Born in Nassau, Bahamas, 1925; returned to Scotland as a child; educated at boarding school; poverty in Glasgow; education ended at the age of thirteen with the outbreak of war and evacuation to the Orkneys; briefly attended Glasgow School of Art; army service, 1942-1945; sergeant in the RASC, saw service in Germany; became friendly with the artists Colquhoun, MacBryde, Hohn Minton; worked as a shepherd in the Orkneys, 1945; agricultural labourer; wrote short stories and plays, some broadcast by the BBC; moved to Edinburgh, 1950s; labourer in the Orkneys, working on rhyming poems; founded the Wild Hawthorn Press with Jessie McGuffie, 1961; produced the periodical Poor. Old. Tired. Horse., 1962-1968; produced the broadside Fishsheet for concrete poetry, 1963; publication of Rapel, collection of concrete poems, and of Standing Poem I, 1963; Canal Stripe Series 3, first published booklet-poem, 1964; settled at Stonypath, 1966, and began work on the 4 acre garden; Scottish representative on the Comité International of the concrete poetry movement, 1967; contributor to the International concrete poetry exhibition, 1967 Brighton Festival; first one-man exhibition at the Axiom Gallery, London, 1968; published the Weed Boat Masters Ticket booklet, first question booklet, 1971; retrospective exhibition, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1972; started a series of works for the Max Planck Institute Garden, Stuttgart, 1974; ceramic works in collaboration with David Ballantyne, 1975-1976; Collaborations exhibition, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, 1977; exhibited at the Silver Jubilee Exhibition of Contemporary Sculpture, Battersea Park, London, 1977; exhibited at the Serpentine Gallery, London, 1977; cancelled exhibition in Edinburgh as a protest against actions of Scottish Arts Council officials, 1978; Stonypath renamed Little Sparta, 1978; corresponded with Albert Speer, 1978; beginning of the 'Free Arts' project, 1978; worked on Japanese Stacks with John R Thorpe, 1978-1979; Nature Over Again After Poussin travelling exhibition, 1980-1981; exhibited at the Sculpture Show, Hayward Gallery, London, 1983; collaboration with the architect Andrew Townsend, 1983-1984; garden and temple at Little Sparta reopened to visitors, 1984; exhibitions at Merian-Park, Basel, Graeme Murray Gallery, Edinburgh and British Council's British Show in Australia; touring exhibition organized by Southampton Art Gallery, 1984; exhibitions with Sarkis at the Espace Rameau-Chapelle Sainte-Marie, Never, France and at the Eric Fabre Gallery, Paris; outdoor sculpture exhibitions at Geneva, and Wageningen, Holland, 1985; shortlisted for the Turner Prize, 1985; exhibited Osso in Paris, 1987; honorary professorship, University of Dundee, 1999.
Scottish sculptor, graphic artist and poet. Brought up in Scotland, he briefly attended Glasgow School of Art and first made his reputation as a writer, publishing short stories and plays in the 1950s. In 1961 he founded the Wild Hawthorn Press with Jessie McGuffie and within a few years had established himself internationally as Britain's foremost concrete poet. His publications also played an important role in the initial dissemination of his work as a visual artist. As a sculptor, he has worked collaboratively in a wide range of materials, having his designs executed as stone-carvings, as constructed objects and even in the form of neon lighting.
In 1966 Finlay and his wife, Sue, moved to the hillside farm of Stonypath, south-west of Edinburgh, and began to transform the surrounding acres into a unique garden, which he named Little Sparta. He revived the traditional notion of the poet's garden, arranging ponds, trees and vegetation to provide a responsive environment for sundials, inscriptions, columns and garden temples. As the proponent of a rigorous classicism and as the defender of Little Sparta against the intrusions of local bureaucracy, he insisted on the role of the artist as a moralist who comments sharply on cultural affairs. The esteem won by Finlay's artistic stance and style is attested by many important large-scale projects undertaken throughout the world. The ‘Sacred Grove', created between 1980 and 1982 at the heart of the Kröller-Müller Sculpture Park, Otterlo, is one of the most outstanding examples of Finlay's work outside Little Sparta.
James Finlayson was born in Glasgow in 1840. He studied his MB at Glasgow in 1867 and also became a Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh that year. He received his doctor of medicine in 1869, also from Glasgow, and became a Fellow of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, Glasgow in 1771. During his career he was a physician and lecturer on clinical medicine at the West Infirmary, Glasgow; Consultant Physician at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow and for the Glasgow Hospital for Diseases of the Ear; Medical Adv[ocate] at the Scotland Amicable Life Assurance Society; President and Honorary librarian of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow; President of the Glasgow Pathological and Clinical Society; member of the Royal Philosophical Society, Glasgow; and House Surgeon to the Clinical Hospital and Dispensary for Children, Manchester. He died in 1906.
Born 1926; educated at the City of London School; founder chairman, Mansfield Young Conservatives 1946-1947; national chairman, Young Conservatives 1954-1957; member, Executive Committee of the National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations 1953-1979; chairman of the Greater London Area Conservative Local Government Committee 1972-1975; vice-chairman of the Conservative Party Organisation 1975-1979 and 1983-1987; borough councillor, Hampstead Borough Council 1949-1964; borough councillor, Camden Borough Council 1964-1974 (leader, 1968-1970); deputy chairman, Association of Municipal Corporations 1969-1971, and vice-president 1971-74; parliamentary candidate (Conservative), Islington East 1955; Conservative MP, Hampstead 1970-1983; Conservative MP, Hampstead and Highgate 1983-1992; member, Executive Committee 1922 Committee 1974-1975; member, Parliamentary Select Committee on Expenditure 1970-1979; Opposition spokesman on Greater London 1974-1979; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Education 1979-1981; Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security 1981-1983; member, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 1983-1992 (President 1991-1992); member, Western European Union 1983-1992 (leader, British delegation 1987-1992); deputy chairman, Commission for New Towns 1992-1996; Controller of Personnel and Chief Industrial Relations Adviser, Great Universal Stores 1968-1979; Deputy Chairman, South East Regional Board of the Trustees' Savings Bank 1986-1989; member, Council of the Confederation of British Industry 1968-1979; member, Post Office Users National Council 1970-1977; Joint National Honorary Secretary, Council of Christians and Jews; patron, Maccabi Association of Great Britain; trustee, Marie Curie Cancer Foundation; governor, University College School; JP, Inner London 1962-1996; MBE 1959; Knight 1984; life peer 1992.
