The Committee of London Clearing Bankers was based at 10 Lombard Street. It was formed in 1821 as the Committee of Bankers to oversee the London Clearing House (no records of the London Clearing House are held, except those of Bankers' Clearing House Limited). It also came to represent the interests of the London private and joint stock banks and later the "Big Five" clearing banks. It was renamed the Committee of London and Scottish Bankers in 1985. In 1991, it was subsumed into the British Bankers' Association.
Daniel Asher Alexander (1768-1846) was educated at St Paul's School. He was a silver medallist, Royal Academy. He was also surveyor to London Dock Company (1796-1831) and to Trinity House. Alexander designed lighthouses at Harwich and Lundy Island, and prisons at Dartmoor and Maidstone. William Vaughan (1752-1850) was a merchant and author. He was a director of the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation, London, 1783-1829. He advocated canal extension, 1791; published pamphlets urging extension of London Docks, 1793-1797. His publications include: "Answer to objections against the London-docks" (1796); "A collection of tracts on wet docks for the Port of London: with hints on trade and commerce and on free-ports" (1797); "A comparative statement of the advantages and disadvantages of the docks in Wapping and the docks in the Isle of Dogs" (1799); "A letter to a friend on commerce and free ports and London-docks" (1796).
Before 1951 the Committee of Principals of Catholic Training Colleges was known as the Association of Catholic Training Colleges, and then the Association of Principals of Catholic Training Colleges.
The Committee on children and young persons was a Home Office Departmental Committee, chaired by Osbert Peake, 1st Viscount Ingleby (1897-1966). The committee's report was published as Cmnd 1191.
On 29 Apr 1901, the Committee on Military Education was appointed to consider and report what changes, if any, were desirable in the system of training and educating candidates for the British Army at public schools and universities, and in the relationship between these bodies and the military authorities, so as to ensure a supply of better trained candidates for the British Army. The committee investigated whether it was desirable to maintain the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and the Royal Military College at Woolwich and, if so, whether the system of administration and education at these institutions was satisfactory. It also studied whether the instruction at these institutions should be purely military and technical, or whether it should embrace general scholarly education as well. In addition, the committee investigated whether officer candidates who entered the Army though the militia compared favourably with those trained at Sandhurst and Woolwich. The committee first met on 2 May 1901. From 9 May 1901 to 12 Dec 1901, it held 41 sittings and interviewed 73 witnesses, including high ranking officers. Its findings were presented in two volumes to the Secretary of State for War in 1902, and subsequently published for public consumption.
The Committee on One Parent Families (Finer Committee) was established by Richard (Howard Stafford) Crossman, Secretary of State for Social Services, on 6 November 1969, to consider the problems of one parent families and what help could be given them. The Chair was the Hon Sir Morris Finer (1917-1974). The Report of the Committee (Cmnd 5629) was presented to Barbara Anne Castle, Secretary of State for Social Services, in July 1974. The Committee gathered material through the research projects of universities, government departments and charities, as well as the Department of Health and Social Services and its own research assistants. It also collected evidence from organisations and individuals, a request for which was published in the national press of November 1969. Professor Richard Morris Titmuss, Professor of Social Administration at LSE, was a member of the Committee until his death in 1973.
The Committee was set up in December 1961, to advise the Secretary for Technical Co-operation on the training facilities in public administration and related subjects provided in the UK for government servants and other public employees from overseas, and the arrangements for assistance from the UK in building up local facilities in this field; and report on their adequacy for present and forseeable future demand. It met several times over the next year, receiving written and oral evidence from numerous parties, and reported back at the end of 1962.
The Committee on woman power was a committee of women MPs and women sympathisers, to investigate possibilities for and problems of, women' war work. The Committee was chaired by Irene Ward (1895-1980) and it met at the House of Commons.
A committee appointed to 'enquire into the present state of the linen trade in Great Britain and Ireland' had reported back to the House of Commons on 25 May 1773. The meetings of 1774, were concerned with increasing distress in the trade and emigration to America.
The Committee to Review the Functioning of Financial Institutions was set up in 1976 with Sir James Harold Wilson as its Chair. The Committee's report was published in 1984.
The principal object of the society was the provision of Anglican evangelical clergymen, missionaries and schoolteachers for territories of the British Empire and Commonwealth overseas, and for communities of British residents on the continent of Europe.
The society was founded in January 1851 by the uniting of two earlier societies. The first of these was the Colonial Church Society established in 1835 as Western Australia Missionary Society. Its name changed in 1836 to Australian Church Missionary Society, and in 1838 to Colonial Church Society. Its address at the time of the merger was 5 Exeter Hall, Strand.
The second was the Newfoundland School Society established in 1823. Its name changed in 1829 to the Newfoundland and British North American Society for the Education of the Poor, and in 1846 to Church of England Society for the Education of the Poor in Newfoundland and the Colonies, but it was still frequently referred to as the Newfoundland School Society until 1850. Its address at the time of the merger was 4 Exeter Hall, Strand.
The united society was known as the Colonial Church and School Society from 1851 to 1861, the Colonial and Continental Church Society from 1861 to 1958, and the Commonwealth and Continental Church Society from 1958 to 1979. In 1979 its name was changed to the Intercontinental Church Society.
