K.C. Boswell
Last week Commander King-Hall told you about the Parish Council as it exists to-day. This afternoon Mr. K.C. Boswell is to tell you about its fore-bear, the parish of olden times. The parish is the smallest unit in our local government, and you all live in one, whether in town or country. It owes its origin to the Church, and at first was concerned with church matters. During Elizabeth's reign, it was used to help in the work of relieving the poor.
There are many curious offices connected with the story of the parish, and it is of them that Mr. Boswell is going to speak to you. Sixteenth-century sextons, early nineteenth-century constables and beadles, linkmen who lighted fair ladies home in the days of the Sedan chair - all were romantic figures in the parish of long ago.