(No. 8.)

Members of Parliament for the Borough of Derby, from the twenty-third parliament of Edward the First to the present time.

THE Mines and Mineral Productions of Derbyshire have been the chief source of its wealth, from the earliest ages to the latter part of the last century. It appears evident from the pigs of lead found with Roman inscriptions upon them, that they were wrought by that nation after their conquest of this country; and from manuscripts still extant, we have further proof they have been wrought upwards of eleven hundred years, and they continue to the present day to give employment to many of its inhabitants.

It is asserted, by ancient authors, that the lead, tin and copper mines of Great Britain were known to the Belgians, Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans, who invaded the kings of this isle, to rob them of their mineral possessions, with the same eagerness as has been evinced by some European princes to gain possession of the gold and silver mines of the South Americans. Some authors assert that queen Boadicea extracted much gold out of English minerals and earths; others, that the land of Great Britain contains great quantities of gold." That the inhabitants of this isle were anciently very careful in defending and securing their mines, is evident from the speech of king Canutus to his army, when drawing them up against the Romans. He called upon his soldiers to defend his rich mines, which would be to show themselves Englishmen, truly valiant, tenacious of their rights, and inspired with a due sense of the price of their country and its productions.

The kings of England were always jealous of the mines and minerals; several of whom, after the conquest, would not suffer their mines to be wrought. In 1246, Henry the Third executed a writ of enquiry at Ashbourn, and it was given for the king that the mines in the High Peak, in the county of Derby, and those in the forest of Mendip, in the county of Somerset, were the prerogative royal of the crown, and not the property of those who had by long custom worked them ;+ but he permitted the miners to proceed till further order, paying

* Moses Stringer, who wrote a Treatise on Mines, in the year 1713, says, Gold, silver, and quicksilver have been procured in considerable quantities in Great Britain, Scotland and Ireland; and at that period these rich productions of the earth were found in the Mendip hills, Somersetshire, called the Golden Rake, and in certain rivers in Scotland and Ireland, gold, in perfect form, like to the Arabian gold, were collected in the same way after hasty rains. The same author tells us that the dominions of Great Britain contain as great a variety of minerals as the same extent of country in any part of the known globe, and after Raymund Lully and Si George Ripley had largely multiplied gold and silver, the Lords and Commons, not conceiving it safe that the king should have such immense treasure at command, fearing he should become arbitrary and tyrannical, and above asking the aid of the subject, passed an act to prevent the multiplying of gold and silver, making it death to those who attempted it. (This severe act, obtained in the reign of Henry the Fourth, was repealed in the reign of William and Mary, about one hundred and fifty years since) so that those arts were lost, the mines of gold and silver concealed, and the people discouraged from such undertakings, for fear of losing their lives, or forfeiting their lands to the crown."

A few mines were left by the Romans, at the conquest of this isle, under the command of Julius Cæsar, whose descendants continued their work in the lead mines in the High Peak, in the county of Derby: a few about the forest of Dean and Mendip, in the county of Somerset, and some at Finney, in Cornwall; all of which governed themselves by the Belgic and Roman laws in force amongst them, separate from all other subjects of Great Britain, deciding all differences in their own courts by those ancient laws and customs, and not by any law as practised in Westminster-hall.

The Mineral Laws from the first creation of the Society, established in the reign of queen Elizabeth, have been determined by the king or queen in council (as being in, and entirely belonging to, the prerogative of the crown) or in the Stannary court, if the mines or works were in Devonshire and Cornwall, or in the Barmote court, if at Mendip, in Somersetshire, and the High Peak in the county of Derby; and if controversies happened within the Societies, amongst any of their members, agents or ministers, they were, and still are to be determined by their own courts: and the aggressor fined and imprisoned by a precepe of the same, executed by a serjeant of their own, who is an officer to them, vested with as much power as a messenger to the king, or a tipstaff to the courts at Westminster-hall. All matters in controversy are decided by their own laws in these courts, and if the party sued thinks himself aggrieved, he is free to appeal to the king in council, where the cause is again debated and finally determined before a committee of the general council, summoned for that purpose, viz. The lords of the cabinet council, who are also members of these Societies, as likewise are the lord chancellor, the lord chief baron of the exchequer, and the two lords chief justices, who are commonly summoned to assist in those cases: which lords are barriers or guarantees to keep the Societies from being too severe upon, or oppressing the subject. Here the matter is set at rest without the tedious, expensive and precarious methods of the common law.

