| Catalogue Reference | R/ |
| Title | READING BOROUGH RECORDS |
| Date | 1230-2008 |
| Subject | Local government |
| Repository | Berkshire Record Office (code: GB 005) |
| Level | Fonds |
| Extent | 2057 vols, 2009 bdls, 13 files, 22 rolls, 4898 docs, 3 boxes, 1 item |
| Admin History | Reading was an ancient borough, identified as such in Domesday Book. By the mid 13th century the burghal responsibilities were being exercised by the gild merchant, to whom the earliest royal charter was granted in 1253. The medieval boundaries excluded Reading Abbey.
The borough boundaries are first formally recorded in the charter of 1560 (R/IC1/8, printed in C Fleetwood Pritchard (ed.), Reading Charters, Acts and Orders, 1253-1911, p.17 (Reading 1913) (copy available in Berkshire Record Office library). The charters of 1542 and 1560 incorporated the borough. Courts of quarter sessions and record were awarded to the borough in 1638. The borough was divided into five wards (High, New, London, Old and Minster or Castle Wards) by 1240. These were reduced to three (St Giles, St Laurence and St Mary) in 1802. These were not the same as the ecclesiastical parishes of the same names, even discounting the parts outside the borough boundaries; for a map in c.1833 see D/EX 1445/10.
The ancient Corporation was reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835.
The Reading Corporation Act 1887 extended the borough boundaries to include Southcote and Whitley (hitherto extra-burghal parts of the ecclesiastical parishes of Reading St Mary and St Giles respectively), and parts of Burghfield, Earley, Shinfield and Tilehurst, set out in the Act (see Pritchard, pp.467, 504-505); for a map see Alan Alexander, Borough Government and Politics: Reading 1835-1985, p.98 (London 1985) (copy in Berkshire Record Office library). The Parliamentary borough had been extended in 1885 under the Redistribution of Seats Act.
In 1888 the borough became a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888. In 1903 it became an education authority.
The borough boundaries were further extended by the Reading (Extension) Order 1911, which incorporated most of Caversham (excluding Caversham Park estate) and parts of Theale and Tilehurst; for a map, see Alexander, p.120.
Reading lost its county borough and education authority status in 1974 as a result of local government reorganisation. In 1998 it became a unitary authority following further reorganisation; for records of the unitary authority, see DC/R.
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| Acquisition | Deposited in 1974 (acc. 3487); November 1981 (acc. 2950); September 1983 (acc. 3306); September 1986 (acc. 3874); August 1989 (acc. 4447); January 1990 (acc. 4521); January 1992 (acc. 4946); March 1992 (acc. 4979 part); November 1994 (acc. 5533 part); September 1995 (acc. 5672); January 1997 (acc. 5949); October 1998 (acc. 6304); September 1999 (acc. 6513); March 2000 (acc. 6566 part); October 2002 (accs. 7086 and 7087); April 2006 (acc. 7813 part); June 2006 (acc. 7844); November 2007 (acc. 8137); May 2011 (acc. 8782); June 2012 (acc. 9033); April 2015 (acc. 9603); June 2016 (acc. 9888); July 2017 (acc. 10137); September 2017 (acc. 10172); June 2018 (acc. 10315); April 2019 (acc. 10518); August 2020 (acc. 10697)
Schedule of accessions
Acc. 2950: UC1/1/1-26; 1/2/1-6, 11-12; 1/3/1-5; 1/6/1; 1/9/1-3; 1/11/5
Acc. 3306: UC1/2/7-10; 1/3/6; 1/11/4
