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Miss E M McInness, BA, Archivist to St Thomas's Hospital, London.
Publications: St Thomas Hospital, Special Trustees for St Thomas's Hospital London, 1963.

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 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.

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.

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.

Maintenance of county roads and bridges was supervised by the County Engineer and Surveyor's Department.

The County Council's Architectural Service was concerned with the diverse types of building required for the education, health, welfare, legal, administrative and fire and ambulance services run by the County, each with special requirements affecting their design.

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.

Approved schools and remand homes:
In the first half of the nineteenth century, child offenders were sent to gaols along with adults; no differentiation was made. In the late 1840s and 1850s however, largely as a result of the Ragged School movement, various philanthropic groups and individuals began to experiment with schools for the reformation of delinquent children; also advocated were industrial schools where the children of the poorest classes whose mode of life was such that there was the probability of their becoming offenders might be fed and gainfully occupied in the acquisition and exercise of some means of making an honest livelihood. The movement bore fruit in the form of the Reformatory Schools (Youthful Offenders) Act 1854 and the Industrial Schools and Reformatory Schools Act 1857 reinforced by two further statutes of 1866. Under these acts, county justices were obliged to commit young offenders to such institutions, and local authorities to maintain them there, as well as being empowered themselves to maintain or contribute to the maintenance of such institutions (most were run by philanthropic or religious bodies).

On the creation of the Middlesex County Council in 1889 it was allotted the justices' functions regarding the maintenance of juveniles in reformatory and industrial schools. These functions were made the responsibility of the Industrial and Reformatory Schools Committee (after 1908 the Reformatory Schools Committee) until 1933.

The 1908 Children Act in effect abolished the difference between industrial and reformatory schools, which had more or less ceased to exist in 1899, when the Reformatory Schools Amendment Act did away with the requirement that juveniles committed to a reformatory school should spend a preliminary period in prison. More importantly the 1908 Act set up juvenile courts as an integral part of the legal system and redefined the reasons for which children might be brought before the Courts to include a much wider range of welfare (as opposed to punitive) committals. For example children being non-offenders might be brought before the juvenile courts as needing protection, if found begging in the streets; wandering and having no proper guardian; destitute, with parent(s) in prison; in the care of drunken or criminal parents; the daughter of a father convicted of the carnal knowledge of any daughter under 16; frequenting the company of a reported thief or prostitute; living in a house frequented by prostitutes or living in circumstances likely to lead to the seduction or prostitution of the child. Such children would then be committed if necessary to an industrial or reformatory school and maintained by the County Council. Further, whereas juveniles awaiting trial had previously been kept in prisons, it was now incumbent upon the police authorities to provide separate places of detention.

In the case of Middlesex the police authority was the Standing Joint Committee, who provided the Place of Detention, Willesden, located at 49 Church Road, Willesden. It opened in 1911 for the accommodation of remanded boys and girls. In 1913 the London County Council agreed to place the girls and the establishment thereafter was for the boys only. It closed in January 1921, when the LCC agreed to accommodate remanded boys for Middlesex County Council.

Major reforms were brought about by the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 which remained in force with amendments for the rest of the Council's existence. This Act replaced places of detention by remand homes, and reformatory and industrial schools by approved schools (i.e. approved by the Home Office). Juvenile offenders were committed by the juvenile courts by an approved school order to the care of the managers of an approved school. The placements were ultimately under the aegis of the Home Office, and could in theory be made anywhere in the country. The County Council was responsible for children and young people in its area. It was also responsible for making good any shortage in approved school accommodation, at the direction of the Home Office. Middlesex children might thus be committed to an approved school anywhere in the country, including those maintained by the MCC; the approved schools maintained by the MCC might receive children from and maintained by any authority in England and Wales. These new duties were given to the Education Committee, and the Reformatory Schools Committee was wound up.