to him the thirteenth dish, cope and lot, which further order was extended by other kings to Philip and Mary; and queen Elizabeth's grant to the Corporation of Mine, Mineral and Battery Works of the City of London, which Society were to take possession of all the said lead mines, ewers, &c. whatsoever, in all her domínions, on the former duty paid to the crown, and to be accountable to the crown for the lead, &c. with full power and authority to them only to exercise their inventions, and to work the said mines or minerals; exempting all others from working the same without license from the said Society.

The mines in this country are mostly under the prerogative of the crown. All the kings from the conquest to Edward the Third, refused to make grants of the mineral productions of the kingdom to the subject, neither did they so much as set a lease of any part of them. And those kings who did afterwards grant leases to the subject, were so jealous, that they made them only for a short period, and under very great restrictions and high duties; as appears by the records of Edward the Third, Richard the Second, Henry the Fourth and Sixth, Edward the Fourth, and Henry the Seventh, set forth in Sir John Pettus's Fodine Regales, from page 12 to 20, where they are particularly recited, with the number, roll and

date.

King Edward the First, in the sixteenth year of his reign, inquired into his mineral affairs; and being informed that the said miners continued to work them as aforesaid, caused a writ of Enquiry to be executed, bearing date the 28th of April, attested by his cousin, Edmund Earl of Cornwall, at Westminster, see the Rolls in the Exchequer. After the return of the said writs, the king suffered the miners to enjoy the ancient privileges of their own laws and their mines, until his will and pleasure be further known; but making no declaration therein, they remained until the 3rd of Edward the Sixth. At which time a writ was executed at the Great Barmote Court, held the 28th of September, in the said year of his reign, before Francis Earl of Salop. The report was similar to the former; and the miners were permitted to continue to work the mines, until the king's further pleasure; and no alteration took place as in the inquisition made. In the reign of Philip and Mary, the reports were as the former. King Edward the First gave the tinners some new laws, and called them Court Parliament of Stannaries.

From the Bundle of the Exchequer, and the Inquisition of the sixteenth year of the reign of Edward the First.

DERBY. Edward, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, and duke of Acquitain, to the sheriff of the county of Derby, greeting; Know ye that we have assigned our faithful and well-beloved Reynold of the Ley (Lea) and William of Memill (Meynell) to inquire by the oaths of good and lawful men, of your county, by the which the truth may be best known, of the liberty which our miners do claim to have in those parts, and which they have hitherto been used to have, and by what means, and how, and from what time, and by what warrant. And therefore we do command, that at a certain day and place, which the said Reynold and William shall appoint thee, Thou shall cause to come before them so many, and such good and lawful men of thy bailiwick, by the which may there the best be known in the premises by the inquiry, and that thou have there the writ. Witness our well-beloved cousin, Edmund Earl of Cornwall, at Westminster, the 28th day of April, in the sixteenth year of our reign. By William of Hambleton, and at the instance of Hugh of Cressingham, the day is appointed at ASHBOURN, upon Saturday next after the feast of the Holy Trinity.

An Inquisition taken at Ashbourn upon Saturday next after the Holy Trinity, in the sixteenth year of the reign of Edward the First, before Reynold of the Ley and William of Memil, of the liberties which the miners of our sovereign lord the king, in the Peak, do claim to have hitherto used to have in those parts, by what means, and how, and from what ime, and by what warrant. By the oaths of the following

1st. Who say upon their oaths, that in the beginning, when the miners did come to the field seeking for a mine and finding a mine, they do come to the bailiff, which is called

The Courts of the Mines Royal, &c. proceed against aggressors who are neither members or agents, by first sending a summons to the party to attend their court, to answer to that alleged against them; which, if they refuse to do, and will not submit to, or obey the authority and order of the court, it is customary to crave a warrant from the council board, to empower one of his majesty's pursivants to seize the body of the offender or offenders, and bring him or them before the council, to answer his or their said contempt and trespass, which he or they must there make full satisfaction for, or go to prison.