Vestries Act 1831

The Vestries Act 1831, commonly known as Hobhouse's Vestry Act, is an Act of Parliament in 1831.

It replaced select vestries with vestrymen elected by ratepayers (male and female) who had been resident in the parish for more than a year.

In order to adopt the act the parish must have over 800 ratepayers (thus excluding rural parishes) and two thirds were required to vote in favour of adoption.

The five metropolitan parishes to adopt the act were:

The old select vestries were replaced over a period of three years with a series of elections.

The Metropolis Management Act 1855 abolished the remaining select metropolitan vestries in 1855 and extended the principle of election by ratepayers to all parishes.