IX. FROM THE PAVING COMMISSION.
1778 TO 1835.
The introduction of the Paving Commission in 1778 was a conclusive proof that Dover was in a very bad way in respect to its sanitary arrangements and general local government. Nothing could have been more distasteful to the old governing clique than to let in forty outsiders, some of whom had been their keenest critics, to take part in the government of the Town. But the dose had to be swallowed. The streets were narrow and crooked; there was no town drainage except what emptied directly into the river or the docks. The surface of the streets was unpaved, their general form being that of a gutter with a channel for the rainfall down the middle. Other towns, which had been in an equally bad condition owing to the inability of old Corporations to carry out sanitary reform, had applied to Parliament for the appointment of local governing bodies called Paving Commissioners, endowed with statutory powers, and Dover was bound to follow suit, or sacrifice the pros pect, then coming into view, of making seaside attractions a source of benefit to the town. Such were the causes which led to the promotion of the Dover Paving Acts.
1777 Matthew Kennett (213)
1778 Thomas Stringer (214)
(213) Matthew Kennett took the leading part in framing the Dover Paving Act of 1778, vrhich became law during his Mayoralty.
(214) Thomas Stringer was the first of the Stringer family who made a prominent figure in Dover. His residence was Castle Hill House. Victoria Park was then called Stringer's Field.
1779 John Latham
1780 T. B. Lane
1781 Henry Jelly
1782 Phineas Stringer (215)
(215) Phineas Stringer was a son of Thomas Stringer. He married the daughter of Richard Rouse, a former Mayor, and so inherited Mr. Rouse's country residence, Archer's Court.
1783 James Hammond
1784 James Gunman
1785 T. B. Lane
1786 Thomas Boyton (216)
(216) Thomas Boyton served in the Navy during the Jacobean Rebellion and was for some time a prisoner at Perth. After the Scottish War he became surveyor of Customs at Dover, which ofiBc^ he held in 1786, when he waa Mayor.
1787 Robert Thompson (217)
{217) Robert Thompson was Mayor but one year.
1788 John Latham
1789 James Gunman
1790 Henry Jelly
1791 Matthew Kennett (218)
(218) This Mathew Kennett was the son of Matthew Kennett who was Mayor in 1777.
1792 Robert Westfield (219)
1793 William King (220)
(219) Robert V/estfield, Mayor in 1792, had been Town Clerk. He was also Clerk to the Court of Brotherhood, and Clerk to the Dover Paving Commissioners.
(220) William King was a ship builder, his building yard being on the bsach where the South Eastern Railway Station now is. He built ships for the Passage, and a good many of the smaller ships that were in the actions that Nelson fought.
1794 T. B. Lane
1795 Thomas Mantell (221)
(221) Sir Thomas Mantell, who was Mayor six times between 1795 and 1824, was a Surgeon, born at Chilham. In early life he settled in Dover as a Surgeon, but ceased to practice in 1793 when he was appointed agent at this port for prisoners of war. After the War he held the post of .agent for the Mail Packets during the remainder of his life. He married Miss Oakley, a lady of literary ability. He was knighted for long services in connection with the Passage. He read the Riot Act when a body of smugglers came from Folkestone and the Marsh towns to liberate smugglers from Dover Gaol, which they succeeded in doing. He laid the founda tion stone of a new prison. He did his best to keep the town quiet when Queen Caroline landed at Dover in 1820, when there was groat papular excitement. His act, best remembered, was the laying of the foundation stone of the New Bridge (which is still called New Bridge) in June, 1800.
1796 Robert Finnis (222)
1797 William Knocker (223)
(222) Robert Finnis was a timber merchant, who bad his residence and timber yard at Finnis's Hill. He also had a timber yard where Camden Crescent now is.
(223) William Knocker was Mayor four times between 1797 and 1832. During his first Mayoralty in 1798 the men of Dover wore formed into eight Volunteer Companies, and William Knocker, the Mayor, was the Captain of one of them.
1798 William King
1799 Thomas Mantell
1800 T. B. Lane
1801 George Stringer (24)
(224) George Stringer was Mayor at the time of the Peace Proclamation m May, 1802, and had a grand illuminated trans parency shown in front of his house on Castle Hill exhibiting the figure of Peace.
