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The Children's Department of the Middlesex County Council was set up under the Children Act 1948 which embodied the findings of the Curtis Report of 1945-1946. The Act took effect on 5 July 1948; the first meeting of the newly formed Children's Committee took place on the next day, taking over from the Interim Children's Committee, formed of the members of the thereafter defunct Children's Care Sub-Committee of the Education Committee. The first Children's Officer, Mr Ainscow, had in fact been appointed in anticipation, with effect from 1 May 1948. The duties of the Department had previously been distributed across several County Council departments (the Public Assistance, Public Health and Education Departments), as well as bodies (education authorities outside the MCC and the County Maternity and Child Welfare authorities) not part of the County Council at all.

The activities of the Children's Department may be summarised as follows:
i) Care and welfare: this comprised of the provision of care for a) children under the age of 17 if they had no parents or guardians; if they were abandoned or lost; of if their parents were unable to provide for their proper upbringing, provided that such care was in the child's best interests: and b) children committed by a court to the care of the County Council under a Fit Person order. This involved inter alia the running of homes and nurseries, the maintenance of the boarding out system for foster homes, and in some cases the assumption of full parental rights until the child should attain majority. The Department also undertook the care of children as delegated by the Welfare Department when dealing with problem or evicted families.

ii) Child Life Protection: this was a long standing local authority responsibility. After the passing of the Children Act 1948 its effect was to render it an offence for any person other than the parent, legal guardian or a relative to undertake for reward (whether or not for profit) the care of a child below school leaving age (15 in 1948) without notifying the County Council as a welfare authority. The Children's Department publicised the legal obligations upon such persons, supervised placements, inspected and regulated foster homes and so on. After the Adoption Act 1950, a similar duty to notify the Council rested upon anyone placing a child in another's care (with the same exceptions as above).

iii) Approved schools and remand homes: a child could be committed by the courts into the care of the Council either by a Fit Person Order, the effect of which was to put the child into the care of the Children's Department or by an Approved School Order, which placed the child under the care of managers at an Approved School. It should be noted that placements were made under the aegis of the Home Office nationwide, and that although the Council, through sub-committees of the Children's Committees, ran two approved schools, by no means all Middlesex children would be allocated places there. The Committee also ran two remand homes. The Children's Department were involved in briefing judges on cases: sometimes in bringing themselves in order to gain the powers by which to afford children under threat the care and protection they needed; and as the executive arm of the County Council on receipt of Fit Person Orders. Staff were also responsible for the supervision and after-care of "licensed" Middlesex children.

iv) Under the Adoption Act 1926, the County Council had since 1943 to oversee the compulsory registration of adoption societies in the county (not an onerous duty: two were registered in of which only one, the Homeless Children's Aid and Adoption Society, continued for any length of time). Compulsory notification to the County Council of all adoptions in the county was not introduced until the Adoption Act 1950. Also, from that point of view the Council had to supervise every prospective third party adoption in its area, whether or not involved in any other capacity. After the 1958 Act the Council had the power to place children for adoption even if those children were not in its care. Its powers of supervision were widened to include all adoptions in the county.

Health areas of the County of Middlesex, also used as administrative areas by the MCC Children's Department: Area 1 Enfield and Edmonton; Area 2 Southgate, Potters Bar, Wood Green and Friern Barnet; Area 3 Hornsey and Tottenham; Area 4 Finchley and Hendon; Area 5 Harrow; Area 6 Wembley and Willesden; Area 7 Ealing and Acton; Area 8 Ruislip-Northwood, Uxbridge, Hayes and Harlington, Yiewsley and West Drayton; Area 9 Heston and Isleworth, Southall and Area 10 Feltham, Staines, Twickenham, Sunbury

Adoption:

Until the Adoption Act 1926 legal adoption did not exist in English law. The 1926 Act gave no specific powers to local authorities, but the County Council was frequently, in its capacity as a local education authority, asked to act as a Guardian Ad Litem (that is to protect the child's rights before the law). When so requested, the County Council delegated this function to the officers of the Education Department. Other local education authorities could be approached instead in cases within their areas, or the Court's own probation officer might be appointed.

The Adoption of Children Regulation Act 1939 was designed to rectify some of the abuses of the 1926 Act and specifically, required adoption services to be approved and registered with local authorities. There were in fact only three such services in Middlesex in 1943 when the Act was finally implemented and only one, the Homeless Children's Aid and Adoption Society, remained in operation for any length of time thereafter. Also from 1943 certain duties of supervision of private adoptions were placed upon the welfare authorities, of which the MCC was one.

The duties of the Education Department relating to adoptions passed to the newly created Children's Department in 1948. In the next year was passed the Adoption of Children Act 1949, which was immediately consolidated with the previous legislation as the Adoption Act 1950. This Act made significant changes to adoption procedures: that which most particularly affected the County Council was the requirement that no adoption order could be made unless at least three months notice of intention to adopt had been given to the welfare authority, i.e. the County Council. Therefore from 1950 the County Council was notified of every intended adoption within the County, regardless of who the guardian ad litem was. Further, on receipt of a notice of an intended third party adoption (that is to say an adoption placement made by a third party, not a registered adoption society or local authority; adoptions by parents of their own children - very commonly done by women with illegitimate children and subsequently married) an officer of the Children's Department would commence supervision of the child or children either until the granting of the Court Order, or, if the supervision revealed the prospective adopters as unsuitable, until the end of the statutory period. The Adoption Act 1958 extended the powers of supervision to all adoptions and from this date the County Council had, in theory, some record of every adoption that took place in the County. The Act also enabled local authorities to act as adoption agencies in their own right.

