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The concept of the Court of Common Council grew from the ancient custom of the Folkmoot, when the assent of the citizens to important acts was obtained. This custom was continued by the Mayor who consulted the Commons several times during the 13th century. From 1376 the assembly began to meet regularly and was referred to as the Common Council. It was decided that the Council should be made up of persons elected from each Ward. By 1384 a permanent Common Council chosen by the citizens was established for all time. The Council assumed legislative functions and adopted financial powers, confirmed by Charters of 1377 and 1383. The Council has often used these powers to amend the civic constitution, regulate the election of Lord Mayor and other officials, and amend the functions of the City courts. The Council was judged so successful in the conduct of its duties that it was the only Corporation unreformed by Parliament following the Municipal Corporations Commission report of 1837, while the Corporation Inquiry Commission of 1854 suggested only minor reforms. The work of the Council is conducted by a number of committees, while the whole Council has the right to approve policy, confirm major decisions and sanction expenditure. The committees handle many aspects of the running of the City including land and estates, finance and valuation, open spaces, street improvement and town planning, public health, police, Port of London, civil defence, airports, libraries, markets, education, and law. The Town Clerk has held responsibility for recording the minutes of the Council and its committees since 1274.

A Welfare Committee consisting of members of the Port and City of London Health Committee, together with personnel who had special experience of the welfare functions to be discharged by the Committee, was established in 1964 to carry out the welfare functions of the Common Council under the London Government Act, 1963, sec.46.

The statutory welfare functions of the Common Council were transferred to a new Social Services Committee under the provisions of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970.

The concept of the Court of Common Council grew from the ancient custom of the Folkmoot, when the assent of the citizens to important acts was obtained. This custom was continued by the Mayor who consulted the Commons several times during the 13th century. From 1376 the assembly began to meet regularly and was referred to as the Common Council. It was decided that the Council should be made up of persons elected from each Ward. By 1384 a permanent Common Council chosen by the citizens was established for all time. The Council assumed legislative functions and adopted financial powers, confirmed by Charters of 1377 and 1383. The Council has often used these powers to amend the civic constitution, regulate the election of Lord Mayor and other officials, and amend the functions of the City courts. The Council was judged so successful in the conduct of its duties that it was the only Corporation unreformed by Parliament following the Municipal Corporations Commission report of 1837, while the Corporation Inquiry Commission of 1854 suggested only minor reforms. The work of the Council is conducted by a number of committees, while the whole Council has the right to approve policy, confirm major decisions and sanction expenditure. The committees handle many aspects of the running of the City including land and estates, finance and valuation, open spaces, street improvement and town planning, public health, police, Port of London, civil defence, airports, libraries, markets, education, and law. The Town Clerk has held responsibility for recording the minutes of the Council and its committees since 1274.

The Corporation of the City of London has been responsible for the preservation of many open spaces in and around London since the mid-nineteenth century, largely stemming from its long and famous legal battles to prevent the enclosure of Epping Forest, which it finally acquired, and still maintains, under the authority of the Epping Forest Act 1878. By the Corporation of London (Open Spaces) Act 1878, the Corporation was authorised to acquire land within 25 miles of the City as open space for the recreation and enjoyment of the public.

The Corporation purchased the land which now forms West Ham Park (within the modern London Borough of Newham) from the Gurney family in 1874, out of Corporation funds created for the preservation of open spaces under the Metage of Grain Act 1872, following a petition from the inhabitants of West Ham and Stratford. The Park is run by a committee of Managers, appointed by the Corporation, by Mr John Gurney's heir at law, by the parish of West Ham and the Borough of Newham. The day-to-day physical management of the Park is undertaken under the guidance of the Corporation's Parks and Gardens Department, based at West Ham Park, Upton Lane.

The concept of the Court of Common Council grew from the ancient custom of the Folkmoot, when the assent of the citizens to important acts was obtained. This custom was continued by the Mayor who consulted the Commons several times during the 13th century. From 1376 the assembly began to meet regularly and was referred to as the Common Council. It was decided that the Council should be made up of persons elected from each Ward. By 1384 a permanent Common Council chosen by the citizens was established for all time. The Council assumed legislative functions and adopted financial powers, confirmed by Charters of 1377 and 1383. The Council has often used these powers to amend the civic constitution, regulate the election of Lord Mayor and other officials, and amend the functions of the City courts. The Council was judged so successful in the conduct of its duties that it was the only Corporation unreformed by Parliament following the Municipal Corporations Commission report of 1837, while the Corporation Inquiry Commission of 1854 suggested only minor reforms. The work of the Council is conducted by a number of committees, while the whole Council has the right to approve policy, confirm major decisions and sanction expenditure. The committees handle many aspects of the running of the City including land and estates, finance and valuation, open spaces, street improvement and town planning, public health, police, Port of London, civil defence, airports, libraries, markets, education, and law. The Town Clerk has held responsibility for recording the minutes of the Council and its committees since 1274.

The City of London have had the right to control their own police force, anciently called 'the watch', from time immemorial. The Watch was controlled through the Watch and Ward Committee under the government of the Aldermen. Constables were appointed annually and were responsible for peace and good order. Constables were chosen from householders acting in rotation, although they often paid for a stand-in to be hired instead. Marshalmen and Night Watchmen were appointed to assist them. In 1693 an Act of Common Council was passed stating that 1000 Watchmen should be constantly on duty in the City from sunset to sunrise - this was called the 'Standing Watch'. In 1737 an Act was passed allowing the Common Council to pass an annual order settling the number of Watchmen and imposing taxes for their maintenance. This was known as the 'Nightly Watch Act'.

From around 1737 attempts were made to create an equivalent day force. For several years Extra Constables were sworn in to provide assistance to Ward Constables. In 1800 an experimental force of professional police was created to ensure policing during the day as well as at night. In 1834 the Common Council formed the Day Police Committee to send a deputation to the Court of Aldermen asking them to consider ways of providing a permanent day force. In 1838 the Common Council attempted to levy a rate to support a new combined police force for day and night, however, proposals were being put before Parliament to make the City of London part of the Metropolitan Police District. This was strongly opposed by the Corporation and in 1839 they put a Bill into Parliament which led to the 'Act for regulating the Police in the City of London'. This Act established that the Corporation should appoint a suitable person to be Commissioner of the Police Force of the City of London and that they should form a Police Committee to provide supplies for the force and maintain their buildings.

The Chamber of a city is the place where the funds of the corporation are kept and where moneys due are received - a kind of treasury. The Chamber is run by the Chamberlain, an officer who receives the rents and revenues owed to the corporation. The origin of the Chamber of London is obscure, but as soon as the citizens were sufficiently united to hold lands and tenements in common an officer must have been appointed to collect rents and disburse income for public welfare. The Chamber is first mentioned in 1275 and in the following year Stephen de Mundene is named as City Chamberlain. At first the Chamberlain was chosen by the Mayor and Aldermen, but by 1319 elections were introduced and the officer was chosen by the liverymen in Common Hall.

The Chamberlain's duties combined municipal finance with public banking. His main duty was as treasurer or banker of the City of London with custody of the monies of the Corporation, called the City's Cash, and other funds. Former Chamberlains were able to keep for themselves profits derived from interest on the cash! The Chamberlain also collects the rents of all Corporation properties and makes payments on behalf of the Corporation including salaries and pensions. He also invests money, is responsible for insurance, the preparation of tax returns and production of reports and statistics.

Additionally, the Chamberlain was the Accountant General of the Court of Orphans (see CLA/002) and held all money belonging to the orphans on which he allowed interest. For this purpose the Chamberlain held a Common Seal, first mentioned in 1396. He was also the occasional collector of taxes for the London area, particularly those granted to the City by the monarchy in return for loans. The Coal Duty for reconstruction of public buildings after the Great Fire was paid into the Chamber, as was any money borrowed by the City. The Chamberlain was also treasurer of any charitable funds organised by the City.

