| Description | The first Assembly minute book was begun on the initiative of Henry Gee during his second mayoralty, 1539-40. It seems to have been intended as a reference book, for the first folios contain copies of earlier records, for example a list of mayors and sheriffs from 1326; a description of the city boundaries and streets; a list of officers' fees; and a list of Corporation property. Assembly orders dating from c.1453 are also copied in and it is not until c.1570 that decisions taken at Assembly meetings begin to be recorded on a systematic basis. The last Assembly minute book covering the years 1825 to 1835, also includes minutes of the new Council to 1849. Unlike other boroughs, a new minute book was not commenced for the Council elected after the Municipal Corporations Act, 1835. Three volumes of indexes to the minutes up to 1798 were compiled at the beginning of the nineteenth century. |