The Town Clerks

IV. TOWN CLERKS. 

There is no record as to when a Town Clerk, or Common Clerk (as he was originally called) was first appointed for Dover; but the Office is older than the Dover Customal, which was compiled in 1356. The Customal says, : — " When a Mayor retires from office the Common Clerk retires also, and the new Mayor, with the Jurats and Commonalty, choose a Clerk, whose duty it is to keep a record of the acts and decrees of the Common Assemblies 3 and to prepare the charters for the transfer of town lands, as well as to keep a register of the tenants, sales and actions of distress." The Clerk's salary, in the Reign of Richard II., was forty shillings a year, with livery, and, in addition, he had fees, he being paid sixpence for a town land transfer. When the Common Council came into regular work, in late Tudor times, the Clerk's duties were increased, and the salary also, but it was never large. The Town Clerks, while recording other things, were modest as regards mentioning themselves, but the following is as complete a list of them as can be gleaned from the Dover Corporation books of entry : — 

1. Henry atte Wood was the Town Clerk from 1499 to the end of the Reign of Henry VII. 

2. Henry S'^iPvvoRrH was Common Clerk in Septem ber, 1509, and held the office about twenty years. 

3. John Elys appears in the records of the Mayor and Jurats as Common Clerk on the 22nd May, 1535. It is believed that he held the office a few years earlier and some time later. 

4. Lawrence Elvinden, as Common Clerk, was in office about 1538. His name appears as such in a deposition taken before the Mayor as having been present on Christmas Day, 1539, at dinner with the Mayor, Mr. John Bowles, and he swore that one of the guests, who was the Arch-Priest of St. Martin-le-Grand, made a certain declaration as to some of his property situated at Appledore, and that the Arch-Priest threw some claret wine over his right shoulder, a ceremony which indicated that what he then solemnly asserted he would abide by. 

5. Joseph Beverley was Common Clerk in 1541, and continued in the office until 1546. He was the compiler of manuscript, now in the British Museum, called "A Boke of the Acts and Decrees of the Common Assemblies passed during the Mayoralties of Thomas Collye for promoting good rule in Dover." This Town Clerk was subsequently a Jurat, and in the year 1558 he was chosen as a Burgess to represent the Corporation in Parliament. 

6. Roger Wood (otherwise Roger-atte-Wood) appears to have held the office of Town Clerk from 1546. In the year following his election as Town Clerk he had an exciting adventure which is recorded in a deposition made before the Mayor and Jurats on the 13th July, 1547. It appears that the Town Clerk and his wife, together with his brother, John Wood, a surgeon, and Captain John Cave, in command of one of the King's ships at Dover, went for an evening walk to Hougham to drink the health of Thomas Young, late of Calais, who had that day been married. When coming back to Dover the same evening, John Young, brother of the bridegroom, followed them with a drawn sword and desired to fight Roger W^ood, the Town Clerk. Mrs. Wood, who was carrying the Town Clerk's sword, handed it to her husband to defend himself, whereupon John Young, having suddenly struck at Roger Wood, Roger, as soon as he could get hold of his sword, struck back in self-defence. Both were hurt, but the Town Clerk had the best luck, for the surgeon and Captain Cave had to carry John Young on their backs to Dover, where, after lying six weeks, he died. The Mayor held an inquest, when the evidence was that the Town Clerk only fought in self-defence, so the matter ended. Roger Wood was more than a Common Clerk, for, being Clerk to the Bench of Jurats, he signed himself " Town Clerk and Recorder of Dover." After holding the office fifteen years he ended badly. During the first year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth he was imprisoned " for interlining the account of the butchers' tallow." This seems to have been a serious offence, and Roger Wood broke prison and flew from justice. There is, however, an entry in the Corporation minutes, 12th August, 1559, which indicated that the Corporation did not wish to be harsh towards bim, for they resolved " That Roger Wood, for his nauglity behaviour against the Mayor and Jurats, and for breaking prison, shall not only forfeit his freedom, but also shall pay a fine of jQio, and, furthermore, it is agreed if the said Roger Wood do not come in and purge himself with sufficient witnesses by the i8th day of August next, concerning the interUning of the record of the butchers' tallow, that the said Roger shall be discharged from his office without further delay." Roger Wood did not come in and purge himself, so his place was filled by another. 

7. Thomas Foxley, who took the office of Town Clerk in 1559, when Roger Wood absconded, was a Jurat, and he only acted as Town Clerk to the end of the current year. 

8. William Chermainton was a member j'of the Common Council, who was appointed Town Clerk near the end of December, 1559, and he held the office a little more than two years. 

9. Thomas Dawkes, appointed Town Clerk in 1562, held the office one year. His writing in the records during that time is the finest sample of penmanship in the Dover minute books. Thomas Dawkes was described as a yeoman. He built himself a house in King Street, which was afterwards known as the " Flying Horse Tavern." 

