POOLE, a borough and sea-port and market-town, being a distinct
county (of itself), styled "the Town and County of the Town of
Poole," though locally in the hundred of Cogdean, Shaston (East)
division of the county of DORSET, 28 miles (E.) from Dorchester,
and 104 (S.W. by W.) from London, containing 6390 inhabitants.
This town appears to have risen from insignificance as a fishing
hamlet, about the time of Edward III., at which period
the port was much frequented; and it furnished that,
sovereign with four ships and ninety-four men in aid of
the siege of Calais: after much fluctuation in its prosperity
during the succeeding reigns, about the time of
Henry VI. the population had considerably increased,
and the immediate successors of that monarch granted
various privileges to the inhabitants. Becoming the
resort and residence of Spanish merchants, the, trade
improved greatly, until the commencement of the reigu
of Elizabeth, and the breaking out of the war with
Spain, when a temporary failure in its commercial
interests succeeded their departure; but various additional
privileges and immunities having been granted,
its rising importance was established on a solid and
permanent basis. During the great civil war, Poole was
fortified and garrisoned for the parliament, and became
the scene of severe contests and extensive slaughter,
and in the succeeding reign its fortifications, though
inconsiderable, were destroyed.
The town is situated on a peninsula, which is connected
by an isthmus with the main land, on the north
side of the harbour, from which it derives its name,
and consists of several good streets, paved'under the
general highway act, and lighted and watched, according
to the provisions of a local act obtained in the
29th of George II.; the houses in general are of a respectable
appearance, several of them being of a superior
order; the inhabitants are supplied with water brought
from a well at Tatnam, about a mile distant, and there
are wells of good water belonging to most of the dwelling-
houses. Different reading societies have been formed,
and a public library has recently been established,
for which a building is about to be erected in the
High-street, at the expense of the Hon.W. F. S. Ponsonby,
one of the representatives for the borough,
on ground given by the other, B. L. Lester, Esq. The
town-house, a neat structure on the quay, has been
recently erected by subscription, arid is used by the
subscribers, who are chiefly merchants, as a news-joom.
The trade of. the port is principally with .Newfoundland,
and was formerly more extensive than it is at
present: the exports consist of provisions, wearing apparel,
and commodities of all kinds useful, for the residents
there, which are exchanged for cod and salmon,
the greater part of which is sent to foreign markets; and
oil, seal skins, furs, and cranberries, for home consumption.
Considerable quantities of corn are imported
and exported. .The manufactures of the town and
neighbourhood consist principally of rope, twine, and
sail-cloth; and in the yards for ship-building many
Workmen are engaged. The oyster-fishery employs a
great number of boats; and, with the abundance of
other fish taken in. the harbour, especially plaice and
herrings, which are remarkably fine, furnishes a large
supply for the London market. By charter of Henry VI.,
who transferred the privileges of the port of Melcombe-
Regis hither, a market and two fairs were granted; the
former is held on Thursday, there being also another
on Monday; one fair is held on the feast of St. Philip
and St. James, the other on All Souls' day, each continuing
seven days. The butchers' market is held under the
guildhall, and there are two adjacent market-places for
vegetables and poultry, one of them recently erected by
the corporation.
The municipal government is vested in a mayor, recorder,
sheriff, four justices of the peace, and an indefinite
number of aldermen, with a town clerk, and other
officers. The first charter, which is without date, is
supposed to have been granted between the 1st and 9th
of Richard I., by which William Longespee, lord of the
manor of Canford, of which Poole then formed a part,
granted to his burgesses of Poole certain privileges, and
prescribed the form of government for the borough.