The Society's address was 4 Serjeants Inn, Fleet Street (1851-4); 9 Serjeants Inn, Fleet Street (1855-1941); 6 Salisbury Square EC4 (1942-5); 13 Victoria Street SW1 (1946-59); 7 York Buildings WC2 (1960-74); and 175 Tower Bridge Road SE1 (from 1975).
The Society has operated in many parts of the world. The Newfoundland School Society was concerned solely with the provision of schools and schoolteachers in Newfoundland and (from 1838) other parts of Canada. The Colonial Church Society originally sent missionaries only to Australia, but its operations were extended to Canada in 1838, and to other British possessions, namely South Africa, the West Indies, Malta, India and Hong Kong, during the 1840s.
The Colonial Church Society first took an interest in continental Europe in 1839, when it offered assistance to a clergyman in Italy. During the 1840s its continental operations were extended to France and the Netherlands.
All these activities were taken over by the united Society in 1851. The continental work of the Society was extended to Germany and Switzerland in the 1850s, to Austria, Belgium, Spain and Turkey in the 1860s, and to Greece, Norway and Sweden in the 1870s.
The Society's colonial operations were extended to Mauritius in the 1850s, to Sierra Leone in the 1860s, to New Zealand in the 1870s, and to Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika in the 20th century.
The London branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia was based at 36-38 New Broad Street (1913-31); and subsequently at 8 Old Jewry (1931-).
The Rev Ashley Cooper had first suggested a four yearly 'English speaking' festival of sport for countries within the British Empire in an article in The Times in 1891. However it was not until 1911 that an 'Inter-Empire Championships' took place at Crystal Palace as part of the 'Festival of Empire' to mark the coronation of King George V.
It would be 1928 before any formal steps were taken to organise a British Empire Games. In that year, the Canadian Melville Marks 'Bobby' Robinson was promised support from the Hamilton civic authorities and, after meetings with the Empire representatives, it was agreed that the first British Empire Games were to be held in Hamilton, Canada in 1930.
The 'British Empire Games' was renamed the 'British Empire and Commonwealth Games' at a meeting of the Federation on 20 July 1952. A further meeting on 7 August 1966 saw it becoming the 'British Commonwealth Games' before finally changing its title to the 'Commonwealth Games' on 27 January 1974.
The British Empire Games Federation, later the Commonwealth Games Federation, was formed at a meeting held in Los Angeles, 7 August 1932. Just as the International Olympic Committee is the governing body in charge of the Olympic Games, the CGF oversees the direction and control of the Commonwealth Games.
The Commonwealth Journalists' Association was founded by a group of journalists in 1978 following a conference of Commonwealth non-governmental organisations held at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada, to cater for the needs of individual journalists in Commonwealth countries. The CJA's objectives include the raising of journalistic standards by the provision of training courses, the encouragement of an interest in and knowledge of Commonwealth affairs and the defence of the independence of journalists where a threat is perceived. The CJA takes a particular interest in safeguarding the rights of journalists in countries where press freedom is restricted and has intervened on several occasions, sometimes in collaboration with other interested bodies, to secure the re-opening of a newspaper or the release of journalists from prison. The CJA's main activity is the provision of training courses for journalists in developing countries. Other activities include holding conferences, open to the whole membership, every three years. Where there is sufficiently large individual membership in a given country or region members are encouraged to set up local branches or chapters to organise their own activities and, where possible, organise their own training. A newsletter devoted to subjects of professional interest is published and distributed to members three times yearly.
The Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA) was founded during the Fourth Commonwealth Law Conference in New Delhi in 1971. The idea was initiated by Indian lawyer Dr Laxmi Singhvi, CLEA's first chairman. The Association's objects were to foster high standards of legal education and research in Commonwealth countries, to build up contacts between interested individuals and organizations, and to disseminate information and literature concerning legal education and research. CLEA established its headquarters in the offices of the Legal Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat in Marlborough House, London, and with the Legal Director as its Honorary Secretary and Treasurer. In 1973 it obtained a grant from the Commonwealth Foundation; this funding, plus subscriptions from members, enabled the CLEA to embark on the projects planned on its establishment. It has received further long term grants from the Commonwealth Foundation to continue its activities. CLEA's structure, objectives and functions are set out in its Constitution, adopted soon after its foundation. Membership is open to individuals, schools of law and other institutions concerned with legal education and research. Patrons are appointed from various Commonwealth countries. The affairs of the Association are managed by an Executive Committee, drawn from the Commonwealth regions, which meets annually; its actions are reviewed at 5 yearly General Meetings, the first of which was held in Edinburgh during the Fifth Commonwealth Law Conference in 1977. There is an Advisory Panel in the United Kingdom. The administration of the Association was carried out by a chairman and two secretaries, one in London and one abroad. In 1990 the office of chairman was replaced by a president and executive chairperson (since renamed vice president). The President may be elected from any part of the Commonwealth; the Vice President must be established in the UK. In 1994 a South Asian regional chapter was formed.
