Records of Staines Poor Law Union Board of Guardians, 1905-1930, comprising relief order book containing lists of out-relief cases; financial accounts and registers of persons undertaking nursing and maintenance of infants.

Specification of works required by the Staines Local Board for repairs to the fire station at Market Place, Staines, 1894.

Records of the Staines Local Board of Health, Urban District Council and Rural District Council relating to road and bridge maintenance, provision of utilities and sewer and drainage works, 1876-1961, including correspondence; agreements; memoranda; contracts; deeds; copies of legislation; petitions; orders of the Local Government Board and licences.

Records of Staines Local Board of Health, 1883-1929, comprising minute books, notice of bye-laws relating to Staines Commons and petition to Parliament for exclusion from Coal and Wine Duties Bill.

Records of Staines Urban District Council, 1894-1946, including minute books of various Committees including the Highways Committee and the Cemetery Committee; copies of agreements; reports and inquiries; financial accounts and town planning schemes including plans.

Records of Staines Rural District Council, 1894-1934, including Council minute books; Committee minute books; Parochial Committee minute books; reports; correspondence; housing scheme plans and town planning meetings.

Records of parishes in Staines, 1803-1953, including poor rate books; papers relating to tithes; papers relating to maintenance of roads, including plans; minute books of various Committees; and bills for maintenance work done.

Records of other bodies, 1828-1930, including the Commissioners of Staines Bridge; Staines Poor Law Union; Staines Joint Hospital District; Sunbury Hall Company Limited and Staines School Board.

Staines Urban District Council general accounts ledgers, 1921-1974.

Records of the Stepney Poor Law Union (called the Limehouse Poor Law Union from 1921-1925), 1836-1936, including minutes of the Board of Guardians and various Committees; correspondence; orders of removal to and from other Unions; registers for the Limehouse Children's Establishment, the Mile End Old Town Workhouse, the Ratcliffe Workhouse and Bromley House; registers of admission for the Stifford Children's Homes; financial accounts and staff records.

Records of Parish of Stepney Poor Law Union, 1910-1936, including minutes of the Board of Guardians and various Committees; correspondence; admission orders for lunatics; registers for Bromley House and the South Grove Institution; registers for Gray Scattered Homes and Stifford Homes; financial accounts; staff records; plans of Gray's Children's Homes and contract works ledger.

Records of the Mile End Old Town Poor Law Union, 1848-1930, including minutes of the Board of Guardians and various Committees; correspondence; settlement examinations; orders of removal to and from other Unions; registers for the Mile End Workhouse and Infirmary; apprenticeship indentures; registers for the Bancroft Road School and the Mile End Scattered Homes; financial accounts; staff records and monthly returns of infant deaths.

Records of Saint George in the East Poor Law Union, 1836-1927, including minutes of the Board of Guardians and various Committees; correspondence; settlement examinations; orders of removal to and from other Unions; registers of lunatics in asylums; registers for the Saint George in the East Workhouse and Infirmary and the Raine Street Workhouse and Infirmary; registers for the Plashet School and Drouet's Home, Tooting; financial accounts; staff records and tradesmen's accounts.

Records of Whitechapel Poor Law Union, 1837-1943, including minutes of the Board of Guardians and various Committees; correspondence; orders of removal to and from other Unions; admission orders for lunatics; registers of lunatics in asylums; registers from the Whitechapel Infirmary and the South Grove Workhouse; registers of children; financial accounts and staff records.

Papers relating to the City of London, including plans, 1880-1949; article on "Life in the City in 1900", 1981; papers relating to the City Arts Trust, 1962-1964; correspondence regarding ward boundaries, 1957-1959; planning implications of the City's boundary changes, 1994; papers regarding the City and Guilds of London Institute, 1878-1989; articles, brochures, event programmes and certificates, 1952-1998 and papers and reports of the City Day Census, 1881-[1980]. Papers relating to Corporation of London property, including notices of auction, assessments of value and schedule of rentals, 1798-1934. Also records relating to the Guildhall, including histories, papers on the rebuilding of the Guildhall post Second World War, 1865-1997 and lists of preachers at the Guildhall Chapel, 1670-1717.

Papers relating to London, including surveys, plans, maps, drawings, fundraising appeals, letters, reports, photographs, articles, financial accounts, orders of the Court of Aldermen, graphs, brochures, posters, bills and orders for payment, Parliamentary proceedings, presentments of Leet Juries and solicitor's papers, 1449-1993, relating to various subjects including fairs and markets, individual properties, churches and parishes, synagogues, docks, improvement and construction works, trades, the Great Fire of London, the Fleet Ditch, bridges, the Monument, artisan's dwellings, the Silver Jubilee Walkway and the Tower of London.

