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In 1870 the Education Act was passed making the teaching of reading, writing and arithmetic compulsory. To give effect to the Act School Boards were set up with the duty to provide 'Board' schools were there were not enough voluntary, privately funded schools. In January 1891 the MCC passed its first resolution dealing with technical education, in 1895 it purchased the first of its polytechnics and in 1901 started its first secondary school.

The school leaving age was 12, and the elementary education system dealt in elementary schools with children from the age of 5 to 15. The concern of higher education was technical colleges, art schools, evening institutes, and especially secondary schools. Under the 1902 Education Act the County Council became responsible for higher education in the whole county, but was the authority for elementary education only in districts where the population was below a certain figure. In the other districts (known as 'Part III' districts for the part of the Act dealing with this matter) the borough or urban district were responsible for elementary education.

Between 1901 and 1938 the population of Middlesex grew from 792,000 to 1,952,000. This meant that more schools were urgently required and in the same period the County Council ordered the construction of 93 elementary schools, 42 secondary schools and 7 technical colleges and art schools. The 1926 'Hadow' report advocated the provision of advanced courses for all children over 11 years of age. As a consequence, 'senior elementary' schools came into existence for children of 11 to 14 years. These were the forerunners of the modern secondary school.

Under the Education Act of 1944 the 'part III' areas were abolished and the County Council became the local education authority for all forms of education for the whole of the County. The three stages of education were recognised by the Act - that is, the primary stage (up to 11 years old), the secondary stage (11 to 18) and the further education stage (18 onwards). The education authority was also encouraged to become more concerned with the educational welfare of the child in its widest sense. The school meals service, school health service, youth service and community centres were all considered to be an integral part of this remit by the MCC.

MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

The Public Assistance Department was set up under the 1929 Local Government Act which followed the recommendations of the Macclean Report. Under section 1 of the Act the functions of the existing Poor Law Guardians were transferred to the County Council from 1 April 1930. Section 4 of the Act required that a scheme for the administration of such functions be submitted to the Ministry of Health for approval. The Middlesex (Public Assistance) Scheme 1929 was approved and the first meeting of the Public Health, Housing and Public Assistance Committee sat on 16 January 1930.

The 1929 Act did not abolish the Poor Law system, but transferred its administrative functions. Poor Law had its origins in the 1601 Poor Relief Act which put the responsibility for providing relief onto the parish. The 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act established Boards of Guardians and grouped parishes together into Poor Law Unions for which the Guardians took responsibility. The single most important function of the Poor Law Guardians was to administer, regulate, and dispense relief to the poor and destitute. Other functions included child care (the 1872 Infant Life Protection Act and 1908 Children Act] and the administration of hospitals, care of the homeless and single mothers.

Under section 1 of the 1929 Act the Middlesex County Council took responsibility for the following: consideration and examination of applicants for relief, determination of the nature and amount of any relief granted, determination of any reimbursement to the council; making arrangements for the casual poor and administration of casual wards; and managing institutions and staff, visitation and inspection and making arrangements with other counties for joint use of institutions. The office of Director of Public Assistance was created. The Director was responsible to the Public Assistance Committee and Clerk of the County Council and had the following tasks: control of the staff dealing with Poor Law administration; keeping records and indexes; supply of goods, materials and provisions to the poor law institutions; arranging settlement, emigration, casuals, schemes for dealing with the able bodied unemployed; adoption, boarding out and apprenticeship of children and reporting to the Public Assistance Committee and Supervising Guardians meetings.

Before the 1929 Local Government Act the following Poor Law Unions existed in Middlesex: Brentford; Edmonton; (which had the out county parishes of Cheshunt and Waltham); Hendon; Staines; and Willesden. The parishes of Hampton, Hampton Wick and Teddington were in Kingston Union and the parishes of Finchley, Friern Barnet and South Mimms were in Barnet Union. The Middlesex (Public Assistance) Scheme 1929 divided the County into the following 6 areas for the purposes of administration: North Middlesex; North east Middlesex; Central Middlesex; Willesden; West Middlesex and South Middlesex.

Each area had a Guardians Committee of 18 members to administer the relief functions transferred to the County Council, namely to interview all applicants for relief and distribute it. The Committees also inspected and reported on institutions in their areas. In 1931 the Committees were delegated the function of making determinations of relief for the unemployed under the Unemployment Insurance (Transitional / Payments) Regulations 1931.

Middlesex County Council Act 1934:

In 1934 the Public Assistance Department was overhauled. Problems had arisen with the Guardians Committees because large scale migration into Middlesex had increased the number of relief applications. In addition the committees varied in their generosity towards applicants. In October 1932 the Ministry of Health criticised the out relief system in one Middlesex area and this resulted in County Scales and Regulations being introduced. When a Guardians Committee wished to deviate from these rules they had to submit their case to the Public Assistance Committee. As large numbers of submissions were made by certain committees the County Council decided it would be more effective for them to run the service directly.

The Middlesex County Council Act 1934 gave the County Council direct and complete control over the administration of relief by means of abolishing the Guardians Committees. The work of the Guardians Committees was assumed by a Relief Sub-Committee made up entirely of Council Members. The County was re-divided into 8 new areas, grouped in 4 sections: Area 1: North Middlesex and North East Middlesex; Area 2: East Middlesex; Area 3: North East Middlesex and Central Middlesex and Area 4: South Middlesex, West Middlesex and South West Middlesex.

Each area had an Area Officer and a Deputy Area Officer. The Area Officers were in charge of the staff in their regions and advised the County Council Committees on granting relief. The area offices were allocated to Edmonton (area 1), Tottenham (area 2), Kilburn (area 3) and Brentford (area 4). An Adjudicating Officer was appointed to each area to interview applicants for relief and investigate liable relations. Hospital Almoners sent financial details about patients to the Area Officers. Appeals by relief applicants could be made and were heard by the Sub Committees.

National Health Service Act 1946 and National Assistance Act 1946:

The National Health Service Act transferred the County Council's responsibility for the provision of a countrywide 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 the functions of the Public Assistance Department were radically overhauled and a new Welfare Department was set up as its successor. The first meeting of the Welfare Committee took place on 5 July 1948.

Under the National Assistance Act the Welfare Department had the following functions: provision of residential accommodation for the aged and infirm; provision of temporary accommodation for the homeless; promotion of the welfare of people with disabilities such as blindness; administration of the registration of all homes for the elderly and disabled and responsibility to insure the homes were suitably maintained; registration of charities for the disabled and 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 and 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.

MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

The Middlesex County Council Architect's Department was created in 1903 and existed until the abolition of the County Council in 1965. The Department reported to the General Purposes Committee and the Chief Officer was the County Architect. The 1902 Education Act abolished School Boards and replaced them with Local Education Authorities. Middlesex became an education authority and therefore also had responsibilities for the building and design of schools. In 1903 Harry George Crothall was appointed Surveyor and set up a drawing office with five assistants in a four roomed stable in Parliament Square. There began an intensive programme of designing and building schools and other educational establishments which was to continue, almost without respite, until 1965.

In 1905 Harry George Crothall was appointed County Architect. The bulk of the Department's work was concerned with schools and polytechnics. Schools were generally built with their classrooms around a central hall (for example Spring Grove School, Isleworth) and later central corridor plans (Tottenham County School). The architectural characteristic of the period up to 1914 was what might be described as Edwardian Baroque and conformed to the image of what was expected of public buildings of the time. The standard of draughtmanship within the Department was high, the 1/8" scale drawings were drawn in pencil and then traced onto linen, 1/2" details were done in watercolours.

