Athelney Primary School is situated on Athelney Street, Catford.
The London and South East Region (LASER) Advisory Council for Education and Training was founded in 1945 as the Regional Advisory Council for Technical Education (London and Home Counties). Its role was to provide quality assurance for existing vocational for technical courses, to organise conferences and training and to assist with curriculum development. It became free of local government control in 1989 but was unable to compete in the open market and was forced to close in 1995.
Hampton Hill Spiritualist Church was first established in October 1919 as the Hampton Hill Spiritualist Society. The Society was located at No. 3 High Street in Hampton Hill. Some time between 1921 and 1928, the church moved to a building at No 12 Windmill Road known as the Old Church. This building was originally built as a Congregational chapel and used for this purpose between 1838 and 1870, after which it had a wide variety of uses including a glove factory. The church was affiliated to the Spiritualists' National Union in 1929 and was formally registered as a spiritualist church in May 1937. The church building and land were later purchased in March 1957 and put into trust with the Spiritualists' National Union. By the 1990s, the Old Church was in a poor state and in need of major repair work. The Church negotiated a land swap with a local developer and the current church was constructed on land to the rear of the Old Church with the original plot at the front being used for residential housing. The New Church was opened in August 2000.
The German Evangelical Church, later the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Church, was built 1882-1883. The foundation stone was laid on 13 July 1882 in Dacres Road, Sydenham and the church was finally dedicated on 17 March 1883.
The origin of the Sydenham congregation preceeds the building of the church. On Good Friday 1875, the first service was conducted by Pastor Elias Schrenk in Park Hall Congregational Church, The Grove, Sydenham. On 14 April of the same year, the first church committee was formed.
The church suffered greatly during the two World Wars. From Easter 1916 until October 1921, the church was forced to close because of hostility towards the German community. In December 1940, incendiary bombs set fire to the church. The damage was such that the building was finally demolished in August 1950. Negotiations with the War Damage Commision raised $34,000 in funds for the rebuilding of the church.
The foundation stone for the new church was laid on 20 July 1958, and the church was dedicated 21 June 1959. The new church was renamed the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Church, a suggestion made by Professor Franz Hildebradt. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was pastor of the German Evangelical Church in Sydenham and the German Reformed Church of St Paul's, Whitechapel between 1933-1935. He led his congregations to join the Confessing Church in Germany, and in the early years of the Nazi regime, German refugees recieved help from the two congregations. He was a prominent member of the German Resistance Movement and was involved in a plot to assasinate Hitler. On 9 April 1945, he was hanged by the Nazis in Flossenburg concentration camp.
Other pastors who served at the church (until 1953) are as follows:-
1876-1890 Wagner, C (Budapest) 1890-1894 Meister, M (Berlin-Brandenburg)
1895-1902 Diettrich, Dr (Berlin)
1902-1911 Wollschlager (Westphalia)
1912-1918 Goehling, O (Berlin-Brandenburg)
1922-1933 Singer, F (Wurttemberg)
1933-1935 Bonhoeffer, D (Berlin)
1935-1939 Bockheler, M (Wurtemberg)
1953 - Bethge, E (Berlin)
Saint John's Wood Presbyterian Church was founded in 1851. It was situated on Marlborough Place. It became Saint John's Wood United Reformed Church in 1972 when the Presbyterian and Congregational churches merged.
Westbourne Grove Presbyterian Church was situated at the north end of Westbourne Grove Terrace. It was registered by the United Presbyterian Church in 1863 and, as Saint Paul's Church by the Presbyterian Church of England, 1877. In 1919 the church united with Trinity Church, Kensington Park Road, Kensington, and registered as "Bayswater Presbyterian Church (Trinity and St. Paul's)" . The Church was called Bayswater United Reformed Church from 1972.
Source: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989), pp. 260-264.
Muswell Hill Presbyterian Church, at the corner of Prince's Avenue and the Broadway, was registered in 1899 and completed in 1903. The church was built of flint and terracotta, to the designs of G. Baines, with late Gothic and art nouveau features, including a corner tower surmounted by a copper spirelet. Its materials and style later won widespread attention and led to a campaign for its preservation after the Presbyterians joined the Congregationalists in 1973. The building, seating around 600, was unused in 1976.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6: Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey with Highgate (1980), pp. 183-189.
Saint George's Presbyterian Church, Hainault Road, Leytonstone, originated in 1888, when the Reverend G. Drysdale, a retired minister living in the district, built an iron church in Wallwood Road. In 1891 the Presbytery of North London recognized this as a sanctioned charge and in 1893 a permanent building designed by William Wallace was opened in Hainault Road. It is a red-brick building with stone dressings, in the Gothic style, consisting of nave and transepts. Under William Kidd (1895-1919) a debt of £6,000 was paid off, a hall built, and membership raised from 36 to nearly 200. During the 1920s, however, the church began to decline rapidly, and in 1939 it was closed and sold to the Essex county council, which used it as a civil defence depot.
From: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 223-233.
The Albion Chapel was situated on the south east corner of Finsbury Pavement, on the north side of London Wall. It was built in 1814 for a congregation of Scottish Presbyterians. The Old Bethlem Hospital had occupied part of the site. The church was demolished in 1879 to make way for Tower Chambers.
The Regent Square Presbyterian Church (see LMA/4147) first started a mission in the Somers Town and Saint Pancras area in 1843, using a variety of buildings to host their meetings. In 1874 Goldington Crescent Church, near Mornington Crescent, was purchased as a permanent building and the name Goldington Crescent Presbyterian Church was adopted. By 1881 the congregation had outgrown this building and subsequently raised the funds to build a new, larger church and hall on Ossulston Street, Somers Town, designed by architect George Lethbridge. The new church was opened in 1882 and the church was renamed Somers Town Presbyterian Church. The church does not appear in the Presbyterian Church Official Handbook for 1971 and is likely to have closed before this date.
Saint Augustine's Presbyterian Church was formed in 1870. In 1963 Saint Augustine's formally united with New Barnet Congregational Church and became Saint John's Congregational-Presbyterian Church, New Barnet. It is now Saint John's United Reformed Church.
Saint Andrew's United Reformed Church, at the corner of Finchley Road and Frognal Lane, originated as a Presbyterian church. The site was bought in 1897 and a lecture hall built by 1902. Services were held in the hall until a church of Kentish ragstone, with an imposing tower and spire, was constructed by Pite and Balfour in 1904.
Source: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989), pp. 153-158.
Victoria Docks Presbyterian Church, Hack Road, West Ham, was built in 1872 by James Duncan, the sugar-refiner, to meet the needs of his Scottish workers. It was bombed early in the Second World War, and not rebuilt.
Source: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 123-141.
Willesden Presbyterian church opened in 1875 in a hall seating 150 at Fortune Gate, Harlesden. In 1876 a chapel was built at the junction of Nicoll Road and Craven Park Road and the church was renamed Saint Margaret Presbyterian Church. The chapel was extended in 1884 and 1894. The name was changed to Saint Margaret United Reformed church in 1959 and Saint Margaret and Saint George United Reformed and Moravian church in 1974 following a merger with nearby Saint George Presbyterian Church.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 242-246.
