Churchwardens' Manual Part 3

APPENDIX IV.

14 and 15 Vict., c. 97, sec. 23.

From and after the pa.s.sing of this Act no select Vestry shall be formed under the provisions of the Church Building Act, and every such select Vestry already formed under such provisions shall be and is hereby declared to be abolished, and all the powers and provisions therein enacted relative to such select Vestries shall henceforth cease and determine, provided that all matters and things done by any such select Vestry in pursuance of any powers given them by such Acts, or any of them, shall be and remain as valid as if such select Vestry had not been abolished.

APPENDIX V.

It was agreed in 1870 between some of the leading Laity of the Counties of Hants and Surrey and the then Bishop of the Diocese that the sum asked should only be five shillings, payable annually by each parish and ecclesiastical district by the hands of the Churchwardens. When there is an election of a Proctor to Convocation, an additional shilling is added, making the total due six shillings. It was also decided at the meeting before referred to that this charge might be defrayed out of the offertory or other voluntary collections for Church purposes in any parish or ecclesiastical district. I am happy to say that the cases are, comparatively speaking, rare in which the Churchwardens decline to pay this charge, reduced by voluntary action as it has been from the legal figure of eighteen shillings to either five shillings or in some years six shillings, the extra shilling being added when an election of a Proctor for the Archdeaconry takes place.

APPENDIX VI.

Canons agreed upon by the Convocation for the Province of Canterbury a.s.sembled by the king's licence in their Synod, A.D. 1603, published by His Majesty's authority under the Great Seal of England.

89. _The choice of Churchwardens and their Account_.

All Churchwardens or Questmen in every parish shall be chosen by the joint consent of the Minister and parishioners, if it may be; but if they cannot agree upon such a choice, then the Minister shall choose one, and the parishioners another: and without such a joint or several choice none shall take upon them to be Churchwardens: neither shall they continue any longer than one year in that office, except perhaps they be chosen again in like manner. And all Churchwardens at the end of their year, or within a month after at the most, shall before the Minister and the parishioners give up a just account of such money as they have received, and also what particularly they have bestowed in reparations and otherwise, for the use of the Church. And, last of all, going out of their office, they shall truly deliver up to the parishioners whatsoever money or other things of right belonging to the Church or parish, which remaineth in their hands, that it may be delivered over by them to the next Churchwardens by bill indented.

90. _The choice of Sidemen_, _and their joint office with Churchwardens_.

The Churchwarden or Questmen of every parish, and two or three or more discreet persons in every parish, to be chosen for Sidemen or a.s.sistants by the Minister and parishioners, if they can agree (otherwise to be appointed by the Ordinary of the diocese), shall diligently see that all the parishioners duly resort to their Church upon all Sundays and Holy-days, and there continue the whole time of Divine Service; and none to walk or to stand idle or talking in the Church, or in the Churchyard, or in the Church-porch, during that time. And all such as shall be found slack or negligent in resorting to the Church (having no great or urgent cause of absence) they shall earnestly call upon them; and after due monition (if they amend not) they shall present them to the Ordinary of the place. The choice of which persons, _viz._, Churchwardens or Questmen, Sidemen, or a.s.sistants, shall be yearly made in Easter-week.

85. _Churches to be kept in sufficient Reparations_.

The Churchwarden or Questmen shall take care and provide that the Churches be well and sufficiently repaired, and so from time to time kept and maintained, that the windows be well glazed, and that the floors be kept paved, plain and even, and all things there in such an orderly and decent sort, without dust, or anything that may be either noisome or unseemly, as best becometh the House of G.o.d, and is prescribed in an Homily to that effect. The like care they shall take that the Churchyards be well and sufficiently repaired, fenced and maintained with walls, rails, or pales, as have been in each place accustomed, at their charges unto whom by law the same appertaineth: but especially they shall see that in every meeting of the congregation peace be well kept: and that all persons excommunicated, and so denounced, be kept out of the Church.

88. _Churches not to be profaned_.

The Churchwardens, or Questmen, and their a.s.sistants, shall suffer no plays, feasts, banquets, suppers, church-ales, drinkings, temporal courts, or leets, lay juries, musters, or any other profane usage, to be kept in the Church, Chapel, or Churchyard, neither the bells to be rung superst.i.tiously upon holy days, or eves abrogated by the Book of Common Prayer, nor at any other times without good cause to be allowed by the Minister of the place, and by themselves.

52. _The names of strange Preachers to be noted in a book_.

That the Bishop may understand (if occasion so require) what sermons are made in every Church of his diocese and who presume to preach without licence, the Churchwardens and Sidemen shall see that the names of all Preachers, which come to their Church from any other place, be noted in a book which they shall have ready for that purpose; wherein every Preacher shall subscribe his name, the day when he preached, and the name of the Bishop of whom he had license to preach.

