Showing 15887 results

McIlwain was born on 20 December 1912 in Newcastle upon Tyne. He was educated at King's College, Durham University 1930-1936 (B.Sc. in Chemistry 1934, M.Sc., Ph.D. 1936) and spent the year 1936-1937 at Queen's College, Oxford researching the organic chemistry of natural products. During the period 1937-1945 he was Leverhulme Research Fellow in the Medical Research Council (MRC) Department of Bacterial Chemistry, and subsequently member of the scientific staff of the MRC, at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School and subsequently at Sheffield University. During the period 1945-1947 he was Lecturer in Biochemistry, Sheffield University and member of the scientific staff of the MRC and of the Council's Unit for Cell Metabolism, Department of Biochemistry, Sheffield University. In 1948 he moved to the Maudsley Hospital as Senior Biochemist in the Teaching and Research Laboratories and subsequently Senior Lecturer and then Reader in Biochemistry in the University of London at the Institute of Psychiatry. In 1954 he was appointed Professor of Biochemistry in the University of London at the Institute of Psychiatry (Professor Emeritus 1980). He was then Visiting Professor, Department of Biochemistry, St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, London, continuing research supported by the MRC, 1980-1986. After moving to Shropshire in 1986 McIlwain was based for his residual academic activities at the University of Birmingham Medical School.

McIlwain's early research career in association with P.G. Fildes at the Middlesex Hospital and H.A. Krebs in Sheffield focused on nutritional factors controlling the growth of bacteria and synthetic bacterial antimetabolites as chemotherapeutic agents for treating bacterial infection. His post-war move to the Maudsley Hospital and the Institute of Psychiatry was a marked change of direction. Here he organised a department dealing with biochemical research on the nervous system and the teaching of neurochemistry to postgraduate medical students. His research and teaching programmes, his textbooks and his active role in the establishment of the Journal of Neurochemistry (1956) and the International Society for Neurochemistry (1967) distinguish him as one of the founding fathers of the modern discipline. In retirement he devoted much time to his interests in the history of science and neurochemistry in particular. He died on 14 September 1992.

Unknown

Harriet McIlquham (1837-1910) was born in London in 1837. When young, she attended social and political lectures in Gloucestershire. By 1877, she had become a member of the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage as well as the Bristol and West of England Society for Women's Suffrage. In Feb 1881 she and Maria Colbey were the organisers of the Birmingham Grand Demonstration as well as being one of the speakers at the Bradford demonstration held in Nov 1881. That same year, she was elected as a Poor Law Guardian for Boddington in the Tewkesbury Union. An appeal was lodged to annul her election on the grounds that she was a married woman but it was found that she held her qualifying property independently of her husband and therefore remained in place. However, her attempt to be elected as a county councillor in 1889 failed. By 1889, Harriet McIlquham was a member of the Central National Society and a friend of Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy. It was the latter who proposed her as president of the Women's Franchise League in Jul 1889, but two years later the pair transferred to the Women's Emancipation Union where Harriet McIlquham became a member of the council. In 1892 her first pamphlet 'The Enfranchisement of Women: An Ancient Right' was published and was widely read. Her writing continued in 1898 when the Westminster Review published a series of articles by her on Mary Astell, Lady Montague Wortley an eighteenth century journalist known as 'Sophia' and other enlightenment advocates of women's rights. Harriet McIlquham was also an active public speaker and in Feb 1893 gave a speech on women as poor law guardians; this was soon followed by an address to the Women's Emancipation Union conference held in Bedford the following year. Her audience and readers were drawn from across the spectrum of the suffrage movement. She was a member of the Cheltenham branch of the moderate National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies but also lobbied MPs in the House of Commons alongside members of the more militant Women's Social & Political Union (WSPU) in Feb 1905. Later, in 1908 and 1909 Harriet donated sums to both the WSPU and the Women's Freedom League respectively. Just before her own death, she helped organise a 'Grateful Fund' to which those who wished to show their appreciation of Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy's suffrage work could contribute. She died in 1910 after a short illness.

Harriet McIlquham (1837-1910) was born in London in 1837. When young, she attended social and political lectures in Gloucestershire. By 1877, she had become a member of the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage as well as the Bristol and West of England Society for Women's Suffrage. In Feb 1881 she and Maria Colbey were the organisers of the Birmingham Grand Demonstration as well as being one of the speakers at the Bradford demonstration held in Nov 1881. That same year, she was elected as a Poor Law Guardian for Boddington in the Tewkesbury Union. An appeal was lodged to annul her election on the grounds that she was a married woman but it was found that she held her qualifying property independently of her husband and therefore remained in place. However, her attempt to be elected as a county councillor in 1889 failed. By 1889, Harriet McIlquham was a member of the Central National Society and a friend of Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy. It was the latter who proposed her as president of the Women's Franchise League in Jul 1889, but two years later the pair transferred to the Women's Emancipation Union where Harriet McIlquham became a member of the council. In 1892 her first pamphlet 'The Enfranchisement of Women: An Ancient Right' was published and was widely read. Her writing continued in 1898 when the Westminster Review published a series of articles by her on Mary Astell, Lady Montague Wortley an eighteenth century journalist known as 'Sophia' and other enlightenment advocates of women's rights. Harriet McIlquham was also an active public speaker and in Feb 1893 gave a speech on women as poor law guardians; this was soon followed by an address to the Women's Emancipation Union conference held in Bedford the following year. Her audience and readers were drawn from across the spectrum of the suffrage movement. She was a member of the Cheltenham branch of the moderate National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies but also lobbied MPs in the House of Commons alongside members of the more militant Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in Feb 1905. Later, in 1908 and 1909 Harriet donated sums to both the WSPU and the Women's Freedom League respectively. Just before her own death, she helped organise a 'Grateful Fund' to which those who wished to show their appreciation of Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy's suffrage work could contribute. She died in 1910 after a short illness.

John Charles McGuire (1890-1986) spent most of his lifetime in a career as a schoolmaster in London. He was educated at East London Technical College and trained as a teacher at Islington Day Training College (1908-1912). Most of his teaching career was spent at Barnsbury Central School where he later became Head Teacher. In 1950 he was President of the London Head Teachers' Association. He retired in 1954 after 45 years of employment by the LCC Education Officer's Department.

For a history of the Barnsbury Central School see 'Islington: Education', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8: Islington and Stoke Newington parishes (1985), pp. 117-135 (available online).

James McGrigor was born in 1771 and entered the Army as a Surgeon in 1793. He served in Flanders, the West Indies and India. In 1801 he was Superintendent Surgeon in Egypt, in 1809 Inspector-General of Hospitals, and in 1811 Chief of the Medical Staff of Wellington's forces in the Peninsula. From 1815 to 1851 he was Director-General of the Army Medical Department. He died in 1858.