The Honorary Consulting Surgeon of the Finsbury Dispensary was Arthur Evans. The Dispensary was founded in 1780 and was situated at Brewer Street, off Goswell Road, EC. It offered advice and medicine and was cheaper than hospital attendance.
Finsbury Park Synagogue was founded as an independent synagogue in 1884. It was initially affilited with the Federation of Synagogues, before becoming a District Synagogue of the United Synagogue in 1934. The Synagogue was situated on Portland Road, then Princess Crescent, before moving to Green Lanes where it is still situated.
Finsbury Petty Sessions Division:
Finsbury was the name given to one of the administrative divisions of the ancient county of Middlesex included within Ossulston Hundred. It included the parishes of Islington, Clerkenwell, St Luke Old Street, St Sepulchre, Hornsey, Finchley, Friern Barnet, Stoke Newington, and the Liberty of Glasshouse Yard.
In 1853 Stoke Newington was transferred to the Edmonton Division and became itself a division in 1890. On 17 October 1890 Hornsey, Finchley, and Friern Barnet were transferred to the new Highgate division within the administrative county of Middlesex.
On 1 July 1956 the Finsbury Division ceased to exist and was incorporated within the newly formed New River Petty Sessional Division.
History of Petty Sessions:
An Act of 1792 established seven 'Public Offices' (later Police offices and Police courts) in the central Metropolitan area. The aim was to establish fixed locations where 'fit and able magistrates' would attend at fixed times to deal with an increasing number of criminal offences.
Offices were opened in St Margaret Westminster, St James Westminster, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Shadwell and Southwark. An office in Bow Street, Covent Garden, originally the home of the local magistrate, had been operating for almost 50 years and was largely the model for the new offices.
In 1800 the Marine Police Office or Thames Police Office, opened by 'private enterprise' in 1798, was incorporated into the statutory system. In 1821 an office was opened in Marylebone, apparently replacing the one in Shadwell.
Each office was assigned three Justices of the Peace. They were to receive a salary of £400 per annum. These were the first stipendiary magistrates. Later they were expected to be highly qualified in the law, indeed, to be experienced barristers. This distinguished them from the local lay justices who after the setting up of Police Offices were largely confined, in the Metropolitan area, to the licensing of innkeepers. In addition each office could appoint up to six constables to be attached to it.
The commonly used term of 'Police Court' was found to be misleading. The word 'police' gave the impression that the Metropolitan Police controlled and administered the courts. This was never the case, the word 'police' was being used in its original meaning of 'pertaining to civil administration', 'regulating', etc.
In April 1965 (following the Administration of Justice Act 1964) the London Police Courts with their stipendiary magistrates were integrated with the lay magistrates to form the modern Inner London Magistrates' Courts.
The police courts dealt with a wide range of business coming under the general heading of 'summary jurisdiction', i.e. trial without a jury. The cases heard were largely criminal and of the less serious kind. Over the years statutes created many offences that the courts could deal with in addition to Common Law offences. Examples include: drunk and disorderly conduct, assault, theft, begging, possessing stolen goods, cruelty to animals, desertion from the armed forces, betting, soliciting, loitering with intent, obstructing highways, and motoring offences. Non-criminal matters included small debts concerning income tax and local rates, landlord and tenant matters, matrimonial problems and bastardy.
Offences beyond the powers of the Court would normally be passed to the Sessions of the Peace or Gaol Delivery Sessions in the Old Bailey (from 1835 called the Central Criminal Court). From the late 19th century such cases would be the subject of preliminary hearings or committal proceedings in the magistrates' courts.
Outside the London Police Court Area but within the administrative county of Middlesex lay justices continued to deal with both criminal offences and administrative matters such as the licensing of innkeepers.
The exact area covered by a Court at any particular time can be found in the Kelly's Post Office London Directories, available on microfilm at LMA. The entries are based on the original Orders-in-Council establishing police court districts. A map showing police court districts is kept in the Information Area of LMA with other reference maps. Please ask a member of staff for assistance.
The 1834 Poor Law Act led to improvements in the arrangements made for the education of pauper children. Poor Law Unions, and parishes regulated by local acts, were persuaded to establish schools and to appoint schoolmasters. The policy of separating the children from their parents (who were generally considered to be a bad influence on their children) and sending them, if possible, to the country was continued and in 1866 several Middlesex metropolitan authorities were sending children to schools outside London. The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1844 made possible a further development in this field which was of significance for the metropolitan area. Unions and parishes were empowered to unite and to form a School District which then set up a large separate school for the education of all the indoor pauper children of the constituents of the district. These were usually industrial schools where both boys and girls were taught the basics of a useful trade which, it was hoped, would provide them with better prospects in future.
The Finsbury School District existed only for a few years, between 1868 and 1869. It did not go so far as to construct a school although plans were approved and a site purchased at Upton.
