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A large number of Grahams companies, registered in Glasgow, were trading individually in Glasgow and elsewhere, including Portugal and India, as early as the late 18th century. Grahams Trading Company Limited, however, was incorporated on 29 July 1924, as general merchants and manufacturers all over the world, with a registered office at 7 St Helen's Place, EC3. It was an amalgamation of several of the older Grahams companies and the newly acquired "Portuguese companies". The latter, Abelheira Paper Mills Limited, Boa Vista Spinning and Weaving Company Limited and Braco de Prata Printing Company Limited, had all begun in the late 19th century and were registered in Glasgow but traded in Portugal through William Graham and Company, William and John Graham and Company, and William Graham Junior and Company, who acted as their agents and held title to the real estate in Portugal.

The Portuguese business of Grahams Trading Company Limited was held through West European Industries Limited. In 1947, the "Portuguese companies" went into voluntary liquidation, and the various mills and factories were gradually closed down and sold off in the 1950s. Grahams Trading Company Limited was taken over by Camp Bird Limited in 1957 and went into voluntary liquidation in 1960.

A large number of Grahams companies, registered in Glasgow, were trading individually in Glasgow and elsewhere, including Portugal and India, as early as the late 18th century. Grahams Trading Company Limited, however, was incorporated on 29 July 1924, as general merchants and manufacturers all over the world, with a registered office at 7 St Helen's Place, EC3. It was an amalgamation of several of the older Grahams companies and the newly acquired "Portuguese companies". The latter, Abelheira Paper Mills Limited, Boa Vista Spinning and Weaving Company Limited and Braco de Prata Printing Company Limited, had all begun in the late 19th century and were registered in Glasgow but traded in Portugal through William Graham and Company, William and John Graham and Company, and William Graham Junior and Company, who acted as their agents and held title to the real estate in Portugal.

An assets company was also formed in 1924, known as the Reserved Assets Company Limited. Its registered office also was 7 St Helen's Place. It was wound up in 1936 on the reduction and reorganisation of the capital of the trading company. West European Industries Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary, was incorporated on 26 March 1930. Its registered office was 7 St Helen's Place, moving to 5 St Helen's Place in 1947. The Portuguese business of Grahams Trading Company Limited was held through West European Industries Limited. In 1947, the "Portuguese companies" went into voluntary liquidation, and the various mills and factories were gradually closed down and sold off in the 1950s. Grahams Trading Company Limited was taken over by Camp Bird Limited in 1957 and went into voluntary liquidation in 1960.

A large number of Grahams companies, registered in Glasgow, were trading individually in Glasgow and elsewhere, including Portugal and India, as early as the late 18th century. Grahams Trading Company Limited, however, was incorporated on 29 July 1924, as general merchants and manufacturers all over the world, with a registered office at 7 St Helen's Place, EC3. It was an amalgamation of several of the older Grahams companies and the newly acquired "Portuguese companies". The latter, Abelheira Paper Mills Limited, Boa Vista Spinning and Weaving Company Limited and Braco de Prata Printing Company Limited, had all begun in the late 19th century and were registered in Glasgow but traded in Portugal through William Graham and Company, William and John Graham and Company, and William Graham Junior and Company, who acted as their agents and held title to the real estate in Portugal.

An assets company was also formed in 1924, known as the Reserved Assets Company Limited. Its registered office also was 7 St Helen's Place. It was wound up in 1936 on the reduction and reorganisation of the capital of the trading company. West European Industries Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary, was incorporated on 26 March 1930. Its registered office was 7 St Helen's Place, moving to 5 St Helen's Place in 1947. The Portuguese business of Grahams Trading Company Limited was held through West European Industries Limited. In 1947, the "Portuguese companies" went into voluntary liquidation, and the various mills and factories were gradually closed down and sold off in the 1950s. Grahams Trading Company Limited was taken over by Camp Bird Limited in 1957 and went into voluntary liquidation in 1960.

