Whilst the vestry was a general meeting of all inhabitant rate-paying householders in a parish,[REF] in the 17th century the huge growth of population in some parishes, mostly urban, made it increasingly difficult to convene and conduct meetings.
By the late 17th century, the existence of a number of autocratic and corrupt select vestries had become a national scandal, and several bills were introduced to parliament in the 1690s, but none became acts.