Saint John's Presbyterian Church, Hallowell Road, Northwood, was founded in 1905. It is now Saint John's United Reformed Church.
Trinity Presbyterian Church began after a report by the Presbyterian district visitor for Hampstead that Scottish inhabitants needed a preaching station, 1844. The London Presbytery suggested that a meeting be formed to rent premises. Eight men, including 5 gardeners, rented Temperance Hall in Perrin's Court, recognized as a preaching station. By the end of 1845 the average attendance was 130 in the morning and 80 in the evening. A permament pastor was appointed in 1846. The congregation moved to Well Walk Chapel in 1853, however, the building was dilapidated, so a site at 2 High Street, on the corner of Willoughby Road, was bought in 1861. The new church opened in 1862. It was demolished in 1962 and the members joined Saint Andrew's Presbyterian church, Finchley Road. Shops were built on the site and the hall was converted into Trinity Close.
The Church ran a mission in Perrin's Court, started between 1864 and 1869, including a ragged school. Cottage meetings were held at New End from 1869, and open-air services were held in brickfields and Branch Hill Square. Another mission was formed at Dickinson Street Hall, Kentish Town in 1888, which later moved to 73 Carlton Street.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989), pp. 153-158.
Saint James's Presbyterian church, Wood Green, was formed in 1875, when the Presbyterian Church of England took over an iron chapel which had been used for four years by the Church of Scotland. There were about 100 members in 1877, when work started on a church in Green Lanes. The new building, of redbrick dressed with Bath stone, was noted for its grandeur. It seated 400 worshippers, apart from those in the galleries, but was soon extended to take 700; in 1902 it had the fourth largest congregation within the London Presbytery and in 1903 Sunday attendances were 585 and 465. In 1950 members united with Bowes Park Congregational church, whose premises they used as the United Church of Saint James-at-Bowes. The former Presbyterian church afterwards served as a warehouse.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 356-364.
The Old Gravel Pit meeting house, Chatham Place, was built in 1715 by Presbyterians from the Mare Street meeting following a disputed ministerial appointment. In 1811 the lease was taken over by a Congregational church which had been formed in 1804 and had been meeting in a hall at Homerton College. In 1869 the congregation ordered a new building on Lower Clapton Road. A large stone church was designed by Henry Fuller in a Romanesque style; it was ready in 1872. The church was renamed 'Clapton Park Congregational Church'. It is now Clapton Park United Reformed Church.
Islington Presbyterian Church was situated on River Terrace (which was later renamed Colebrooke Row). It was also known as the Scotch church. It was built in 1834 to replace a chapel in Chadwell Street, Clerkenwell, and was a member of the Presbyterian Synod of England in connexion with the Church of Scotland. It later became identified with the Free Church of Scotland, formed in 1843; and then later was part of the Presbyterian Church of England, formed in 1876. By the 1920s services were held in Saint Peter's school owing to the dilapidated condition of the church, in 1923 the members disbanded and the buildings were sold.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 8: Islington and Stoke Newington parishes (1985), pp. 101-115.
Trinity Presbyterian Church was situated in the village of Cowden, near the Kent / Sussex border. It was a preaching station belonging to the Presbytery of London South and shared staff with the nearby Highfields Presbyterian Church, Blackham, Sussex.
Trinity Presbyterian Church was founded and built in 1895. It was situated on Freelands Road, Bromley. In 1936 the church was destroyed after a lightning strike and had to be rebuilt. It is now Trinity United Reformed Church, still situated on Freelands Road.
Saint Andrew's Presbyterian Church was founded in 1868. In 1963 it united with the Kings Farm Congregational Church and was renamed Saint Paul's United Reformed Church on Singlewell Road, Gravesend.
New Road Presbyterian Church, Woolwich, was founded in 1662. Saint Andrew's Presbyterian Church was founded in 1861, situated on Anglesea Hill. The two churches united in 1924. In 1972 when the Presbyterian and Congregational churches merged the church became Saint Andrew's United Reformed Church.
Camberwell Presbyterian Church was located in Church Street, Camberwell. Construction of the church was begun in the 1860s. The church closed after 1936; it is not listed in the 1971 Handbook of the Presbyterian Church of England.
Guildford Presbyterian Church was closed on 7 October 1956. It is possible that it is now part of the Guildford United Reformed Church.
Christ Church Presbyterian Church, Wallington, was founded in 1880. The church was constructed in 1887 on Woodcote Road. Following the merger of the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches in 1972 it became Christ Church United Reformed Church and is now situated on Stanley Park Road.
Lambeth Presbyterian Church was situated on Kennington Road. It appears to have closed by the 1960s.
There was a Verulam Episcopal Chapel on Walcot Place.
Saint Andrew's Presbyterian Church was founded and built in 1878. It was situated on Blackwater Road, Eastbourne. In 1972 when the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches merged it became Saint Andrew's United Reformed Church.
Saint Andrew's Presbyterian Church was founded in 1894, situated on Park Hill, Kemp Town, Brighton. In 1943 it was taken over by the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.
Brighton Presbyterian Church was founded in 1825. The church was built in 1845 on Queen's Road. It was part of the Presbytery of the South Coast. In 1972, when the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches merged, it joined the United Reformed Church as part of Brighton Free Church.
Sue Ward is an independent authority on pensions, journalist, author, researcher and trainer since 1984.
She is an active member of the Labour Party, being involved in many campaigns concerned with pensions issues over the years, including contributing to publications for the 'Security in Retirement for Everyone' campaign, and sitting on the Executive Committee and acting as a Spokesperson for the Social Security Campaign (1981-1991). She also contributed to the work of various working parties, including the Womens' Monitoring Group, Economic Equality Policy Review Group, and Working Group on Pensions (1984-1997).
She played a significant role in the establishment of the Northern Pensions Resource Group in 1988, acting as Secretary to the Steering Committee of the group for 18 years.
She is a former member of the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority and acted as Secretary to the body from 1996-2002.
She was Assistant Secretary for the TUC in the Social Insurance Department from 1982-1984, before going freelance and carrying out work for them on an occasional basis, including writing articles and conducting training courses. From 1994-1995 she was involved in a consultancy role, briefing and lobbying on the Bill that became the Pensions Act 1995. She held a standing invitation to attend the TUC Pension Specialists Group, and received their papers.
She was also a member of the Goode Committee on pensions law reform, set up in the wake of the Maxwell Scandal. She was a co-opted member of the First Working Party established by the Local Authority Pension Funds group in 1982, and of the Working Party on Performance Criteria.
She served as a Director of the Pensions Investment Resource Centre and as a Working Party Observer on behalf of the TUC for the Local Authority Pension Fund Conference's Working Party on Pension Fund Investment which formed a steering group to bring about the PIRC and gave it the majority of its members on its first Council.
Since the 17th century, the parish of Saint Giles in the Fields, together with the later parish of Saint George Bloomsbury, has benefitted from the endowment of a number of charitable bequests and donations. These have been regulated differently at various times, and have on occasion been brought together better to fund their charitable purposes. In 2005 a new Charity Commissioners scheme consolidated four of the major surviving parish charities, bringing together for the first time the operations of the almshouses, Bloomsbury Dispensary, Thomas Leverton's Charity, and the Dibdin Brand Charity (formed on the consolidation of two former charities William Shelton's Education Foundation and the Saint Giles and Bloomsbury Education Foundation).