Papers relating to Southwark, including papers relating to the Bailiff of Southwark, 1564-1844; papers relating to the Aldermen of the Ward of Bridge Without [Southwark], 1550-1957; copy charters relating to Southwark, 1406-[1680]; papers relating to the jurisdiction of the City of London in Southwark, 1462-1899; various petitions, reports, extracts, appointments, correspondence and indentures relating to Southwark, 1726-1845; official guide books to Southwark, [1940s-1965]; petitions to the Court of Aldermen, 1681-1755; papers relating to the Steward of Southwark, 1683-1836 and poor rate assessment, Southwark, 1777.

Papers relating to the United Kingdom including claim of Aldborough, Suffolk for exemption from the duties of Waterbailage Eastward, 1536-1537; copy of a letter from W. F. Bayley, Prebendary of Canterbury, to Sir William Curtis asking for the support of the Lord Mayor in relation to the restoration of Archbishop Sudbury's Tomb, 1828; guide book to Chirk Castle, Wrexham, home of the Middleton family, including Sir Thomas Middleton, Lord Mayor 1613-1614, 1992; map of a freehold farm situated at Eltisley, Cambridgeshire, belonging to the governors of St Thomas Hospital and the trustees of the Freemen's Orphan School, 1870; "Ironbridge and the City Guilds", an illustrated brochure prepared by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust to raise funds from the City Livery Companies, including various illustrations of items from the Ironbridge area to be found in the City of London or with a City association, [1981]; documents presented at the Mayor's Court relating to the bargain or sale, in consideration of £900, of an annual rent of 6 quarters of wheat, Joshua and Ely. Bonhorne, late of Jersey to John Poingdestre of Jersey, 1675; report of proceedings before arbitration between the Rector of Liverpool and the Corporation of London under the 1864 Liverpool Improvement Act, 1868; papers relating to a suit at King's Bench between the Borough of Queen borough, Kent and Edward Skey relating to the oyster fisheries, 1826 and petition 'to the benevolent and humane British Public,' from the Freemen and Inhabitants of Queenborough, being Oyster Fishermen whose trade is ruined, [1820].

Papers relating to overseas matters, particularly addresses and thanks to the Mayor on the occasion of state visits, but also including letter from the Committee of the Association of New York to the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London, requesting their sympathy and protesting against the tax on tea, 5 May 1775; letter from the American Congress to the Lord Mayor and Livery of London, asking them to mediate in the War of Independence, read in Common Hall, 29 Sep 1775; scroll of friendship presented to the Mayor by the City of New York, 1947; greetings offered to Williamsburg and Richmond on the visit of Mayor Sir Cullum Welch, 1957; reply signed by Colonel Frank Borman, U.S.A.F., NASA Astronaut, to a telegram of congratulation sent by the Lord Mayor on the success of the Apollo VIII flight, 1969; article 'The City and American Independence' by Betty R. Masters in "City Festival" brochure, 1976; article 'The City and America 1776, The Story of the City of London's attempt to avoid the War of Independence', 1976?; notes on freedoms and entertainments connected with America, 1853-1945; article "Transatlantic Threads", paper concerning historical links between the City of London and America, by Alderman G.S. Inglefield, 1964; photograph album of New South Wales, presented to the Rt Hon the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of London by G H Reid Prime Minister of New South Wales as a souvenir of the visit of the Colonial Premiers to Great Britain, upon the occasion of Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee, 22nd Jun 1897; album of photographs of The City of London Pavilion at Brussels Universal and International Exhibition, 1958; order, dated 19 Mar 1672/73, from Charles II, specifying the wording of the discharge or acquittance to be given by the Chamberlain on receipt of each of four sums of £8,500 from the City of Hamburg, the King by his commission of 12 Mar having authorised the Chamberlain to receive £35,000 payable to the King in equal portions in satisfaction for the burning of several ships by the Hollanders in the River Elke on 24 Aug 1666; warrants of the King's Commissioners to the Chamberlain to pay several merchants their proportions of the monies, 1673; reply by her Majesty The Queen of the Netherlands, signed "Juliana R.", to an Address of Welcome at a Court of Common Council, 22 Nov 1950; papers of the Special Committee and Deputation to the International Exhibition, Paris, 1855-1856; visit to the City of Prague by Col Sir Charles Cheers Wakefield, Acting Lord Mayor, and a Deputation of the Corporation of London, 1920 and deposition of Henry Ferebrance as to two indentures made between Thomas Freeman and George Freeman in relation to estates in Jamaica, 1674.

