Folio 168. Letter from John Stoakes, Highway Overseer, Sutton in Ashfield [Mansfield...

Folio 168. Letter from John Stoakes, Highway Overseer, Sutton in Ashfield [Mansfield Poor Law Union], to the Poor Law Board. He states that certain disputes have arisen in the parish regarding the notice required for calling a vestry meeting to place the parish under the small tenements act. He asks the Board to answer the following questions: is 30 days notice requisite for calling such a meeting? Is a notice illegal if signed by less than 4 rate payers? Are owners of property entitled to vote on the above question without giving notice required by 7& 8 Vict c 101 s 14& 15? Must the ratepayers have paid up all rates due at the time of voting to be entitled to vote in vestry?

Annotated: only 3 days notice after the Sunday when it is given is required. The notice must be signed by the minister of the parish, a churchwarden or an overseer. The owners have no right to vote on this question at all. All persons claiming to vote at vestry should have paid their rates before they vote.

Paper Number: 58280/1850.

Poor Law Union Number: 337.

Counties: Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.