The Assam Frontier Tea Company Limited were based on Leadenhall Street and other City addresses. They amalgamated in 1977 with Budla Beta Tea Company Limited. They were taken over in 1982 by the Caparo Group Limited.

Dooars Tea Company began trading in 1885 as the operator of 4 estates in the Western Dooars, Bengal. It had offices at 36 Wood Street, 1885-91; 60 Gracechurch Street, 1891-1912, 2A Eastcheap, 1912-68 and 13 Rood Lane, 1968-71. In 1982 the company was acquired by the Caparo Group Limited.

Bow Road Wesleyan Methodist Church was founded by the Reverend Alexander McAulay, who began preaching from his home in 1861. The Chapel was constructed by 1865. Various evangelical and social welfare activities took place at the Church, including the Queen Mary Day Nursery, medical clinics and a youth centre.

In 1868 the Stratford circuit was founded and a large new church built on The Grove by 1871, with a schoolroom added in 1873. The Grove was the leading Wesleyan church in the area for many years.

The Stratford Conference Hall was built as a non-denominational space but in 1934 it joined the Methodists as part of the London Mission (West Ham). The Grove buildings were bombed in 1940 (and demolished in 1953) and by 1941 the congregation had joined that of the Conference Hall, making it the predominant Methodist church in the locality.

Driffield Road Primitive Methodist Church was built in 1878 and closed around 1951.

The Bow Circuit was the first Home Mission circuit in Methodism, and the newly formed Metropolitan Wesleyan chapel Building Fund purchased land in Bow Road for future development. Alexander McAulay was appointed superintendent of the newly created Bow Circuit in 1861. In September 1900 Bow and Poplar Circuits were united to become the Poplar and Bow branch of the London Mission (the successor of the Metropolitan Wesleyan Chapel Building Fund which had helped to establish Bow in 1863). In 1961 Poplar and Bow Mission was divided into two separate circuits of Poplar and Bow.

Hayes Methodist Church began in Station Road, in 1907. It was registered at that address in 1927. In 1930 the registered name was changed to Queen's Hall Methodist Church, Station Road. In 1973 Queen's Hall closed and work began on a new church, which opened in September 1977, and was renamed Hayes Methodist Church. Barnhill Church was built in 1960 as a 'daughter' church of Hayes Methodist Church, intended to serve a new housing estate. The two churches retain close links with each other. Hayes and Harlington Club for the Blind met in Queen's Hall and their records have been deposited with those of the Church.

The Mostyn Road Methodist Church, Lambeth, was constructed in 1868, designed by architect John Tarring.

Hampton Isolation Hospital was constructed between 1906 and 1908. It was originally to have 8 beds but was soon expanded to 10 beds and by 1929 it had 14 beds. It took infectious cases other than fever and smallpox. It was administered by Hampton Urban District Council, and was situated on Uxbridge Road, Hampton Hill. It appears to have closed in 1932 and the site was sold in 1937.

A Methodist Tabernacle is said to have existed in Morgan's Lane, Hayes End since 1874. It would seem that the church was registered in 1906 as the Hayes Tabernacle, Wood End Green. This registration was closed in 1927 and the church registered under the name of Morgan's Lane Church, Hayes End. In 1934 it moved to a new building in Uxbridge Road and was renamed Hayes End Methodist Church.

Goodwyn Avenue Wesleyan Methodist Church, a brick building in the Perpendicular style, was opened in Mill Hill in 1930. After the Second World War a hall was added at the rear. The Church is now closed.

It would appear that from 1859 Wesleyans were meeting for worship at a coffee house and dining rooms in Whittington Terrace, Upper Holloway. The society acquired its own premises when in 1864 a site was purchased in St John's Road and an iron building erected upon it. This was the site later occupied by the Archway Central Hall. In 1873 a far more substantial chapel was opened on the adjacent site - on the junction of five roads opposite the Archway Tavern, since Victorian times one of the busiest traffic centres in North London. Up to that point still part of the Islington (Liverpool Road) Circuit, Archway Road Chapel became the head of the newly formed Highgate Circuit (1873), which reached out to the new suburbs rapidly growing up on the Northern Heights.