Papers relating to railways, 1839-1983, including reports, evidence and petitions relating to the construction of new lines and stations; papers relating to fires, 1522-1974, including papers on the provision of fire fighting equipment, the introduction of fire insurance policies and the establishment of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade; papers relating to the Great Fire of London, 1667-1966, including acts, orders and financial accounts relating to the rebuilding of the City of London including receipts from Christopher Wren, papers relating to the investigation into the cause of the Fire, financial accounts of funds to relieve those affected, descriptions and accounts of the Fire; papers relating to Royal and Municipal Commissions, 1816-1969; papers relating to war 1692-1995, including papers relating to the Corporation's activities during World War One; air raid precautions and casualties, Roll of Honour of Civilian War Dead in the City of London and papers relating to the bombing of Guildhall, World War Two and City of London salute to the task force, Falklands Campaign, 1982.

Papers relating to transport, 1663-1985, including hackney coaches and hackney carriages, carts and carmen, stage coaches, river traffic, tramways, omnibuses and buses, subways, Heathrow and Fairlop Airports, the London Underground and the Channel Tunnel terminal in London; papers relating to shipping, 1610-1989; papers relating to trades and crafts, 1510-1991, including bills, wages, regulations, acts and petitions regarding bricklayers, carpenters, carters, founders, glaziers, masons, painters, paviors, plasterers, plumbers, smiths, wireworkers, button makers, butchers, chimney sweeps, hairdressers, ironmongers, spoon makers, paper makers, tanners, tailors, rakers, midwives, engravers, clock makers and printers; papers relating to the Honourable Artillery Company, 1503-1967.

Papers relating to the history of London, 1565-1994, including "An exposicion of the Kinges prerogative collected out of the great abridgement of Justice Fitz-Herbert and other olde writers of the lawes of England" by Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, 1565, "Londinopolis: An Historicall Discourse or Perlustration of the City of London, The Imperial Chamber, and chief Emporium of Great Britain: Whereunto is added another of the City of Westminster, with the Courts of Justice, Antiquities, and new Buildings thereunto belonging" by James Havel, 1657, and various other antiquarian and modern books, articles and pamphlets on the history of London; papers relating to health and medicine, 1657-1994, including bills of mortality, papers relating to the outbreak of plague in London, 1665-1666, letters, reports and conference papers relating to the control of cholera; papers regarding provisions, 1607-1990, including warrant authorising the Mayor to receive venison out of the Royal Parks, 1607 and papers of committees investigating the high price of provisions, 1767-1822; papers relating to the government of the City of London and Greater London, 1849-1993; papers relating to the provision and price of gas, 1828-1918; papers relating to the supply of water to the City, 1538-1992; papers relating to the placing, erection and upkeep of statues and monuments in London, 1680-1995; papers relating to weights and measures, 1678-1997, including records of action taken against those using false weights and measures and registers of weighed goods; papers relating to seals and medals, 1285-1995, including examples of medieval seals and register of documents sealed; papers relating to insignia and plate, 1650-1993, including information on the Collar of SS, Diamond Badge or Jewel, Mace, Crystal Mace, Swords, City Purse, Mayoralty Seal, Robes and Sceptre and inventories of City plate; papers relating to the population of the City of London, 1719-1982, including "A compu tation of the increase of London and parts adjacent; with some causes thereof, and remarks thereon", 1719, population returns, 1821-1897 and population studies and articles; papers regarding tolls, 1605-1833, including Acts, bonds, exemptions and leases; papers relating to the postal service, 1741-1938, including examples of early stamps and papers relating to the Penny Post; papers relating to the carrying out of writs, 1460-1965, including writs of habeas corpus, certiorari, subpoenas and jury summons; papers relating to the textile trade, 1674-1995, including orders, rates, inventories, petitions relating to the production of textiles including cloth, lace and wool, bonds of searches and sealers of tanned leather, 1699-1804, and articles on the history of textiles.

Papers relating to probate, 1693-1786, including estate inventories, letters of administration and notes on legal customs; papers relating to the regulation of fireworks and bonfires within the City, 1673-1857; papers relating to archaeological investigations in the City of London, 1972-1989; extracts relating to archery in Finsbury Fields, 1521; reports and articles relating to the armorial bearings of the City, 1216-1973; bullion certificates, 1696-1819; licences issued for the right to use calcium carbide, 1897-1919; papers relating to convex lights, 1692-1694; papers relating to conveyancing, 1770-1948 and various other papers relating to aspects of the administration of the City of London including common soil, conservation, criminal prosecutions, city customs and liberties, the Customs House, erection of hoardings, gifts and presentations, regulation of gunpowder, income tax, the London Building Acts, licensing, lotteries, regulation and licensing of petroleum, precedent books, precepts issued by the Mayor or Common Council, bills for printing and stationery, the Olympic Games, pageantry, proclamations, brewers and public houses, the Shops Act, smoke abatement and clean air, street cleaning, theatres, the unemployed, Viewer's reports, wharves, woods and forests, newspapers and cuttings, fishing, the Festival of the City of London, coffee houses, coinage, the Bank of England and other financial institutions.