After the First World War the Department continued to expand. In 1923 it moved to offices in Tufton Street and was divided into two sections of schools and hospitals. The population in Middlesex rose at a rate of 30.8% between 1921 and 1931 (5 times above the normal rate of growth and more than in any other administrative county) and at a rate of 27.4% between 1931 and 1939 (7 times above the normal rate). This boom necessitated the building of new schools and by 1927 the Architect's Department was able to produce a new school every 6 weeks. In the years immediately following the First World War schools were constructed in timber hutting. Later large mansions were converted into use. A number of grammar schools which were built in this period reflected past styles, for example Tudor influence can be seen in Christ's College, Finchley and Tottenham Grammar School and a Georgian influence in Edmonton County School.

William Thomas Curtis became County Architect in 1930 and new social legislation in the 1930s brought other types of work to the Department, particularly after the passing of the Local Government Act 1929. The staff designed libraries, clinics and hospitals - most notably Shenley Hospital which was opened in 1934 and had a layout centred on a church. The Harefield Sanatorium was built in the "aeroplane" suntrap style. The rate of production was unsurpassed by any other local authority. In 1937 the Department moved to Millbank and Great George Street; in 1938 it moved again to Vauxhall Bridge Road. Most work in the Department was halted on the outbreak of war in 1939, but staff did do some designs for the new Schools Meals Service which involved building kitchens and dining rooms from pre-fabricated components.

The creation of the National Health Service took away the County Council's responsibilities for hospitals and the office was reorganised to cope with the new school building programme. Under the terms of the Education Act 1944 the County Council became the education authority for all forms of education for the whole county. The Architect's Department therefore had responsibility for many more buildings. Many schools had been destroyed by bombing during the war and this was coupled with the population boom of the late 1940s so it was imperative that a new building programme was initiated. There were problems in finding adequate building materials and a skilled workforce.

Cecil Stillman became County Architect in 1946. He had gained an international reputation before the war for his experimental schools in Sussex and believed in the concept of flexibility in his work. He approached the school building programme by making the best use of available resources rather than erecting prefabricated schools (although some early post-war schools were prefabs built by prisoners of war). The programme was run on military lines, the building materials were bought in bulk and the Department returned their output to its pre-war level of one school a fortnight. It should also be noted that that the County Council was also able to keep its costs low. The tenders for 1950-1952 for primary schools averaged £133 per place and £231 per place for secondary schools: costs which were well below the Ministry of Education's figures. The new schools were often filled to capacity on their first day.

A hundred schools were built between 1946 and 1953 which provided 42,000 school places and a total of 200 schools were built between 1943 and 1956. Middlesex County Council built more schools in this period than any other education authority in the country (including London). It is probable that Cecil Stillman, who had worked as a local authority architect for twenty nine years for various authorities, was responsible for the building of more schools in England in the twentieth century than any other architect.

The style of schools changed from sprawling layouts to compact two storey buildings as land was in short supply. The Department established a reputation for progressive school architecture which was copied and admired world wide. The County Council tried whenever possible to choose sites with attractive rural settings even in the most urban of areas; Moss Hall School, Finchley is an example of this and Mount Grace School, Potters Bar shows how a school could be built on landscaped grounds without intrusion. Cavendish Primary School and Wilbury Way Primary School were particularly significant for their informal styles of windows and walls which attempted to put small children at their ease. Centre corridor classroom blocks were used in many secondary school buildings; exceptions to this include Mount Grace School. John Kelly School had only two staircases and no corridors; Woodfield School had classrooms grouped around a central hall.

Within this period the Department also built, converted and extended magistrates courthouses; clinics (for example Northcote Avenue Clinic, Southall; many old peoples homes; fire stations (including Twickenham, Harlesden and Feltham) and ambulance stations; colleges and institutes of higher education (such as Brunel and Harrow College); libraries (for example Eastcote); civil defence training centres; municipal buildings; children's homes; probation offices; youth and community centres; buildings on County Council estates. The work of the Department touched practically every area of work of the County Council.

In 1959 Cecil Stillman retired and was replaced by Herbert Whitfield Lewis who had previously worked for the London County Council (this move is typical of the interchange of architectural staff between the two authorities in this period). Lewis encouraged younger architects and expanded the use of bulk buying and prefabricated systems. There was less money to spend and this is reflected in the economically planned buildings of the 1960-1965 period, for example Manor Lane Primary School and Bourne Primary School. By the time of the abolition of the County Council in 1965 the Department felt that the future lay in prefabrication, bulk purchase and modular design for local authority architecture.

MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

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.

MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

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 Homes:
Middlesex County Council adopted the policy of closing large institutional homes and opening small residential homes on ordinary streets. These homes were scattered throughout the County so that children in care could be distributed among different schools. The homes were mixed in order to approximate family life and to keep brothers and sisters together. There were over 40 small children's homes, three intermediate homes and a reception centre in Middlesex. There were also residential nurseries.

MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

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.

MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

In 1888 the Local Government Act provided for the establishment of county councils, with constitutions on the lines of a borough council. County Councils were constituted of aldermen and councillors, the councillors being directly elected by the local government electors (for which purpose each county was divided into electoral divisions), the aldermen being elected by the councillors, the proportion being one alderman for three councillors. The aldermen and councillors held office for six years and three years respectively. There is, however, no mayor - the aldermen and councillors are required to elect a Chairman who held office for one year and could be re-elected, but who did not have to be an elected councillor. A vice-chairman was also elected from the members of the county council.

The boroughs and urban districts from which councillors were elected in 1889 were: Staines, Sunbury, Feltham, Stanwell, Uxbridge, Hillingdon, Hayes, Norwood, Heston, Hounslow, Isleworth, Twickenham East, Twickenham West, Teddington, Hampton, Brentford East, Brentford West, Ealing North, Ealing South, Chiswick, Turnham Green, Acton North, Acton South, Hanwell, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Harrow, Pinner, Willesden West, Willesden East, Kilburn North, Kilburn South, Hendon, Friern Barnet, Finchley North, Finchley South, Highgate, Hornsey, Finsbury Park, South Hornsey (Brownswood Park), South Hornsey (Milton Road), Tottenham Lower, Tottenham Middle, Tottenham High Cross, Tottenham Saint Ann's, Tottenham West Green, Edmonton North, Edmonton South, Southgate North, Southgate South, Enfield East, Enfield Central and Enfield West.

At one of the first Council meetings in March 1889 the formation of Committees was considered. Councillors were elected to the Finance, Highways, General Purposes, Parliamentary, Asylum, Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act and Standing Joint Committees. The introduction of new legislation made ever increasing demands upon the Council, involving in later years monthly meetings of some 50 committees and sub-committees.

MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

The County Council was required by statute to appoint a Finance Committee, and a recommendation from the Finance Committee was required to enable payments to be made. This prevented the Council committing itself to expenditure beyond its means. In addition to the duty of examining and approving estimates, the Committee also examined and approved all accounts for payment, made arrangements for financing expenditure and raised loans.

The chief financial officer was the County Treasurer. He had responsibility for the conduct of the Financial Department and the control and organisation of the staff. He also prepared, in conjunction with other chief departmental officers, estimates of the expenditure of each committee for the ensuing year.

The County Council had three sources of revenue: the income from charges of various kinds which they are allowed by law to levy; government grants and rates. Charges for services included school tuition, for accommodation at old people's homes, for children maintained in Council homes, for home helps and other health services, although some of these charges were stopped or changed over the course of the Council's operations. Other charges included rentals of properties, smallholdings, fines and court fees, and various licences. Government grants included contributions from the Ministry of Transport towards upkeep of roads, assistance from the Ministry of Agriculture for small holdings, payment from the Ministry of Education for school meals and teacher training, a grant from the Home Office for the Fire Service and a grant from the Ministry of Health for health services.

