LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
During the Middle
Ages the manor courts of St. John and Le Mote
were no doubt responsible for what local administration there was. The extent of their jurisdiction is,
however, not known, though by the 17th century
courts leet were being held for both manors. (fn. 90)
By 1545 the St. John manor court was electing
three officers: constable, aletaster, and tithing man, (fn. 91)
but in the 17th-century court rolls the only officer
appointed seems to have been the constable, (fn. 92) and
his appointment does not occur often. If no court leet
met, the constable was appointed by the quarter
sessions. (fn. 93) In the early 17th century another officer,
a 'pinner', was elected by the court of St. John to
organize the ringing of swine. (fn. 94) In the late 16th and
early 17th centuries the manor courts were responsible for regulating the open fields and the fishing in
the river. (fn. 95)
The vestry records begin in 1751. (fn. 96) During the
18th century the vestry was a small body, with an
average attendance of three to five. On one occasion
in 1752 ten people, including the Earl of Berkeley,
are recorded as present, (fn. 97) but this number is not
found again until the 1870's. (fn. 98) The chairman was
almost invariably the rector, and until the 1830's the
vestry met usually twice a year, and very occasionally three times, and was almost solely concerned with
raising rates, the relief of bastards and other
paupers, and the election of parish officers.
In 1752 the officers consisted of two churchwardens, an overseer, a constable, and a headborough. (fn. 99) It was, however, by no means invariable
to have two churchwardens, and as late as 1837
there was only one. In 1837 there were also two
constables, a headborough, and two surveyors, (fn. 1) an
office which had been in existence in 1696. (fn. 2) In the
late 18th century the vestry also appointed a salaried
mole-catcher. (fn. 3)
In 1776 the vestry was responsible for erecting a
poorhouse, or almshouse. The house only accommodated four persons, (fn. 4) and in 1783 the vestry
imposed a rent on the inmates, unless they were on
parish relief. By 1836 the building was dilapidated, so
the occupants were evicted and the house was demolished. (fn. 5) The highest poor rate raised in the village
was in 1813 when £227 were collected. The number
of people receiving relief about then averaged 14;
in 1834 these were 7 old people, 6 orphans, and a
cripple. The old people had formerly been agricultural labourers, who were said to be the most distressed class. (fn. 6) In 1836 the parish became part of
Staines union. (fn. 7)
Despite the reduction of the duties of the vestry
after 1836, interest in it grew until there were over a
dozen people about 1888 at the meetings, then held
monthly. A small circular lock-up was still standing
in the High Street in 1958. It was built some time
after 1837 and was later used as a mortuary by the
parish council. (fn. 8) A sewerage committee of nine was
formed in 1866 under the chairmanship of Warren
de la Rue, (fn. 9) and an assessment committee in 1882. (fn. 10)
A parish council was formed in 1895 and until 1914
was largely concerned with the election of parish
officers and with sewage disposal. In 1915 the latter
question was taken over by the Cranford parochial
committee of the Staines rural district council.
During and after the First World War the annual
parish meeting itself took a larger share in administration, the council being concerned mainly with
administering allotments. The council organized the
opposition, which was widespread in the village,
to the amalgamation with Hayes which took place in
1930. The parish seems rather to have favoured
joining Heston and Isleworth, (fn. 11) and this was, in fact,
partially achieved in 1933, when the area east of
the Crane, including the village, was transferred to
that borough. Since then, the history of local
administration in the parish has formed part of the
history of the two larger areas. (fn. 12)