In 1889 County Council policy was directed by 72 members and administered under the leadership of Sir Richard Nicolson, Clerk of the County Council, and a handful of staff. The number of members has risen to 116 by 1952 and by 1965 the County staff numbered some 32,000, of whom 2,000 head office staff occupied the Guildhall and five other offices in Westminster. This indicates the tremendous increase in administrative work under successive Clerks of the County Council.

In the years between the two wars a semi-rural county became an almost completely urbanised area. The introduction of new legislation made ever increased demands upon members of the administrative staff, involving in later years monthly meetings of some 50 committees and sub-committees.

The Middlesex County Council Clerks of the Council were:

Sir Richard Nicholson, 1889-1909

Walter George Austin, 1909-1918

Sir Ernest Walter Sidney Hart, 1919-1935

Sir Clifford Walter Radcliffe, 1935-1954

Kenneth Goodacre, 1955-1965.

The County Solicitor offered legal advice to the Councillors and was responsible for certain transactions. Sir Richard Nicholson, Sir Clifford Radcliffe and Kenneth Goodacre all doubled as the County Clerk and Solicitor.

The work of the County Health Department included maternity and child health services; care and after-care of persons in the community who have been ill; prevention of illness; health education; school health services; mental health services and health control at airports. The Health Department had central offices and offices in each health area and there is a large staff of doctors, dentists, nurses and other technical staff, in addition to administrative and clerical staff, under the direction of the County Medical Officer of Health and the District Medical Officers.

The Local Government Act, 1929, made the Council financially responsible for all classified roads and county bridges. By 1954 the Council was responsible for 550 miles of classified road and 200 bridges, as well as 81 miles of trunk road. Expenditure on improvement, reconstruction and repair cost on average £4000 a day.

The phenomenal growth of population in Middlesex from early 1920s brought problems of peculiar difficulty in sewage disposal. These were partly offset by the district councils extending their local purification works but it was clear that the problem could best be met by co-ordination and centralisation of treatment.

After intensive investigation and report by its consulting engineers, under the guidance of John Duncan Watson, the County Council with difficulty secured one of the last Unemployment Grants and obtained powers to construct and operate a system of trunk sewers, with sewage purification and sludge disposal works, to serve Western Middlesex. The undertaking came into operation in 1935-36 and included the Mogden works, then the largest and most modern full-treatment plant in the world.

Further powers were obtained in 1938 for a similar undertaking to serve North and East Middlesex. Although the Second World War delayed the project, the new works were in operation by 1963. The East Middlesex works served 14 local authorities covering an area of 95 square miles and a population of 710,000. The system included 24 miles of trunk sewers, with a flow of 32,000,000 gallons a day.

In 1889 County Council policy was directed by 72 members and administered under the leadership of Sir Richard Nicolson, Clerk of the County Council, and a handful of staff. The number of members has risen to 116 by 1952 and by 1965 the County staff numbered some 32,000, of whom 2,000 head office staff occupied the Guildhall and five other offices in Westminster. This indicates the tremendous increase in administrative work under successive Clerks of the County Council.

In the years between the two wars a semi-rural county became an almost completely urbanised area. The introduction of new legislation made ever increased demands upon members of the administrative staff, involving in later years monthly meetings of some 50 committees and sub-committees.

The Establishment Committee was responsible for staffing and personnel matters for all County Council employees, including matters relating to duties, appointments and salaries.

In 1927 the Joint Thames Bridges Committee was formed as a joint undertaking between Surrey County Council and Middlesex County Council to construct new bridges over the River Thames between the two counties. By 1903 the two Councils had provided the present King Edward VII bridge at Kew (Kew Bridge), designed by John Wolfe Barry, and subsequently erected three new bridges at Hampton Court, Twickenham and Chiswick.

Kingston Bridge connects Kingston to Hampton Court Park and carries the A308 road. It was first constructed in the medieval period, but a new bridge was erected in 1825. In 1912-1914 the bridge was widened, with the carriageway increased from 25 feet to 55 feet. A new facade of Portland stone was also added.

In 1889 County Council policy was directed by 72 members and administered under the leadership of Sir Richard Nicolson, Clerk of the County Council, and a handful of staff. The number of members had risen to 116 by 1952 and by 1965 the County staff numbered some 32,000, of whom 2,000 head office staff occupied the Guildhall and five other offices in Westminster. This indicates the tremendous increase in administrative work under successive Clerks of the County Council.

In the years between the two wars a semi-rural county became an almost completely urbanised area. The introduction of new legislation made ever increased demands upon members of the administrative staff, involving in later years monthly meetings of some 50 committees and sub-committees.

The County Solicitor offered legal advice to the Councillors and was responsible for certain transactions. Sir Richard Nicholson, Sir Clifford Radcliffe and Kenneth Goodacre all doubled as the County Clerk and Solicitor.

The phenomenal growth of population in Middlesex from early 1920s brought problems of peculiar difficulty in sewage disposal. These were partly offset by the district councils extending their local purification works but it was clear that the problem could best be met by co-ordination and centralisation of treatment.

After intensive investigation and report by its consulting engineers, under the guidance of John Duncan Watson, the County Council with difficulty secured one of the last Unemployment Grants and obtained powers to construct and operate a system of trunk sewers, with sewage purification and sludge disposal works, to serve Western Middlesex. The undertaking came into operation in 1935-36 and included the Mogden works, then the largest and most modern full-treatment plant in the world.

Further powers were obtained in 1938 for a similar undertaking to serve North and East Middlesex. Although the Second World War delayed the project, the new works were in operation by 1963. The East Middlesex works served 14 local authorities covering an area of 95 square miles and a population of 710,000. The system included 24 miles of trunk sewers, with a flow of 32,000,000 gallons a day.

