The Leet of the Manor of Stamford, overseen by the Lord of the Manor, was a force to be reckoned with, from medieval times to more recent times, in Stamford, as hundreds of soon-to-be homeless people would discover. Let’s get everything in perspective : what is more important: a) making hundreds of people, admittedly ‘of the humble kind’, homeless, b) losing £2,000 in rental income, or c) losing 50 votes ? It was a hard choice in 1828.
“At the annual assembly of the Leet of the Manor of Stamford last week, Mr. Torkington, the clerk, stated that the notices given to a few of the persons who had trespassed by building on the waste, would be followed up by active operations in case the owners did not promptly take down the erections ; and that it was intended to give similar notices to all the trespassers, by a dozen or two at a time, and to resort to similar active proceedings in every case of contempt, until all the buildings were removed.–This measure will throw some hundreds of persons out of dwellings ; and, although they are chiefly of a humble kind, will, it is calculated, destroy a rental of about 2000l. a year, and about 50 votes for the borough.”
The Stamford Mercury, 9th May, 1828.