The balance of the Council's requirements was raised by rates. These were obtained not by a direct levy on the tax-payer but by a precept on each borough and urban district council, as the rating authority. This precept required each authority to pay to the County Council a rate of so many pence in the pound by instalments spread over the financial year. For the bulk of services the County precept was levied over the whole County, but for some services a 'special county rate' was levied. For example, the borough of Acton was responsible for its own public libraries, therefore it would have been unjust for the rate-payers of that borough to pay a County charge for libraries outside their area.

Everyday expenditure on the upkeep of schools and roads, on salaries and wages and on the many other services was known as 'revenue expenditure', as distinct from 'capital expenditure'. The building of a new school or similar project was 'capital expenditure'. In most cases this would be too heavy to charge to the rates in one year, and the money was borrowed in the form of stock issues or mortgages.

The Edmonton Latymer Foundation was the legacy of Edward Latymer (1557 or 1558-1627), an official of the Court of Wards, who by his will dated 1624 left property in the Hammersmith area to provide, amongst other things, clothing and education for eight poor boys of Edmonton and eight of Fulham. Separate groups of trustees administered the property on behalf of the boys in the two parishes.

MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

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.

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.

Children in care:

The Local Government Act 1929 and the Poor Law Act 1930 abolished the Boards of 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 Council'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.

MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

The Education Department of the Middlesex County Council may be described as one of the most important, progressive and vital public services provided by the council throughout its history. The Middlesex Education Authority, following its inception in 1903, stood as a pioneer in numerous aspects of its work. Previously various attempts had been made to provide public education, since the passing of legislation in 1870. Before 1870 schools were run as private concerns including small private schools and dame schools, the endowed grammar schools, and the beginning of the development of the Public Schools, and for the very poor there existed schools run by religious organisations.

Forster's Education Act of 1870 marked a watershed in the history of English education. It was based on the principle of elementary education for all. It aimed 'to cover the country with good schools and to get the parents to send the children to the schools', and principally to provide instruction in basic literacy and numeracy until the age of 12. The Act provided for the division of England and Wales into school districts. Wherever surveys showed that existing voluntary schools could not provide enough places for all the school age children within their districts, the ratepayers elected school boards, which were required to supplement the existing schools with (what became known as) Board Schools. Funds to build and maintain were to come from fees, government grants and the rates. This was the starting point of local responsibility for education expenditure, and of the partnership of central and local authorities.

School Boards were abolished by the 1902 Education Act and replaced by Local Education Authorities (LEAs), which were, in effect, the county councils or county borough councils. They were given charge of all elementary and much secondary education throughout the country. Not until the 1944 Butler Act did the over-riding responsibility for all stages of education lie with the county council.

The Technical Education Committee of the Middlesex County Council was established following the passing of the 1889 Technical Instruction Act and 1891 Technical Instruction (Amendment) Act. The National Association for Technical and and Secondary Education sponsored the Acts to provide impetus for meeting deficiencies in the existing provision of technical and secondary education. The Acts empowered the (new) county councils to set up Technical Education Committees, to raise money through the rates for technical and secondary education, to give financial aid to institutions and to provide scholarships and exhibitions to students.

The Middlesex Technical Education Committee was one of the first such committees to be established. It's first meeting was held on 28th April 1892 under the chairmanship of Mr Littler (Chairman of the Council). Local Committee Districts were established together with a scheme to provide scholarships for boys to go to secondary schools/. Over the next decade the Technical Education Committee was responsible for establishing polytechnics, institutes, and secondary schools, and became heavily involved in their running. The curriculum's of the schools were also widened, and in 1899 the Committee became the authority for science and art classes in the county. Provision was also made for Middlesex scholars to attend schools and institutes outside of the county.

The Technical Education Committee was merged into the newly created Education Committee in May 1903. The formers work had been vital in establishing the high standard of secondary and technical education in Middlesex.

MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

With the formation of the County Council in 1889, responsibility for repair and maintenance of main roads, county bridges and their approaches, passed into its jurisdiction. All other roads remained the responsibility of parish authorities. Middlesex County Council took over responsibility for the maintenance of 106 miles of road from 39 separate local authorities in 1889.

The MCC Highways Committee met for the first time on 14 May 1889 with the Earl of Aberdeen as the first Chairman. The first Engineer and Surveyor was F.H. Pownall, who had previously worked with the Court of Quarter Sessions. In 1890 offices were established at Middlesex Guildhall and a staff consisting of a deputy, 3 assistants, an office boy and 5 part time surveyors followed. In the twentieth century the department expanded and the county was divided into 3 parts, each under the supervision of a Divisional Surveyor. The Department had three functions: trunk and county roads; bridges and rivers and streams.

Trunk and county roads

A series of Acts of Parliament passed after 1889 affected the duties of the Surveyor. These included the County Council of Middlesex (General Powers) Act 1906 which act enabled the County Council to prescribe frontage lines. These were lines in advance of which buildings might not be erected on the more important roads. The County Council was empowered to acquire the land in advance of the frontage line in order to effect any future road widening. These powers were used extensively as highways were constructed and reconstructed. Also the Development and Road Improvement Act 1909 which established a Road Board which was empowered to construct new roads and to make financial advances to County Councils for the construction of new roads and the improvement of existing roads. The powers of the Road Board were transferred to the newly formed Ministry of Transport in 1919.

The rapid growth of road transport in the early twentieth century highlighted the fact that roads into central London from Middlesex were unable to deal with this increased demand. In 1912 the Local Government appointed a departmental committee to look into this problem. As a result the construction of new arterial roads was recommended. In consequence of this Act that the County Council was given financial assistance necessary to build the vast network of arterial roads in the county - for example the Great West Road. In 1911 the Surrey and Middlesex County Councils were empowered to take over Kingston Bridge from the Trustees of the Kingston Municipal Charities and to carry out works of widening and improvement. The Middlesex County Council (Great West Road and Finance) Act 1914 authorized the construction of the Great West Road, the first of a series of arterial roads built in Middlesex in the twentieth century.

In 1919 the Ministry of Transport was formed. First and second class roads were created, a percentage of the cost and maintenance of which, was to be borne by the Ministry of Transport. The Unemployment (Relief Works) Act 1920 was passed with a view to providing work for the relief of unemployment. It enabled County Councils to acquire land for road construction and improvement by compulsory purchase.

The arterial roads built by the Middlesex County Council were:

Barnet Bye-Pass (Archway Road to South Mimms)

Cambridge Road (Tottenham to Wormley in Hertfordshire via Edmonton and Enfield)

Chertsey Road (Chiswick High Road to Laleham via Twickenham)

Great West Road (Cromwell Road to Staines via Chiswick, Brentford and Hounslow)

North Circular Road (Great West Road at Chiswick to Chingford via Acton, Ealing Wembley, Willesden, Hendon, Finchley, Hornsey and Southgate)

Watford Bye-Pass (Finchley Road to Aldenham Reservoir)
Western Avenue (west of the Edgware Road to Denham in Buckinghamshire via Acton, Park royal, Perivale, Greenford, Northolt and Harefield)

The Roads Improvement Act 1925 enabled the County Council to plant trees and lay out grass margins on highways and to prevent obstruction of view at street corners. It also contained a general power for the prescription of building lines - the line to which the main walls of houses and other buildings may be erected. The Middlesex County Council Act 1925 enabled the Council to prescribe frontage lines and building lines on the more important roads, with a view to facilitating future widening. The Council was also empowered to purchase the land lying between the frontage or building line and the road, in order to carry out improvements. The Local Government Act 1929 made the County Council financially responsible for the maintenance and repair of all classified roads in the county. Some of these had not been previously considered by the Council as main roads, therefore increasing its activities in this respect. A number of the roads which had been controlled by the County as main roads had not been classified by the Ministry of transport and the Council still maintained its authority over these. In practice while the cost subject to grant was borne by the County Council, the work on a considerable number of its roads was executed by the local authorities under the supervision of the County Engineer.