Archway was one of no less than 85 Wesleyan chapels built in 1872. In 1932 it was decided to replace the crumbling, out of date building with a large Central Hall, to be set back from the busy and noisy Great North Road. It was to be the first central hall scheme initiated after Methodist Union and the last Central Hall built in London.

Source: http://www.londonmethodist.org.uk/index.html

The Metropolitan Asylums Board was established by an Order of the Poor Law Board, 15 May 1867. This Order combined the London unions and parishes in to one 'Metropolitan Asylum District' to comply with the stipulations of the Metropolitan Poor Act of 29 March 1867 (30 and 31 Vict c 6). This Act provided for "the Establishment in the Metropolis of Asylums for the Sick, Insane, and other Classes of the Poor and of Dispensaries; and for the Distribution over the Metropolis of Portions of the Charge for Poor Relief; and for other Purposes relating to Poor Relief". The Metropolitan Asylum District was responsible for "the reception and relief of poor persons infected with or suffering from fever or the disease of smallpox or who may be insane".

Under the Local Government Act, 1929 the powers and duties of the Board were transferred to the London County Council.

The building which was formerly the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Chapel in Falmouth Road, Southwark, now houses the Nigerian church, the Church of the Holy Cross and Star.

Wesleyan Methodists registered a preaching hall in Upton Road (later part of Belsize Road) from 1861 to 1870. This may have been a forerunner of the Quex Road Methodist Church. The Church was built by Wesleyan Methodists on a site bought in 1868, and was registered in 1870. Attendance in 1886 was 356 for morning service and 400 for evening service; in 1903 attendance was 282 for morning service and 409 in the evening. A Church Hall was built in 1905. The Church was replaced in 1975 with small block of flats in Quex Road and a 2-storeyed church was built in Kingsgate Road.

From: 'Hampstead: Protestant Nonconformity', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 9: Hampstead, Paddington (1989), pp. 153-158.

Friern Hospital, New Southgate (formerly Colney Hatch Asylum) was normally used as a mental hospital, but on the outbreak of the Second World War 900 beds were set aside for the treatment of civilian war casualties. The City of London Maternity Hospital occupied part of the hospital after its own premises in Finsbury were severely damaged by bombing in September 1940 until the end of March 1941 when these beds were required for air-raid casualties.

The German Evangelical Church in Islington was established in 1862 in a chapel in Fowler Road off Halton Street, Islington. Street directories suggest that it was closed by 1917.

The London County Council Sports Club was set up by a joint committee of the committees of the Association and Rugby Football Clubs, the Hockey Club, and the Netball Club on 18 June 1923. It was intended to admit other sports or games clubs formed among the professional and clerical staff of the London County Council which adhered to the Sports Club's objectives.

Hounslow Chapel was built about 1874 as a Methodist church. Its use as a church ceased about 1939 and during the Second World War it was used as a British Restaurant. In 1948 the building was bought by the United Synagogues.

John Wesley visited Staines in 1771 and preached in a house which had just been fitted up for the purpose. He recorded an enthusiastic reception and according to the Anglican authorities the number of Methodists increased between 1778 and 1810. There does not seem to have been a proper chapel before about 1845, but the Wesleyan minister from Windsor registered a dwelling-house in Staines for religious worship in 1825. By 1865, and probably twenty years before, the Wesleyan chapel stood on the site of the present Salvation Army fortress in the Kingston Road. This chapel was replaced in 1890 by the present building in the Gothic style on the other side of the road. It is built in red brick with stone dressings and has a south-west spire. In 1957 the church had about 160 members.

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. 30-31.

The Wandsworth Circuit had orginally been part of the Hammersmith Circuit. In 1889 the Wandsworth Circuit was divided into several Circuits, one of which was the new Tooting Circuit formed of Upper Tooting, Lower Tooting, Wimbeldon and Merton Churches. This was renamed the London Mission (Tooting) Circuit at the end of 1923.