The Commonwealth Legal Records Project (CLRP), which began its investigations in 1990, was jointly sponsored by the Association of Commonwealth Archivists and Records Managers (ACARM) and the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA), and was financed by a grant from the Leverhulme Foundation. It comprised a three year programme of research into modern legal records throughout the Commonwealth. The objectives of the study were to: i) analyse questions relating to the nature, extent and potential uses of legal records of all kinds; ii) collect information about the state of legal records in selected Commonwealth jurisdictions; iii) analyse factors relevant to devising informed policies regarding the management, appraisal, preservation and destruction of legal records and suggest guidelines; iv) produce and disseminate the findings of the study in a form that would be useful to interested institutions and individuals in different jurisdictions in the Commonwealth, especially developing countries.
Publications: William Twining and Emma Varnden Quick Legal records in the Commonwealth (Aldershot, Dartmouth, 1994); Legal records in Accra (Ghana).
The Commonwealth Secretariat was established in June 1965 by a decision of the 1964 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Prior to this date intra-Commonwealth affairs had been administered by British Civil Servants. The Secretariat was designed to assist internal co-operation between member states and was never intended to have executive powers.
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) promotes, through collaborative projects, the growth of international telecommunications throughout the Commonwealth. The organisation endeavours to link its commitment to development and training to the benefits attached to the creation and extension of commercial opportunities.
Commonwealth collaboration in international telecommunications dates back to 1902. During this period the nature and scope of formal Commonwealth collaboration in this field has undergone profound change. In most respects, this change reflects technological development and, by extension, the commercial nature of the telecommunications business and, of course, the changing status and functions of the Commonwealth. The CTO is the present institutional manifestation of this wider evolution.
The earliest substantive example of Commonwealth collaboration was the establishment of the Pacific Cable Board (PCB). The first submarine telegraph cables linking Britain with the other commonwealth dominions of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand were laid by cable companies. These companies were unwilling to meet the expense of laying a cable across the Pacific from Canada to Australia. The Dominion governments considered that the link was necessary for the enhancement of imperial strategic security and imperial trade. The PCB was given the responsibility of constructing and managing the cable, which was laid in 1902. In subsequent years the board established and operated facilities in other parts of the Commonwealth.
The commercial development of long-distance radio transmission by the Marconi company led to the introduction in the 1920s of beam radiotelegraphy between Britain and Australia, Canada, India and South Africa. This new medium posed a threat to the commercial interests of British long-distance cable companies. In 1928 the inter-governmental Imperial Wireless and Cable Conference was convened to discuss the situation. This produced a report recommending, inter alia, the formation of a single communications company to take over and operate all the communications systems of all wireless and cable companies throughout the Commonwealth and Empire, including the British Post Office (BPO) and the Pacific Cable Board. This company (Imperial and International Communications Ltd) later became known as Cable and Wireless Limited. Since then, Cable and Wireless has continued to play an important commercial and training role in Commonwealth telecommunications.
The 1928 conference also led to the creation of the Imperial Communications Advisory Committee (ICAC), which the new company was required to consult on any questions of policy, including alterations in rates. Australia, Britain, Canada, India, the Irish Free State, New Zealand and South Africa were represented on this committee. British committee members were usually drawn from British Dominion Office personnel and Dominion officials came from the respective high commissions in London. A Colonial Office official represented the British Colonies and Protectorates.
In making these arrangements the 1928 Conference was particularly concerned to ensure that the competing technologies of wireless and cable transmission was integrated and harmonised to maximise the benefits to the Commonwealth as a whole.
The Second World War had a considerable impact on Commonwealth telecommunications and in 1942 a Commonwealth Conference in Australia recommended that the advisory committee should be reconstituted. It was replaced by the Commonwealth Communications Council (CCC), with its members now being resident in their own countries. This change was effected in 1944 and the new council met in London on five occasions between 1944 and 1949. Much of its time and effort was devoted to devising ways and means of improving the central co-ordination of Commonwealth telecommunications, a matter which the governments regarded as essential for the consolidation and strengthening of the Commonwealth system.
In 1945 Lord Reith, at the request of the British Government, undertook a tour of the Dominions, including India, in order to discuss with the governments the new proposals put forward by London. This tour prepared the way for a Commonwealth Telecommunications Conference in London in that same year. The conference was attended by representatives of the Dominions, as well as Southern Rhodesia and India. The central recommendation was for the nationalisation of all overseas telecommunications in the Commonwealth and for the establishment of a strong central co-ordinating body. This new central body would replace the CCC and was to be known as the Commonwealth Telecommunications Board.
These recommendations were accepted and embodied in the Commonwealth Telegraphs Agreement, signed in London on 11 May 1948. Provision was included in the agreement for operating agreements to be signed between each partner government, its national (operating) body and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Board. (The 1948 Agreement was later modified by a Supplemental Agreement, dated 25 July 1963, which substituted a revised form of operating agreement). South Africa ceased to be a partner government in 1961 on leaving the Commonwealth. Similarly, Southern Rhodesia left in 1969.