The company originated in the City of London and by 1872 was operating a small candied peel factory in Hackney Wick under the name of Clarke Nickolls and Company. A few years later the business moved into confectionery manufacture with the acquisition of Robert Coombs. In 1887, the firm was incorporated as Clarke, Nickolls and Coombs Limited with new headquarters in Wallis Road, Hackney Wick. The company described itself as Wholesale and Export Confectioners and boasted that they were 'one of the largest and most general Confectionery businesses in the United Kingdom...' manufacturing 'Reserved Peel Sugar Confectionery' including fondants, and also marmalade, jams and jellies which were exported to Europe, North and South Africa, America, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and India. The new premises had a frontage on the River Lea Navigation Canal which allowed for the landing and shipping of raw materials and finished products. In 1886 the site consisted of factories, warehouses, a wharf and other premises covering an area of 4.25 acres. Retail shops were opened at 11 Bishopsgate Street Within in the City of London, 120 High Street, Borough in Southwark, and 6 High Street Birmingham.
As the business expanded in the 1900s, the firm became a major employer for both men and women from Hackney and Stratford. The company was concerned for the welfare of its employees and established non-contributory and profit-sharing schemes in 1890 to give staff a share in the firm's wealth. The Pension Fund became the Clarnico Superannuation Fund which first paid out pensions from the money saved and invested in 1916. In addition, the Clarnico Trust was created to donate money to worthy causes which included local churches, the Confectioners Benevolent Fund and Mayor of Poplar's 'Xmas Appeal'. According to a report in the East London Advertiser in 1964 the company had established strong links with the community and was proud of the fact that two Mayors of Hackney were former Clarnico employees.
As it expanded, the firm acquired other companies including Jonathan Edmundson and Company Limited of Liverpool (acquired in 1927; Head Office: 52 Fox Street, Liverpool), J A Buchanan Limited, Charbonnel & Walker Limited and Edmondson's (Canada) Limited. In the inter-war period Clarke, Nickolls and Coombs Limited was considered the largest confectionery manufacturing company in Britain. In 1946, the company was registered and traded globally under the abbreviated name 'Clarnico'.
The factory site suffered war damage in 1940. In the 1950s the company decided to modernise its premises by building a new factory at Waterden Road and renting out properties no longer required to other companies. The buildings were completed in 1955. Manufacturing at the Hackney Wick site ceased in 1970s and the buildings were gradually sub-divided and let out. Latterly, Clarnico became part of Trebor Bassett which was, in turn, acquired by Cadbury Schweppes, and in turn by Kraft.
Alexandra Rose Charities works for small charities, helping them to raise money. "The Charity was launched in 1912 with the Alexandra Rose Day, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the arrival of Queen Alexandra to the United Kingdom. The Queen's admirers insisted that the day should be celebrated in a special way, and a processional drive through the streets of London seemed an obvious choice, but Alexandra wanted an occasion that would help the sick and needy. She had heard of a priest in Copenhagen who had provided much needed funds for the orphans he looked after by selling the beautiful roses he had grown in his garden and following a visit to him, she developed the idea of selling artificial wild roses which would benefit the funds of London Hospitals and which were to be made by the disabled from the John Grooms Society in Clerkenwell. The day was to be called 'Alexandra Rose Day', and the initial drive swept Londoners off their feet."
"The first event raised £32,000 (the equivalent of over £2 million in today's money). The funds raised were a great benefit to hospitals, and the annual drive became an institution, one of the chief attractions of London's summer."
After Queen Alexandra's death in 1925 HRH Princess Victoria became the Alexandra Rose Day president (1926-1935) and then HRH Princess Marina (1936-1968). The current President is HRH Princess Alexandra, the Hon Lady Ogilvy.
The original organiser of Alexandra Rose Day was Miss C May Beeman (1869-1935) who worked tirelessly to raise funds not only for Alexandra Rose Day, but also for the British Red Cross's 'Our Day', The Anzac Buffet, London and the Nations Fund for Nurses among others.
Two related charities are 'Our Day' and 'Their Day', these were charity days where the flag day collections were organised by Alexandra Rose Committees. 'Our Day' was organised by Miss Beeman on behalf of The British Red Cross Society and 'Their Day' flag days were run on behalf of 'Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen's Help Society' and 'Soldiers and Sailors and Airmen's Families Association'. The Chairman of 'Their Day' was the Admiral of the Fleet Lord Chatfield and again the organising secretary was Miss Beeman. The fund itself provided financial help to serving men and women in unforseen eventualities such as further assistance when on extended compassioante leave or on discharge and in domestic difficulties such as arrears of rent, rates and hire purchase, house repairs, sickness, confimements and the care of children.
Alexandra Rose Day was originally run from the home of Miss Beeman in Bolton Gardens, Kensington. Later premises in Barnes were sold in 1996 and Alexandra Rose Charities are now based in Farnham, Surrey.
Alexandra Rose Charities has helped thousands of charities in the United Kingdom to raise funds for themselves, providing them with assistance in making a collection, obtaining licences, supplying equipment and giving advice on everything from the legal aspects to planning the day and engaging volunteers. Alexandra Rose Charities have also run their own fund raising events such as the long running Rose Ball and the annual Rose Raffle.
Source for background history taken from the website www.alexandrarosecharities.org.uk
The Civil Defence Department existed from 1938-1946 and from 1948-1965. It reported to the Air Raids Precautions Committee (1938-1939) and the Civil Defence Committee (1948-1965).
The development of aircraft and related weaponry in the early twentieth century brought with it the threat of attacks on civilian populations and property at times of war. London in particular had suffered a degree of enemy action from the air during the First World War. In the 1930s the political situation in Europe compelled the government to implement legislation for the protection of the civilian population in the event of a war. In July 1935 the Home Office issued a circular on Air Raid Precautions (ARP) to all local authorities which encouraged them to create ARP machinery and to recruit and train the public in ARP duties. The decision to work through the local authorities was a significant one. In Middlesex some of the lower tier authorities developed high calibre plans (Hornsey for example) while others did very little work. This was a pattern reflected by the whole country. The county of Middlesex was considered by the Home Office to be an area of "especial danger" where civil defence was very important.
Under the 1937 Air Raid Precautions Act local authorities were obliged to draw up ARP schemes in order to protect civilians and their property from air attack. In Middlesex the Air Raid Precautions Committee consisting of County Councillors was formed in 1938. The Committee decided that the lower tier authorities had a major part to play in civil defence and urged them to appoint their own ARP officers and formulate proposals which could be co-ordinated by the County Council. A small Civil Defence Department was set up by the County Council to deal with this work under the leadership of a Civil Defence Officer. The Munich Agreement of September 1938 gave fresh impetus to the development of Civil Defence activities. A recruitment drive for part time volunteers was initiated together with the construction of air raid shelters and the establishment of rest centres. It was anticipated, given what had happened in the First World War, that poison gas would be used so gas masks were issued. First Aid Posts were set up and trenches built in open spaces. The Middlesex County Council area was incorporated into the London Civil Defence Region to form Group 6. The Civil Defence Act 1939 gave further responsibilities to the local authorities. On the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939 a civil defence organisation was in being, although not equipped or ready for active service.