Rhoderick Robert McGrigor spent his early childhood in South Africa, before studying at Osborne and Dartmouth Royal Naval Colleges, passing out as top of his form. During the First World War, McGrigor served in destroyers during the Dardenelles campaign and saw action at the Battle of Jutland in HMS MALAYA. He then served as part of the Nyon non-intervention patrol during the Spanish Civil War on HMS KEMPENFELT, taking part in the rescue of crew from the sinking Spanish government cruiser BALEARES. At the outbreak of the Second World War, McGrigor was Chief-of-Staff to the C-in-C, China Station, after which he returned home in late 1940 to become the commanding officer of HMS RENOWN, taking part in the BISMARCK action and the bombardment of the coast of Genoa. He then joined the Board of Admiralty as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Weapons), following an early promotion to Rear-Admiral. Shortly after, McGrigor returned to an active post as a Naval Force Commander during the capture of Pantellaria and the invasion of Sicily. In March 1944, he returned home to take command of the First Cruiser Squadron and aircraft carriers of the Home Fleet. For the last year of the war, McGrigor carried out several attacks on the coast of enemy-occupied Norway and took several convoys to and from north Russia. Promoted to Admiral in 1948, McGrigor held several positions post-war, including C-in-C, Home Fleet from 1948 to 1950 and C-in-C, Plymouth from 1950-1951, before being made First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, eventually retiring in 1955.

Born, 1868; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1898; died, 1953.

Publications: Field analysis of minerals for the prospector, mining engineer, traveller, and student (1915)

Sir Ian McGregor is a general physician who has worked particularly in the fields of infections, nutrition, immunity, child health and community medicine in tropical environments.

Biographical details of Surgeon Lt-Cmdr McGrath can be found in obituary notices in the British Medical Journal and The Lancet.

John Harold McGivering joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1941 as an Ordinary Seaman, recieving training at HMS RALIEGH and HMS WHADDON, before attending Cypher School at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Promoted to Temporary Midshipman in 1942, McGivering was posted to the Cypher Office in Portsmouth, before going overseas to Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1943. Promoted to Temporary Sub-Lieutenant in 1943, he was then stationed at the Coastal Forces base at Pembroke, after which he was posted Ceylon as a Transport Officer in 1946. After returning to England in 1947, McGivering pursued a career as an estate agent whilst on reserve, until he was posted to Falmouth from 1958 to 1962. He recieved two further promotions, being made Lieutenant in 1962, then Lieutenant Commander in 1970. McGivering then took up a position in the Civil Service, retiring in 1979.

Memos of the Special Assistant for National Security Affairs: McGeorge Bundy to President Johnson, 1963-1966 are microfilmed copies of memoranda, minutes, correspondence, press releases, and published articles relating to the national security and foreign policy of the United States from Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, McGeorge Bundy. Bundy was formerly a political analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations, 1948-49; Harvard University Visiting Lecturer, 1949-51, Associate Professor of Government, 1951-54, Professor, 1954-61, and Dean Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 1953-61. As Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, 1961-66, he advised President Lyndon Baines Johnson on US foreign policy, by acting as a liaison officer between national security offices such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense and the White House

McGeorge and Heppenstalls Limited was a subsidiary of Warwicks and Richardsons Ltd, The Brewery, Nortgage, Newark, Notts, which merged with John Smith's of Tadcaster in 1961 which in turn merged with Courage in 1970.

Born, 1914; educated Pangbourne College; joined Royal Navy, 1931; commander of HM Submarine SPLENDID, 1942-1943; Staff Officer (Operations), 4 Cruiser Sqdn, 1944-1945; commander HMS FERNIE, 1946-1947; 4 Submarine Sqdn, 1949-1951; 3 Submarine Sqdn, 1956-1957; Director of Undersurface Warfare, Admiralty, 1959; Imperial Defence College, 1961; Commander HMS LION, 1962-1964; Admiral President, Royal Naval College, Greenwich, 1964-1965; Flag Officer Submarines, 1965-1967; Flag Officer, Scotland and Northern Ireland, 1968-1970; retired, 1970; member of the Queen's Bodyguard for Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers, 1969-2003; editor of the Naval Review, 1972-1980; MPhil at Edinburgh University, 1975; died, 2007.

Publications: The Princely Sailor: Mountbatten of Burma (London: Brassey's 1996)

Born, Canberra, Australia, 1903; Professor of Applied Physics, Imperial College, 1954-1971; elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1966; Senior Research Fellow, Department of Physics, Imperial College, 1971-1980; died, 1987.

Born 1887; educated at University College School, London, and University College, Oxford University; entered Treasury, 1910, by open competition; Private Secretary to six successive Financial Secretaries, 1913-1917; accompanied Sir H. Lever to USA on special financial mission, 1917; served under John Maynard Keynes at the Treasury, 1917-1919; Treasury representative, Paris Peace Conference, 1919-1920; Secretary to British Delegation, Reparation Commission, 1920-1922; General Secretary to Reparation Commission, 1922-1924, and Secretary to the Dawes Committee, 1924; Commissioner of Controlled Revenues, Berlin, 1924-1930; Knighted, 1925; started new career in the City of London, as Chairman, 1934-1952 and Director, 1952-1967, of S.G. Warburg and Co; Member, Executive National Liberal Federation, 1933-1936; Joint Treasurer, 1936-1948, President, 1949-1950, and Vice-President, 1950-1960, Liberal Party Organisation; President, Free Trade Union, 1948-1959; Vice-President, Liberal International, 1954-1967; Vice-President, Anglo-Israel Association (Chairman of Council, 1950-1960); Member of Council, 1933-1967, and President, 1970, Royal Institute of International Affairs; Liberal candidate for the City of London, 1945 and Finchley, 1950; died 1974. Publications: translator of Europe must unite (Paneuropa Editions, Glarus; Plymouth printed, 1940) and The Totalitarian State against Man (Frederick Muller, London, 1938), both by Count Richard Nikolaus Coudenhove-Kalergi; Government and industry (Lund, Humphries and Co, London, 1944); Government intervention in industry (Lovat Dickson, London, 1935); Liberal principle and policies (Liberal Publication Department, London, 1947); Moral and political problems of economic prosperity (Liberal Publication Department, London, 1962); Recollected in Tranquillity (Pall Mall Press, London & Dunmow, 1964); Reparation Reviewed (Ernest Benn, London, 1930); The Liberal Case (Allan Wingate, London & New York, 1950).

W O McEwan was awarded the Royal Geographical Society Cuthbert Peek grant to travel to Lake Nyasa to take up the work of James Stewart of the 'Lake Junction road', 1884. Before leaving for Africa he took a course of instruction on Practical Astronomy at the Royal Geographical Society. He died sometime before 1888.

Born 1917; served on staff of Gen Hastings Ismay, Ministry of Defence, 1943-1945; Lieutenant Commander, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 1944; died 2003.

Donald Percy McDonald graduated MB, BCh from Oriel College, Oxford in 1912, and after practising in Oxford was commissioned in the RAMC in 1917. On the recommendation of Fieldmarshal Lord Allenby he joined the Indian Medical Service in 1920, and later became Professor of Surgery at Rangoon University. He retired in 1942 with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

Governor of Imperial College, 1907-1937, appointed by the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy; instrumental in setting up the Royal School of Mines Advisory Board.

