Burgess and Parochial Elector

[Bogie]

Hi everyone,

I'm researching a street in Lincoln in the late 19th / early 20th century and am looking at the electoral registers. There are several female householders in the street, but they appear in different categories in the register and I'm not sure of the difference.

Most of the women are on the page entitled:
Persons entitled to be enrolled as Burgess, but NOT to be registered as Parliamentary Voters under a Right conferred as aforesaid

But a couple of them are in a different page with the heading:
Persons entitled to be enrolled as Parochial Electors, but not to be Registered as Parliamentary or Municipal Electors.

I can't find what the difference is (and therefore the qualification) for being a burgess or a parochial elector.  Is a burgess a municipal elector? Can anyone advise?

Many thanks!

[David Outner]

A burgess meant someone on the burgess roll and therefore qualified to vote in municipal elections.  From 1868 women could be registered as burgesses on the same basis as men: they had to be householders (which married women normally were not) and not subject to certain disqualifications.  The right to vote did not carry with it the right to stand for election. Female burgesses could not vote in parliamentary elections until 1918.

The separate category of parochial electors apparently related to boundaries (Municipal Corporations Act 1882 s 44), but I do not understand the purpose of the provision.

[Bogie]

A burgess meant someone on the burgess roll and therefore qualified to vote in municipal elections.  From 1868 women could be registered as burgesses on the same basis as men: they had to be householders (which married women normally were not) and not subject to certain disqualifications.  The right to vote did not carry with it the right to stand for election. Female burgesses could not vote in parliamentary elections until 1918.

The separate category of parochial electors apparently related to boundaries (Municipal Corporations Act 1882 s 44), but I do not understand the purpose of the provision.

Thank you, David, that's really helpful. I'll do a bit more digging and see if I can find out more about parochial electors.