Catalogue description VICTUALLERS AND ALEHOUSE KEEPERS

The licensing and oversight of alehouses was an important duty of the Justices of the Peace. From 1552 (by the act 5 & 6 Edward VI c.25) keepers of alehouses had to enter into a bond, before two Justices of the Peace, promising to maintain good order in their houses and not to permit unlawful games. Further guarantee had to be given by two sureties. The recognizance had to be certified by the two Justices of the Peace at the next Quarter Sessions, and anybody found to be keeping an alehouse without having given bond could be prosecuted. This was the origin of the licensing of victuallers. In 1753 an act of Parliament (26 George II c.31) required victuallers or alehouse keepers to bind themselves by recognizance each year at special licensing sessions held by Justices of the Peace in their own divisions. Applicants not previously licensed had first to produce a certificate of good character signed by the minister and churchwardens of the parish. The recognizances were returned to the clerk of the peace who had to keep a register of licensing recognizances, on record, amongst the Quarter Sessions records.

No recognizances, either general or licensing, have survived for the Durham Quarter Sessions. Occasionally entries were made in the general sessions order books (Q/S//OB) to record alehouse keepers and their sureties entering into recognizance. An early register exists for the years 1716 - 1718, some constables' returns survive for 1783 and part of a register for 1804. Otherwise most of the licensing records have disappeared.

The Alehouse Act of 1828 (9 George IV c.61) abolished the system of recognizances and sureties, simplifying the procedure but retaining the annual licensing sessions in each sessional division. The Beer Act of 1830 (II George IV and I William IV c.24), however, allowed beer, ale and cider to be sold freely, requiring merely an excise licence. It was not until forty years later that responsibility for licensing returned to the justices of the peace in divisional licensing sessions, by the Licensing Acts of 1869 (32 & 33 Victoria c.27) and 1872 (35 & 36 Victoria c.94). From 1872 clerks of petty sessions were required to keep a register of licences. Under the 1872 act also, licences for new applicants, not previously licensed, had to be confirmed by a county licensing committee appointed by quarter sessions. The minutes of this committee (Q/A/C/6-8) include annual lists of new licences, 1872 - 1938.