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 in care:
The care of destitute children, one of the functions of the Elizabethan poor law, was made a duty of the Boards of Guardians under the reformed Poor Law of the 1834 Act. They provided relief and education, and later arranged employment, apprenticeship or emigration. From 1889, the guardians could adopt children - that is to say assume the rights and duties of parents towards them. The Guardians were also empowered to board out children, either in private families or in voluntary homes. The Children Act 1908 among other important provisions described elsewhere transferred to the Guardians the duties of inspection and supervision previously given to the justices and the police under the child life protection legislation being passed from 1872.

The Local Government Act 1929 and the Poor Law Act 1930 abolished the Guardians and transferred their powers to local authorities. Those specifically relating to the poor and destitute became the responsibility of the newly formed Public Assistance Department of the Middlesex County Council, who took over the children and institutions formerly under the Guardians. Those large institutions still in use for children, such as the Chase Farm Schools in Enfield (formerly Edmonton Union) were re-employed, and the children placed in smaller and more personal homes favoured by the MCC.

The duties of the Guardians relating to child life protection were passed to the Maternity and Child Welfare authorities under the Maternity and Child Welfare Act 1918, of which the MCC was one, although the larger boroughs and urban districts provided their own services. The MCC Maternity and Child Welfare Service was part of the Public Health Department. Children with physical and mental disabilities were the responsibility of the local education authorities under the Education Act 1902, of which the MCC's Education Department was one, although as with the Maternity and Child Welfare services, there were others in the county.

All of these functions were taken over in 1948 by the Children's Department subsequent to the Children's Act. The Department also took over certain other functions of the Education Department. As stated above, the Acts of 1929 and 1930 transferred to the MCC Education Department the care of children with disabilities. The Department's role in child care was however greatly increased by the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (under this Act a child was defined as one up to the age of 14, and a young person as being aged 14-16). Besides re-stating the procedures by which a child being the victim of wilful neglect or cruelty might be brought before the courts for its own safety, this Act gave a new importance to local education authorities by transferring to them the duty of bringing before the courts children and young persons in need of care and protection; the administration of remand homes and newly established approved schools; and of being a "fit person" to whom the courts could commit the children brought before them.

The 1948 Act had the effect of transferring these functions of the Education Department to the Children's Department. Children taken into care were now defined by the relevant sections of the Act. Section One permitted the local authority to assume the care of orphaned or deserted children and children whose parents or guardians were unable or unfit to take care of them: this section also contained the unprecedented proviso that the children should be returned to their parents or guardians if at all possible. Section Two permitted the local authority to assume all parental rights and responsibilities over a Section One child if it seemed that the circumstances which caused the child to be taken into care would be permanent. Section Five made it obligatory for the local authority to accept the care of a child committed to it as a "fit person" by a court under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933.

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.

Child Life Protection (Fostering and Boarding-out):

Both fostering and boarding out as activities greatly pre-date the formation of the County Council. Fostering - that is the arrangement whereby one person pays another for the care of a child - has always existed in one form or another. Boarding out was a function of the Guardians under both the old and reformed Poor Law, whereby pauper children, instead of being maintained in the workhouse were housed by private individuals either in or out of the Union, who paid them for doing so. The main motive for this was probably economic: boarding out cost the Guardians less than maintaining the child in a workhouse, and those taking pauper children were able to use them as cheap, if not indeed free, labour.

Fostering too had its abuses, the grossest of which was baby farming, the scandal of which necessitated legislation in the form of the Infant Life Protection Act 1872 which made it compulsory for persons taking for hire two or more infants less than a year old to register with the local authorities, who were the Councils in the care of the boroughs and the Justices in the case of counties. A new Infant Life Protection Act was passed in 1897 which included the power for the inspectors of the local authority forcibly to remove a fostered child to a place of safety if it were endangered. A further measure to the same end was the Notification of Births Act 1907, a permissive act , made compulsory in 1915, whereby all births had not only to be registered but also notified to the local medical officer of health.

