No historical information has been located for this Chapel.
The Old Mahogany Bar Methodist Church was originally a music hall - Wilton's Music Hall, founded in 1858. The Reverend Peter Thompson bought the premises in 1888 and converted them into a Methodist Mission hall as part of the East End Mission. Various evangelical and social welfare activities were coordinated by the Church, including a Sunday School, Women's Meetings, clubs and a Guild. In 1956 the building was sold and became a rag warehouse. The building has been Grade II listed and is being restored by the Wilton's Music Hall Trust.
The Methodist Church established its first East-End Mission in 1885, hoping to combat the poverty and squalor of the area. Poverty and sin were fought by a combination of evangelism and social work, for example, handing out free meals during winter, organising trips to the seaside and showing films for a penny. The Mission had its own magazine, "The East End", which included articles on the scale of the distress.
As the population of the East End changed after the Second World War, so too did the Mission. In 1985 the Mission celebrated its centenary and highlighted its continuing work in socially deprived areas, supporting the homeless, unemployed, single parents, immigrants, the disabled and the elderly.
Shirley Street United Methodist Church, Canning Town, was founded in 1853, probably by Wesleyan Reformers. A small church was built in Victoria Dock Road in 1860. This was sold to the school board in 1873, when a new church and schoolroom were built in Shirley Street. Shirley Street was bombed in 1940, but continued in use until 1942, when the members moved to Canning Town Primitive Methodist Church. When that too was bombed a remnant went to Custom House Primitive Methodist Church. War damage compensation from Shirley Street helped to build the new church in Fife Road, Canning Town, in 1960. The Shirley Street site was sold to the borough council and by 1963 was occupied by houses.
From: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 123-141.
The Primitive Methodists had a chapel at the south east corner of London Fields from 1863. By 1873 it was called the Jubilee chapel. It was closed between 1935 and 1938.
The Primitive Methodist Connexion chapel in Manchester Road was founded in 1862 as a two storey building, was a church above and a school below. It was part of the London Eighth Circuit. Primitive Methodist Connexion chapels were more laity led in contrast to Wesleyan Methodists where the Ministers had greater power.
In 1902 the School Board for London purchased a site at Southfields on which to build a school. Three temporary buildings, opened in 1904, housed the school until the completion of the permanent buildings in March 1905. The official opening of Southfield School took place in May 1905 and it continued as a mixed senior school until April 1911 when it became a central school. It was named the Elliott Central School after Sir Charles Elliott. In 1925 the two elementary schools on the Elllott site were disbanded and the central school was divided between boys' and girls' departments, each with its own head teacher. During the Second World War the Boys' School was evacuated to Woking and the Girls' to Guildford in Surrey.
Under the London County Council's London School Plan of 1947, the Boys' School was linked with Wandsworth School, sharing the same body of governors, and the Girls' School with Mayfield (Putney County) School, but both resisted absorption into the neighbouring comprehensive schools. In 1954, as the school celebrated its Jubilee, it was announced that the Elliott Central was itself to be the nucleus of a 2,000 mixed comprehensive school in the Putney Park Lane area, retaining the name Elliott.
The Staines and Feltham Circuit includes churches in Staines, Feltham, Ashford, Egham, Virginia Water and Englefield Green. A Methodist circuit is normally a group of churches in a local area served by a team of ministers. A minister will have pastoral charge of one or more churches, but will preach and lead worship in different local churches in the circuit, along with local preachers. The arrangements for leading worship in a circuit are drawn up in a quarterly Plan.
Yiewsley Methodist Church moved in 1927 to Central Hall, Fairfield Road, which replaced an older building used since 1873 by the small Primitive Methodist Congregation. Central Hall was extended and renovated in 1959. In 1969, the site was redeveloped to include a smaller church, which opened in 1973. During the redevelopment services were held in a temporary church.
Long Lane Methodist Church opened in new premises in Long Lane in 1933. A new church was built in 1967 and the old premises used as a Church Hall.
According to an inscription on the building, the Fulwell Mission Fellowship hall was opened in 1902 after eighteen years of gospel mission work had been done in Fulwell Road. A resident minister was appointed in 1957.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 80-81.
Parkhill Chapel was built at number 17 Fleet Road, Hampstead, in 1960. It was used by the evangelical mission which had previously been based at Malden Hall, Malden Road, Kentish Town. In 1982 it was used by a Strict Baptist congregation.
