THE ADVISORY COUNCIL OF THE VICTORIA HISTORY His Grace The Lord Arch- bishop or Canterbury His Grace The Duke of Bed- ford, K.G. President of the Zoological Society His Grace The Duke of Devon- shire, K.G. Chancellor of the University of Cam' Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart., LL.D., F.S.A., etc. Sir John Evans, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., etc. Sir Edward Maunde Thomp- son, K.C.B., D.C.L., LL.D., F.S.A., etc. Director of the Britiih Museum Sir Clements R. Markham, K.C.B., F.R.S., F.S.A. President of the Royal Geographical Society Sir Henry C. Maxwell-Lyte, K.C.B., M.A., F.S.A., etc. Keeper of the Public Records Sir E. Ray Lankester, K.C.B., LL.D., M.A., F.R.S., etc. Director of the Natural History Museum^ South Kensington President of (he Royal Agricultural CoL. SiR DuNCAN A. JoHNSTON, K.C.M.G., C.B., R.E. Late Director General oj the OrJnaiice Sur'vey Sir Jos. Hooker, G.C.S.L, M.D., D.C.L., F.R.S., ETC. Sir Archibald Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S., ETC harles Cox, LL.D., F.S.A., etc. Lionel Cust, M.V.O., M.A., F.S.A., etc. Director of the National Portrait bridge His Gr-^ce The Duke of Port- land, K.G. His Grace The Duke of Argyll, K.T. The Rt. Hon. The Earl of ROSEBERY, K.G., K.T. The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Coventry Society The Rt. Hon. The Viscount of the Society of Dillon Late President Antirjuaries The Rt. Hon. the Lord Lister Late President of the Royal Society The Rt. Hon. The Lord f c a Alverstone, G.C.M.G. Lord Chief Justice The Hon. Walter Rothschild M.P. Galler; General Editor — William Page, F.S Charles H. Firth, M.A., LL.D. Regius Professor of Modern History, Oxford Albert C. L. G. Gunther, M.A., M.D., F.R.S., Ph.D. Late President of the Linnean Society F. Haverfield, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A. Camden Professor of Ancient History Reginald L. Poole, M.A. University Lecturer in Diplomatic, Oxford J. Horace Round, M.A., LL.D. Walter Rye W. H. St. John Hope, M.A. Assistant Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries Among the original members of the Council were The late Duke of Rutland The late Marquess of Salisbury The late Dr. Mandell Creighton, Bishop of London The late Dr. Stubbs, Bishop of Oxford The late Lord Acton The late Sir William Flower The late Professor F. York Powell and The late Col. Sir J. Farqu- harson .A. GENERAL ADVERTISEMENT The Victoria History of the Counties of England is a National Historic Survey which, under the direction of a large staflF comprising the foremost students in science, history, and archaeology, is designed to record the history of every county of England in detail. This work was, by gracious permission, dedicated to Her late Majesty Queen Victoria, who gave it her own name. It is the endeavour of all who are associated with the undertaking to make it a worthy and permanent monument to her memory. Rich as every county is in materials for local history, there has hitherto been no attempt made to bring all these materials together into a coherent form. Although from the seventeenth century down to quite recent times numerous county histories have been issued, they are very unequal in merit ; the best of them are very rare and costly ; most of them are imperfect and many are now out of date. Moreover, they were the work of one or two isolated scholars, who, however scholarly, could not possibly deal ade- quately with all the varied subjects which go to the making of a county history. vii