John Ramsay McCulloch was born Whithorn, Wigtownshire, in 1789. He was a prolific Scottish journalist, and one of the most ardent expositors of the Classical Ricardian School of Economics. He was economics editor for the Whiggish Edinburgh Review, and used this platform to popularise Classical theories and promote the repeal of the Corn Laws. McCulloch was also the editor of the 1828 edition of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and the 1846 edition of David Ricardo's Works, and composed some of the earliest accounts of the history of economic thought. His main work was Principles (1825), perhaps the first successful 'serious' textbook in economics. McCulloch served as a Professor in Political Economy at University College London from 1828 to 1832. In the later part of his life, he became the Comptroller of HM Stationery Office. He died in 1864.

John Ramsay McCulloch was born Whithorn, Wigtownshire, in 1789. He was a prolific Scottish journalist, and one of the most ardent expositors of the Classical Ricardian School of Economics. He was economics editor for the Whiggish Edinburgh Review, and used this platform to popularize Classical theories and promote the repeal of the Corn Laws. McCulloch was also the editor of the 1828 edition of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and the 1846 edition of David Ricardo's Works, and composed some of the earliest accounts of the history of economic thought. His main work was Principles (1825), perhaps the first successful 'serious' textbook in economics. McCulloch served as a professor in political economy at University College London from 1828 to 1832. In the later part of his life, he became the Comptroller of HM Stationery Office. He died in 1864.

Barbara McCrimmon (fl 1992) was a well-known American book and manuscript collector. She wrote extensively in American library theory and philosophy and was a regular reviewer in a number of periodicals. In 1992 McCrimmon donated 77 letters written by Barbara Leigh Bodichon to The Women's (previously Fawcett) Library along with three articles written by McCrimmon.

Barbara Bodichon (1827-1891) née Leigh Smith was born in 1827. Her father was a progressive educationalist and MP for Norwich. Bodichon was the cousin of Florence Nightingale. Bodichon was educated at Westminster Infants School, a pioneering 'ragged school' and later at Bedford College. Thanks to her father Bodichon was financially independent. In 1852 Bodichon opened Portman Hill School in Paddington, a non-denominational, non-conventional school of mixed social class, which she ran together with Elizabeth Whitehead. Bodichon campaigned for women's rights, collecting signatures for the Married Women's Property Bill in 1856 and writing 'Women and Work' in 1857. Also in 1857 she married Eugene Bodichon a French doctor. She helped finance 'The Englishwoman's Journal' and was co-proprietor, with Miss Bessie Rayner Parkes of the Journal from 1858 to 1864. Bodichon was on the committee of the Female Middle Class Emigration Society from 1861 to 1886. Bodichon also read the first papers on suffrage in 1865, supported the first suffrage petition in 1866 and became Secretary of the Suffrage Committee in 1867. Bodichon fought for higher education for women and helped Emily Davies to found the college that later became Girton. Barbara Bodichon died in 1891.

Born 1898; educated Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; 12 Lancers, 1915; served in France, 1915-1918; Staff College, 1928-1929; Brigade Major, 2 Cavalry Brigade, 1930-1933; commanded 12 Lancers (Armoured Car Regiment), 1935-1938; General Staff Officer, 1938-1939; served in France, 1940; Commander, 8 Armoured Division, Home Forces, Dec 1940-Oct 1941; Major General, 1943; Chief of General Staff, Middle East, 1942; Tunisia, 1943; Lieutenant General, 1944; commanded Eight Army, Italy, 1944-1945; General Officer Commanding in Chief, British Forces of Occupation in Austria and British representative on the Allied Commission for Austria, 1945-1946; General Officer Commanding in Chief, British Army on the Rhine, 1946-1948; General, 1948; British Army representative, Military Staff Committee, United Nations, 1948-1949; retired, 1949; Colonel Commandant, Royal Armoured Corps, 1947-1956; Colonel, 12 Lancers, 1951; Colonel, 9/12 Royal Lancers, 1960; died 1967.

William Hunter McCrea was born on 13 December 1904 in Dublin but moved to Chesterfield, Derbyshire before he was three. Here he was educated at the Central (elementary) School and the Grammar School, from which he won an entrance scholarship in Mathematics to Trinity College, Cambridge. He read for the Mathematical Tripos, becoming a Wrangler 1926, and after graduating began research with R.H. Fowler. Recognition came early with a Cambridge University Rayleigh Prize, a Trinity College Rouse Ball Senior Studentship, a Sheepshanks Exhibition and an Isaac Newton Studentship.

After spending the year 1928-1929 at Göttingen University he moved to a succession of academic appointments: Lecturer in the Mathematics Department at Edinburgh University (headed by E.T. Whittaker) in 1930, Reader at Imperial College London in 1932 and Professor of Mathematics at Queen's University Belfast in 1936. In 1943 he was given leave from Belfast to undertake Operational Research in the Admiralty in the team led by P.M.S. Blackett and in 1944 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at Royal Holloway University of London, an appointment he took up at the end of the war. McCrea remained at Royal Holloway until 1966 when he took up his last appointment as Science Research Council supported Research Professor of Theoretical Astronomy at the recently established Sussex University. McCrea and University Professor R.J. Tayler, with the support of the Astronomer Royal R.v.d.R. Woolley and other senior Royal Greenwich Observatory staff, effectively put Sussex on the world astronomy map. McCrea's research covered many areas of mathematics, physics and astronomy, but he is probably best known for his work on relativity and cosmology.

The following brief account of some of his principal interests draws on the obituary by Robert Smith and Leon Mestel in The Observatory Magazine. McCrea was an advocate, along with E.A. Milne, of the use of a Newtonian framework to provide simple derivations of the expanding universe models of general relativity.

In the 1950s his interest in relativity led to a contentious dispute with Herbert Dingle on the famous 'twin paradox'. During the same period he was one of the few people to take seriously the steady-state theory developed by H. Bondi, T. Gold and F. Hoyle, showing how to treat the theory within the mathematical framework of general relativity, though he later accepted that the theory was ruled out by observational evidence. He had a particular interest in star formation and developed an innovative (though not widely supported) model for the origin of the solar system. He was the first to make a quantitative study of the rate of formation of hydrogen molecules on the surfaces of dust grains in space, a process crucial to many reactions in interstellar chemistry. He was quick to realise in the 1960s that the newly postulated phenomenon of mass transfer in close binaries could be used to explain the presence of 'blue stragglers' which occupied the extended main sequence of some globular clusters.