1802 Williarr Knocker
1803 Jonathan Osborne (225)
(225) Jonathan Osborn was an iron founder. In the year 1800, when the Three Gun Battery was dismantled, he bought and melted down the historic three guns.
1804 Robert Walker (226)
1805 Phineas Kennett (227)
(226) Robert Walker was the senior partner of Dolphin Lane Brewery. Towards the end of his first Mayoralty, in August, 1805 the soldiers Regulare and Volunteers stood to arms for three or four nights along the shore waiting to resist the Invasion, which did not occur.
(227) Phineas Kennett was Mayor when the guns, twenty-four and twelve pounders were landed at Dover to arm the Martello Towers, which were then being erected round the coast from Folke stone to Lydd.
1806 Robert Hunt (228)
(227) Robert Hunt, during his first Mayoralty, read the Riot Act, when a mob tried to release smugglers from the Court Hall. The Mayor committed the smugglers and sent them under an escort of Dragoons to Newgate Prison.
1807 William King
1808 Edward Thompson (229)
(229) Edward Thompson had a quiet time as Mayor, but he was a Jurat in 1S20 when the Dover rioters broke open the Dover Gaol, and, was wounded by a stone thrown while the Riot Act was being read.
1809 Thomas Mantell
1810 George Dell (230)
(230) George Dell was a surgeon, son of Captain Dell, of the Mail Packet Service.
1811 Edward Thompson
1812 Thomas Mantell
1813 James Walker (231)
1814 Henshaw Latham (232)
(231) James Walker was Mayor in 18 14, when the Allied Sovereigns landed at ArchclifE Fort at the end of the rei-insular War. He was the managing partner of Messrs. Walker's Dolphin Lane Brewery.
(232) Plenshaw Latham was Mayor three times. He was the managing partner of Latham's Bank. In his first Mayoralty he organised a general subscription for the wounded and widows of the slaia in the Battle of Wuterloo.
1815 George Stringer
1816 Jonathan Osborne
1817 William Knocker
1818 Robert Walker
1819 Thomas Mantell
1820 George Dell
1821 Henshaw Latham
1822 John Jeken (233)
(233) John Jeken was Mayor when the foundation stone of the York Sll-eet Almshouses was laid, the Mayor being the Master of the Almshouse Charity.
1823 Jos. Webb Pilcher (234)
(234) Joseph Webb Pilcher presided at the first public meeting held to promote the construction of the South-Eastern Railway from London lO Dover. In his last Mayoralty the Corporation purchased the Maison Dieu to convert it into a Town Hall.
1824 Thomas Mantell
1825 John Finnis (235)
(235) John Finnis, Mayor in 1825, was a timber merchant and builder, son of Robert Finnis, a former Mayor. By a local Act of Parliament passed in his Mayoralty, the Corporation obtained power to remove the election of Members of Parliament and Mayors from St. Mary's Church to the Court Hall.
1826 George Stringer
1827 John Shipdem (236)
(236) John Shipdem was Mayor in the years 1827 and 1835. At the end of his second Mayoralty he handed " the badge of his place " to a new Mayor selected under the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. John Shipdem, who resided at the Round House. Town wall Street, had been a Dover official nearly fifty years. He was Town Clerk from 1791 to 1826, and Register of the Harbour from 1806 until his death in 1840.
1828 Mattliew Kennett (237)
1829 H. P. Bniyers (238)
(237) Matthew Kennett, chosen Mayor in 1828, was the last of the Kennett family in the Mayoralty.
(238) Henry Pringle Bruyers was a French Canadian, and married Jane Laurie, daughter of Mr. John Minet Factor, sen., and he was a captain of one of the Dover Mail Packets.
1830 Henshaw Latham
1831 John Coleman (239)
(239) John Coleman was a surgeon residing in Coleman's Pier Mansion in Strond Street. He was Mayor when the Parliamentary Reform Act came into force, and disfranchised 800 out-dwelling freemen.
1832 William Knocker
1833 J. W. Pilcher
1834 William Cocke (240)
(240) William Cocke was Mayor six times. He was so popular amongst the working people of Dover that after his last Mayoralty he was presented with a £50 gold watch and an illuminated address raised by a shilling subscription.
1835 John Shipdem