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

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

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

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

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

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

From 1918 the Middlesex County Council was responsible for maternity and child welfare services, and, from 1948, became responsible throughout the County for health centres, care of mothers and young children, midwifery, health visiting, home nursing, vaccination and immunisation, the ambulance service, the prevention of illness, care and after care and community mental health services. In 1945 the Council took over the school health service.

The County Health Service introduced a building programme for new or replacement clinics - 22 purpose built clinics with modern facilities were opened between 1948 and 1963. Immunisation programmes were expanded to include smallpox, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and poliomyelitis. Chiropody, geriatric, audiology and cerebral palsy clinics were provided. The ambulance service was improved with the building of a new central control equipped with radio, teleprinters and key and lamp units. Community services for the disabled were increased, including schools with special care units for severely handicapped children, adult training centres, including 3 in factories, days centres, hostels and so on. Training facilities were also introduced for health services staff including health visitors, district nurses, nursery nurses, midwives, mental welfare officers and teachers of the disabled.

Rapid local development, the tremendous increae in motor transport and national requirements such as Heathrow Airport all greatly influenced the Middlexsex County Council road programme; necessitating new and widened roads and dual carriageways. In the post-war period emphasis was laid upon relief of traffic congestion and reduction of accidents by junction improvements and the construction of pedestrian subways. A policy of landscaping and amenity treatment led to the planting of trees and shrubs and the extensive use of grass verges. Middlesex works undertaken by the Ministry of Transport completed the picture with two motorways, the M1 into Hendon and the M4 connection to London Airport.

The highways pattern for Middlesex stemmed from the radial roads originally built by the Romans - Watling Street to Saint Albans is now Edgware Road; Ermine Street to Lincoln is now Hertford Road and the western road to Silchester is now Staines Road. These radial routes remained of importance and were primarily supplemented by the Great West Road, Western Avenue, Watford and Barnet by-passes and the Great Cambridge Road which, in turn, have been linked by the North Circular Road, which traversed Middlesex from Kew Bridge to the Essex boundary. In 1889 the Council was responsible for 128 miles of road, as compared with 640 miles in 1964.

The MCC became a planning authority in 1948. It planning duties were to control the development of land in the County and to prepare a Development Plan. Between the wars Middlesex had grown at a phenomenal rate, producing sprawl and over-industrialisation, with the attendant problems of competing uses for the remaining available land.

The County Development Plan, which laid down the future pattern of land use in Middlesex, was approved by the Minister of Housing and Local Government in 1956, with a Review of the Plan approved in 1964. The Plan maintained a careful balance of competing uses and was primarily directed towards the maintenance of the Green Belt, a limitation on uses giving rise to employment and improved provision of open space and land for the social services. Under its planning policies, the Council arranged for hundreds of trees to be planted near main thoroughfares and acquired about fifty wrongly-sited premises in order to extinguish their industrial uses.

In most counties the chief function of the Standing Joint Committee was the control of the local police force, but, owing to the fact that Middlesex was within the Metropolitan Police Area under the jurisdiction of the Home Office, its Standing Joint Committee did not have these duties.

In 1888 most counties had shire halls, guildhalls and other buildings in which courts and quarter sessions were held and where the officers dealing with county administration were accommodated. It would have been impractical to that one building should be under the control of two distinct bodies - the justices and the county council - but also unnecessary for the county council to have separate premises. The Standing Joint Committee was accordingly given charge of all matters relating to accommodation for the quarter sessions and all property which was used jointly with the county council.

The Committee also controlled the officers who served both the quarter sessions and the county council, such as clerks of the peace who were also clerks of the council. In addition the Committee considered the provision of petty sessional courthouses and appointed clerks to the justices.

From 1953 Magistrates' Court Committees were established which largely took over the work of the Standing Joint Committee.

The phenomenal growth of population in Middlesex from early 1920s brought problems of peculiar difficulty in sewage disposal. These were partly offset by the district councils extending their local purification works but it was clear that the problem could best be met by co-ordination and centralisation of treatment.

After intensive investigation and report by its consulting engineers, under the guidance of John Duncan Watson, the County Council with difficulty secured one of the last Unemployment Grants and obtained powers to construct and operate a system of trunk sewers, with sewage purification and sludge disposal works, to serve Western Middlesex. The undertaking came into operation in 1935-36 and included the Mogden works, then the largest and most modern full-treatment plant in the world.

The West Middlesex undertaking served 16 local authorities covering an area of 171 square miles and a population of 1, 360, 000. 70 miles of trunk sewers carried 70,000,000 gallons of sewage a day.

In 1889 County Council policy was directed by 72 members and administered under the leadership of Sir Richard Nicolson, Clerk of the County Council, and a handful of staff. The number of members had risen to 116 by 1952 and by 1965 the County staff numbered some 32,000, of whom 2,000 head office staff occupied the Guildhall and five other offices in Westminster. This indicates the tremendous increase in administrative work under successive Clerks of the County Council.

In the years between the two wars a semi-rural county became an almost completely urbanised area. The introduction of new legislation made ever increased demands upon members of the administrative staff, involving in later years monthly meetings of some 50 committees and sub-committees.

In 1957 the Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London was set up under the chairmanship of Sir Edwin Herbert. Their terms of reference were 'to examine the present system and working of local government in the area' and 'to recommend whether any, and if so what, changes in the local government structure and the distribution of local authority functions in the area, or any part of it, would better secure effective and convenient local government'. After nearly three years consideration of these issues the Commission reported in 1960, recommending a radical reorganisation of London's and Middlesex's local government. All existing local authorities except the City of London Corporation were to be abolished, a council for Greater London (including most of Middlesex, now largely part of the urban sprawl of London) was to be established, and new boroughs were to be created, each within a population range of 100,000 to 250,000. The councils of these new boroughs were to be the primary units of local government and to have the most normal local government functions, including housing, personal health, welfare and children's services, environmental health, roads other than main roads, libraries and functions in relation to education and planning. The council for Greater London was to have certain functions of education and planning, and be the authority for traffic, main roads, refuse disposal, fire and ambulance services; as well as having supplementary powers for housing, parks, entertainments, sewerage and land drainage. When the Bill for the Local Government Act, 1963, based on the Royal Commission report, was introduced into Parliament it was met with considerable opposition. Some amendments were passed, but the Bill was passed into law without major alterations.

