Printed and Published at the Dover Express Works. 1916.

TO BE FORMATTED

ANNALS OF DOVER.
SECTION TWO.
THE PORT OF DOVER
XIV. PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY OF 1836.

Great discontent arose among the nautical men of Dover
owing to the frequent failure of Mr. Moon's pier-head
sluices, and the opinion was freely expressed that the
country gentlemen who formed the main body of the Harbour
Commissicjners were not fitted to control the Port. The
townspeople's anxiety was expressed in three rremorials, one
from the shipowners, one from the Corporation, and one
from the Common Hall. The mail-boats had been susji^nded
for three days, at Christmas, 1833, owing to ihe formation
of the bar, and these memorials, which were sent to the
King as well as to the Commissioners, followed each other
in quick succession in January, 1834, in consequence of
which Mr. Telford was called in, as already mentioned, and
a new system of sluices, on a more elaborate scale, suggested
to Mr. Telford by Sir Henry Oxenden, was undertaken.
While that work was proceeding, it was found necessary to
obtain an amendment of the Harbour Act of 1828 to secure
sufficient powers, financial and otherwise, and m the Session
of 1836 the C<jmufissioners promoted a Bill for that purpose.
When that Bill came on for Second Reading mi the House
of Commons, Mr. John Minet Fector, one of the Members
for Dover, moved that the Bill be referred to a Select
Committee to give the inhabitants of Dover an opportunity
of declaring whether or not they were satisfied with the
present constitution of the Board ; and the Bill was referred
to a strong Committee, consisting of five Kent:sh Members,
three of whom were Harbour Commissioners, and ten
members nominated by the Government. The Committee
sat to take evidence from the 12th of May till the 7th of
June, when the witnesses examined were: —

John Shipdem, Register;

Henshaw Latham, Treasurer;

John Hawkins. Clerk of the Works;

John Iron, Harbour Master;

John Benjamin Post. Cinque Ports Pilot;

Daniel Peake, Cinque Pc»rts Pilot ;

Philip Hardwicke, Receiver of Harbour Retits;



126 ANNALS OF DOVEft

James Walker, Harbour Engineer;

William Prescott, Chairman of Meeting of Irihabitants ;

Humphrey Humphrey, Chairman of Common Hall;

Richard Wardle, Engineer's Assistant;

Robert Hammond, Warden of the Pilots;

Philip Going, Shipowner ;

Captain Boxer, R.X.;

Captain H. D. Jones, R.E., G(j\ernmcnt Witness;

Lieutenant B. ^^'orthington, R.X., Author of a plan for
Improving the Harljour;

Isaac Pattison, Harbour Pilot;

Captain F^lliot, R.X., a Government ^^'itness ;

\\'illiam Cul>itt, C.E., a Government Witness.

The evidence given, especially on matters of opinion,
was remarkably varied, the \iews of some nautical witnesses
being flatly opposed to those of others similaily qualified.
There was great weight of evidence to the effect that the
works carried out during the last twenty years had made
the HarJjour worse. The Harbour officials strongly approved
the new sluicing scheme then under con.struction, but the
witnesses sent down to examine the Harbour on behalf of
the Government disappro\ed of the form and situation of
the ])ier-heads, and several experienced witnesses were strongly
in fa\"our of the proj)osals of Perry, Smeaton, Rennie and
Walker for getting rid of the shingle by extending the South
Pier. Se\eral witnesses were in favour of a re-constitution
of the Harbour Board.

The report of the Select Committee was presented to
the House of Commons on July ist, 1836, com[ rised in the
following six resolutions : —

(i) That it is the opinion of this Committee that the
constitution of the Board of Warden and Assistants
in whom the management of the Harbour is at
presented vested, requires alteration.

(2) That although this Committee consider that the con-

stitution of the Board of Management requires
alteration, as being objectionable in the mode of
election, they see no ground for reflecting in any
manner on the conduct of the gentlemen forming
the Board.