This charter was confirmed by William de Montacute,
in the 45th of Edward III., and subsequently by Thomas
de Montacute, in the 12th of Henry IV., both Earls
of Salisbury, and lords of the manor of Canford; these,
with all former charters, were confirmed by Elizabeth,
by charter dated February 18th, 1559; that sovereign
also granted a new one, in the 10th of her reign,
which is the governing charter, and re-incorporated
the burgesses and inhabitants, by the style of " the
Mayor, Bailiffs, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the
Town of Poole," erecting it into a county of itself,
entirely independent of the county of Dorset. Other
charters, with an extension of former privileges, were
granted by Charles II., in the 19th of his reign, and
James II., in the 4th. The burgesses are chosen by
the corporation at large, and the mayor is elected by
the burgesses from their own body, on the Friday before
St. Matthew's day; he is a justice of the peace,
and the ensuing year is elected senior bailiff and a
justice; the number of aldermen is unlimited, as every
person who has served the office of mayor becomes
an alderman; the recorder and town clerk are chosen
by the corporation, subject to the approval of the king.
On the day of election for mayor, the burgesses appoint
from among their own number, a senior bailiff,
four justices of the peace, a sheriff, water-bailiff, and
two coroners; the two Serjeants at mace are elected
by the corporation. The county magistrates have no
jurisdiction within the town. A weekly court of record
is held under the charter of Elizabeth,:in which the
mayor and the senior bailiff preside as judges; the jurisdiction
embraces pleas of any amount within, the
town and county of the town, with the same power of
personal arrest and attachment of goods as that exercised
by the superior courts.
A court of admiralty, formerly annual, is now occasionally
held by the mayor, as admiral within the liberties; a jury
is empannelled, and a perambulation of the boundaries of
the port made, and all nuisances and encroachments are
presented. The sheriff holds his Tourn annually, at which
presentments of illegal weights and measures are made. Quarter
sessions are held before the recorder, mayor, and justices.
The guildhall, in which the sessions and public
meetings of the corporation are held, was erected, in
1761, at the joint expense of Joseph Gulston, jun., Esq.,
and Lieut. Col. Calcraft: the chandeliers and sconces
with which it is ornamented were given by William Morton
Pitt, Esq., formerly one of the representatives for
Poole, and late member for the county of Dorset, who
also gave a pair of handsome silver gilt maces, now
in use. The first return made by this borough was to
a council in the 14th of Edward III., and to two of
his parliaments, there having been an intermission from
that time until the 31st of Henry VI., since which it
has regularly returned two members. The elective
franchise is prescriptive; the right is vested in the corporation:,
the number of voters being two hundred and
nine, of whom one hundred and forty-seven are resident,
and sixty-two non-resident; thirty-two of the residents,
however, are minors; the sheriff-is the returning
officer, and the interest of the Garland family predominates.
The number of the electors having considerably
decreased, and several being non-resident, the corporation,
pursuant to a notice-given by William Jolliffe,
Esq., then mayor, held a special meeting on the 16th of
September, 1830, at which, on the nomination of fortyeight
burgesses, ninety-six inhabitants were admitted to
the freedom, each burgess being allowed to nominate two.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the jurisdiction
of the peculiar court of Great Canford and Poole, and
in the patronage of the Mayor and Corporation. The
church, dedicated to St. James, is a new and elegant
edifice of Purbeck stone, the old church having become
dilapidated. There are places of worship for Baptists,
the Society of Friends, Independents, Wcsleyan Methodists,
and Unitarians. A free school, on the National
system, for poor children of both sexes, is conducted
by a master, who receives £24 per annum, arising from
a bequest of £300 by a Mr. Harbin, in trust to the corporation,
and invested in the purchase of land at Corfe-
Castle, now producing £60 a year, the residue being distributed
among the poor at Christmas. Almshouses in
West-street, for twelve poor persons, were founded and
endowed, early in the seventeenth century, with an annuity
of £18, chargeable on an estate near Longham, by Mr.
Robert Rogers, of London. Other almshduses, for a
similar number, situated at Hungerhill, were founded in
1812, by George Garland, Esq., who endowed them
with £200 and the rent of property in Poole, amounting
at present to £26 per annum, appointing the
corporation trustees. There are also some almshouses
in Church-street, of unknown foundation. Sir Peter
Thompson, a Hamburgh merchant, and many years fellow
of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, collected
all the known ancient records relating to this his native
place, where he almost constantly resided, and where,
at his death, he was buried. This was also the birthplace
of John Lewis, a divine and antiquary.