Rates are local taxes levied upon the occupiers of property to defray the expenses incurred by county councils and other local authorities in providing services. Up to 1925 there were two classes of rate: the general rate levied by the local council and the poor rate, levied by the Poor Law Guardians. Each rate was levied on the occupiers of all property in the area according to the annual value of the property. This annual value was determined by a committee of the Guardians called the 'assessment committee'. This system meant that the standard of valuation was not uniform throughout the county and that ratepayers might not be contributing equitably towards the cost of services.

The Rating and Valuation Act of 1925 entirely reformed the procedure. The County Council was required to establish a County Valuation Committee for the purpose of securing that as far as possible the standard of assessment throughout the County should be uniform. The local council was made the rating authority for its area. The Act also provided that there should be a general rate levied by each rating authority for the purpose of defraying the whole of the general expenditure within the particular area, so that the poor rate was no longer separately levied. Provision was made for an additional rate, called a 'special rate' to be levied on parts of an area where services were established that were not available elsewhere.

The valuation of property for rating purposes was transferred from local authorities to the Inland Revenue Department by the Local Government Act of 1948.

The phenomenal growth of population in Middlesex from early 1920s brought problems of peculiar difficulty in sewage disposal. These were partly offset by the district councils extending their local purification works but it was clear that the problem could best be met by co-ordination and centralisation of treatment.

After intensive investigation and report by its consulting engineers, under the guidance of John Duncan Watson, the County Council with difficulty secured one of the last Unemployment Grants and obtained powers to construct and operate a system of trunk sewers, with sewage purification and sludge disposal works, to serve Western Middlesex. The undertaking came into operation in 1935-36 and included the Mogden works, then the largest and most modern full-treatment plant in the world.

The West Middlesex undertaking served 16 local authorities covering an area of 171 square miles and a population of 1,360,000. 70 miles of trunk sewers carried 70,000,000 gallons of sewage a day.

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

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

School Boards were abolished by the 1902 Education Act and replaced by Local Education Authorities (LEAs), which were, in effect, the county councils or county borough councils. They were given charge of all elementary and much secondary education throughout the country. The Act was in many respects a great step forward, but Part II did create administrative complications in elementary education, that particularly affected Middlesex. For all higher education the LEA was to be the county council or county borough. However, the local variations in the needs of elementary education demanded closer local responsibility, and it was also felt that well populated urban areas deserved some degree of autonomy. Part III of the Act therefore laid down that within a county council area any boroughs of population over ten thousand or urban districts of population over twenty thousand should themselves be the LEA for elementary education in that area. The county council was left as the authority for any parts of the county that remained outside these areas. This produced anomalies in Middlesex where the County Council was directly responsible for secondary and technical education throughout the County (rural and inner city), but was only the elementary education authority for rural and agricultural areas, where the need was radically different. Generally, the Act instigated a period of great educational activity, as the LEAs were obliged to survey the needs of their areas, to shape their policies and implement them. The subsequent legislation described below modified and extended the power of the county council.

1918 Education Act

The fundamental principle of this Act was the right of the intelligent child to receive extended education to suit his age and ability. The minimum leaving age was raised to 14, and authorities were to increase the number of their secondary schools. The counties and Part III authorities were to co-operate in producing 'joint schemes of education', and the Board of Education was to make annual grants-in-aid to authorities related to their recognised expenditure on education as a comprehensive service. It was this Act which founded the Burnham Committee as the joint negotiating body for teachers salaries, which had previously been decided by the individual employing authorities.

The Hadow Report 1926

The recommendations of this Report were in accordance with Labour Party policy, although Labour were no longer in power. It proposed that elementary schooling should be renamed 'primary schooling' and end at the age of 11 or 12; and that children should then progress to one or other of two types of secondary school: grammar schools or 'modern schools' which would have a simpler curriculum in preparation for employment at 14 or 15.

The Butler Act of 1944

This Act called for the raising of the school leaving age to 15; for primary and secondary education to be provided in separate schools; for the provision of nursery classes for under 5's; for special facilities for the mentally or physically disabled and for the opportunity of boarding school education where parents desired it or where special circumstances made it advisable. The Act ended the autonomy of Part III authorities and made County Councils full Local Education Authorities for primary, secondary and further education with the duty to prepare comprehensive Development Plans for education in their areas and to implement them. The over-riding responsibility for all stages of education now lay with the County Council.

1945-1965
The 1944 Act triggered off a period of intense educational activity. There was a pressing need for school building, to replace premises damaged during the Second World War and to provide separate primary and secondary schools demanded by the Act.

On 31 March 1965 the Middlesex County Council ceased to exist under the terms of the 1963 London Government Act. Education became the responsibility of newly created London boroughs covering the area of the former Middlesex.

The Housing and Town Planning Act 1909 provided that every County Council should establish a Public Health and Housing Committee and appoint a Medical Officer of Health. the MCC Public Health and Housing Committee first met in February 1910. Health services organised by the Committee included:

a) treatment and care of persons with tuberculosis, including the management of two sanatoria

b) maternity and child welfare services

c) ante-natal clinics

d) birth control clinics

e) day nurseries

f) school medical services

g) general hospital service (particularly post 1930 when Poor Law institutions were transferred to the management of the Council)

h) inspection of nursing homes

i) medical care of the sick poor

j) testing of milk

k) oversight of refuse collection.