Emmanuel Mission Hall, Garratt Lane was founded in 1885 and its work was largely superseded by Tooting Central Hall built in 1910.

Balham Hill Methodist Church was in operation from 1898 to around 1920. The Wesleyan Church at Mitcham was built in 1908, the Southfields Methodist Society was founded in 1905 and this Society later built Southfields Central Hall.

Colliers Wood Methodist Mission was built in 1934.

The Primitive Methodists operated several Chapels in the area which later joined the London Mission (Tooting) Circuit following the Unification of the Methodist Church in 1932. The registers of baptisms for Lynwood Road, Upper Tooting include baptisms performed in other Primitive Methodist Chapels. The Church at Balham Hill (Oldridge Road) was formerly at 1 Balham Grove.

The London Electricity Consultative Council (LECC) was established in 1947 under the Electricity Act 1947 which nationalised all the electricity companies. It was one of many area consultative councils established in Britain to answer complaints from consumers concerning electricity supply. All Area Electricity Consultative Councils (AECCs) were sponsored by the Department of Trade.

The LECC dealt with complaints concerning the London Electricity Board (LEB). In 1976 their work expanded to include complaints about purchases made from LEB shops (in 1988 this accounted for 13% of complaints made), From 1947 to 1986, District Committees dealt with local issues and reported to the LECC. The District Committees were replaced by local complaints panels in 1986.

The LECC acted as a consumer watchdog body, it was involved in negotiations with the LEB on policy, tariffs and complaints and it published annual reports. Its headquarters were at Newspaper House, Great New Street, London EC4. In March 1990 the Electricity Act 1989 came into force, privatising the electricity industry, and the LECC was abolished.

After March 1990 a new regulating body was formed, the Office of Electricity Regulation (OFFER), based in Birmingham with localised branch offices.

Fulham Baptist Church is situated on Dawes Road, Fulham.

Theophilus Charles Noble was born in London in 1840. He was an author and antiquarian, publishing works including The Lord Mayor of London: a sketch of the origin, history and antiquity of the office (1860); Memorials of Temple Bar (1870); A Ramble round the Crystal Palace (1875); A collection of papers relating to the management and mismanagement of the Public Record Office, London (1875); Biographical Notices of T Wood DD, sometime Bishop of Lichfield (1882); The Spanish Armada and the Public Records (1888) and A Brief History of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers (1889). In 1869 he received two special votes of thanks from the Irish Society after his publication of letters helped to defeat a Bill before the House of Commons which aimed to remove some of the Irish estates from the City of London companies. Noble died in 1890. His manuscripts were auctioned: see Catalogue of the library and collections (printed and manuscript) of T.C. Noble... consisting mostly of works on topography, chiefly of London... sold by auction... (London: Puttick and Simpson, 1890). This is possibly when the Guildhall Library acquired the papers.

Plumstead Methodist Central Hall opened in 1905 on Plumstead High Street.

The London Methodist Districts Women's Luncheon Club met to share lunch and listen to guest speakers.

Trinity Church Methodist New Connexion was situated at Perry Vale, Forest Hill, 1865-1920. Forest Hill Methodist Church is now on Normanton Street.

The Staines parish vestry managed a fire engine from the 18th century. The Local Board was formed in 1872 and became an Urban District Council in 1894. The Local Board took over local administration responsibilities, including management of a local fire service, from the parish vestry.

Northwold Primary School on Northwold Road, Hackney, was opened in 1902 as Northwold Road School. At first it was a mixed boarding school for for 366 seniors, 306 juniors and 306 infants. The school was reorganised in 1923 to provide space for 440 boys, 440 girls and 480 infants. Separate secondary and primary schools were established by 1949, when both were renamed Northwold School. The secondary school closed by 1955, but the primary school still occupies the same building.

From: 'Hackney: Education', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10: Hackney (1995), pp. 148-165 (available online).