The Church is now disused. It was originally a Wesleyan Methodist Church in the Metropolitan Borough of Camberwell. From 1965 it was in the London Borough if Southwark. It was in the Registration District of Camberwell. From 26 June 1972 the Congregation moved to Red Post Hill, North Dulwich and was renamed St Faith's Anglican/Methodist Shared Church. Marriage ceremonies continued to be conducted according to the rites and ceremonies of the Methodist Church. The Anglican parish church of St Faith, Red Post Hill continues to hold its services, and its registers are in the care of the incumbent.
Ponders End Wesleyan Methodist Church began when a chapel was built in 1849. In 1892, another chapel was built on the western side of High Street. Another Methodist Chapel, in Alma Road, existed from 1882 to 1898.
Methodist services and a Sunday school were said to have been started in the coach-houses of Harefield Grove House, at that time belonging to Robert Barnes, a former Mayor of Manchester. Barnes built the church in 1864 and maintained a resident minister there. On his departure from Harefield in 1869 he offered the building to the Wesleyan Methodist authorities, whose property it became in 1871. The church hall was opened in 1906, but after the First World War the congregation declined in numbers. The Second World War brought evacuees to the village causing a slight increase, but in 1959 the chapel had no resident minister and was largely dependent on lay preachers. The Chapel is now closed.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 3: Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell, Sunbury, Teddington, Heston and Isleworth, Twickenham, Cowley, Cranford, West Drayton, Greenford, Hanwell, Harefield and Harlington (1962), pp. 256.
In 1860 the Primitive Methodists rented a hall in Market Street for worship, having previously organised Camp Meetings in Tall Trees Meadow, at the top of Caledonian Road. The congregation moved twice before building a chapel by the South gate of the market on the corner of Caledonian Road and Market Road, opened in 1870.
As with other chapels of the time Caledonian Road was created with a schoolromm in the lower part of the premises, the church services being held in the upper part of the building and its gallery. At some point (possibly 1892) a small classroom was added to the south side of the chapel to house the infant department of the Sunday School.
One of the principal Primitive Methodist churches in London, Caledonian Road hosted the Conference of 1873 . Several of its ministers held high office in the Connexion, including President of the Conference.
Well into the 20th century Caledonian Road was a thriving place. Daughter churches were set up over a wide area and the Primitive Methodist Circuit over which Caledonian Road presided covered an area stretching down to Westminster and out to the newly developing suburbs in Hounslow.
In 1976 the local Social Services team leased part of the building, necessitating internal alterations. the ground floor pews were removed, rostrum and pulpit were removed to create a multipurpose space and part of the chapel converted to provide kitchen, vestry and new toilets. Today 'Cally' continues as the only surviving Victorian Methodist chapel in the Borough of Islington.
Source: http://www.londonmethodist.org.uk/html/history_of_methodism_in_isling4.html
German Lutherans worshipped in the City of London at the Church in Austin Friars 'of the Germans and other Strangers' from 1550, and in 1672 they obtained from Charles II letters patent enabling them to build their own church, with the power to appoint ministers and hold services according to their own customs, on the site of the Holy Trinity Church (destroyed during the Great Fire), Trinity Lane. The inaugural service was held in December 1673, although baptisms were registered from 1669, and a church, rebuilt and extended in 1773, remained there until 1871. In that year it was bought and demolished by the Metropolitan Railway Company who were then building Mansion House station close by. The congregation then built a new church on a site in Alma (later Ritson) Road, Dalston, installing fittings such as the altar-piece and organ taken from the old church.
Bethnal Green was a Metropolitan Borough within the Administrative County of London. Electors within the constituency elected the Bethnal Green representative on the County Council. They also elected councillors for the borough council.
Since its formation in 1811, East Hill United Reformed Church has also been known as East Hill Congregational Church and Wandsworth Congregational Church. The first meeting place was the old chapel in Wandsworth High Street formerly used by French refugees. However, as membership grew a new premises became necessary, a purpose built hall being opened on East Hill in 1860. This growth in size was reflected in the variety of activities the church pursued, ranging from Missions to other parts of Wandsworth such as Eltringham, to their Literary and Debating Society and the Dorcas Society.
At a meeting of the Wandsworth Methodist Circuit in November 1902 it was decided to open a Wesleyan Chapel in Southfields to cater for the growing number of Methodist families in that area.
