125 Years Old Today!

To celebrate the 125th year of the parish council, we will be publishing excerpts from minutes taken over the years. The first one marks the formation of the council:

'The first parish meeting under the Local Government Act, 1894, was held on Tuesday 4th December 1894 at 7 pm at the Drill Hall in the home for Little Boys, South Darenth. The purpose was to nominate and elect the parish councillors for the parish of Horton Kirby.

The Overseers, George Frederick Dalton and Wiliam Henry Hutson, had called the meeting for 7p.m. but allowed a quarter of an hour to lapse before it commenced. At 7.15pm precisely Mr Dalton proposed that Mr George Burvill Rashleigh of Riseley, Horton Kirby and of Lincoln's Inn, barrister at law, a parochial elector, should be chairman of the parish meeting. The proposal was seconded by Mr Leonard Allen Shuter of Kirby Hall, Horton Kirby and was carried unanimously.

Mr Rashleigh accordingly took the chair at 7.20 p.m. and suggested that 15 minutes must elapse before there could be any voting for the election of parish councillors, he should read over the register of parochial electors and ascertain which of them were present. This being approved he read through the register "in audible voice" and with the assistance of the Overseers, marked off on the register in pencil the name of every elector present, each of whom was handed a paper containing a list of the candidates.

Out of 282 on the register, only 83 electors were present including the chairman and only one female elector, namely Mrs Boyce.

At 7.45 p.m. the chairman called for the nomination papers and 13 were handed in, all of which he announced to be valid.'