Source of information: Peter Higginbotham at The Workhouse website.
The livery companies set up the City and Guilds of London Institute for the Advancement of Technical Education (C&GLI) in 1878 through their involvement with training craftsmen. One of their aims was to create a Central Institution in London to improve the training of craftsmen. As they were initially unable to find a site for the Institution, Finsbury Technical College was established in 1878. The College closed in 1926.
Neville Samuel Finzi, MB, MRCS, LRCP, LSA, DRME (Camb), Hon FACR, Hon FFR (1965), was born on 25 Jun 1881, and recieved his medical training at University College London and Hospital. For much of his career he worked at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and became Director of the X-Ray Department and late Consulting Radiologist to the Radiotherapy and X-ray Diagnostic departments. He also held posts as Medical Officer to the Electrical Department of the Metropolitan Hospital and to the X-ray department of the German Hospital. From 1955-1956 he served as Master of the Society of Apothecaries. Finzi published various papers on the treatment of cancer by radium and X-rays and on ionic medication. In 1913 he published Radium Therapeutics (Frowde, London). He died 3 Apr 1968. The medical reports indicate that Dr Finzi also practised privately in Harley Street, London.
Fiott joined the Navy as a volunteer in 1798 and was present at the battle of Copenhagen, 1801. He took part in the Walcheren expedition of 1809 and in 1810 was made a lieutenant but court-martialled in the same year for using seditious language, dismissed his ship and put to the bottom of the Lieutenants' List. Soon afterwards, however, he was appointed to the MARLBOROUGH and served in the West Indies. After two years on half-pay he bought the QUEEN, a trading vessel, which was lost in 1818. From then until 1827 he owned the RETRENCH, sailing as master while still on half-pay until 1823. In this year the RETRENCH was attacked by Spanish pirates off Cuba. When he received a commission In 1823 to command HMS RENEGADE in the West Indies, he employed another half-pay naval captain on the Retrench, which was wrecked in 1824 but salvaged and, in 1827, sold In 1824 he was court-martialled again on various charges including that of mistreating his crew but was acquitted. From 1827 Fiott lived on the continent and remained there until his death.
See sub-fonds level descriptions for individual biographies.
The Fire Court was established in 1667 to handle disputes arising from the Great Fire of London, 1666. Some landlords expected tenants to continue paying rent even if there was no building to live in; in other cases the tenant was liable to rebuild; or the ownership of sections of land was in dispute. The Court decided who should rebuild in order to enable the reconstruction of the City to proceed quickly without protracted legal wrangling. The Court closed in 1672.
The Fire Offices' Committee was established in 1868 by the major fire insurance companies, and was the result of many years of informal co-operation on fire insurance matters. This co-operation began as early as 1790 when the three dominant companies, the Sun and Phoenix Fire Offices, and Royal Exchange Assurance, agreed minimum rates for the insurance of riverside wharves and warehouses. Conferences between the three companies were revived in 1825 and a continuous stream of information about all classes of risks passed between them. This sharing of expertise and underwriting experience, which standardized and improved fire insurance services, culminated in the formation of a fire insurance tariff. The first attempt to establish a tariff can be traced to 1826 when the risk experience of Liverpool warehouses proved too burdensome and 22 offices agreed to a common tariff of minimum premiums. Similarly, the managers of the Edinburgh fire offices, who had begun regular meetings in 1829, agreed minimum rates for cotton mills, flax mills, and distilleries with the leading offices of London, Manchester and Leeds. By 1831, 15 London offices had joined the Scottish companies in a tariff on Manchester drying stoves and a similar tariff operated for Glasgow and Paisley warehouses after 1833. Regular meetings of the London fire offices were instituted by 1842 and tariffs were agreed for cotton mills (1842) and Liverpool warehouses (1843).
From 1853, the co-operating fire insurance companies were known as the "Tariff Offices", and their committees published specifications and tariffs for warehouses at Liverpool, and for corn, flax, woollen and cotton mills. In 1860, the tariff offices formed three area committees: the Southern, Northern and Scottish District Committees. The Scottish Offices, based in Edinburgh, had been meeting since at least 1829. There was a Manchester Committee in addition to the Northern District Committee also based in Manchester. The Manchester Committee had been formed in 1844 and the Northern Offices Committee in 1858. General meetings of all offices concerned in the tariffs were held twice yearly in London. The first general meeting was held on 20 November 1860. Moves towards a more formal association of tariff offices were first made in May 1867 when attempts were made to scotch a rumour that the regulation of tariff rates was not being universally observed. At this time there is also mention of a Committee of Associated Fire Offices. The name Fire Offices' Committee first appears in May 1868 when concern was expressed that there was no statement of principles or rules of practice on which the co-operation of the tariff offices was based. It was proposed that rules should be adopted and these were drafted as rules of the Fire Insurance Tariff Association. They were finally approved in May 1869 as rules of the Fire Offices' Committee. The original membership comprised 19 London companies, 17 country, nine Scottish, three Irish and two foreign.
The pre-eminence of the London offices and increasing dominance of the Southern District Committee and its close relationship with the Fire Offices' Committee (they had the same Chairman and Secretary) is reflected in the fate of the district committees.In 1883, the Southern and Northern Districts were combined to form the Southern and Northern District. In 1887 the division of the United Kingdom into two districts (Southern and Northern, and Scottish) was abolished. In 1868, particular tariffs were allocated to the different district committees. Increasingly Standing sub-committees were established to deal with particular tariffs. These were abolished in 1890 and four Standing Tariff Committees were set up. Three ofthe committees met in London, the fourth in Edinburgh. The Standing Tariff Committees were in abeyance by the end of 1893. From this date, most business seems to have been dealt with in frequently held general meetings, with specific matters referred to sub-committees.
