Strawman
In 1865 permission was gained from Parliament to lay a railway line north out of Scarborough, connecting with Whitby. Railways had already connected Scarborough with Hull and York. Scarborough had began to open up with the first physical break in the Parish Boundary since it was established in the charter of 1256. Peasholm Beck around the Woodlands Ravine area would have to be piped underground for the railway to be lain and a bridge would be needed to allow passage over the line.
Victorian values were rampant throughout the country and great cultural changes were quickly occurring as a result of the great leap forwards in engineering and industry. A different mindset and attitude towards progress and industry were required as the great changes in the landscape and in commerce began to occur. But change didn’t appeal to everyone.
Local Civil engineer George Knowles warned that rail links with the ‘outside world’ would only encourage penniless vagrants to Scarborough and spoil this respectable and fashionable watering place for the aristocracy. His xenophobia was mollified when he was assured by the rail board that all carriages to Scarborough would be first class only and therefore ‘no riff raff’.
Was this genuine xenophobia or was his apparent fear of outsiders actually based on something more ‘remunerative’? To understand this insular attitude, we need to keep in mind that the Great Reform Act, also known as The Representation of the People Act, had been passed by Parliament in 1832.
Scarborough was a ‘pocket borough’ which meant it was a constituency with its choice of its MP decided exclusively by a rich and powerful family. Scarborough, since 1356, had been governed by forty four members of the Common Hall (1) that became known as the Old Corporation. With each member chosen by its fellow members, which in reality meant its governance was not accountable to the towns people of Scarborough and that each seat was in reality a seat for life as all one had to do to maintain a chair was to simply swap seats every now and then and ensure you nominate each other on Election Day.
His Majesty’s Commissioners Fortunatus Dwarris & Rumball were appointed to look into Scarborough’s affairs and the end report was damning. Scarborough was being run by a small group of aristocratic families that controlled its wealth in money, lands and property. This was being carried out in isolation as the nearest substantial body was forty miles away. There was evidence of maladministration as although tenant returns were claimed to be poor, assets were being sold off and Corporation buildings were in a poor state of affairs, however there were vast sums of money being bounded about between the forty four of the Common Hall. This corruption resulted in a great class divide between those who lived in splendid opulence and those who lived in poverty.
On June 4th 1832 when the Great Reform Act was passed in Parliament and the Old Corporation dissolved, a great bonfire was lit in Newborough. Forty four strawmen were made up by the people of Scarborough, and these effigies representing the forty four members of the old corporation were paraded through the town and with much celebration, taken down to the sands and buried in a deep hole (2).
The old forty four of the Corporation would have been very aware that the town was making their likenesses for parade and for a very public burial. I wonder what they thought of this? Effigies appear in a number of English customs and nearly all of them end up being burnt, buried, drowned or dismembered. Guy Fawkes is the obvious example but this tradition occurs with other character such as Judas, Bartle, Cromwell, Jack of Lent, as well as giants like Gog and Magog. This ceremony is part of a much older English tradition dealing with death and, death and resurrection, which may have its routes in agriculture. The making of a straw symbol in order to mark the end of the harvest and the promise of the new one. Chasing death out the field, the village or the town with the help of a noisy carnival, the old time is buried and ensures the new time will start again. This remains a very common traditional ceremony which can still be seen being played out all over the world.
A Strawman is also the name of a rhetorical tactic, used purposefully in an argument. By misrepresenting or objecting with the intent of inviting criticism, to encourage an idea to be discussed and refuted is the purpose of a Strawman. Another name for a Strawman is an Aunt Sally. Most of us watching tv from the 70’s and 80’s will be familiar with the program Worzel Gummidge the scarecrow (Strawman) and his femme fatale Aunt Sally. Worzel’s demeanour was of testy cantankerous rhetoric, resulting in mischief and argument, fulfilling his role as a Strawman. His writer Barbra Euphan Todd was known for her dry and wry sense of humour, the hallmark of the bumbling Worzel Gummidge.
The only member of the Old Corporation that passed over into the new council was John Woodall. The Woodalls were the great banking family of Scarborough, and John Woodall became mayor in 1851. No badge of office is reputed to have existed prior to Woodall’s Mayorship and upon his appointment he produced his own chains of office, a great ceremonial gold chain symbol. After his Mayorship ended he donated the chains of office to the Borough. This is still used by the Mayors of Scarborough today.
DavWhiteArt.com
Strawman
In 1865 permission was gained from Parliament to lay a railway line north out of Scarborough, connecting with Whitby. Railways had already connected Scarborough with Hull and York. Scarborough had began to open up with the first physical break in the Parish Boundary since it was established in the charter of 1256. Peasholm Beck around the Woodlands Ravine area would have to be piped underground for the railway to be lain and a bridge would be needed to allow passage over the line.