Evacuation plans for children and mothers were first drawn up in the late 1930s. The prime movers in this were the London County Council and the government, as Middlesex County Council was not responsible for all education provision at that date. The boroughs of Action, Edmonton, Hornsey, Tottenham and Willesden were included in the plans, and later also Enfield, Ealing, Brentford and Chiswick. Evacuation took place from 1-4 September 1939 and by this date many people had already left London privately. As no enemy bombing started in 1939 many evacuees returned to the capital before the end of the year and did not leave again until the start of the Blitz in September 1940.
Bombing in Middlesex began on 12 July 1940 and the whole of the county was badly affected by the Blitz (September 1940 - May 1941). There was a lull in bombing between May 1941 and 1944 with only sporadic attacks. During this period a degree of reorganisation took place within the Civil Defence services. The stretcher party service was amalgamated with the rescue service, wardens were given First Aid training. Emergency feeding was established by the Home Office and its use pioneered in Middlesex with the Red Cross who equipped and staffed empty houses and then housed homeless people and those suffering from shock. In the summer of 1944 attacks from flying bombs and long range rockets began (V1s and V2s) and Middlesex suffered early on and badly from these. 16,000 casualties were recorded. Notable incidents included 29 September 1940 daylight attack (target presumed to be Northolt Airport), when 200 high explosive bombs were dropped on area around Ruislip Road, Ealing; 30 November 1940 133 high explosive bombs dropped in a night raid on Twickenham and 13 February 1941 housing estate bombed near the Welsh Harp, Hendon.
The Civil Defence (Suspension of Powers) Act, 1945, suspended some provisions of the Civil Defence Acts 1937 and 1939, notably the obligations the local authorities had to prepare air raid precaution schemes, build shelters, train civil defence volunteers and organise the blackout. Full time civil defence staff were no longer required. The Middlesex County Council Air Raid Precautions Officer's Department was dissolved and its remaining duties undertaken by the Clerk's Department and County Treasurer's Department. The Home Office continued to encourage the activities of local Civil Defence branches of volunteers. These branches were strong in the Middlesex local districts so the County Council appointed honorary liaison officers to work with the branches. This work continued until the passing of the Civil Defence Act 1947.
The Civil Defence organisation stood down after the Second World War ended in 1945. In December 1948 the Civil Defence Act 1947 came into force and the County Council again received civil defence responsibilities. The new Act had been passed as an attempt to offer a measure of protection to the civilian population in the event of another war and in particular to tackle the new atomic warfare. The functions of the County Council fell into two areas: the organisation of the Middlesex Division of the Civil Defence Corps and the preparation of plans for the operation of certain war-time services The Civil Defence Committee sat again and a small Civil Defence Department was established under the County Civil Defence Officer. The County Council was again made responsible for the five areas of Hertfordshire within the Metropolitan Police District.
The County Council was responsible for the enrolment and training of volunteers to make up the Middlesex Defence Corps. The Civil Defence Committee decided at a very early stage that the lower tier authorities should play a large role in civil defence and be responsible for enrolling and training volunteers under the County Council's supervision. It was felt that a better response would be received from the general public if volunteers were organised locally. The local authorities were arranged into three sub-groups - Group A: Barnet, Cheshunt, East Barnet, Edmonton, Enfield, Finchley, Friern Barnet, Hornsey, Potters Bar, Southgate, Tottenham, Wood Green; Group B: Bushey, Elstree, Harrow, Hendon, Rusilip-Northwood, Uxbridge, Wembley, Willesden and Group C: Acton, Brentford and Chiswick, Ealing, Feltham, Hayes and Harlington, Heston and Isleworth, Southall, Staines, Sunbury-on-Thames, Twickenham, Yiewsley and West Drayton. The Corps was divided by the Civil Defence Act into five sections; headquarters; warden; ambulance and casualty collecting; rescue; welfare. Recruitment began in November 1949 and by the end of the year 8,579 members had been enrolled. The County Council retained the responsibility for ensuring that the instructors were trained. Qualifications could be obtained at Home Office Technical Training Schools.
Volunteers received basic training and then proceeded to work within the section of the Corps in which they had enrolled. The County Council provided courses for instructors to use for the headquarters, warden and ambulance sections and guided the local authorities in selecting the instructors for the welfare section. To ensure that volunteers were properly trained the County Council encouraged the districts to establish civil defence training centres and authorised expenditure with this in mind. Likewise the purchase of equipment was encouraged. By the end of 1952 25 districts had incendiary bomb huts; 24 districts had gas chambers and 13 districts had gas compounds. The Civil Defence Corps was often called in to assist other emergency services, for example in transport accidents and searches for missing children.
The County Civil Defence Officer was the chief officer of the department. Under him were four assistant Civil Defence Officers, an Assistant Rescue Officer, six full time instructors with clerical and manual support staff. There were personnel within other County Council departments who were charges within the planning of the emergency services and were so involved in civil defence work. There was a sub-divisional Civil Defence Officer in each local authority for whose salary expenses the local authority was reimbursed by the County Council.
In 1962 central government initiated an overhaul of the running of Civil Defence Corps. The aim of this reorganisation was to enhance the status of the Corps, to improve efficiency, and to develop a nucleus of highly trained volunteers. These changes took effect from 1 October 1962 and the most significant effect was to improve the standards of training. The civil defence functions of the County Council passed to the new London Boroughs and the county councils of Hertfordshire and Surrey.
The Children's Department of the Middlesex County Council was set up under the Children Act 1948 which embodied the findings of the Curtis Report of 1945-1946. The Act took effect on 5 July 1948; the first meeting of the newly formed Children's Committee took place on the next day, taking over from the Interim Children's Committee, formed of the members of the thereafter defunct Children's Care Sub-Committee of the Education Committee. The first Children's Officer, Mr Ainscow, had in fact been appointed in anticipation, with effect from 1 May 1948. The duties of the Department had previously been distributed across several County Council departments (the Public Assistance, Public Health and Education Departments), as well as bodies (education authorities outside the MCC and the County Maternity and Child Welfare authorities) not part of the County Council at all.
