The salary of the Town Clerk was fixed at 300 guineas per annum, for part-time service. In addition to his duties as clerk, he had to act as professional adviser to the Mayor and Corporation at Petty and Quarter Sessions, also to take Court and Parliamentary cases, being paid Parliamentary charges and travelling and out of pocket expenses.
The whole proceedings occupied only about half an hour. Lunch at the new hospital, where a bazaar was being held, followed, Earl Fitzwilliam and a number of the local gentry being present.
The elevation of six councillors to the aldermanic bench created vacancies, which were eventually filled by the election of Messrs. Geo. Neill, Joseph Wells, Abraham Taffinder, William Harrison, William Saville, and Ferdinand Wheatley.
In the preface the author states: I deem it certain that they are works which in future will prove mines of wealth to succeeding chroniclers of the history of our borough, more particularly when they come to treat of that glorious and never-to-be-forgotten event - the granting of our Charter of Incorporation!
The title of the book was Lays of the Corporation or Christmas Carols for the Borough of Rotherham.
Space will not permit me to give more than one of these rhymes, entitled Ye Lay of ye Golden Balls (writ by ' Lord Macaulay, his Ghost'“), showing how a battle arose between ye Lord of ye Golden Balls and ye Master of ye Pendulum; how they contended together in ye West Warde, and how ye latter prevailed over ye former.