The Bridges Act 1929 enabled highway authorities to enter into agreements with private owners of bridges, for example canal and railway companies, with a view to taking over the responsibility for maintenance, improvement and reconstruction. Under the Middlesex County Council (Sewerage) Act 1931, the County Council was constituted the authority for main drainage of the western portion of the County. The responsibility for the eastern side was assumed under the Middlesex County Council (Sewerage Act 1938. The Restriction of Ribbon Development Act 1935 enabled the County Council to control the erection of houses along or adjacent to county roads, and new means of access to such roads.

Under the Trunk Roads Act 1935 responsibility for the most important traffic arteries was transferred from the County Council to the Ministry of Transport. The County Council still acted as agent of the Minister in regard to the maintenance of the roads. The London and Middlesex (Improvements) Act 1936 authorised the construction of an extension to the Great West Road from Chiswick into London. The Air Raid Precautions Act 1937 required the Council to prepare and submit to the Home Secretary a scheme indicating the distribution of the necessary duties for guarding against loss of life and avoidable damage by air raids in the event of war. During the Munich Crisis of 1938 trenches were dug in parks and other precautionary measures taken. The ARP services later became known as the Civil Defence services and after the Second World War plans were made for outlining the most efficient methods of dealing with the damage arising from hostile air attacks, such as the clearance of debris from highways, streets and public places, dealing with damaged and unsafe buildings and the decontamination of highways, streets, buildings and public places.

The Middlesex County Council Act 1938 gave the County Council further powers in regard to the control of highways and of the development of lands adjoining important roads. The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 repealed many of the restraints placed upon local authorities by the 1935 Restriction of ribbon Development Act. The County Council was responsible for ensuring that any new building developments (for example shops or cinemas) on county roads had adequate accommodation to provide parking for any service vehicles. They also had to ensure that existing traffic on county roads was not inconvenienced and prevent building work on land marked down for future road widening projects. The Trunk Roads Act 1946 increased the number of trunk roads for which the Ministry of Transport has been made responsible, while the Special Roads Act 1947 provided for the construction by local authorities of roads reserved for special types of traffic, subject to the approval of the Ministry of Transport.

Under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1953 local authorities were able to provide bus shelters. The County Councils were also able to submit plans for improving unclassified roads to the Ministry of Transport, which in turn could finance these projects with government grants. The London Traffic and Highways (Transitional Provisions) Order 1965 transferred responsibility for metropolitan roads to the newly formed Greater London Council and for minor roads to London Boroughs. Middlesex County Council had 640 miles of highway in its control at this date.

The Engineer and Surveyors Department was also responsible for the planning of roads. Roads had to be designed to bear the weight and volume of traffic using them. In the period 1900 - 1965 the most popular materials used for surfacing roads were bituminous compounds, asphalt and concrete reinforced with steel. As well as constructing new roads it was necessary to widen and improve most of the old roads and bridges in Middlesex to make them equal to the ever increasing volume of traffic they were required to carry. The safety measures introduced included the provision of dual carriageways, separated by central islands or a grass verge; the provision of service roads parallel with the main carriageways to accommodate local traffic and the construction of roundabouts at important road junctions. The County Engineer was responsible for the installation of systems of automatic traffic signals, also road markings and street furniture. It was the Department's task to ensure the road system was in good order and functioning efficiently.

Bridges

Common law (immemorial custom of the country) in the Middle Ages held that the repair of bridges forming a highway was generally the liability of the county. The 1530 Statute of Bridges embodied this common law and also stated that the repair of a bridge included approach roads for a short distance on either side. The 1555 Act of Parliament gave the parish the responsibility of building and maintaining minor bridges. Money to do this was raised by minor rates. County rates were raised to build major bridges. As Middlesex on one side bordered the Thames it had responsibility for Thames bridges with the County of Surrey. The 1740 Bridges Act gave Quarter Sessions the power to buy land to build and repair bridges. The 1803 Bridges Act codified the county liability to repair bridges by excepting new bridges built by private individuals from county responsibility if the County Surveyor was dissatisfied with the work. These powers held by Quarter Sessions were transferred to the County Council in 1889.

Bridges controlled by Middlesex County Council with Surrey County Council:

Chiswick Bridge: the two County Councils obtained powers by the Middlesex and Surrey (Thames Bridges) Act to construct two new bridges of which Chiswick was one. The new bridge was opened in 1933.
Hampton Court Bridge: opened in 1753. In 1876 it was bought by the Joint Committee of the Hampton and Mosley Local Boards and the Corporation of London for £48,048. A new bridge was built under the terms of the Middlesex and Surrey (Thames Bridges) Act and opened in 1933.
Kew Bridge: this bridge was opened in 1759 and replaced in 1789. It remained in private hands until 1873 when it was sold to the Metropolitan Board of Works. The Board transferred the bridge to Middlesex and Surrey County Councils in 1889 and another new bridge was built and opened in 1903 by Edward VII (and renamed Edward VII Bridge although this proved unpopular and was dropped).
Kingston Bridge: the first bridge at Kingston was built in the early 1200s to serve the important trading centre at Kingston. It was rebuilt in 1828. It was administered by the Trustees of the Kingston Municipal Charities until 1911 when direct responsibility was assumed by the Middlesex and Surrey County Councils. By that time road traffic on the bridge had increased to such an extent road widening was necessary. The bridge was closed for this work and reopened in 1914.
Richmond Bridge: this bridge was opened in 1777 and run thereafter by commissioners. It was transferred to joint Middlesex and Surrey County Council control by the terms of the Middlesex and Surrey (Thames Bridges) Act when the commissioners discovered that they were unable to meet running costs. Road widening began in 1937 and lasted 2 years.
Twickenham Bridge: in 1909 the Board of Trade proposed that a new bridge be constructed in Twickenham. The outbreak of war in 1914 held up plans to begin building. Middlesex and Surrey County Councils obtained powers by the Middlesex and Surrey (Thames Bridges) Act 1928 to construct two new bridges of which Twickenham was one. The new bridge opened in 1933.

Under the Bridges Act 1929 County Councils were able to enter into agreements with private owners of bridges with a view to taking over responsibility for maintenance, improvement and reconstruction. Notable construction work was done by the Middlesex County Council in this area, including the 1934 aqueduct to carry the Grand Union Canal over the North Circular Road, and the Western Avenue Viaduct. By 1965 the County Council had responsibility for 200 bridges; the Greater London Council took control of Thames Bridges and major road bridges, and the London boroughs took control of minor road bridges.

Rivers, streams and waterways

Rapid urbanization in Middlesex in the late nineteenth century made it necessary to improve the existing provisions for keeping rivers and streams clean and free flowing. Middlesex County Council was the first authority to take control of its watercourses when it obtained the necessary powers in 1898. Under the County Council of Middlesex (General Powers) Act 1906 the County Council was given extensive powers with regard to the cleansing and improvement of rivers and streams. The Council also began acquiring land adjacent to rivers to provide riverside walks and open spaces to counteract the effects of urbanization.

