Editing Metropolitan Board of Works (section)

{{Short description|Principal instrument of London-wide government from 1855 until 1889}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox legislature
| name               = Metropolitan Board of Works
| term_length        = Three years, with one third of board appointed every year
| logo_pic           = Metropolitan Board of Works.svg
| house_type         = Board of works
| houses             = [[Unicameral]]
| term_limits        = Three years<ref name=clifton /> 
| foundation         = 1 January 1856
| disbanded          = March 1889
| preceded_by        = {{plainlist|
*[[Metropolitan Buildings Office]]
*[[Metropolitan Commission of Sewers]]}}
| succeeded_by       = [[London County Council]], the (District of the) Metropolis being renamed the [[County of London]]
| seats              = {{plainlist|
*1 chairman
*[[List of members of the Metropolitan Board of Works|45 members]] (1855–1885)
*59 members (1885–1889)<ref name=clifton>{{cite book|last=Clifton|first=Gloria C.|title=Professionalism, Patronage and Public Service in Victorian London.|year=1992|publisher=The Athlone Press|location=London|isbn=9780485113877|pages=17–22}}</ref>}}
| leader1_type       = Chairman
| leader1            = {{plainlist|
*[[John Thwaites (British politician)|John Thwaites]] (1855–1870)
*[[James McGarel-Hogg, 1st Baron Magheramorne|James Macnaghten Hogg]] (1870–1889)}}
| house1             = 
| house2             = 
| committees1        = {{plainlist|
*Parks and Open Spaces
*Works and General Purposes}}
| joint_committees   =
| voting_system1     = [[Indirect election]]
| last_election1     =
| session_room       = Metropolitan Board of Works in Spring Gardens 1860 ILN.jpg
| session_res        = 200px
| session_alt        =
| meeting_place      = [[Spring Gardens]] (1859–1889)
| footnotes          =
| motto              =
}}
The '''Metropolitan Board of Works''' ('''MBW''') was the upper tier of local government for [[London]] between 1856 and 1889, primarily responsible for upgrading infrastructure. It also had a parks and open spaces committee which set aside and opened up several landmark parks. The metropolis, which the board served, included substantial parts of [[Middlesex]], [[Surrey]], and [[Kent]] throughout the 33 years leading up to the [[Local Government Act 1888|advent of county councils]]. This urban zone lay around the medieval-sized [[City of London]] but plans to enact a similar body in 1837 failed. Parliament finally passed the [[Metropolis Management Act 1855]] which dissolved a short-lived building office and a sewers commission and made the Board effective as of December that year. The board endured until it was succeeded by [[London County Council]], as its directly elected, direct successor, in March 1889.

Its principal responsibility was to provide infrastructure to cope with the rapid growth of the metropolis, which it accomplished with varying degrees of success. The MBW was co-opted from boards, districts of [[vestries]] who were elected by their [[rates in the United Kingdom|ratepayers]] rather than directly elected, but which during its period were separated into civil parishes removing many residual [[Church of England]] ties. It was accountable to Parliament but not to a particular ministry to supervise accounts. This democratic deficit vexed journal critics and rate-paying Londoners, especially having grown in budget and been seen as a reliable contract source when some of its members and staff engaged in [[embezzlement]], [[bribery]] and [[breach of fiduciary duty]] (unfair contract procurement and mismanagement). However the national proliferation of such a tier of government on its demise recognised the advantages of [[economies of scale]] in uniting districts in procuring, improving and maintaining energy, street lighting, fire fighting, sanitation, and transport in the same way as large, well-funded, democratic, ministerially and accounting-regulated [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835|Municipal Corporations]] had widely done since 1835.