Technical Education Board

The Technical Education Board was set up by the London County Council in 1893 under the Technical Education Acts of 1889-91. It consisted of 20 members of the Council and 15 representatives of other bodies with Sidney Webb as Chairman. Though it enjoyed considerable independence it had the active backing and support of the Council. Its income was derived from the customs duty on spirits and beer (under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890), and from the rates; and its work was aided by the large sums devoted by the City Parochial Charities to the establishment and maintenance of polytechnics. Its aim throughout was to aid and reinforce the supply of technical and secondary education rather than to make direct provision of such education, nevertheless the overlapping of spheres of interest of the Technical Education Board and the School Board for London resulted in controversy which was resolved in the Cockerton judgment of 1900-01 and led finally to the transfer of the work of both Boards to the Council in 1904 under the Education Act of 1902.