Originally, the officers of the Fire Offices' Committee, the Chairman and Secretary who carried out much of the day to day business, had come from the member fire offices. By 1893, the workload had increased so much that the Committee decided to employ as an assistant secretary someone not directly involved in the insurance business. Its first assistant secretary was appointed in August 1893. Much of the business of the Fire Offices' Committee had always been carried out in general meetings. However, in December 1898 a Grand Committee, made up of all members of the Fire Offices' Committee transacting direct fire insurance business in the United Kingdom, was set up. It met once a month and conducted most of the business formerly carried out in general meetings, although these continued. In July 1904, the Grand Committee was abolished and a General Purposes Committee established in its place. In November 1904, the General Purposes Committee was also abolished and general meetings held in place of the committee meetings.
The Fire Offices' Committee consolidated existing rating agreements and continued to supervise the rating of fire risks insured by the tariff offices for over a century. The tariff permanently altered the conduct of fire business from the mid-19th century. These alterations were reflected in the increased range of information about insurable risks published in the Committee's circulars and discussed at its meetings. The tariff companies ratings of new products and processes influenced traders and manufacturers in their choice of buildings and plant. Also under the tariff system, with the sharing of underwriting information between the competing offices, the size of the British insurance market grew rapidly. Co-operation assisted British fire offices in their development of overseas markets where they had problems with competition from local companies, legislation by foreign governments and the novelty or complexity of overseas risks. Offices conducting business overseas had been meeting since at least 1859. By 1869, 29 foreign fire insurance tariffs were in operation, and the participating companies formed the Fire Offices' Committee (Foreign) for supervising rates (see CLC/B/017-12 for records). Further foreign committees were established in the 20th century.
The Fire Offices' Committee was associated with a number of other organisations which shared its staff and premises:
-
The London Wharf and Warehouse Committee was established in 1861, as the Warehouse Improvement and Wharf Committee, by offices involved in fire insurance (later the Fire Offices' Committee); it was renamed in 1872. It surveyed and rated wharfs, warehouses and goods covered by the London Mercantile and Insurance Tariffs. (Its records were deposited in Guildhall Library in 1974 and 1975 and have been listed separately as CLC/B/017-26).
-
The Consequential Loss Committee was established by the Fire Offices' Committee in 1909 to rate the premiums to be applied to insurances against consequential loss by fire and to administer the Consequential Loss Tariff (see CLC/B/017-08).
-
The Printers and Theatres Rating Committee (Southern Committee) was set up under the auspices of the London Salvage Corps. In 1962, it was taken over by the Fire Offices' Committee. See CLC/B/017-29.
Further committees to do with foreign business were established under the auspices of the Fire Offices' Committee (Foreign): the London Continental Fire Insurance Committee in 1920 (CLC/B/017-21); the London Australasian Insurance Committee in 1925 (CLC/B/017-20); the London West Africa Insurance Committee in 1958 (CLC/B/017-25); the London South African Insurance Committee in 1966 (CLC/B/017-24); and the Fire Offices' Committee of Ireland in 1975 (CLC/B/017-13).
Some joint committees were formed during the Second World War: Trading with the Enemy Joint Insurance Committee (CLC/B/017-31); the Associated Fire Insurers (Government Commodities) Management Committee; and the Insurance Companies (War Settlement) Committee (CLC/B/017-17).
The Fire Offices' Committee was wound up in 1985 and its activities transferred to the Association of British Insurers, apart from its technical services which were transferred to the Loss Prevention Council. The Fire Offices' Committee was located at 63 Threadneedle Street to 1875, at 11 Queen Street from 1875 to 1885, at 11 Queen Street and 63 Watling Street from 1885 to 1907, at 63 and 66 Watling Street from 1907 to 1958, at 107 Cheapside from 1958 to 1962 and at Aldermary House, Queen Street from 1962 until 1985.
On 11 December 1908 the Fire Offices' Committee resolved to set up a sub-committee to report on whether it was desirable for offices to arrive at an agreement with reference to insurances against consequential loss by fire. The sub-committee's proposal to set up the Consequential Loss Committee was approved by the Fire Offices' Committee on 14 May 1909. The new committee's first meeting was held on 28 May 1909. Its object was to rate the premiums to be applied to insurances against consequential loss by fire and to administer the Consequential Loss Tariff. The Consequential Loss Committee was managed and administered by the Fire Offices' Committee and based at its offices (at 65-66 Watling Street from 1909 to 1958, at 107 Cheapside from 1958 to 1962, and at Aldermary House, Queen Street from 1962 to 1985).
Offices transacting fire insurance business overseas had been meeting since at least 1859 (see Ms 18862/1). By 1869, 29 foreign fire insurance tariffs were in operation, and the participating offices formed the Fire Offices' Committee (Foreign) for supervising rates. Co-operation assisted British fire offices in their development of overseas markets where they had problems with competition from local companies and the novelty and complexity of overseas risks, and had to deal with legislation by foreign governments (see Ms 29489). During the 20th century, the growth of foreign business was such that several committees were established by the Fire Offices' Committee (Foreign) to protect and promote the interests of companies transacting business in particular parts of the world. These were: the London Continental Fire Insurance Committee set up in 1920 (see CLC/B/017-21); the London Australasian Insurance Committee in 1925 (see CLC/B/017-20); the London West Africa Insurance Committee in 1958 (see CLC/B/017-25); the London South African Insurance Committee in 1966 (see CLC/B/017-24); and the Fire Offices' Committee of Ireland in 1975 (see CLC/B/017-13). The interests of some of these committees extended beyond fire insurance to accident, life and marine insurance.