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Board was incorporated in the United Kingdom on 31 May 1949 by the Commonwealth Telegraphs Act 1949. The board held its first meeting on 10 November 1949. It was composed of an independent Chairman (appointed jointly by all the partner governments), one member from each of the individual governments, and one member appointed by Britain to represent the colonies and protectorates. These members were normally resident in London and the board met regularly at fortnightly intervals.
The Board's functions, as originally specified in the CTA, was wide-ranging, but in practice the Board's efforts over the years were mainly consultative, coordinative and advisory, directed towards the efficient development and use of the Commonwealth telecommunications network. Associated with this objective was the important task of administering the Partners' joint financial arrangements known as the First Wayleave Scheme.
Under the Wayleave Scheme, which was in force until 1972/73, each national body kept its own net revenue (calculated by an agreed deduction from its gross receipts) and made such use of the Commonwealth 'common-user' system as it desired. The expenses incurred by each national body in maintaining and operating its part of the system were calculated in an agreed manner. The total expenses of the whole common-user system were then allocated among national bodies in proportion to the net revenue each received of the total net revenue of all national bodies. The resultant debits were set against the common-user expenses incurred by each national body and the differences settled as net Wayleave payments or receipts.
Reviews of these financial arrangements took place in 1952, 1958, 1964 and 1966, the first and the third being held under the auspices of the Board, the second and fourth in conjunction with Commonwealth Telecommunications Conferences.
Despite the post-war expansion of long-distance radio links and their increased operating efficiency, by 1956 it was apparent to the CTB that the growing demand for telecommunications facilities could not be adequately met by this means. The Board therefore drew up and recommended to partner governments plans for a round-the-world submarine telephone cable system to serve the trunk routes of the Commonwealth network. This cable system would employ the newly developed coaxial cable technique with submerged repeaters. A Commonwealth Telecommunications Conference was convened in London in 1958 to review the plans for the project. Because of the huge extra costs involved in the project it was recommended that separate financial arrangements should apply to all services carried by the new cable system. This resulted in a new Second Wayleave Scheme embodied in a new arrangement and based on the same principles as the First. The Second Wayleave Scheme added to the practical tasks of organising the installation and subsequent exploitation of the new cable system. In order to cope with the increased work load a new body, the Commonwealth Cable Management Committee (CCMC), was established by those Commonwealth countries that financed the project.
The expanding demand for broad band systems on some of the shorter Commonwealth routes (e.g. Caribbean) led to the employment of other media, notably tropospheric scatter and VHF radio systems.
The development of satellite technolgy in the early 1960s presented new opportunities in international telecommunications. It also posed new financial problems for the Commonwealth partnership. For these reasons a Commonwealth Telecommunications Conference was held in London, in 1965. In the light of these new technological developments the conference recognised the need to devise new collaborative financial arrangements, as well as review the existing arrangements for collaboration. Having arranged for a meeting of financial experts and a committee to review the organisation the conference adjourned. It reconvened in 1966 to consider the reports of these bodies and to frame recommendations to the member governments.
The 1966 Conference recommended that a new Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) should be established. It would be made up of a council composed of representatives of partner governments and a bureau based in London to function under the control and direction of the council. It would hold Commonwealth conferences every three years.
The 1966 Conference also recommended the termination of the Commonwealth Telegraphs Agreements of 1948 and 1963 and the incorporation of all existing financial arrangements in a new single financial agreement. These recommendations were accepted by all the partner governments and the CTO came into being in 1967. The first meeting of the Council took place in April 1967 and the Bureau was established in 1968-9. Transfer of the old Board's functions to the organisation occurred in April 1969, following the signing of a new Financial Agreement, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Financial Arrangements (CTFA), and the termination of the old CTAs.
In 1973 a new unified accounting arrangement was introduced under the Commonwealth Telecommunications Financial Agreement. Throughout the 1970s, however, advances in technology were complicating accounting arrangements, and commercial pressures were creating dissatisfaction regarding some aspects of the arrangements, particularly among the more developed national bodies. Following the 1977 Conference, a Committee of Council for the Development of Financial Arrangements (CCDFA) recommended that the CTFA be replaced.
Alongside these developments, steps were being taken to terminate the Commonwealth cable system. Increasingly cables were laid in co-operation with non-Commonwealth administrations. In this case it was a straightforward matter to cancel the CTFA pooling arrangements and allow the cables to revert to the circuit allocations of each owner. For the older cables, the cable owners agreed to operate a simplified form of the cost-sharing scheme until the cables reached the end of their useful lives. The last of these cables was taken out of commission in 1986 and the Commonwealth Cable Management Committee was disbanded.
The 1982 Conference endorsed the scheme as proposed by Council and recommended to governments that the CTFA 1973 be terminated on 1 April 1983 and be replaced with a new agreement (CTOFA 1983) to operate from that date. The CTOFA had two functions. First, to provide a new accounting arrangement (CAA) for the member governments. Second, to provide start-up funding for collaborative projects, termed Non-Financial Collaborative Arrangements (NFCA). This later became known as the Programme for Development and Training (PDT). Funding under the CTOFA came in the form of annual pledges from national bodies. Members were organised into contribution groups with their annual contributions being based on their ability to pay.