McCrea wrote some 280 scientific papers and a number of books including Relativity Physics (1935), Analytical Geometry of Three Dimensions (1942) and the less technical Physics of the Sun and Stars (1950). McCrea played a major role in British astronomy. From 1944 he spent many years on the Admiralty's Board of Visitors of the Royal Greenwich Observatory and on its Science Research Council successor. He was very actively involved in the RGO's Tercentenary celebrations (1675-1975), writing an historical review for the occasion which was published by the HMSO. In 1985 he served on a Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) Astronomy Working Group (chairman J.F.C. Kingman) which reviewed arrangements for ground-based astronomy. McCrea strongly dissented from the subsequent decision of the SERC (announced March 1986) to move the RGO from Herstmonceux in Sussex. His work for scientific societies was extensive, including, for example, serving on key Royal Society committees with respect to astronomy and space science. However, it was his contribution to the Royal Astronomical Society that was unique, having held all four offices (President, Secretary, Treasurer and Foreign Correspondent), and serving on its Council almost continuously from 1936 to 1980. He was frequently asked to be visiting professor for long or short periods, for example at the University of California, Berkeley in 1956 and 1967 and at the Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland in 1964, and often travelled as an exchange visitor under Royal Society auspices, for example to the USSR in 1960 and 1968, India in 1976 and Egypt in 1981. He was the first British scientist to make an official visit, also under the Royal Society auspices, to Argentina after the Falklands War. As a great admirer of Georges Lemaitre, he was particularly pleased to be the first occupant of the Georges Lemaitre Chair at the University of Louvain in 1969. In his extensive overseas commitments over many years he was almost an ambassador for British astronomy. His distinction in research and services to astronomy were recognised by many honours and awards including election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1952, the award of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1976 and a knighthood in 1985. In 1933 he married Marian Nicol Core who died in 1995. They had one son and two daughters. He died in Lewes, Sussex on 25 April 1999 aged 94.

Robert McCormick was born in 1800 near Great Yarmouth; his father, also Robert McCormick, was a naval surgeon of Irish ancestry. McCormick junior studied surgery at Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals, London, under Sir Astley Cooper (1768-1841) and gained his diploma in 1822, becoming a naval surgeon in 1823 and being posted to the West Indies. In 1827 he sailed with the expedition of the Hecla, under the command of William Edward Parry (1790-1855), to the north of Spitsbergen. In the ensuing years he was assigned to the West Indies, Brazil, the blockade off Holland and the West Indies once again before leaving active service and going onto half-pay in 1829. During the period 1829-1839 he devoted himself to the study of geology and natural history. In 1839 he joined the Antarctic expedition of the Erebus, under the command of James Clark Ross (1800-1862), as surgeon and naturalist; the expedition concluding in 1843. During 1845-1848 he was assigned to ships based at Woolwich Dockyard and came into conflict with the Admiralty over promotion. During the search for the expedition of Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), lost in the Arctic, McCormick argued that an open boat might profitably search up the Wellington Channel and in 1852, as surgeon of the North Star, he was able to undertake this: he returned to England in 1853 and in 1854 published his Narrative of a Boat-Expedition up the Wellington Channel in the Year 1852 (London: Eyre and Spotteswoode, 1854). McCormick was not subsequently active as a naval surgeon and again spent time in conflict over promotion. He was placed on the retired list in 1865 and died in 1890.

Robert McConnell was born in Montreal in 1877 and graduated M.D. and C.M. at McGill University. He was a member, with Lt.Col. George James Giles (1858-1916) of the Indian Medical Service, of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine's 14th expedition, to the Gold Coast to organise sanitary and anti-malaria measures. He became Medical Officer of Uganda in 1910. In 1928 he appears in the Medical Register as working for an oil company in Colombia; in the 1929 Register he is no longer present, presumably dead.

Frederick Walter McCombie was an engineering student at King's College London, 1919-1922.

McClure entered the Navy in 1824. He was made a lieutenant in 1837 and had already taken part in two Arctic expeditions when, in 1850, he was appointed to command the INVESTIGATOR in the search expedition for Sir John Franklin via the Bering Strait, led by Captain Richard Collinson. McClure and the men of the INVESTIGATOR were the first to make the traverse of the North-West Passage, though they were forced to abandon their ship which was beset in the ice off Banks Island, arriving back home in 1854. They were awarded £10,000 by Parliament in 1855 and McClure was knighted. In 1856 he was appointed to command the ESK on the Pacific Station and the following year was ordered to China. In December 1857 he commanded a battalion of the Naval Brigade at the capture of Canton. He was then appointed Senior Officer in the Straits of Malacca. He returned home in 1861 and had no further service, being promoted to rear-admiral in 1867 and vice-admiral in 1873 on the retired list.

Born, 1807; educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; entered the navy, 1824; passed his examination, 1830; mate of the HMS TERROR in her Arctic voyage under Captain George Back, 1836-1837; served on board HMS NIAGARA, the flagship of Commodore Sandom, on the Great Lakes in Canada during the uprising, 1838-1839; in the HMS PILOT in the West Indies, 1839-1842; commanded the HMS ROMNEY, receiving ship at Havana, 1842-1946; coastguard, 1846-1848; first lieutenant of the HMS INVESTIGATOR with Captain Bird in the Arctic expedition of Sir James Clark Ross, 1848-1849; command of HMS INVESTIGATOR in the search for Sir John Franklin by way of the Bering Strait, 1849-1854; appointed to HMS ESK for service on the Pacific station, 1856; brought HMS ESK to China to reinforce the squadron there, 1857 and in December commanded a battalion of the naval brigade at the capture of Canton (Guangzhou); senior officer in the Strait of Malacca; returned to England in 1861; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1855-1873; died, 1873.

Born, 1819; entered the navy, 1831; passed his examination, 1838; promoted lieutenant on 29 July 1845, when serving in the steamer HMS GORGON on the South American station; served on the sloop HMS FROLIC in the Pacific, 1845-1847; appointed to the HMS ENTERPRISE (Captain Sir James Clark Ross) for a voyage to the Arctic, 1848; first lieutenant of the HMS ASSISTANCE in the Arctic, 1850-1851; commander of HMS INTREPID part of the Arctic expedition of five ships under the command of Captain Sir Edward Belcher, 1852-1854; commander of the FOX on the search for Sir John Franklin, 1854-1859; commanded the frigate HMS DORIS in the Mediterranean, 1861-1862; commissioned HMS AURORA for service with the channel squadron, 1863; commodore-in-charge at Jamaica, 1865-1868; Admiral-Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard, 1872-1877; Commander-in-Chief on the North America and West Indies station, 1879-1882; elected an elder brother of Trinity House, 1884; retired, 1884; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1880-1907; died, 1907.

McClintock entered the Navy in 1831. He served as a midshipman in the SAMARANG, South America, 1831 to 1835, then in the survey ship CARRON in the Irish Sea, 1835, and the HERCULES in the Channel, 1836 to 1837. From 1838 to 1841 he was in the CROCODILE on the North American Station. Between 1841 and 1842 he took courses in the EXCELLENT and at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth. McClintock next served as mate of the GORGON, on the South American Station, 1843 to 1845. He received his promotion to lieutenant in 1845 and was appointed to the FROLIC, Pacific Station, where he remained until 1847. For the next twelve years he was almost continually in the Arctic regions, serving on expeditions searching for Sir John Franklin and his men. During 1848 and 1849 McClintock was in the ENTERPRISE. From 1850 to 1851 he was Lieutenant of the ASSISTANCE on the expedition led by Captain Horatio T. Austin (1801-1865). During the expedition of 1852 to 1854 he commanded the INTREPID, steam tender to the RESOLUTE, Captain Henry Kellett (1806-1875). On his return he was promoted to captain. Lady Franklin chose McClintock to command her private search expedition in the yacht FOX, from 1857 to 1859. This effort was at last successful in solving the mystery and many relics of the lost expedition and Franklin's final message were recovered from King William Island. McClintock was knighted on his return. He published an account of his expedition, The Voyage of the Fox in 1859.

