Council Meeting – 29th April 1898
Friday, April 29th, 1898
Forty-fourth meeting of the Parish Council held in the School Room, Great Longstone,
on Friday, April 29th, 1898.
Present: Mr S. Johnson (Chairman), Messrs Bennett, J. Johnson, Spanton, Wood, and I. Shimwell (Clerk).
The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed.
The Clerk read a letter which he had received from Mr P. J. Furniss expressing his regret that he was unable to attend through illness.
Mr J. Wood handed in the following resignation as a member of the Parish Council and then retired from the meeting. The resignation was accepted.
Copy
To the Longstone Parish Council
Gentlemen,
Owing to being an applicant for the office of Assistant Overseer, I herewith tender my resignation as a member of your Council.
Yours obediently,
Joseph Wood
Assistant Overseer
Notice having been posted on the Public Notice Board stating that at this meeting the Council would proceed to the election of an Assistant Overseer for this Parish of Great Longstone and inviting applications for the post to be delivered in writing to the Chairman at this meeting, three applications were handed in to the Chairman, viz., from Mr Charles Herbert Buzzard and Mr Jesse Jupps, both of Great Longstone, and Mr Joseph Wood of Little Longstone.
On the motion of Mr Spanton, seconded by Mr Bennett, it was unanimously decided to vote by ballot.
The three names, viz., Buzzard, Jeffs, and Wood, were then written on slips of paper handed to each Councillor for him to place a ✗ against the person for whom he voted.
On the votes being counted, a majority was in favour of Mr Buzzard. He was then sent for to the meeting and unanimously elected as Assistant Overseer to perform all the duties of an Overseer of the Poor and to act as Clerk to the Parish Council at a yearly salary of twenty-two pounds ten shillings.
It was unanimously decided that Mr Buzzard shall be required to enter into a bond for £200 for the due performance of his duties.
May 26th, 1898
Samuel Johnson
Chairman
A note about “Bonds”
Why a bond was required?
The Assistant Overseer had significant financial responsibilities.
He was typically responsible for:
- collecting and handling parish rates (the local property tax);
- paying bills for relief of the poor;
- keeping detailed rate books and expenditure accounts;
- sometimes holding cash or securities on behalf of the parish.
Because of this, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 (and earlier Poor Relief Acts) required that every Overseer or Assistant Overseer provide a surety bond – a formal guarantee that he would “well and faithfully perform the duties of his office” and account for all monies received.
If he misappropriated funds or failed to balance the books, the parish could recover its losses from the sureties.
How it was done in practice?
The bond was usually a legal document drawn up by a local solicitor or the union’s clerk.
It was a “recognizance” – a written promise to the Crown or the Guardians of the Poor that the officer and his sureties would pay a fixed penalty if he defaulted.
The Assistant Overseer would need two sureties – often respectable local tradesmen, farmers, or property owners – who would each sign and sometimes lodge property deeds as security.
The £200 figure was the penalty amount, not money actually deposited. It represented the maximum liability of the sureties if things went wrong.
In effect, it was a form of insurance, ensuring that parish funds were safe.
Typical amounts
The £200 bond you’ve seen was quite typical for rural parishes in the late 19th century. Smaller parishes might set bonds at £100–£150 whilst larger or wealthier ones could go up to £300 or £500.
It was deliberately set far higher than the annual salary to ensure serious financial accountability.
Local context
In Great Longstone’s case, the Council was newly responsible for combining civil parish duties with poor-law financial tasks after 1894, so they were following the same formalities that the old vestry had observed for Overseers and Assistant Overseers.
The bond would likely have been arranged through the Bakewell Poor Law Union, with the document signed and sealed before a local magistrate.
