Leeds City Charters

Charters are the documents which give rights and freedoms to a local community. The grant of a corporation gives it a governing body of its own with specified privileges, such as the rights to buy and sell land, to make bye-laws, to hold markets and fairs, to administer local justice and freedom from tolls and obligations in other places.

Early Leeds

1086 In Domesday Book Leeds was part of the estate of Ilbert de Lacy, with a church and a mill. The property subsequently passed to the Paynel family.

1207 Maurice Paynel founded the Borough of Leeds by a charter only known from later copies [see WYAS Reference LX172 and the Publications of the Thoresby Society, XLV number 104 (1956)]. A new settlement of freeholders was established along Briggate. The boundaries of these properties can still be seen in the surviving yards and arcades opening off the modern street.

First Royal Charter 13 July 1626

(WYAS Reference LL1/1)

By 1600 Leeds had developed from a prosperous rural village into a growing industrial and mercantile centre. Cloth was the staple trade and the merchants were anxious to control it, maintain standards, and exclude competition by forming a self-governing corporation. They obtained a charter from King Charles I creating a new borough to be coterminous with the parish of Leeds, to be administered by an Alderman, nine principal burgesses and twenty assistants, with power to acquire property, to hold courts, to have a common seal, to make and enforce bye-laws and regulations and to collect fines. The original of this charter was lost during the Civil War, but a replacement, called an INSPEXIMUS, was obtained in 1646. For three years the corporation had been in abeyance with local government in the hands of the parliamentary army. Now purged of royalists, the old administration and privileges were restored.

This charter was superseded by that issued by Charles II in 1661. It was then subsequently lost, and only rediscovered and restored to the corporation in 1952.

First Charter of Charles II 2 November 1661

(WYAS Reference LL1/2)

A new charter issued on the restoration of the monarchy, this is still in force, although its provisions have been varied by legislation and later grants. The borough is to be governed by a mayor, twelve "honest and discreet" aldermen and another twenty-four "able and discreet men" as common council. The aldermen and councillors are to be appointed for life unless removed “for evil behaviour, or evil carriage, or for some other reasonable cause.” It renews most of the provisions of 1626 and clearly defines the borough’s own court of Quarter Sessions, to be held separately from that of the West Riding.

Inspeximus 4 July 1666

(WYAS Reference LL1/3)

A confirmed copy of an order made in the Exchequer in 1664 exempting the inhabitants of Leeds from serving on juries outside the borough unless the case to be tried originated there. This decision confirmed the validity of one of the provisions of the 1661 charter. Since the town now had its own court of Quarter Sessions, its citizens would usually only be summoned to attend Assizes and then only if a case was a local one.

Second Charter of Charles II 24 December 1684

(WYAS Reference LL1/4)

Confronted towards the end of his reign by mounting political opposition from the corporate boroughs, Charles sought to reduce their independence by calling in their charters and issuing new ones. With this grant the crown asserted a power to dismiss the mayor and council members without trial or appeal and deprived the mayor of his power to issue court summonses. The expense of obtaining such reduced privileges was met by levying a special rate on the property of the inhabitants.

This and all similar charters were annulled by James II on 24 September 1688 in a desperate bid for support in the face of an imminent Dutch invasion. The accession of William and Mary confirmed the restoration of the 1661 charter.

Charter of William IV 3 June 1836

(WYAS Reference LL1/5)

Leeds had had powers to hold its own sessions of the peace since the charter of 1626 and had exercised them since the later 17th century. This privilege had been abolished by the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 but was restored by this charter. Leeds continued to have its own Quarter Sessions until such courts were abolished everywhere in 1971.

Charter of Queen Victoria 13 February 1893

(WYAS Reference LL1/6)

This charter confers the title of a city on account of "the antiquity, size and importance of Leeds and other considerations". It is to have "all such rank, liberties, privileges and immunities as are incident to a City".

Sheffield received a similar grant on the same day.

Charter of Queen Victoria 12 July 1897

(WYAS Reference LL1/7)

This charter confers on the chief magistrate of the city the dignity and style of "Lord Mayor of Leeds" and the right "to enjoy and use all and singular the rights, privileges, pre-eminences and advantages to the degree of a Lord Mayor in all things duly and of right belonging".

Grant of Arms 7 November 1921

(WYAS Reference LL1/8)

The corporation of Leeds had a seal with which to authenticate documents issued in its name since 1626. Its heraldic device incorporated the fleece and owls which have been recurring elements in the town's coat of arms ever since. Not until 1921, however, were they formally authorised by the College of Arms. The fleece is symbolic of the wool trade, the owls were chosen as a compliment to the first alderman, Sir John Savile, whose own arms contained owls. The three mullets (or stars) on the shield above the fleece pay a similar compliment to the first mayor, Thomas Danby. The only amendments made by the College of Arms were to change the colour of the owls from argent (silver) to proper (brown) and to add a helmet to the crest.

Charter of Queen Elizabeth II 23 November 1973

Under the Local Government Act of 1972 the newly constituted local authorities of West Yorkshire were to be a metropolitan county council and five metropolitan district councils. This charter restored to Leeds the status of a borough which was to include the former boroughs of Morley and Pudsey.

Charter of Queen Elizabeth II 1 April 1974

This charter restored to Leeds the status of a city, "to have all such rank, liberties, privileges and immunities as are incident to a City", and also the offices of Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor, all of which dignities had been swept away by the Local Government Act of 1972.

(Text taken from a WYAS leaflet prepared in 1993 to accompany a display commemorating the grant of city status to Leeds by Queen Victoria in 1893)