The County Council had responsibility for the following county rivers, streams, brooks and watercourses:

River Ash (also Ux, Ure or Exe): Uxbridge to Sunbury
River Brent: North-west to south of London Borough of Brent
River Crane: Harrow to Twickenham
River Colne: Hertfordshire to Staines along the county border
Deans Brook: Mill Hill to Silk Stream
Dollis Brook: Hendon to Welsh Harp Reservoir
Duke of Northumberland's River: an artificial river flowing into the Thames at Isleworth. It was built by Henry VII to serve the abbey at Syon with water to drive a mill at Twickenham and later another mill at Isleworth. By the 1900s the mills had closed and as having a privately run river in the county was proving a nuisance and an expense the County Council bought it in 1930 under the Middlesex County Council Act 1930.
Fray's River: Uxbridge to the River Colne along the county border.
Longford River (also King's, Queen's, New Cut, Hampton Court Cut, Wolsey's, Cardinal's): Charles I built this river to supply water to gardens at Hampton Court Palace. It was cut from the River Colne and runs via Bedfont and Feltham to the Palace.
Mutton Brook (also Moudin's): Small tributary of the River Brent in Finchley.
New River: Hugh Myddelton built this river to carry water from the wells at Amwell and Shadwell in Hertfordshire to Clerkenwell.
River Pinn: Pinner to Ruislip. It was used to carry water to the grounds of Swakeleys at Ickenham.
Pymmes Brook: Friern Barnet via Southgate and Edmonton to the River Lea.
Salmans Brook: Edmonton to the River Lea.
Silk Stream: Hendon to Welsh Harp Reservoir.
Wealdstone Brook: Wealdstone to the River Brent at Wembley
Yeading Brook: Yeading to the Grand Union Canal.
River Thames
Lee Navigation: Connected the Thames at the London Docks with Hertfordshire
Grand Union Canal: laves the Thames at Brentford and runs onto Uxbridge and then the Midlands. At Hayes it connects via Paddington and the regents Canal with the London Docks. The Canal had been built at the end of the eighteenth century and was of great economic importance.

The Land Drainage Act 1930 meant that all watercourses falling within the catchment area of the rivers Thames and Lee passed into the control of the new Thames and Lee Catchment Boards. Middlesex County Council retained control of 68 miles of watercourses in the catchment area of the rivers Brent, Crane, Duke of Northumberland, Longford, New and Pinn. The Rivers (Prevention of Pollution) Act 1951 gave the Council statutory powers equal to those of a river board to act against river pollution and to inspect river banks and adjoining structures. Middlesex County Council's powers with regard to rivers and watercourses were assumed by the Greater London Council in 1965.

MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

The Valuation Department was established in 1927. It became the Estates and Valuation Department in 1948. The Chief Officer was the County Valuation Officer (1927-1938) and the County Valuer (1938-1965). The Department reported to the County Valuation Committee from 1927-1948 and thereafter to the Estates and Housing Committee.

Rates

The concept of raising money (rates) to pay for local services from property owners and occupiers is a tradition which goes back to the Tudors. The Poor Relief Act 1601 and the Highways Act 1654 both imposed parish rates to provide local services. By the second half of the nineteenth century the Justices were responsible for levying county rates, although as crown appointments they were not direct representatives of the ratepayers. It was this lack of representation which was one of the significant factors in the local government reforms of 1888.

Until the passing of the Rating and Valuation Act 1925 there were two local rates - the poor law rates levied by the Poor Law Unions and the general district rate levied by the local councils. The general rate originated from the 1840s sanitary legislation and was confined to urban areas, which included much of Middlesex. This was an inefficient system as it meant that in urban areas there were two separate rate collecting systems for public services, which were inadequate for county councils. Poor Law rates were generally higher than general rates and were levied on occupiers of property according to the annual value of property (this was determined by the Assessment Committees of Guardians). Standards of assessment were not uniform throughout the country.

Rating and Valuation Act 1925

Neville Chamberlain rationalised and reformed the rating system. The new system was based upon the Valuation (Metropolis) Act 1869. Local councils became the rating authorities and levied one rate for all local services, thus abolishing the Poor Law rate and anticipating the eventual abolition of the Poor Law Unions themselves in 1930. The County Councils, Poor Law Unions (until 1930) and the parishes were to issue precepts to the rating authorities. The rating authorities had to submit their rates assessments to committees which consisted of the county councils, their own representatives and the poor Law Guardians. The County Valuation Committees were empowered to secure, as far as was possible, uniform standard assessments throughout their areas. The lower tier authorities were the actual rating authorities and collected the monies. Three bodies were concerned in the preparation of rating assessments: the rating authorities; the assessment committees; and the County Valuation Committees.

1 Rating Authorities

These were the local authorities in Middlesex. They had their own valuation committees who made assessments and recorded details in valuation lists which were prepared once every five years. The lists were kept in local town halls.

2 Assessment Committees

Each country was divided into assessment areas. Middlesex had five areas with a committee for each area. Ratepayers who were dissatisfied with their assessment in the valuation list could appeal to these committees. Central Middlesex assessment area consisted of: Harrow on the Hill, Hendon UDC, Hendon RD, Kingsbury, Wealdstone, Wembley. North Middlesex assessment area consisted of: Edmonton, Enfield, Finchley, Friern Barnet, Hornsey, South Mimms, Southgate, Tottenham, Wood Green. South Middlesex assessment area consisted of: Brentford, Chiswick, Feltham, Hampton, Hampton Wick, Heston and Isleworth, Staines RD, Staines UD, Sunbury, Teddington, Twickenham. West Middlesex assessment area consisted of: Acton, Ealing, Greenford, Hanwell, Hayes, Southall-Norwood, Ruislip -Northwood, Uxbridge RD, Uxbridge UD, Yiewsley and Willesden.

3 County Valuation Committees

Three quarters of the rates collected by lower tier authorities had to be paid to the councils so the Valuation Committee had to ensure just decisions were made by the rating authorities. They investigated valuations and assisted the rating authorities and assessment committees.

The following types of buildings were exempt from rates: agricultural land and buildings, Crown property, police stations, Post Offices, telephone exchanges, courts, places of worship, voluntary schools, literary and scientific premises, ambassadors residencies, drill halls, some light houses. The following types of buildings were charged only a quarter of their rates: industrial premises (not public utilities) and docks, harbours, wharfs, canals, railways (not the London Underground which did not carry freight).

Local Government Act 1945

The attempts of the 1925 Act to establish uniform levels of rating assessments were not successful. This new act abolished the County Valuation Committees and transferred the preparation and amendment of valuation lists to the Inland Revenue. The levying of rates remained a local government function.

Acquisition and valuation of County Council property and land

The Department was also concerned with the negotiations for the acquisition and sale of County Council property. The County Council by necessity acquired many large areas of land and many buildings in order to carry out its statutory functions. The range of this property was very large and included municipal offices; houses; shops; sports grounds; schools and colleges; county estates; highways; factories.