The first public service as held in the Merton Road School in December 1905. A School Chapel, with seating for 400 people, opened in Ravensbury Road in 1908. However, expansion was rapid and this was replaced in 1925 by the much larger Central Hall (on the corner of Ravensbury and Durnsford Road). In addition to being a place of worship the Central Hall was also intended to provide a meeting place for the local community. Music concerts and film shows were a regular feature for many years and parts of the premises were leased to local businesses.
The Leys School was opened in Cambridge in 1875, intended to be "the Methodist Eton".
The Leysian Mission was started in 1886 by former pupils of the Leys School who were concerned about the social and housing conditions in the East End of London. Its first premises were in nearby Whitecross Street but in 1902 the Mission moved into grand purpose-built premises in Old Street (just round the corner from Wesley's Chapel on City Road). It had vibrant evangelical and social ministries and encouraged alumni from the Cambridge school to give time to programmes that reached out to the poor. In the early days, there was a Medical Mission, a "poor man's lawyer", a relief committee, feeding programmes, meetings for men and women, and a range of services and musical activities.
Royalty patronised the Mission's great events and the school in Cambridge maintained strong links. However, the ravages of World War II and the advent of the post-war Welfare State saw a change in circumstance that led, eventually, to disposing of the buildings and the successful merger with Wesley's Chapel in 1989.
Park Baptist Chapel was situated at the corner of Boston Manor Road and Great West Road, Brentford. The chapel had its origins in meetings begun in 1799 by a minister at Hammersmith. Services took place in various houses and halls until 1855, when the Park Chapel opened, seating 500. Classrooms were added in 1869 but were replaced in 1936 by a hall, where services were held between 1940 and the 1950 reopening of the bomb-damaged church. The Chapel seated 400 in 1978. In 1994 the Park Baptist Chapel merged with Brentford United Reformed Church to form Brentford Free Church.
Bishopshalt Grammar School developed from the Uxbridge County School which occupied premises in the Greenway from 1907. This building was vacated in 1928 when the school was transferred to the house in Royal Lane which had been built on the site of the old rectory house owned by the bishops of Worcester. The school then adopted the name Bishopshalt and was constituted a grammar school. The Greenway premises were subsequently occupied by the Greenway County Secondary School.
From: 'Hillingdon, including Uxbridge: Education', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 95-98.
A pharmacopoeia is an official treatise containing listings of drugs approved for use in a hospital, with their formulations, standards of purity and strength, and uses.
For histories of the individual hospitals please see H09/GY for Guy's and H01/ST for Saint Thomas.
The Angel Alley Methodist Chapel, Stepney was part of the London (City Road) Circuit.
Harrow Methodist Circuit is now Harrow and Hillingdon Methodist Circuit of 17 churches, covering the London Boroughs of Hillingdon and Harrow and stretching from West Drayton and Hayes in the South to Kenton and Wealdstone in the North. A Methodist circuit is normally a group of churches in a local area served by a team of ministers. A minister will have pastoral charge of one or more churches, but will preach and lead worship in different local churches in the circuit, along with local preachers. The arrangements for leading worship in a circuit are drawn up in a quarterly Plan.
In Northwood Primitive Methodists met in a house called 'Elthorne' in the modern High Street from about 1896. In that year a school chapel to accommodate 250 people was built on the corner of High Street and Hallowell Road. The present church next to the school chapel was completed in 1903. It was further extended in 1910, and a new vestry added in 1927. Enemy action caused considerable damage to the building in 1944. From 1905 a group of about 20 Wesleyan Methodists worshipped in a house in Chester Road. Two years later a temporary corrugated iron church was erected in Hallowell Road. After the construction of a permanent building in Oaklands Gate in 1924, the temporary structure was transferred there for use as a church hall. A new hall and classrooms costing £22,500 were completed in 1962. After the Methodist Union in 1932 these two churches became known as the High Street and Oaklands Gate Methodist churches.
From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 4: Harmondsworth, Hayes, Norwood with Southall, Hillingdon with Uxbridge, Ickenham, Northolt, Perivale, Ruislip, Edgware, Harrow with Pinner (1971), pp. 145-146.
Kingdom Hall is the term for the meeting place of Jehovah's Witnesses.
John Howard, prison reformer and author of The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, with Preliminary Observations, and an Account of some Foreign Prisons, Sir William Blackstone, the High Court judge, and William Eden, member of Parliament and author of Principles of Penal Law, were responsible for the 1779 Penitentiary Act "to explain and amend the Laws relating to the Transportation, Imprisonment, and other Punishment of certain offenders ---" (19 Geo. III, c.74). As an alternative to transportation this provided for the building of two penitentiaries, one for males and one for females, where "solitary Imprisonment, accompanied by well regulated labour, and religious Instruction" "might be the means, under Providence, not only of deterring others from the Commission of the like Crimes, but also of reforming the Individuals, and inuring them to Habits of Industry".