Records of Sunbury Urban District Council, 1895-1971, including presented reports; correspondence, memoranda and copies of bye-laws, relating to the adoption of certain provisions of the Public Health Acts Amendment Act 1907; deeds, agreements and other documents relating to The Cedars Estate, Sunbury; papers relating to a dispute between the owners of Sunbury Park Estate and the Council; agreements and contracts for various works to be carried out, particularly road maintenance works, sewer and drainage works, housing construction, civil defence structures and war damage repairs.

This short series of scrapbooks cover the period 1887-1912 and contain invitations, cuttings and information on many of the social events that William Whitaker Thompson and his wife attended during his years in office.

Records of the administration of the parish of Tooting. Includes: minutes of the parish Vestry; accounts of the Overseers of the Poor; Workhouse Committee minutes; Examination of Paupers records; and the accounts of the Surveyor of Highways for the parish.

Clerk's Report Book, 1882-1886; notices to provide cisterns to boilers, urinals and water closets, by regulation of the Board under the 1871 Metropolis Water Act, 1873-1873.

Also Tottenham Urban District Council attendance book, 1907-1912 and Tottenham Parish Rifle Grounds (33rd Middlesex Rifle Volunteers): minutes of Lammas Meetings and Marsh Road Committee, 1861-1867.

Records of Tower Ward, Corporation of London. The records comprise minutes and accounts, rate assessments, wardmote papers and other administrative and legal papers, and papers of the benevolent fund. The records were catalogued by members of Guildhall Library staff at various dates.

Records of Tower Ward School, comprising trustees' minute books; Ladies' Committee minute books and boys' attendance register.

The archive consists of one letterbook including correspondence with Thomas Henry Estcourt, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, Anna Brownell Jameson, Sir Walter Crofton, Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, Sir William Hood, Elizabeth Rayner Parkes and Florence Nightingale.

Records of the United Wards Club covering 1877-1996 and comprising: minutes, 1877-2004 (Ms 11722-4, 19293, 21481); registers of members, 1902-59 (Ms 19294); financial records, 1910-65 (Ms 19295-6, 20352); transactions, 1907-29 (Ms 21483); and miscellaneous papers, 1951-96 (Ms 21482, 30762, 36859). They were catalogued by members of Guildhall Library staff between 1966 and 2006.

Records of the Uxbridge Poor Law Union, 1836-1930, including minute books of meetings of the Board of Guardians; register of removals; case cards of persons in Central London Schools and other homes and institutions; financial accounts; correspondence relating to parish boundaries; matrices (presses) of the seals of the Board of Guardians; register of persons receiving children for reward, and admission and discharge registers from the Hillingdon Workhouse.

Income and expenditure accounts for the Vintry and Dowgate Wards Club.

Records of Vintry Ward, Corporation of London. The records comprise wardmote minutes and accounts. They were catalogued by members of Guildhall Library staff at various dates.

Records of Vintry Ward Club comprising: minutes, 1877-1980 (Ms 31354); accounts, 1877-1933, 1968-90 (Ms 31355, 31357); and annual luncheon menu cards, 1951-95 (Ms 31356). Catalogued by a member of Guildhall Library staff in 1997.

Records of the Walbrook Ward, Corporation of London. The records comprise Wardmote minutes and accounts, rate assessments and inhabitants lists, precepts and other administrative papers. They were catalogued by members of Guildhall Library staff at various dates.

Personal and professional correspondence, articles, manuscripts of books, research material, reviews of books, biographical material, Ada Wallas' diaries, and Graham Wallas' engagement diaries.

Records of the Wandsworth Poor Law Union, 1836-1933, including minutes of meetings of the Board of Guardians; minutes and reports of various Committees including the Assessment Committee, Schools and Institutions Committee and Boarding Out Committee; correspondence with the Local Government Board and the Ministry of Health; contracts; orders of the Poor Law Board; settlement examinations; orders of removal to and from other Unions; registers of the Swaffield Road Workhouse and Saint John's Hill Workhouse; registers of apprentices; registers of children at the Intermediate School, Swaffield Road and the Anerley School, North Surrey; financial accounts; staff records; maps of parishes in Wandsworth; floor plans of Saint John's Hospital; registers of relief given to the wives and children of interned aliens [foreigners], First World War.

