Parish of Ealing

Ealing vestry met from two to four times a year between 1704 and 1715, with from 5 to 19 attenders. In the early 19th century it was thinly attended, except on special occasions, and met at the Cross House, north of Ealing church, possibly the former church house. A new Cross House, often called simply the vestry room, was built in St. Mary's churchyard in 1840 and replaced in 1880 by the vestry hall in Ranelagh Road.

Churchwardens and overseers were recorded in 1599 and two surveyors of the highways in 1654. There were separate overseers for Upper Side (Ealing) and Lower Side (Old Brentford) by 1675, one churchwarden and one overseer being elected for each from 1798 and two overseers for each from 1834. An assistant overseer was employed in 1812. Highway trustees, under an Act of 1767, were elected by the vestry, with which they were often at variance. The office of vestry clerk, filled by Thomas Jullion from 1796 until 1834, lapsed in 1836 but may have existed in an honorary capacity until its revival shortly before Ealing adopted the Vestry Clerk's Act in 1869. There was a beadle by 1797, whose duties were defined in 1808 and 1833, and a parish clerk in 1654, whose office in 1802 was combined with that of sexton.

The poor of each ward were relieved by its overseer until 1814, when they were administered jointly by the assistant overseer. Paupers increased greatly during the 18th century, as did the poor rates, which stood at 4 or 5 shillings in the pound in the 1790s and even higher later. A workhouse and stock for the poor to work on were to be provided in 1698, whereupon a house for 8 poor was acquired in 1701. After abortive plans for its extension, a new workhouse was built west of St. Mary's Lane in 1728. The inmates were employed at spinning and later at casual labour, but their work was never profitable: tools were lacking, men were outnumbered by women, and women by children. In 1797 the workhouse was badly overcrowded. In 1803, when there were 150 inmates for 55 beds, the parish vainly promoted a Bill to take over 14 acres of common at Ealing Dean for a workhouse, and in 1812 the existing workhouse was enlarged. Its state was found acceptable in 1820 and again in 1836, when it could accommodate 360 and had only 84 inmates.

Both Ealing and New Brentford were included in Brentford poor law union in 1836. Agitation for a local board of health was repeatedly frustrated by Old Brentford, with the result that in 1863 the highway trustees were superseded by a local board only in part of Ealing. Northern Ealing, being rural, was not included until 1873, when the board's membership was raised from 9 to 12.

In 1894 Ealing became an Urban District Council and in 1901 the first municipal borough in Middlesex, with 6 aldermen and 18 councillors representing 6 wards: Drayton, Castlebar, and Mount Park north of Uxbridge Road, Lammas, Manor, and Grange to the south. Ealing absorbed Hanwell Urban District and Greenford Urban District, which included Perivale and West Twyford, in 1926, and Northolt in 1928. A Bill to achieve county borough status was defeated in 1952 and Ealing, Acton, and Southall boroughs united in 1965 to form Ealing London Borough.

From: 'Ealing and Brentford: Local government', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 144-147 (available online).