Welsh Journals

The Borough Records of Montgomery. By J. D. K. LLOYD, M.A. The following schedule of the existing charters and records in the possession of the Corporation of Montgomery is printed by courtesy of The National Library of Wales, to which the documents were entrusted by the Corporation for repairs and binding in 1936. The collection which was sent to the Library comprises, as far as is known, all the existing records appertaining to the Old Corpor- ation. This body, consisting of the resident hereditary burgesses of the town, headed by two Capital Bailiffs, the High Bailiff" and the Low Bailiff (see an article by the present writer in M.C., vol. 44} was set up by a charter of Henry 3rd dated 1227 and was abolished by the Municipal Corporations Act in 1885, when the present elective Corporation came into existence. The only document included here which deals wiih the affairs of the present Corporation is the Charter of Incorporation of Queen Victoria, dated 31st August 1885: this has been placed amongst the older Charters. The original Charter of Henry 3rd, and Inspeximus, or con- firmatory, Charters of Edward 3rd, Richard 2nd, Henry 4th, Henry 5th, and Henry 6th, no longer exist. The Inspeximus Charter of Henry 4th dated 27th June, 1399, is printed with a translation in M.C., vol. 21, being copied from a Transcript of the Charters, Laws, Statutes and Customs of the Free Borough of the Town of Mont- gomery made in 1802 (see below p. 21), so that it appears that this charter was in existence as late as that year. There is now, however, no trace of it, and the surviving charters are as follows :­- 1. Henry 7th, dated 20th May, 1486. 2. Henry 8th, dated 16th June, 1536. 3. Elizabeth, dated 17th February, 1561/2. 4. Elizabeth, dated 19th February, 1561/2. 5. Charles 2nd, dated 28th June, 1670. The seals have unfortunately disappeared, with the exception of fragments of Nos. 1 and 4 and the greater part of No. 3, the last of which has been as far as possible repaired. The Charters themselves, however, are in an excellent state of preservation and have been