Concurrent with the introduction of the CTOFA 1983, Council revised the machinery to deal with other collaborative arrangements. A management board (BOM) was established, comprising eight council representatives from developed and developing national bodies to oversee the disbursement of funds to both the CAA and the PDT. The Board was disbanded at the Twenty-fifth meeting of Council and its mandate was assumed by the Council. Four new bodies were constituted to assume direct control over specific aspects of the CTOFA. The Consultative Committee on Collaborative Arrangements (CCCA); the Operational and Development Group (ODG), the Accounting Arrangements Contact Officers Group (AACOG) were all composed of representatives from the national bodies. The fourth body was the Commonwealth Telecommunications Bureau. The Bureau is the secretariat of the organisation and works under the direction of the General Secretary . It provides administrative and logistical support to the Conference, the Council, its groups and committees.
In 1986, three years after the new financial arrangements were inaugurated, it was agreed at Conference that the division of funds between the CAA and the PDT should be altered. In three years, from 1986-9, the PDT's share of CTOFA funds would be increased from 10% to 50%. It was agreed that this would be effected through an increase in overall funding with a possible reduction in the amount given over to accounting arrangements. With this in mind Council undertook a survey in that year of the telecommunications needs of the developing national bodies, which resulted in a number of larger projects being undertaken, including significant rehabilitation exercises involving the loan of expertise and the provision of essential parts.
The spread of digital technology put a good deal of strain on relations within the organisation and, by extension, on its various functions. On the one hand the demand for international telecommunications throughout the 1980s continued to increase. Even during economic recessions the level of international telecommunications traffic continued to grow. Meeting this demand required a continuing expansion of broad band telecommunications transmission facilities. The CTO played an important role in ensuring a regular flow of information on future plans and their integration into the wider Commonwealth system. But at the same time two notable developments took place within the Commonwealth. First, many counties were extending the number of direct circuits with other non-commonwealth countries. There was, therefore, a declining need for a Commonwealth network. Second, the more developed countries adopted digital technology to extend their range of services. By 1992 two thirds of all
national bodies had digital satellite transmission facilities, much of this in the form of transglobal digital fibre optic cables. Unfortunately in Africa there were no plans to extend this system beyond French-speaking West Africa.
At the Commonwealth Telecommunications Conference in 1992, the governments agreed to Council's proposal that the CTO's preferential adjustments under the Commonwealth Accounting Arrangements should be terminated, while at the same time extending the scope and scale of the Programme for Development and Training (PDT). Cost constraints, along with privatisation and commercialisation, appear to have driven this decision. Even with these changes, some doubt existed over whether national bodies were prepared to fund the extension of the PDT. With funding a central issue, the CTO was directed by conference to establish a working group to investigate this issue. The issue of funding was important: administrative costs had risen from £0.94 to £0.99 million. Another issue at this time was outstanding debts carried over from the old CTFA liabilities.
By the following year major funding and organisational changes were anticipated, based on the findings of a CTO working party (the Genting Group). The working party's recommendations were endorsed by the 1992 Conference. The emphasis henceforth would be placed on training and the 'commercial interests of the service providers'. For some country members these changes did not go far enough. This issue, coupled with new proposals for contributions (switching from voluntary to mandatory contributions with a view to stabilising the CTO's funding) led to protests from New Zealand or Australia. These members gave notice that they were withdrawing their membership.
In early March 1993, Australia and New Zealand, still members, continued to express concerns regarding their contributions. Another working party, the Windsor Group, was appointed to investigate the future role of the bureau.
By 1995 the organisation had come through a difficult five year period of restructuring and policy reappraisal. This transitional period formally culminated in the approval by council at its thirty-fourth meeting of a new constitution. But these changes were not without their cost. Both New Zealand and Australia left the organisation in wrangles over unpaid contributions and moneys due from the CTFA funds. Moreover, Canada gave notice that it would withdraw its membership in 1996. This was later withdrawn, pending a revision of its contributions. In contrast, by mid-1997 there was a strong possibility that South Africa would rejoin the CTO.
Item CTO 4.2.5. is an undated and unattributed 'History of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, 1928-1969'
At the International Labour Conference, 1978, it was agreed that a Commonwealth Trade Union Council (CTUC) should be established. A special working party was set up to decide the form the body should take. Their proposals were agreed by the Commonwealth Unions, Nov 1979 and the CTUC was established in Mar 1980. Dennis McDermott, President of the Canadian Labour Congress was elected President and Carl Wright was appointed Director. Patrick Quinn took over as Director of the CTUC, Aug 1988 and Arthur Johnstone became Director in 1994. The executive body of the CTUC was its Steering Subcommittee, on which sat trade union leaders from the UK and Mediterranean, Canada, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Australasia and the Pacific. A general session was held annually to maintain contacts between member countries.
The CTUC aimed to strengthen links between trade unions in the Commonwealth and to provide practical assistance to trade unions in developing countries. It also undertook a programme of Development Education with Trade Unionists in developed countries, aiming to raise awareness of international issues.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions withdrew funding for the CTUC in Jan 2003 and the Canadian Labour Congress reduced its contribution in 2002, halved it for 2003, and made no commitment beyond 2003. The UK TUC agreed to raise their contribution to compensate for reductions, but this payment was to end at start of 2005. A decision was taken in Jun 2004 to wind up CTUC at end of 2004 and it was closed Jan 2005.