Acc. 3487 (part): AC1/1-3; 2/1-20, 23; AG1/1-4; AL1-4; AP1/1-5; 2/1-2; 3/1-6; AS1/1/1-6; 1/2/1-5; 1/3/1; 1/4/1; 1/5/1-4; 2/1/1-5; 2/2/1-11; 2/3/1-2; 3/1/1-27; 3/2/1-2; AT1/1-198, 200-212; 3/1/1-13; 3/2/1-2; 3/3/1-3; 3/4/1-3; 3/5/1; 3/6/1; 3/7/1; 3/8/1-5; 3/9/1; 3/10/1-5; 3/11/1-6; 3/12/1-16; 3/13/1; 3/14/1-18; 3/15/1-2; 3/16/1; 3/17/1-11; 3/18/1-14; 3/19/1; 3/20/1; 3/21/1; 3/22/1; 3/23/1-6; 3/24/1; 3/25/1-29; 3/26/1-5; 4/1-7; 5/1-7; 6/1; 7/1-40; AX2/1; AZ 1/1-4, 2/1-5, 3/1-9; D1-43, 45-68; 69/1/2-4; 69/2-6; 70-98, 100-135, 137-159, 161, 166, 170, 172-174, 177-179, 181-183, 186-192, 194, 196, 199, 200-202; 203/1/1/1-3, 5-7; 203/1/2/1; 203/1/3/1-5, 7-11; 203/2/1/1; 203/ 2/1/4/1-3; 203/2/1/1, 3, 5-8; 203/2/2/1; 203/2/2/2/2; 203/2/2/3-4; 203/2/3/1-5; 203/2/4/1-3; 203/2/5/1-2; 203/3/1/1-2; 203/3/2/1; 203/3/3/1; 203/3/4/1; 203/3/5/1; 203/3/6/1-3; 203/3/7/1-4; 203/5/1/1; 203/5/2/1-3; 203/5/3/1; 203/5/4/1-5; 203/5/5/1; 203/6/1/1-2; 203/6/2/2, 4; 203/6/3/1-33; 203/7/2/3; 203/7/3/4-5; 203/7/5/1; 203/7/6/1; 203/8/2/1-9; 203/8/3/1; 203/9/1; 203/9/2/1-11; 203/9/3-11; 203/11/2/1; 203/11/3/1-2; 204-206, 208-210, 212-213; EB1/1-24; 2/1-7; 3/1; EC1/1-2; 2/1-35; 3/1; 4/1-11; 5/1; 6/1-10; ES1/1-12; 2/1-14; 3/1-7; 4/1-11; 5/1-5; 6/1-5; 7/1-3; 8/1-4; 9/1; 10/1; 11/1; 12/1-2, 4-93; 13/1-18; 14/1-3; 15/1; 16/1; 17/1-2; 18/1; 19/1-15, 17-19, 21; 19/22/1-5; 19/23-25; 19/26/1-7; 19/27/1, 3-5; 19/28-35; FA1/1-3; 2/1-82; 3/1-130; 4/1-41; 5/1-3; 6/1-2; 7/1-7; 8/1-94; 9/1-17; 10/1; 11/1-2; 12/1-2; 13/1-2; 14/1-17; FB 1-8, 10; 11/1/1-39; FE1/1-4, 6; 2/2/4-5, 8, 12; 2/4/1, 4; 2/7-11; 3/1-11; FR1/1-37; 2/1-82; 3/1-376; 4/1-2; 5/1; FT1/1; 2/1-13; 3/1-30; 4/1-5; 5/1-8; FZ1/1-5; 2/1-65; IC1/1-15; 2/1-2; 3/1-2; 4/1-2; JB1/1-5, 2/1-3; 3/1-22; 4/1-3; 5/1-2; JL1/1-66; JQ1/1-32; 2/1-4; 3/1-323; 4/1-152; 5/1-108; 6/1-77; 7/1-3; 8/1-2; 9/1; RE1/1-109; 2/1; 3/1-72; 4/1-21; 5/1; RF1/1-4; 2/1-3; RV1/1; 2/1-2; UC1/7/1-4; 2/5/2-7; 2/6/1-7; 2/7/1-2, 4; 3/8/2; Z1/1-8; 2/1-3; 3/1-76; 4/1-3; 5/1-9; 6/1-2; 7/1-8; 8/1-7; 9/1, 3-23; 10/1-13
Acc. 3874: UC1/1/27-29; 1/8/4; 1/10/1-3
Acc. 4447: FE 1/5; 2/1; 2/2/1-3, 6-7, 9-11; 2/3; 2/4/2-3; 2/5
Acc. 4521: AS2/4/1-29
Acc. 4946: AC3/1/40-41
Acc. 4979 (part): AC3/1/1-36, 39, 43, 45-92, 94-132
Acc. 5533 (part): JQ2/5-13; 7/4-11
Acc. 5672: FE2/6, 12-13
Acc. 5949: D69/1/1
Acc. 6304: UC3/7/1
Acc. 6513: FB9/1/1-3; 9/2
Acc. 6566 (part): RE1/110-129
Acc. 7086: UC1/11/1
Acc. 7087: AC3/1/37-38, 42, 44, 93
Acc. 7813: ES19/16, 20; 19/22/6-7; 19/26/8-9; 19/27/2
Acc. 7844: FB11/1/40-52; 11/2-3
Acc. 8137: UC2/5/1
Acc. 8782: FR1/38-40
Acc. 9033: UC1/11/2-3
Acc. 9603: UC3/6/1-20
Acc. 9888: UC1/4/10; 2/1/1-2; 2/2/1-3; 2/3/1-6; 3/6/21-23
Acc. 10137: UC3/1/1-12; 3/3/1-8
Acc. 10172: UC1/2/13; 1/3/7; 1/5/1-10; 1/12/1; 2/2/4-6; 2/4/1-6; 2/7/3; 3/1/13
Acc. 10315: UC1/4/1-9; 3/2/1-10; 3/8/1
Acc. 10260: D203/1/1/4; 1/3/6; 2/1/4/4; 2/2/2/1; 4/1/1-2; 5/6/1-5; 6/2/1, 3; 7/1/1-6; 7/2/1-2, 4; 7/3/1-3, 6; 7/4/1; 8/1/1; 10/1-3; 11/1/1-3; 11/2/2; 12/1/1; 12/2/1-3; 12/3/1-7; 12/4/1-3
Acc. 10518: AC2/22/1; UW1/1-2
Acc. 10697: AS1/2/6-7; 1/5/5 |
| Arrangement | Arrangement of the catalogue
R/A Administrative records
R/D Deposited records
R/E Education records
R/F Financial records
R/IC Incorporation records
R/J Judicial records
R/JB Borough Court of Record records
R/JL Court leet records
[R/Q not used: for charity records, see D/QR]
R/R Records of registration and deposit
R/U Records of utilities
R/Z Miscellaneous records |
| Related Material | Records in other collections
P/DVO7/2/1-27: Rating valuers' working notebooks, 1931-1951
D/EX1942/1/2/1: Byelaws for new streets and buildings, 1888
D/EX1942/7/2/6: Abstract of accounts, 1879/80
D/EX1942/7/2/7: Statement of accounts, 1883/4
D/EX1942/7/2/8: Draft bill sponsored by Corporation relating to Reading School and borough finances, 1881
D/EX1942/7/2/9: Valuations of farm stock, Manor Farm, 1882-1884
D/EX1485: Papers of Phoebe Cusden, councillor, mayor and JP, 1919-1979
D/EX2387: Papers of William Smallcombe, Curator of Reading Museum, n.d. [c.1891]-1983
D/ESI/2: Reading Borough Parliamentary Election records including printed voter’s lists, 1739-1820 |