Editing Metropolitan Board of Works

{{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.

==Background==
The growth of the city around the commercial [[City of London]] was continuing apace; as the [[British Empire]] grew so the [[London Docks]] had grown in trade, population sharply grew and demand for housing rose as did the building of homes. Half of the population of two of the three counties that adjoined that medieval-walled city definition were within a few miles of it. However the government of this metropolis was chaotic, with over 100 key authorities having statutory or customary powers and much overlapping territory. Specifically, providing a rate-paid service or capital improvement in a given place sometimes needed the co-ordination or consent of many of these.

In 1835 elected [[municipal borough]]s had been set up covering every major city except London. The [[City of London]], the very core of the sprawling metropolis which keeps its medieval boundaries, was untouched by the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]] and resisted all moves to expand its borders to include the generally poorer districts surrounding it. This meant that [[justice of the peace|commissions (justices) of the peace]] of three counties, key landowners, and powerful parish council [[vestries]] beneath them, had authority over the clearly urban area, the metropolis: Middlesex north of the Thames and west of the [[River Lea|Lea]] up to several miles from the City, Surrey to the south and south-west, and Kent as to the south east.

In 1837 an attempt was made to set up an elected authority covering the whole of the metropolis; however, the wealthier districts of [[Marylebone]] and [[Westminster]] resisted this, as some of their own local powers and low rates would have been lost. They defeated the motion. In 1854 the [[Royal Commission on the City of London| Royal Commission on the Corporation of the City of London]] proposed to divide an urban area around the City of London into seven boroughs, each represented on a Metropolitan Board of Works. This proposal was abandoned, but the next year the board of works was set up to cover all this.

==Creation==
[[File:SirJohnThwaites.jpg|right|thumb|Sir John Thwaites, first chairman of the board, in 1858.]]
To empower this body to coordinate work to plan and build infrastructure of the metropolis, Parliament passed the [[Metropolis Management Act 1855]] which created the Metropolitan Board of Works (which took over the responsibilities of the short-lived [[Metropolitan Buildings Office]] and [[Metropolitan Commission of Sewers]], established in 1845 and 1848 respectively). It covered "the Metropolis", the area designated London in the 1851 census (an enlarged variant of the [[Bills of mortality]] area fixed in 1726),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/PageBrowser?path=Browse/Census%20(by%20date)/1851/Great%20Britain&active=yes&mno=27&tocstate=expandnew&tocseq=19700&display=sections&display=tables&display=pagetitles&pageseq=first-nonblank|title=Division i. London comprising the districts or poor law unions, sub-districts, parishes and places, included within the limits of the Metropolis, as defined in the present London weekly tables of mortality being parts of the counties of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent|work=HISTPOP.ORG|pages=Census > 1851 > Great Britain > Population tables I, Vol. I. England and Wales. Divisions I–VII, 1851|access-date=6 May 2016}}</ref> the alternative proposals had been the [[Metropolitan Police District]]; the [[coal tax]] area; or that used for the [[Metropolitan Interments Act 1852]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1855/mar/16/metropolitan-local-management|title=Metropolitan Local Management, House of Commons Debates 16 March 1855 vol 137 cc699-729|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|date=16 March 1855|access-date=25 January 2014}}</ref>

It was not to be a directly elected body, but instead to consist of members nominated by the [[vestry|vestries]] who were the principal local authorities. The larger vestries had two members and the City of London had three. A few vestries were for tiny parishes who co-convened into a district board for nominating members to the MBW. There were 45 members, who would then elect a Chairman who was to become a member ''ex officio''. The first nominations took place in December and the Board held its first preliminary meeting on 22 December 1855 where [[John Thwaites (British politician)|John Thwaites]] was elected as chairman. The board formally came into being on 1 January 1856 when it took over the powers, duties and liabilities of the Commission of Sewers and the Buildings Office.

==Activities==

===Sewage===
[[File:Cholera in London 1866.gif|thumb|This map of the Metropolis, co-governed by the elected councils of these districts, shows the 1866 cholera epidemic]]
{{main|London sewerage system}}
A major problem was sewage: most of London's waste was allowed to flow into the [[Thames]] resulting in a horrendous smell in the summer months. In 1855 and 1858 there were especially bad summers with the latter being known as "[[The Great Stink]]".<ref name="Stink"/> A notable achievement of the Board was the creation of the core [[London sewerage system]], including {{convert|82|mi|km}} of main and {{convert|1100|mi|km}} of street sewers, which solved the problem.<ref>{{cite news |title=London Sewers - Seven Wonders |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/england/sevenwonders/london/sewers_mm/index.shtml |access-date=18 April 2025 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> A large part of the work of the MBW was under the charge of the Chief Engineer, [[Joseph Bazalgette]], previously engineer with the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers.<ref name="Stink">{{cite news |title=Story of cities #14: London's Great Stink heralds a wonder of the industrial world |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/apr/04/story-cities-14-london-great-stink-river-thames-joseph-bazalgette-sewage-system |access-date=18 April 2025 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> William Dibdin, chief chemist for the MBW, conceived the biological [[Sewage treatment#History|treatment of sewage]] to oxidize the waste.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hamlin |first1=Christopher |title=William Dibdin and the Idea of Biological Sewage Treatment |journal=Technology and Culture|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |date=1988 |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=189-218 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/889247}}</ref>