111. _Disturbers of Divine Service to be presented_.

In all visitations of Bishops and Archdeacons the Churchwardens, or Questmen, and Sidemen shall truly and personally present the names of all those which behave themselves rudely and disorderly in the Church, or which by untimely ringing of bells, by walking, talking, or other noise, shall hinder the Minister or Preacher.

118. _The old Churchwardens to make their presentments before the new be sworn_.

The office of all Churchwardens and Sidemen shall be reputed ever hereafter to continue until the new Churchwardens that shall succeed them be sworn, which shall be the first week after Easter or some week following, according to the direction of the Ordinary, which time so appointed shall always be one of the two times in every year, when the Minister, and Churchwardens, and Sidemen of every parish shall exhibit to their several Ordinaries the presentments of such enormities as have happened in their parishes since their last presentments. And this duty they shall perform before the newly-chosen Churchwardens and Sidemen be sworn, and shall not be suffered to pa.s.s over the said presentments to those that are newly come into office and are by intendment ignorant of such crimes, under pain of those censures which are appointed for the reformation of such dalliers and dispensers with their own consciences and oaths.

APPENDIX VII.

18 and 19 Vict., cap. 128, sec. 18.

_Burial Board to keep in order closed burial grounds_, _etc._

In every case in which any order in Council has been or shall hereafter be issued for the discontinuance of burials in any churchyard or burial ground, the Burial Board, or Churchwardens, as the case may be, shall maintain such churchyard or burial ground of any parish in decent order, and also do the necessary repair of the walls and other fences thereof, and the costs and expenses shall be repaid by the Overseers upon the certificate of the Burial Board, or Churchwardens, _as the case may be_, out of the rate made for the relief of the poor of the parish or place in which such churchyard or burial ground is situate, unless there shall be some other fund legally chargeable with such costs and expenses.

The words in italics have given rise to some dispute as to their interpretation. Some Burial Boards have claimed the right to maintain closed churchyards. The question was brought into the Court of Queen's Bench in 1879, and it was decided that a Burial Board was required to maintain a closed cemetery, and that Churchwardens were the proper persons to maintain a closed churchyard. {79}

APPENDIX VIII.

15 and 16 Vict., cap. 85, sec. 10.

_Churchwardens after order or at any time upon requisition of ten ratepayers to convene Vestry Meeting to determine whether a burial ground shall be provided_.

Upon the requisition in writing of ten or more ratepayers {80a} of any parish in the metropolis {80b} in which the place or places of burial shall appear to such ratepayers insufficient or dangerous to health (and whether any Order in Council in relation to any burial ground in such parish has or has not been made), the Churchwardens and other persons to whom it belongs to convene meetings of the Vestry of such parish shall convene a meeting of the Vestry for the special purpose of determining whether a burial ground shall be provided under this Act for the parish; and public notice of such Vestry Meeting, and the place and hour of holding the same, and the special purpose thereof, shall be given in the usual manner in which notices of the meetings of the Vestry are given, at least seven days before holding such Vestry Meeting: and if it be resolved by the Vestry that a burial ground shall be provided under this Act for the parish, a copy of such resolution extracted from the minutes of the Vestry, and signed by the Chairman, shall be sent to one of Her Majesty's princ.i.p.al Secretaries of State.

APPENDIX IX.

24 and 25 Vict., cap. 125, sec. 2.

The Overseers of any parish may, with the consent of the Vestry, provide proper depositories of all the doc.u.ments, books, and papers belonging to such parish, for which no provision is otherwise made by law, and charge the cost thereof on the poor rate.

52 Geo. III, cap. 146, sec. 5.

And be it further enacted that the . . . register books . . . shall be kept by and remain in the power and custody of the Rector, Curate, or other officiating Minister of each respective parish or chapelry as aforesaid, and shall be by him safely and securely kept in a dry, well painted iron chest, to be provided and repaired, as occasion may require, at the expense of the parish or chapelry, and which said chest, containing the said books, shall be constantly kept locked in some dry, safe, and secure place within the usual place of residence of such Rector, Vicar, Curate, or other officiating minister, if resident within the parish or chapelry, or in the parish church or chapel; and the said books shall not, nor shall any of them, be taken or removed from or out of the said chest, at any time or for any cause whatever, except for the purpose of making such entries therein as aforesaid, or for the inspection of persons desirous to make search therein, or to obtain copies from or out of the same, or to be produced as evidence in some court of law or equity, or to be inspected as to the state and condition thereof, or for some other purposes of this Act; and that immediately after making such inspection, entries, or producing the said books respectively for the purposes aforesaid, the said books shall forthwith again be safely and securely deposited in the said chest.