The three supervisors appointed to arrange for the purchase of a site and the erection of the penitentiaries were John Howard, Dr John Fothergill, physician and botanist, and George Whatley, Treasurer of the Foundling Hospital. Despite their efforts, the supervisors failed to find a site acceptable to the Lord Chancellor, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the judges, and the Lord Mayor of London. John Fothergill died in December 1780 and John Howard shortly afterwards resigned. Three new supervisors were appointed to join George Whatley. Although they agreed on a site and on a plan for a penitentiary, no prison was ever built.
In 1784 the Government obtained a new Transportation Act. The Gilbert Acts of 1782 and 1784 allowed local justices to build houses of correction. Local Prison Acts also gave counties the powers to build new prisons. Ironically the Middlesex House of Correction was built between 1788 and 1794 at Cold Bath Fields, Clerkenwell, in the vicinity of the site originally preferred by the Penitentiary Act supervisors, close to New River Head and between Grays Inn Road and Bagnigge Wells Road.
The County Secondary School Clapham, also known as Clapham County School, was situated on Broomwood Road, SW11. It was a girls' school that opened in September 1909 and was maintained by the London County Council. In 1978 it became 'Walsingham School', which changed in 1993 to 'Thomas' Preparatory School'. The building is Grade II listed.
Poor relief was based on the Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 which obliged parishes to take care of the aged and needy in their area. Parish overseers were empowered to collect a local income tax known as the poor-rate which would be put towards the relief of the poor. This evolved into the rating system, where the amount of poor-rate charged was based on the value of a person's property. Early workhouses were constructed and managed by the parish. However, this process was expensive and various schemes were devised where groups of parishes could act together and pool their resources. As early as 1647 towns were setting up 'Corporations' of parishes. An Act of 1782, promoted by Thomas Gilbert, allowed adjacent parishes to combine into Unions and provide workhouses. These were known as 'Gilbert's Unions' and were managed by a board of Guardians.
Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the Poor Law Commission was given the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions. Each Union was to be administered by a local Board of Guardians. Relief was to be provided through the provision of a workhouse. An amendment to the 1834 Act allowed already existing 'Gilbert's Unions' or Corporations of parishes to remain in existence, although they were encouraged to convert themselves into Poor Law Unions. Although there was some reorganisation of union boundaries, particularly in London, the majority of Unions created under the 1834 Act remained in operation until 1930. In March 1930 a new Local Government Bill abolished the Poor Law Unions and the Board of Guardians. Responsibility for their institutions passed to Public Assistance Committees managed by the county councils - in the metropolis either the London County Council or the Middlesex County Council.
The Saint Olave's Poor Law Union was founded in 1836, consisting of the parishes of Saint Olave's, Saint Thomas and Saint John Horsleydown, in the Southwark - Bermondsey area. In 1836 a separate Board of Guardians for the parish of Saint Mary Magdalen was constituted. In 1869 the Saint Mary Magdalen parish joined the Saint Olave's Union, along with the parish of Saint Mary Rotherhithe. In 1904 the Union was renamed Bermondsey Poor Law Union.
Saint Olave's Workhouse on Parish Street was well established as early as 1729, run by the parish of Saint John Horsleydown. The Union was also responsible for the Bermondsey Workhouse on Tanner Street and the Rotherhithe Workhouse on Lower Road. In 1873 to 1875, a new infirmary was constructed at the west side of Lower Road, opposite the workhouse. An infirmary for the aged was constructed at Ladywell in 1897. The Union provided several institutions for children, including the Shirley Schools cottage homes in Croydon.
Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.
Poor relief was based on the Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 which obliged parishes to take care of the aged and needy in their area. Parish overseers were empowered to collect a local income tax known as the poor-rate which would be put towards the relief of the poor. This evolved into the rating system, where the amount of poor-rate charged was based on the value of a person's property. Early workhouses were constructed and managed by the parish. However, this process was expensive and various schemes were devised where groups of parishes could act together and pool their resources. As early as 1647 towns were setting up 'Corporations' of parishes. An Act of 1782, promoted by Thomas Gilbert, allowed adjacent parishes to combine into Unions and provide workhouses. These were known as 'Gilbert's Unions' and were managed by a board of Guardians.
Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the Poor Law Commission was given the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions. Each Union was to be administered by a local Board of Guardians. Relief was to be provided through the provision of a workhouse. An amendment to the 1834 Act allowed already existing 'Gilbert's Unions' or Corporations of parishes to remain in existence, although they were encouraged to convert themselves into Poor Law Unions. Although there was some reorganisation of union boundaries, particularly in London, the majority of Unions created under the 1834 Act remained in operation until 1930. In March 1930 a new Local Government Bill abolished the Poor Law Unions and the Board of Guardians. Responsibility for their institutions passed to Public Assistance Committees managed by the county councils - in the metropolis either the London County Council or the Middlesex County Council.
The Bethnal Green Poor Law Union was formed in 1836 and consisted of only one parish, Saint Matthew. It did not merge with other parishes. The parish had built a workhouse which was operational by 1777, but in 1840 they constructed a new workhouse at Bonners Hall Fields near the Waterloo Road. A second workhouse on Well Street in Hackney was used from 1890, it housed the 'respectable poor' who had demonstrated good behaviour in the Waterloo Road institution. The Waterloo Road workhouse was extended and refurbished in 1908 and the Union stopped using the second institution.The Union also managed the Cambridge Heath Road Infirmary and the Bethnal Green School for the Juvenile Poor in Leytonstone.
Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.
Poor relief was based on the Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 which obliged parishes to take care of the aged and needy in their area. Parish overseers were empowered to collect a local income tax known as the poor-rate which would be put towards the relief of the poor. This evolved into the rating system, where the amount of poor-rate charged was based on the value of a person's property. Early workhouses were constructed and managed by the parish. However, this process was expensive and various schemes were devised where groups of parishes could act together and pool their resources. As early as 1647 towns were setting up 'Corporations' of parishes. An Act of 1782, promoted by Thomas Gilbert, allowed adjacent parishes to combine into Unions and provide workhouses. These were known as 'Gilbert's Unions' and were managed by a board of Guardians.
Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the Poor Law Commission was given the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions. Each Union was to be administered by a local Board of Guardians. Relief was to be provided through the provision of a workhouse. An amendment to the 1834 Act allowed already existing 'Gilbert's Unions' or Corporations of parishes to remain in existence, although they were encouraged to convert themselves into Poor Law Unions. Although there was some reorganisation of union boundaries, particularly in London, the majority of Unions created under the 1834 Act remained in operation until 1930. In March 1930 a new Local Government Bill abolished the Poor Law Unions and the Board of Guardians. Responsibility for their institutions passed to Public Assistance Committees managed by the county councils - in the metropolis either the London County Council or the Middlesex County Council.
Edmonton Poor Law Union was formed in February 1837. It had 7 constituent parishes spanning 3 counties: from Middlesex: Edmonton, Enfield, Hampstead, Hornsey (including Highgate) and Tottenham; from Essex: Waltham Abbey and from Hertfordshire: Cheshunt. In 1894 Southgate and Wood Green parishes were added, while Hampstead separated from the Union.
There were several workhouses already existing in these areas but most of them were too dilapidated for use. The Union constructed a new workhouse at Tanners End in Edmonton. This later became the North Middlesex Hospital. The old Enfield workhouse was converted into a school, but proved inadequate. New school buildings were constructed at Chase Farm, which later became Chase Farm Hospital.
Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.
Poor relief was based on the Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 which obliged parishes to take care of the aged and needy in their area. Parish overseers were empowered to collect a local income tax known as the poor-rate which would be put towards the relief of the poor. This evolved into the rating system, where the amount of poor-rate charged was based on the value of a person's property. Early workhouses were constructed and managed by the parish. However, this process was expensive and various schemes were devised where groups of parishes could act together and pool their resources. As early as 1647 towns were setting up 'Corporations' of parishes. An Act of 1782, promoted by Thomas Gilbert, allowed adjacent parishes to combine into Unions and provide workhouses. These were known as 'Gilbert's Unions' and were managed by a board of Guardians.
Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the Poor Law Commission was given the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions. Each Union was to be administered by a local Board of Guardians. Relief was to be provided through the provision of a workhouse. An amendment to the 1834 Act allowed already existing 'Gilbert's Unions' or Corporations of parishes to remain in existence, although they were encouraged to convert themselves into Poor Law Unions. Although there was some reorganisation of union boundaries, particularly in London, the majority of Unions created under the 1834 Act remained in operation until 1930. In March 1930 a new Local Government Bill abolished the Poor Law Unions and the Board of Guardians. Responsibility for their institutions passed to Public Assistance Committees managed by the county councils - in the metropolis either the London County Council or the Middlesex County Council.
