Page:History and characteristics of Bishop Auckland.djvu/74

HISTORY OF BISHOP AUCKLAND. 53 inquiry was a recommendation " that the Public Health Act should be applied to the township and town of Bishop Auckland, and that the qualification for each member (nine in number), should be the possession of real or personal estate, or both, to the value of not less than £500, or a rating to the relief of the poor of the parish upon an annual value of not less than £20." On the 5th of April, 1853, the Superintendent Inspector held another sitting, for the purpose of fixing the boundaries within which the Public Health Act should be applied. Previous to the final establishment of the Board, however, and during the alarm which existed throughout the country in 1853, in relation to the Asiatic cholera, an application was made to the Central Board of Health, in London, requesting that a Medical Inspector should visit Bishop Auckland. The request of the inhabitants was graiited, and Dr. Lewis visited the town, on the 26th of October, for the purpose of making an investigation. At his recommendation, a sanitary committee was appointed to co-operate with the medical officers of the Union, and, under their auspices, an efficient staff" of officials was organised, and such other measures adopted as appeared necessary for cleansing the town. Thirty deaths were recorded in Auckland from the cholera during the month of September in that year, and eighteen in the village of Escomb. On the 15th October, 1854, the first election of members for the Local Board of Health for the district of Bishop Auckland took place. Thirty-five gentlemen were nominated, out of which number nine were elected. The number of votes recorded in favour of the successful candidates were as follow : — ^William Trotter, 229 ; William Hepple, 221 ; Henry Tuke, 147 ; Richard Bowser, 142; John Hall Bainbridge, 139; George Canney, 138; John Armstrong, 136; Nicholas Ejlbum, 127 ; L. P. Booth, 125. The unsuccessful candidates were : — ^James Thompson, 124 ; William Joplin, 120 ; William Edgar, 93 ; Rev. G. E. Green, 88 ; G. Maw, sen., 85 ; R A D. Gresley, 84 ; Joseph Robinson, 82 ; John Proud, 75 ; John Jobson, 75 ; Matthew Braithwaite, sen., 70 ; William Shanks, 70 ; Thomas Marley, 58 ; George Maw, jun., 48 ; Peter Johnson, 48 ; John Hall, 47 ; Thomas Peacock, 45 ; Ralph Nelson, 44 ; George Marley, 39 ; Robert Davison, 34 ; Benjamin Collins, 28 ; John Marley, 26 ; Joseph Hollis, 23 ; Thomas Wilkinson, 20 ; William Buxton, 19 ; John Brown, 10 ; Thomas Kilbum, 7. Mr. Ralph Joplin was appointed Clerk to the Board, and Mr. Ralph Powton, Inspector of Nuisances. From what we have already said respecting the state of the town at the time of the formation of the Board, it wiU appear pretty evident that its members found their new office anything but a sinecure, and their first efforts were directed exclusively to the adoption of means for checking the progress of prevailing epidemics. On the 18th December, 1855, notice was given, "that it appeared to the General Board of Health that the existing boundary of the district of Bishop Auckland, as fixed by a provisional order, bearing date the 24th day of January, 1854, and confirmed by tjie Public Health Supplemental Act of the same year, should be altered." With this object, William Ranger, Esq., superintending inspector, attended at the Shepherd's Inn, Fore Bondgate, on the 9th of January, 1856, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, for the purpose of receiving the evidence of aU persons who attended and wished to be heard on the subject. Mr. Ranger recommended that the district should be extended, and that the necessary steps be taken for that purpose, imder the Public Health Act of 1848. The following arrangement as to the boundary was agreed to : — Commencing at the centre of the Staindrop Boad, and of a road leading from South Church and Etherley Grange respectively, at their points of intersection with Cabin-gate, the line will follow the centre of the road running in a westerly direction, which forms the southern boundary of Cockton-hill farm, belonging to Richard Bowser, Esq., up to the western side of a field on the north side of the aforesaid road, then along the west fence of that field, in a northerly direction ; then westerly along a portion of the south fence of a field [adjoioing] belonging to Richard Bowser, Esq. ; then northerly along a fence which forms the western boundary of fields up to, and across, the road leading from Bishop Auckland to Etherley Grange, along a fence which forms the western boundary of two fields belonging to Richard Bowser, Esq., up to a fence forming the south boundary of the Auckland and Weardale Railway ; thence still, in a Digitized by Google