Context: The Charter of Edward VI (23 April 1550) directed that
the borough of Southwark should be under the government of the Lord Mayor and officers of the City of
London. Following this directive, in May 1550 the Court of Aldermen designated the borough
of Southwark — that is, those urbanised parts of the parishes of St Saviour and
St Olave centered upon the High Street (or, more technically, the Guildable Manor, the King's Manor
and Great Liberty Manor) — as the newly created Ward of Bridge Without [distinct from Bridge
Ward, at the north end of London Bridge, which thenceforth became the Ward of Bridge Within (see
map)]. An Act of Common Council of 31 July 1550 provided that, at future
elections, the inhabitants of the new Ward should nominate four freemen of the City from whom the Court
of Aldermen would choose one to be their Alderman. But this provision was altogether ignored
at the next ensuing elections in 1553 and 1556, when the Court itself nominated the four from whom the
final selection was made. The Act was repealed by a further Act of 16 June 1558, which gave the
Court of Aldermen the full right of nomination which it had already assumed. This practice remained
in place until 1711. Southwark did not elect any members to London's Court of Common Council, on
the grounds that the three Courts Leet of the three Manors fulfilled that representative role.
The Court of Aldermen also appointed the bailiff and steward of the borough court.
[The information on this page is taken from Alfred B. Beaven, The Aldermen of
the City of London, 2 vols., 1908.]
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