Municipal Corporations Act 1835

Royal commission

• North Midland: Richard Whitcombe and Alexander Edward Cockburn
• Eastern: George Long and John Buckle
• South Western: Henry Roscoe and Edward Rushton
• Southern: John Elliot Drinkwater and Edward John Gambier
• Western: Charles Austin and James Booth
• Midland: Peregrine Bingham and David Jardine
• Northern: Fortunatus Dwarris and Sampson Augustus Rambull
• North-Western: George Hutton Wilkinson and Thomas Jefferson Hogg
• South-Eastern: Thomas Flowers Ellis and Daniel Maude

Report

• The corporations were exclusive bodies with no community of interest with the town after which they were named.
• The electorate of some corporations was kept as small as possible.
• Some corporations merely existed as "political engines" for maintaining the ascendancy of a particular party.
• Members of corporations usually served for life and the corporate body was a self-perpetuating entity. Roman Catholics and Dissenters, although no longer disabled from being members, were systematically excluded.
• Vacancies rarely occurred and were not filled by well-qualified persons.
• Some close corporations operated in almost complete secrecy, sometimes secured by oath. Local residents could not obtain information on the operation of the corporation without initiating expensive legal actions.
• The duties of the mayor were, in some places, completely neglected.
• Magistrates were appointed by the corporations on party lines. They were often incompetent and did not have the respect of the inhabitants.
• Juries in many boroughs were exclusively composed of freemen. As the gift of freedom lay with the corporation, they were political appointees and often dispensed justice on a partisan basis.
• Policing in the boroughs was often not the responsibility of the corporation but of one or more bodies of commissioners. An extreme example was the City of Bath, which had four districts under different authorities, while part of the city had no police whatever.
• Borough funds were "frequently expended in feasting, and in paying the salaries of unimportant officers" rather than on the good government of the borough. In some places funds had been expended on public works without adequate supervision, and large avoidable debts had accrued. This often arose from contracts being given to members of the corporation or their friends or relations. Municipal property was also treated as if it were only for the use of the corporation and not the general population.

...the existing Municipal Corporations of England and Wales neither possess nor deserve the confidence or respect of Your Majesty's subjects, and that a thorough reform must be elected, before they can become, what we humbly submit to Your Majesty they ought to be, useful and efficient instruments of local government.

Effects of the Act

The 178 reformed boroughs