Ancient Scroll
December 2020
Records of the Freemen of Derby were stored at the Guild Hall in Derby on scrolls. Sadly, during the early hours of 21 October 1841, the Guild Hall was destroyed by fire and it had been believed that the scrolls were lost. A new record of the then living Freemen was compiled and a new Roll of Admission was created which is still used today. In more recent times the ancient damaged scroll was discovered, albeit badly fire-damaged. A transcript was made of the part of scroll which was still legible, however the scroll was too delicate to access fully at the time without specialist knowledge and equipment.
Our Secretary and Derby Local Studies Library have been looking at possible ways of retrieving the secrets which the scroll still holds and have discovered there is a possibility of having it investigated through an MRI process by researchers at Queen Mary University London, working with Cardiff University Ophthalmology Department’s “virtual unrolling” software. There are 2 sections of the scroll which remain unread and there is a good chance that text from at least one of them can be recovered. There are many challenges to be overcome in this process, including the curvature of the scroll and lead embossed stamps which could block the X-rays.
Watch this space!
New Freemen & Women 2019
May 2019
Following on from an enquiry, the Trustees considered an opportunity to further change the rules in the Constitution to enable admission to the Freemen of Derby via the bloodline route. Previously admission was only permitted if the parent is/was a Freeman, so if a previous generation had not been admitted as a Freeman, subsequent generations were not eligible. This restriction has now been removed and so long as a candidate can satisfy the rules of admission and prove their bloodline to a Freeman/Freewoman of the City, they are eligible for admission. Our Constitution was amended accordingly in August 2017 and we have since welcomed new Freemen as a direct result of bloodline admissions and the admission of women Freemen, we can report that we now have 130 Freemen and Freewomen in Derby – the most recent 10 were admitted in May 2019 by The Mayor of the City of Derby, Councillor Frank Harwood.
Stafford Burgess Annual Dinner
27th January 2017
Members of the Derby Freemen attended the Stafford Burgesses Annual Dinner at Tillington Hall
New Freemen & Women 2016
19th December 2016
Today six new Freemen & Freewomen were accepted by the City of Derby's Mayor Linda Winter. Congratulation to all those involved and thank you to Ann & Keith for a very special day for all of the Families & Friends