>PARISH COUNCILs (civil) were in existence long before 1894 although the Act
>of 1894 (often referred to in those days as "the parish councils bill")
>made them more formal and increased their powers a little.
As I understand it parish councils have existed from about the year dot,
or shortly thereafter. Essentially they were church organisations
though from time to time they had non-church functions given to them by
statute. In 1894 they lost whatever non-church functions they still had
and they still continue to deal with local church (of England) matters.
It helps to avoid confusion if one refers to these bodies as Parochial
Church Councils.
The civil parish councils established in 1894 were entirely different
creatures and with no connection with the church or the parochial church
council. They took over some of the local government activities
formerly performed by the old style parish councils, but were quite
differently constituted - basically as clones of county councils and
district council, with democratic elections and so forth.
Joy Duff will shortly be submitting her PhD thesis, on the 1894 Act and
its later history, to Wolverhampton University. I am sure she would be
glad to discuss the matter further. Please send any requests to me (not
to the lstt) - I do not have her permission to broadcast her email
address and will forward messages on to her.
Joy does point out that confusion between these two sorts of councils in
a parish is still alive and well and that the television series, "The
Vicar of Dibley", does not help much by showing what seems to be the
parochial church council performing the functions of the parish council.
--
Frank Sharman
Wolverhampton, UK
tel: +44 01902 335517
Look! No quotes, no graphics!
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