Green Belt

In Middlesex the population rose at a rate of 30.8% between 1921 and 1931 (5 times above the normal rate and more than any other administrative county) and at a rate of 27.4% between 1931 and 1939 (7 times above the normal rate). This rise was due less to the rising birth rate than to adult migration as people moved out of London, surrounding counties and areas of depression in the north and west to occupy the new housing in Middlesex and to work in the industries growing up around the new arterial roads. The growth of transport services enable the rising working population in London and Middlesex to live in the suburbs and commute to work. This in turn produced a housing boom - in 1939 a third of all houses in England and Wales had been built since 1918 and 2,700,000 of these had been built since 1930. Concern grew about the detrimental effects development was having on rural areas and in 1927 Neville Chamberlain (the Minister of Health) set up the Greater London Regional Planning Committee. Chamberlain called for the establishment of an agricultural belt around the greater London area to separate the capital from development in he surrounding satellite areas. Furthermore the Committee's Technical Adviser, Sir Raymond Unwin, urged that recreation land be preserved for those living in London and Middlesex by a girdle of open space encircling greater London. Unwin urged that open spaces should not (as current legislation stood) be planned around building land, but that building development be planned around open spaces. The concept of Green Belt was given full backing by the Middlesex County Council. Middlesex County Council acquired some 10,000 acres of Green Belt land by 1965. Much of this was leased to the local authorities for management.

The land and properties of the County Council were transferred to the successor authorities (the Greater London Council, the London Boroughs, the County Councils of Surrey and Hertfordshire) according to the transfer of the appropriate functions.

MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

The Middlesex Fire Brigade was established in 1948, under the terms of the Fire Services Act 1947. In the period 1948-1959 the Fire Service was incorporated with the Middlesex Ambulance Service which had been set up following the National Health Service Act 1946. In 1959 responsibility for the Ambulance Service began to be transferred within the County Council to the Health Department, a process which was completed by 1962.

In 1666 during the Great Fire of London the hand squirt was used to little effect and it was realised that better fire fighting equipment was essential, in particular with the prevalence of modern buildings. The use of apparatus such as pumps grew up together with volunteer Fire Brigades. These brigades were organised on a voluntary basis and supported by public subscription. During the early modern period the larger insurance companies set up their own private brigades to protect properties covered by their insurance.

In 1882 the London Fire Brigade Establishment was created by an amalgamation of ten of the larger insurance companies' brigades. Further companies joined the establishment and under the terms of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865 it became the Metropolitan Fire Brigade and part of the Metropolitan Board of Works. Meanwhile local authorities, such as Middlesex, began setting up brigades of their own under the terms of the Lighting and Watching Act 1889. Twenty six local brigades were created in Middlesex (one for each of the lower tier authorities). The brigades were diverse in character; some comprised of professional fire fighters (for example at Ealing); some had semi-professionals and others had volunteers or a mixture of all three (for example Southall and Uxbridge). The local authorities found supporting these small brigades a heavy financial burden and were unable to keep pace with modern fire fighting technology. The 1930s in particular were important in promoting the ideal of modern fire stations with up to date fire fighting apparatus.

The Fire Brigades Act 1938 made the provision of adequate fire brigades and fire fighting by local authorities statutory. This legislation was followed swiftly by the formation of the Auxiliary Fire Service and then the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1939 there were 26 Fire Brigades in Middlesex with some 724 regular personnel. These brigades whilst retaining their separate identities became part of the London region under emergency wartime reorganisation. They provided invaluable assistance not only to London but also to the provinces. The scale and intensity of the air raids in 1940-1941 led to the belief that fire fighting could only be dealt with on a national basis. In 1941 the National Fire Service was formed; subsequently the 69 local authority fire services (including those of Middlesex) were amalgamated. This situation continued until the implementation of the Fire Services Act 1947 on 1 April 1948.

Ambulance Service

The Metropolitan Asylums Board set up a horse drawn ambulance service for the transportation of fever patients to hospitals. Responsibility for helping those injured in public places was that of the police. The police were aided by voluntary organisations such as the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which gave first aid instructions and provided a service at public processions and meetings. The work of such organisations increased in the twentieth century at the same time as voluntary and teaching organisations began setting up their own ambulance services. Impetus to the movement also came from the increasing use of motor vehicles in ambulance work.

Under the terms of the Local Government Act 1929 Middlesex County Council took over the functions of the defunct Boards of Guardians in the county and was now responsible for public hospitals and their ambulance services. The Public Health Act 1936 gave local authorities a permissive power to provide ambulances, but no full obligation.

During the Second World War a Civil Defence Ambulance Service was established in Middlesex. This was an auxiliary force of volunteers using commercial vehicles and cars. The Hospital Car Service was also started during the war from a union of the British Red Cross Service, the Women's Voluntary Services and the St. John's Ambulance Association. This provided transportation for out-patients to hospitals. The Civil Defence Ambulance Service was disbanded after the war leaving the following somewhat piecemeal situation:

1 The County Council and some lower tier authorities provided ambulances for accidents and emergencies

2 Voluntary and teaching hospitals provided a service for their own patients

3 Voluntary societies had some ambulances

4 The Hospital Car Service (see above)

County of Middlesex Fire and Ambulance Service 1948-1959

Under the terms of the Fire Services Act 1947 County Councils became full fire authorities with effect from 1 April 1948. In the same year under the terms of the National Health Service Act 1946 they became responsible for the provision of an ambulance service. Middlesex County Council decided to run these two services jointly as the Middlesex Fire and Ambulance Service. The reason for this was the lack of both a central organisation and any accommodation within the previous local authority ambulance services. It was only possible for the Council to provide an Ambulance Service by superimposing one on the Fire Brigade and making full use of fire service facilities. The first meeting of the Fire Brigade Committee was held on 7 June 1947. The County of Middlesex Fire Service was the second largest (after London) in the country and the largest joint fire and ambulance service in the country.

Middlesex Fire Brigade inherited 38 fire stations and a manpower deficiency of 12% from the National Fire Service in 1948. Many stations were old fashioned and needed modernisation. Vehicles and equipment were also outdated. Street fire alarms were unreliable and there was only a limited radio communication service. The ambulances were few in number and in need of repair. This situation necessitated a good deal of work, both in terms of recruiting personnel and improving buildings and equipment in the first few years of the service.

Middlesex was divided into 3 districts with district headquarters at Edmonton Harrow and Ealing. The service headquarters were based at Wembley.

A Control: Edmonton (1); Southgate (2); Potters Bar (3); Enfield (4); Ponders End (5); Coombes Croft (6); Tottenham (7); Hornsey (8); Fortis Green (9); Finchley; *Wood Green
B Control: Harrow (30); Wealdstone (31); Harrow on the Hill (37) (closed 11/03/63); Kingsbury (33); Mill Hill (34); Hendon (35); Willesden (36); Kilburn (37); Stonebridge; Wembley (39); Greenford (40) (closed 11/03/63); Uxbridge; *Ruislip (42); Northwood (43); Northolt (from 11/03/63); Park Royal
C Control: Ealing (60); Western Avenue (61); Acton (62); Chiswick (63); Brentford (64); Heston (65); Twickenham (66); Sunbury (67); Staines (68); Feltham (69); Yiewsley (70); Hayes (71); *Southall (72)

Ambulances were based at stations marked with a *

In some cases the operations were the responsibility of the officer in charge. There were three ambulance only stations at Southall, Twickenham and Staines. The station at Staines was administered from the Staines Fire Station; the stations at Twickenham and Southall were in the charge of a Head Driver, who was responsible to the Divisional Office. There were also some ambulance stations at former hospitals in the charge of Head Drivers. Finally, there were infectious diseases ambulance stations run by Hospital Boards. The Voluntary Car Service continued to operate with the County Council contributing to costs. Each district headquarters had a control room to co-ordinate the movement of fire appliances (fire engines) and ambulances. County headquarters co-ordinated county movements.