A farm was the system of leasing out the rights of collecting and retaining taxes in a certain district. The Compagnie des Fermiers-Généraux obviously played some national part in collecting taxes and duties.
The Compagnie General des Omnibus de Londres was an Anglo-French company founded in 1855 to operate horse drawn bus services in London. In 1859 the company changed its name to the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC), using the fleet name 'General'. Before the LGOC bus services in London consisted of hundreds of independently owned buses; which the company proceeded to buy out. By the end of their first year of operations the LGOC owned 600 of 810 buses operating in London.
Between 1902 and 1905 the company began to use motorized vehicles. Horse drawn bus services ended in 1911. In 1912 the Company was bought by the London Underground group, and with them became part of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933.
Globe Telegraph and Trust Company Limited was incorporated in 1873 by John Pender, a Liberal MP, who also founded the Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies Group. Globe was formed in order to spread the short term risk of cable laying over a number of companies, and shares in Globe were offered in exchange for shares in submarine telegraph and associated companies. The Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies Group, meanwhile, was built up by Pender over a number of years in the late 19th century.
The Companhia Telegrafica Platino Brasileira was incorporated in Brazil in 1872 and reformed in England in 1878 as London Platino Brazilian Telegraph Company Limited.
The certificates appear to have been registered at the War Office.
The Company of the Barber-Surgeons of London was formed by the union of the Company of Barbers and the Fellowship of Surgeons in 1540. The barbers had carried out minor surgery such as bleeding and lancing of abscesses, while the more erudite surgeons attempted to evolve some principles in surgery, and were involved in the mutilating surgery of warfare. The Barber-Surgeons became responsible for instigating teaching programmes and the licensing of men to practice the art of surgery; they also appointed surgeons to the armed forces. A rift occurred in 1745. The surgeons broke away and formed the Company of Surgeons, which, in 1800, became the Royal College of Surgeons.
There is evidence that the City of London Corporation passed regulations in 1370 governing watermen. In 1585 a grant of arms was made to the Company. The lightermen, who had formerly been members of the Woodmongers' Company, were amalgamated with the watermen in 1700. Watermen were boatmen or licensed wherry-men who were available for hire on the river Thames. Lightermen owned and operated lighters, flat-bottomed barges which were used in 'lightening' or unloading ships that could not be unloaded at a wharf, and also used for transporting goods of any kind.
Almshouses at Penge in Kent were built in 1840-1 on land presented to the Watermen and Lightermen's Company by John Dudin Brown. The almshouses could accommodate sixty residents (retired freemen of the Company). They were closed in 1973. Almshouses at Ditchling in Sussex were founded in 1888 through the gift of William Vokins, a master lighterman.
The Comparative Education Society of Europe (CESE) was founded in 1961 and is still active at the time of writing. The purpose of the Society is to encourage and promote comparative and international studies in education. CESE is a founding society of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES).
The East India Company was an English company formed for the exploitation of trade with East and Southeast Asia and India, incorporated by royal charter on Dec. 31, 1600. Starting as a monopolistic trading body, the company became involved in politics and acted as an agent of British imperialism in India from the early 18th century to the mid-19th century. The company's defeat of the Portuguese in India (1612) won them trading concessions from the Mughal Empire. The Company mainly traded in cotton and silk piece goods, indigo, and saltpetre, with spices from South India. It extended its activities to the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia, and East Asia.
James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-1889) was a scholar and librarian of Jesus College, Cambridge University. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1839, and acted as an editor for the Camden Society, 1839-1844, the Percy Society, 1842-1850, and the Shakespeare Society. A renowned Shakespeare scholar, he arranged and described the Shakespeare archives at Stratford-upon-Avon, wrote extensively on the town, and initiated the movement for the purchase of the site of Shakespeare's house at New Place, [1863]. A list of his publications may be found in the British Library catalogue.
Unknown
These records relate to two separate Manors, those of Clerkenwell and Canonbury which came into the Northampton family through the marriage in 1594 of William Compton, first earl of Northampton, to Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir John Spencer, Alderman of London.
Clerkenwell: It is important to note that the Manor of Clerkenwell relates to land which is not in the parish of Clerkenwell. Instead it consisted of 110 acres of land in Holloway, in the parish of St Mary, Islington. It is often known as the Manor of St Mary, Clerkenwell since it was previously in the possession of the Nunnery of St Mary at Clerkenwell. Pinks states that the Manor has been in the Compton family since the Dissolution.
The location of the manorial land is on the West side of Holloway Road at Upper Holloway from the Church of St John the Evangelist, Pemberton Gardens northwards to the Whittington Stone to Gordon Place extending across Maiden Lane, bounded by Barnsbury Manor in the South; the last field in Maiden Lane to the North (a detached part of Barnsbury Manor); by the Manors of St John of Jerusalem and Barnsbury on the West and by Highgate and the Old Great North Road on the East. Courts were occasionally held at the London Spa.
