The Metropolis Management Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c.120) was an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

that created the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the principal instrument of local government in a wide area of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, defined by the Metropolis Management Act 1855, from December 1855 until the establishment of the London Cou ...

, a

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

-wide body to co-ordinate the construction of the city's infrastructure. The Act also created a second tier of local government consisting of parish

vestries A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquially ...

and district boards of works. The Metropolitan Board of Works was the forerunner of the London County Council.

Background

The Royal Commission on the City of London considered the case for creation of an authority for the whole of London. Its report recommended the creation of a limited-function Metropolitan Board of Works and seven municipal corporations based on existing parliamentary representation.Young, K. & Garside, P., ''Metropolitan London: Politics and Urban Change'', (1982)

The Metropolitan Board of Works

The act constituted the

and provided that its members should be chosen by the parish vestries and district boards also constituted by the act. The first election of members was to take place on 12 December 1855. From 1857, one third of the board was to go out of office on the third Wednesday of June every year. The board was to take over the powers, duties and liabilities of the

Metropolitan Commission of Sewers The Metropolitan Commission of Sewers was one of London's first steps towards bringing its sewer and drainage infrastructure under the control of a single public body. It was absorbed by the Metropolitan Board of Works on 1 January 1856. Format ...

and the Metropolitan Buildings Office on 1 January 1856. Its area of responsibility was to be that designated by the

Registrar General General Register Office or General Registry Office (GRO) is the name given to the civil registry in the United Kingdom, many other Commonwealth nations and Ireland. The GRO is the government agency responsible for the recording of vital recor ...

as ''London'' in the 1851 census.Davis, J., ''Reforming London: The London Government Problem, 1855-1900'', (1988)

Vestries and district boards

The second tier of local government was to be based on the existing vestries of

civil parishes In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority. ...

in an area comprising parts of the counties of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and Surrey. Section 42 of the Act dealt with the incorporation of vestries and district boards. Where single parishes became a local authority they were to have the title: Where parishes were grouped the resulting authority took the title:

List of vestries, district boards and number of members elected to the Metropolitan Board of Works

A number of extra-parochial places lay within the Metropolitan Board of Works' area but were not included in any district: * Inner Temple *

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

* London Charterhouse * Close of the Collegiate Church of St Peter (i.e.

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

) * Furnival's Inn *

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

* Lincoln's Inn *

Staple Inn Staple Inn is a part-Tudor period, Tudor building on the south side of High Holborn street in the City of London, London, England. Located near Chancery Lane tube station, it is used as the London venue for meetings of the Institute and Faculty ...

Changes in later legislation

In 1886, the Fulham District Board of Works was dissolved and the two parish vestries of Fulham and Hammersmith became local authorities. Fulham Vestry continued to use the existing town hall at Walham Green, while Hammersmith Vestry built a town hall at Hammersmith Broadway. In 1889, the

Local Government Act Local Government Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom, relating to local government. The Bill for an Act with this short title may have been known ...

replaced the Metropolitan Board of Works with the London County Council, and the area of the board became the

County of London The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the general introduction of elected county government in England, by way of the Local Government A ...

. From that date, the various parishes were separated from Middlesex, Kent and Surrey and placed for all purposes in the new county, while the vestries and district boards continued to function under the aegis of the new county council. In 1894, the Hackney District Board of Works was dissolved, with the vestries of Hackney and Stoke Newington assuming the powers of the district board. Stoke Newington Vestry built a town hall at 126 Church Street. At the same time, the Vestry of the Parish of Plumstead became a separate authority, with the remaining four parishes of Plumstead District being reconstituted as Lee District Board of Works. In 1896, the parishes of Southwark St Olave and St Thomas were combined as a civil parish. In 1900,

metropolitan boroughs A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropolit ...

created by the London Government Act replaced the vestries and district boards.

Repeal

, the majority of the Act has been repealed with only sections 239 and 240 remaining in force. Section 239 deals with the maintenance of enclosed gardens and section 240 relates to obligations under the Crown Estate Paving Act 1851.Metropolis Management Act 1855, s. 239-240

References

Sources

Metropolis Local Management Bill
''Hansard'' *

Citations

External links

* {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1855 Local government legislation in England and Wales History of local government in London (1855–1889) Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning London 1855 in London Metropolitan Board of Works