Victorian values were rampant throughout the country and great cultural changes were quickly occurring as a result of the great leap forwards in engineering and industry. A different mindset and attitude towards progress and industry were required as the great changes in the landscape and in commerce began to occur. But change didn’t appeal to everyone.
Local Civil engineer George Knowles warned that rail links with the ‘outside world’ would only encourage penniless vagrants to Scarborough and spoil this respectable and fashionable watering place for the aristocracy. His xenophobia was mollified when he was assured by the rail board that all carriages to Scarborough would be first class only and therefore ‘no riff raff’.
Was this genuine xenophobia or was his apparent fear of outsiders actually based on something more ‘remunerative’? To understand this insular attitude, we need to keep in mind that the Great Reform Act, also known as The Representation of the People Act, had been passed by Parliament in 1832.
Scarborough was a ‘pocket borough’ which meant it was a constituency with its choice of its MP decided exclusively by a rich and powerful family. Scarborough, since 1356, had been governed by forty four members of the Common Hall (1) that became known as the Old Corporation. With each member chosen by its fellow members, which in reality meant its governance was not accountable to the towns people of Scarborough and that each seat was in reality a seat for life as all one had to do to maintain a chair was to simply swap seats every now and then and ensure you nominate each other on Election Day.
His Majesty’s Commissioners Fortunatus Dwarris & Rumball were appointed to look into Scarborough’s affairs and the end report was damning. Scarborough was being run by a small group of aristocratic families that controlled its wealth in money, lands and property. This was being carried out in isolation as the nearest substantial body was forty miles away. There was evidence of maladministration as although tenant returns were claimed to be poor, assets were being sold off and Corporation buildings were in a poor state of affairs, however there were vast sums of money being bounded about between the forty four of the Common Hall. This corruption resulted in a great class divide between those who lived in splendid opulence and those who lived in poverty.
On June 4th 1832 when the Great Reform Act was passed in Parliament and the Old Corporation dissolved, a great bonfire was lit in Newborough. Forty four strawmen were made up by the people of Scarborough, and these effigies representing the forty four members of the old corporation were paraded through the town and with much celebration, taken down to the sands and buried in a deep hole (2).
The old forty four of the Corporation would have been very aware that the town was making their likenesses for parade and for a very public burial. I wonder what they thought of this? Effigies appear in a number of English customs and nearly all of them end up being burnt, buried, drowned or dismembered. Guy Fawkes is the obvious example but this tradition occurs with other character such as Judas, Bartle, Cromwell, Jack of Lent, as well as giants like Gog and Magog. This ceremony is part of a much older English tradition dealing with death and, death and resurrection, which may have its routes in agriculture. The making of a straw symbol in order to mark the end of the harvest and the promise of the new one. Chasing death out the field, the village or the town with the help of a noisy carnival, the old time is buried and ensures the new time will start again. This remains a very common traditional ceremony which can still be seen being played out all over the world.
A Strawman is also the name of a rhetorical tactic, used purposefully in an argument. By misrepresenting or objecting with the intent of inviting criticism, to encourage an idea to be discussed and refuted is the purpose of a Strawman. Another name for a Strawman is an Aunt Sally. Most of us watching tv from the 70’s and 80’s will be familiar with the program Worzel Gummidge the scarecrow (Strawman) and his femme fatale Aunt Sally. Worzel’s demeanour was of testy cantankerous rhetoric, resulting in mischief and argument, fulfilling his role as a Strawman. His writer Barbra Euphan Todd was known for her dry and wry sense of humour, the hallmark of the bumbling Worzel Gummidge.
The only member of the Old Corporation that passed over into the new council was John Woodall. The Woodalls were the great banking family of Scarborough, and John Woodall became mayor in 1851. No badge of office is reputed to have existed prior to Woodall’s Mayorship and upon his appointment he produced his own chains of office, a great ceremonial gold chain symbol. After his Mayorship ended he donated the chains of office to the Borough. This is still used by the Mayors of Scarborough today.
DavWhiteArt.com
Appendices
1. The Common Hall (Assembly Rooms/Long Rooms) were decorated in 'The Egyptian Style'. An example of this style can be seen at Temple Mill in Leeds.
2. Burial on the sea strand is an ancient ritual reputedly used by the Freemasons on members of their order that have broken lodge rules.
1. The Common Hall (Assembly Rooms/Long Rooms) were decorated in 'The Egyptian Style'. An example of this style can be seen at Temple Mill in Leeds.
2. Burial on the sea strand is an ancient ritual reputedly used by the Freemasons on members of their order that have broken lodge rules.
Temple Mill, Leeds.
Temple Mill, Leeds
The Holy of Holies / Map Room