Offices transacting fire insurance business overseas had been meeting since at least 1859. By 1869, 29 foreign fire insurance tariffs were in operation, and the participating offices formed the Fire Offices' Committee (Foreign) for supervising rates. Co-operation assisted British fire offices in their development of overseas markets where they had problems with competition from local companies and the novelty and complexity of overseas risks, and had to deal with legislation by foreign governments. During the 20th century, the growth of foreign business was such that several committees were established by the Fire Offices' Committee (Foreign) to protect and promote the interests of companies transacting business in particular parts of the world. These included the Fire Offices' Committee of Ireland in 1975.
The Glasgow Rate and Salvage Association was formed in 1847. Formerly known as the Agents Fire Rate Committee; Glasgow Fire Rate Committee, and Glasgow Fire Insurance Committee.
Offices transacting fire insurance business overseas had been meeting since at least 1859. By 1869, 29 foreign fire insurance tariffs were in operation, and the participating offices formed the Fire Offices' Committee (Foreign) for supervising rates. Co-operation assisted British fire offices in their development of overseas markets where they had problems with competition from local companies and the novelty and complexity of overseas risks, and had to deal with legislation by foreign governments. During the 20th century, the growth of foreign business was such that several committees were established by the Fire Offices' Committee (Foreign) to protect and promote the interests of companies transacting business in particular parts of the world. These included the London Australasian Insurance Committee in 1925.
The first meeting of offices conducting insurance business on the continent of Europe was held on 7 October 1920 under the auspices of the Fire Offices' Committee (Foreign). This led to the formation of the London Continental Fire Insurance Committee.This committee was managed and administered by the Fire Offices' Committee.
The first formal meeting of the London South African Insurance Committee was held on 1 September 1966. Its aims were to promote and protect the interests of companies transacting direct insurance business in the Republic of South Africa, south west Africa, Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland. It was set up under the auspices of the Fire Offices' Committee (Foreign) (see CLC/B/017-12) and was managed and administered by the Fire Offices' Committee (see CLC/B/017-11). It disbanded on 11 August 1976.
The first formal meeting of the London West Africa Insurance Committee was held on 26 September 1958. Its aims were to protect and promote the interests of companies transacting direct insurance business in Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. It was set up under the auspices of the Fire Offices Committee (Foreign) (see CLC/B/017-12) and its chairman and secretary were also the chairman and secretary of the parent organisation. It was managed and administered by the Fire Offices' Committee (see CLC/B/017-11).
The London Wharf and Warehouse Committee was established in 1861, as the Warehouse Improvement and Wharf Committee, by offices involved in fire insurance (later the Fire Offices' Committee); it was renamed in 1872. It surveyed and rated wharfs, warehouses and goods covered by the London Mercantile and Insurance Tariffs.
The origins of the Printers and Theatres Rating Committee (Southern Committee) are unclear. At the end of the 19th century, it appears that a scheme was established for rating insurance premiums on theatres, music halls, and printers and allied trades under the auspices of the London Salvage Corps. The earliest records, tariff rate books, survive from 1896 (Ms 29509); circulars dating from 1899 exist among the records of the London Salvage Corps (CLC/B/017-23, Ms 15739). Meetings of offices interested in matters to do with printers and theatres (and later cinemas and film production studios) came to be held after the meetings of the London Salvage Corps (Ms 29503). The name Printers and Theatres Rating Committee seems to have been first used in 1914. There were also Northern and Scottish Rating Committees.
The Southern Rating Committee was originally managed and administered by the London Salvage Corps. In 1941, owing to the transfer of the London Salvage Corps to London County Council, it was taken over by the Fire Offices' Committee for the duration of the war. After the Second World War, the close relationship between the Southern Rating Committee and Fire Offices' Committee continued. In April 1962, the committee requested that its chairmanship and adninistration should be taken over by the chairman and officers of the Fire Offices' Committee.
The Southern Rating Committee was based at the premises of the London Salvage Corps (at 64 Watling Street) until its administration was taken over by the Fire Offices' Committee.
Heloise Ruth First was born on 4 May 1925 in Johannesburg, the daughter of Julius and Matilda ('Tilly') First, Jewish emigrants to South Africa from the Baltic states. Her parents were members of the International Socialist League and founder members of the South African Communist Party (SACP).
After attending schools in Johannesburg, Ruth First began a Social Science degree in 1942 at the University of Witwatersrand. Whilst at university, she helped found the left-wing Federation of Progressive Students, and also served as secretary of the Young Communist League and Progressive Youth Council.
On her graduation in 1945, First took a job in the Research Division of the Department of Social Welfare of Johannesburg City Council, but she resigned in 1946 in order to pursue a career in journalism. In the same year she produced pamphlets in aid of the miners' strike and was temporarily secretary of the Johannesburg offices of the South African Communist Party. In 1947, together with Michael Scott, she exposed a farm labour scandal in Bethal, Eastern Tansvaal.
Between 1946-1952 she was the Johannesburg editor of the weekly newspaper The Guardian, the mouthpiece of the SACP. When this publication was banned in 1952, it was restarted under the name Clarion, a pattern which continued throughout the next decade, the titles used being People's World, Advance, New Age and Spark. Between 1954-1963 she was also the editor of Fighting Talk, a Johannesburg based monthly.
