Legal wranglings at the town hall
IN BUGLE 1344 we told the story of Stourbridge’s efforts to have itself raised from an urban district to a municipal borough, thanks to a rare document loaned to us by David Cookson of Amblecote – an original copy of the 1911 petition to the king.
Now we can follow up that story with another rare old document, the report on the official enquiry that was held into whether Stourbridge should be granted its new status or not. The 106-year-old booklet belongs to John Taylor of Kidderminster.
Technically, the power to change the status of a town rests not with the government but with the monarch and the Privy Council. That is why the people of Stourbridge made their “humble petition” to “the King’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council” in 1911. However, it was no mere formality and the Privy Council ordered an enquiry into the matter, to see if there was enough support in the town for the change and to determine if Stourbridge could afford and had the infrastructure for the increase in status and the increased duties that went with it.
Town Hall
The enquiry was to be conducted by the lawyer Thomas Reginald Colquhon Dill and sat at Stourbridge Town Hall for three days, September 24-26, 1912. In the mornings Colquhon Dill made tours of the district, visiting Wordsley, Brierley Hill, Quarry Bank, Cradley Heath and Pedmore, and inspecting the Stourbridge gas works, grammar school and public buildings. In the afternoons he took evidence from those for and against becoming a borough in sessions at the Town Hall.
Those supporting incorporation were represented by two barristers, William Marshall Freeman and W.H. Riley-pearson, while Mr Cave was counsel for the No-incorporation Committee.
The Stourbridge Incorporation Committee was made up of members of the present Urban District Council and the Stourbridge Chamber of Trade. Its chairman was Harry Evers Palfrey, a longserving councillor and alderman, while the vice-chairman was Arthur Hatfield Moody and its secretary was William W. Goddard, who was also the Town Clerk.
Against
The leading figures against incorporation were Leonard J. Cook, a councillor and chairman of the Noincorporation Committee, and Walter Jones, director of the Stourbridge firm of heating and hydraulic engineers Jones and Attwood.
Interestingly, the report booklet, which was taken from the reports published in the County Express, has photographs of all the leading figures in the pro-incorporation campaign and the witnesses called at the enquiry, but there are no pictures of anyone from the anti- side of the debate.
Both side had presented petitions for and against incorporation and the enquiry began with an address by the counsel for the proincorporation side. The first witnesses called were the borough surveyor, Frederick Woodward, the sanitary inspector, Arthur Kent, and the manager of Stourbridge Gas Works, Charles H. Webb. They all spoke of Stourbridge’s readiness to become a full borough.
The next witness was H.E. Palfrey and he was followed by Joseph Wooldridge, Chairman of Stourbridge Urban District Council. William R. Selleck, chairman of the water board was next and then it was the turn of businessman and Vice-chairman of the UDC, Samuel Fiddian, to give evidence. There was also evidence from local businessmen George Moody, Gainsborough Harward, Richard A. Blurton, H. Watson Smith, George Albert Short and F.C. Cooper, as well as J.E. Boyt, headmaster of the grammar school and then A.H. Moody.
The final testimony for incorporation was from Benjamin Fiddian, assistant clerk to the UDC, who spoke on the financial viability of the proposal.
The counsel for the No-incorporation Committee caused something of a stir by not calling its chairman to speak. Those who gave evidence against incorporation were Walter Jones, former UDC chairman Charles Herbert Collis and Mr Mytton of the Great Western Railway. Their main objection was a feared rise in rates.
The findings of the enquiry were for incorporation and the new borough status was granted to Stourbridge by King George V and the Privy Council on September 29, 1914.