The Chamber of a city is the place where the funds of the corporation are kept and where moneys due are received - a kind of treasury. The Chamber is run by the Chamberlain, an officer who receives the rents and revenues owed to the corporation. The origin of the Chamber of London is obscure, but as soon as the citizens were sufficiently united to hold lands and tenements in common an officer must have been appointed to collect rents and disburse income for public welfare. The Chamber is first mentioned in 1275 and in the following year Stephen de Mundene is named as City Chamberlain. At first the Chamberlain was chosen by the Mayor and Aldermen, but by 1319 elections were introduced and the officer was chosen by the liverymen in Common Hall.

The Chamberlain's duties combined municipal finance with public banking. His main duty was as treasurer or banker of the City of London with custody of the monies of the Corporation, called the City's Cash, and other funds. Former Chamberlains were able to keep for themselves profits derived from interest on the cash! The Chamberlain also collects the rents of all Corporation properties and makes payments on behalf of the Corporation including salaries and pensions. He also invests money, is responsible for insurance, the preparation of tax returns and production of reports and statistics. Additionally, the Chamberlain was the Accountant General of the Court of Orphans (see CLA/002) and held all money belonging to the orphans on which he allowed interest. For this purpose the Chamberlain held a Common Seal, first mentioned in 1396. He was also the occasional collector of taxes for the London area, particularly those granted to the City by the monarchy in return for loans. The Coal Duty for reconstruction of public buildings after the Great Fire was paid into the Chamber, as was any money borrowed by the City. The Chamberlain was also treasurer of any charitable funds organised by the City.

The City of London (Union of Parishes) Act 1907 united the then-existing 112 City parishes into one, to be called the Parish of the City of London, for most purposes other than ecclesiastical or charitable. From 1908 uniform Poor and General Rates were to be collected throughout the Parish of the City of London. The Corporation set up the Valuation and Rating Department within the Town Clerk's Office on 1 Apr 1908 to carry out the duties of Common Council under the 1907 Act. Before 1908 collection of the rates was not the responsibility of the Corporation of London but of individual parishes, wards etc.

The Guildhall has had a library since 1425, founded as part of a bequest by Mayor Richard Whittington. However, in 1550 the books were removed by the Duke of Somerset for his palace in the Strand and all but one of the original books is now lost. The survivor is a late 13th century Latin Bible. In 1828 a new Guildhall Library was established with the remit to collect material relating to the history and topography of the City of London, Southwark and Middlesex, including prints and drawings. This library was quite small and was rebuilt in 1873. In 1940 the library was hit by enemy action and 25,000 volumes were lost to the subsequent fire, with thousands more affected by water damage.

The collection is now of designated national and international importance and strengths include works on the history of London, English law reports, wine and food (including the Elizabeth David Collection), clocks and clockmakers (including the library of the Clockmaker's Guild), business history, marine history (material deposited by Lloyds of London), The Gardeners' Company collection (historic books on gardening), The Fletchers' Company collection (books on archery), the Gresham College collection (17th and 18th century music and early travel and exploration), the Cock Collection (material on Sir Thomas More), the Charles Lamb Society collection, the Chapman Bequest (19th century plays), the Hamilton Bequest (18th and 19th century plays), the Pepys Collection (Samuel Pepys) and a collection of 18th, 19th and 20th century books on shorthand.

The early growth of the art collection belonging to the Corporation of London was linked to the ceremonial functions of the City. In 1670 the Corporation commissioned portraits of the Chief Judges of England who assessed property claims after the Great Fire in 1666. Portraits of the Royal family and City officials followed. In 1783 a more ambitious project was commissioned, a canvas 18x24 feet in size showing the British garrison at Gibraltar resisting a Spanish and French siege. Ten years later the first gift to the collection came from Alderman John Boydell, who donated 24 oil paintings to the Corporation, including portraits, narrative works and paintings of mayoralty ceremonies. By 1872 the collection numbered over 180 items and it was realised that the collection had a size and importance on a national level that made care and maintenance important. In 1879 the works were placed in the care of a Curator and exhibitions were held in Skinners' Hall. The popularity of these exhibitions led the Corporation to make the disused Law Courts at the Guildhall into a permanent exhibition space. The Guildhall Art Gallery was opened in 1886 and was enlarged in 1890 and 1901. By 1910 the Gallery held 891 items, and in addition the Corporation had voted to provide a purchase fund so that the Gallery could actively acquire pieces rather than wait for donations.

In 1941 the Gallery was destroyed in an air raid. Most of the collection had been sent to safe storage in the countryside, but some works were lost. A temporary structure was established although this was too small to display much of the collection and was used for short-term exhibitions. Other paintings were displayed in Corporation buildings such as Mansion House and the Central Criminal Court. A semi-permanent exhibition was established in the new Barbican Art Gallery during the 1980s. As early as 1963 plans had been made to rebuild a permanent gallery next to the Guildhall but financial restrictions meant that the new gallery was not completed until 1999. The Gallery now displays around 250 paintings in its permanent display and mounts temporary exhibitions on a variety of topics and themes. The Roman amphitheatre discovered on the site during the building works is incorporated into the Art Gallery building and can be viewed there.

The building of Mansion House was first considered after the Great Fire of London in 1666, but the first stone was not laid until 1739 after much discussion over the selection of the site, the design and the architect. Sir Crispin Gascoigne was the first Lord Mayor to take up residence, in 1752. A fashionable Palladian style with a large classical portico was chosen by the City's Clerk of Works, George Dance the Elder. Built around a central courtyard it contained a cellar, a ground floor for the servants and the kitchen, a grand first floor of offices, dining and reception rooms, including the Egyptian Hall where banquets were held, a second floor with a gallery for dancing and chambers for the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, and a third floor of bedchambers.

The Egyptian Hall is so named because its form was thought to replicate the dining halls used in Egypt during the Roman period, with giant columns supporting a narrower attic area. Reconstructions of such became very fashionable in the 18th century. However, there is nothing Egyptian about the decoration, which is classical in style. Although Mansion House retains much of its original character, there have been changes - one of the most important of which was the covering of the internal courtyard to form what is now known as the Saloon to provide a large reception area.

During its life the house has undergone a number of extensive repair programmes. The most recent was the refurbishment work of 1991-3, when structural repair, careful conservation and complete redecoration were carried out. The result was well received and won a number of conservation awards. Mansion House was originally intended to enable the Lord Mayor to represent the City in appropriate style, and it continues to fulfil this function more than two centuries later.

In 1932 the Officers' and Clerks' Committee was asked to consider the best means to be adopted at the Mansion House for the better keeping of records relating to each mayoralty. It recommended the appointment of an assistant (Alice Shaw) on the permanent staff in the Private Secretary's Office. This may be the explanation for the survival of Mansion House Papers from the 1930s onwards (in contrast with the paucity of records before this date).

The City of London employs various Officers to conduct its business and oversee its administrative and legal functions. The Officers report to the relevant Committee or Department, while the Officers and Clerks Committee (later the Establishment Committee) is responsible for all questions relating to the duties, appointments, salaries and rewards of all Corporation staff, apart from manual workers.

Officers of the City of London include Attorneys; Bailiffs; the Chamberlain; the City Marshal and Under Marshal; the Clerk of the Peace; the Clerk of the Works; the Clerk Sitter; the Commissioner of Peace; the Common Cryer; the Common Pleader; the Common Serjeant; the Comptroller; the Coroner; the Hallkeeper; Coal Meters; Tackle-House and Ticket Porters; Registrars; the Recorder; the Remembrancer; the Secondary; the Solicitor; the Superintendent of Isle of Dogs; the Sword Bearer; the Town Clerk; the Water bailiff; the City Architect and Surveyor; the Clerk of Auditors' Accounts; the Clerk of the Common Council; the Clerks and Collectors of the Markets; Collectors of rents and duties; Judges; Librarians and Prothonotaries.

A recognizance was a bond or obligation, entered into and recorded before a court or magistrate, by which a person engaged himself to perform some act or observe some condition (for example, to appear when called on, to pay a debt, or to keep the peace). It can also refer to a sum of money pledged as a surety for such performance and rendered forfeit by neglect of it.

