Fairs Act 1871 Explained

Short Title:	Fairs Act 1871
Type:	Act
Parliament:	Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long Title:	An Act to further amend the Law relating to Fairs in England and Wales.
Year:	1871
Citation:	34 & 35 Vict. c. 12
Royal Assent:	25 May 1871
Status:	amended
Original Text:	https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/34-35/12/contents/enacted
Use New Uk-Leg:	yes

The Fairs Act 1871^[1] (34 & 35 Vict. c. 12) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It empowered the Home Secretary in the United Kingdom to, on petition, make orders for the abolition of fairs. Such provision was made at this time by Parliament because many fairs traditionally held in early Victorian England were, according to the preamble to the act, held to be

1. unnecessary,
2. the cause of grievous immorality, and
3. very injurious to the inhabitants of the towns in which such fairs are held

Fairs abolished under the act included Ickleton Fair in Cambridgeshire^[2] and St Matthew's Fair in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Notes and References

1. This short title was conferred on this Act by section 1 of this Act.
2. Book: Salzman . L.F. . Louis Francis Salzman . 1948 . The Priory of Ickleton . A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 2 . . 223–226 .