The Ambulance Development Plan

The Ambulance Development Plan was submitted to the committees of the Fire Brigade and the Health Department in January 1950. In brief the plan laid down that accident and emergency ambulances should continue to be operated from fire stations but that sick removal ambulances should be taken from fire stations and operated from strategically placed depots (the county being divided into 10 catchment areas for this purpose). This would free accommodation in the fire stations for the Auxiliary Fire Service. This plan was approved by the Minister of Health. As the new depots could not all be built immediately as an interim measure the County Council reorganised the sick removal ambulances to temporary accommodation.

Accommodation

A reorganisation scheme was set up to deal with the problem of unsuitable and old fashioned fire stations. The 38 fire stations had been sited by district councils to suit their own pre-war local needs. Between 1948 and 1965 16 new stations were built and 12 stations modernised. The Brigade Headquarters at Wembley were specially adapted for this new role. A new vehicle repair depot for both fire appliances and ambulances was built at Ruislip to replace one inherited from the National Fire Service at Brentford.

Personnel and training

The Middlesex Fire Brigade began life with a personnel deficiency. This was rectified by 1952, but the problem was to occur again. Ideally, the number of operational personnel required in both the ambulance and fire services was 1,250 with an administrative staff of 50. From the beginning an emphasis was placed on the importance of thorough training. A training school for fire personnel was established at Finchley. Accommodation was available for 50 students and provision was made for recruits from Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. In addition lectures were given at individual stations and "package" lectures (scripts, visual aids, models, tapes) were sent around the country and overseas for other brigades to use. Advanced training was given to officers. By 1965 the Middlesex Fire Brigade was well to the fore in the field of technical education and training.

Operations and calls

During its lifetime the Middlesex Fire Brigade received approximately 200,000 calls. Notable incidents included:

Aircraft crash at Ruislip in July 1948

Aircraft crash at Mill Hill in October 1950

Aircraft crash at London Airport (Heathrow) in October 1950

Hayes Timber Yard in July 1952

Harrow and Wealdstone railway crash in October 1952

Brentford Soap Works in August 1959

Wealdstone Furniture Repository in January 1961

Ponders End Furniture Factory in February 1963

Southall Timber Yard in September 1963

Alperton Rubber Factory in January 1965

The Ambulance Service was very heavily used in the first few years. The public, aware this was a new and free service, made heavy (and sometimes unnecessary) use of it. Hospitals and doctors too overloaded the service.

Ambulances and equipment

A replacement programme for equipment was initiated soon after the County Council became a fire authority. The three types of appliance (pump, pump escape and turntable ladder) were gradually replaced with more up to date models so that by 1965 the entire stock had been overhauled. Nearly 50,000 feet of new hose was purchased with new escapes and ladders, breathing apparatus sand other items. A similar improvement and modernisation programme was carried out within the Ambulance Service. The Council purchased 166 new ambulances and 55 other vehicles before April 1959.

Communications

Radio was used to a limited extent in Middlesex before the County Council became a fire authority. In June 1950 the Council approved the installation for a radio network on a frequency exclusive to the Middlesex Fire Brigade. The system became operational in March 1951 and by 1965 there were two master stations and seventy four master sets in use. In 1948 about 40% of Middlesex was supplied with street fire alarms. Some of these were 50 years old and they were in a poor state of repair. By that date the telephone had taken over the role of alerting fire brigades so in 1950 they were removed.

Hydrants

As a fire authority the County Council was obliged under section 13 of the 1947 Act to ensure that adequate provision of water for use in fire fighting. A programme of standardisation of the county's 28,000 hydrants began in 1949 and was completed in the mid 1950s.

Fire Prevention

Another statutory duty the Council had to perform was to make provision for advising on fire prevention. Accordingly, the Fire Service set up a Fire Prevention Branch staffed by specialist officers who were able to advise local authorities, commercial and industrial firms and private individuals. The Branch also undertook inspection of the County Council's buildings. Legislation which affected the branch included the Factories Act 1961; the Licensing Act 1961; the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963.

Civil Defence

The auxiliary branch of the fire service was re-established in 1949 under Home Office directives under the terms of the Civil Defence Act 1948 which again made the County Council a civil defence authority. This branch was set up to organise an emergency fire service which would come into operation in the event of a war. The Auxiliary Fire Service (or Civil Defence Corps) was trained by members of the regular fire service. Enrolment was open to women who worked as radio operators, despatch riders and control room staff. The men performed regular periods of duty as a backup to the regular service. There were 5 divisions consisting of approximately 30,000 volunteers in the Corps.

Transfer of the Ambulance Service to the Middlesex County Council Health Department

In 1958 an Organisation and Method Report was submitted to the Fire Brigade Committee. This suggested that closer contacts be established between the Ambulance Service and the hospitals; that the training of the ambulance personnel should be primarily medical; that it would be financially more cost effective or the ambulance service to be run by the Health Service. From 1 April 1959 the Sick Removal Branch of the Ambulance Service was run by the Chief Medical Officer. In 1962 the rest of the service was transferred, although some fire stations continued to house accident ambulances.

Transfer of Middlesex Fire Brigade to the Greater London Council

On the abolition of the Middlesex County Council the brigade became part of the London Fire Brigade under the Greater London Council. The stations at Sunbury and Staines joined the Surrey Fire Brigade, the station at Potters Bar joined the Hertfordshire Brigade.

McArthur , Colin , b 1934 , lecturer and writer on visual media

McAdam , John Loudon , 1756-1836 , builder and administrator of roads

McAdam , Anthony L P , fl 1964-1979 , political scientist

MBW , Metropolitan Board of Works x Metropolitan Board of Works Corporation of London x City of London Battersea Bridge Company Fulham Bridge Company Staines Bridge Commissioners Vauxhall Bridge Company Strand Bridge Company

When the London Coal and Wine Duties Continuance Bill was before the House of Commons in 1868, it met strong opposition. The suggestion was made that some compensation should be given by setting free the bridges across the Thames and Lea. This suggestion was embodied in the Act of 1868 by which the duties for the year 1888-9 were to be applied in the first instance to freeing from toll the following bridges: Kew, Kingston, Hampton Court, Walton and Staines on the Thames, and then Chingford and Tottenham Mills Bridges (including Hellyer's Ferry Bridge) upon the River Lea. These objects were provided for by the Kew and other Bridges Act of 1869 and an amendment Act of 1874 by which a Joint Committee of the Corporation of London and the Metropolitan Board of Works was appointed. The Coal and Wine Duties of 1888-9 were allocated as security for raising the necessary funds. The total cost of the purchase of the bridges was £155,485.2.0.

Staines Bridge was of Roman origin and was for many centuries the first bridge across the Thames above London. The newest bridge was built in 1828-1834. The title deeds of this bridge include many relating to the approaches of the old bridge, the site of the Bush Inn and Gardens. At the time of the freeing of the bridge, it was owned as a public trust. After negotiation the Solicitor to the Committee obtained agreement among the bondholders to accept a quarter of the capital sum, and a verdict for this amount was given on 2nd August 1870. The bridge was opened free of toll on 25th February 1871.

Battersea Bridge was built in 1771-2. It was constructed from wood to the designs of Henry Holland to replace the ferry between Chelsea and Battersea. The bridge was demolished in 1881 as boats often collided with the piers, but it had already contributed to the growth of Chelsea from a village to a small town. The present bridge with cast iron arches and designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette was erected 1886-90.

Fulham Bridge, now known as Putney Bridge, was a timber bridge built between 1727 and 1729 to a design by Sir Jacob Ackworth. Until 1750 it was the only bridge across the Thames west of London Bridge. The Metropolitan Board of Works purchased the bridge in 1879 and freed it from tolls. It had been damaged by a barge in 1870 and the MBW set about commissioning a new, granite bridge from Sir Joseph Bazalgette, completed in 1886 and still standing.

