MCC , Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

The name 'Middlesex' is first recorded in a charter of AD 704 in the Latin form of 'Middelseaxan'. In the Domesday survey of 1086 the county is divided into six Hundreds (Edmonton, Elthorne, Gore, Hounslow, Ossulstone and Spelthorne) which remained as administrative units until the 19th century. Government in the County was in the hands of the justices of the peace, whose administrative duties steadily increased from the 16th century. In the 19th century boards of guardians became responsible for the care of poor persons; highway boards and boards of health were created and the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was set up in 1855 as the central administrative and coordinating body for the area which later became the Administrative County of London.

The Local Government Act of 1888 transferred the bulk of Middlesex wealth and population into the new County of London. Those areas which became part of London included Hammersmith, Chelsea, Kensington, Paddington, Fulham, Saint Marylebone, Saint Pancras, Westminster, Islington, Hackney, Bow, Bromley, Poplar, Mile End, Bethnal Green and Shoreditch. Remaining in Middlesex were Twickenham, Sunbury-on-Thames, Staines, Feltham, Heston, Isleworth, Brentford, Chiswick, Yiewsley, West Drayton, Hayes, Harlington, Southall, Acton, Ealing, Uxbridge, Ruislip, Northwood, Harrow, Wembley, Willesden, Hendon, Finchley, Hornsey, Wood Green, Tottenham, Edmonton, Southgate, Friern Barnet, Enfield and Potters Bar. The ancient Middlesex Guildhall was situated in Westminster, which was now part of the County of London. Nevertheless, the Guildhall buildings in Westminster remained the headquarters of Middlesex County Council.

The newly formed Middlesex County Council (MCC) first met in February 1889, with Mr Ralph Littler in the Chair. The principal functions of the County Council in 1889 were:

• matters relating to the levying of rates for county purposes

• control of the accounts of the County and of the County Treasurer

• ownership of county halls, courts and premises used for the administration of justice

• licensing of premises for public performances of stage plays, music and dancing and licensing of race courses

• provision and maintenance of asylums for pauper lunatics

• provision and maintenance of reformatory and industrial schools

• maintenance of County bridges

• matters affecting the County Surveyor, County Treasurer and all other County officers paid from the county rate

• matters relating to coroners and their districts

• division of the County into polling districts for Parliamentary elections and the appointment of polling places

• execution of acts of Parliament relating to diseases of animals, protection of wild birds, supervision of weights and measures, explosives and gas meters

• maintenance of all roads

• purchase of land for County purposes and sale of surplus land

• appointing of medical officers of health and other such officers as necessary

• power to make byelaws.

Further powers were conferred on the Council by later Acts of Parliament, including:

• responsibility for education and the administration of primary, secondary and technical schools (Education Act 1902)

• supervision of midwives and maternity services (Midwives Act 1902, Local Government Act 1929)

• supervision of employment agencies and ice cream vendors (1906)

• child welfare (Children's Act 1908 and Children and Young Persons Act 1932)

• regulation of cinemas and the storage of celluloid (Cinematograph Act 1909)

• public health and housing responsibilities (1909 and 1930)

• care of the mentally deficient; care of those suffering from tuberculosis (1913)

• welfare of the blind (1920)

• library services (1922)

• administration of hospitals and institutions after the abolition of the Boards of Guardians (1929)

• registration of births, marriages and deaths (1929)

• provision of sports, recreation and physical training facilities (1937)

• civil defence responsibilities (Air Raid Precautions Act 1938 and Civil Defence Act 1939)

• town and county planning (1947)

• fire and ambulance services (1947)

The Council also lobbied Parliament for powers it felt it required through the passing of the Middlesex County Council Acts, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1938 and 1950. Powers conferred by these acts included bridge construction, authority over mains drainage, authority over parks and open spaces, further controls over highways and licensing of wrestling and boxing entertainments.

Middlesex prospered until its growth from an area of small towns and villages to almost total urbanisation, which gradually eliminated all visible boundaries between London and Middlesex. This resulted in the merging of the two counties into a Greater London area in 1965, run by the Greater London Council (GLC).