The Commissioners of Scotland Yard was the informal name for the Commissioners for the Streets and Wayes, a body of

improvement commissioners Boards of improvement commissioners were ''ad hoc'' urban local government boards created during the 18th and 19th centuries in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and its predecessors the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Irel ...

established in 1662 to manage and regulate various areas relating to streets and traffic in the cities of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

and the borough of

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

. They were appointed under a 1662 Act of the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised t ...

(14 Car. 2 c. 2) which expired in 1679. The Commissioners' office was attached to that of the

Surveyor of the King's Works The Office of Works was established in the English royal household in 1378 to oversee the building and maintenance of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department forces within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Reven ...

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

. The 1662 Act empowered the king to appoint up to 21 commissioners, who were authorised to: * Determine encroachments by buildings onto the highway * Manage the repair and paving of specific streets, including Pall Mall * Enlarge various other specific streets, including St Martins Lane, and to demolish existing buildings where necessary and compensate the owners * Levy charges on each householder to fund repair, paving and enlargement work * License, tax and set maximum fares for

hackney carriages A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a cab, black cab, hack or London taxi) is a carriage or car for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise. A symbol of London and Britain, the black taxi is a common si ...

* Charge duty on

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...

and

straw Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has a number ...

sold in city streets To combat an apparent problem with people throwing

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

ashes into the street, the act also required every person in London, Westminster, Southwark and surrounding suburbs to sweep the area in front of their house "... every Wednesday and every Saturday in the Weeke". The act also prohibited the hooping of

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...

s and sawing of stones or rough timber in the streets. Rakers and scavengers were to use "... a Bell Horne Clapper or otherwise ndshall make distinct and loud noise and give notice to the Inhabitants of theire coming ..." so "... that all persons concerned may bring forth theire respective Ashes Dust Dirt Filth and Soil to the respective Carts or Carriages". These scavengers were to be elected according to existing customs, and within 20 days rubbish collection rates (to be paid quarterly) were to be set by churchwardens and other leaders of the parish. Under the act, "... from

Michaelmas Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in some Western liturgical calendars on 29 September, a ...

until our Lady day ..." (29 September – 25 March) from dusk to 9 p.m. every householder was required to place a candle or lantern outside "... his house next the street to enlighten the same for Passengers ...". The act also ratified a decision by sewer commissioners on 8 August 1661 to construct two new sewers to drain the area near the

Palace of Whitehall The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. H ...

. After the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...

in 1666, several Acts to promote rebuilding vested the power of paving and sewer maintenance within the city solely in its Corporation. This restricted the Scotland Yard Commissioners to areas outside the city. The act was "to continue & be in force until the end of the First Session of the next p riament", and when this happened in 1679 it was then "allowed to expire". A 1690 Act of Parliament imposed sanitation requirements on the districts around London similar to those of the 1662 Act, but did not revive the Commissioners. Instead, powers of enforcing compliance were given to the

justices of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

. Sewerage in Westminster was transferred to the existing

Westminster and Middlesex Commission of Sewers The Westminster and Middlesex Commission of Sewers was established in 1596 under the 1531 Statute of Sewers. Its area was defined by statute in 1807, and before then by various letters patent. It was absorbed by the Metropolitan Commission of S ...

Members and officers

As well as the 21 commissioners appointed by the king, the act provided that the Lord Mayor, Recorder, and

Aldermen An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

of the City of London; and the

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

, High Steward, Deputy Steward and the two High Burgesses of the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

should become joint commissioners with the same powers.

Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset and 1st Earl of Middlesex, KG (24 January 164329 January 1706) was an English poet and courtier. Early life Sackville was born on 24 January 1643, son of Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset (1622–1677) ...

was one of the initial Commissioners, as was the diarist

John Evelyn John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society. John Evelyn's diary, or memo ...

, who described his fellows as "divers gentlemen of quality". Some MPs were commissioners, including John Ashburnham, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Charles Berkeley, later Viscount Fitzhardinge,

John Denham John Denham may refer to: * John Denham (died 1556 or later), English MP for Shaftesbury * John Denham (judge), (1559–1639), father of the poet below, and one of the Ship Money judges * John Denham (poet) (1615–1669), English poet * John Denham ...

William Glascock William Glascock (May 28, 1730 – served as Chairman of the Executive Council (governor) of Georgia during the American Revolution. He was from Augusta and was a veteran of the French and Indian War, Seminole Wars and the War of 1812. Glasco ...

, Ranald Grahme,

Robert Howard Robert Howard may refer to: Entertainment * Robert Howard (playwright) (1626–1698), English playwright and politician * Robert Boardman Howard (1896–1983), American muralist and sculptor * Robert E. Howard (1906–1936), fantasy writer, crea ...

, Thomas Ingram, Daniel O'Neill, Richard Onslow, and

Edmund Waller Edmund Waller, FRS (3 March 1606 – 21 October 1687) was an English poet and politician who was Member of Parliament for various constituencies between 1624 and 1687, and one of the longest serving members of the English House of Commons. So ...

. The Commissioners were empowered to appoint a treasurer and other officers, and had to report annual accounts to the Court of Exchequer during trinity term.

References

* * * * * *

External links

{{UK legislation Improvement commissioners Acts of the Parliament of England 1662 in law 17th century in London 1662 in England History of the City of London Law in London History of local government in London (pre-1855)