City of London Poor Law Union was constituted in 1837 and comprised 98 parishes. The Union at first refused to construct a workhouse, preferring to provide out-relief in the form of money and food, or to 'farm out' paupers to institutions outside of the City - for example, children were sent to a school in Norwood. However this system proved impractical and in 1848 a new workhouse was constructed at Bow Road. In 1869 when the City of London Union merged with the East London and West London Unions, the Bow Road Workhouse became an infirmary, although it was closed in 1909 as the larger infirmary at Homerton was preferred. In 1912 it was reopened as the Bow Institution, providing medical care for paupers from other Unions. It later became Saint Clement's Hospital. By 1871 the Union also managed the Thavies Inn Casual Ward at Holborn.
The East London Poor Law Union was formed in 1837 and comprised the parishes of Saint Botolph, Aldersgate, Saint Botolph, Aldgate, Saint Botolph, Bishopsgate and Saint Giles, Cripplegate. In 1852 the Union constructed a workhouse at Homerton.
The West London Poor Law Union was formed in 1837 and comprised the parishes of Bridewell precinct, Saint Andrew, Lower or City Liberty, Saint Bartholomew the Great, Saint Bartholomew the Less, Saint Bride's, otherwise St Bridget, Fleet Street, Saint Dunstan's West and Saint Sepulchre, Newgate. In 1864 the Union constructed a workhouse at Cornwallis Road in Upper Holloway. This workhouse was taken over by the parish of Saint Mary, Islington, when the West London Union merged with the City of London Union.
In 1869 the three City Unions were amalgamated under the name City of London Union, comprising 112 parishes.
Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.
Poor relief was based on the Act for the Relief of the Poor of 1601 which obliged parishes to take care of the aged and needy in their area. Parish overseers were empowered to collect a local income tax known as the poor-rate which would be put towards the relief of the poor. This evolved into the rating system, where the amount of poor-rate charged was based on the value of a person's property. Early workhouses were constructed and managed by the parish. However, this process was expensive and various schemes were devised where groups of parishes could act together and pool their resources. As early as 1647 towns were setting up 'Corporations' of parishes. An Act of 1782, promoted by Thomas Gilbert, allowed adjacent parishes to combine into Unions and provide workhouses. These were known as 'Gilbert's Unions' and were managed by a board of Guardians.
Under the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the Poor Law Commission was given the power to unite parishes in England and Wales into Poor Law Unions. Each Union was to be administered by a local Board of Guardians. Relief was to be provided through the provision of a workhouse. An amendment to the 1834 Act allowed already existing 'Gilbert's Unions' or Corporations of parishes to remain in existence, although they were encouraged to convert themselves into Poor Law Unions. Although there was some reorganisation of union boundaries, particularly in London, the majority of Unions created under the 1834 Act remained in operation until 1930. In March 1930 a new Local Government Bill abolished the Poor Law Unions and the Board of Guardians. Responsibility for their institutions passed to Public Assistance Committees managed by the county councils - in the metropolis either the London County Council or the Middlesex County Council.
Between 1837 and 1841 Chelsea parishes belonged to the Kensington Poor Law Union. In 1841 a separate Board of Guardians was constituted for the parish of Saint Luke's, Chelsea. In 1843 a workhouse was constructed on Britten Street, which was further extended in 1860 and again in 1902.
Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.
Holloway Prison was built by the Corporation of London as the City House of Correction for men and women. It was opened in 1852. The prison was taken over by the government in 1877. It become female only in 1903 and was well known for the imprisonment of suffragettes and for internments during the Second World War.
The prison finally closed in 2016.
A permanent Court of Commissioners of Sewers for the City of London was set up in 1667 after the Great Fire of London to undertake the construction of sewers and drains as well as the paving, cleaning and lighting of the City streets. Its powers were greatly extended by subsequent Acts of Parliament.
Under the City of London Sewers Act 1897, the Commission was dissolved with effect from January 1898 and its duties and responsibilities transferred to the Corporation and subsequently exercised by a separate Public Health Department until 1947 when the department was merged in the Town Clerk's Office.