Under the Children Act 1908, the legislation was extended to cover those fostering one child for reward. Child life protection as a whole was transferred to the Poor Law authorities, whose duties comprised the receiving of notice where a person undertook for reward the nursing and maintenance of an infant under the age of 7; the appointment of visitors to inspect such children; the limitation of the number in a dwelling; the removal of such infants improperly kept; and the receiving of fines imposed from offences. Poor Law institutions had in fact been specifically excluded from child life protection legislation, and they were thus not obliged to inspect their own boarding out facilities. These had already been the subject of separate legislation in 1889 and 1905, to be followed by more in 1909 and 1911, whereby boarding-out committees exercised an impartial supervision of the measures of each Union.

The Local Government Act 1929 abolished the Guardians and their powers were transferred to and divided between various Departments of the County Councils and their authorities. Child life protection became the duty of the local health authorities responsible for the maternity and child welfare services under the Maternity and Child Welfare Act 1918. These were the same authorities as were constituted under the Notification of Births Act, of which the MCC was one of several in the County. Boarding-out of children in care, however, became the duty of the Public Assistance Department.

All the Maternity and Child Welfare authorities passed their child life protection duties to the Children's Department in 1948, which thus became responsible for the supervision of fostering throughout the County. The Department was of course also responsible for the boarding out of children in care.

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 increasing demands upon members of the administrative staff, involving in later years monthly meetings of some 50 committees and sub-committees.

The Middlesex County Council Clerks of the Council were:

Sir Richard Nicholson, 1889-1909

Walter George Austin, 1909-1918

Sir Ernest Walter Sidney Hart, 1919-1935

Sir Clifford Walter Radcliffe, 1935-1954

Kenneth Goodacre, 1955-1965.

The Civil Defence Department existed from 1938-1946 and from 1948-1965. It reported to the Air Raids Precautions Committee (1938-1939) and the Civil Defence Committee (1948-1965).

The development of aircraft and related weaponry in the early twentieth century brought with it the threat of attacks on civilian populations and property at times of war. London in particular had suffered a degree of enemy action from the air during the First World War. In the 1930s the political situation in Europe compelled the government to implement legislation for the protection of the civilian population in the event of a war. In July 1935 the Home Office issued a circular on Air Raid Precautions (ARP) to all local authorities which encouraged them to create ARP machinery and to recruit and train the public in ARP duties. The decision to work through the local authorities was a significant one. In Middlesex some of the lower tier authorities developed high calibre plans (Hornsey for example) while others did very little work. This was a pattern reflected by the whole country. The county of Middlesex was considered by the Home Office to be an area of "especial danger" where civil defence was very important.

Under the 1937 Air Raid Precautions Act local authorities were obliged to draw up ARP schemes in order to protect civilians and their property from air attack. In Middlesex the Air Raid Precautions Committee consisting of County Councillors was formed in 1938. The Committee decided that the lower tier authorities had a major part to play in civil defence and urged them to appoint their own ARP officers and formulate proposals which could be co-ordinated by the County Council. A small Civil Defence Department was set up by the County Council to deal with this work under the leadership of a Civil Defence Officer. The Munich Agreement of September 1938 gave fresh impetus to the development of Civil Defence activities. A recruitment drive for part time volunteers was initiated together with the construction of air raid shelters and the establishment of rest centres. It was anticipated, given what had happened in the First World War, that poison gas would be used so gas masks were issued. First Aid Posts were set up and trenches built in open spaces. The Middlesex County Council area was incorporated into the London Civil Defence Region to form Group 6. The Civil Defence Act 1939 gave further responsibilities to the local authorities. On the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939 a civil defence organisation was in being, although not equipped or ready for active service.

Evacuation plans for children and mothers were first drawn up in the late 1930s. The prime movers in this were the London County Council and the government, as Middlesex County Council was not responsible for all education provision at that date. The boroughs of Action, Edmonton, Hornsey, Tottenham and Willesden were included in the plans, and later also Enfield, Ealing, Brentford and Chiswick. Evacuation took place from 1-4 September 1939 and by this date many people had already left London privately. As no enemy bombing started in 1939 many evacuees returned to the capital before the end of the year and did not leave again until the start of the Blitz in September 1940.