In 1949 Ruth First married Joe Slovo. They had three daughters, Shawn (b 1950), Gillian (b 1952) and Robyn (b 1953). In 1950, First was named under the Suppression of Communism Act and her movements restricted. In 1953 she was banned from membership of all political organisations, although in 1955 she helped draw up the Freedom Charter, a fundamental document of the African National Congress, and was later a member of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the ANC's military wing. In December 1956, she and Joe Slovo were among the 156 people charged in the so-called Treason Trial, although her indictment was dismissed in April 1959. In August 1963 she was arrested and detained under the 90-Day Law for a total period of 117 days. Effectively forced into exile, in March 1964 she left South Africa for the United Kingdom, accompanied by her three daughters.
From 1964 she worked full-time as a freelance writer, before becoming a Research Fellow at the University of Manchester in 1972. Between 1973-1978 she lectured in development studies at the University of Durham, although she spent periods of secondment at universities in Dar es Salaam and Lourenco Marques (Maputo). In November 1978 she took up a post as Director of the research training programme at the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo.
Ruth First was killed on 17 Aug 1982, when she opened a parcel bomb addressed to her at the above university.
Firth was born in Sheffield on 16 March 1857. He was educated at Clifton College and at Balliol College Oxford. He was engaged in literary work and historical teaching at Oxford from 1883. He was a Lecturer at Pembroke College Oxford from 1887 to 1898. He became a fellow of All Souls' College and Oriel College there. He was also a fellow of the British Academy. In 1904 he was made Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford, till 1925, and Professor Emeritus from 1925. Firth was knighted in 1922. He published many writings on history. He died on 19 February 1936
Charles Harding Firth was born in Sheffield on 16 March 1857. He received his education from Clifton College, New College, Oxford and Balliol College, Oxford where he graduated with a degree in Modern History in 1878. After lecturing for a period at his uncle's foundation, Firth College, he moved to Oxford in 1883. He was a history lecturer at Pembroke College, from 1883 to 1893, Ford's lecturer 1900-1901, in 1902 he became a research fellow at All Souls and he was Regius Professor of Modern History from 1904 to 1925. He was one of a group of historians who established the English Historical Review in 1886. He served as president of the Royal Historical Society from 1913-1917 and twice as president of the Historical Association, 1906-1910, and 1918-1920.
Firth received honorary degrees from the Universities of Aberdeen, Durham, Cambridge, Sheffield, Manchester and Oxford. He was given a knighthood in 1922. Firth's areas of historical interest included the military, travel, colonisation and Oliver Cromwell. Firth's works include, the Life of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, 1886, Oliver Cromwell 1900 and The House of Lords During the Civil War, 1910.
Sir Raymond Firth was born in 1901 in New Zealand. He was educated at Auckland University College, where he specialised in economics and wrote his MA thesis on the local kauri gum industry. In 1924 he came to the London School of Economics to work for a higher degree in economics, but on arrival changed his subject to anthropology and completed a PhD on the primitive economics of the New Zealand Maori under the supervision of Malinowski. After obtaining his PhD, Firth returned to New Zealand and in 1928-1929 made his first and longest visit to the island of Tikopia. On his return he joined the staff of the department of anthropology at the University of Sydney, first as a lecturer and then as acting professor. In 1932 he returned to London to take up a post under Malinowski at the LSE. He was a lecturer in anthropology 1932-1935, and a reader 1935-1944. During the Second World War, Firth was posted to the Admiralty's Naval Intelligence Division, where he was responsible for compiling the geographical handbooks relating to the Pacific islands. Following Malinowski's death in 1942, Firth was appointed Professor of Anthropology of the University of London in 1944. He retired from this post in 1968, but remained professionally active right up until his death at the age of 100 in 2002. Firth had a wide range of research interests, but is best remembered for his work on Tikopia and Malaya. He wrote extensively about Tikopia society and culture throughout his career, and returned to do further fieldwork there in 1952, 1966, 1973 and 1978. He first visited Malaya in 1939-1940 to study the economics and social conditions of peasant communities in the coastal region of Kelantan, and visited again in 1947 and 1963 to continue his research. He also made a significant contribution to the field of kinship studies, leading several projects on kinship in London in the period 1947-1965.
A deed is any document affecting title, that is, proof of ownership, of the land in question. The land may or may not have buildings upon it. Common types of deed include conveyances, mortgages, bonds, grants of easements, wills and administrations.
Conveyances are transfers of land from one party to another, usually for money. Early forms of conveyance include feoffments, surrenders and admissions at manor courts (if the property was copyhold), final concords, common recoveries, bargains and sales and leases and releases.
An assignment of term, or assignment to attend the inheritance, was an assignment of the remaining term of years in a mortgage to a trustee after the mortgage itself has been redeemed. An assignment of a lease is the transfer of the rights laid out in the lease to another party, usually for a consideration (a sum of money).
From the British Records Association "Guidelines 3 - Interpreting Deeds: How To Interpret Deeds - A Simple Guide And Glossary".
Peter Kien was born in January 1919 in Warnsdorf, Czechoslovakia, the son of a textile manufacturer, whose business collapsed during the economic crisis of 1929. He began painting whilst a student at the German Realschule in Brünn and continued his schooling in art at the Prague Academy where he studied under Willi Nowak. The situation in Czechoslovakia got steadily worse particularly for Jews after the annexation of Austria in March 1938. During this time he met Ilse Stransky. They married in September 1940. In December 1941 he was deported to Theresienstadt.
In Theresienstadt he met many more artists and writers whilst working in the graphics department. He became increasingly active as a portrait artist and sketcher of fellow inmates. Above all he immersed himself in the theatrical and musical life of the camp.
In July 1942 he was joined by his wife and in January 1943 by his parents. He wrote poetry and several plays and his libretto for the opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder der Tod dankt ab which had its premiere in Amsterdam in 1975.
He was sent to Aushwitz on the last transport in October 1944 along with his wife and parents where he was murdered.