===Streets and bridges===
Activities included [[Slum clearance in the United Kingdom|slum clearance]] and making new streets to relieve traffic congestion. The most important streets built were [[Charing Cross Road]], Garrick Street, [[Southwark Street]] and [[Northumberland Avenue|Northumberland]] and [[Shaftesbury Avenue]]s. 

{{anchor|Metropolis Toll Bridges Act 1877}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
| short_title           = Metropolis Toll Bridges Act 1877
| type                  = Act
| parliament            = Parliament of the United Kingdom
| long_title            = An Act to provide for throwing open for the free use of the Public certain Toll Bridges within the Metropolis.
| year                  = 1877
| citation              = [[40 & 41 Vict.]] c. xcix
| introduced_commons    = 
| introduced_lords      = 
| territorial_extent    = 
| royal_assent          = 12 July 1877
| commencement          = 
| expiry_date           = 
| repeal_date           = 
| amends                = 
| replaces              = 
| amendments            = 
| repealing_legislation = 
| related_legislation   = 
| status                = 
| legislation_history   = 
| theyworkforyou        = 
| millbankhansard       = 
| original_text         = 
| revised_text          = 
| use_new_UK-LEG        = 
| UK-LEG_title          = 
| collapsed             = yes
}}
From 1869 the MBW bought all the private bridges across its section of the [[Tideway]] (Thames) and freed them of tolls. It also rebuilt [[Putney Bridge|Putney]], [[Battersea Bridge|Battersea]], [[Waterloo Bridge|Waterloo]] and [[Hammersmith Bridge]]s. 

;Commons-tabled plans for a bridge serving the role of [[Tower Bridge]]
The board wanted to build a new bridge east of [[London Bridge]], discussed for many years. In 1878 Bazalgette drew up plans which were estimated at £1.25 million ({{Inflation|GBP|1250000|1878|r=-6|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). The Treasury refused to help by upping the coal and wine duties (most of the board's income). The MBW advanced its plans, but saw its [[private bill]] which included negotiated payments and similar rejected by the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] for lack of headroom for light shipping.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bracken |first=G. Byrne |page=56|title=Walking Tour London: Sketches of the city's architectural treasures... Journey Through London's Urban Landscapes |publisher=Marshall Cavendish|year=2011|isbn=978-9-814-43536-9}}</ref>

===Embankment===
The Board funded the tree-studded surface in the three sections of its contractor-designer [[Joseph Bazalgette]]'s [[Thames Embankment]] from 1864.

===Fire brigade===

From 1865 the MBW became responsible for administering the [[London Fire Brigade#History|Metropolitan Fire Brigade]].<ref>[http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/about_us/our_history/key_dates.asp London Fire Brigade | History, key dates (Our history)<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080618055617/http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/about_us/our_history/key_dates.asp |date=18 June 2008 }}</ref> Architects employed by the MBW who specialised in fire stations included [[Robert Pearsall (architect)|Robert Pearsall]], responsible for [[Fulham Fire Station]]<ref name="EH_01">{{NHLE|desc=FULHAM FIRE STATION, 685, FULHAM ROAD|num=1079761|access-date=23 December 2013}}</ref> and Woolwich Fire Station.

===Parks and open spaces===
[[File:Metropolitan Board of Works meeting Jan 1856.png|thumb|260px|The Board in [[Burlington House]], London, 1856]]
In 1856 the MBW obtained an amending act of parliament giving them the power to provide "parks, pleasure-grounds and open spaces", subject to parliamentary approval. Among the parks and open spaces acquired or laid by the board were:<ref>{{cite book|title=The Municipal Parks, Gardens, and Open Spaces of London; their history and associations|author=JJ Sexby|author-link=JJ Sexby|publisher=Eliot Stock |location=London|year=1905|url=https://archive.org/stream/municipalparksga00sexbrich#page/n7/mode/2up}}</ref>
*[[Finsbury Park]] (acquired 1857, formally opened 1869)
*[[Southwark Park]] (acquired 1864, opened 1869)
*[[Victoria Embankment Gardens]] (opened in 1870)
*[[Leicester Square]] (opened in 1874)
*[[Wormwood Scrubs]] (vested in the MBW in 1879)
*[[Hampstead Heath]] (acquired in 1886)
*[[Battersea Park]], [[Kennington Park]], [[Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets|Victoria Park]] and the gardens surrounding [[V&A Museum of Childhood|Bethnal Green Museum]] (taken over from the [[Office of Works]] in 1887)
*[[Clapham Common]] (transferred to the board's ownership in 1887)
*[[Wandsworth Common]] (duties of the conservators transferred to the board in 1887)
*[[Ravenscourt Park]] in 1888 and [[Clissold Park]] in 1889
*[[Dulwich Park]] laid out by the MBW but opened by the successor London County Council in 1890.