Bombing in Middlesex began on 12 July 1940 and the whole of the county was badly affected by the Blitz (September 1940 - May 1941). There was a lull in bombing between May 1941 and 1944 with only sporadic attacks. During this period a degree of reorganisation took place within the Civil Defence services. The stretcher party service was amalgamated with the rescue service, wardens were given First Aid training. Emergency feeding was established by the Home Office and its use pioneered in Middlesex with the Red Cross who equipped and staffed empty houses and then housed homeless people and those suffering from shock. In the summer of 1944 attacks from flying bombs and long range rockets began (V1s and V2s) and Middlesex suffered early on and badly from these. 16,000 casualties were recorded. Notable incidents included 29 September 1940 daylight attack (target presumed to be Northolt Airport), when 200 high explosive bombs were dropped on area around Ruislip Road, Ealing; 30 November 1940 133 high explosive bombs dropped in a night raid on Twickenham and 13 February 1941 housing estate bombed near the Welsh Harp, Hendon.

The Civil Defence (Suspension of Powers) Act, 1945, suspended some provisions of the Civil Defence Acts 1937 and 1939, notably the obligations the local authorities had to prepare air raid precaution schemes, build shelters, train civil defence volunteers and organise the blackout. Full time civil defence staff were no longer required. The Middlesex County Council Air Raid Precautions Officer's Department was dissolved and its remaining duties undertaken by the Clerk's Department and County Treasurer's Department. The Home Office continued to encourage the activities of local Civil Defence branches of volunteers. These branches were strong in the Middlesex local districts so the County Council appointed honorary liaison officers to work with the branches. This work continued until the passing of the Civil Defence Act 1947.

The Civil Defence organisation stood down after the Second World War ended in 1945. In December 1948 the Civil Defence Act 1947 came into force and the County Council again received civil defence responsibilities. The new Act had been passed as an attempt to offer a measure of protection to the civilian population in the event of another war and in particular to tackle the new atomic warfare. The functions of the County Council fell into two areas: the organisation of the Middlesex Division of the Civil Defence Corps and the preparation of plans for the operation of certain war-time services The Civil Defence Committee sat again and a small Civil Defence Department was established under the County Civil Defence Officer. The County Council was again made responsible for the five areas of Hertfordshire within the Metropolitan Police District.

The County Council was responsible for the enrolment and training of volunteers to make up the Middlesex Defence Corps. The Civil Defence Committee decided at a very early stage that the lower tier authorities should play a large role in civil defence and be responsible for enrolling and training volunteers under the County Council's supervision. It was felt that a better response would be received from the general public if volunteers were organised locally. The local authorities were arranged into three sub-groups - Group A: Barnet, Cheshunt, East Barnet, Edmonton, Enfield, Finchley, Friern Barnet, Hornsey, Potters Bar, Southgate, Tottenham, Wood Green; Group B: Bushey, Elstree, Harrow, Hendon, Rusilip-Northwood, Uxbridge, Wembley, Willesden and Group C: Acton, Brentford and Chiswick, Ealing, Feltham, Hayes and Harlington, Heston and Isleworth, Southall, Staines, Sunbury-on-Thames, Twickenham, Yiewsley and West Drayton. The Corps was divided by the Civil Defence Act into five sections; headquarters; warden; ambulance and casualty collecting; rescue; welfare. Recruitment began in November 1949 and by the end of the year 8,579 members had been enrolled. The County Council retained the responsibility for ensuring that the instructors were trained. Qualifications could be obtained at Home Office Technical Training Schools.

