Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 5.djvu/319

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12 S. V. DEC., 1919.]


NOTES AND QUERIES.


313


on the Town Hall Square. It bears the ! foil owing inscription : -

"Lieut.-Col. Sir B. A. Dobson, Knight, V.D., -JP., C.E., M.I.Mech.E.. Chevalier d la Legion -d'Honneur, 1847-1898 Erected by Public Subscrip- tion to commemorate a useful life and services to the town of Bolton, and unveiled by Mr. Alderman Nicholson, J.P., February 17th, 1900. J. Cassidy, Sculptor."

J. T. Fielding, J.P. Unveiled in the Queen's Park on July 11, 1896, by Lord - James of Hereford, a statue in Yorkshire stone executed by a local stone mason named Bowden, from competitive designs submitted by half-a-dozen tradesmen. It stands 5 ft. 10| in. high, and is erected on a stone base. It has the reputation of dis- playing the worst pair of trousers in sculp- ture, and is said to have cost 100Z. The inscription is as follows :

"J. T. Fielding, J.P., for over 20 years the Secretary of the Operative Cotton Spinners Association and the United Trades Council of Bolton and District. Unity and Equity were the guiding principles of his life."

The Bolton coat of arms is engraved on the front of the pedestal. No dates are in- scribed on the monument, but the man was born in 1849, and died December, 1894,

aged 45 years.

James Dorrian, M.D. (1826-1895). This monument in stone was raised by public subscription to Dr. James Dorrian, J.P., and unveiled in the Queen's Park on Jan. 29, 1898. The inscription on the pedestal reads: "James Dorrian, 1826-95. Erected by public subscription to com- memorate a life of usefulness," the words being encircled by a wreath.


The following busts are in the Town Hall, Bolton :

Nicholson (1825-1915). Marble bust exe- cuted by M. Albetill, of Bolton, a memorial subscribed for by the public. Alderman William Nicholson, J.P., was Mayor of Bolton six times, and occupied all manner of public offices. The bust was unveiled on

<Sept. 5, 1894, and bears the following

inscription :

William Nicholson, Mayor, 1892-3-4.

J. K. Cross, M.P. White marble bust on a pedestal of marble, with inscription :

James Kynaston Cross,

Member of Bolton Town Council, 1868-9,

Borough Magistrate, 1874-1887.

County Magistrate, 1881-1887. Member of Parliament for Bolton, 1874-1885. Under Secretary of State for India, 1883-1885.


Bishop Fraser. Marble bust on pedestal of same material, with inscription : James Fraser, Lord Bishop of Manchester, 1870-1885.

King Edward VII. Bust of King Edward VII. unveiled on Dec. 16, 1912, by the Mayor of Bolton (Alderman Dr. Young, J.P.), and is the work of Sir George Framp- ton, R.A. The architectural setting is com- posed of Irish green marbles, the bust itself

>eing of the finest Serravezza marble. In-

scription on centre column on which the bust rests : "Edward VII., 1901-1910, erect- ed by Public Subscription, 1912." Whilst on one side of the column are the words : "A great king ever anxious for his people's good and peace among the nations," and on the other "As Prince of Wales he opened the Town Hall, on Thursday, June 5th, 1873." The bust is surmounted by the Bolton arms, with the motto Supera Moras.

ARCHIBALD SPARKE.


" HEDSILVER " : " DROFSILVER " AND DROFCOURT " : " PERKSILVER." These words occur in the Winchester College accounts of 1411-12, in a passage relating to the tourn or court that the Sheriff of. Hampshire used to hold, apparently for the hundred of Meonstoke :

"In soluto Vicecomiti Suthamptonie mense Novemhris pro quodam certo splvendo domino Regi quolibet anno ex consuetudine in turno suo tento apud Grynefelde, quod quidem certum tenentes de Meonstoke solvere solebant ad turnum predictum, vis. \ii\d. In soluto eidem pro quadair consuetudine vocata Hedsilver,quam dicti teuentes solvere solebant, ad ii. lagh. martini et hock tent, apud Meonstoke ad ii. vices, iiii-9. Item eidem Vicecomiti pro quadam cousuetudine vocata Drof- silver ad ii. curias vocatas Drofcourtes, His. iilid. Item eidem Vicecomiti pro quadam consuetudine vocata Perksilver solvenda ad i curiam dicte curie, vs. In dato ballivo huridredi ibidem ne distringat tenentes domini ibidem pro dictis deuariis levandis, xiid. In dato Johanni Serle pro amicitia sua habenda in compoto suo in scaccario domini Regis ad respectum [respite] dictis serviciis super com- potum suum ibidem, xxd."

The ' N.E.D.' mentions " head-money " and "head-pence," but not "head-silver." ' Wharton's Law-Lexicon ' ( 1 1th edition, 1911), however, gives:

" Head-silver, dues paid to lords of leets ; also a fine of 40?. which the Sheriff of Northumberland exacted of the inhabitants twice in seven years."

Presumably it was a form of " chevage," which is defined in the ' N.E.D.' as :

" Capitation or poll-money paid to a lord or superior ; particularly, an annual payment due to a feudal lord by each of his villeins."