City of Lincoln Waites
Salaries
Waites Salaries 1764 - 1835
70 Years of Waites Salaries 1764 - 1835 (PDF file size = 63.5kb).
The City Accounts Books for these years show that the usual number of Waites in Lincoln was four. This is true of the whole 70 year period, the four exceptions (in 1778, 1780, 1784 and 1835) appear to have occurred when a post was vacant for a short time (under a year in each case), whilst a new incumbent was sought. The period between 1812 and 1822, when the Waites salaries appear to have doubled, may simply be an error, or perhaps an accounting convention - for showing the full annual salaries whilst actually paying them in two halves, at 6 monthly intervals. It seems unlikely that salaries would actually have doubled, especially as no other evidence suggests this to be the case, neither is there any evidence to indicate that the number of Waites increased during this period (L1/4/1/1, L1/4/1/2, L1/4/1/3. L1/4/1/4, L1/4/2).
There are a few occassions where the accounts tell us that Selby Dickinson was handed the Waites salary (for him to re-distribute amngst his fellow Waites). Dickinson is recorded as the recipient of the salaries of all four Waites, on the following dates:
- 30 March 1818 (L1/4/1/3)
- 30 March and 31 October 1818 (L1/4/6 & L1/4/1/3)
- 23 October 1819 (L1/4/1/3)
- 29 March 1823 (L1/4/1/3)
- 20 April and 5 October 1829 (L1/4/1/4)
- 29 March and 2 October 1830 (L1/4/1/4)
An earlier payment - on 6 April 1807 (L1/4/1/2) - was also to a "Dickenson" but the first name was not recorded in the accounts.
The fact that all the salaries were paid to Selby Dickinson seems to suggest that he held a position of responsibility amongst the Waites - perhaps as their organiser (in a financial sense, at least). It is possible that Dickinson always collected the salaries of the four Waites, but that his name was only recorded these few times. His own personal wealth and his job (in later life) as a Solicitor's Clerk may have made it easier for him to be accepted by the City Officials, than his fellow Waites.
Some interesting Comparisons
1 Dec 1789
In 1789, Waits annual salaries were £2.2s. In December 1789 Mr Lee was paid £1.1d for reparing the City Sedan Chair (L1/4/1/2).
1799
Wait's wages in 1799 amounted to £2.2s.1d. The additional allowances paid for Crying the four Fairs (1s per fair per man), and the Christmas bonus (2s.6d) brought this up to £2.8s.7d per year.
For comparison, also in 1799:
- the City Council subscription to the County Hospital was £20;
- the Rent for the Rein Deer Inn was £55 a year;
- the rent paid by Mr Jessop for the City Farm at Canwick was £150;
- Thomas Wilkinson "and others" were paid a reward of £40 for bringing Thomas Dowse to justice for Highway Robbery.
- (ref: L1/4/1/2)
Other Income: Crying the Fairs
Waites Crying the Fairs 1764 - 1835 (PDF file size = 18.8kb).
Their salaries were certainly not the only official payments made to Lincoln Waites by the Corporation. Between the years 1765 and 1835, for each Fair he attended, a Waite was paid an extra fee. In 1765 this amounted to 1 shilling for each man, per fair. Although this may have been a generous payment in 1765, the Waites did not enjoy an increase in these fees over the coming years. Seventy years later, in 1835, they were still receiving 1 shilling, per man per fair. This suggests that these fees had become somewhat symbolic. Perhaps men served as Waites because it was an honour to be chosen, rather than because they needed the income to survive?
Once again, Selby Dickinson is mentioned as receiving the fees from the Council, on behalf of his Waite colleagues. He is recorded as the recipient of payments on the following occassions:
- 31 October 1818: "Selby Dickinson for Proclaiming Fairs - £16s (L14/1/3)
- 23 October 1819: "Selby Dickinson for proclaiming fair - £16s (L14/1/3)
- 5 October 1829: "Selby Dickinson Crying four Fairs - 16s (L14/1/4)
- 2 October 1830: "Selby Dickinson for Crying four Fairs - 16s (L14/1/4)
The fact that the term "crying" is used could well indicate that the Waites were delivering a verbal proclamation rather than, or as well as, a musical one. This ties in with the suggestion that Lincoln Waites may have delivered the verses of "Crying Christmas", which dates from before 1564.
It is interesting to note that all the Waites on the Corporation payroll did not receive payment for Crying Four Fairs every year. It appaears that some Waites did not take part in this activity - they may have been unavailable - out of town, or ill, or perhaps just too infirm due to old age. It appears that the Council only paid their shilling a-piece to those Waites who actually turned up to deliver their proclamations.
During the earlier years covered by these accounts, other men are paid for crying the fairs as well as Lincoln Waites. These may have been the Town Cryers at the time. The one we know most about is Robert Babb. Mr Babb was paid for Crying the Fairs between 1768 and 1774 (see Waites Crying the Fairs 1764 - 1835). Babb's other jobs appear to have been quite varied, but with an emphasis on law and order:
- 2 Sep 1768: "Robt Babb for wards at the Races & cry of the fair - 5s.2d." (L1/4/1/1)
- 20 Dec 1768: "to Mr Babb for Conveying vagabonds to Harmston.
