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which have taken place in the local government of the
parish and in the administrative functions of the Vestry.
The publication of periodical reports of their proceedings
for the information of the ratepayers is, in fact, one of the
many obligations imposed by law upon the Vestries and
District Boards of the Metropolis.
Having regard, moreover, to the exceptional circumstances
in which the Vestry is now placed, an extension of
the retrospect beyond the year ended at Lady-Day last will
be still less liable to objection. These exceptional circumstances
are due to the important improvement made by
Parliament during the Session of 1887 in the system of
Local Self Government in Westminster (see pp. 28-35 of
the Thirty-second Annual Report of the late Board of
Works for the Westminster District) whereby the Vestry
of the parish is restored to the position it occupied from
the year 1580 to 1855.
Thus restored, after a brief interval of comparative
inactivity, to its ancient status, the Vestry has succeeded to
the surviving functions animated by the spirit of its
ancestors, anxious that their traditions shall not be impaired,
and careful that loyal observance of more recent
enactments shall not be wanting.
Several Charters, each under the Great Seal of the
Monarch of the time, the earliest dating from 1256 (40
Henry III.), have been brought to light during the past
five years. The parish muniment room at the Town Hall
also contains thousands of manuscript books and records of
parochial affairs from the year 1464* (3 Edward IV.) to the
present day, in addition to the Vestry Minutes, dating from
1585. These documents and records admit an insight into
the local government of the parish as administered in four
distinct periods:—
I.—Prior to the Reformation.
* Some few books of earlier date relating to ecclesiastical matters remain at
the Vestry Room of St. Margaret's Church.