The activities of the Children's Department may be summarised as follows:
i) Care and welfare: this comprised of the provision of care for a) children under the age of 17 if they had no parents or guardians; if they were abandoned or lost; of if their parents were unable to provide for their proper upbringing, provided that such care was in the child's best interests: and b) children committed by a court to the care of the County Council under a Fit Person order. This involved inter alia the running of homes and nurseries, the maintenance of the boarding out system for foster homes, and in some cases the assumption of full parental rights until the child should attain majority. The Department also undertook the care of children as delegated by the Welfare Department when dealing with problem or evicted families.
ii) Child Life Protection: this was a long standing local authority responsibility. After the passing of the Children Act 1948 its effect was to render it an offence for any person other than the parent, legal guardian or a relative to undertake for reward (whether or not for profit) the care of a child below school leaving age (15 in 1948) without notifying the County Council as a welfare authority. The Children's Department publicised the legal obligations upon such persons, supervised placements, inspected and regulated foster homes and so on. After the Adoption Act 1950, a similar duty to notify the Council rested upon anyone placing a child in another's care (with the same exceptions as above).
iii) Approved schools and remand homes: a child could be committed by the courts into the care of the Council either by a Fit Person Order, the effect of which was to put the child into the care of the Children's Department or by an Approved School Order, which placed the child under the care of managers at an Approved School. It should be noted that placements were made under the aegis of the Home Office nationwide, and that although the Council, through sub-committees of the Children's Committees, ran two approved schools, by no means all Middlesex children would be allocated places there. The Committee also ran two remand homes. The Children's Department were involved in briefing judges on cases: sometimes in bringing themselves in order to gain the powers by which to afford children under threat the care and protection they needed; and as the executive arm of the County Council on receipt of Fit Person Orders. Staff were also responsible for the supervision and after-care of "licensed" Middlesex children.
iv) Under the Adoption Act 1926, the County Council had since 1943 to oversee the compulsory registration of adoption societies in the county (not an onerous duty: two were registered in of which only one, the Homeless Children's Aid and Adoption Society, continued for any length of time). Compulsory notification to the County Council of all adoptions in the county was not introduced until the Adoption Act 1950. Also, from that point of view the Council had to supervise every prospective third party adoption in its area, whether or not involved in any other capacity. After the 1958 Act the Council had the power to place children for adoption even if those children were not in its care. Its powers of supervision were widened to include all adoptions in the county.
Health areas of the County of Middlesex, also used as administrative areas by the MCC Children's Department: Area 1 Enfield and Edmonton; Area 2 Southgate, Potters Bar, Wood Green and Friern Barnet; Area 3 Hornsey and Tottenham; Area 4 Finchley and Hendon; Area 5 Harrow; Area 6 Wembley and Willesden; Area 7 Ealing and Acton; Area 8 Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, Hayes and Harlington, Yiewsley and West Drayton; Area 9 Heston and Isleworth, Southall and Area 10 Feltham, Staines, Twickenham, Sunbury
Approved schools and remand homes:
In the first half of the nineteenth century, child offenders were sent to gaols along with adults; no differentiation was made. In the late 1840s and 1850s however, largely as a result of the Ragged School movement, various philanthropic groups and individuals began to experiment with schools for the reformation of delinquent children: also advocated were industrial schools where the children of the poorest classes whose mode of life was such that there was the probability of their becoming offenders might be fed and gainfully occupied in the acquisition and exercise of some means of making an honest livelihood. The movement bore fruit in the form of the Reformatory Schools (Youthful Offenders) Act 1854 and the Industrial Schools and Reformatory Schools Act 1857 reinforced by two further statutes of 1866. Under these acts, county justices were obliged to commit young offenders to such institutions, and local authorities to maintain them there, as well as being empowered themselves to maintain or contribute to the maintenance of such institutions (most were run by philanthropic or religious bodies).
On the creation of the Middlesex County Council in 1889 it was allotted the justices' functions regarding the maintenance of juveniles in reformatory and industrial schools. These functions were made the responsibility of the Industrial and Reformatory Schools Committee (after 1908 the Reformatory Schools Committee) until 1933.
The 1908 Children Act in effect abolished the difference between industrial and reformatory schools, which had more or less ceased to exist in 1899, when the Reformatory Schools Amendment Act did away with the requirement that juveniles committed to a reformatory school should spend a preliminary period in prison. More importantly the 1908 Act set up juvenile courts as an integral part of the legal system and redefined the reasons for which children might be brought before the Courts to include a much wider range of welfare (as opposed to punitive) committals. For example children being non-offenders might be brought before the juvenile courts as needing protection, if found begging in the streets; wandering and having no proper guardian; destitute, with parent(s) in prison; in the care of drunken or criminal parents; the daughter of a father convicted of the carnal knowledge of any daughter under 16; frequenting the company of a reported thief or prostitute; living in a house frequented by prostitutes or living in circumstances likely to lead to the seduction or prostitution of the child. Such children would then be committed if necessary to an industrial or reformatory school and maintained by the County Council. Further, whereas juveniles awaiting trial had previously been kept in prisons, it was now incumbent upon the police authorities to provide separate places of detention.
In the case of Middlesex the police authority was the Standing Joint Committee, who provided the Place of Detention, Willesden, located at 49 Church Road, Willesden. It opened in 1911 for the accommodation of remanded boys and girls. In 1913 the London County Council agreed to place the girls and the establishment thereafter was for the boys only. It closed in January 1921, when the LCC agreed to accommodate remanded boys for Middlesex County Council.
Major reforms were brought about by the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 which remained in force with amendments for the rest of the Council's existence. This Act replaced places of detention by remand homes, and reformatory and industrial schools by approved schools (i.e. approved by the Home Office). Juvenile offenders were committed by the juvenile courts by an approved school order to the care of the managers of an approved school. The placements were ultimately under the aegis of the Home Office, and could in theory be made anywhere in the country. The County Council was responsible for children and young people in its area. It was also responsible for making good any shortage in approved school accommodation, at the direction of the Home Office. Middlesex children might thus be committed to an approved school anywhere in the country, including those maintained by the MCC; the approved schools maintained by the MCC might receive children from and maintained by any authority in England and Wales. These new duties were given to the Education Committee, and the Reformatory Schools Committee was wound up.
On the eve of the Act the MCC were using the LCC Remand Home at Ponton Road, Nine Elms. They paid for the upkeep of Middlesex juveniles but as far as running a reformatory themselves their only involvement was an eighth part in Northcotts (North London) School, Walthamstow, the other seven eighths being divided between the Boroughs of Edmonton, Haringey, Tottenham and Wood Green. After some gentle prompting from the Home Office, the MCC agreed in 1935 to take over Northcotts entirely and provide new accommodation for it, and to provide another boys' approved school and an approved school for senior girls. In 1936 therefore the Council decided to rent the premises of the School for Jewish Boys in Hayes as an approved school for boys. The initial lease was for 8 years, on the expiry of which in 1944 the Council bought the freehold. The establishment was known from 1937 as Saint Christopher's Approved School.
Meanwhile the LCC had had to transfer their Ponton Road establishment to the Goldhawk Road, and had asked the MCC to find their own remand accommodation for boys, although the LCC still took MCC girls. The Council therefore decided as a temporary measure, to use the Manor House at Hayes (acquired in 1934) as a boys remand home. It began operations in November 1936 as the Manor House Remand Home and was renamed Saint Nicholas Remand Home in November 1938. It was decided in the same year that the establishment should be made permanent.