The collection consists of administrative papers of the Wandsworth District Board of Works. These include several duplicate runs of Minutes of Proceedings for the Board's meetings, as well as minutes of the Finance Committee. There are also Annual Reports and Reports of the Sanitary Inspector. The bulk of the collection is made up of agendas and supporting papers collected to be used at the Board's fortnightly meetings. These papers include letters of complaint and petitions from the public, planning approvals and refusals for new buildings, roads and sewers, correspondence from other Vestries, copies of Accounts, lists of Board members, copies of Reports from Board Inspectors, copies of Bills of Parliament and many other administrative papers. There are numerous papers regarding the expansion of the railways and the introduction and expansion of the tramways.

Records of the civil parish of Wandsworth. Includes: vestry minutes; vestry clerks letterbooks; minutes of Vestry Hall and Town Hall management committees; minutes of the Churchwardens and Overseers; accounts of the Surveyor of Highways; minutes of the Local Committee; tithe plan reference book and tithe map.

Papers of Michael Ward, member of the Greater London Council (GLC). The records are representative of the sort of organisations and issues Michael Ward dealt with in his capacity as Chair of the Industry and Employment Committee of the Greater London Council in the 1980s. The files of correspondence, minutes, funding applications and feasibility studies show that the Committee was particularly involved with issuing grants to worthy projects, supporting workers in disputes with employers, assessing the impact of new building developments in London, creating schemes, such as co-operatives, to assist people to work together and ensuring that all Londoners were fairly represented in the workplace.

Michael Ward was also Chair of the Enterprise Board Selection Panel, part of the Greater London Enterprise Board. GLEB was set up in 1982 to intervene and take initiatives to preserve and create long-term jobs for Londoners by regenerating the capital's industrial base. It aimed to discover and develop means of democratising London's economy. This collection contains its memorandum and articles of association together with correspondence, some publications and press releases.

The collection reflects some of the beliefs held by the GLC in general and not just those of the Committees Michael Ward sat on. For example, its enthusiasm for fair trade in Third World countries, the importance of equal opportunities at work and the value of the pedestrian and residential areas in cities

Records relating to the wards of the City of London, 1617-1979. Papers relating to individual wards, including petition of inquest jury and inhabitants of Aldersgate Without regarding the boundaries of the Liberty of St Bartholomew on Cloth Fair, 1766-1789; complaint of inhabitants of Bridge Ward that their ancient rights of free wharfage through the gate in Churchyard Alley were being hindered, 1660s; report regarding the rights and privileges of the ward of Bridge Without [Southwark], 1892; extract from a lease of the Jamaica Coffee House reserving a room for the use of the Ward Inquest and the parish officers, Cornhill Ward, 1884 and correspondence with the Secretary of the Board of Ordnance about the complaint of the inquest of Tower Ward about the entrance from Tower Hill into Thames Street being stopped by a Box and Toll, 1739.

Papers relating to Wardmotes, including returns of elections of Officers for Farringdon Within, 1683; Bishopsgate, 1683; Tower, 1689; Cordwainer, 1689; Vintry, 1690; Langbourn, 1690; Cordwainer, 1707; Cornhill, 1711; Bridge, 1711; Cripplegate, 1711 and Dowgate, 1711; set of Acts relating to the holding of Wardmotes and elections, 1663-1928; various Wardmote Precepts (orders, rules and regulations), 1679-1714? and 1802, 1823, 1957 and 1970-1973; Wardmote Books (printed copies of regulations, Acts and Orders for the holding of Wardmotes), 1853 1979; lists of candidates, 1965-1975; Act of Common Council for regulating elections in Wardmotes and Common Halls, 1712; case notes regarding whether a Deputy can hold a Wardmote and declare himself elected a Common-Councilman, 1723; opinion regarding the right of attendance at Wardmotes, 1905; Articles of Charge of the Wardmote Inquest (orders for actions to take place at the Wardmote, such as the reading of new regulations), [1625-1910]; 'Act of Common Council that the Inquestmen, after taking their oaths, shall choose from among themselves a Foreman, should the voting be equal the Alderman of the Ward shall nominate one as Foreman', 1617; Order of the Court of Common Council against the 'Extravagant Expenses at the Meeting of their Wardmote-Inquests, in Eating and Drinking, and also sending abroad Wine and Ale to the Inhabitants of the several Wards' and allowing that Inquests may be adjourned in order that the Inquestmen may refresh themselves at their own houses, 1694 and reprints 1702-1839; Precepts, rules and regulations regarding the conduct of Inquestmen, 1625-1796 and 1801-1852; returns to a precept to return an account of all dancing and fencing schools, lotteries and other gaming houses, 1673- 1674 and notes on the nature and jurisdiction of the Great Courts of Wardmote, 1857-1907.