These recognizances were created under the terms of the statute of Acton Burnel and the Statute of Merchants (1283-1285), which regulated and improved the legal processes of debt collection. The recognizances were duly authenticated and enrolled before the local "Keeper of the Merchant's Seal" (in the case of London, the Mayor and a clerk specially designated by the King), and thus were documents of legal record, accepted by the judicial authorities as the final and incontrovertible proof of the authenticity of a debt. They were therefore of great benefit to creditors and provided the warrant for immediate and drastic action against defaulters, including imprisonment and seizure of property.

Some of the entries include recognizances by non-Londoners, lists of witnesses to the recognizance and the cause of the entry (e.g. the purchase of wool). Later rolls include dating by day of the month rather than feast day and include more English phrases. Their character is mainly mercantile.

The Office of Remembrancer was instituted in 1571. The traditional role is as the channel of communications between the City of London on the one hand and the Sovereign, Royal Household and Parliament on the other. The Remembrancer is also the City's Ceremonial Officer and Chief of Protocol.

The Remembrancer's department at the City of London is broken into three distinct branches of work - parliamentary, ceremonial and private events. The parliamentary office is responsible for looking after the City of London's interests in Parliament with regard to all public legislation, while the ceremonial office's objectives are to enable the Lord Mayor and City of London to welcome high profile visitors both domestically and internationally. Finally, the private events team co-ordinate the hiring of the Guildhall for private banquets, receptions or conferences.

The office of Sheriff is of greater antiquity than any other in the City of London and is mentioned in Anglo Saxon laws of the seventh century. The Sheriffs, alongside Wicreves and Portreeves, exercised the King's authority over the citizens, collected royal revenue and enforced royal justice. Henry I granted the City the right to choose their own Sheriff in 1132, together with the right to choose the Sheriff of Middlesex. The two sheriffs held office jointly as the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex. The right to appoint the Middlesex sheriff was lost in 1888, although the City continued to elect two sheriffs for the City of London. At the same date the fee formerly payable to the Exchequer was redeemed by the Corporation so that all estate and interest in the office of Sheriff belonged to the Corporation and all fees from the shrievalty were received by the City. At first sheriffs were elected on St Matthew's Day (21 September) but it was advanced to 1 August in 1538 and later to Midsummer Day. The office was held for a year and no person who had served as sheriff once was eligible to serve again. In 1385 the Common Council stipulated that every Mayor must first serve as Sheriff to test his suitability for the post.

The sheriffs were expected to attend the Lord Mayor in the discharge of his official functions and to join him in works of charity and at events. They attended the Courts of Aldermen and Common Council as well as Common Hall and the Court of Husting. They were Execution Officers at the Central Criminal Court and had to be in attendance to carry out directions given by the Judges. They also had to attend the Sessions to see the Judges into Court, and be present when a capital sentence was passed. The sheriff was also required to wait upon the Sovereign and ascertain the royal will and pleasure as to the reception of addresses from the Corporation. The sheriff also presented petitions from the Corporation to the House of Commons.

The modern sheriffs are elected on Midsummer's Day (24 June) by the City livery companies. Their duties remain similar to those of their historical predecessors, including attending the Lord Mayor in carrying out his official duties, attending the sessions at the Central Criminal Court in the Old Bailey and presenting petitions from the City to Parliament at the Bar at the House of Commons.

The Crystal Palace of the 1851 Exhibition in Hyde Park was re-erected, with considerable enlargements, at Sydenham in 1852-4 by a private company. By 1911 the company was in difficulties and public subscriptions were raised to save the palace and park. Under the Crystal Palace Act, 1914 (4 Geo.5, c.5 local) their entire control and management "as a place for education and recreation and for the promotion of industry commerce and art", was vested in Trustees, of whom 23 were representatives of local authorities, six being nominated by the Council. The palace was burnt down in 1936 and available funds were insufficient for its re-erection prior to the outbreak of the war of 1939-45. A scheme to use the site for the celebration of the centenary of the 1851 Exhibition fell through and under the London County Council (Crystal Palace) Act, 1951, the Council took over all the assets and responsibilities of the Trustees as from 1 January 1952.

The Technical Services departments at the Greater London Council (GLC) provided a fully comprehensive building service from design and construction to maintenance. The departments included Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Architecture, Valuation, Project Management and London Community Builders. The Technical Services Group allowed the GLC to sustain major programmes of work such as housing renovation and the construction of industrial buildings.

In the early 1880s, the vicar of Saint Mary-at-Finchley set up a new parish of Saint Paul. A site was found at Long Lane, Finchley, Barnet. The money for construction was raised by subscription and the new church was dedicated on 27 March 1886 by the Right Reverend Frederick Temple (1821-1902), Bishop of London and later Archbishop of Canterbury. The first vicar was the Reverend Samuel Mayall, the curate of St Mary-at-Finchley until 1927. During his period as incumbent, a hall and Sunday School buildings were built next to the church.

In 1978-80, the original hall and Sunday School buildings were demolished for the construction of flats and the money received was used to re-order the church. In 1985, the parish merged with Saint Luke, Finchley becoming Saint Paul with Saint Luke and in January 2006, the sale of St Luke's church hall was completed. The money from the sale paid for the building of the Saint Paul's Centre which was dedicated on 5 October 2008 by the Right Reverend Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.

Source of information: http://www.stpaulsfinchley.org.uk/history.html.

In 1706 Archbishop Tenison founded a school in Back Lane, later Lambeth High Street, for 12 girls - subsequently more. In 1787 the inhabitants of Lambeth subscribed for a new Girls' School, but until premises were ready, 30 girls were maintained by the subscribers at Tenison's School. After 1792 the Lambeth Subscription Girls' School functioned separately, but were linked with Tenison's School again in 1817, when Tenison's Trustees rebuilt "for the joint purposes of each Institution". In 1824 Tenison's Trustees, with "improved funds" offered to support the "Subscription" girls as well; the offer was accepted and the assets of the Subscription Girls' School used for new schools in the Waterloo and Norwood districts.

In 1709 Josiah Bacon, a merchant from Bermondsey, left £700 in his will for the purchase of land with which to endow a school. According to the terms of his will, the school was to serve the poor boys of the parish, teaching them reading, writing and arithmetic so that they could be prepared for jobs in trade. The local minister and churchwardens were to be governors of the school. Provision was also made for accommodation for the school-master. The school was constructed on Grange Road by 1718.

In 1849 the school was amalgamated with another charity school in the area, which had been founded in 1612 to provide education for the sons of seamen. In 1991 the school became a City Technology College, with the name Bacon's College, and was moved to Rotherhithe. In 2007 it gained Academy status.

In 1850 the North London Railway began operating services from Camden Town to Poplar, and then on into the East End. In 1851 the line was extended to Hampstead where it joined with the London and North Western Railway, and in 1858 it was connected to a branch of the London and South Western Railway to Richmond. In 1865 the line was further extended in the east so that the terminus was Broad Street station, situated adjacent to Liverpool Street Station.

By 1900 Broad Street station was the third busiest in London (after Liverpool Street and Victoria). During the Second World War the line was badly bombed and the East End portion was closed. Trains continued to run to the badly damaged Broad Street station, but the development of Tube and bus networks had significantly reduced the passenger numbers. The station was not repaired and the main part of it was closed in 1950, although two platforms continued to operate.

In 1963 Richard Beeching was appointed Chairman of the British Transport Commission with the brief to reduce British Rail spending. He achieved this by announcing extensive cuts in what has become known as the 'Beeching Axe'. Broad Street was one of the stations earmarked for closure. However, local opposition saved the station and it continued running until 1985 when it was finally closed. The Broadgate office development stands on the site.

In 1979 the line between Richmond and Dalston via Gospel Oak became the North London Line, and in 2010 is part of the London Overground network.

The Charity was incorporated by charter dated 1 July 1678, at the instigation of a group of loyalist Anglicans who were concerned to alleviate the lot of needy dependants of Anglican clergy who had suffered for their orthodoxy during the time of the Commonwealth. The incorporation marked a stage in the consolidation of charitable efforts directed to that end, and the primary class to benefit from the activities of the Corporation were the widows of sequestered clergy. Formally named "The Charity for the Relief of poor Widows and Children of Clergymen", the Corporation gradually came to extend its benevolence more widely within that general heading as the years passed.

