Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

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shore, point, or strand of the sea, called Benpwdran, on
the eastern part of the same port, and so far as the
castle of Carrigrohan, on the western side of the said
city, and in all towns, pills, creeks, burgs, and strands
in and to which the sea ebbs and flows in length, and
breadth within the aforesaid two points, called Rewrawne
and Benowdran:” it then releases during pleasure all
arrears of the rent of 80 marks, and grants that the
corporation,, in lieu thereof, shall in future render at
the exchequer 20lb, of wax. Hen. VII. granted a charter
of inspeximus; ajid Hen. VIII., in the 1st of his reign,
gave a confirmatory charter, and in the 28th another,
which also conferred; upon the mayor the privilege of
having a sword, carried before him, the sword-bearer to
wear “a remarkable cap” (which ceremony is still ob-
served), and granted him the custody of the castle.
Edw. VI., in the 3rd of his reign, granted a charter of
confirmation; and in the 18th of Eljz. the mayor, re-
corder, and bailiffs, and the four senior aldermen who
had served the office of mayor, were constituted keepers
of the peace within the city both by land and by water;
and they, or three of them, of whom the mayor and
recorder were to be two, were appointed justices of oyer
and terminer and general gaol delivery, with power to
enquire into all felonies, trespasses,&c., within the city
and liberties’, this charter also contained a grant to the
corporation of all fines and amercements. The charter
of the 6th of Jas. I., after granting that Cork should
be a free city, and changing the style of the corporation
to that of mayor, sheriffs, and commonalty, with power
to make by-laws for the regulation of the municipality,
constituted the city and a surrounding district to be
marked out by commissioners a distinct county, over
which the powers of the justices of the peace for the
city were extended, and released the corporation from
their annual payment of 20lb. of wax: this charter also
granted permission to hold two fairs with all tolls, &c,
and created a corporation of the staple with privileges
equal to those of London or Dublin. In the 7th of
Chas. I. a confirmatory charter was granted, which,
after declaring that justices of the county of Cork
should have no jurisdiction within the city, further
directs that each mayor, on retiring from office, shall
be an alderman, and that all the aldermen shall be
members of the common council, provided the number
do not exceed 24: it also empowers the corporation to
elect a town-clerk, clerk of the Crown, and public
notary; and likewise six aldermen of the ward, who
should have power to determine all causes not exceed-
ing 40s. arising within their respective wards. By the
charter granted in the 9th of Geo. II. all the aldermen,
immediately on retiring from the office of mayor, were
made justices of the peace within the county of the
city: the same monarch, in the 21st of his reign, grant-
ed another charter, which is the last given to the corpo-
ration, authorising them to hold two fairs annually at a
place called the Lough, within the liberties, and to take
the usual tolls. Under the authority of these charters a
series of by-laws passed in 1721, for electing the officers
and otherwise regulating the affairs of the corporation,
the different classes in which are the mayor, sheriffs,
aldermen, burgesses, and commonalty or freemen. The
mayor is. chosen on the first Monday in July, nominally
by a majority of the freemen, according to a form ex-
pressed in one of the by-laws, from among the resident
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burgesses or persons who have served the office of sheriff,
of whom five, whose names have been drawn from, a
hat containing the names of all entitled to be elected,
are put in nomination; but this right of the freemen
to choose the mayor is rendered almost nugatory by an
association called the “Friendly Club,” consisting of
about 500 of the freemen, of whom more than 300 are
resident, by one of whose rules the members are bound
to vote for one of the two senior burgesses of the five
whose; names are drawn, The sheriffs are elected on the
same day as the mayor, by and from the freemen; but
the interposition of the Friendly Club operates in like
manner as in the election of mayor. The aldermen are
such members of the corporation as have served the
office of mayor, and are unlimited in number; six of
them, elected by the freemen at large in a court of
D’Oyer hundred held for the purpose on a vacancy
occurring, are called “Aldermen of the Ward.” The
burgesses are those who have served the office of sheriff,
and are also unlimited in number; and the common
council is composed of the mayor, recorder, two sheriffs,
and aldermen, not exceeding in all 24, and should they
not amount to that number, the deficiency is made up
by election from among the burgesses. All by-laws, and
orders for the payment of money, letting and disposing
of the corporate property, and the admission of free-
men, must originate in the common council, and are
afterwards confirmed in the court of D’Oyer hundred.
Besides the recorder, the assistant officers of the cor-
poration are a common speaker (who represents the
commonalty and attends the meetings of the council,
where he is permitted to sit and hear the deliberations,
but has no vote), town-clerk, chamberlain, clerks of the
Crown, peace, and council, a water and deputy water
bailiffs, sword-bearer, two serjeants-at mace, assay-
master, weighmasters, two coroners, and other inferior
officers; the principal of these are elected by the free-
men at large, in a court of D’Oyer hundred. The ap-
pointment of the mayor, sheriffs, recorder, and town-
clerk is subject to the approbation of the lord-lieute-
nant and privy council. The freedom is inherited by the
first-born sons of freemen, and obtained by apprentice-
ship of seven years to a freeman and by grace especial
of the common council, subject, in the last case, to the
approval of the court of D’Oyer hundred, except as
regards persons of distinction who may happen to be in
the city, and to whom, the council think fit to present
the freedom. The city first sent members to the Irish
parliament in 1374,. but representatives who appear to
have served in London were chosen previously. The
right of election was vested in the freemen of the city,
and in the 40s. freeholders and £50 leaseholders of the
county of the city, of whom the freemen, in 1831,
amounted in number to 2331, and the freeholders to
1545, making a total of 3876; but by the act of the
2nd of Wm. IV., cap. 88 (under which the city, from
its distinguished importance, retains its privilege of
returning two representatives to the Imperial parliament,
and the limits of the franchise, comprising the entire
county of the city, remain unaltered), the non-resident
freemen, except within seven miles, have been disfran-
chised, and the privilege of voting at elections has been
extended to the £10 householders, and the £20 and £10
leaseholders for the respective terms of 14 and 20 years.
The number of voters registered up to Jan. 2nd, 1836,