In 1860 McClintock commanded the BULLDOG making soundings between Britain, Iceland, Greenland and Labrador, over the route of a proposed submarine telegraph cable. From 1861 to 1862 he commanded the DORIS in the Mediterranean, acting as escort to the Prince of Wales on his tour of the Near East, and from 1863 to 1865 commanded the AURORA, in the Channel and the North Sea during the Prusso-Danish War and later in the West Indies. Be was Commodore-in-Charge at Jamaica from 1865 to 1868, was promoted to rear-admiral in 1871 and from 1872 to 1879 was Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard, being appointed to vice-admiral in 1877. He sat on the organizing committee for the British Arctic Expedition of 1875 to 1876 led by Captain G S Nares. From 1879 to 1883 he was Commander-in-Chief on the North American and West Indies Station. He was promoted to admiral and retired in 1884. See Sir Clements Markham, Life of Admiral Sir Leopold McClintock (London, 1909).

McClare was born in 1937 and educated at Felsted School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he read natural sciences, specialising in chemistry. He undertook research at Cambridge on the chemistry of free radicals in biology as a Medical Research Council student, 1958-1961, and on energy transfer in nucleic acids as a Beit Fellow, 1961-1963, and was awarded a PhD in 1962. He was Lecturer in Biophysics at King's College, London, 1963-1977. From his growing interest in bioenergetics and the problems of muscle contraction he concluded that classical thermodynamics was inadequate for the description of biological processes, and that the application of the Second Law of Thermodynamics to biological machines required the introduction of time scales. His ideas were not generally accepted and although he wrote extensively on the subject his papers were not accepted for publication until four controversial papers appeared in the Journal of Theoretical Biology and Nature, 1971-1972. These generated a vigorous correspondence with scientists all over the world. McClare's unorthodox views failed to gain the approval of established scientific opinion. He took his own life at the age of thirty-nine, 1977.

Survey of India, -1880; Director General of the Siamese Government surveys, [1880]-1901; Royal Geographical Society Instructor, 1901-; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1883-.

Cavan McCarthy is a bibliographer and poet.

Sir Robert McCarrison served in the Indian Medical Service 1901-1935, in research apart from active service in the First World War. From 1918 until his retirement in 1935 he worked in a unit, known from 1929 as the Nutrition Research Laboratories, at the Pasteur Institute at Coonoor, one of the smaller hill stations lying in the Doddabetta Ranges of the Blue Mountains, Nilgiri District (now part of the Tamilnadu state), Southern India (The Nilgiris, or Blue Mountains, are famous for their horticulture, coffee and tea plantations, and are inhabited by ancient tribes such as the Todas, Kotas, Kurumbas and Irulus - see C.1).

Samuel Wilderspin was the controversial self-styled founder of the Infant School System. He was born in Hornsey, North London in 1792 and was an apprentice clerk in the City before being introduced to infant education by Buchanan. He trained with Buchanan at a school in Vincent Square, London and then became master of his own school in Quaker Street, Spitalfields. From 1824 he worked for the Infant School Society and as a freelance, teaching others about his system of schooling. He ran an infant school supply depot in Cheltenham for supplying apparatus and in 1839 set up the Central Model School in Dublin which was subsequently run by Sarah Anne and Thomas Young (his daughter and son-in-law). After returning from Dublin he was heavily involved with the Mechanics' Institute movement. In 1848, having founded several hundred schools, he retired to Wakefield on a civil list pension. Wilderspin's theories on education were mainly a product of his Swedenborgian beliefs. He saw education as a life long training of the child's soul and as such approached education from social, moral and religious aspects.

Publications:
Samuel Wilderspin's publications include:
'Early discipline illustrated; or, the infant system progressing and successful' (1832)
'The importance of educating the infant poor from the age of eighteen months to seven years' (1824)
'The infant system, for developing the intellectual and moral powers of all children, from one to seven years of age' (1834)
'Manual for the religious and moral instruction of young children' (1845) co-author with Thomas John Terrington
'On the Importance of educating the Infant Children of the Poor ... Containing also an account of the Spitalfields Infant School' (1823)
'A system for the education of the young: applied to all the faculties' (1840).

Further information on McCance and Widdowson can be found in the volume McCance and Widdowson: a scientific partnership of 60 years, 1933 to 1993, ed. Margaret Ashwell, British Nutrition Foundation, 1993 (GC/97/D.1). See also Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Vol 41, 1995 (McCance) and Vol 48, 2002 (Widdowson) and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

The Children's Department of the Middlesex County Council was set up under the Children Act 1948 which embodied the findings of the Curtis Report of 1945-1946. The Act took effect on 5 July 1948; the first meeting of the newly formed Children's Committee took place on the next day, taking over from the Interim Children's Committee, formed of the members of the thereafter defunct Children's Care Sub-Committee of the Education Committee. The first Children's Officer, Mr Ainscow, had in fact been appointed in anticipation, with effect from 1 May 1948. The duties of the Department had previously been distributed across several County Council departments (the Public Assistance, Public Health and Education Departments), as well as bodies (education authorities outside the MCC and the County Maternity and Child Welfare authorities) not part of the County Council at all.

The activities of the Children's Department may be summarised as follows:
i) Care and welfare: this comprised of the provision of care for a) children under the age of 17 if they had no parents or guardians; if they were abandoned or lost; of if their parents were unable to provide for their proper upbringing, provided that such care was in the child's best interests: and b) children committed by a court to the care of the County Council under a Fit Person order. This involved inter alia the running of homes and nurseries, the maintenance of the boarding out system for foster homes, and in some cases the assumption of full parental rights until the child should attain majority. The Department also undertook the care of children as delegated by the Welfare Department when dealing with problem or evicted families.

ii) Child Life Protection: this was a long standing local authority responsibility. After the passing of the Children Act 1948 its effect was to render it an offence for any person other than the parent, legal guardian or a relative to undertake for reward (whether or not for profit) the care of a child below school leaving age (15 in 1948) without notifying the County Council as a welfare authority. The Children's Department publicised the legal obligations upon such persons, supervised placements, inspected and regulated foster homes and so on. After the Adoption Act 1950, a similar duty to notify the Council rested upon anyone placing a child in another's care (with the same exceptions as above).

iii) Approved schools and remand homes: a child could be committed by the courts into the care of the Council either by a Fit Person Order, the effect of which was to put the child into the care of the Children's Department or by an Approved School Order, which placed the child under the care of managers at an Approved School. It should be noted that placements were made under the aegis of the Home Office nationwide, and that although the Council, through sub-committees of the Children's Committees, ran two approved schools, by no means all Middlesex children would be allocated places there. The Committee also ran two remand homes. The Children's Department were involved in briefing judges on cases: sometimes in bringing themselves in order to gain the powers by which to afford children under threat the care and protection they needed; and as the executive arm of the County Council on receipt of Fit Person Orders. Staff were also responsible for the supervision and after-care of "licensed" Middlesex children.

iv) Under the Adoption Act 1926, the County Council had since 1943 to oversee the compulsory registration of adoption societies in the county (not an onerous duty: two were registered in of which only one, the Homeless Children's Aid and Adoption Society, continued for any length of time). Compulsory notification to the County Council of all adoptions in the county was not introduced until the Adoption Act 1950. Also, from that point of view the Council had to supervise every prospective third party adoption in its area, whether or not involved in any other capacity. After the 1958 Act the Council had the power to place children for adoption even if those children were not in its care. Its powers of supervision were widened to include all adoptions in the county.

