Metropolis Management Act 1855

The Metropolis Management Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c.120) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Metropolitan Board of Works, a London-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 and district boards of works. The Metropolitan Board 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.^[1]

The Metropolitan board

The act constituted the Metropolitan Board of Works 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 and the Metropolitan Buildings Office on 1 January 1856. Its area of responsibility was to be that designated by the Registrar General as London in the 1851 census.^[2]

Vestries and district boards

The second tier of local government was to be based on the existing vestries of civil parishes in an area comprising parts of the counties of Middlesex, Kent 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:

"The Vestry of the Parish of _______ in the County of ________"

Where parishes were grouped the resulting authority took the title:

"The Board of Works for the _________ District"

List of vestries, district boards and number of members elected to the metropolitan board

Vestries and districts of the Metropolis 1855

City of London Bermondsey Bethnal Green Camberwell (and 5a) Chelsea Clerkenwell Fulham District Greenwich District Hackney District Hampstead Holborn District Islington Kensington Lambeth (and 15a) Lewisham District Limehouse District Mile End Old Town Newington Paddington Plumstead District Poplar District Rotherhithe St George Hanover Square St George in the East St Giles District St Luke St Martin the Fields St Marylebone St Olave District St Pancras St Saviours District Shoreditch Southwark St George the Martyr (and 34a) Strand District (and 35a) Wandsworth District (and 36a) Westminster District Westminster St James Whitechapel District Woolwich

The following were detached parts of parishes and districts: 5a Kensal Green; 15a Penge Hamlet; 34a St Anne; 35a detached portion of Streatham parish; 36a Kensington Palace Not shown is Clerkenwell Detached, an exclave of that parish within Hornsey, Middlesex.

A number of extra-parochial places lay within the Metropolitan Board's area but were not included in any District:

• Inner Temple
• Middle Temple
• London Charterhouse
• Close of the Collegiate Church of St Peter (i.e. Westminster Abbey)
• Furnival's Inn
• Gray's Inn
• Lincoln's Inn
• Staple Inn

Changes in later legislation

In 1886 The Fulham district 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 replaced the Metropolitan Board of Works with the London County Council, and the area of the board became the County of London. 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 created by the London Government Act replaced the vestries and district boards.

Repeal

As of October 2012 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.^[3]

References

External links

• Text of the Metropolis Management Act 1855 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk

Metropolitan Board of Works
Districts	Fulham (dissolved 1886) Greenwich Hackney (dissolved 1894) Holborn Lee/Plumstead (re-named 1894) Lewisham Limehouse Poplar St Giles St Olave St Saviour's Strand Wandsworth Westminster Whitechapel	Headquarters at Spring Gardens
Incorporated vestries	Original vestries (1855) Battersea Bermondsey Bethnal Green Camberwell Chelsea Clerkenwell Hampstead Islington Kensington Lambeth Mile End Old Town Newington Paddington Rotherhithe St George Hanover Square St George in the East St Luke Middlesex St Martin in the Fields St Marylebone St Pancras Shoreditch Southwark St George the Martyr Westminster St Margaret and St John Westminster St James Woolwich Later vestries Fulham (1886) Hammersmith (1886) Hackney (1894) Plumstead (1894) Stoke Newington (1894)
Undertakings	Metropolitan Buildings Office Metropolitan Commission of Sewers Metropolitan Fire Brigade
Major works	Charing Cross Road Hammersmith Bridge London sewerage system Northumberland Avenue Putney Bridge Southwark Street Shaftesbury Avenue Thames Embankment Waterloo Bridge
Legislation	Royal Commission on the City of London Metropolis Management Act 1855 Local Government Act 1888 London Government Act 1899
People	Francis Fowler Frederick Marrable James McGarel-Hogg John Thwaites Joseph Bazalgette List of Members