Large scale ward plans by Samuel Agnall and Michael Meredith, 1858, of individual wards including Aldersgate Within, Aldersgate Without, Aldgate, Bassishaw, Billingsgate, Bishopsgate Within, Bishopsgate Without, Bread Street, Bridge, Broad Street, Candlewick, Castle Baynard, Cheap, Coleman Street, Cordwainer, Cornhill, Cripplegate Within, Cripplegate Without, Dowgate, Farringdon Within, Farringdon Without, Langbourn, Lime Street, Portsoken, Queenhithe, Tower, Vintry and Walbrook. Also ward map, 1950.

Financial and administrative papers including returns of the numbers of freemen, non-freemen, householders, houses and so on in each ward, 1772 and 1833; report regarding the employment of Ward Beadles, 1928; legal notes, correspondence and agreements relating to the ownership of various Ward Maces, 1923-1974; orders relating to exemptions from holding offices, 1637-1741; ward rate accounts, 1892-1902; ward rate cash books, 1842-1882 and ward rate ledgers, 1842-1876.

Materials on local government collated by Sidney and Beatrice Webb, 1906-1930, mainly during research for their nine volume English Local Government from the Revolution to the Municipal Corporations Act (Longmans and Co, London, 1906-1929) and other works on local government and the poor law, including extensive notes taken from parliamentary papers and acts, books, newspapers and local records, and including bibliographical lists, summaries and reports of interviews with members of local authorities, and material on specific counties; material on the poor law, including correspondence and papers relating to the Royal Commission on the Poor Law, 1905-1909.

Case papers from the London County Council Welfare Department Assessment Section, 1921-1964. The case files include people who left LCC institutions such as mothers and babies, the blind and the disabled; people who were transferred to out of county institutions and elderly destitute persons who died intestate or who had no heirs, whose effects were kept in the Assessment section until claimed or disposed of. Please note that files may be closed for Data Protection purposes.

Case papers of the London County Council Welfare Department relating to blind and partially sighted persons, 1930-1956. Please note that files may be closed for Data Protection purposes.

Records of the London County Council Welfare Department, 1923-1951, relating to casual wards in Chelsea, Hackney, Lambeth, Northumberland Avenue, Paddington, Poplar, Southwark, Saint Pancras and Woolwich. Please note some files may be closed for Data Protection purposes.

Records of the London County Council Welfare Department, 1930-1964, comprising orders of removal to or from the County of London. Please note that some files may be closed under the Data Protection Act.

Records of the London County Council Welfare Department relating to homes and institutions, 1896-1962, including reports, religious ministration, administration, nursing and medical, staffing, building works, finance, workshops, inventory, log-books and information about residents for homes including Alexandra House, Brockle Bank, Bromley House, Camberwell Reception Centre, Carisbrooke Lodge, Dale Mead Old People's Home, Fulham Road Hostel, Ladywell Lodge, Luxborough Lodge, Newington Lodge, Norwood House, Orchard Lodge, Princes Row, Southern Grove Lodge and Saint Peter and Saint Paul Home for Babies. Also case papers for small homes, large homes and out of county homes. Please note that files may be closed for Data Protection purposes.

Records of the London County Council Welfare Department, 1911-1965: general administrative files relating to the work of the department.

Records of the London County Council Welfare Department relating to rest centres, 1939-1957.

Records of the London County Council Welfare Department relating to the rights and powers of parents, 1930-1939, including committee orders and case files. Please note some files may be closed for Data Protection purposes.

Records of West Hackney Church, Hackney, including registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials; minutes of the Select Vestry; account books; registers of church services; and papers relating to West Hackney National Schools.

Records of the West Ham College of Technology and its predecessors, 1898-1970, comprising:

Minutes of the Board of Governors, 1959-1965; Minutes of the Board of Studies, 1924-1960; Minutes of the Academic Board, 1964-1969; minutes and report of the University Board, 1933-1958; Board of Education circulars, 1911-1919;

Correspondence and general administration, 1911-1970, notably the establishment of the new Polytechnic, 1968-1970;Annual Report, 1966-1967;

Day student lists (incomplete),1914-1961; Sessional reports for evening and part-time courses (incomplete), 1905-1957; Fee Registers, 1949-1955; Exam results (incomplete), [1914]-1957;

Exam papers, 1951-1956; Prospectuses and Course Handbooks (incomplete), 1899-1970;

Records of the Engineering Department, 1904-1962; Financial records (incomplete), 1948-1970; Records of the Students' Union and its Clubs (incomplete), 1930-1970; Staff and student publications, 1963-1970; Student Laboratory Reports, 1955-1964;

Minutes of the Technical Instruction Committee of the County Borough of West Ham, 1898-1918; Minutes of Council and Reports of Committees of the County Borough of West Ham, 1946-1964; Minutes of Education Committee of the County Borough of West Ham, 1954-1963.