- 20 Dec 1768: "Whipping of d[itt]o - 1s.6d." (L1/4/1/1)
- 9 Jul 1770: "to Babb ½ salary Carying the Nuse [newspapers] due Mich[aelmas] - 5s. (L1/4/1/1).
- 1 Oct 1771: "to Robt Babb for warding 52 weeks at 1s.6d. a week - £3.18s."
- 17 Jul 1773: "To Glen and Babb for attend[ing] the Assiz[e]s - 2s. (L1/4/1/1)
- 25 Sep 1776: "To Mr Babb ½ years salary for carrying News Papers as per Rect - 5s. (L1/4/1/1)
Babb appears to have departed this life by Account Day 1788 (25 December), as the Corporation Accounts show that they paid the "Widow Babb" the sum of £1.1s alongside the other usual one-off additional payments that they customarily made to Corporation Officers at this time of year.
- 16 December 1788:
- Mr Bell - £1.
- Mayors Officers - £1.
- Waits - 10s.
- Beadles - 5s.
- Keeper of the Butchery - 2s.6d.
- Sherriffs Officers - 10s.
- Widow Babb - £1.1s.
- (L1/4/1/2)
Other Income: Christmas Quarter Day
It seems from the Accounts that it was the custome for all Lincoln's Corporation Officers to receive an additional payment on, or near, the Winter Quarter Day (December 25th). It appears to be something like a Christmas Bonus. The Account Books do not describe why this payment was made.
The Account Day payments for Waites remained at 10 shillings (2s.6d. for each man) for the 54 year period from 1781 to 1835 (L1/4/1/1, L1/4/1/2, L1/4/1/3 and L1/4/1/4). The records of the payments from 1822, 1824 and 1825, clearly state that they are for "4 Waits", thus re-confirming for us the number of Waites appointed during those years.
The examples below show the amounts paid to the various officials of the City:
- 15 December 1789:
- Mr Bell - £1.
- Mayors Officers - £1.
- Waits - 10s.
- Beadles - 5s.
- Keeper of the Butchery - 2s.6d.
- Keeper of the House of Correction - 2s.6d.
- Gaoler - 2s.6d.
- Sherriffs Officers - 10s.
- Widow Babb - £1.1s.
- Servants at the Rein Deer - £2.2s.
- (L1/4/1/2)
- 17 December 1792:
- Mr Bell - £1.
- Mayors Officers - £1.
- Waits - 10s.
- Beadles - 5s.
- Keeper of the Butchery - 2s.6d.
- Keeper of the House of Correction - 2s.6d.
- (L1/4/1/2)
Other Income: Lady Day
In the City Accounts for 1804 there is one entry for an additional payment of 2s.6d. to the Waites, made on 26 March. As Lady Day was 25 March, it seems logical that this payment might be connected with some official celebration - one more fact suggests that this might have been for attendance at a banquet - the payment was made at the Rein Deer "for attendance". No further explanation is given in the Accounts and no similar payments have been discovered at this time of year (L1/4/1/2).
Lincoln City Mayors' Account Rolls
The salaries and other payments to Waites in Lincoln's Account Rolls span a period of 124 years, from 1685 - 1809. This file also includes 4 payments made during 1817 and 1818, recorded in the Lincoln Corpration Cash Book. Please open the PDF file to see all the references.
124 Years of Waites Income 1685 - 1809 (PDF file size = 96.8kb).
Waites 'Pensions'?
The money paid to Lincoln's Waites was never described as a 'Pension' in any Account Book. Their Salaries continued to be listed under the account heading of Salaries and Stipends even after 1837, and clear accounts can be found in two books entitled Orders for Payment 1845-1854 (L1/4/5/1) & 1854-1866 (L1/4/5/2).
It is noteworthy that these books never describe the payments as a 'Pension', but always as 'Salary'. Perhaps this may be an indication of the Corporation's intent - not to enforce retirement on these long serving and valued officers of the City, but to encourage their continued involvement in City ceremonial by continuing to keep them on the City Corporation Payroll.
In 1846, the Recorder appears to have had some trouble with the men's names - "Horne" is probably William Howe and the entries for "Howden" and "Howson" refer to John Hawson. The last payment to John Hawson was recorded on 8 February 1848 and the last payment to William Howe on 5 may 1857. The last surviving Waite on the PAyroll of Lincoln Coporation, and perhaps the last paid Waite in the whole of England, was Selby Dickinson. The Corporation's final salary payment to Dickinson was made on 3 August 1858.
Lincoln Council treated their Waits in a unique manner. In England, the custom of Mayorally sponsored Waits had died out by 1836, but in this agreement with Selby Dickinson, the City Council officially recognised him as a Wait for his lifetime - until 1858.