Health areas of the County of Middlesex, also used as administrative areas by the MCC Children's Department: Area 1 Enfield and Edmonton; Area 2 Southgate, Potters Bar, Wood Green and Friern Barnet; Area 3 Hornsey and Tottenham; Area 4 Finchley and Hendon; Area 5 Harrow; Area 6 Wembley and Willesden; Area 7 Ealing and Acton; Area 8 Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, Hayes and Harlington, Yiewsley and West Drayton; Area 9 Heston and Isleworth, Southall and Area 10 Feltham, Staines, Twickenham, Sunbury.

Adoption:

Until the Adoption Act 1926 legal adoption did not exist in English law. The 1926 Act gave no specific powers to local authorities, but the County Council was frequently, in its capacity as a local education authority, asked to act as a Guardian Ad Litem (that is to protect the child's rights before the law). When so requested, the County Council delegated this function to the officers of the Education Department. Other local education authorities could be approached instead in cases within their areas, or the Court's own probation officer might be appointed.

The Adoption of Children Regulation Act 1939 was designed to rectify some of the abuses of the 1926 Act and specifically, required adoption services to be approved and registered with local authorities. There were in fact only three such services in Middlesex in 1943 when the Act was finally implemented and only one, the Homeless Children's Aid and Adoption Society, remained in operation for any length of time thereafter. Also from 1943 certain duties of supervision of private adoptions were placed upon the welfare authorities, of which the MCC was one.

The duties of the Education Department relating to adoptions passed to the newly created Children's Department in 1948. In the next year was passed the Adoption of Children Act 1949, which was immediately consolidated with the previous legislation as the Adoption Act 1950. This Act made significant changes to adoption procedures: that which most particularly affected the County Council was the requirement that no adoption order could be made unless at least three months notice of intention to adopt had been given to the welfare authority, i.e. the County Council. Therefore from 1950 the County Council was notified of every intended adoption within the County, regardless of who the guardian ad litem was. Further, on receipt of a notice of an intended third party adoption (that is to say an adoption placement made by a third party, not a registered adoption society or local authority; adoptions by parents of their own children - very commonly done by women with illegitimate children and subsequently married) an officer of the Children's Department would commence supervision of the child or children either until the granting of the Court Order, or, if the supervision revealed the prospective adopters as unsuitable, until the end of the statutory period. The Adoption Act 1958 extended the powers of supervision to all adoptions and from this date the County Council had, in theory, some record of every adoption that took place in the County. The Act also enabled local authorities to act as adoption agencies in their own right.

The Children's Department of the Middlesex County Council was set up under the Children Act 1948 which embodied the findings of the Curtis Report of 1945-1946. The Act took effect on 5 July 1948; the first meeting of the newly formed Children's Committee took place on the next day, taking over from the Interim Children's Committee, formed of the members of the thereafter defunct Children's Care Sub-Committee of the Education Committee. The first Children's Officer, Mr Ainscow, had in fact been appointed in anticipation, with effect from 1 May 1948. The duties of the Department had previously been distributed across several County Council departments (the Public Assistance, Public Health and Education Departments), as well as bodies (education authorities outside the MCC and the County Maternity and Child Welfare authorities) not part of the County Council at all.

The activities of the Children's Department may be summarised as follows:
i) Care and welfare: this comprised of the provision of care for a) children under the age of 17 if they had no parents or guardians; if they were abandoned or lost; of if their parents were unable to provide for their proper upbringing, provided that such care was in the child's best interests: and b) children committed by a court to the care of the County Council under a Fit Person order. This involved inter alia the running of homes and nurseries, the maintenance of the boarding out system for foster homes, and in some cases the assumption of full parental rights until the child should attain majority. The Department also undertook the care of children as delegated by the Welfare Department when dealing with problem or evicted families.

ii) Child Life Protection: this was a long standing local authority responsibility. After the passing of the Children Act 1948 its effect was to render it an offence for any person other than the parent, legal guardian or a relative to undertake for reward (whether or not for profit) the care of a child below school leaving age (15 in 1948) without notifying the County Council as a welfare authority. The Children's Department publicised the legal obligations upon such persons, supervised placements, inspected and regulated foster homes and so on. After the Adoption Act 1950, a similar duty to notify the Council rested upon anyone placing a child in another's care (with the same exceptions as above).

iii) Approved schools and remand homes: a child could be committed by the courts into the care of the Council either by a Fit Person Order, the effect of which was to put the child into the care of the Children's Department or by an Approved School Order, which placed the child under the care of managers at an Approved School. It should be noted that placements were made under the aegis of the Home Office nationwide, and that although the Council, through sub-committees of the Children's Committees, ran two approved schools, by no means all Middlesex children would be allocated places there. The Committee also ran two remand homes. The Children's Department were involved in briefing judges on cases: sometimes in bringing themselves in order to gain the powers by which to afford children under threat the care and protection they needed; and as the executive arm of the County Council on receipt of Fit Person Orders. Staff were also responsible for the supervision and after-care of "licensed" Middlesex children.

iv) Under the Adoption Act 1926, the County Council had since 1943 to oversee the compulsory registration of adoption societies in the county (not an onerous duty: two were registered in of which only one, the Homeless Children's Aid and Adoption Society, continued for any length of time). Compulsory notification to the County Council of all adoptions in the county was not introduced until the Adoption Act 1950. Also, from that point of view the Council had to supervise every prospective third party adoption in its area, whether or not involved in any other capacity. After the 1958 Act the Council had the power to place children for adoption even if those children were not in its care. Its powers of supervision were widened to include all adoptions in the county.

Health areas of the County of Middlesex, also used as administrative areas by the MCC Children's Department: Area 1 Enfield and Edmonton; Area 2 Southgate, Potters Bar, Wood Green and Friern Barnet; Area 3 Hornsey and Tottenham; Area 4 Finchley and Hendon; Area 5 Harrow; Area 6 Wembley and Willesden; Area 7 Ealing and Acton; Area 8 Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, Hayes and Harlington, Yiewsley and West Drayton; Area 9 Heston and Isleworth, Southall and Area 10 Feltham, Staines, Twickenham, Sunbury

Children's Officer:

The Children's Act 1948 required the appointment of a Children's Officer to be the head of the Children's Department under the County Council. On 25th April 1948 the Council appointed Mr. E. Ainscow, then Assistant Education Officer in charge of the Children's Care Section of the Education Department, to be Children's Officer with effect from 1 May 1948. The Act itself took effect on 5 July 1948, and the appointment was in due course ratified by the Home Secretary.

