Vestry, Or Vestiary

Vestry, or vestiary, a place or room adjoining to a church, where the vestments of the minister are kept; also, a parochial assembly commonly convened in the vestry, to transact the parish business. By custom in some parishes, and by the (adoptive) Vestries Act, 1831 (1 & 2 Wm. 4 c. 60), in others, a select number of parishioners was chosen yearly to manage the concerns of the parish for that year. They were called a Select Vestry.

The non-ecclesiastical functions of vestries are now exercised by borough and urban district councils under orders of the Ministry of Health: see (English) Local Government act, 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73), and Local Govt. Act, 1933 (23 & 24 Geo. 5, c. 51), and in rural parishes by the parish council or meeting (ibid.). As to the ecclesiastical functions in England (election of churchwardens), see Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure, 1921 (11 & 12 Geo. 5, No. 1), s. 13. This measure transferred all such ecclesiastical functions, except ecclesiastical charities, to parochial church councils. For the regulations for meetings and right to be present and vote, see the (English) Vestries Acts, 1818 to 1853, and the Local Government Act, 1933, and see also RATES. See Chitty's Statutes, tit. 'Vestry'; Steer's Parish Law: and Prideaux's Law of Churchwardens.

In the Metropolis, the vestries were elected under the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, until they were superseded by the Councils of the Metropolitan Boroughs under the London Government Act, 1899.