In 1878 the Primitive Methodists registered a chapel in Western Road, Southall.

The Wesleyan Methodists opened a chapel in South Road in 1885. In 1916 the King's Hall was erected on the same site, forming the headquarters of Wesleyan Methodism in the area and provided a place for their social and religious meetings.

The Uxbridge and Southall Circuit served Methodist churches in South West London. It was reorganised in 2006 and the churches redistributed, for example, to the Ealing Trinity Circuit and the Amersham Circuit.

A national system of marriage registration introduced in 1837 by the Registration of Births and Marriages Act. Local registration was managed by the Poor Law Boards of Guardians until 1929, after this date it was managed by local government. The General Registry Office was in overall charge of the collection and collation of the data.

Sir Cyril Jackson (1863-1924) was a well known educationalist. After studying at Oxford he decided to commit himself to social work among the poor of the East End of London and began educational work. He was a member of the London School Board 1891 to 1896 and ran a boys' club at Northey Street School (later Cyril Jackson School) which aimed to reform Limehouse street boys. Between 1896 and 1903 he was Inspector General of Schools in Western Australia and made successful reforms to their educational system. On returning to England he became Inspector of Elementary Schools for the Board of Education.

Between 1907 and 1913 Jackson was an elected member of the London County Council Limehouse division and was leader of the Municipal Reform Party, a local party allied to the Parliamentary Conservative Party. This party had been formed in 1906 in order to overturn Progressive and Labour control of much of London municipal government. It incorporated the Moderate Party, who had formed previous opposition to the Progressives on the county council.

The first elections for which the Municipal Reform Party stood were those to Metropolitan Borough councils, on 1 November 1906. The campaign was very successful, with Municipal Reformers winning control of twenty-two of twenty-eight councils. Following this success, the Party published a manifesto for the 1907 London County Council election. Policies included: tight controls on financial expenditure, proper auditing of municipal accounts, creation of a traffic board to coordinate transport in the capital, support of electricity provision by private enterprise and an education policy favouring denominational schools. The manifesto proved a success and the party took power from the Progressives. They remained in power until 1934 when the Labour Party gained control of the Council. Between 1934 and 1946 the Municipal Reform Party formed the opposition on the council. From 1946 onwards Conservative candidates replaced the Municipal Reform Party.

Cannon Lane Methodist Church is situated in Pinner. It was opened in 1956. It is part of the Harrow and Hillingdon Circuit.

Eastcote Methodist Church began as meetings in private houses, begun in around 1825. In 1848 the first Methodist chapel was built opposite the present chapel in Pamela Gardens. This served the Eastcote congregation until a new chapel in Pamela Gardens, the building of which had been delayed by the Second World War, was substantially completed. The chapel was occupied in 1950 and building work finished in 1962.

A Wesleyan Methodist church was opened in 1929 to serve the new Kenton estate, near Harrow, and was replaced by another church and a hall on the same site, Woodgrange Avenue, in 1937.

Ruislip Common Chapel was built in 1854 and taken over for use by a Methodist congregation in 1882.

Ruislip Manor Methodist Church was built in 1937 on Torrington Road.

South Harrow Methodist Church is situated on the corner of Walton Avenue and Carlyon Avenue.

Harrow Methodist Church, Welldon Crescent, was opened in 1904. The church has now closed and the building has been converted into the Welldon Community Centre.

The Leysian Mission was founded in 1886 as a large Wesleyan Methodist settlement and mission by past and present scholars of the Leys School, Cambridge. The work started in Whitecross Street, moved to 12 Errol Street in 1890, and then moved in 1904 to the new headquarters building in City Road, Finsbury. This striking building of terracotta bricks and red granite, costing £124,000, was designed by Messrs Bradshaw and Gass. The Queen Victoria Hall seated 2,000 persons and the building itself accommodated 125 rooms and four roof gardens for settlement purposes, with commercial premises at street frontage level.

