I[ f@ reiffne antiquarian anb - Cavan Library Service

VICE-SOVEREIGNS,The first mention of the appointment of a Vice-Sovereign occursin 1698, and from that date until 1743 they fairly frequently heldoffice. Between 1757 and 1815 an annual choice was made.Records of long service for a consecutive number of years are :-Mark Magrath, eighteen years-1757 to 1774 ; Robert Freeman,twenty-one years-1775 to 1795 ; and Samuel Burrowes, twenty -two years-1796 to 1817. William Burrowes was elected in 1818,and continued in the ofice (apparently until 1838 without reappointment)for twenty-three years to 1840.PORTREEVES.The Charter of Incorporation provided for the appointmentof, among other officers, two Portreeves. Every year from1696 to 1815, two gentlemen (on,e only in 1702) were appointedto the position. The holders of the office were almost always theClements's and the Nesbitts. Two examples of long service will bementioned. Nathaniel Clements and Cosby Nesbitt acted jointlyas Portreeves from 1744 to 1757, a period of fourteen years. Alsoacting jointly, Theophilus Clements and Thomas Nesbitt occu-,pied the post for thirteen years, from 1790 to 1802.DEPUTY PORTREEVES.The office of Portreeve was, at least from the beginning of thesecond quarter of the eighteenth century, purely honorary. Theduties of the post-apparently they concerned the Borough LawCourt-were, it would seem, delegated to one Deputy Portreevefrom the year 1721, where the first record of such appointmentoccurs. From 1721 to 1732, a Deputy Portreeve was appointed,not regularly, but with fair frequency. Excepting the year 1781(for which no name appears), the office was never vacant betweenthe years 1734 and 1813. It is interesting to note that for a periodof twenty-one years (1740 to 1760) John Davis was the DeputyPortreeve. After that, between 1761 and 1840, the position wasoccupied exclusively by men named Stewart (or Steuart orStuart).BURGESSES;Burgesses to the number of twelve were among the members ofthe Corporation. In the Corporation book (period, 1680 to 1840),the earliest record of the election of a Burgess appears in 1699. Thelast election took place in 1838, when nine vacancies were filled.Seemingly,, the office was a life one. As a general rule, an electionwas held only for the appointment of a new Burgess in the room ofif.