Records of the West London School District, 1865-1936, including minutes and agendas of the Board of Management; minutes and reports of various Committees; annual reports; financial accounts; correspondence with and orders of the Poor Law Board, Local Government Board and Ministry of Health; correspondence and other documents regarding property; admission and discharge registers for Ashford School; registers of apprenticeships; returns and statistics of children in care; papers relating to education and teaching including correspondence, reports, timetables and syllabus; dietary tables; reports by the Medical Officer; issues of the Ashford Residential School Magazine; staff records; building plans of Ashford School and Park School; photographs of Ashford School and papers relating to the transfer of institutions to the London County Council in 1930.

Records of the City of Westminster Poor Law Union, 1889-1936, including minutes of meetings of the Board of Guardians; minutes and papers of Committees including the Buckingham Palace Road Workhouse Committee, Edmonton Workhouse Committee, Hospital Committee, Visiting Committee and Settlement and Revision Committee; correspondence and standing orders; registers for the Belmont Workhouse, Chelsea Workhouse, Edmonton Workhouse and Fulham Road Workhouse; registers of children sent into service; financial accounts and personnel files.

Records of the Saint Margaret and Saint John Poor Law Union, 1864-1870, including minutes of the Board of Guardians; minutes of Committees including the Kensington Workhouse Visiting Committee; correspondence; orders of removal to other Unions and financial accounts.

Records of Saint George's Hanover Square Poor Law Union, 1836-1924, including minutes of the Board of Guardians; minutes of Committees including the Buckingham Palace Road Workhouse Committee, the Fulham Road Workhouse Committee, the Kensington Workhouse Visiting Committee, the Mount Street Workhouse Committee, the Petty France Workhouse Committee, and the Milman Street Receiving Home for Children Committee; orders of removal to and from other Unions; registers of lunatics; registers from the Buckingham Palace Road Workhouse, Fulham Road Workhouse and Mount Street Workhouse; registers of children in care including indentures of apprenticeship, registers of children on the Exmouth Training Ship and registers of children at the Milman Street Receiving Home for Children; financial accounts and staff records.

Records of the Saint Martin in the Fields Poor Law Union, 1824-1870, including minutes of the Board of Guardians; correspondence; relief order books; settlement examinations; registers for the Castle Street Workhouse; registers for the Norwood Schools and financial accounts.

Records of the Strand Poor Law Union, 1802-1928, including minutes of the Board of Guardians; minutes of Committees including the Edmonton Workhouse Committee and the Sheffield Street Workhouse Committee; correspondence; settlement examinations; orders of removal to and from other Unions; registers of the Cleveland Street Workhouse, the Edmonton Workhouse, the Saint Giles Workhouse and the Sheffield Street Workhouse; registers of Edmonton Schools; financial accounts and staff records.

Records of the Westminster Poor Law Union, 1833-1914, including minutes of the Board of Guardians; Committee minutes; correspondence with government departments; settlement examinations; Relieving Officer's reports; orders of removal to and from other Unions; registers of the Westminster Union Workhouse; indentures of apprenticeships; registers of Westminster Union Schools, Tooting; financial accounts and staff records.

Records enrolled or filed with the Clerk of the Westminster Quarter Sessions of the Peace, 1552-1885. The records classified as WR/A are concerned with the registration of foreigners; WR/B are records produced by Building Surveyors; WR/F are returns of those eligible to serve on juries; WR/L/P covers the licensing of printing presses; WR/LV relate to Licensed Victuallers; WR/ML are concerned with Militia and Lieutenancy; WR/O are Oaths of Office; WR/P are papers concerning Parliamentary Elections; WR/PLT Land Tax; WR/R contains the records produced from the control and recording of all non-conformists; WR/S contains records concerned with Societies; and WR/U records deposited with the court concerning Public Undertakings.

Note on the Quarter Sessions records: Although Westminster has fewer surviving records than Middlesex, the City's sessions would have produced similar records to those of the County, but they would have been smaller in quantity, and have included less administrative material. Also, as with all Quarter Sessions records, "seeing that the Custos Rotulorum was a private gentleman or nobleman and the Clerk of the Peace an attorney with a private practice it is likely that many county records were (if not lost or destroyed) handed down to their families or their professional successors" and many may still remain to be found in private hands (Emmison and Gray, County Records, 1987). Those records that have survived are often difficult to read or understand because of the handwriting, use of Latin (until 1733), or legal jargon and abbreviations; although standardised legal formats were used and printed pro formas introduced by the nineteenth century.

For the Middlesex and Westminster records there may also be confusion over the records' arrangement resulting from the attempts at classification by previous generations of archivists which have left many records split up into unnatural groupings. Originally they would not have been sorted into any cohesive arrangement. These were records that were "kept for administrative convenience rather than as sources for future generations" (G. Jones, Quarter Sessions records in the Leicestershire Record Office).

