who married Adam Ireland, ante 1286." Robert de Holland made a grant, probably on the occasion of the marriage, of half the land of Halewood, together with his share in two mills. Robert Holland, however, does not seem to have readily parted with the promised land, as in 1300, a precipe is sent down to order Robert de Holland to fulfil his promise to Adam Ireland. Five years later his son, Sir Robert Holland, the famous secretary to Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, made a further grant of land to Adam, and a rent of seven pounds a year, issuing out of Hale.

From this alliance of Adam Ireland with Avena Holland sprang a race which, for over six hundred years, has been intimately associated with the history of our county. From this point onward Mr. Beamont may be taken to be accurate in the main, so that we need not trouble ourselves with the later steps.

The greater part of this information is taken from an interesting Charter Roll now in the possession of Colonel Ireland-Blackburne, of Hale Hall.

The Roll, which seems to have been drawn up about the beginning of the fifteenth century, includes abstracts and, in some cases, complete copies of a large collection of documents which at this time must have been in possession of the Irelands of Hale. It is difficult to see for what purpose these documents were copied, except as a sort of abstract of title, or possibly as corroborative of an entered pedigree.

At the extreme foot of the roll, on the dorso, is the following, written the reverse way from the rest of the document, i.e., commencing at the extreme end of the roll and working up it :-

Pesgradus Johis Irland armigeri."

M

11 Hale Charters.

From this follows a fairly accurate pedigree, bringing it down to John Ireland, Esq., who died, according to Beamont, in 1462, and subsequently, in later handwriting, it is continued to George Ireland, who died in 1595.

In addition to the various charters and pleadings referred to already, there are several interesting documents, particularly some in Norman-French. An abstract of these will be found printed at the end of the present volume.

SIR THOMAS JOHNSON.

By Miss E. M. Platt, M.A.

Read 29th November, 1900.

THE HE first twenty-five years of the eighteenth century were years of great municipal vigour in Liverpool; of increase of trade, of rapid improvement in the outward appearance of the town, and of the foundation and origin of some of the city's chief sources of revenue. Liverpool was fortunate in having at the head of affairs during this period men like Richard Norris, Wm. Clayton, John Cleveland; but chief among these men was Sir Thomas Johnson. Of him Picton writes:

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The constitution of the parish as separate from "Walton, the erection of St. Peter's and St. George's Churches, the construction of the original dock, the grant of the Castle and the establishment of the market in Derby Square, 'were principally owing to his activity and "influence." Heywood, the editor of the Norris Papers, the storehouse of information on Liverpool affairs for the first few years of the eighteenth century, also says: "If the separation of the parish "from Walton; the building of St. Peter's; the formation of the first dock; the creation of the Corporation property; and the seeking out of new sources of wealth, by distant and daring "adventures, entitle the merchants of Liverpool "who lived in the reigns of William and Anne

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"to be considered as the founders of the town's prosperity, of those traders Johnson was the acknowledged head; and therefore to him more than to any one else is the town indebted for its "vigorous and well-omened commencement."

His father, Thomas Johnson, senior, who came. from Bedford Leigh, was elected, in 1659, a member of the council, and in 1663 served as bailiff. Sir Edward Moore, in his Rental, mentions Baly Johnson, who was then resident in Castle Street, as "one of the hardest men in the town." In 1670, he was elected mayor, and it was during his year of office that the celebrated agreement was made with Caryl, Lord Molyneux, by which the fee farm of the town was leased to the Corporation for 1000 years, at a rent of £30 per annum. In 1677, by Charles II's charter, he was nominated one of the council; but in the minutes of the council, under the date Oct. 31 of the same year, is the entry :"Alderman Thomas Johnson being alsoe required

to take the oath answers he'el take noe more "oaths unles to be elected to some new office, and "denies to take the oath of a Comon Councellman "pursuant to the said new charter." A further entry, dated Nov. 7, 1683, gives the sequel to this refusal: "Upon debate whether Alderman Thomas "Johnson should be admitted one of the Common Councell. It was ordered that the said Mr. John"son should not be admitted into the said Councell, "for that he hadd publiquely declared that he would not act by virtue of the new charter; and volun'tarily gave evidence against the Corporation in "the tryall with St Edward Moore."

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During these years of the father's retirement, the son, the Thomas Johnson of this sketch, first appears on the horizon of municipal politics. It is evident, even from the few words which I have devoted to Thomas Johnson, senior, that he was a

staunch Whig, who trained his son in the like principles. During the father's exclusion from the council, the younger Johnson was elected a member, and in 1689 served as bailiff. By William III's charter of Sept. 26, 1695, Thomas Johnson, senior, was appointed mayor in place of Alexander Norris, dismissed, and Thomas Johnson, junior, was appointed one of the councillors. The father,

however, by the charter, was only to serve as mayor till St. Luke's Day, October 18, when his son was chosen to succeed him in the mayoralty. As far as I know, this is the only case in the history of Liverpool that father and son have succeeded one another as mayors, a proof of their great abilities, and of the high esteem in which their fellow-citizens held them.

Thomas Johnson, senior, is therefore said by Picton to have retired from the council in 1677, and to have remained in seclusion" till the grant of William III's charter in 1695. But I am inclined to dispute, or at least to modify, this statement. He kept his title of alderman, still I do not think this point can be taken as sufficient evidence one way or the other; but there is a more important witness. In 1672, trustees had been appointed for the property and rights sold to the Corporation by Lord Molyneux, among whom was Thomas Johnson, senior of course. Under the date Nov. 2, 1692, a time when the elder Johnson, to use Picton's word, was in seclusion, is an entry in the council minutes :-"It is this day concluded in "Councell that a new deed be drawne betweene "ye towne and Caryl Lord Molyneux . . . according to ye forme of the old one, and the trustees to be nominated in ve said deed are to be ye persons following viz. Thirteen names follow, the two first being Alderman Thomas Johnson, senior, and Alderman Thomas Johnson, junior. I do not

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