Catalogue description The Freemen of Newcastle upon Tyne

This record is held by Tyne and Wear Archives

Details of GU.NCF
Reference: GU.NCF
Title: The Freemen of Newcastle upon Tyne
Description:

GU.NCF/1/1-12 Admissions kept by the guild, 1645 - 1922 (12 volumes)

 

GU.NCF/2/1-11 Admissions enrolled by the Town Clerk of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1710 - 1838 (11 volumes)

 

GU.NCF/3 Index to admission registers, 1823 - 1929 (1 volume)

 

GU.NCF/4 Alphabetical list of Freemen, 1409 - 1677 (1 volume)

 

GU.NCF/5 Alphabetical list of men entitled to take-up their freedom but who had not yet done so prior to the contested election in 1744. 1738 - 1755 (1 volume)

 

GU.NCF/6 Alphabet of freemen for use in the contested election of October 1774. 1740 - 1774 (1 volume)

 

GU.NCF/7 List of freemen entitled to vote for members for the Town and County of Newcastle upon Tyne, n.d. [c.1830] (1 volume)

 

GU.NCF/8 Oath of a freeman of Newcastle upon Tyne. Thomas Scott son of Abraham, tailor, 1830 (1 paper)

 

Apprentices

 

GU.NCF/9 The Black Book - an alphabetical list of apprentices who petitioned the Common Council to take off the stops on their guilds on claims of due service which were not proved, 1735 - 1818 (1 volume)

 

GU.NCF/10 Book of enrolment of apprentices bound to free burgesses, 1831 - 1857 (1 volume)

 

GU.NCF/11/1-3 Apprenticeship indentures, 1798 - 1844 (3 parchments)

 

Finance

 

GU.NCF/12 Fees for the admission of apprentices and burgesses, 1748 - 1791 (1 volume)

 

GU.NCF/13/1-3 Receipts for admission fees, 1887 and 1912 (3 papers)

 

GU.NCF/14/1-5 Papers relating to the proposed restoration of buildings at Blackfriars, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1958 - 1959 (9 papers)

 

GU.NCF/15 A short account of the rights of the Freemen of Newcastle upon Tyne in the Town Moor. Issued by order of the Stewards Committee of the Freemen, 1949 (1 booklet)

 

GU.NCF/16/1-7 Papers relating to the Taylor Family, 1809 - 1830 (13 photocopied pages)

 

GU.NCF/17/1-2 Papers of Joseph Harold Glover of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1899 - 1905 (2 parchments)

Date: 1409-1959
Held by: Tyne and Wear Archives, not available at The National Archives
Language: English
Creator:

The Freemen of Newcastle upon Tyne

Physical description: 17 SERIES
Immediate source of acquisition:

Accessions : 3; 596; 749; 751; 1092; 1355; 1758; T158

Administrative / biographical background:

Freedom of the City of Newcastle upon Tyne could be claimed in one of two ways.

 

1) Sons of free burgesses inherited the freedom from their fathers and ere said to hold the franchise by patrimony. If a father possessed of right of franchise died before his admission (the payment of fees and the acceptance of a formal oath) then his sons were forfeit of their rights to become freemen. No illegitimate sons could inherit the franchise.

 

2) Freedom was also gained by servitude. Apprentices having served their seven years with their master gained the right to enter the appropriate trade guild. This in turn gave the right to seek admission as a Freemen. Men with a right to claim the franchise paid less in admission fees if they married a Freemans daughter.

 

Widows took their husbands franchise and could exercise his right to apprentice although this was lost on re-marriage. Membership of the general body was known as Freedom of the Town. Membership gained via a particular company was known as Freedom of a Trade. A person who enjoyed both was said to be Free of Town and Trade.

 

Until the Reform Bill of 1832, the Freemen were the only people with the right to vote for their representatives in Parliament. Each Freeman had two votes and as a body they returned two members for the Borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. The Mayor and Alderman of the town were elected by the freemen from amongst their own number and they along with the 24 members of the Common Council effectively ran the affairs of the City. Usage of Town Moor land was largely in the control of the freemen as each freemen had the right to pasture 2 cows on the moor and was said to have 2 stinte. The freemen were also exempt from the payment of tolls, quay and river dues.

 

The main series of records in this collection relate to admission of individuals to the franchise. It is still possible to become a Freeman of the City of Newcastle by way of an apprenticeship or through patrimony. The Freemen, under the Stewardship of the Stewards Committee of Freemen manage Newcastle Town Moor, and its intakes, which covers 1200 acres. The position of Hereditary Freeman is quite different from that of Honorary Freeman. The latter has no status and is entirely different to being a Hereditary Freeman

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