it te e i n 1825 an d t o t h e A s s i z e c o m m it te e o f t h e same y e a r . He was a f o u n d e r o f t h e L a n c a s t e r B a n k in g Company, s u b s c r i b i n g t h i r t y s h a r e s , and was a member o f t h e c o m m it te e o f b o t h t h e M e c h a n i c s ' I n s t i t u t e and t h e A u x i l i a r y B i b l e d o c i e t y . A n o th e r f a m i l y o f i m p o r t a n t ,pin k e r m e r c h a n t s , t h e D o c k r a y s , w ere s i m i l a r l y w e l l r e p r e s e n t e d , a s w ere a l s o t h e A r m s t r o n g s , t h e U n i t a r i a n s i l k s p i n n e r s . ’

fh e s t r o n g r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f l e s s w e a l t h y b u s i n e s s m e n i m p l i e s t h a t c o m m itte e work was a means o f e x e r c i s i n g p e r s o n a l i n f l u e n c e n o t o n l y f o r t h e d i s s e n t e r s , b u t a l s o f o r th e s m a l l e r t r a d e s m e n . I t h a s a l r e a d y b e e n s e e n how t h e d i s s e n t e r s j o i n e d i*. t h e s o c i a l a c t i v i t i e s o f t h e C o r p o r a t i o n f a m i l i e s . F o r t h e l e s s e r t r a d e s m e n such o o o r t u n i t i e s o f c o n s o r t i n ' - w i t h t h e e l i t e or. iy e x i s t e i i n s u c h c o m m it te e wo^k • oven t h e r e , t h e r e was a d i s t i n c t i o n bevw -en t h o s e c o m m i t t e e s e x c l u s i v e l y r e s e r v e d f o r t h e w e a l t h y t r a d e s m e n anii t h o s e t-irown o: < n to a l l r ' r o p e r t y - o w n o r s ho w ev er s m a l l . C o m m itte e s i n c h a r g e o f s u c h m a t t e r s a s p o l i c i n g o r l i g h t i n g w ere manned m a i n l y by

■ s i c s f - ‘01 u r - r s an - m e r c h a n t s w i t h one o r two p r o f e s s i o n a l men an d tr a d e s m e n

to a d d s i v e r s i ty r a c a - r 1‘nan d e m o cracy to t h e i r m e m b e rs h ip . P o o r r e l i e f

commi t t e e . s w ere much larg**r a n d r e p r e s e n t e d a c r o s s - s e c t i o n o f t h e o r o p e r t y - ownvrs f r o t . th e e n t r y to t h e 1 e s s e r t r a d e s m e n - t h e l a t t e r c o m p r i s i n g

m a in ly T O 'e r . s and d r a p e r s . < e l i e f c o m m i t t e e s w ere t h u s com posed o f a f u n c t i o n a l a L ia n c e b e tw e e n t h o s e who c o u l d a f f o r d to d o n a t e s u b s t a n t i a l suns o f money and t h o s e who woulu be r a i d t o p r o v i d e r e l i e f i n k i n d a n d who, a l o n g w i t h t h e c l e r g y -and m e d i c a l men, 'would s u p e r v i s e i t s d i s t r i b u t i o n .

fhe m ost ' d e m o c r a t i c ' c o m m i t t e e s w ere n a t u r a l l y t h o s e w h ich s u p p l i e d th e n e e d s o f t h e t r a d e s m e n . L h e r e a s r e l i e f c o m m i t t e e s h a d a r e s p o n s i b i l i t y to th e h o l e co m m u n ity , t h e c o m m i t t e e s o f t h e H e c h a n i c s ' I n s t i t u t e a n d th e T em p eran ce d o c i e t y w ere o n l y r e s o o n s i b l e t o t h e i r m em bers. C om m ittee membership a t t h i s l e v e l r e q u i r e d l e s s s o c i a l i m p o r t a n c e . 3uch management