(3) That, under all the circumstances of the case, as

presented t(j the Committee, cspecia'ly in reference
to the W'orks now in progress at Do\er Harbour,



THE PORT OF DOVER I27

the Committee are of opinion that the completion
is necessary, that the Bill to amend the Act for
the more effectual maintaining and imp'oving Dover
Harbour should be immediately passed; and, in
regard to the constitution of the Board of Manage-
ment as it exists at present, and as it is susceptil>le
of improvement, it is the opinion of the Committee
that a Bill should be introduced early next Session.

(4) That, in view of the administrations of the affairs of

the Harbour, and to insure the more mature con-
sideration of any plans that may be hereafter
proposed for its improvement, all such plans,
together with estimates for their execution, shall
be submitted to the Lords of the Admiralty for
their concurrence and approval ; and such plans
and estimates, as well as annual accounts and
receipts and expenditure of the Harbour Commis-
sioners, shall be annually laid before Parliament.

(5) That in the Bill now in progress before the Committee

a Clause shall be introduced by which the powers
of the present ^^'arden and Assistants shall cease
and determine after the end of the next Session of
Parliament ; and in the event of Parliament not
providing during the next Session for the future
management of the Harbour, the pow-ers of the
Wardens and Assistants shall be vested in the
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for the time
being until Parliament shall otherwise determine.

(6) That, without expressing an opinion on the policy of

the Passing Tolls, the Committee, after the reso-
lutions they have come to, do not think it necessary
now to recommend any alteration respecting the
dues of Dover Harbour.
It may be mentioned that on the fifth resolution the
Committee were equally divided, and it was carried by the
casting vote of the Chairman.

When the Bill came up for the Third Reading on
July 5th with the Clause in it limiting the duration of the
powers of the Commissioners, Sir Edward Kna^chbull asked
the Speaker if that Clause was not contrary Jo the Standing
Orders, no notice having been given to the parties interested.
The Speaker replied that the Clause had certainly been
introduced without the regular notice, and it would make



128 ANNALS OF DOVER

an essential change in the situation of persons who had lent
money to the Harbour. In consequence of this ruling, the
Suspensory Clause founded on the report of the Committee
had to be modified, leaving the existing powers of the Com-
missioners intact until an Act of Parliament was passed to
deal with them. The recommendation of the Committee
that a Bill making provision for Uie future management
of Dover Harbour should be introduced early in the Session
of 1837 was not carried out. Not long after that Session
opened the death of William IV. brought about a dissolu-
tion of Parliament, and a change of Ministry, with the
result that a quarter of a century elapsed before any Act
was passed to alter the constitution of the Dover Harbour
Board.

During that Parliamentary Enquiry of 1836, when those
interested in Dover Harbour were ranged in tvo parties, a
thoughtful native of Dover, who had some years l)efore
retired from the Navy with the rank of Lieutenant, took up
a position apart from either party. He had thought out
a scheme for the general improvement and enlargement of
the Harbour, and had spent about ;^4oo in pioviding plans
and models to demonstrate its advantages. This harbour
reformer was Lieutenant Benjamin Worthington, R.N., who
had retired from the Navy soon after the Peace of 181 5, and
his father being for many years the proprietor of the famous
Ship Hotel, which overlooked the harbour, the subject in
which he was manifesting interest had l)een constantly l)efore
him from his earliest days. The works he advocated were
of two kinds, the object of the one being to improve the
condition of the harbour, and the other to enlarge it. He
proposed to prevent the shingle from lodging in the harbour
mouth, and to lessen the troublesome agitation in the tidal
ba.sin by constructing a timber breakwater, extending 250ft.
S.S.E. from the South Pier Head to deflect the bay eddy into
the true tide, thereby diverting the shingle to the N.E., and
reducing the swell in the harbour, his scheme being designed
to co-operate with the natural currents.

The other part of his scheme was to enlarge the outer
harbour at the back of the North Pier so as to give a new
tidal area on the N.E. in return for that of which it had
been robbed a few years earlier on the S.W., but the Com-
missioners rejected his ])roposals entirely.



tHE PORT OF DOVER I29