History
Two former Mayors, Mervyn Cutten and Barry Fletcher, have researched an excellent and comprehensive history of the corporation. This is in now in a recently updated book which is available at all of the Corporation’s major events. You can read historic news articles about the corporation’s Annual Dinner here and the Christmas Walk here.
We helped celebrate the Silver Jubilee in 1935 and this was captured on cinefilm which you can see here (starting at 3 minutes 50 seconds)
On 4 November 1688 William of Orange landed in England. He had been invited by wealthy magnates concerned that the birth of a son to the ruling King James II would mean a continuing Roman Catholic monarchy. King James fled the country and a convention in early 1689 declared William and his wife, Mary, to be declared ‘joint sovereigns’. On 20 February 1689, they were to be proclaimed King and Queen in Chichester, West Sussex. At a meeting of the City Corporation that day it was ordered that there would be a procession by the Mayor and Alderman followed by feasting and drinking.
By August 1689 some of the merchants in Chichester wanted to commemorate what they saw as deliverance from tyranny and oppression. They decided to hold what was the first Corporation annual dinner in the Unicorn public house. They established their own mock corporation complete with Mayor, Town Clerk, Aldermen, Serjeants at Mace, and Crier, etc. So started the Corporation still going strong all these years later!
Originally the Corporation would have been semi-political as well as social. It celebrated the coming of the Protestant William of Orange and Queen Mary and would have been seen as an 'Orange Club'. At the same time, the weekly 'club meetings' which developed in Chichester provided a useful social function in keeping the members together between the annual dinners. As an Orange Club, the Corporation would initially have been seen as a Protestant organisation but this sectarian element has long since died away there is no religious bar to membership.
How did the Corporation start?
Why do you have a Mayor and other oddly named officers?
The founders of the St Pancras Corporation decided to mimic or 'mock' the Chichester Corporation (now Chichester City Council) by choosing its officials with the same titles as those of the real corporation. There are various other such mock corporations around the country. Thus we have such officers as a Mayor, Town Clerk, Sergeants at Mace, and Town Crier, just like the Chichester Corporation already had. All members of the St Pancras Corporation are known as Burgesses, whilst past Mayors are called Aldermen. Our current Mayor is affectionately known as the ‘Downtown Mayor’ whilst the Mayor of Chichester City Council is the ‘Uptown Mayor’.
In 1689 Chichester was still a city within walls enclosed behind the four gates. The only substantial suburb was that of the Parish of St Pancras, This ran down to the then boundary of the city at what is now the junction of St Pancras and Spitalfield Lane. The Parish of St Pancras therefore could be seen as part of Chichester but at the same time outside the walls and so somewhere which could be seen as semi-independent. An ideal place for the mock corporation to start!
Why ‘St Pancras’?
At some date between 1842 and 1904 the Corporation is said to have acquired its alternative name of ‘The Wheelbarrow Club’. This derives from the story that apprentices used to wait outside the annual dinners with wheelbarrows to take their masters home if they were unable to walk.
There is no real evidence to support this story, but the wheelbarrow remains a symbol of the Corporation and at some of the annual dinners a wheelbarrow lined with straw was positioned outside the building where the dinner was being held. At Christmas, the gifts for those living in the Almshouses are carried in a wheelbarrow and by tradition, the Mayor of Chichester travels back to the Nags Head in the same wheelbarrow.
Wheelbarrows often feature at the annual dinner and a wheelbarrow is proudly displayed on the Corporation ties. At Christma on our annual walk the Uptown Mayor is treated to a wheelbarrow ride along St Pancras!
Why ‘The Wheelbarrow Club?’
Do you have any chains of office or other such regalia?
We certainly do. Our Mayor has his own robes and official chain and our officers are encouraged to wear chains of office befitting their roles. It is not unusual, for example, to see our Pyrotechnics Officer brandishing a large (fake) firework”!
What does your coat of arms mean?
The mock coat of arms drawn by Mr. Tiffin shows on one side the figure of St. Pancras (taken from the Cowfold brass to Prior Nelond) holding in his right hand a model of St. Pancras’ Church. The background to this shows three needles crowned, symbolising the fact that needle¬making was the chief industry in St. Pancras until the Civil War. On the other side are the arms of the city of Chichester. In the centre are the arms of William III taken from his coat of arms in Aldingbourne Church. This is crowned by the mace of the St Pancras Corporation. Fireworks explode on each side with the words ‘Remember 4th November’ underneath, the traditional day for the annual dinner. The shield is festooned with oranges, with the head of William III suspended below taken from a silver shilling minted in Exeter. The supporters are two unicorns symbolising the Corporation’s association with the Unicorn Inn. The crests at the top show on one side the wheelbarrow and on the other the Nag’s Head where the society now meets.