Little is known about the subjects of these two facsimile identity card applications, other than the information contained within the documents themselves, namely that Ewa and Henryk Fischler were Polish-Jewish residents of Krakau, and that they had 2 children, Janina and Stanislaw, born in 1930 and 1933 respectively.
The Jewish ghetto in Kraków (Cracow) was one of the five main ghettos created by the Nazis in the General Government, during their occupation of Poland during World War Two. It was a staging point to begin dividing 'able workers' from those who would later be deemed worthy of death. Before the war, Kraków was an influential cultural centre for the 60,000-80,000 Jews that resided there. Janina Fischler-Martinho was a survivor of the Jewish ghetto at Cracow.
Fish was born in Chard, Somerset and educated at Kingswood School and Manchester University (L.D.S. 1914; Ch.B. 1916; M.D. 1924). He was a leading figure in British dentistry. He was Chairman of the Dental Board, 1944-1956, Dean of the Faculty of Dental Science of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1956-1959, and President of the General Dental Council, 1956-1964. Fish was knighted in 1954.
The council consisted of representatives of the London and Home Counties Fish Friers' Association; the London Fish and Poultry Retailers' Association; the London Fish Merchants' Association (Billingsgate), (to 1946, the London Fish Trade Association); and from 1969, the Transport and General Workers' Union. It was formed in 1945 for the purpose of co-operating on matters of mutual interest.
Alfred Hugh Fisher was born in London in 1867 and educated at the City of London School and University College London. He spent nine years working in business before giving up work to study art in London and Paris and subsequently became known as and engraver, etcher and illustrator. In July 1907 the Colonial Office Visual Instruction Committee chose him to illustrate lecture materials about the British Empire that they were producing for schoolchildren and he spent much of the following two years travelling through the Empire, taking photographs for the project; these photographs have been preserved by the Royal Commonwealth Society. Fisher died in 1945.
Born, 1916; wartime service in the Royal Engineers; lectured at University College Wales and Leicester; Professor of Geography at Sheffield and London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS); Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, 1941-1983; RGS Victoria Medal, 1974; died, 1982.
Owing to the death of his father, Fisher had to go out to work at an early age. However, his interest in science won him recognition and in 1817 he was able to go to Cambridge University. In 1818 he sailed as astronomer with the naval expedition to Spitsbergen commanded by Captain David Buchan (d c 1839) in the DOROTHEA and the TRENT. He then returned to Cambridge. In 1821 he graduated and was ordained. In that year he sailed with Captain W E Parry (1790-1855), on his second expedition, 1821 to 1823, to search for the North-West Passage, in the double capacity of chaplain and astronomer. During both these expeditions he made astronomical and magnetic observations and did some pioneer work on the physical, chemical and physiological consequences of the Arctic climate. In recognition of his work he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1825. From 1828 to 1832 he served in the Mediterranean as chaplain in the SPARTIATE and ASIA and continued his work on astronomy and magnetism. From 1834 to 1863 Fisher was Headmaster of the Greenwich Hospital School, where he continued his scientific work and established an observatory.
Dr Humphrey Fisher was Reader in the History of Africa at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Publications include: Ahmadiyyah: a study in contemporary Islam on the West African coast (1963); with Allan George Barnard Fisher, Slavery and Muslim society in Africa: the institution in Saharan and Sudanic Africa, and the trans-Saharan trade (1970); edited Benjamin Anderson's Narrative of a journey to Musardu, the capital of the Western Mandingoes ... with Narrative of the expedition despatched to Musahdu by the Liberian government ... in 1874 ... (1971); joint translator of Gustav Nachtigal's Sahara and Sudan [1971-]; joint editor of Rural and urban Islam in West Africa (Asian and African studies, vol xx no 1, 1986).
John Fisher was born at Hampton, Middlesex, in 1748. He was educated in Peterborough and London before entering Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was ordained Deacon in the Church of England in 1771 and ordained Priest in 1773. He also became a Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge in 1773. From 1781-1785 Fisher became Chaplain to King George III and took charge of educating some of the royal children for several years. He became a Canon at Windsor in 1786, Bishop of Exeter in 1803, and Bishop of Salisbury in 1807. In 1819 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. After his death in 1825, Fisher was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor.
Samuel Fisher was a leading member of the Anglo-Jewish Community and a well-known figure in London local government.
He was Mayor of Stoke Newington Metropolitan Borough 1953-1954 and Camden London Borough 1965-1966. He was Chairman of the London Labour Mayors Association 1966-1977. He was made a life peer in 1974.
His influence was felt on a number of London wide bodies such as the Metropolitan Water Board where he was Chairman and national bodies such as the Board of Deputies of British Jews where he was President. A musical of his life was written entitled The Sammy Fisher Story. He died in 1979.
Fisher entered the Navy in 1888 and served as a sub-lieutenant and lieutenant in the Mediterranean In 1903 he was appointed a senior staff officer of the Gunnery School on Whale Island. He was made a commander in 1906 and a captain in 1912 . After more than four years with the Grand Fleet he was called in May 1917 to the Admiralty as Director of the then recently-formed Anti-Submarine Division In 1919 he commanded the IRON DUKE, flagship, Mediterranean Fleet, and was then Chief of Staff to Admiral Sir John De Robeck (1862-1928), in both the Mediterranean and Atlantic Fleets Fisher became rear-admiral in 1922, commanded the First Battle Squadron, Mediterranean Fleet, in 1924 and in 1926 was appointed Director of Naval Intelligence He joined the Board of the Admiralty as Fourth Sea Lord in 1927 and, after rising to vice-admiral, became in April 1928 Deputy Chief of Naval Staff In the autumn of 1930 he was appointed second-in-command, Mediterranean Fleet, until April 1932. He was then promoted to admiral and returned to the Mediterranean as Commander-in-Chief in October. His command covered the period which included the Abyssinian crisis of 1935 His final appointment was Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth. There is a biography by Admiral Sir William James, Admiral Sir W.W Fisher (London, 1943).