After the introduction of the National Health Service in 1946 the Middlesex County Council hospital service was transferred to the control of the Minister of Health. However, the MCC was still a Local Health Authority and as such was given the task of organising a whole range of services, many of which it had also administered before 1946. Under the terms of the National Health Service Act and various other Acts the Council was responsible for the provision of the following services:

a) health centres

b) care of mothers and young children

c) midwifery

d) health visiting

e) home nursing

f) vaccination and immunisation

g) ambulance services

h) prevention of illness, care and after-care

i) domestic help

j) mental health services

k) the School Health Service

l) registration of nursing homes

m) registration of nurseries and childminders

n) supervision of midwives

o) health control services at Heathrow Airport.

The Health Committee retained central control of services but divided the County into ten districts, each with a Local Area Committee to oversee administration of the service in their district. The County Health Department had both central offices and offices in each health area and had a large staff of doctors, dentists, nurses and technical staff, under the supervision of the County Medical Officer of Health.

Care of mothers and young children: maternity and child health clinics were set up in convenient places throughout the County. As well as receiving expert advice on caring for their babies, mothers also received milk foods and vitamins. Ante and post natal clinics provided for the supervision and care of expectant and nursing mothers and the Council employed a staff of midwives to attend maternity cases where the babies were born at home.

Day nurseries: these were provided to meet the needs of children for whom it was considered that nursery provision was required on health grounds, such as the children of unmarried mothers or widows who were obliged to work to support their family.

Care of unsupported mothers: four residential homes for mothers and babies were provided and maintained by the MCC. Three almoners gave social help to such mothers and a grant was paid to the London Diocesan Council for Moral Welfare who also engaged in this work.

Home nursing: male and female nurses were employed to visit the homes of patients and provide nursing care, under the instruction of the general practitioner responsible for the patient.

Vaccination and immunisation: the MCC provided vaccination or immunisation against smallpox, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and polio.

Ambulance service: until 1952 the Fire Service was responsible for the Ambulance Service on behalf of the Health Committee. The MCC maintained a large fleet of ambulances for the removal of accident cases to hospital and for the routine transport of sick persons to appointments.

Care and after-care, prevention of illness: care and after-care of patients with tuberculosis was undertaken at chest clinics and at the patients' homes. The MCC also maintained colonies for rehabilitation and had its own rehabilitation workshop. Care for the mentally ill was proved by mental welfare officers who arranged for hospital admission if necessary. The Council also ran five adult training centres and eight junior training centres. Other care services included chiropody provided at the MCC clinic in Edmonton; sending convalescent patients on recuperative holidays or stays in rest homes; and providing certain items of nursing equipment on loan to patients being nursed at home. To prevent illness schemes of health education were organised for adults and school children. A full time health education officer was employed to organise and co-ordinate health education.

Domestic help in the home: the MCC provided home helps to assist with the normal duties of running the household when this was required because of the presence in the home of one who was ill, an expectant mother, mentally defective, disabled or elderly. A charge was made but this was adjusted according to income.

Heathrow Airport: the main object of the health control service was to prevent the entry of infectious diseases into Britain. The airport medical staff also carried out medical examinations for aircrew and provided a medical service for employees at the airport.

In 1907 the Local Education Authorities were made responsible for providing medical inspection; however, it was not until the Education Act 1918 that the majority of Local Education Authorities established school clinics. The Health Department of the MCC was responsible for the medical supervision of children in secondary and technical schools throughout the County, and for elementary schools where the County was the authority. The service was carried out by a staff of assistant school medical officers and trained nurses who combined the care and treatment of school children with their duties as assistant medical officers and health visitors under the Council's maternity and child welfare scheme.

Children attending elementary schools underwent four routine medical inspections at the ages of five, seven, ten and when they left school. In secondary school medical checks were performed annually. Clinics were established for the treatment of minor ailments and was given free of charge. Facilities also existed for dental and ophthalmic treatment. From 1942 orthopaedic defects were treated with assistance from the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore.

Blind, deaf, physically disabled or epileptic children were sent to special schools. The Talbot Special School in Southall was the MCC day school for mentally defective children. A Child Guidance Clinic was established at Harrow. Two full time psychiatrists were appointed, working under the general supervision of the County Medical Officer.

A nominal charge was made for attendance at clinics and courses of treatment, although this was lifted altogether in cases of hardship. Parents were asked to make what contribution they could afford towards the cost of treatment and of surgical appliances, spectacles, braces and so on.

The Milk in Schools scheme allowed each child to obtain in school a third of a pint of milk daily at a cost of a halfpenny. The Second World War led to a great expansion in the school meals service. By 1943 the number of school children receiving school meals was 36,575.

The first election of Middlesex County Councillors took place on 29 January 1889 and the first meeting of the Provisional Council was held at Middlesex Guildhall on 7 February 1889. At a meeting on 21 March 1889, the formation of committees was considered. Members were elected to the Finance, Highways, General Purposes, Parliamentary, Asylum, Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, and Stand Joint Committees.

As the work of the Council increased so too did the number and range of committees. Joint committees were also organised with other relevant bodies such as neighbouring local authorities or lower tier Middlesex authorities.

A section within the Clerk's Department became the Public Control Department in 1920 and existed until 1965. The Department reported to the General Purposes Committee and the Head of the Department was the Chief of Weights and Measures Staff 1908-1920 and Chief Officer of the Public Control Department 1920-1965.