The City of London was first granted the sole right of establishing markets in 1327 by Edward III, rights which were reaffirmed in 1663 by Charles II. Laws existed to ensure that markets were properly run and that traders were not able to sell products of inferior workmanship or bad food. Market tolls, lettings and regulation were handled by the Courts of Aldermen and Common Council. Supervision then passed to the City Lands Committee, before a Markets Committee was finally established. In 1875 the Committee was divided into sub-committees responsible for individual markets. The committees kept accounts and maintained buildings.
The City of London markets included Stocks Market, Honey Lane Market, Fleet Market, Newgate Market, Smithfield Market, Deptford Market, Farringdon Market, Billingsgate Market, London Central Meat and Poultry and Provision Markets and the Metropolitan Cattle Market at Islington. Several of these markets have been closed or amalgamated.
Smithfield Market was well established by 1174, when a Friday market for horses, pigs and cattle was held. The City of London gained rights over the market in 1327, under a charter granted by Edward III. In 1852 the live cattle market was relocated to a new site in Islington to ease pressures of space.
In 1860 the market was reorganised and renamed following the passing of the Metropolitan Meat and Poultry Market Act. Work began in 1866 on rebuilding the two main sections of the market, the East and West Buildings. The buildings, designed by architect Sir Horace Jones (who also designed Billingsgate and Leadenhall Markets), were completed in November 1868. These buildings were built above railway lines, enabling meat to be delivered directly to the market.
The principal meat market buildings were opened as the Metropolitan Meat and Poultry Market on 1 December 1868. An additional building was opened as the Poultry and Provisions Market on 30 November 1875. A few months earlier the market complex had been renamed the London Central Markets.
During World War Two the wholesale distribution of meat was decentralised and only the poultry and provisions sections of the market operated from Smithfield. This continued until 1946 when (controlled) distribution of meat was re-established. Meat rationing ended in 1954 and Smithfield returned became a free trading market once again.
The original poultry market was destroyed by fire in 1958. The conflagration began on 23rd January of that year and raged for four days.
The City of London Corporation appointed architect T P Bennett and Son to design the new Poultry Market building which was opened in 1962. The East and West Market buildings underwent major refurbishment in the 1990s.
London Bridge is the oldest bridge in the City of London. A Roman structure existed in the same area and there were several Saxon versions in wood. The first stone bridge took 33 years to construct under the direction of priest Peter de Colechurch, finished in 1209. Bridge House Estates was established by Royal Charter in 1282 with responsibility for the maintenance of this Bridge.
In 1758 the houses and shops that lined the bridge were demolished to make it easier to cross, but problems with congestion only increased. In 1800 a committee was established to consider improvements to the bridge, but when it was discovered that tidal scouring had severely weakened the bridge's abutments, the decision was made to reconstruct. A granite bridge with five arches designed by John Rennie and his son Sir John Rennie was chosen and completed by 1831. The wider arches had the unforeseen consequence of allowing the tide further access inland and causing a problem with sewerage.
The 1831 bridge was unable to accommodate the increased traffic of the 20th century and was reconstructed in the 1960s, opening in 1973. The 1831 bridge was dismantled and shipped to Arizona where it was reconstructed over Lake Havasu.
The City of London Court was formed when all Sheriff's Courts were united in 1867. The court handled actions of debt and other personal actions arising within the City. The court was amalgamated with the Mayor's Court in 1921.
The office of Sheriff predates the Norman Conquest and refers to a high officer and representative of royal authority in a shire, who was responsible for the administration of the law. London had two sheriffs who were elected in September of each year. In the City of London each Sheriff was responsible for a Compter, a city prison for debtors and other civil prisoners. Giltspur Street Compter stood opposite St Sepulchre's Church and was designed by George Dance the Younger. The Wood Street Compter was amalgamated with the Giltspur Street Compter in 1791. It was demolished in 1855.
The office of Sheriff predates the Norman Conquest and refers to a high officer and representative of royal authority in a shire, who was responsible for the administration of the law. London had two sheriffs who were elected in September of each year. In the City of London each Sheriff was responsible for a Compter, a city prison for debtors and other civil prisoners. The Poultry Compter was the oldest of the three City compters. The prisoners here were mainly committed by the Lord Mayor. The compter was demolished in 1817.
Ludgate Prison was established in 1378 in the gatehouse of the Ludgate. It was intended as a prison for Freemen and citizens of London convicted of crimes other than felony and maiming, and for clergy who were imprisoned for minor offences. It was closed in the nineteenth century.