The popular title "Sons of the Clergy" is an indication of the large proportion of sons of clergymen who were active in the Charity, but also probably shows a sense of "pietas" felt by orthodox laity toward the faithful clergy. The phrase was inherited from the Festival of the Sons of the Clergy.

The Corporation and the Festival: The circle of Anglicans whose efforts led to the incorporation of the Charity had for many years previously been pursuing the aims formulated in the Charter of 1678 by means of the annual Festival of the Sons of the Clergy. This enabled the raising of money at a solemn service, held in a prominent church in the Capital, and a grand feast to follow, at which the liberal benefactions of the wealthy were solicited. The origins of the Festival are obscure, the first extant Sermon preached on such an occasion being dated 1655.

The Festival, with its organisers and administrators, must be regarded as the parent of the Corporation. No doubt practical experience showed the creation of a Corporation to be the best means of ensuring orderliness and continuity in the administration of such a Charity. If the annual benevolence of the Festival attracted offers of endowment by estates, which would yield a regular and permanent income, the creation of a body corporate would be the only way of avoiding the tiresome necessity of continual renewal of trustees to make up for depletions by death. It was just this legal difficulty which led eventually to the vesting in the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy of a number of private charities with similar objects. One such was Palmer's Charity, which brought the Corporation some lands in rural Holloway; and these with the growth of London, became the Corporation's principal landed estate.

The purchase of estates was, indeed, one of the early concerns of the Charity, once incorporated, and its landed interests eventually came to extend over many parts of England and Wales.

The Festival, with its Stewards and Secretary, and the Corporation, with its Court of Assistants and Registrar, continued as separate, though closely linked, entities, and the same people were often active in both. The funds raised at the Festival were administered separately until in the 1830's they were handed over to the Corporation to administer though still as a separate fund.

The Organisation of the Corporation: The Charter of Incorporation, whose text was copied out at the beginning of more than one Court Book, lays down the organisation of the Charity which it has retained ever since, and which still continues to function. The Corporation consists of a large number of Governors who meet at a General Court held on the second Thursday in each November. The first Governors, men of substance and standing, were nominated by Charter, and all subsequent appointments were made at the General Court.

The Charter also nominated the first Court of Assistants, composed of a President, Vice-President, three Treasurers and 42 Assistants. This court is responsible for the conduct of business of the Charity, it meets at varying intervals throughout the year, and appointments to it lie with the Governors.

At the first meeting of the Court of Assistants on 15th July 1678, choice was made of a Register, later called Registrar, to be the principal permanent official of the Corporation. Unlike the abovementioned officers, the Register received payment for his services, which required legal knowledge, and approximated to the functions of a general secretary and solicitor.

Amongst other minor officials was the Messenger, who convened meetings and probably at times acted as a rent collector. There was never a large staff of permanent officials. Unlike the Messenger, the Registrar still continues to function at the head of the permanent administration.

There seems to have been a permanent accountant at least since 1726, but this official is less easy to trace in the records. Apart from the Treasurers' Accounts, the Ledger of 1771 is the first survivor of any series of financial records. Before 1726 this work seems to have been in the hands of a Committee for Methodizing the Books.

Various Committees were appointed from time to time, but in the 17th and 18th centuries they generally give an impression of informality, and were often appointed ad hoc. It was not until about 1840 that any considerable reorganisation took place within the Corporation, and at that time the three principal permanent Committees of Estates, Finance and Petitions were formed.

The Revd. Ralph Davenant, Rector of Whitechapel, provided for the building and staffing of a school for forty boys and thirty girls in the parish of Whitechapel by a deed of settlement dated 11 June 1680 (ref. A/DAV/I/13) and by his will proved 26 February 1680/81 (PRO ref. PROB 11 365). It was not, however, until 1686 that the trustees obtained a faculty to build a school and school houses on the Lower Burial Ground in Whitechapel.

Over the years the Foundation had a number of benefactors including an unknown woman who gave the sum of £1,000 in 1701. The money was used to buy an estate, Castle Farm at East Tilbury, Essex.

In the early nineteenth century the school was visited by Dr. Andrew Bell, who was famous for his monitorial system. The system was adopted and proved a great success. At the same time it was felt that there was a need for a public school for the education of the poor of the area. This school, known as the Whitechapel Society's School, was founded in 1813 and also built on part of the Lower Burial Ground.

By the mid nineteenth century there was a need felt for more advanced education than that provided by Davenant's School or the Whitechapel Society's School. In 1854 an Order was made under which the charities known as the Whitechapel Charities were to be appropriated and used for another charitable purpose, the establishment of The Whitechapel Foundation Commercial School. Among these charities was that of Thomas Holbrook (1644). The school opened in Leman Street in 1858 and was very successful.

In 1888 a revised scheme for the administration of the Whitechapel Charities and Davenant's Foundation was published by the Charity Commission. A secondary school for boys, the Foundation School, was to be provided and three elementary schools for boys, girls and infants, to be known as the Davenant Schools. The latter continued under the School Board for London and LCC Education Committee until the Second World War. They were not reopened after the War and finally closed in 1950.

The new building for the Foundation School was completed in 1896 but an extension was soon needed and a new wing was built in 1909. The school acquired a high reputation especially in the teaching of modern foreign languages. In 1930 the school celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Foundation and the name was officially changed from Whitechapel Foundation School to Davenant Foundation School. There was an increase in the numbers on the roll at this time and the Governors wished to improve their existing buildings rather than move to a new site. The outbreak of war brought these negotiations to a close.

The school was evacuated to Chatteris in the Fens and remained there throughout the war. When the school returned to London work started on rebuilding the Whitechapel premises which had been badly damaged. Following the Education Act 1944 the school applied for and was granted the status of a voluntary aided grammar school, an earlier application for direct grant status having been rejected. In 1956 the Ministry of Education suggested that the school should be transferred to another area where there was need of a grammar school. It was decided to move to Essex as nearly half the pupils were from that county. A site was chosen close to the LCC housing estate at Debden and despite objections permission was eventually granted in 1960. The school moved to Essex in 1965 and the new building was officially opened in 1966.

The Foundling Hospital was established by Royal Charter on 17 October 1739 by Thomas Coram as a refuge for abandoned children. Its creation in the eighteenth century was unique, and even 120 years later the Hospital was the only institution for the admission of illegitimate children listed in a 1863 charities directory for London.

Returning to Britain in 1719 after establishing a shipwright's business in America, Coram was appalled at the numbers of dead and dying babies he saw in the streets of London, and the failure of the establishment to care for these children. Foundling (i.e. illegitimate) children had been cared for at Christ's Hospital from its foundation in 1552, but a decision to admit only legitimate orphans was taken in 1676. From this date onwards, therefore, the only option for illegitimate children was to be placed in a parish poorhouse, where extremely high mortality rates prevailed and childcare facilities were non-existent. Coram campaigned for twenty years in order to gain support for his scheme. A major difficulty was overcoming widespread prejudice towards illegitimacy, but he managed to enlist the support of many leading members of the aristocracy, the city, the arts and the sciences by a series of petitions to which they signed their names.

The first temporary location of the Hospital was a house in Hatton Gardens, children being admitted there from March 1741 onwards. The following year the foundation stone of the new Hospital was laid on land acquired from the Earl of Salisbury in Lamb's Conduit Fields, Bloomsbury, an as yet undeveloped area beyond the city. The Hospital was designed by Theodore Jacobsen as a plain brick building with two wings and a chapel, built around an open courtyard. By 1747 work had begun on the Chapel. Although not completed until 1753, it was in use before that date, most notably on 1 May 1750 when George Frederick Handel, a patron of the Hospital, directed a performance of the Oratorio 'Messiah' to mark the presentation of the organ to the Chapel. The Hospital received a great deal of patronage from the arts. The painter William Hogarth, a governor of the Hospital, decided to set up an art exhibition in the court room of the new buildings, encouraging other artists to produce work for the Hospital. As a consequence, by the late eighteenth Century the Hospital had become a fashionable place to visit.