The question of the transfer of Northcotts was becoming urgent by reason of the inadequate accommodation in Walthamstow, but the Council were experiencing considerable difficulty in finding suitable premises. In 1938 Popes Farm in South Mimms was proposed but discarded in favour of Pishiobury Park, Sawbridgeworth, which was purchased in May 1939. Hardly had the work of adaptation begun however when the Saint Nicholas' premises at the Manor House, Hayes was severely damaged by a fire in July 1939. Pishiobury had therefore to be pressed into service as an emergency shelter for the remand home, and the date of the removal of Northcotts set back indefinitely: it was however agreed that the MCC should become responsible for the entire management of Northcotts as from 1 January 1940. Remand accommodation for girls was now becoming a problem. The number of remanded girls was increasing, and besides the limited LCC places available, the MCC had to use several privately run establishments and pay accordingly. No solution was found until April 1940 when agreement was reached with the Anglican Sisters of the Community of Saint Mary the Virgin that remand cases could be received at their premises at Saint Helena's, West Ealing. The MCC took the premises on a long lease in December 1941. The original date for the transfer of Northcotts to the MCC had been 1 January 1940. Because of the war, the transfer was put back to 1 April 1941, and duly took place on that date. As stated above Northcotts had in fact been moved to their new premises at Pishiobury earlier than planned and were already established there by the date of the transfer of management. From January 1942 the school was known as Pishiobury School.
The MCC had also agreed in 1935 to provide an approved school for senior girls. At length it was decided that the mansion of Denham Court might be suitable and approval for the conversion was given in the autumn of 1937. Work continued through 1939, up until the outbreak of war. In the first wave of evacuations in the autumn of 1939, Saint Nicholas' boys were transferred from Pishiobury to Denham Court, and Northcotts were moved from Walthamstow to Pishiobury; the girls approved school was temporarily shelved, although staff had already been appointed. In April 1940 the Home Office objected to the use of Denham Court for boys and required their removal. The original premises of Northcotts in Walthamstow were at first suggested but the onset of the Blitz put them out of consideration. Alternative accommodation was eventually found in 1941 at North Lodge, Enfield, formerly occupied by Kilvinton Hall School. Adaptation was authorised in July 1941, the new establishment to be known as Saint Nicholas Home, North Lodge, Enfield; it was in operation by January 1941.
Denham Court had become vacant in 1941 on the removal of Saint Nicholas' to Enfield, and the long delayed girls approved school commenced operations. Unfortunately it was not a success - mainly it appears because of the isolated location away from all urban amenities, and in January 1948 it was proposed that the school be discontinued, and the premises used instead as a hostel for children in care awaiting foster homes: this happened later in 1948.
On 5th July 1948 when the Children's Department came into being it took over two remand homes from the Education Department (Saint Helena's Ealing (girls); Saint Nicholas Enfield (boys)); and two approved schools (Saint Christopher's Hayes (junior boys) and Pishiobury, Sawbridgeworth (senior boys)). All these homes remained in use until the MCC was abolished in 1965.
The Children's Department of the Middlesex County Council was set up under the Children Act 1948 which embodied the findings of the Curtis Report of 1945-1946. The Act took effect on 5 July 1948; the first meeting of the newly formed Children's Committee took place on the next day, taking over from the Interim Children's Committee, formed of the members of the thereafter defunct Children's Care Sub-Committee of the Education Committee. The first Children's Officer, Mr Ainscow, had in fact been appointed in anticipation, with effect from 1 May 1948. The duties of the Department had previously been distributed across several County Council departments (the Public Assistance, Public Health and Education Departments), as well as bodies (education authorities outside the MCC and the County Maternity and Child Welfare authorities) not part of the County Council at all.
The activities of the Children's Department may be summarised as follows:
i) Care and welfare: this comprised of the provision of care for a) children under the age of 17 if they had no parents or guardians; if they were abandoned or lost; of if their parents were unable to provide for their proper upbringing, provided that such care was in the child's best interests: and b) children committed by a court to the care of the County Council under a Fit Person order. This involved inter alia the running of homes and nurseries, the maintenance of the boarding out system for foster homes, and in some cases the assumption of full parental rights until the child should attain majority. The Department also undertook the care of children as delegated by the Welfare Department when dealing with problem or evicted families.
ii) Child Life Protection: this was a long standing local authority responsibility. After the passing of the Children Act 1948 its effect was to render it an offence for any person other than the parent, legal guardian or a relative to undertake for reward (whether or not for profit) the care of a child below school leaving age (15 in 1948) without notifying the County Council as a welfare authority. The Children's Department publicised the legal obligations upon such persons, supervised placements, inspected and regulated foster homes and so on. After the Adoption Act 1950, a similar duty to notify the Council rested upon anyone placing a child in another's care (with the same exceptions as above).
iii) Approved schools and remand homes: a child could be committed by the courts into the care of the Council either by a Fit Person Order, the effect of which was to put the child into the care of the Children's Department or by an Approved School Order, which placed the child under the care of managers at an Approved School. It should be noted that placements were made under the aegis of the Home Office nationwide, and that although the Council, through sub-committees of the Children's Committees, ran two approved schools, by no means all Middlesex children would be allocated places there. The Committee also ran two remand homes. The Children's Department were involved in briefing judges on cases: sometimes in bringing themselves in order to gain the powers by which to afford children under threat the care and protection they needed; and as the executive arm of the County Council on receipt of Fit Person Orders. Staff were also responsible for the supervision and after-care of "licensed" Middlesex children.
iv) Under the Adoption Act 1926, the County Council had since 1943 to oversee the compulsory registration of adoption societies in the county (not an onerous duty: two were registered in of which only one, the Homeless Children's Aid and Adoption Society, continued for any length of time). Compulsory notification to the County Council of all adoptions in the county was not introduced until the Adoption Act 1950. Also, from that point of view the Council had to supervise every prospective third party adoption in its area, whether or not involved in any other capacity. After the 1958 Act the Council had the power to place children for adoption even if those children were not in its care. Its powers of supervision were widened to include all adoptions in the county.
Health areas of the County of Middlesex, also used as administrative areas by the MCC Children's Department: Area 1 Enfield and Edmonton; Area 2 Southgate, Potters Bar, Wood Green and Friern Barnet; Area 3 Hornsey and Tottenham; Area 4 Finchley and Hendon; Area 5 Harrow; Area 6 Wembley and Willesden; Area 7 Ealing and Acton; Area 8 Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, Hayes and Harlington, Yiewsley and West Drayton; Area 9 Heston and Isleworth, Southall and Area 10 Feltham, Staines, Twickenham, Sunbury
Children's Officer:
The Children's Act 1948 required the appointment of a Children's Officer to be the head of the Children's Department under the County Council. On 25th April 1948 the Council appointed Mr. E. Ainscow, then Assistant Education Officer in charge of the Children's Care Section of the Education Department, to be Children's Officer with effect from 1 May 1948. The Act itself took effect on 5 July 1948, and the appointment was in due course ratified by the Home Secretary.
However Mr Ainscow left the MCC in 1949 to take up the post of Children's Officer to the London County Council. His successor was Jane Rowell, previously Children's Officer to Durham County Council, who took over the post on 1 June 1949 and remained until the abolition of the MCC in 1965.
The Children's Department of the Middlesex County Council was set up under the Children Act 1948 which embodied the findings of the Curtis Report of 1945-1946. The Act took effect on 5 July 1948; the first meeting of the newly formed Children's Committee took place on the next day, taking over from the Interim Children's Committee, formed of the members of the thereafter defunct Children's Care Sub-Committee of the Education Committee. The first Children's Officer, Mr Ainscow, had in fact been appointed in anticipation, with effect from 1 May 1948. The duties of the Department had previously been distributed across several County Council departments (the Public Assistance, Public Health and Education Departments), as well as bodies (education authorities outside the MCC and the County Maternity and Child Welfare authorities) not part of the County Council at all.
