LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The expansion in the powers and functions of local administration was an important influence on the development of county loyalties in the century before the Civil War. The leading gentry meeting at Quarter Sessions enforced law and order in the county, arbitrated in disputes between parishes, and occasionally functioned as a kind of local parliament when the sessions became a forum for united discussions or action over a demand of the central government. An example of this last role in Warwickshire is found in the refusal of the J.P.s, on behalf of all ‘men of ability’ in the county, to contribute to a free gift to the king in December 1614, offering supply through Parliament only. The decision followed a meeting of all Warwickshire tax-payers, probably at Quarter Sessions.

Although Warwickshire was socially and economically so diverse, its administrative structure was more united than that of many other counties. A single bench met constantly at Warwick: Quarter Sessions did not rotate between several towns as in Somerset or Wiltshire, neither were there separate benches for different parts of the county as there were in practice in Lincolnshire or Sussex.

The county's J.P.s between 1620 and 1640 are listed in table 4a of appendix 1. No evidence survives to show how they were appointed. Historians of other counties have described the great competition amongst the pool of leading gentry to secure a place that brought prestige and status as well as substantial power over one's neighbours; and have judged that the Privy Council took the advice of assize judges, bishops and county magnates with influence at court in making their decisions.