Admission to the Hospital was initially restricted because of the lack of funds. Infants were to be less than two months old and in good health to qualify for entry, and admissions were made on a first come first served basis. Once a child had been accepted he or she was baptised and thereby given a new name. The child was then boarded out to a dry or wet nurse in the country. These nurses were mostly in the Home Counties but could be as far away as West Yorkshire or Shropshire. The nurses were monitored by voluntary inspectors. On reaching 3 years of age, the child was returned to the Hospital to receive basic schooling and he or she would remain there until apprenticed out to trades or service, or enlisted in the armed forces.

In 1742 the numbers of mothers bringing children to the Hospital was so great and the admissions procedure so disorderly that it was decided to adopt a ballot system to decide which children were admitted. By 1756 the Hospital was forced to ask Parliament for funds. As a consquence for the next four years the Hospital functioned as a quasi-public body receiving government support. In return for that support, however, the Governors were obliged to accept every child presented to them. A number of branch hospitals were established to cope with the large number of children received during this period of 'indiscriminate admission' (1756-1760). These were in Aylesbury, Barnet, Westerham, Ackworth, Chester and Shrewsbury and records survive in the collections for these hospitals, particularly Ackworth Hospital.

In 1760 the period of indiscriminate admission was ended when Parliament withdrew its support and the Hospital was forced to temporarily stop admitting children. When admissions resumed a new system was adopted which involved mothers submitting written petitions to the Hospital which were then assessed by committee. This petition system formed the basis of all subsequent admissions to the Hospital and the survival of these petitions in the collection provides a valuable insight into the backgrounds and circumstances of the mothers. Although the Hospital had been set up primarily for the care of illegitimate children, the Governors also began to accept children of soldiers killed in war.

The administration of the Hospital remained largely unchanged until 1926 when the buildings and surrounding estate were sold for £1,650,000. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the area around the Hospital had been transformed. In 1780s the Hospital had decided to lease out its land to developers who proceeded to build squares, streets, and town houses (the rent from which provided the Hospital with much needed regular income). By 1920s, and in keeping with the trend to move schools and institutions outside of central London to healthier environments, it was felt that the proceeds of selling the estate would secure financially the continued work of the Hospital. Accordingly the estate was sold, the Hospital buildings were pulled down and the children moved to temporary premises at Saint Anne's Schools, Redhill, Surrey, until a new site was found for them at Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. When the new school opened in 1935, the Governors decided that it should be named Thomas Coram School, and the title Foundling Hospital was dropped.

The Hospital did not lose its connection with the Bloomsbury site for long, however. The site had been bought by a property speculator, James White, who intended to transfer Covent Garden Market there. He was forced to abandoned this plan due to strong local opposition, and with the assistance of Lord Rothermere, three-quarters of the site was purchased from him to form a children's playground for the locality. This became known as Coram's Fields. The remaining quarter was re-purchased by the Foundling Hospital and became their headquarters at 40 Brunswick Square. Some of the internal fittings saved from the old Hospital buildings were transferred to the new offices, as were the Foundling art collections.

It soon became evident that the income from investing the proceeds of the sale was surplus to the requirements of the Hospital and decisions were made to broaden the work of the charity by assisting kindred voluntary organisations, most notably the Cross Road Club (a home for mothers and babies), the Foundling Site Nurseries (residential and day care centres) and Saint Leonards Nursery School. Records relating to these institutions can be found in the collection.

In 1954 the Governors, influenced by trends towards non-institutional forms of caring for children, disposed of the school at Berkhamsted (now known as Ashlyn's School), transferring it to Hertfordshire County Council, and returned children to their foster homes. It was felt that the children would benefit from a more conventional home life, attending local schools and mixing with other children. In 1953 the organisation changed its name to the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children, reflecting these developments. More recently the charity has been renamed Coram Family. It is still dedicated to working with deprived and disadvantaged children, providing adoption and foster care services, and promoting research into child welfare.

In January 1874 the majority of the council of the Working Women's College, then in Queen's Square, London, resolved to throw open the college to men as well as women. Some members of the council 'unwilling to see the only institution in London, devoted exclusively to the improvement and culture of working women, closed to many of them', resolved to establish a separate college where they could continue to carry out the aim of supplying to working women higher education than had been generally within their reach. The appeal they launched met with such a warm response that in October 1874 the college for working women was opened at 5 Fitzroy Street under the chairmanship of Dr John Storrar. Here the college remained until 1879 when it moved to number 7, which was to be its home for the next 78 years.

In very great measure the foundation of the College for Working Women was due to the inspiration of Miss Frances Martin who served it as one of its honorary secretaries from 1874 until 1920, and then as president for the remaining 2 years of her life. She died in 1922 aged 93. In order to perpetuate the memory of its foundress the college was renamed in 1927 the Frances Martin College.

In 1957 the lease of 7 Fitzroy Street expired and, the search for suitable alternative premises having proved unavailing, the working men's college came to the rescue, offering accommodation in their own building in Crowndale Road, NW1. The offer was gladly accepted.

The circle of Anglicans whose efforts led to the incorporation of the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy charity had for many years previously been pursuing the aims formulated in the Charter of 1678 by means of the annual Festival of the Sons of the Clergy. This enabled the raising of money at a solemn service, held in a prominent church in the Capital, and a grand feast to follow, at which the liberal benefactions of the wealthy were solicited. The origins of the Festival are obscure, the first extant Sermon preached on such an occasion being dated 1655.

The Festival, with its organisers and administrators, must be regarded as the parent of the Corporation. No doubt practical experience showed the creation of a Corporation to be the best means of ensuring orderliness and continuity in the administration of such a Charity. If the annual benevolence of the Festival attracted offers of endowment by estates, which would yield a regular and permanent income, the creation of a body corporate would be the only way of avoiding the tiresome necessity of continual renewal of trustees to make up for depletions by death.

The Festival, with its Stewards and Secretary, and the Corporation, with its Court of Assistants and Registrar, continued as separate, though closely linked, entities, and the same people were often active in both. The funds raised at the Festival were administered separately until in the 1830's they were handed over to the Corporation to administer though still as a separate fund.

The King's Fund was established in 1897 as the Prince of Wales Hospital Fund for London for the purpose of raising money for the Voluntary Hospitals within a seven mile radius from Charing Cross. A letter by the Prince of Wales was published in 'The Times' on 6 February 1897 inviting subscriptions in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Victoria.

The first distribution of grants by the Fund took place in 1897/1898 and amounted to £57,000 however, it was the intention of the Prince and the founding members of the first General Council that the Fund woud become a permanent body with sufficient captial to produce an annual income for distribution. On 1 January 1902 the Fund was renamed King Edward's Hospital Fund for London and in 1907 the Fund was incorporated by an Act of Parliament.

As the amount available for distribution grew so did the remit of the Fund. The initial seven mile limit from Charing Cross was extended in 1924 to nine miles and in 1940 to the whole of the Metropolitan Region. The Fund also began to include Convescent Homes in its annual distributions.

Thanks to its financial success, the Fund soon began to have a considerable influence on the work and administration of the London voluntary hospitals and its activities soon diversified into inspecting hospitals and encouraging a more rational distribution of health services across the growing expanse of the city, for example they were instrumental in the move of King's College Hospital to Camberwell, South London. The King's Fund also began to undertake a number of pan-London roles, for example by opening and operating a service of emergency admissions to hospitals and encouraging combined fund raising appeals. The Fund as part of the conditions of its grants required hospitals to submit particulars of their accounts and this led to the introduction of a uniform system of hosptial accounts. They also began to be the representing body of the voluntary hospitals in debates about health and welfare policy.

At the end of the First World War many voluntary hospitals were in considerable difficulty owing to lack of resources. A Hospital Commission was set up for the country to administer a government grant, with King Edward's Fund acting as the coordinating body for the London area. As a result, the Fund overhauled its own constitution into five main committees, Finance, Distribution, Hospital Economy, Revenue and Management. Several special committees were established in the 1920s to investigate various matters, including pensions schemes for nurses and hospital staff, provision of ambulances, and for road casualties.