The activities of the Children's Department may be summarised as follows:
i) Care and welfare: this comprised of the provision of care for a) children under the age of 17 if they had no parents or guardians; if they were abandoned or lost; of if their parents were unable to provide for their proper upbringing, provided that such care was in the child's best interests: and b) children committed by a court to the care of the County Council under a Fit Person order. This involved inter alia the running of homes and nurseries, the maintenance of the boarding out system for foster homes, and in some cases the assumption of full parental rights until the child should attain majority. The Department also undertook the care of children as delegated by the Welfare Department when dealing with problem or evicted families.
ii) Child Life Protection: this was a long standing local authority responsibility. After the passing of the Children Act 1948 its effect was to render it an offence for any person other than the parent, legal guardian or a relative to undertake for reward (whether or not for profit) the care of a child below school leaving age (15 in 1948) without notifying the County Council as a welfare authority. The Children's Department publicised the legal obligations upon such persons, supervised placements, inspected and regulated foster homes and so on. After the Adoption Act 1950, a similar duty to notify the Council rested upon anyone placing a child in another's care (with the same exceptions as above).
iii) Approved schools and remand homes: a child could be committed by the courts into the care of the Council either by a Fit Person Order, the effect of which was to put the child into the care of the Children's Department or by an Approved School Order, which placed the child under the care of managers at an Approved School. It should be noted that placements were made under the aegis of the Home Office nationwide, and that although the Council, through sub-committees of the Children's Committees, ran two approved schools, by no means all Middlesex children would be allocated places there. The Committee also ran two remand homes. The Children's Department were involved in briefing judges on cases: sometimes in bringing themselves in order to gain the powers by which to afford children under threat the care and protection they needed; and as the executive arm of the County Council on receipt of Fit Person Orders. Staff were also responsible for the supervision and after-care of "licensed" Middlesex children.
iv) Under the Adoption Act 1926, the County Council had since 1943 to oversee the compulsory registration of adoption societies in the county (not an onerous duty: two were registered in of which only one, the Homeless Children's Aid and Adoption Society, continued for any length of time). Compulsory notification to the County Council of all adoptions in the county was not introduced until the Adoption Act 1950. Also, from that point of view the Council had to supervise every prospective third party adoption in its area, whether or not involved in any other capacity. After the 1958 Act the Council had the power to place children for adoption even if those children were not in its care. Its powers of supervision were widened to include all adoptions in the county.
Health areas of the County of Middlesex, also used as administrative areas by the MCC Children's Department: Area 1 Enfield and Edmonton; Area 2 Southgate, Potters Bar, Wood Green and Friern Barnet; Area 3 Hornsey and Tottenham; Area 4 Finchley and Hendon; Area 5 Harrow; Area 6 Wembley and Willesden; Area 7 Ealing and Acton; Area 8 Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, Hayes and Harlington, Yiewsley and West Drayton; Area 9 Heston and Isleworth, Southall and Area 10 Feltham, Staines, Twickenham, Sunbury
Children's Officer:
The Children's Act 1948 required the appointment of a Children's Officer to be the head of the Children's Department under the County Council. On 25th April 1948 the Council appointed Mr. E. Ainscow, then Assistant Education Officer in charge of the Children's Care Section of the Education Department, to be Children's Officer with effect from 1 May 1948. The Act itself took effect on 5 July 1948, and the appointment was in due course ratified by the Home Secretary.
However Mr Ainscow left the MCC in 1949 to take up the post of Children's Officer to the London County Council. His successor was Jane Rowell, previously Children's Officer to Durham County Council, who took over the post on 1 June 1949 and remained until the abolition of the MCC in 1965.
The Children's Department of the Middlesex County Council was set up under the Children Act 1948 which embodied the findings of the Curtis Report of 1945-1946. The Act took effect on 5 July 1948; the first meeting of the newly formed Children's Committee took place on the next day, taking over from the Interim Children's Committee, formed of the members of the thereafter defunct Children's Care Sub-Committee of the Education Committee. The first Children's Officer, Mr Ainscow, had in fact been appointed in anticipation, with effect from 1 May 1948. The duties of the Department had previously been distributed across several County Council departments (the Public Assistance, Public Health and Education Departments), as well as bodies (education authorities outside the MCC and the County Maternity and Child Welfare authorities) not part of the County Council at all.
The activities of the Children's Department may be summarised as follows:
i) Care and welfare: this comprised of the provision of care for a) children under the age of 17 if they had no parents or guardians; if they were abandoned or lost; of if their parents were unable to provide for their proper upbringing, provided that such care was in the child's best interests: and b) children committed by a court to the care of the County Council under a Fit Person order. This involved inter alia the running of homes and nurseries, the maintenance of the boarding out system for foster homes, and in some cases the assumption of full parental rights until the child should attain majority. The Department also undertook the care of children as delegated by the Welfare Department when dealing with problem or evicted families.
ii) Child Life Protection: this was a long standing local authority responsibility. After the passing of the Children Act 1948 its effect was to render it an offence for any person other than the parent, legal guardian or a relative to undertake for reward (whether or not for profit) the care of a child below school leaving age (15 in 1948) without notifying the County Council as a welfare authority. The Children's Department publicised the legal obligations upon such persons, supervised placements, inspected and regulated foster homes and so on. After the Adoption Act 1950, a similar duty to notify the Council rested upon anyone placing a child in another's care (with the same exceptions as above).
iii) Approved schools and remand homes: a child could be committed by the courts into the care of the Council either by a Fit Person Order, the effect of which was to put the child into the care of the Children's Department or by an Approved School Order, which placed the child under the care of managers at an Approved School. It should be noted that placements were made under the aegis of the Home Office nationwide, and that although the Council, through sub-committees of the Children's Committees, ran two approved schools, by no means all Middlesex children would be allocated places there. The Committee also ran two remand homes. The Children's Department were involved in briefing judges on cases: sometimes in bringing themselves in order to gain the powers by which to afford children under threat the care and protection they needed; and as the executive arm of the County Council on receipt of Fit Person Orders. Staff were also responsible for the supervision and after-care of "licensed" Middlesex children.
iv) Under the Adoption Act 1926, the County Council had since 1943 to oversee the compulsory registration of adoption societies in the county (not an onerous duty: two were registered in of which only one, the Homeless Children's Aid and Adoption Society, continued for any length of time). Compulsory notification to the County Council of all adoptions in the county was not introduced until the Adoption Act 1950. Also, from that point of view the Council had to supervise every prospective third party adoption in its area, whether or not involved in any other capacity. After the 1958 Act the Council had the power to place children for adoption even if those children were not in its care. Its powers of supervision were widened to include all adoptions in the county.
Health areas of the County of Middlesex, also used as administrative areas by the MCC Children's Department: Area 1 Enfield and Edmonton; Area 2 Southgate, Potters Bar, Wood Green and Friern Barnet; Area 3 Hornsey and Tottenham; Area 4 Finchley and Hendon; Area 5 Harrow; Area 6 Wembley and Willesden; Area 7 Ealing and Acton; Area 8 Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, Hayes and Harlington, Yiewsley and West Drayton; Area 9 Heston and Isleworth, Southall and Area 10 Feltham, Staines, Twickenham, Sunbury.