Waterloo Bridge, designed by Rennie, was built by a private company which obtained an act of Parliament for that purpose in 1809. Work began in 1811 and the original intention was to use the name 'Strand Bridge'. The project was renamed 'Waterloo Bridge' in 1816, a year before it opened in 1817. In 1878 it was acquired by the Metropolitan Board of Works and the existing tolls were abandoned. Structural defects were soon discovered and repaired, but in the 1920's, the bridge was declared unsafe. The London County Council replaced it with a design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott which was erected 1939-1944.

Vauxhall Bridge was begun in 1811 to a design by Rennie, but two years later the Vauxhall Bridge Company decided to adopt James Walker's cast iron design as it was cheaper. The bridge was opened in 1816 and was at first called Regent's Bridge. It was the first iron bridge over the Thames. In 1895 to 1906 a new bridge was constructed designed by Sir Alexander Binnie.

MBW , Metropolitan Board of Works x Metropolitan Board of Works

The Metropolitan Board of Works was constituted under the Metropolis Local Management Act of 1855 (18 and 19 Vic. cap 120). It was only indirectly representative of ratepayers since its members were chosen, three by the Mayor and the Corporation of the City of London and the remainder by the parishes and district boards specifically mentioned in the Act. The Board took responsibility for the main drainage of London from the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers; it was given some supervisory and coordinating powers over the vestries and district boards, who were made responsible for local drainage and for paving and lighting of streets, and it was given power to make, widen or improve streets and roads and to regulate the naming of streets and numbering of houses. The Metropolitan Buildings Act (18 and 19 Vic. cap 122), passed on the same day as the Metropolis Local Management Act, gave the Board power to appoint and dismiss District Surveyors, to appoint a Superintending Architect of Metropolitan Buildings, and to modify the building regulations contained in the Act as might be necessary fron time to time.

During the life of the Board a whole series of Acts gradually extended its powers; notably the Metropolitan Gas Act, 1860, The Thames Embankment Acts, 1862, 1863 and 1868, The Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act, 1865, The Metropolitan Commons Act, 1866 (and subsequent amending Acts), and Acts relating to individual parks and open spaces, The Metropolitan Streets Act, 1867 (and susequent Street Improvement Acts), The Metropolis Toll Bridges Act, 1877 (and other Acts relating to bridges), The Artizans Dwellings Act, 1875 and The Public Entertainments Act, 1875.

Almost throughout its history members of the Board were discussing the possibility of the complete reorganisation of London Government, and from 1883 to 1885 a sub-committee of the Works and General Purposes Committee was meeting to consider municipal government. The several scandals that arose concerning irregularities in administration were symptomatic of the need for wider powers and more direct representation of the ratepayers. Under the Local Government Act 1888 the powers, duties and liabilities of the Board were transferred to the London County Council.

Mazzini , Giuseppe , 1805-1872 , Italian revolutionary

Guiseppe Mazzini, born in Genoa in 1805, was a propagandist, revolutionary and republican, and a champion of the movement for Italian unity known as the Risorgimento. During the 1860s he was occupied by schemes for seizing Venice and Rome. He withdrew from early contact with the Socialist First International, since the moral and religious basis of his political thought prevented him from accepting either Karl Marx's communism or Mikhail Bakunin's anarchism. Mazzini was repeatedly elected by Messina as its parliamentary deputy, but the elections were quashed by the Italian government. In 1870, he agreed to lead a republican rising in Sicily, but was arrested en route and interned at Gaeta. The occupation of Rome by Italian troops prompted his release and pardon. Italy had thus been united, but as a monarchy and not the republic Mazzini had advocated. He founded the paper 'Roma del popolo' ('Rome of the People'), which he edited from Lugano, and made plans for an Italian working men's congress. He died from pleurisy at Pisa, 1872.

Linda Villari (née Mazini), an author, died in 1915. Publications: 'In the Golden Shell. A story of Palermo' (London, 1872); 'In Change unchanged' (2 volumes, London, 1877); 'Camilla's Girlhood'(T Fisher Unwin, London, 1885); 'On Tuscan Hills and Venetian Waters' (T Fisher Unwin, London, 1885); 'When I was a child; or, Left behind' (T F Unwin, London, 1885); 'Her and there in Italy and over the Border ' (W H Allen & Co, London, 1893); 'Oswald von Wolkenstein. A memoir of the last Minnesinger of Tirol' (J M Dent & Co, London, 1901). Translated: Pasquale Villari's 'Niccolo Machiavelli and his times' (2 volumes, London, 1878); MoÌr Joikai, 'Life in a Cave', from the Hungarian (W Swan Sonnenschein & Co, London, [1884]); Pasquale Villari's 'Life and times of Girolamo Savonarola' (2nd edition, 2 volumes, T Fisher Unwin, London, 1889); Pasquale Villari's 'The Two First Centuries of Florentine History' (2 volumes, T Fisher Unwin, London, 1894-1895); HRH Prince Luigi Amedeo di Savoia, Duke of the Abruzzi, 'The Ascent of Mount St Elias, Alaska' (A Constable & Co, Westminster, 1900); Pasquale Villari's 'The Barbarian Invasions of Italy' (T Fisher Unwin, London, 1902); Pasquale Villari's 'Studies, Historical and Critical' (T Fisher Unwin, London, 1907).

Mazower , Mark , b 1958 , historian

Maze , Sir , Frederick , Knight , d 1959

Maze , Sir , Frederick , 1874-1959 , Knight , Inspector-General of Chinese Maritime Customs

Mayors Court , Corporation of London

Mayor of Nuremberg

Mayor of Kusel

Mayo , George Elton , 1880-1949 , sociologist

George Elton Mayo (1880-1949) was born in Adelaide, Australia. He was educated at Queen's School and the Collegiate School of St. Peter and began training in medicine. This was never completed and between 1903 and 1905 he spent time in West Africa and London where he taught English at the Working Men's College. In 1907 he returned to university in Adelaide, studying philosophy and psychology. He was appointed foundation lecturer in mental amd moral philosophy at the new University of Queensland in Brisbane and held its first Chair of Philosophy, 1919-1923.
Elton Mayo married Dorothea McConnel in 1913 and their daughters, Patricia and Gael were born in 1915 and 1921. Throughout their marriage they corresponded during their frequent and lengthy separations and a correpondence was also maintained with Patricia, while she was in England.
While at Brisbane, Mayo studied nervous breakdown and with T H Mathewson, and pioneered the treatment of shell-shock. Mayo's observation of the high level of industrial strife and political conflict in Australia led him to formulate an analogy between war neurosis and the psychological causes of industrial unrest. Arguing that the worker's morale depended on his perception of the social function of his work, Mayo believed that the solution to industrial unrest lay in sociological research and industrial management, not radical politics. Mayo travelled to the USA in 1922 where a Rockefeller grant enabled him as a research associate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School to investigate high labour turnover at a textile mill. The results of the work led to his appointment as associate professor at the Harvard School of Business Administration in 1926. Mayo became Professor of Industrial Research in 1929. While at Harvard Mayo was closely involved with the investigations into the personal and social factors determining work output at the Western Electric Company's Chicago Plant (the Hawthorne experiments). The results were groundbreaking studies in modern social research.
Mayo retired from Harvard in 1947 and retired to England were he died in 1949 in Guildford, Surrey.

Maynards Limited , confectioners Gray and Gilbert Limited , wholesale and retail traders in grocery and provisions

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