10. William Knight held the office of Town Clerk from 1563 to 1573. He was also Clerk to the Bench of Jurats, describing himself as " Town Clerk and Recorder of Dover." His writing is difficult to read. 

11. Thomas Knoit held the office of Common Clerk in 1573, for only one year. 

12. Edward ^.InctiELL, chosen Town Clerk in 1574, was an influential man in the Corporation, and was the leader of a party in the Comm .n Council who opposed the employ ment of Romney Marsh men in the making of the Great Pent. This gave offence to the Privy Council, and, after holding the office of Town Clerk for eight years, he was removed from office in 1582 by the influence of the Crown. 

13. William Vantwylder was appointed Town Clerk in 1582 by the wish of the Privy Council, but he was so opposed by the party who supported the late Town Clerk, Mr. Mitchell, that within the next year the Common Council were induced to dismiss Vantwylder from his office. 

14. John Goodwin was appointed Town Clerk by the Common Council in 1583. He was one of the " Mitchell party," and was very obnoxious to Sir Richard Barry, the Lieutenant of the Castle, and Sir Thomas Scott, who were then engaged, with a body of i,ooo men and 500 carts, buildmg the walls of the Great Pent. Owing to the way the workers were discouraged by the opposing party, John Goodwin, the Town Clerk, and Thomas Andrews, the Mayor, were removed from ofifice by the Privy Council. 

15. William Vantwylder, by the written mandate of the Privy Council, was again chosen Town Clerk in the latter part of the year 1583, and he continued to hold the office until Queen Elizabeth's Harbour Works were completed, he retiring in September, 1597. 

16. Thomas Harrison, who was appointed Town Clerk in 1597 by the same influence as William Vantwylder had been, retired in less than a year to make room for the next Town Clerk, who was a Castle official. 

17. George Fane, who was a member of a family who held sway at the Castle in the Reigns of Queen EHzabeth and James I., took the office of Town Clerk of Dover at the beginning of 1598, and held it until 1603. He was knighted at the Coronation of James I., was named in the Charter of Dover Harbour as one of the Lord Warden's As.sistants, and, a few years later, he was elected one of the Members of Parliament for Dover. 

18. Francis Raworth was appointed Town Clerk in the year 1603. The Raworths were lawyers in Dover from the time of Queen Elizabeth until after the Restoration. There were two Town Clerks of this family, who bore the same names. The name of Francis Raworth (the first) appears in the minutes of the proceedings in connection with the local proclamation of James L, and of the election of the first Mayor of Dover in that reign. The oldest Freemen's Roll, now in the possession of the Corporation, was compiled by this Town Clerk. 

19. Francis Rav.orth (the second) was the son of the former Town Clerk of the same name. He was also Registrar of the Cinque Ports Courts of Admiralty and Chancery. His father and he held the Town Clerkship fifty-five years. Being advanced in years, he resigned three years before the Restora tion, but he, being still a Jurat of the Corporation, in 1660, financed the fund for pro\iding the handsomely bound Bible which was presented to Charles H. by the Corporation on his landing at Dover. The Corporation, who were impoverished at that tiir.e, ordered that the money advanced by Mr. Raworth should be repaid as speedily as possible, but he died before the account was settled. 

20. William Stratfold, who succeeded Mr. Raworth as Town Clerk, in 1657, was a Puritan, and when the Cor porations Regulation Act was put in force, in 1661, he decHned to make and sign the declaration against the Solemn League and Covenant, therefore he was removed from the Town Clerkship in August, 1661. 

21. John Pepper, one of the Common Councillors at the Restoration, signed the declaration in July, 1661, and was appointed Town Clerk in the room of WilUam Stratfold on the 4th August, 1661. This Town Clerk seems to have been remarkable for force of character, which was manifested in the wider field of the Cinque Ports. The Court of Brotherhood appointed him their Solicitor to obtain the renewal of the Cinque Ports Charter from Charles II., and he was employed as the Ports' solicitor in several other matters of litigation that required a strong hand. In the early part of the year 1683 John Pepper died, just at a crisis when the Dover Corporation were fighting to retain their Charter, which the Privy Council desired them to surrender. The Corporation could not keep up the fight, so the Charter had to go. During this crisis Philip Yorke, a rising Dover lawyer, gave the Corporation some legal assistance, and on that account it has been supposed that he at that time was Town Clerk of Dover, but that was not so. Local feeling at that juncture would have favoured Philip Yorke as Town Clerk, he being stroligly opposed to the surrendering of the old Charter, but when it was surrendered and the new one granted, the power of electing a Town Clerk was transferred by that new Charter to the Privy Council, therefore Philip Yorke's friends had no power to elect him. Moreover , Philip Yorke was a very independent person. He had resigned his seat on the Common Council, and ever afterwards refused to have any thing to do with the Corporation. 

