After a successful period of four centuries, surviving plague and many other challenges governance of the borough descended into chaos after the restoration in 1660.
[2] During the 16th to 18th centuries the governance consisted of:[3] The Portmen and Common Councilmen met as the Assembly to discuss town issues, with formal decisions decided by the Great Court which also included a large number of Free burgesses empowered to vote on all matters concerning the corporation, especially the election of officers.
[5] The town was strongly puritan and during the winter of 1662/63 Royal commissioners arrived to enforce the Corporation Act 1661 and ask all officeholders and freeman to renounce the 'Puritan Covenant'.
In 1684 the charter was then called in and replaced by another which named to new officeholders and for the first time in its history Portmen were imposed on the town many of whom were outsiders, Freemen were refused participation in the borough government.
[9] Following the Reform Act 1832 all male householders living in properties worth at least ten pounds a year were given the right to vote and process of voter registration.
The act was intended to "take effectual Measures for correcting diverse Abuses that have long prevailed in the Choice of Members to serve in the Commons House of Parliament."
During the celebrations held in 2000 to mark the 800th Anniversaryof the reception of King John's Charterby the Burgesses, many details were published with information gleaned from the Corporation's archives.
In 1895 Felix Cobbold gave Christchurch Mansion to the town on condition that the corporation buys the rest of the property who completed the purchase later in the year.
[18] In 1903, the corporation purchased one of six packages of land which was formerly part of the Hill House Estate and home of the Byles family and created Alexandra Park, named after the wife of Edward VII.
The following acts of parliament relate to, or mention the Ipswich Corporation:-[21] See Sources section below for details of cited document referred to using the 'Author(date)' format, for example 'Twich(2008)'.