London County Council

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London County Council

Status
Type	County council
Territory	County of London
HQ	County Hall, Lambeth
Civic arms
Coat of arms of London County Council
History
Created	1889 Local Government Act 1888
Abolished	1965 London Government Act 1963

London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889-1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council. The LCC was the largest, most significant and ambitious municipal authority of its day.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Headquarters 3 Elections to the London County Council 4 Political control 4.1 Leaders of the London County Council 5 See also 6 External links 7 References 7.1 tags

[edit] History

By the 19th century the City of London Corporation covered only a small fraction of metropolitan London. From 1855 the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) had certain powers across the metropolis, but it was appointed rather than elected. Many powers remained in the hands of traditional bodies such as parishes and the counties of Middlesex, Surrey and Kent. The creation of the LCC in 1889, as part of the Local Government Act 1888, was forced by a succession of scandals involving the MBW. While the Conservative government of the day would have preferred not to create a single body covering the whole of London, their electoral pact with Liberal Unionists led them to this policy. Shortly after its creation a Royal Commission on the Amalgamation of the City and County of London considered the means for amalgamation with the City of London. Although this was not achieved, it led to the creation of 28 metropolitan boroughs as lower tier authorities to replace the various local vestries and boards in 1900; they assumed some powers of the LCC and shared others.

The LCC inherited the powers of its predecessor the MBW, but also had wider authority over matters such as education, city planning and council housing. It took over the functions of the London School Board in 1903, and Dr C W Kimmins was appointed chief inspector of the education department in 1904.

From 1899 the Council progressively acquired and operated the tramways in the county, which it electrified from 1903. By 1933, when the LCC Tramways were taken over by the London Passenger Transport Board, it was the largest tram operator in the United Kingdom, with more than 167 miles (269 km) of route and over 1,700 tramcars.

Initially, it had been hoped by many that elections to the LCC would be conducted on a non-partisan basis, but in the Council two political groups formed. The majority group in 1889 was the Progressives, who were unofficially allied with the Liberal Party in national politics. Those who allied with the Conservative Party formed the Moderate group. In 1906, the Moderates became known as the Municipal Reform Party.

The LCC was elected every three years. The Progressives were in control continuously from 1889 until 1907, when they lost power to the Municipal Reformers. Municipal Reform control lasted until 1934 when Labour won power, which they kept until the LCC was abolished.

[edit] Headquarters

The LCC initially used the Spring Gardens headquarters of the Metropolitan Board of Works but by 1906 decided to buy three adjoining plots of land on the eastern side of Westminster Bridge as a site for a single headquarters. The County Hall designed by Ralph Knott was built there from 1909–1933 and passed into private ownership following the abolition of the Greater London Council. A London Residuary Body was appointed with the express purpose of managing the transfer of the assets of the GLC after 1985, making the task of re-establishing metropolitan authority rather more difficult for any post-Thatcher government.

[edit] Elections to the London County Council

The county was divided into electoral divisions, which had the same boundaries as the parliamentary constituencies. Initially, each division returned two councillors, with the exception of the City of London, which returned four.^[2] Under the Representation of the People Act 1948 this was altered, with three councillors being returned for each division.^[3] Elections of all councillors were held every three years, although they were cancelled during the First and Second World Wars.

In addition to the elected councillors the council also comprised one county alderman for every six councillors. Aldermen were elected by halves by the council for six-year terms at the first meeting following the election.

[edit] Political control

The following is a summary of the council composition following each election.^[4] The figures shown are the number of councillors plus aldermen. For instance 13 + 2 indicates 13 councillors and 2 aldermen.

	Overall control	Mod./M.R./Cons.	Labour	Prog./Lib.	Others
1961	Labour	42 + 7	84 +14	-	-
1958	Labour	25 + 7	101 + 14	-	-
1955	Labour	52 + 8	74 + 13	-	-
1952	Labour	37 + 6	92 + 15	-	-
1949	Labour	64 + 5	64 + 16	1 + 0	-
1946	Labour	30 + 6	90 + 14	2 + 0	2 + 0
1937	Labour	49 + 8	75 + 12	-	-
1934	Labour	55 + 9	69 + 11	-	-
1931	Municipal Reform	83 + 13	35 + 6	6 + 0	0 + 1
1928	Municipal Reform	77 + 12	42 + 6	5 + 1	0 + 1
1925	Municipal Reform	83 + 13	35 + 6	6 + 0	-
1922	Municipal Reform	82 + 12	16 + 3	26 + 5	-
1919	Municipal Reform	68 + 12	15 + 2	40 + 6	1 + 0
1913	Municipal Reform	67 + 15	2 + 0	49 + 4	-
1910	Municipal Reform	60 + 17	3 + 0	55 + 2	-
1907	Municipal Reform	79 + 11	1 + 0	37 + 8	1 + 0
1904	Progressive	35 + 6	-	82 + 13	1 + 0
1901	Progressive	32 + 6	0 + 1	86 + 12	-
1898	Progressive	48 + 8	0 + 1	70 + 10	-
1895	Progressive	59 + 7	-	59 + 12	-
1892	Progressive	35 + 2	-	83 + 17	-
1889	Progressive	46 + 1	-	72 + 18	-

[edit] Leaders of the London County Council

The post of Leader was only officially recognised in 1933. This table gives the Leaders of the majority parties on the council before this time, although in the first term this had little relevance in terms of the leadership of the Council.

• Sir Thomas Farrer (21 March 1889 - 27 March 1890)
• James Stuart (27 March 1890 - 9 March 1892)
• Charles Harrison (9 March 1892 - 10 March 1898)
• Thomas McKinnon Wood (10 March 1898 - 8 March 1907)
• Richard Robinson (8 March 1907 - 11 March 1908)
• Hon. William Wellesley Peel (11 March 1908 - 8 March 1910)
• William Hayes Fisher (8 March 1910 - 19 December 1911)
• Cyril Jackson (19 December 1911 - 16 March 1915)
• Ronald Collet Norman (16 March 1915 - 1 March 1918)
• Sir George Hume (1 March 1918 - 11 March 1925)
• Sir William Ray (11 March 1925 - 9 March 1934)
• Herbert Morrison (9 March 1934 - 27 May 1940)
• Lord Latham (27 May 1940 - 29 July 1947)
• Sir Isaac Hayward (29 July 1947 - 31 March 1965)

[edit] See also

• Coat of arms of London County Council
• London County Council Tramways
• List of members of London County Council 1889 - 1919
• List of members of London County Council 1919 - 1945

[edit] External links

• Historical records of the London County Council at the London Metropolitan Archives (see reference LCC).

[edit] References

1. ^ Saint, A., Politics and the people of London: the London County Council (1889-1965), (1989)
2. ^ Local Government Act 1888, S.40(4)
3. ^ 1948 c.65, s.59
4. ^ Saint, Andrew (1989). Politics and the People of London: The London County Council, 1889-1965. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 3. ISBN 1852850299. 

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