The establishment of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1948 led to a reappraisal of the work of the King's Fund. Instead of giving maintenance grants to the now tax-funded health service, it concentrated its resources on developing good practice in the NHS and opened a number of new services to provide training, learning and sharing opportunities for NHS staff including the Division of Hospital Facilities (opened 1948, became The Hospital Centre), the College for Ward Sisters (opened 1949), the Catering Advisory Service (opened 1950), th Hospital Administrative Staff College and the School of Hospital Catering (opened 1951) and the Staff College for Matrons (1953). The Fund's colleges were amalgamated in 1968 to become the 'King's Fund College' and in 1997 a change and leadership centre was established. Leadership development is still continued under the Leadership and Development Team.

Post NHS the Fund also became the home of numerous development projects to improve the quality of health care and opened a specialist health services library in Camden Town. The range of projects ranged enormously from investigations into the use of disposal goods in hospital wards through to the investigation into the design of the hospital bed-stead in the 1960s. In the 1980s, the King's Fund established a unit to analyse health policy issues and a service offering organisational audit to health services. It was also in this era that the Fund widened the scope of its activities to look at social care and public health becoming an influential organisation in health policy, pioneering the development of patient choice in the NHS, of partnerships between health and social care, and of the arts in health. It also began working to tackle health inequalities in London working with the Greater London Authority and other health agencies as well as continuing its work analysing national health policy and developing new ways of working in the NHS and social care services.

In 2008 the Fund was granted a Royal Charter which in effect gave a new set of governance arrangements, which include a modern version of the original objectives. Allowing the Fund to remain an independent and expert body able to exercise influence and use ideas to change health care.

The 1820's saw the foundation of two schools at the Oval, Kennington. After raising the necessary voluntary subscriptions, the boys' school opened at the end of 1824 and the girls' school in the spring of 1825. The name proposed for the schools was the Kennington and South Lambeth National School, but they were soon referred to as the National Schools or District Schools, even the Oval Schools. In reflection of the close links with Saint Mark's Church, the name was later changed to Saint Mark Kennington Schools. The school is now known as Saint Mark's CE Primary School.

The association began life as the Saint James Society in 1824, as its early meetings were held at Saint James Clerkenwell. In 1903 it expanded and became known as the London County Association of Change Ringers. In 1911 the association formed separate Northern and Southern Districts with separate officers but responsible to the overall association via its General Body officers and meetings - this situation lasted until World War II when the district operation was suspended. In 1929 the association had 'North Southwark Diocesan Guild' added to its title, but this was dropped in the early 1970s, and the title altered to London County Association of Church Bell Ringers.

The Lady Margaret Hall Settlement was founded in 1897 in Lambeth. It was a community of ladies, working in connection with the Church of England and Lady Margaret Hall College in Oxford, who aimed to carry out social work in the community near the Settlement. This included running clubs for local youth, visiting the elderly and sick, holding Bible and literacy classes and providing legal advice.

The London Diocesan Council for Penitentiary, Rescue and Preventative Work was founded by the Diocesan Conference of 1889 at the suggestion of Bishop Frederick Temple. There already existed numerous homes and refuges for 'fallen women' and 'endangered girls', including the Diocesan Penitentiaries at Fulham and Highgate, the Women's Mission to the Fallen, the Men's League for the Rescue of Harlots, the Lady Guardians' Committee helping unmarried mothers in workhouses and the Metropolitan Association for Befriending Young Servants carrying out preventative work with domestic staff. Much of the initial work of the Council was to achieve some sort of co-ordination of these different organisations. An office was established in Church House, Westminster, and a secretary was hired. The rapid expansion of the Council, from ten homes in 1893 to fifty homes and twenty-four local societies in 1900, was largely owing to the work of the Ladies' Committee.

The homes included Saint Mary's Home for younger girls in Bourdon Street, run by the Sisters of Saint Peter, which became known for innovation in the matter of general education and constructive practical training. The Blue Lamp Refuge, established in the 1890s, was open 24 hours, offering a place of safety for local prostitutes. In 1901 Saint Agnes House was opened as a training house for the Council's workers.

The Council also worked with men, through the Men's Committee. The main emphasis of their work was education in personal and public morality through lectures, sermons and the distribution of literature. Some of their pamphlets were described in annual reports as requiring 'the most delicate consideration', implying that they addressed matters of sexual behaviour. The First World War increased the work of the Committee and they lectured in military camps. However, after the war the Committee was disbanded and the work continued by another organisation, the White Cross League.

After the First World War the Council found itself in a poor financial situation, necessitating a move of offices, to Little Grosvenor Street, and the redundancy of their secretary. In addition the workers felt a growing feeling of depression, finding the girls increasingly difficult to influence. Generous but grants from the Ministry of Health for their 'voluntary maternity and child welfare services' helped to tide over this awkward period. The emphasis and balance of the work slowly changed, with fewer, but better, homes and more outside workers, some based in maternity hospitals and venereal disease hospitals, befriending and providing after-care for patients. Inter-diocese co-operation increased and regular meetings were held for the exchange of ideas, including the formation of the London and Southwark Diocesan Moral Education Committee. Work with prostitutes was gradually decreased, as the Women Police were seen to be undertaking this work. However, a drive for better sex education for both sexes was begun, with literature distributed and lectures held.

The Second World War brought problems for the Council, as several homes were destroyed by bombing and its workers were called away to war-work. This coincided with an increase in the number of illegitimate children. This led to a change in policy. Where previously the mother's right to keep the child and the father's duty to maintain it were stressed, more thought was now given to the welfare and future of the baby, which meant that where appropriate adoption was encouraged.

In 1943 the Ministry of Health placed statutory obligations on local authorities to provide for unmarried mothers and children. The Council therefore became more closely united with welfare services. Regular grants were paid by the London County Council, whilst the Diocesan Council made strenuous efforts to increase its own private income, firstly through the Women's Offering Fund and then through a periodical contribution according to the Diocesan quota.

The Council changed its name to the 'London Diocesan Association for Moral Welfare', in the 1970s changing it again, to the 'London Diocesan Council for Welcare'.

The London Master Builders' Association, under the name of the Central Association of Master Builders of London, was founded in 1872 with the object of promoting and protecting the interests of the building trade of London in general and of Members of the Association in particular, by united action in the settlement of all questions arising between employers and their workmen; by general adoption of equitable conditions of contract; by the interchange of information throughout the Country and the collection of statistics of general interest to the trade; by the assistance of members during trade disputes, at the discretion of the Council; and by the establishment and conduct of an Employment Bureau for builders' foremen, clerks and others.

The name was changed to the London Master Builders' Association in February 1899. Between 1918 and 1922 it was known successively as the London Master Builders and Aircraft Industries Association and the London Master Builders and Allied Industries Association, reverting to London Master Builders' Association in 1922. It became the London Region of the National Federation of Building Trades Employers in 1928; a body which as the National Association of Master Builders of Great Britain, had been established in 1878, as a direct outcome of the mason's strike of 1877/8.

The Pentonville Charity School was established in 1788, first as a Sunday School, then as a day school, providing clothing for about half the number of boys and girls educated. The school drew its income mainly from subscriptions and collections at sermons. The National System of education was adopted, reading writing and arithmetic being taught, with needlework for the girls.

According to Daniel Lysons in The Environs of London, "a free-school was founded in this parish about the beginning of the last century by Peter Hills and Robert Bell, and endowed with a small annual income for the education of eight sons of seamen, with a salary of 3 l. per annum for the master. The schoolhouse, which is situated near the church, was rebuilt by subscription in 1745. The endowment has been considerably augmented by various donations. In 1712, 220 l. was subscribed to purchase a ground-rent. Since this time benefactions to the amount of near 900 l. have been given, and the fund is now such as to enable the parish to clothe and educate thirty-three boys and twenty-two girls".

From: 'Rotherhithe', The Environs of London: volume 1: County of Surrey (1792), pp. 470-477.

Spitalfields Great Synagogue was situated on the corner of Brick Lane and Fournier Street in Spitalfields. The Synagogue occupied the site of a former church built by French speaking Huguenot refugees in 1843. The building was leased in 1809 to the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews. In 1843 the French Church leased the building to a community of Methodists, it then became a Wesleyan Chapel and was known as Spitalfields Chapel. In 1898 the Trustees of the French Church leased the building to the London Hebrew Tamud Torah Classes who in turn sub-let it to the Jewish Machzikei Hadath community.

