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- ^LOCAL^ INTELLIGENCE,

T30LTRT OF PROBATE AND DVIORCE.

ROOSE PETTY SESSIONS.

TENBY.

ELECTION OF MAYOR.

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ELECTION OF MAYOR. The Election of Mayor took place at the Council Chamber, Tenby, on Monday, the 10th inst. Mr Mason proposed Mr G. White, and was seconded by Mr G. Mends; Alderman Reed proposed, and Alderman Evans seconded Captain Wells. On a division there appeared for Captain Wells, Alderman Wells, Evans, Reed, and Councillors Harries, Rowland, and Smith, 6; For Mr White, -Alder- man Jenkins, Councillors White, Mends, Mason, Rees, Williams, Phillips, and Gibbs, 8,—majority for Mr White, 2. Mr George White, wine merchant, was therefore de- clared duly elected. In welcoming Mr White to the chief magistracy of the town, we must not look upon him as a fresh importation -—in other words a stranger-but as an offshoot of one of the oldest families of our town. It is therefore that we regard his election with unusual interest. Strange that after the lapse of some 350 years, a descendant of the Whites should again fill the Mayor's seat; strange, also, that the White of the present time should use in his present business the cellars used by his ancestors 500 years ago as merchants. From the list of Majors and Bailiffs of the town of fenby, extending from the third jear of Henry IV., 1402, to the Restoration, compiled by Robert Nash, Alderman, we find four different members of the White family filling the office of mayor 36 years collectively. First we have John White, Bailiff in 1415; Mayor in 1420-21-23 24-29-31-32-33-40-4I-42-45-46-49- 50-54-55, and 1456"; about which time, we surmise, he must have died, the name not appearing on the list again till 1482. Notwithstanding the monument in St. Mary's Church, in this town, we are in doubt as to the time of his death, the date being unfortunately obliterated the portion relating to him stands thus: — "Hie jactt Johannes White, mercator, et illius villse major qui obiit cujus animas propitietur Deus, Amen." On the same monument we are told his brother Thomas was also "etiiliusvUtae major," but this cannot be if the list of Mayors we quote from is eorrect: the date of his death is So. die maii, 1453, and the name of Thomas White does not occur as Mayor till 1457, at which time Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, granted a patent towards re-building and repairing the walls of Tenby, which were to be of the width of six feet, so that there might be a walk round them for the purposes of defence. This then is the Thomas White, celebrated by George Owen, as an active partizan of Henry VII., and not as Mr Norris supposes in his Etchings of Tenby,' the Thomas White, to whom with his brother John, the monument referred to was erected. This Thomas White, whoso mayoralty begins in 1157, and John White, who comes on the list in 1482, were undoubtedly both sons of the John White, of whom we have previously made mention, as it would appear from the third compartment of the monument that John White, had four sons, and his brother had none: the corresponding compartment containing a sliie'd with the arms of the family, instead of effigies of children, as in the case of John White's portion of the monument. Thomas White, then son of John White, filled the Mayor's seat, 1457-63-67-72-77, and 1481. In the first year of his mayoralty, Jasper, Earl of Pembroke, gave the patent before-mentioned. In 1471 on the final defeat of the Lancastrians, Jasper, together with the grandson of Owen Tudor, Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VIII., fled from the fatal field of Tewkesbury, and sought refuge in Tenby, where they were hospitably received and safely conveyed to Brittany in a vessel belonging to the Whites.' It is very generally, but erroneously, supposed, that 'they were hospitably received by John White, a wealthy mer- chant.' It is more likely that their entertainer was Thomas White, who was mayor when Jasper gave the patent, and it is certain that the Mayor of that year was Walter Eynon, who had been elected twice before. The last of the name, John White, was Mayor 1482- 86-90-91-94, and lastly 1498. We take leave of our subject, feeling assured that our readers will excuse the length of the article in considera- tion of our endeavours to set a matter of history on a correct date.

PEMBROKE

PEMBROKE-DOCK.

MILFORD.

"NARBEETH. ^