The conservation of the River Thames was entrusted to the citizens of London by a charter of 1197 and was exercised by the Corporation of London until 1857. Their jurisdiction extended from the River Colne near Staines to Yantlett Creek, Kent and included streams and creeks within these bounds. In 1857 jurisdiction was transferred to the Thames Conservators.
In the medieval period, the office of Coroner for the City of London was executed by the King's Butler and Chamberlain, but by a charter of Edward IV dated 20 June 1478, the future appointment of the City Coroner was granted to the Corporation of London, which retains that right to this day.
Under the City of London Fire Inquests Act, 1888, the City Coroner was empowered to hold a special "Fire Inquest" in any case where there was a "loss or injury by fire", irrespective of whether a death had occurred, within the City of London (the Act did not apply to Southwark, or to the metropolis outside the City itself). The Act stipulated that the City Police, and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade were to report all City Fires to the Coroner, and a fire inquest was to be held if the Coroner, the Lord Mayor, the Lord Chief Justice or a Secretary of State judged one necessary. Fire inquest proceedings were to be as similar as possible to a coroner's inquest on a dead body, and following it, a written report and copies of the inquest depositions were to be sent by the City Coroner to the Lord Mayor and the Home Secretary.
The Corporation of London acquired the right to appoint the Coroner of the Borough of Southwark as well by a charter of Edward VI dated 23 April 1550, and for many years prior to 1932 the same person held the offices of Coroner of both London and Southwark. In 1932, the then Coroner for the City of London and Southwark, Dr. F.J. Waldo, resigned, and the provisions of the Coroners' (Amendment) Act, 1926 came into force. Under this Act, the right to appoint the Coroner for Southwark passed to the London County Council, but the Corporation of London retained the right to appoint the Coroner for the City of London.
In the medieval period, the office of Coroner for the City of London was executed by the King's Butler and Chamberlain, but by a charter of Edward IV dated 20 June 1478, the future appointment of the City Coroner was granted to the Corporation of London, which retains that right to this day.
The Corporation of London acquired the right to appoint the Coroner of the Borough of Southwark as well by a charter of Edward VI dated 23 April 1550, and for many years prior to 1932 the same person held the offices of Coroner of both London and Southwark. In 1932, the then Coroner for the City of London and Southwark, Dr. F.J. Waldo, resigned, and the provisions of the Coroners' (Amendment) Act, 1926 came into force. Under this Act, the right to appoint the Coroner for Southwark passed to the London County Council, but the Corporation of London retained the right to appoint the Coroner for the City of London.
The Finsbury and Halliwell Estates were leased by the Corporation of London from the Prebendary (a canon of a cathedral or collegiate church who obtained income from a prebend or estate) of St Paul's Cathedral between 1514 and 1867, at which date the Corporation was unable to renew the lease. In 1665 part of the land was set aside to create Bunhill Fields burial ground.
In 1442 John Carpenter, Town Clerk of London, bequeathed land to the Corporation of London intended to fund the maintenance and education of four boys born within the City, who would be called 'Carpenter's children'. Carpenter directed that that the boys should be schooled and clothed at the direction of the Chamberlain. The precise terms of the will were adhered to for about 2 centuries, after which time payments were made to friends of the children for them to provide the benefits. Prior to the foundation of the City of London School the Carpenter's Scholars were educated at Tonbridge School. Following an Act of Parliament of 1834 it was decided to charge the Carpenter Estates for the building and maintenance of a school, and the City of London School was opened in 1837. It was first built on the site of Honey Lane Market, Milk Street, Cheapside, but moved to Victoria Embankment in 1882. During the Second World War the school was temporarily moved to Marlborough. It moved again in 1986, when a new purpose-built building was opened in Queen Victoria Street, still within the City of London.
The City of London Freemen's Orphan School was founded by the Corporation in 1850. It was intended to provide education for the orphans of Freemen of the City of London. The school was built in Ferndale Road, Brixton and opened in March 1854, with space for 65 boys and 35 girls. A Board of Education inspection in 1919 suggested that the pupils be brought into contact with more fortunate children so that they would not feel inferior or dependent.
In 1924 it was decided to purchase a house at Ashtead Park, Surrey, to house a new school building. The school was transferred there from Brixton in 1926. The name was changed to The City of London Freemen's School and paying boy pupils were admitted. Paying girl pupils were admitted in 1933. The school is still situated at Ashtead Park.