Weights and Measures:

Before 1889 the Justices of the Peace had powers and responsibilities over the verification and inspection of weights and measures. The Weights and Measures Act 1878 provided for a national standardization of weights and measures and the Weights and Measures Act 1889 provided legislation for the verification of weighing machines. Under the Local Government Act 1888 the County Council became responsible for the inspection and verification of weighing and measuring apparatus used by traders in Middlesex. Under the terms of the Middlesex County Council Bye-laws the County Council also had responsibility for weighing coke. Further responsibilities were added so that by 1965 three quarters of the Departments work was concerned with weights and measures functions.

The functions of this section were:

1 To keep and maintain in good condition the weights, scales and balances used by the County Council inspectors

2 To test apparatus to be used by traders

3 To check the quantities of pre-packed goods in wholesale and retail transactions. Foods not pre-packed, coal, sand, and ballast in retail transactions also had to be checked.

The County Council owned and operated two public weighbridges at Brentford and Willesden. As a highway authority the County Council was also responsible for ensuring that overweight vehicles were not driven on roads and this work was dealt with by the Public Control Department.

Food and Drugs:

Here too the Justices of the Peace had responsibilities to protect the public against the adulteration of food. The County Council inherited these functions in 1889. During the lifetime of the County Council these responsibilities were added to and consolidated. The Department was responsible for ensuring that food and drugs sold were genuine; that they did not contain unlawful substances; that they were correctly labelled; and that the special provisions for the production and sale of milk were carried out. Milk was the substance most commonly tested.

Middlesex County Council was the biggest Food and Drugs authority in the country and resisted attempts by its local authorities to take over these functions. The Department established a system of informal sampling (formal sampling had to be done by the County Analyst and was more expensive). These departmental tests were made as preliminary surveys to decide on the best selection of formal samples to be procured. Under Food and Drugs legislation the County Council was obliged to appoint a County Analyst. The County Analyst was not a full time employee.

Merchandise Marks:

The Merchandise Marks Act 1887 prohibited the use of false or misleading trade descriptions being applied to goods. The Merchandise Marks Act 1926 gave food and drugs authorities permission to use this legislation in relation to imported foods. This legislation was consolidated later in the century.

Pharmacy and Poisons:

The Pharmacy and Poisons Act 1933 made local authorities responsible for the control of poison sellers (other than pharmacists) and poisons in Part II of the Poison List. The Pharmaceutical Society was responsible for pharmacists. Stringent provisions regarding the packaging, storage, labelling and sale of poisons were introduced. Poisons on the Part II list were mainly domestic in type - ammonia, carbolic disinfectants, insecticides and weed-killers.

The Public Control Department:

Until 1920 the work of the Department was done as a section of the Clerk's Department. In 1920 the Chief of Weights and Measures staff became the Chief Officer of the Public Control Department. The Department was, by the 1950s, run on two tiers with a small Headquarters staff and below that three divisional offices administered on an area basis.

Western Division: Brentford and Chiswick; Ealing; Feltham; Hayes and Harlington; Heston and Isleworth; Southall; Staines; Sunbury-on-Thames; Twickenham; Yiewsley and West Drayton.

Central Division: Acton; Harrow; Hendon; Ruislip-Northwood; Uxbridge; Wembley; Willesden.

Eastern Division: Edmonton; Enfield; Finchley; Friern Barnet; Hornsey; Potters Bar; Southgate; Tottenham; Wood Green.

Divisional offices were in Willesden, Brentford and Tottenham. At each divisional office thee was a Divisional Chief Inspector; a Senior Inspector of Weights and Measures with up to half a dozen inspectors; a Coal and Sale of Food officer and trained assistants. The direction of policy came from the County Headquarters. On the abolition of the County Council in 1965 the functions of the Public Control Department passed to the new London Boroughs.

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

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

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

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

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

Middlesex County Council Act 1934:

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

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

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

National Health Service Act 1946 and National Assistance Act 1946:
The National Health Service Act transferred the County Council's responsibility for the provision of a countrywide hospital service to the new regional hospital boards. The Act came into force in July 1948. In the same month the National Assistance Act was enforced and transferred the responsibility of the County Councils for relieving financial distress to the National Assistance Board. Thus the functions of the Public Assistance Department were radically overhauled and a new Welfare Department was set up as its successor. The first meeting of the Welfare Committee took place on 5 July 1948.

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

The following areas were used to administer these responsibilities within Middlesex: Area 1: Enfield, Edmonton; Area 2: Southgate, Wood Green, Potters Bar, Friern Barnet; Area 3: Tottenham, Hornsey; Area 4: Hendon, Finchley; Area 5: Harrow; Area 6: Wembley, Willesden; Area 7: Ealing, Acton; Area 8: Uxbridge, Rusilip-Northwood, Hayes and Harlington, Yiewsley and West Drayton; Area 9: Brentford and Chiswick, Southall, Heston and Isleworth and Area 10: Twickenham, Staines, Feltham, Sunbury on Thames.

On 1 April 1965 on the abolition of the Middlesex County Council the functions of the Welfare Department were transferred to the newly established London Boroughs.

The Middlesex County Staff Club was founded in 1911 and was the first such organisation for County Council staff. The Club had 97 members and was admitted as a member of the National and Local Government Officers Association (NALGO) in October 1911. A Secretary was appointed to carry out the administration of the Club. The majority of the Club's activities in the years before the First World War were social and sporting.

The Club fell into abeyance in 1914. In 1919 the staff of the County Council grew in number and the need for a united body was widely expressed. The Middlesex County Officers Association was formed and acknowledged by the County Council in May 1919. The Association was managed by an Executive Committee (a Council from 1949) which had representatives from all departments as well as ex-officio officers. Numerous sub-committees were set up in succeeding years until the Association was reconstructed in 1949. Thereafter the functions of the sub-committees were divided beween a handful of committees.