However Mr Ainscow left the MCC in 1949 to take up the post of Children's Officer to the London County Council. His successor was Jane Rowell, previously Children's Officer to Durham County Council, who took over the post on 1 June 1949 and remained until the abolition of the MCC in 1965.

The Children's Department of the Middlesex County Council was set up under the Children Act 1948 which embodied the findings of the Curtis Report of 1945-1946. The Act took effect on 5 July 1948; the first meeting of the newly formed Children's Committee took place on the next day, taking over from the Interim Children's Committee, formed of the members of the thereafter defunct Children's Care Sub-Committee of the Education Committee. The first Children's Officer, Mr Ainscow, had in fact been appointed in anticipation, with effect from 1 May 1948. The duties of the Department had previously been distributed across several County Council departments (the Public Assistance, Public Health and Education Departments), as well as bodies (education authorities outside the MCC and the County Maternity and Child Welfare authorities) not part of the County Council at all.

The activities of the Children's Department may be summarised as follows:
i) Care and welfare: this comprised of the provision of care for a) children under the age of 17 if they had no parents or guardians; if they were abandoned or lost; of if their parents were unable to provide for their proper upbringing, provided that such care was in the child's best interests: and b) children committed by a court to the care of the County Council under a Fit Person order. This involved inter alia the running of homes and nurseries, the maintenance of the boarding out system for foster homes, and in some cases the assumption of full parental rights until the child should attain majority. The Department also undertook the care of children as delegated by the Welfare Department when dealing with problem or evicted families.

ii) Child Life Protection: this was a long standing local authority responsibility. After the passing of the Children Act 1948 its effect was to render it an offence for any person other than the parent, legal guardian or a relative to undertake for reward (whether or not for profit) the care of a child below school leaving age (15 in 1948) without notifying the County Council as a welfare authority. The Children's Department publicised the legal obligations upon such persons, supervised placements, inspected and regulated foster homes and so on. After the Adoption Act 1950, a similar duty to notify the Council rested upon anyone placing a child in another's care (with the same exceptions as above).

iii) Approved schools and remand homes: a child could be committed by the courts into the care of the Council either by a Fit Person Order, the effect of which was to put the child into the care of the Children's Department or by an Approved School Order, which placed the child under the care of managers at an Approved School. It should be noted that placements were made under the aegis of the Home Office nationwide, and that although the Council, through sub-committees of the Children's Committees, ran two approved schools, by no means all Middlesex children would be allocated places there. The Committee also ran two remand homes. The Children's Department were involved in briefing judges on cases: sometimes in bringing themselves in order to gain the powers by which to afford children under threat the care and protection they needed; and as the executive arm of the County Council on receipt of Fit Person Orders. Staff were also responsible for the supervision and after-care of "licensed" Middlesex children.

iv) Under the Adoption Act 1926, the County Council had since 1943 to oversee the compulsory registration of adoption societies in the county (not an onerous duty: two were registered in of which only one, the Homeless Children's Aid and Adoption Society, continued for any length of time). Compulsory notification to the County Council of all adoptions in the county was not introduced until the Adoption Act 1950. Also, from that point of view the Council had to supervise every prospective third party adoption in its area, whether or not involved in any other capacity. After the 1958 Act the Council had the power to place children for adoption even if those children were not in its care. Its powers of supervision were widened to include all adoptions in the county.

Health areas of the County of Middlesex, also used as administrative areas by the MCC Children's Department: Area 1 Enfield and Edmonton; Area 2 Southgate, Potters Bar, Wood Green and Friern Barnet; Area 3 Hornsey and Tottenham; Area 4 Finchley and Hendon; Area 5 Harrow; Area 6 Wembley and Willesden; Area 7 Ealing and Acton; Area 8 Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, Hayes and Harlington, Yiewsley and West Drayton; Area 9 Heston and Isleworth, Southall and Area 10 Feltham, Staines, Twickenham, Sunbury

Adoption:

Until the Adoption Act 1926 legal adoption did not exist in English law. The 1926 Act gave no specific powers to local authorities, but the County Council was frequently, in its capacity as a local education authority, asked to act as a Guardian Ad Litem (that is to protect the child's rights before the law). When so requested, the County Council delegated this function to the officers of the Education Department. Other local education authorities could be approached instead in cases within their areas, or the Court's own probation officer might be appointed.

The Adoption of Children Regulation Act 1939 was designed to rectify some of the abuses of the 1926 Act and specifically, required adoption services to be approved and registered with local authorities. There were in fact only three such services in Middlesex in 1943 when the Act was finally implemented and only one, the Homeless Children's Aid and Adoption Society, remained in operation for any length of time thereafter. Also from 1943 certain duties of supervision of private adoptions were placed upon the welfare authorities, of which the MCC was one.

The duties of the Education Department relating to adoptions passed to the newly created Children's Department in 1948. In the next year was passed the Adoption of Children Act 1949, which was immediately consolidated with the previous legislation as the Adoption Act 1950. This Act made significant changes to adoption procedures: that which most particularly affected the County Council was the requirement that no adoption order could be made unless at least three months notice of intention to adopt had been given to the welfare authority, i.e. the County Council. Therefore from 1950 the County Council was notified of every intended adoption within the County, regardless of who the guardian ad litem was. Further, on receipt of a notice of an intended third party adoption (that is to say an adoption placement made by a third party, not a registered adoption society or local authority; adoptions by parents of their own children - very commonly done by women with illegitimate children and subsequently married) an officer of the Children's Department would commence supervision of the child or children either until the granting of the Court Order, or, if the supervision revealed the prospective adopters as unsuitable, until the end of the statutory period. The Adoption Act 1958 extended the powers of supervision to all adoptions and from this date the County Council had, in theory, some record of every adoption that took place in the County. The Act also enabled local authorities to act as adoption agencies in their own right.

The County Council acquired over the years large areas of land and many buildings, in order to carry out its statutory functions, and the responsibility for these properties fell to the Estates and Valuation service. The types of property acquired or leased have covered the widest possible range and included houses, shops, commercial premises, sports grounds, country estates and land for schools and highways improvements.

Management of all properties acquired until brought into use for operational purposes was a major responsibility, as instanced by the Green Belt estates extending to some 10,000 acres and comprising farm holdings, country estates, and golf courses acquired to prevent development, thus preserving the amenities of the countryside.

From 1918 the Middlesex County Council was responsible for maternity and child welfare services, and, from 1948, became responsible throughout the County for health centres, care of mothers and young children, midwifery, health visiting, home nursing, vaccination and immunisation, the ambulance service, the prevention of illness, care and after care and community mental health services. In 1945 the Council took over the school health service.

