Boston, From The Ferry 1893

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Boston Corporation came into existence on 14 May 1545. The charter not only gave them the lordship of the manor of Hallgarth and a large collection of property, but also the right to collect tolls belonging to the manor, and the right (previously held by the Order of St John) to appoint the Vicar of Boston. The Corporation kept the right to choose the two MPs for the town until 1640. It remained an oligarchy until 1835 when a major reform allowed it to be elected by some of the townspeople. It stayed that way until 1974 when a new borough council took over the town and surrounding rural district. Many towns had corporations like this, but in Boston there was an unusual further development. On 12 July 1545 the heads of the five incorporated guilds, four of whom were aldermen or councillors of the new Corporation, voluntarily handed over all the lands and goods of the guilds of St Mary, the Holy Trinity, St Peter and St Paul, St George and Corpus Christi. This meant that initially the Corporation employed a large number of priests and other officials to carry on the religious duties of the former guilds. Nicholas Robinson had resigned his position as Warden of St Mary's Guild to become the first Mayor of the new Corporation on 1 June 1545. The hall of St Mary's Guild became the Corporation's headquarters, and is still in use today as the town's museum. When King Henry died in 1547, a more Protestant regime was imposed under his son Edward VI. An Act of that year abolished guilds, and the new Boston Corporation lost the property it had got from the guilds.