The single most important function of the Association was to represent the views of the members to the County Council. The mood of these consultations varied according to circumstances. During the lifetime of the Association all aspects of service came under discussion; grading; working hours; overtime; leave; rest rooms; post-entry training; long service awards. Particularly contentious was the debate over the County Council's membership of the Whitley Council. From 1960 onwards the Association was primarily concerned to safeguard the interests of staff in the approach to the implementation of the Report of the 1958 Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London.

The Association always took an active interest in sports and recreation, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s. Cultural societies were formed from time to time. Within county offices restaurants and canteens were sponsored. From 1920 representatives were sent to NALGO conferences and in 1958 a Middlesex member was elected to the National Executive Committee.

Chelsea Congregational Church, Markham Square, was registered for Congregationalists in 1860 in succession to Radnor Congregational chapel, Radnor Street. There were 890 evening worshippers in 1886, but later the church was burdened with debt from building costs; there were reports of dissension in 1916 and of members joining the Methodist church in 1923. Attendance in 1903 was 307 in the morning and 501 in the evening, the largest attendance at any protestant nonconformist chapel except Chelsea Baptist Chapel. The Church was demolished for housing in 1953. The name of Chelsea Congregational Church was adopted by the Edith Grove Church in 1960.

From: A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12: Chelsea (2004), pp. 263-272.

Harley Street Congregational Chapel, Bow, was founded in 1836. In 1903 it had 363 members and 450 students in the Sunday School. The chapel was closed in 1927 and converted into the Mile End and Bow Great Synagogue.

Saint George's in the East Congregational Church, Cannon Street Road, Stepney was founded in 1785. It was part of the East London Congregational Mission.

The Brunswick Congregational Chapel, Whitechapel Road, Stepney was founded in 1640. In 1894 it merged with the Sion Congregational Chapel, also situated on Whitechapel Road.

Bedford Park Congregational Church was situated in Streatham. It was founded in 1885.

The Craven Chapel was opened in 1822 on part of the site of the former Carnaby Market. The project was financed by Thomas Wilson, a retired merchant who from 1799 onwards had devoted himself to the building and repair of Congregational chapels. Wilson particularly wished to open a chapel in the Westminster area, and in 1821 he obtained a site from Lord Craven. The foundation stone of the chapel was laid in March 1822 and the building was opened for worship on 11 December 1822.

A Congregational church was formed on 25 April 1823, but no permanent minister was called and for the next eight years the congregation was served by visiting preachers. In May 1831 the Reverend John Leifchild was appointed as minister of the chapel. During his ministry the Craven Chapel attracted a large congregation, many of the members living 'scattered over half London'. Leifchild retired in 1854, but the congregation appears to have remained fairly numerous under his immediate successors, for early in 1874 a lecture hall and schools were opened on the north side of Foubert's Place. These were planned to replace the basement school-rooms which were part of the original chapel plan. Work was begun in the spring of 1873.

By 1894, however, the congregation seems to have felt that it could no longer continue in the area and the leases of both the Craven Chapel and Craven Hall were assigned to the West London Mission of the Methodist Church. Four years later the lease of the chapel expired, and the building was converted into a stable for the Lion brewery in Broad(wick) Street. In 1907 the West London Mission sold the lease of the hall to Messrs. Liberty. The hall is now used as a warehouse, and the chapel for industrial purposes.

From: 'Marshall Street Area', Survey of London: volumes 31 and 32: St James Westminster, Part 2 (1963), pp. 196-208.

Orange Street Congregational Chapel was bought from French Protestants by Thomas Hawkes in 1787 and converted into a Congregational chapel. The first minister was John Townsend, founder of the London Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb. A Sunday school at 36 St Martin's Street was registered in 1816. The Chapel was re-registered again by Congregationalists in 1861; and was still in use in 2009.

Source: Protestant Nonconformity: City of Westminster, A History of the County of Middlesex.

The New Broad Street Congregational Meeting House was founded in 1727. New Broad Street is situated in the City of London, near Finsbury Circus.

From 1693 to 1783 the Presbyterians had a chapel on a leasehold site off Ferry Lane, Old Brentford. In 1783 they built a new chapel on a freehold site in Brentford Butts (Boston Road). The attendance dwindling greatly, the Trustees of the Presbyterian Church in 1840 invited the Church and Congregation of Albany Congregational Chapel to enter into it [nowhere is there any statement of the precise legal nature of this entering]. Although the Church and Congregation of Albany Chapel, having moved to Boston Road, wished to sell their former chapel, the Trustees were unwilling. Attempts were made to create another Church at the Albany Chapel, which succeeded in January 1854. By 1875, however, this Church was becoming very weak, and in October 1875 it resolved to amalgamate with Boston Road.

Southwark Park Congregational Church was founded in 1863. It was situated on the junction of Lower Road and Hawkstone Road, Rotherhithe.

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 Lewisham High Street Congregational Church was founded in 1797. It ran two mission stations, at Hither Green, founded in 1871, and Ladywell, founded in 1874. In 1972 it became Lewisham High Street United Reformed Church.

The Eltham Congregational Church was founded in 1846. It belonged to the Metropolitan Kent District. In 1972 it joined the United Reformed Church.

Willesden Green Congregational Church first met at the house of Oliver Nodes in 1817. A small, plain chapel was built in 1820 at the junction of High Road and Dudden Hill Lane. Attendance in 1851 was 20 for morning services and 30 for evening services. A larger chapel was built in 1878 to the west, at the junction of High Road and Pound Lane. Attendance in 1903 was 108 for morning service and 131 in the evening. The original building was used for Sunday school until it was closed in 1907.

From: 'Willesden: Protestant nonconformity', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 242-246.

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.