The County Health Service introduced a building programme for new or replacement clinics - 22 purpose built clinics with modern facilities were opened between 1948 and 1963. Immunisation programmes were expanded to include smallpox, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and poliomyelitis. Chiropody, geriatric, audiology and cerebral palsy clinics were provided. The ambulance service was improved with the building of a new central control equipped with radio, teleprinters and key and lamp units. Community services for the disabled were increased, including schools with special care units for severely handicapped children, adult training centres, including 3 in factories, days centres, hostels and so on. Training facilities were also introduced for health services staff including health visitors, district nurses, nursery nurses, midwives, mental welfare officers and teachers of the disabled.

The County Council acquired over the years large areas of land and many buildings, in order to carry out its statutory functions, and the responsibility for these properties fell to the Estates and Valuation service. The types of property acquired or leased have covered the widest possible range and included houses, shops, commercial premises, sports grounds, country estates and land for schools and highways improvements.

Management of all properties acquired until brought into use for operational purposes was a major responsibility, as instanced by the Green Belt estates extending to some 10,000 acres and comprising farm holdings, country estates, and golf courses acquired to prevent development, thus preserving the amenities of the countryside.

The County Council became responsible for the fire brigade service in Middlesex on 1 April 1948. At this date there were thirty-eight fire stations sited for local pre-war needs in three districts, with public calls routed to stations. Abolition of street alarms allowed communications to be gradually centralised into one control at Wembley. A reorganisation scheme was embarked upon based on twenty-eight stations strategically sited and involving sixteen new stations, the last of which was ready in 1965. Fire prevention work, handled in 1948 by two uniformed staff and one civilian officer, by 1964 required twenty-eight uniformed and ten civilian staff. The entire fleet of appliances taken over from the wartime National Fire Service was replaced by modern appliances, and a scheme was undertaken to improve and standardise hydrants.

From 1948 to 1964 the Brigade responded to over 170,000 calls to incidents of all kinds. Notable incidents included fires at a timber yard in Hayes (1952), at a Brentford soap works (1959), at a Wealdstone furniture repository (1961), at a furniture factory at Ponders End (1964) and the Harrow and Wealdstone railway crash of 1952. Three British Empire Medals and two Queen's Commendations for gallantry were awarded to fire fighters and the Royal Humane Society made awards to ten members of the Brigade.

The Council became responsible for the Ambulance Service on 5 July 1948. The ambulance service used the accommodation, communications and control organisation of the fire service. In 1959 the sick removal branch of the ambulance service (that is, taking people to hospital for routine appointments) became part of the health service administration and the fire and ambulance services were separated in 1962.

The Middlesex Magistrates' Courts Committee functioned for the whole County, and its members included justices representing each petty sessional division in the County. The Council worked closely with the Committee, and was empowered to make representations to the Home Secretary regarding any decision to alter the petty sessional divisions. The Council was expected to pay the expenses of the Committee and to appoint clerks to the justices and their staff. The Council also assumed responsiblity for the provision of petty sessional courthouses and the necessary furniture and books.

Magistrates' Courts were presided over by Justices of the Peace, who dealt at petty sessions, held locally, for minor offences committed within that petty sessional division. More serious offences were tried at quarter sessions.

The National Health Service Act, 1948, transferred the County Council's responsibility for the provision of a countywide hospital service to the new regional hospital boards. The Act came into force in July 1948. In the same month the National Assistance Act was enforced and transferred the responsibility of the County Councils for relieving financial distress to the National Assistance Board. Thus a new Welfare Department was set up as successor to the Public Assistance Department. The first meeting of the Welfare Committee took place on 5 July 1948.

Under Part III of the National Assistance Act the Welfare Department had the following functions:

1 Provision of residential accommodation for the aged and infirm

2 Provision of temporary accommodation for the homeless

3 Promotion of the welfare of people with disabilities such as blindness;

and under Part IV of the Act:

4 Administration of the registration of all homes for the elderly and disabled and responsibility to ensure the homes were suitably maintained

5 Registration of charities for the disabled

6 Provision of temporary protection of moveable property of certain persons

The following areas were used to administer these responsibilities within Middlesex.

Area 1: Enfield, Edmonton

Area 2: Southgate, Wood Green, Potters Bar, Friern Barnet

Area 3: Tottenham, Hornsey

Area 4: Hendon, Finchley

Area 5: Harrow

Area 6: Wembley, Willesden

Area 7: Ealing, Acton

Area 8: Uxbridge, Rusilip-Northwood, Hayes and Harlington, Yiewsley and West Drayton

Area 9: Brentford and Chiswick, Southall, Heston and Isleworth

Area 10: Twickenham, Staines, Feltham, Sunbury on Thames

On 1 April 1965 on the abolition of the Middlesex County Council the functions of the Welfare Department were transferred to the newly established London Boroughs.

The phenomenal growth of population in Middlesex from early 1920s brought problems of peculiar difficulty in sewage disposal. These were partly offset by the district councils extending their local purification works but it was clear that the problem could best be met by co-ordination and centralisation of treatment.

After intensive investigation and report by its consulting engineers, under the guidance of John Duncan Watson, the County Council with difficulty secured one of the last Unemployment Grants and obtained powers to construct and operate a system of trunk sewers, with sewage purification and sludge disposal works, to serve Western Middlesex. The undertaking came into operation in 1935-36 and included the Mogden works, then the largest and most modern full-treatment plant in the world.

The West Middlesex undertaking served 16 local authorities covering an area of 171 square miles and a population of 1, 360, 000. 70 miles of trunk sewers carried 70,000,000 gallons of sewage a day.

In 1889 County Council policy was directed by 72 members and administered under the leadership of Sir Richard Nicolson, Clerk of the County Council, and a handful of staff. The number of members had risen to 116 by 1952 and by 1965 the County staff numbered some 32,000, of whom 2,000 head office staff occupied the Guildhall and five other offices in Westminster. This indicates the tremendous increase in administrative work under successive Clerks of the County Council.

In the years between the two wars a semi-rural county became an almost completely urbanised area. The introduction of new legislation made ever increased demands upon members of the administrative staff, involving in later years monthly meetings of some 50 committees and sub-committees.

The Clerk's Department were responsible for monitoring Parliamentary legislation which might affect the work of the Council as well as preparing MCC bills for presentation to Parliament.

Rates are local taxes levied upon the occupiers of property to defray the expenses incurred by county councils and other local authorities in providing services. Up to 1925 there were two classes of rate: the general rate levied by the local council and the poor rate, levied by the Poor Law Guardians. Each rate was levied on the occupiers of all property in the area according to the annual value of the property. This annual value was determined by a committee of the Guardians called the 'assessment committee'. This system meant that the standard of valuation was not uniform throughout the county and that ratepayers might not be contributing equitably towards the cost of services.

The Rating and Valuation Act of 1925 entirely reformed the procedure. The County Council was required to establish a County Valuation Committee for the purpose of securing that as far as possible the standard of assessment throughout the County should be uniform. The local council was made the rating authority for its area. The Act also provided that there should be a general rate levied by each rating authority for the purpose of defraying the whole of the general expenditure within the particular area, so that the poor rate was no longer separately levied. Provision was made for an additional rate, called a 'special rate' to be levied on parts of an area where services were established that were not available elsewhere.

The valuation of property for rating purposes was transferred from local authorities to the Inland Revenue Department by the Local Government Act of 1948.