The Machzikei Hadath community were particularly concerned to preserve strict orthodox standards of religious worship and observance: the congregation was largely made up of newly arrived Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who found the established practices of the Anglo-Jewish community did not match their standards of orthodoxy. Spitalfields Great Synagogue was consciously modelled on synagogues found in Eastern Europe. The congregation flourished in the early twentieth century and became known as an important centre for the local Jewish community. As the community moved from the area however attendance declined and the synagogue was closed in 1952: a new Machzikei Hadath Synagogue was opened in Golders Green in the 1980s.

The building was sold in the 1970s to a community of Muslims from Bangladesh and converted to use as a mosque.

Saint Mary, Newington Church of England School originated as a charity school for boys, founded in 1710. Girls were admitted from 1785. It became part of the United Parochial, National, Charity and Sunday Schools, Saint Mary, Newington, in 1816, with the addition of an infants' school in 1851. Branch schools were opened in the districts of Saint Peter in 1839 and Trinity in 1841, and managed by the general committee for Saint Mary's Schools until the creation of separate district managements in 1846.

The day schools' main income from endowments, subscriptions, donations and children's 'school-pence' was augmented by various grants from central government during the nineteenth century. When a fee grant was introduced under the Elementary Education Act 1891, the infants' school was made free. The school fees were abolished entirely in 1894.

In 1904, as a result of the Education Act of 1902 and the Education (London) Act of 1903, maintenance of the day schools was taken over by the London County Council (LCC), and management passed from the old committee of managers to a new body consisting of foundation managers and a representative of the metropolitan borough of Southwark. The schools continued as non-provided elementary day schools maintained by the Council.

In 1932, the boys', girls' and infants' schools were reorganised into infants' and senior mixed departments, juniors being accommodated in Newington Junior School, a temporary LCC elementary day school which was opened in that year in the adjacent Pastors' College. By 1947 Saint Mary's was both a primary and a secondary school. Aided status was awarded in 1951.

In 1953, the infants' department was closed and the school became purely a secondary modern. It was discontinued altogether in 1963 in the course of the reorganisation of voluntary schools in the area.

Time and Talents was established in London in 1888 as a branch of the Young Women's Christian Association. It was run by young women of independent means, who directed their time and talents towards working for those less fortunate than themselves. They established settlements, such as that in Bermondsey to provide a home-life for young factory girls, and clubs such as the Dockhead Club House which opened in 1931. Their activities eventually spread to areas outside London with community centres in Harold Hill, Avely and South Ockendon. Branches were also established in places such as Scotland, Ireland, Gibraltar, Constantinople and Australia.

In 1920 Time and Talents amalgamated with the Guild of Helpers, another YWCA branch, and became the Time and Talents Guild. During 1946, the Time and Talents Guild became the Time and Talents Association. By 1975, they were affiliated to the British Association of Settlements.

There appears to have been a fluctuating system of internal administration until about 1950. The same personnel were instrumental in guiding administrative affairs but committee systems seem to shift and change for reasons that are not always readily apparent. Copies of aim and constitution from circa 1950 can be found in A/TT/13. By the 1970's, the activities of the Time and Talents Association were in decline with the closure of out-county centres at Harold Hill and South Ockendon. This altered the structure of the organisation yet again.

Since 1980, Time and Talents have been based at the Old Mortuary, St. Marychurch Street, Rotherhithe, where they run an active community centre.

Whitelands College School, founded in 1842, was attached to Whitelands College, founded in 1841, as a training college for women teachers, and taken over in 1849 by the National Society. They were situated in King's Road, Chelsea, on the corner of Walpole Street. The buildings of college and school surrounded a quadrangle, which, like the chapel, was used by both college students and girls of the school.

In 1917 the college was obliged to extend its premises and so the school had to be closed. A new school, Lady Margaret School, was opened at Parsons Green, with Miss Moberly Bell, who had taught at Whitelands, as head, but this was under a different council. In 1931 the college itself left Chelsea for West Mill, Putney, and the Chelsea site was developed as flats.

In the early 1900's the pupils of the school were daughters of doctors, officers at the Royal Hospital, shopkeepers and so on, from Chelsea, Kensington, Westminster, Battersea and Wandsworth. There was a kindergarten for both girls and boys, and of girls leaving the upper school some went on to the college, others into a variety of posts (A/WSO/29). Junior County Scholarships offered by the LCC c 1907 were tenable at the school; at this time some of the London County Council's own new secondary schools were still in temporary premises.

From its inception in 1893 the Whitelands Rose Guild, its successor the Old Girls' Association, and also the Hebblethwaite Memorial Guild, had as secretary Miss Alice Denning who was secretary to the college from before 1906 until after the move in 1931. She retired as secretary of the OGA in 1949, and died in 1955. Since the school closed in 1917, the OGA could have no new members after this date, but continued to meet annually at the college in Chelsea, and latterly at Putney, until 1965. By then the numbers were so low that the 1966 meeting was held at the chairman's house. The OGA came to an end in 1967.

An 'indenture' was a deed or agreement between two or more parties. Two or more copies were written out, usually on one piece of parchment or paper, and then cut in a jagged or curvy line, so that when brought together again at any time, the two edges exactly matched and showed that they were parts of one and the same original document. A 'right hand indenture' is therefore the copy of the document which was on the right hand side when the parchment was cut in two.

A 'fine' was a fee, separate from the rent, paid by the tenant or vassal to the landlord on some alteration of the tenancy, or a sum of money paid for the granting of a lease or for admission to a copyhold tenement.

A bargain and sale was an early form of conveyance often used by executors to convey land. The bargainee, or person to whom the land was bargained and sold, took possession, often referred to as becoming 'seised' of the land.

Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).

The complaint was that John Moore was indebted to Crichton Horne and Edward Finch for two sums of £200, from 6 November 1806. Trial by jury was requested by the defendant, and was heard 11 May 1807 before the Right Honorable Lord Ellenborough, justice. Damages were assessed by the jury at £82.10s and costs and charges to 40s.

The Poynder family included Thomas Poynder, the younger, of Wimpole Street, Cavendish Square, Treasurer of Christ's Hospital; Edmund Samuel Poynder of Brasenose College, Oxford; Thomas Henry Allen Poynder of Wrotham Place, Wrotham, Kent and Sir John Poynder Dickson Poynder, of Hartham Park, Wiltshire, M.P.

Apprentices were admitted, bound and enrolled in the Chamberlain's Court of the Corporation of London. It was possible to become a Freeman of the City by 'servitude', that is, by satisfactory completion of apprenticeship to a freeman. Apprentices were bound by the London indenture (the contract by which an apprentice is bound to the master who undertakes to teach him a trade) which had terms peculiar to the City, requiring the apprentice to serve his master faithfully, keep his secrets and follow his commands, not commit fornication or get married, not play cards or dice, not visit taverns or playhouses and not absent himself from service without permission. In return the master promised to teach and instruct or to arrange to others to teach the apprentice and to provide food, drink, clothing, lodging and all other necessities.

A hearth is part of a fireplace or oven. A tax on hearths was introduced in May 1662, requiring payment of 2 shillings per hearth in a domestic household. The tax was abolished in 1689.

Dame Mary Lake of Cannons, Little Stanmore, by her will, 1646, devised a rent charge on land to be used to maintain seven poor people of the parish of Little Stanmore in almshouses already built by her. Her son, Sir Lancelot Lake, bequeathed in his will, 1680, the rectory and tithes of Little Stanmore to trustees, to provide additional support for the almshouses. Dame Essex Drax was one of these trustees. In 1693 she transferred her rights and duties under the trust to nine new trustees. By 1811 there were no surviving trustees and therefore a decree in Chancery of that year recreated the trust, endowing it with the tithes of the parish. Between 1811 and 1829 the rector of Great Stanmore acted as minister for Little Stanmore. This may explain the period covered by these records.

