† 1. An officer in various port towns, charged with the enforcement of shipping regulations, the searching of vessels, and the collection of customs. Obs.
14[?]. Contin. Brut, 583. [Song on Siege of Calais] Remembres eke on Goby, the watir-bailiffes dog, How he scarmysshed with you twyes vpon the day, And among you, on þe sandes, made many a fray.
1450. Rolls of Parlt., v. 200/1. Divers Waterbaillifs, Sercheours, Countrollers of the serche.
1467–8. Stat. Roll Irel. 7 & 8 Edw. IV., c. 15. Vne officer appelle le Water baillief de dalkey.
1485. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 352/2. The Office of Water Bailliff of oure Towne of Gloucestre.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron., III. 1203/1. William Robinson esquier, waterbailife of the towne of Newhauen.
1635. Maldon (Essex) Borough Deeds, Bundle 80, fol. 1. Receaved of Francis Tunbridge, water bayliffe of the said burrough, for the tolls, customes, yssues, and profitts of measurage, poundage, and bulkage.
1700. Pennsylv. Arch., I. 140. Coll. Qu. sends home a Coppy or the Commion to the Water-bailif.
1731. Act 4 Geo. II., c. 19. Whereas it is necessary for the better and more orderly Government of the said Port [Ilfracombe], that a Water Bailiff should be appointed, with Power to require all Ships and Vessels to ballast, anchor, and moor in a proper Manner, and regular Places, and that no Ballast be thrown into the said Harbour [etc.].
1764. Phil. Trans., LIV. 83. When the tide had hardly begun to flow,… it was observed, by the water-bailif of the City [Bristol] … to rise very suddenly to almost high-water mark.
1871. Kingsley, At Last, vi. He is now coast-guardman, water-bailiff,… and indeed practical viceroy of the island.
† b. An inferior officer of the custom-house, employed to search vessels. Obs.
1772. R. Cumberland, West Indian, I. v. The whole tribe of custom-house extortioners, boat-men, tide-waiters and water-bailiffs.
2. An official responsible for the enforcement of bye-laws relating to fishing-waters.
In the City of London, the office was said to be vested in the Lord Mayor, the titular ‘water-bailiff’ being regarded as his deputy. For the use in the Isle of Man, see quots. 1873 and 1883.
1667. Hale, De Jure Maris, v. in Hargrave, Coll. Tracts (1787), I. 23. Those Commissions, that have been granted in common rivers, commonly called commissions of conservancy or water-bailiffs.
1677. Lond. Gaz., No. 1172/4. His Majesty having been pleased … to Grant unto Roger Killigrew Esq; the place of Water Bayliff, to have the oversight of the River of Thames, between Staines and Cyrencester. Ibid. (1697), No. 3341/2. The City Banner born by the Water-Bayliff.
1720. Strype, Stow’s Surv., II. V. xxviii. 381/1. The Water Bailiff is the Lord Maior’s Deputy, or Sub-conservator … and every fisherman … every Year upon St. Paul’s Day, must appear before the said Water Bailiff at the Chappel of Guild-Hall, to enter their Names into his Register Book.
1759. Universal Chron., 17–24 March, 91/1. Wednesday night last Thomas Hayward, Esq., Water-Bailiff, with his assistants, seized three drag-nets in the Medway.
1873. J. Lewis, Digest of Census, 1871, 203. The Council [of the Isle of Man] consists of the Lord Bishop of the Diocese, the attorney-general, the clerk of the rolls, the two deemsters, the receiver-general, the water-bailiff or admiralty judge, the archdeacon, and the vicar-general.
1883. Encycl. Brit., XV. 452 [Isle of Man.] The herring fishery, and the boats employed in it, are placed under the charge of the water-bailiff, who holds courts to redress grievances and enforce the regulations of the fishery.
b. A river-policeman employed to prevent poaching and arrest offenders against the bye-laws.
1860. G. H. K[ingsley], in F. Galton, Vac. Tour., 161. Without water-bailiffs, who must be paid, how many salmon would there be left for anybody?
1868. Peard, Water-Farm., ix. 99. On the Severn the water-bailiffs are furnished with a … summary of the law they have to enforce.
1897. Crockett, Lads’ Love, xix. Nor did the gamekeepers and water-bailiffs—the ‘watchers’ as they were called—trouble their heads much about sleepy Rab.
† 3. An officer of the Warden of the Marches: see quot. Obs.
1592. in Archaeologia, XXII. 168. There is belonging to either warden a Water-bayliffe…. Theire office is to keepe the entrance of all men without lycense out of either March.