Most of the parish of Clerkenwell was included in the separate Manor of St John of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell.
Canonbury: The Manor of Canonbury was known alternatively as the Manor of Canbury. It was triangular in shape, bounded on the West by Upper Street, on the East by Lower Street (now Essex Road) and on the North by Hopping Lane (now St Paul's Road) and Balls Pond Road. Its chequered history is a diary of patronage in the sixteenth century: originally it had been presented by Ralph de Berners to the Prior and Convent of St Bartholomew, Smithfield in the thirteenth century but after the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was enjoyed briefly and in turn by Thomas Cromwell, Anne of Cleves and John Dudley later the Duke of Northumberland. The Manor was granted in 1557 to Thomas Wentworth, who then sold it to Sir John Spencer in 1570.
John Dixon Comrie was born in 1875 and trained as a physician. He pursued a career as a physician and medical historian. In 1908 he became responsible for teaching Medical History at Edinburgh University, while from 1927 to his death in 1939 he was Physician to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
No information was available at the time of compilation.
Valens Comyn was Clerk to the Chamberlain of St Paul's Cathedral (for his appointment in 1732 see CLC/313/C/001/MS25630/19, f.282); Stephen Comyn later became Steward of the cathedral estates (in 1757; see CLC/313/C/001/MS25630/4, f.132) but none of these records relate to St Paul's.
The Concentores Society was also known as Sodales Concentores, a glee club, which met at the Buffalo Tavern, Bloomsbury. A glee club met to practice and perform glees and other songs. Glees are a form of English song, for three or more voices, which were usually unaccompanied.
William Coney lived at 61 Wardour Street in London when he published this proposed Act in 1859.
The Conference of Missionary Societies in Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Conference of British Missionary Societies (CBMS), was founded in 1912 with a membership of more than 40 Protestant missionary societies. It grew out of the Continuation Committee established as a result of the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910, which aimed to encourage the foundation of national co-operative councils for mission. For many years the CBMS shared premises (acquired in 1918), Edinburgh House (in Belgravia, near Sloane Square, London), with the Continuation Committee, which became known as the International Missionary Council in 1921. The CBMS was not itself a missionary society, but its archive documents how home missionary organisations co-operated with contacts abroad, show the public face of missionary activity, and also offer evidence on contemporary social and political, as well as religious, events. It held an annual conference, and a standing committee (later council) met quarterly. There were also specialized committees. In 1977 the CBMS became a division of the British Council of Churches and it is now known as the Churches' Commission on Mission. For further information see J T Hardyman and R K Orchard, Two Minutes from Sloane Square: a Brief History of the Conference of Missionary Societies in Great Britain and Ireland 1912-1977 (CBMS, London, 1977).
The site in Stormont Road was purchased in 1877 by the London Congregational Union. A lecture hall and school premises were erected in 1878. The hall was used for public worship from 1879. A formal meeting was held in November 1881 for the formation of a Christian church. The Revd Richard Bulmer was elected pastor. The church that was built following that meeting was demolished in 1969 and replaced by a more 'modern' structure.
Dulwich Grove Congregational Church was founded in 1879. It belonged to the London Congregational Union South East District. In 1972, when the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches merged, it became Dulwich Grove United Reformed Church.
Maze Hill Congregational Church, Greenwich, was founded in 1786. In 1903 it came under the Kent Association and County Missionary Society Metropolitan District and had 100 members. By 1957 membership had fallen to 15 and the church was sharing a minister with Rothbury Hall Church. By 1971 Maze Hill had united with the local Methodist Church.
The Beckenham Congregational Church was founded in 1878. It was situated on Crescent Road. In 1903 it was part of the Kent Association and County Missionary Society Metropolitan District, and had 206 members. In 1972, when the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches merged, it became Beckenham United Reformed Church.
New Court, one of the earliest nonconformist chapels in London, dates from 1662 when under the Act of Uniformity Doctor Thomas Manton was ejected from the church of Saint Paul's, Covent Garden. He established himself as a nonconformist minister in a chapel built for him in Bridges Street in the same parish. The church remained there until 1682 when as a result of the Five Mile Act it was forced to close due to the imprisonment of its minister, Richard Baxter. James II's Declaration of Indulgence in 1687 enabled another nonconformist minister, Daniel Burgess, to re-open the chapel and after nine years the congregation moved to more substantial premises in Russell Court, Drury Lane, to a building between an old burial ground and the theatre.
On the expiry of the lease in 1705 another move was necessary and a new building was erected in New Court, Carey Street. The congregation remained there for over a hundred and fifty years and as a result the chapel thereafter was known as New Court Chapel.
While at Carey Street the chapel was attacked by a mob supporting Doctor Sachaverell, a high church fanatic who had preached a libellous sermon against dissenters, and this caused it to close for a short time. It was also during this period that New Court was specified as being a Congregational chapel for the first time. Until then the differences between the Presbyterians and Congregationalists had not been well defined. Thomas Bradbury, a minister who had come to New Court from a nearby nonconformist church at Fetter Lane, stipulated that the chapel should be run on the Congregational model.