At the opening of the building by the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1904, Lord Strathcona described the object of the mission as two-fold "to bring religious and ameliorative influences to bear upon the lives of toilers in one of the most crowded districts in London" and "to give to those who have enjoyed the privilege of a public school education the opportunity of coming into direct and sympathetic contact with the social problems that appeal for their solution to the Christian Church and to all good citizens at large".

The Circuit included Haggerston Methodist Mission, Brownlow Street and Shoreditch Methodist Mission, Nichols Square, Hackney Road. The Leysian Mission closed in 1989 and the congregation united with Wesley's Chapel, City Road to form Wesley's Chapel and Leysian Centre.

Under the provisions of the Lunacy Act of 1890 the London County Council was charged with the duty of providing and maintaining mental hospitals for rate-aided patients, and could also provide services for private paying patients. In 1937 the Council was maintaining 21 institutions with total accommodation of 33,823 beds. These institutions were often situated outside London and included:

Banstead Hospital, Sutton, Surrey

Bexley Hospital, Bexley, Kent

Cane Hill Hospital, Coulsdon, Surrey

Claybury Hospital, Woodford Bridge, Essex

Friern Hospital, New Southgate

Horton Hospital, Epsom, Surrey

Long Grove Hospital, Epsom, Surrey

Saint Bernard's Hospital, Southall

Saint Ebba's Hospital, Epsom, Surrey

West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey

The Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill

Brunswick House, Mistley, Kent

Darenth Park, Dartford, Kent

Farmfield, Horley, Surrey

The Fountain Hospital, Tooting Grove

The Manor, Epsom, Surrey

South Side Home, Streatham Common

Caterham Hospital, Caterham, Surrey

Leavesden Hospital, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire

Tooting Bec Hospital, Tooting Bec Road.

St Aidan's Presbyterian Church, Ealing, was built in 1922 to replace Elthorne Park Presbyterian Church, Hanwell, which had formed in 1906. The church was situated at the corner of Leybourne Avenue and St Aidan's Road and had 200 seats. Following the formation of the United Reformed Church in 1972 by the union of the Presbyterian Church of England and the Congregational Church of England and Wales, St Aidan's became part of the United Reformed Church. The church closed in about 1991.

Hugh Price Hughes a Wesleyan Minister in London founded the West London Mission in 1887 as part of the Forward Movement in Methodism which stressed that faith had to be expressed in social and political as well as personal life. The Inaugural meeting of the then West Central Mission was on 21st October 1887 with the Sermon at St. James' Hall, Piccadilly preached by C.H. Spurgeon. The West London Mission remained at St. James' Hall which was a popular Concert Hall, until 1905 when it was demolished to form the Piccadilly Hotel. The Mission moved to Exeter Hall, another concert hall, in the Strand.

In 1906 the Methodist Conference gave the Mission its own building, the Wesleyan Chapel at Great Queen Street. The building was later condemned by the LCC and the Mission were temporarily housed in the Lyceum Theatre, while on Great Queen Street at the old site a new place of worship, Kingsway Hall, was under construction. Kingsway Hall opened in 1912 and enjoyed nearly 70 years of occupation until it was sold in the eighties after the amalgamation of the Kingsway Circuit and Hinde Street; the Mission returned to the West End to Thayer Street/Hinde Street.

In the early days, much of the day to day work went on in smaller chapels and halls in the middle of slum areas where social needs were great. These buildings such as Craven Hall at Fouberts Place were used for a wide variety of activities not just devotional but social, education and welfare. However, this use of smaller halls was dropped after the First World War in favour of the new Kingsway Hall premises.

Since its beginning the West London Mission has been involved with social work. One of its first services offered was a Crèche. There were also job registries and men's social department catering for the unemployed, dispensaries and free surgeries, a poor man's lawyer service, a Home of Peace for the Dying, a home for homeless girls - The Winchester House, and a clothing store. In the 1920s and 1930s the social work of the West London Mission expanded. They set up hostels for abandoned mothers and for girls in London without jobs and in 1923 a Mission Maternity Hospital was established. The Social work continued and now includes St. Luke's and St. Mary's Hostels for men and women, Emerson Bainbridge House for young offenders and the Katherine Price Hughes house set up in 1937 and which now provides accommodation for men and women on probation and bail.