Edmonton and Tottenham or Snells Park Congregational chapel derived from an Independent chapel which was opened on the east side of Fore Street, near the Tottenham boundary, in 1788. The building was enlarged in 1803 and in 1820 consisted of a chapel and vestry within a burial-ground. A schoolroom was added in 1838. When John Snell's estate was sold in 1848, the Independents purchased a plot on the site of his mansion, between Langhedge Lane and Park Road (later Snells Park), for a larger chapel. The new chapel was opened in 1850. With accommodation for 850 people, it was twice the size of the old chapel. On census Sunday 1851 590 people attended in the morning and 498 in the evening, the highest figures for any nonconformist chapel, and in 1903 305 people attended in the morning and 432 in the evening. The old chapel continued in use as a schoolroom until the late 1960s. Lectures were given there in the 1870s, leading to a secession and the foundation of Lower Edmonton Congregational church in Knight's Lane. The two congregations reunited to form Edmonton Congregational church on a new site in 1959, although the Edmonton and Tottenham chapel continued to be used for worship until it was sold to the council and demolished in around 1965.

From: 'Edmonton: Protestant nonconformity', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham (1976), pp. 188-196.

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).

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.

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.

The Craven Chapel and Hall were situated on Foubert's Place in the West End of London, near Regent Street. The chapel was constructed in 1822 by the Congregational Church, however, their membership had declined so much that by 1894 they sold the leases of the chapel and hall to the West London Mission of the Methodist Church. The hall was used for a wide variety of activities not just devotional but social, educational and welfare. By 1907 the leases had expired and the buildings were subsequently sold and used for commercial purposes.

The Stanhope Street Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was situated near the Hampstead Road, north of Euston and near Regent's Park. It was part of the West London Mission.

On 5 September 1688 James II issued letters patent incorporating a body of ten French ministers and granting them a licence to establish one or more churches for the Huguenot refugees in the City and suburbs. Two churches, both known as 'La Patente', were established by the ministers, one in Spitalfields and the other in Berwick Street in the parish of St. James, Westminster. In 1694 part of the congregation of the latter removed to Little Chapel Street (now Sheraton Street) off Wardour Street, Westminster, and became known as La Petite or La Nouvelle Patente.In 1784 the congregation merged with that of Les Grecs-La Savoie, which survived, latterly as the French Episcopal Church, in Shaftesbury Avenue, until c 1925.

For a period after 1784 the chapel was used by the Methodists, but in 1796 a lease of the building was taken by a part of Dr John Trotter's Scots Presbyterian congregation from Swallow Street (see LMA/4365). The Presbyterians continued to use the chapel, which by 1850 had become known as the Wardour Chapel, until 1889, when it was taken over by the Wesleyan West Central London Mission. The Wesleyans remained until about 1894, when the building was demolished to make way for Novello's printing works.

From: 'Wardour Street Area: Pulteney Estate', Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34: St Anne Soho (1966), pp. 288-296.

The Warwick Gardens Methodist Chapel was built in 1863 to designs by Lockwood and Mawson and demolished in about 1927. It represented a movement by local Wesleyans to broaden their scope and, in William Pepperell's words, 'plant chapels in more respectable localities, such as that of Warwick-gardens'.

The initiative came from the Bayswater Circuit of the Methodist Conference, to which the chapel was formally attached. It appears that there was a competition for the building, probably in mid 1862. The foundation stone for Lockwood and Mawson's chapel was laid in May 1863. The prominent site, at the south corner of Pembroke Gardens and Warwick Crescent (now Gardens), was taken from Lord Kensington on a long lease. The exterior, Geometric in style, was of red brick with black bands and Bath stone dressings, and had aisles, a high roof, and a slim tower and spire in the south-west position. Inside was a timber arcade and the usual array of galleries, while in a semi-basement were schoolrooms 'and a residence for the chapel-keeper'.

The finished chapel, opened on 10 December 1863, contained some 1,100 sittings. But Pepperell reported in 1871 that an average congregation amounted to some 200 only, and 'a number of these are from a distance, and properly belonging to other Methodist congregations'. The Reverend C Maurice Davies, visiting a few years later, offered a livelier impression. 'There was generally a shiny look about the chapel, as though everything, including the congregation, had been newly varnished. The seats were low, the galleries retiring, and everything in the most correct ecclesiastical taste. The position of the pulpit was strange to me; and the addition of a table covered with red baize surmounted by a small white marble font with a chamber towel ready for use, did not diminish the peculiarity. . . . The pulpit had succeeded in attaining the "Eastward position", but the table at its base did very well for a quasi-altar, and was flanked, north and south, by two semi-ecclesiastical hall chairs of oak. The font was locomotive, and might be supposed to occupy its abnormal position under protest.'

Pepperell's forebodings may have been accurate, for the chapel never attained much prosperity or influence. In about 1925 it was closed, its site sold to the Prudential Assurance Company, and shortly afterwards houses were built upon the site.

From: 'Churches and chapels: Non-Anglican denominations', Survey of London: volume 42: Kensington Square to Earl's Court (1986), pp. 386-394.

The New Chapel, or as it later became known, Wesley's Chapel, was opened for public worship on 1 November 1778. It stood as a successor to the old Foundery Chapel bought in 1739 which was situated a few hundred metres to the south east.

The Chapel is important as the "Mother Church of World Methodism", the scene of many famous events such as the Uniting Conference of Primitive Methodists, United Methodists and Wesleyan Methodists in 1932. It also acts as the focal point of the City Road Circuit, also known as London East Circuit (1807-1823) and the First London Circuit. There has been much reorganisation as chapels closed and circuits were altered; for further details and names and dates of circuits, contact the Society of Cirplanologists who collect Circuit plans.