The extension of the Law Courts in 1866 forced the congregation to move again and a new church was built at Tollington Park. Mission premises at Lennox Road were acquired in the 1880s. The Tollington Park premises were sold to the Roman Catholic church in 1959 (it is now Saint Mellitus Roman Catholic Church). The congregation moved to new premises on Regina Road in 1961 where it remained until its closure in 1976.
The London Congregational Union, part of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, was founded in 1873. It was divided into 10 districts:
1 - Central London
2 - West London
3 - North West London
4 - North London
5 - North East London
6 - East London
7 - Metropolitan Essex
8 - Metropolitan Kent
9 - Metropolitan Surrey (East)
10 - Metropolitan Surrey (West).
The George Street Congregational Church was situated on London Road, Croydon. When the Congregational Church merged with the Presbyterian Church in 1972 it became the East Croydon United Reformed Church, Addiscombe Grove.
In 1887 the Plaistow Congregational Church on Balaam Street built a mission hall in Southern Road. In 1943, the members of Balaam Street and Southern Road united with Greengate as Plaistow Congregational Church.
Plaistow Congregational Church, Balaam Street, originated in 1796 in a mission conducted by W. Newman, a Baptist minister from Bow. Regular meetings were held in private houses, and in the open air, until 1807, when a building was erected in North Street by a group of Independents and Baptists under Robert Marten, who was the leading layman until his death in 1839. A union church of the two denominations was constituted in 1812, with Henry Lacey (1812-1824) as minister. 'Marten and his religious crew' encountered local opposition and even violence in the early days, but their numbers grew. A day-school was opened (1844) and in 1860 a new church was built in Balaam Street. John Foster (1865-1869) was the church's only Baptist minister. In 1869 part of the congregation - probably the Baptists - apparently seceded with him to form a church in Upper Road, Plaistow, which soon disappeared. After this, Balaam Street seems to have had little or no Baptist connexions. Under Richard Partner (1888-1903) the membership increased rapidly as the area was built up, reaching 670 in 1902, by which time the church had been enlarged to accommodate 1,000. In 1887 a mission hall was built in Southern Road. After 1903 Balaam Street began to decline, though it remained fairly strong until 1939. During the Second World War the church was bombed, being finally abandoned in 1945 and later demolished. Meanwhile, in 1943, the members of Balaam Street and Southern Road united with Greengate as Plaistow Congregational church.
From: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 123-141.
Plashet Park Congregational Church, Chester Road, Forest Gate, was founded in 1884, in a room in Crescent Road. Meetings were subsequently held in the public hall, Green Street, from 1884 until 1887, when a two-storeyed building (later used for classrooms) was erected in Chester Road, during the temporary pastorate of E. T. Egg. An iron building was added in 1890, a permanent church in 1895, and an institute in 1914. In 1925 the iron hall was gutted by fire. Its site was sold to the borough council for a chest clinic, and in 1926 a new hall, fronting on Katherine Road, was opened. In 1941 the church was badly damaged by bombing. It was reconstructed and re-opened in 1952. For most of its history the church has had a settled minister. In its earlier years it was one of the stronger nonconformist churches in the district, and it was still flourishing in the 1920s, with a membership of over 300, and a Sunday school of 600. In 1972, when the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches merged, it became the Plashet Park United Reformed Church.
Source: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 31-38.
The Fulham Congregational Church was constructed between 1904 and 1906, on the corner of Fulham Palace Road and Harbord Street. In 1973 it joined the United Reformed Church at the merger of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches and was renamed the Fulham United Reformed Church.
The Bromley-By-Bow Congregational Church on Bruce Road was founded in 1866. In 1972 it became a United Reformed Church when the Congregationalist and Presbyterian Churches merged. The church is closed and the building is now a community arts centre.
The West Kensington Congregational Church was situated on Castletown Road. It was founded in 1885. In 1972, when the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches merged, the West Kensington church joined the newly formed United Reformed Church.
Providence Congregational Church was formed in Uxbridge about 1777. Meetings were held in the 'George' until 1795 when the first meeting-house was built near the Lynch Green, in the garden of J. A. Glover, a wealthy merchant who largely financed the project. The land around the building was consecrated as a burial ground. The meeting-house was renovated about 1890 and again in 1902. By 1926 the congregation had increased to 319 members. After 1933, however, membership declined rapidly.
A mission organized by Providence Church was established in a community room in Peachey Lane, Cowley, in 1955 to serve the new council estate at Cowley Peachey. The adult work, however, was not a success, and no evening services were held after 1960. A Sunday school continued to meet in the community room until 1963 when all work in the building ceased. The children of Cowley nonconformists subsequently attended Sunday school in Uxbridge.
From the late 1950s discussion centred on plans for the amalgamation of the two Congregational churches in Uxbridge. They were finally united in 1962 as Uxbridge Congregational Church, which thenceforth worshipped in the former Old Meeting premises. In 1963 services were still occasionally held in Providence Church but soon afterwards the building became derelict and was demolished in 1969. It had a tall two-storied cement-rendered front with round-headed windows, pilasters, and a central pediment flanked by scrolls above the parapet.
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. 91-95.