Another aspect of the work of the Mission was Open Air Ministry. There were open air services on the streets every evening and in Hyde Park on Sundays which included the Mission brass band. One of the most well known open air preachers was the Reverend Lord Donald Soper whose outdoor work began in 1927 at Tower Hill and in 1942 at Speakers' Corner.

The Mission now has its home at 19 Thayer Street.

Holly Park Methodist Church, Crouch Hill, was founded in 1875, although a permament hall was not built until 1882. The Weston Park Mission was begun by the Holly Park Church although it was later taken over by the Middle Lane Church. The Holly Park Methodist Church Hall is now used by the Holly Park Montessori School.

Previously known as Coare and Swaine, then as Coare, Swaine and Minnitt. By 1815 the firm was known as Swaine, Minnet and Company. The distillery was based at 8 Holborn Bridge, City of London. Upon the death of Mrs Mary Minnitt of Bruce Grove, Tottenham, a trust was established know as Minnitt's Trust.

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.

Fostering - that is the arrangement whereby one person pays another for the care of a child - has always existed in one form or another. It had its abuses, the grossest of which was baby farming, the scandal of which necessitated legislation in the form of the Infant Life Protection Act 1872 which made it compulsory for persons taking for hire two or more infants less than a year old to register with the local authorities, who were the Councils in the care of the boroughs and the Justices in the case of counties. Child life protection as a whole was transferred to the Poor Law authorities, whose duties comprised the receiving of notice where a person undertook for reward the nursing and maintenance of an infant under the age of 7; the appointment of visitors to inspect such children; the limitation of the number in a dwelling; the removal of such infants improperly kept; and the receiving of fines imposed from offences.

Hendon Poor Law Union was founded in May 1835. It was formed from parishes in Edgware, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Hendon, Kingsbury, Pinner, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore and Willesden. Harrow Weald, Wealdstone and Wembley parishes were added in 1894. Willesden separated in 1896.

In 1838 the Hendon Union workhouse was built at Burnt Oak on the north side of the Edgware Road. In 1930 it was taken over by Middlesex County Council and became Redhill Public Assistance Institution, and later Redhill Hospital, which was renamed Edgware General Hospital. Hendon Union Schools were erected near the workhouse in 1859 and later became part of the 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.

Staines Poor Law Union was formed in June 1836. It had 13 constituent parishes, all situated in what was then Middlesex: Ashford, East Bedfont with Hatton, Cranford, Feltham, Hanworth, Harlington, Harmondsworth, Laleham, Littleton, Staines, Stanwell, Shepperton, Sunbury. In 1831 the population of the Union was 12,644. The Union constructed a new workhouse on the London Road in Ashford in 1840-1841.

Fostering - that is the arrangement whereby one person pays another for the care of a child - has always existed in one form or another. It had its abuses, the grossest of which was baby farming, the scandal of which necessitated legislation in the form of the Infant Life Protection Act 1872 which made it compulsory for persons taking for hire two or more infants less than a year old to register with the local authorities, who were the Councils in the care of the boroughs and the Justices in the case of counties. A new Infant Life Protection Act was passed in 1897 which included the power for the inspectors of the local authority forcibly to remove a fostered child to a place of safety if it were endangered. A further measure to the same end was the Notification of Births Act 1907, a permissive act , made compulsory in 1915, whereby all births had not only to be registered but also notified to the local medical officer of health. Under the Children Act 1908, the legislation was extended to cover those fostering one child for reward. Child life protection as a whole was transferred to the Poor Law authorities, whose duties comprised the receiving of notice where a person undertook for reward the nursing and maintenance of an infant under the age of 7; the appointment of visitors to inspect such children; the limitation of the number in a dwelling; the removal of such infants improperly kept; and the receiving of fines imposed from offences.