Thomas (b.1808) and George Fisher (1810-1899) were sons of Captain William Fisher, a Limehouse seaman and shipowner. Thomas appears to have gone to sea but after illness took up residence in the Sandwich Islands and became a carpenter.
The 'Tactical Voting 87' group was a left of centre group set up to try and prevent the Rt Hon Margaret Hilda Thatcher gaining another term of office by persuading the public to vote for the candidate most likely to defeat the Conservative candidate in their constituency. TV 87 was wound up following the 1987 general election. Some of its members then formed 'Common Voice', which widened the scope of the campaign to include both tactical voting and a complete reform of the electoral system. Fishman was a member of both groups.
William J Fishman is a historian and author of several books on topics ranging from revolutionary advocacy in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to the history of the East End of London. The son of an immigrant tailor, he spent his formative years in the East End of London. At 15, he was an eyewitness to the Battle of Cable Street. He was educated at the Central Foundation Grammar School for Boys, Wandsworth Teachers Training College and the London School of Economics. He served in the British Army in the Second World War, completing his service in the Far East. After the war, he worked as a teacher and was appointed principal of Tower Hamlets College of Further Education. In 1965 he was elected to a studentship at Balliol College, Oxford. In 1967 he was Visiting Professor of History at Columbia University, New York.
He was visiting professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison from 1969-1970 and was awarded an Acton Society Fellowship. In 1972 he was appointed Barnet Shine Senior Research Fellow in Labour Studies with special reference to Jews at Queen Mary, University of London. He was made an honorary fellow of Queen Mary in 1999. He is currently Visiting Professor to the Centre for the Study of Migration at Queen Mary.
The Institution was established in 1835. It provided, and continues to provide, pensions and assistance to people connected with the processing, wholesale and retail onshore fish and poultry trades in reduced circumstances. To this end it maintained almshouses at Wood Green, Middlesex from 1850 until after World War II. Part of the grounds of the almshouses were purchased in the 1890s by the Tottenham School Board. From 1869 the Institution also provided Home Pensions (i.e. pensions to those not resident in the almshouses) at £15 per annum.
In 1957 Harrisons and Crosfield Limited (CLC/B/112) and Fisons Pest Control Limited (a subsidiary of Fisons Limited) formed a new company, Fisons (Ceylon) Limited, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, for the manufacture, handling and importation of fungicides, insecticides, weed-killers, fertilizers and other agricultural chemical products. Harrisons and Fisons Pest Control Limited held an equal number of shares in the Company. In 1959 Fisons Pest Control Limited's shares were transferred to Fisons Limited.
Marcus Felix Brudenell Fitch (Marc), CBE, DLitt, Hon FBA, FSA, was born in 1908 in London. He entered the family firm of Fitch Lovell, provision merchants; an occupation which made him wealthy. This enabled him to pursue his historical research interests. In 1956 he became the chair of the British Records Society, encouraging a greater rate of publication and contributing some publications himself. Also in 1956 he founded the Marc Fitch Fund to support the publication of local history material. Throughout his life he continued to provide financial contributions to local history projects and research fellowships; as well as continuing his own research. He died in 1994.
Gordon William Fitzgerald (1899-1944), OBE, TD, MB, CM (Edinburgh) 1898, LM (Dublin) 1899, MD (Edinburgh) 1901, FRCOG 1929, graduated in Edinburgh and Dublin. He spent most of his professional life in Manchester at the Municipal Hospital and as an active member of the North of England Obstetric and Gynaecological Society. He was a Founder Fellow of the College (bibliography: see Sir John Peel, Lives of the Fellows, pp.154-155).
Fitzgerald entered the Navy in 1818. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1823. In May 1839 he was appointed to the MAGNIFICENT, flagship of Commodore Peter John Douglas at Jamaica, and in March 1841 to the RACER, North America and West Indies. Following his promotion to Captain in November 1841, Fitzgerald was sent in 1842 by Sir Charles Adam, the Commander-in-Chief, on a mission to Guatemala. In 1845 he was appointed Captain of the VERNON, flagship of Rear-Admiral S H Inglefield on the south east coast of America and later in the East Indies. On the death of Inglefield in 1848 he was for a time Senior Officer on the station, arriving home in the autumn of that year. In 1853 he was appointed Captain of HMS WINCHESTER, flagship of Sir Fleetwood Pellew, in the East Indies. For reasons of health he was transferred to the CALLIOPE the following year, on the Australian Station, and brought her home in 1855. He was appointed Superintendent of Sheerness Dockyard in 1857 and died there in 1859.
Robert Allan Fitzgerald was born in Purley House, Berkshire on 1 October 1834. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.
A right-handed batsman and round arm right-arm fast bowler, Fitzgerald participated in 46 first-class matches between 1854 and 1874, scoring over 1,000 runs. He later became Secretary of MCC from 1863 to 1876, during which time MCC purchased the freehold of the ground from Isaac Moses Marsden thanks to money advanced from William Nicholson, built the ground's first Grand Stand, and in 1872 Fitzgerald led a team of cricketers including Lord Harris and W G Grace on a tour of North America.
This tour is documented at length in one of the scrapbooks in this collection. Fitzgerald was also a keen amateur dramatist and plays written by him are included in one of the other scrapbooks, alongside accounts of MCC, I Zingari and Quidnunc matches, as well as newspaper articles on cricket and lawn tennis.