Because of this overlapping between many classes of record, any study of the Westminster records should include consultation of those for Middlesex. There was in any case a lot of co-operation between the two courts during the period covered by the records. Judicial (Gaol Delivery Sessions for example) and administrative functions were shared, as were court personnel (including justices). Westminster prisoners could elect to be tried at the Middlesex sessions, as these were held more frequently than their own.

The sessions records are a very useful source for family history, studying trends in law and order, and the life of the City and its inhabitants over a relatively long period of time. The capital was an area with high levels of crime, the natural place for riot and conspiracy, and attracted a wide variety of people from the whole country and abroad. The main record of proceedings at the sessions will be found in the sessions rolls (MJ/SR and the uncatalogued WJ/SR - index in WJ/CB); the (partially uncatalogued) sessions books (WJ/SB, MJ/SB); and the (partially uncatalogued) sessions papers (WJ/SP, MJ/SP). City administrative work is in the records of the County Day sessions (WJ/O), and for one particular type, in the records of the street surveyors (WJ/SS). Records of judicial procedure are in the records of court fines (WJ/E), writs to summon juries (WJ/W), and the trial process (WJ/Y); Lists of prisoners made at various times during the trial process are in WJ/CC and WJ/CP.

Papers relating to the history of the church and parish of Saint Peter upon Cornhill, including transcripts of documents, research notes and collectanea.

Records of Willesden Poor Law Union, 1896-1930, including minutes of meetings of the Board of Guardians; standing orders, rules and regulations; orders for removal to and from the Union; apprenticeship indentures; financial accounts; correspondence, tenders, contracts and agreements for construction work and provision of utilities; orders of the Local Government Board; legal correspondence; building plans including Willesden Parish Infirmary and Park Royal Hospital; maps of Willesden Urban District showing boundaries.

Records of the Wood Green and Lower Tottenham Conservative Association, including minutes of the Southgate Conservative and Unionist Association; Executive Committee and Entertainments Committee minutes of the Palmers Green Unionist Association; financial accounts for the Wood Green Constitutional Association; Executive and General Purposes Committee minutes for the Women's Constitutional Association Wood Green Branch; and minutes, correspondence and papers relating to ward organisation for the Wood Green and Tottenham Conservative Association.

Records of Woodbridge and Sons, solicitors, 1281-1960, including:

*Official records, with papers of the Uxbridge Poor Law Union, Rural Sanitary Authority and Rural District Council, and of the Uxbridge Petty Sessions (members of the firm being clerks to these bodies) and also of the Harlington Tithe Commissioners, whose clerk was William Mercer, a solicitor with no apparent connection with the Woodbridge firm;

*Charity records, comprising account books, minutes, letter books, deeds and papers of the Lords in Trust of the Manor and borough of Uxbridge, later known as the Uxbridge United Charities;

• Administrative records of the firm including account books, salaries books and partnership agreements; and

• Practice papers, which themselves fall into several groups, namely, deeds of property of which the firm became mortgagee, Woodbridge family deeds and private papers, and clients' papers, by far the largest section. A large number of probates, letters of administration and unproved wills were preserved by the firm as a separate class. The rest of the clients' papers are preserved in separate personal or family groups (covering in many cases two or three generations); since many of the documents are title deeds, these bundles have been arranged according to the parish in which their property lay, although where a family owned property in more than one parish, the whole group has been listed under the parish in which the clients resided. An index of places is provided. Original bundling has been preserved although this has sometimes interfered with the logical arrangment. Where necessary for clarification, family trees have been included; although as accurate as possible these do not claim to be comprehensive.

Papers of Thomas Woodford, comprising two volumes of history and precedents relating to the legislation and authority of the Corporation of the City of London, 1739-1740; with a cartulary and rental of the estates of the family of Woodford in Leicestershire and Buckinghamshire, 1510.

Records of the Woolwich Board of Guardians, 1861-1932, including minutes of meetings of the Board; correspondence with government departments including the Ministry of Health; orders for settlement, removal or relief; registers of lunatics; Woolwich Institution (workhouse) registers including admission and discharge, creed and deaths; Medical Officers record of examinations of inmates at the Woolwich Institution; registers of children in care including baptisms at the Woolwich Union Chapel, apprenticeship indentures, boarded out children, children at Roman Catholic establishments, children in the Infirmary, children in the workhouse and children held in outlying establishments (ones outside the Union); registers for Plumstead Workhouse, including admission and discharge and creed; admission and discharge registers for the Goldie Leigh Cottage Home for Children; quarterly returns of the British born wives and children of interned aliens [foreigners]; financial accounts and registers of staff.