The manor of Sutton in Chiswick was owned by the canons of Saint Paul's Cathedral from 1181 onwards. In 1502 the ownership was transferred to the dean of Saint Paul's. The manor was known as Sutton Court from 1537. The deans farmed the manor out to various tenants. In 1524 it was leased by Sir Thomas More. In 1800 all the land, but not the manorial rights, were sold to William Cavendish, the Duke of Devonshire. The lordship remained with the dean (except during the Interregnum when it was held by the City of London) until 1849 when it passed to the Ecclesiatical Commissioners. The manor house, known as Sutton Court, was situated near the centre of the parish. It was demolished in 1905.

'Chiswick: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 71-74 (available online).

According to a charter forged about 1100, 8 manse at Hanwell were granted to Westminster Abbey by Archbishop Dunstan in the 10th century. Hanwell was reckoned as an independent manor in Domesday Book, but after this, apparently before the 13th century, it became absorbed in the neighbouring manor of Greenford, which also belonged to Westminster. The first court rolls, which survive from the early 16th century, show that Hanwell was then a subsidiary hamlet of Greenford; from the middle of the century the manor was generally called 'Greenford and Hanwell', and lands in Hanwell were described indifferently as held of Greenford manor or Hanwell manor. By the late 18th century, though the courts were still held together, the two manors seem to have been regarded as separate entities. Most of the extensive copyhold land in Hanwell seems to have been enfranchised during the 19th century and the manorial courts were discontinued about 1900.

New Brentford is not mentioned in Domesday Book and seems, under the name of Boston ('Bordwattestun'), to have belonged to the abbey in 1157, so that it is likely to have been included in Hanwell at the time when Westminster Abbey acquired the manor. Westminster continued to have some rights in New Brentford until the monastery was suppressed, but by the later 12th century a separate estate had appeared in the town, which later became known as the manor of Boston. The boundary between Hanwell and Boston manors probably became established at the same time. Apart from this, the boundaries of Hanwell manor, or of the part of Greenford manor in Hanwell, seem to have coincided with those of the parish.

The leases of the demesnes of Greenford manor which were made from the late 15th century onwards included a certain amount of land in Hanwell, though there seems to be no truth in the suggestion of Sir Montagu Sharpe that Hanwell Park, which was in fact copyhold, was ever the residence of the lessees of the manor. The manor passed in the 16th century to the Bishop of London and in 1649 his lessee was estimated to hold 95 acres in the parish. When the manorial estates were divided into two unequal parts in the 18th century, the Hanwell lands all formed part of the larger share. At the inclosure of 1816, the bishop and his lessee were allotted 26 acres for open-field land and common rights, and also held about 75 acres of old inclosed land. Most of this (48 acres) seems to be identical with the former demesne woodland of Covent Park and lay in the detached part of Hanwell parish near Twyford. The bishop was also allotted 5 acres in respect of his rights over the waste as lord of the manor. Most of these lands, like the manorial estates in Greenford to which they were attached, were sold by the Church Commissioners after the Second World War.

There were four manors in Tottenham, which were combined in 1427. In 1626 the manors passed to Hugh Hare, Lord Coleraine, whose family held the manor until 1749. The grounds of the manor house, Bruce Castle, became a public park in 1892.

Ponders End was a hamlet close to Enfield. It was known for its fisheries.

Source: A History of the County of Middlesex (available online).

An assignment of term, or assignment to attend the inheritance, was an assignment of the remaining term of years in a mortgage to a trustee after the mortgage itself has been redeemed.

Lease and release was the most common method of conveying freehold property from the later seventeenth century onwards, before the introduction of the modern conveyance in the late nineteenth century. The lease was granted for a year (sometimes six months), then on the following day the lessor released their right of ownership in return for the consideration (the thing for which land was transferred from one party to another, usually, of course, a sum of money).

A fine was a sum of money paid for the granting of a lease or for admission to a copyhold tenement.

Source: British Record Association Guidelines 3: How to Interpret Deeds - A simple guide and glossary (available online).

A deed is any document affecting title, that is, proof of ownership, of the land in question. The land may or may not have buildings upon it. Common types of deed include conveyances, mortgages, bonds, grants of easements, wills and administrations.

Conveyances are transfers of land from one party to another, usually for money. Early forms of conveyance include feoffments, surrenders and admissions at manor courts (if the property was copyhold), final concords, common recoveries, bargains and sales and leases and releases.

Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).

Charles Hayne Seale-Haynes, 1833-1903, was the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ashburton division of Devon. His will established a trust to found Seale-Hayne Agricultural College, near Newton Abbot, now a department of the University of Plymouth.

The Duke of Northumberland's River was an artificial river flowing into the Thames at Isleworth. It was built by Henry VII to serve the abbey at Syon with water to drive a mill at Twickenham and later another mill at Isleworth. By the 1900s the mills had closed and as having a privately run river in the county was proving a nuisance and an expense the Middlesex County Council bought it in 1930 under the Middlesex County Council Act 1930.

The manor of Charlton, situated near Sunbury, is first mentioned in the reign of Edward the Confessor. In 1267 it was granted to the Priory of Merton. It remained their property until 1538 when it was surrendered to the Crown. It was then rented out to various families. In 1620 the manor comprised a house and 125 acres; by 1803 this was 125 acres of inclosed land and 60 acres of allotments.

From: 'Sunbury: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 53-57 (available online).

Hayes Manor was granted to Christ Church, Canterbury, in 832; and remained in the possession of the church until 1545 when it was taken over by the king. It was sold to the North family in 1546, who in turn sold it on in 1613. It subsequently passed through various owners. The estate was broken up in 1898.

Southall Manor has its origins in land held by William of Southall in 1212. In 1496 the manor was sold to Edward Cheeseman. His son gained the Manor of Norwood, and the two manors were henceforth united. The manors passed through various owners until 1757 when it passed to the Child family, and then the descent of the manor passed with Hayes Manor.

Information from 'Hayes: Manors and other estates', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 26-29 (available online).

Colham manor was in 1086 assessed at 8 hides, 6 of which were in demesne. At some time before 1594 Hillingdon manor was incorporated in that of Colham. Insulated within the lands of Colham lay the 'three little manors' of Cowley Hall, Colham Garden, and Cowley Peachey, and freehold estates belonging to a number of manors in other parishes, including Swakeleys in Ickenham. The manor passed through several owners before, in 1787, John Dodd sold the whole manor to Fysh de Burgh, lord of the manor of West Drayton. Fysh de Burgh died in 1800 leaving Colham subject to the life interest of his widow Easter (d 1823), in trust for his daughter Catherine (d 1809), wife of James G. Lill who assumed the name of De Burgh, with remainder to their son Hubert. The manor passed to Hubert de Burgh in 1832 and he immediately mortgaged the estate. Hubert retained actual possession of the property until his death in 1872.

Information from: 'Hillingdon, including Uxbridge: Manors and other estates', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 69-75 (available online).

The parish of Little Stanmore dates back before 1200. The church of St Lawrence, otherwise known as St Lawrence Whitchurch, was first recorded as having been appropriated by St Bartholomew's Priory. The church was acquired by the Lake family of Little Stanmore in 1552. They built up the fortunes of the parish as trustees, setting up a charitable foundation in 1680 and building almshouses and a free school. By the eighteenth century the church had been inherited by the Duke of Chandos who appointed John James to rebuild it between 1714-1720. It is said that Handel played the church organ at the height of his career, while staying with the Duke nearby. Notable ministers of the church include John Theophilus Desaguliers, a Huguenot refugee who preferred natural philosophy to his church duties; he invented the planetarium. The population of the parish grew considerably during the 1920's and 30s with the coming of the underground railway to Stanmore. A separate parish (All Saints, Queensbury) was constituted from the southern part of Little Stanmore in 1932, following boundary changes.

Source: 'Little Stanmore: Church', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 122-124 (available online).

A deed is any document affecting title, that is, proof of ownership, of the land in question. The land may or may not have buildings upon it. Common types of deed include conveyances, mortgages, bonds, grants of easements, wills and administrations.

Conveyances are transfers of land from one party to another, usually for money. Early forms of conveyance include feoffments, surrenders and admissions at manor courts (if the property was copyhold), final concords, common recoveries, bargains and sales and leases and releases.

Feoffment was an early form of conveyance involving a simple transfer of freehold land by deed followed by in a ceremony called livery of seisin.

Source: British Records Association Guidelines 3: How to interpret deeds (available online).