22. Thomas Russell entered on the office of Town Clerk in 1683, his name as Town Clerk being written in the new Charter of that year when it was granted by the Crown, so the Corporation had no voice in the matter. Thomas Russell held the office until his death in 1688. 

23. Paul Pepper was the next Town Clerk. On the 19th Januaiy, 1688, he presented a letter to the Mayor from James II., which stated that the Duke of Albermarle, by virtue of the Charter of Charles II., was, by one of the Clauses of that Charter, empowered to appoint the Town Clerk, but the Duke of Albermarle being beyond the seas, in his absence, the King in Council having heard a good character of Paul Pepper, had appointed him Town Clerk of Dover. Paul Pepper was unqualified for the ofhce, not being a member of the Common Council, but the Common Council immediately elected him and admitted him as Town Clerk. This Town Clerk only held the office nine months. On the 25th October, 16S8, the Charter of Charles 11., under which he was appointed, was abrogated by proclamation on the Accession of William III., and a new Town Clerk was then elected by the Corporation in accordance with the ancient usage. 

24. Thomas Bedingfield was, on the 29th October, 1688, elected Town Clerk in the room of Paul Pepper. He held the office sixteen years, resigning at the close of the year 1704. 

25. John Wellard was elected in the room of Thomas Bedingfield on the 9th January, 1705. He was of an old Dover family, a grandson of William Wellard, of the Cock Brewery, Strond Street. He held the Town Clerkship until the year 1718. 

26. Robert Wellard, a son of John Wellard, the previous Town Clerk, succeeded his father, and held the Town Clerkship twenty-six years. He was a Jurat, and in 1 741 was chosen Mayor, holding the two offices of Mayor and Town Clerk at the same time. He continued to be Town Clerk for three years after his Mayoralty. 

27. Alexander Wellard, son of Robert Wellard, the previous Town Clerk, held the ofiice nineteen years. He, too, was a Jurat, and was elected to the office of Mayor, in 1757, holding the two offices at the same time. 

28. Robert Westfield, cho.sen Town Clerk in 1764, held the office twenty-seven years. During his time the Dover Paving Commission was formed, and he was the first Clerk to the Commissioners. He lived ten years after his retirement, dying in 1801. 

29. John Shipdem, cho.sen Town Clerk in 1791, held the office thirty-five years. Part of that time he was the Register of Dover Harbour, which office he also held thirty five years. 

30. George William Ledger was elected Town Clerk in 1826, as the successor of his father-in-law, Mr. Shipdem. Mr. Ledger was the son of George Ledger, printer and pub lisher of Dover. He held the office nine years under the old Corporation and twelve years under the Town Council. He was appointed Clerk of the Peace in 1836, and he held the office until 1879. He also received compensation for loss of office as Clerk to the Magistrates under the old Corporation, of which office he was deprived by the Municipal Corpora tions Act. 

31. Joseph Walker, who was elected Town Clerk on the resignation of Mr. Ledger, was merely a stop-gap, and only held office for seven days. As soon as Mr. Baker Bass had resigned his seat as a member of the Town Council, Mr. Walker, who was the proprietor of the Dover Oil Mills, resigned the Town Clerkship, the majority of the Council having decided to elect Mr. Bass to that post. 

32. Thomas Baker Bass having resigned his seat as a Councillor for the Castle Ward, was elected Town Clerk on the 7th December, 1847, and he held the office until his death in i860. He compiled, on the authority of the Public Llealth Act and the Dover Paving Acts, a useful series of Dover bye-laws, which were in force for many years, but are now almost entirely out of date. During his term of office the Chamberlains' accounts, from the time of Henry VHI. to 1784, were collected and bound in seven volumes. 

33. Edward Knocker, as Town Clerk, succeeded Mr. Bass in i860. He was the son of Mr. William Knocker, who was Mayor four times between 1797 and 1832. Mr. Edward Knocker had been Clerk to the Paving Commission. He held the Town Clerkship six years, and afterwards was an Alder man and Mayor. Subsequently he interested himself in arranging the Borough Records, and held the office of Honorar>- Librarian to the Corporation until his death in 1884. 

34. Sir Wollaston Knocker was a Town Clerk from the beginning to the end of his Municipal career. He held no other off-ce in connection with the Corporation, with the exception of succeeding his father as the Hon. Librarian of the Corporation. His election as Town Clerk, as the suc cessor of his father, which took place on the 5th May, 1868, was unanimous, and he filled his place with credit and dis tinction until his death, on the 22nd September, 1907, he having held the office forty years. He not only held the office for the longest period on record, but he received the honour of knighthood, the first Town Clerk of Dover so honoured smce the Reign of James I. 

35. Reginald E. Knocker, the present Town Clerk, is the son of Sir Wollaston Knocker, and grandson of Mr. Edward Knocker, the two previous Town Clerks. Mr. Reginald Knocker was unanimously elected to succeed his father on the 9th October, 1907, he having previously had experience in the duties by acting as his father's deputy.