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195
for the City and Liberty of Westminster, and that part of
the Duchy of Lancaster adjoining, to serve for one year
ending 1st May, 1751.
Amongst those appointed were:—Sir Richard Lloyd, Kt.,
Thomas Salusbury, Esq., Avery Vokens, Samuel Tufnell,
William Lowndes, and Samuel Smith, Esq.
The Plague.
The silence of the Vestry Minutes upon the
subiect of the Great Plague of 1665 is
fessedly remarkable, not an entry or reference of any kind
being observable. The accounts of expenses incurred by
the Churchwardens were discovered amongst a large
quantity of other manuscripts in the tower of St. Margaret's
Church a few years since; but, curious as they are, their
reproduction here is forbidden by the rule laid down from
the first that the Churchwardens' Accounts should not be
consulted. It may be stated, however, that the plague
accounts were kept separately from the ordinary cash
statements of the Churchwardens, and were probably lost
sight of when the ancient accounts were collected and
bound by the Churchwardens in 1713. In June, 1885,
when a large quantity of old records and papers were removed
from the tower of St. Margaret's Church to the
Town Hall, the plague accounts inscribed on paper which
had well nigh perished, and bearing the signatures of
Emery Hill and Ffran Dorington, the Justices by whom
they were allowed, were brought to light. They were at
once repaired, as far as possible, and are now in the
Vestry's office. An idea of the ravages of the disease
in Westminster may be gathered from the fact that not
less than 2,965 persons succumbed thereto, who were buried
at the expense of the parish. The description given by
the Earl of Craven, preserved in the Public Record Office'
will also furnish an insight into the spread of the contagion
in and about Westminster:—
The Earl of Craven's Account of the Proceedings
of the Justices concerning the Pestilence (Great
Plague, 1665) 1666. [February 1665-6].
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