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.
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
Industrial and Reformatory Schools:
Industrial Schools were first founded as voluntary run organisations to provide a home and education for homeless and vagrant children. Under the Industrial Schools Acts of 1857 and 1860-1861 the schools came under local authority control. Magistrates were given the power to sentence children aged between 7 and 14 to attend one of the schools if they were found begging, wandering, in the company of thieves or if they were beyond the control of their parents. Industrial schools were also an alternative to prison for children under the age of 12 who had committed minor crimes. It was believed that sending vagrant, destitute or disorderly children to an Industrial School would prevent them from falling into crime, remove them from bad influences and teach them a useful trade. A typical industrial school had a very structured day, with set times for schooling, learning trades, housework, religious service, meals and play. Boys were taught skills such as gardening, tailoring and shoemaking while girls learned knitting, sewing, housework and laundry. Industrial and reformatory schools were later known as approved schools.
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.
Chairmen of the Middlesex County Council, 1889-1965:
Sir Ralph Littler, 1889-1908
Sir Montagu Sharpe, 1908-1909
William Regester, 1909-1912
Cecil Fane De Salis, 1919-1924
Benjamin Todd, 1924-1927
Sir Charles Pinkham, 1927-1930
George Marlow Reed, 1930-1933
Sir Howard Button, 1933-1936
William Prescott, 1936-1937
Forrester Clayton, 1937-1940
Sir Gilfrid Craig, 1940-1943
William Reginald Clemens, 1943-1946
Bernard Harry Rockman, 1946-1947
Sir Fred Messer, 1947-1948
William John Irving, 1948-1949
Albert Henry Farley, 1949-1951
Sir William Josiah Grimshaw, 1951-1953
Sir Archer Hoare, 1953-1954
Albert Noel Hansel Baines, 1954-1955
Sir Stanley Graham Rowlandson, 1955-1956
Sir Christopher George Armstrong Cowan, 1956-1957
William Rendel Myson Chambers, 1957-1958
Thomas Henry Joyce, 1958-1959
George Albert Pargiter, 1959-1960
Muriel Rose Forbes, 1960-1961
Sir Joseph Haygarth, 1961-1962
James Henry Knaggs, 1962-1963
Frances Timpson, 1963-1964
John Wilfred Barter, 1964-1965.
The County Council was required to take vigorous measures to deal with various diseases of animals, including swine fever, foot and mouth disease and fowl pest. Order made by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, enforced by the Council, aimed at controlling the movement of animals during epidemics and preventing disease. Control of movement was achieved by a system of licensing and for this purpose qualified veterinary surgeons were employed as inspectors.
The Council was also responsible for enforcing the Fertilizers and Feeding Stuffs Act, 1926, which dealt with the sale and purchase of solid and liquid fertilizers and of feeding-stuffs for horses, cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry. It was required that the seller must supply the analysis of the main constituents on every sale of these materials. Sellers' premises were visited by inspectors to ensure that information of the type required was being given, and samples were taken and checked by the County agricultural analyst.
The County Council exercised control over public performances of music, dancing, stage plays, cinemas, boxing and wrestling. Anyone seeking a licence to hold public entertainments had the option of submitting building plans to the County Engineer, enabling him to find out in advance if the plans complied with legislation. The plans were reported upon in detail to the Entertainments Committee by the County Engineer. Notice of the application had to be placed on the site or building, and time was given for any interested person to lodge objections with the Council. Whether or not the plans had been submitted for approval, application for a licence still had to be made as normal upon completion of the building.
All licenced buildings were visited by Council inspectors before renewal of the licence each year. Inspections were also made from time to time during the progress of entertainments, particularly in cinemas, to ascertain that the regulations were being complied with. Heavy penalties were imposed for infringement of the regulations.
London Heathrow started life in 1946 as an army surplus small grass airfield. Privately owned, the Great Western Aerodrome was used largely for test flying with commercial flights taking off from nearby Heston and Hanworth Park airfields.
In 1944 it was requisitioned by the Air Ministry to be developed as a major transport base for the Royal Air Force. Before the work was completed, the war ended and with it came the prospect of a huge expansion in civil aviation. London needed a large airport with modern equipment and the partly-built site at Heathrow was ideal. One runway was ready for use and when the Ministry of Civil Aviation took it over in 1946 the tented terminal was quickly put in place and a new chapter began.
By 1947 three runways had been completed and work on another three - subsequently abandoned as unnecessary - was going on. A new, permanent building arose in the central area at the start of the 1950s, replacing the tent. As traffic boomed Heathrow Airport found itself with an ever-increasing demand for passenger facilities. The Queen inaugurated a new building in 1955 (Terminal 2) and the tunnel which provides the main road access to Heathrow's central area was opened. Next came the new Oceanic terminal handling long-haul carriers, a function it still performs as Terminal 3, followed by the opening of Terminal 1 in 1968. Increased congestion in the central area led to the birth of Terminal 4 in 1986 on the south side of the airport
Source: http://www.heathrow-airport-guide.co.uk/history.html.
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.
The decision to establish a County Supplies Department was made before the Second World War, but its foundation was delayed until 1947. In 1951 office and warehouse accommodation was obtained in Park Royal close to the transport workshops which came under its control. Turnover and responsibilities increased enormously between 1947 and 1965. Goods of every description were bought for all County services, including education. Service contracts were arranged and 370 vehicles, including cars used for official journeys, were controlled and maintained. In addition to central storage and distribution, a printing unit and a typewriter repair and maintenance service were established and the Central Transport section serviced vehicles and plant.
The Middlesex Magistrates' Courts Committee functioned for the whole County, and its members included justices representing each petty sessional division in the County. The Council worked closely with the Committee, and was empowered to make representations to the Home Secretary regarding any decision to alter the petty sessional divisions. The Council was expected to pay the expenses of the Committee and to appoint clerks to the justices and their staff. The Council also assumed responsiblity for the provision of petty sessional courthouses and the necessary furniture and books.
Magistrates' Courts were presided over by Justices of the Peace, who dealt at petty sessions, held locally, for minor offences committed within that petty sessional division. More serious offences were tried at quarter sessions.
When the County Council became a planning authority in 1948 its planning duties were, broadly, to control the development of land in the County and to prepare a Development Plan. Between the wars Middlesex had grown at a phenomenal rate, producing sprawl and over-industrialisation, with the attendant problems of competing uses for the remaining available land.
The County Development Plan, which laid down the future pattern of land use in Middlesex, was approved by the Minister of Housing and Local Government in 1956 and the Review of the Plan was before the Minister in 1964. The Plan maintained a careful balance of competing uses and was primarily directed towards the maintenance of the Green Belt, a limitation on uses giving rise to employment and improved provision of open space and land for the social services. Under its planning policies, the County Council arranged for hundreds of trees to be planted near main thoroughfares and acquired about fifty wrongly sited premises in order to extinguish their industrial uses.
In carrying out its planning functions the Council worked in close co-operation with the local authorities and under its delegation scheme a large number of applications for planning permission were dealt with by the borough and district councils.