17th December 1811: Mayor & Common Council of the Town of Nottingham adopt new measures

TOWN OF NOTTINGHAM,

TO WIT.

AT a Common Hall or meeting of the Mayor and Common Council of the said Town, held at the Guildhall, in and for the said Town, on Tuesday the 17th day of December, 1811, for the special Purpose of taking into Consideration some Anonymous papers, addressed to the Magistrates and Corporate Body, since the Commencement of the present Disturbances, and relating thereto, and adopting such Resolutions thereupon, as may seem expedient to them: –

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY—That this Corporation do agree to pay a Sum not exceeding £500, to be advanced by the Chamberlains, to any Person or Persons, who may give such Information of the Authors, Writers, Publishers or Senders, of the two Papers hereafter described, or either of them, as he or they may be Convicted thereof, viz: A certain threatening Anonymous Paper, addressed the Mayor, and received by him on Sunday the 8th of December instant, intimating to him, that unless he complied with certain wishes expressed by the Author or Writer, it was intended on the part of the Author or Writer, to commit Murder upon some Person or Persons therein described; and also a wicked and Inflammatory paper, addressed by way of Notice to the Corporation, under the fictitious Name of Ned Lud, delivered at the Police Office on the Evening of the 16th of December Instant: Such Reward to be paid on the Conviction of the Parties, to such Persons, and in such proportion, as the Committee hereafter appointed shall, through the medium of the Town Clerk, direct.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY—That a Committee be appointed, and which Committee was appointed accordingly, for the purposes hereafter named: And that the Signature of the Mayor to any Act or Proceedings of that Committee, countersigned by the Town Clerk as Clerk to such Committee, shall be deemed by this Hall to be conclusive Evidence that such Acts or Proceedings were done by, and had the Sanction of the Committee.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY—That a Sum not exceeding Two Thousand Pounds, be paid by the Chamberlains of this Corporation to the Order and Direction of the Committee, towards obtaining such Information as may be needful in suppressing the present illegal and felonious Proceedings in the Town, and in bringing the Instigators and Abettors thereof to Punishment, and for assisting the Magistrates, or otherwise, as the Committee may think proper, for the Preservation of the Peace of the said Town and Neighbourhood, and the Protection of the Property thereof. And that the Receipt of the Mayor shall be a sufficient Discharge to the Chamberlains for all Sums of Money paid by them to the Order of the said Committee.

And for the purpose of enabling the said Committee to conduct their Operations with more efficacy and secresy, it was further Unanimously Resolved, that they shall have full Power and Authority to apply and dispose of the said Sum of Two Thousand Pounds to such Person or Persons, and in such Manner and Form as they may think requisite, without being compelled to render any Account thereof.

RESOLVED—That these Proceedings be drawn up by the Town Clerk, and entered into the Mayor's Books, and that the same be signed by him, and published in such Manner as the said Committee may direct.

By Order of the Committee,
GEO. COLDHAM, Town Clerk.

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This notice was published in the Nottingham Review of the 20th December 1811.