Volunteers received basic training and then proceeded to work within the section of the Corps in which they had enrolled. The County Council provided courses for instructors to use for the headquarters, warden and ambulance sections and guided the local authorities in selecting the instructors for the welfare section. To ensure that volunteers were properly trained the County Council encouraged the districts to establish civil defence training centres and authorised expenditure with this in mind. Likewise the purchase of equipment was encouraged. By the end of 1952 25 districts had incendiary bomb huts; 24 districts had gas chambers and 13 districts had gas compounds. The Civil Defence Corps was often called in to assist other emergency services, for example in transport accidents and searches for missing children.

The County Civil Defence Officer was the chief officer of the department. Under him were four assistant Civil Defence Officers, an Assistant Rescue Officer, six full time instructors with clerical and manual support staff. There were personnel within other County Council departments who were charges within the planning of the emergency services and were so involved in civil defence work. There was a sub-divisional Civil Defence Officer in each local authority for whose salary expenses the local authority was reimbursed by the County Council.

In 1962 central government initiated an overhaul of the running of Civil Defence Corps. The aim of this reorganisation was to enhance the status of the Corps, to improve efficiency, and to develop a nucleus of highly trained volunteers. These changes took effect from 1 October 1962 and the most significant effect was to improve the standards of training. The civil defence functions of the County Council passed to the new London Boroughs and the county councils of Hertfordshire and Surrey.

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.

The General Purposes Committee was responsible for matters of general principle and policy, and matters which affected more than one committee, but which were not designated as the responsibility of any one of those committees. It was also responsible for departments which did not have a separate committee.

Responsiblities of the General Purposes Committee:

• Coroners for Middlesex

• the Architect's Department

• the Local Tax Department

• town planning

• the Public Control Department

• public relations

• refuse dumps

• registration of births, marriages and deaths

• public swimming pools

• county boundaries and local government areas

• county and parliamentary elections

• financial assistance to bodies in the County working to promote trade, industry or commerce

• Alexandra Palace, Wood Green

• Hogarth's House, Chiswick

• ceremonials

• the coordination of dates and times of committee meetings

• the coordination of ceremonies

• control of MCC publications

• representing the MCC at external conferences

• general administration

Rapid local development, the tremendous increase in motor transport and national requirements such as Heathrow Airport all greatly influenced the Middlesex County Council road programme; necessitating new and widened roads and dual carriageways. In the post-war period emphasis was laid upon relief of traffic congestion and reduction of accidents by junction improvements and the construction of pedestrian subways. A policy of landscaping and amenity treatment led to the planting of trees and shrubs and the extensive use of grass verges. Middlesex works undertaken by the Ministry of Transport completed the picture with two motorways, the M1 into Hendon and the M4 connection to London Airport.

The highways pattern for Middlesex stemmed from the radial roads originally built by the Romans - Watling Street to Saint Albans is now Edgware Road; Ermine Street to Lincoln is now Hertford Road and the western road to Silchester is now Staines Road. These radial routes remained of importance and were primarily supplemented by the Great West Road, Western Avenue, Watford and Barnet by-passes and the Great Cambridge Road which, in turn, have been linked by the North Circular Road, which traversed Middlesex from Kew Bridge to the Essex boundary. In 1889 the Council was responsible for 128 miles of road, as compared with 640 miles in 1964.

The Middlesex County Council owned over 1,346 acres of agricultural land which was let to 400 tenants over the course of the Council's existence. The holdings varied in size from just over half and acre to 75 acres. With few exceptions the smaller holdings produced fruit and vegetables, pigs, poultry and eggs, whilst the larger holdings are used for dairy farming. Smallholdings were regarded as essential to the health of the industry, forming a 'ladder' for skilled agricultural workers, frequently leading to the occupation of larger farms outside the scheme.

All possible assistance and encouragement was given to the tenants in order to enable them to become successful smallholders, in return for which a high standard of production was required. Regulations were made by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries governing the selection of tenants. These regulations provided that preference must be given to agricultural workers with at least five years experience and that tenancies had to be granted to applicants between the ages of 25 and 50.