Under the [[Metropolitan Commons Act 1878]] the MBW obtained the right to purchase and hold saleable rights in [[commons|common lands]] in the Metropolis, in order to preserve the right of public access. The board also purchased the manorial rights in [[Streatham Common]] and [[Tooting Common]].

==Organisation==
[[Image:LordMagheramorne.jpg|right|thumb|James Macnaghten Hogg in 1887.]]
The MBW at first had its meetings in the Guildhall of the City of London and its headquarters at Greek Street in [[Soho]]. It then built its own headquarters at Spring Gardens (which became a [[metonymy|metonym]] for the MBW), designed by its first chief [[architect]] [[Frederick Marrable]] and built in an Italianate style in 1859. When John Thwaites died (8 August 1870), he was eventually replaced by [[James Macnaghten McGarel-Hogg, 1st Baron Magheramorne|James Macnaghten Hogg]], later Lord Magheramorne, who remained chairman until the MBW was abolished. There was an increase in the membership to 59 in 1885 when some district boards were divided and others were given more members.

==Scandals==
Few ratepayers and construction contractors thought MBW were transparently rewarded or that their property deals and tendering amounted to fair price and competition. Its status as a [[Local government in the United Kingdom#Joint-boards|joint board]] insulated its members from any influence of popular opinion, though all property owners had to pay for its work as part of their [[rates (tax)|local government rates]]. Worse, the very many building contracts issued by the MBW made membership of it desirable for anyone wishing to bid for them. The MBW took most of its decisions in secret. There were a succession of corruption scandals in the late 1880s, which led to a [[Royal Commission]] investigation. By this time, the MBW had the moniker the "Metropolitan Board of Perks".

The knub of the scandal arose from the MBW's purchase of the old [[London Pavilion|Pavilion]] [[music hall]] in [[Piccadilly Circus]] in 1879, when the site was thought necessary for the construction of [[Shaftesbury Avenue]]. As the street was still in the early stage, the site was leased to music hall proprietor R.E. Villiers. In addition to this, Villiers paid a small ''[[wiktionary:Sub rosa|sub rosa]]'' amount to F.W. Goddard, who was Chief Valuer for the Board, for favourable treatment.

In 1883 Villiers met with Goddard and Thomas James Robertson (MBW Assistant Surveyor) to ensure that the remainder of the site was granted to him for a new Pavilion. They agreed to help him, in return for one corner becoming a public house under the landlordship of W.W. Grey who was the brother of Robertson, though this was not apparent.

In November 1884 Robertson told Villiers that the time had come to make a formal offer to the MBW to rent the new site. Villiers offered £2,700 ground rent per year. The Board instructed its superintending architect, [[George Vulliamy]], to value the site: he was old and left practically all of the work to his subordinates – Goddard and Robertson (it was said by the Deputy Chairman of the Board that "Mr. Goddard and Mr. Robertson were Mr. Vulliamy"). They prepared a report valuing the ground rent at £3,000, which Villiers immediately accepted; this was then hurriedly pushed through the Board which agreed it despite a higher offer of £4,000. Ground rent was paid £2,650 for the largest part, and £350 for the corner. Goddard continued collecting secret sums from Villiers, and Grey took up the cheap corner plot – he sold his existing public house on Tichborn Street and divided the £10,000 profit between Goddard and Robertson. In December 1886, Villiers sold the Pavilion and gave £5,000 to Goddard.

===Subsidiary corruption===
For years, vague hints had been made that the Board tended to encourage those applying for leases to employ members of the Board as architects. In particular, [[James Ebenezer Saunders]] had been appointed as chief architect on the Pavilion, on the Grand Hotel and [[Metropole Building|Metropole Hotel]] on [[Northumberland Avenue]], on land owned by the Board did little design and oversight. [[Francis Fowler (architect)|Francis Hayman Fowler]], although he had done much other work as a board member, had taken money from site owners and lessees in circumstances which clearly indicated bribery.

At lowest level, MBW's Assistant Architect, John Hebb, had responsibility for inspecting theatres for safety. He began to write to the managers of theatres with upcoming inspections to suggest that they might want to send him free tickets. Given the power of the board to close theatres, most complied. However, displeased by the inspections themselves, and by the attempt to extract gifts, the managers tended to send Hebb tickets for seats that were at the back of the house or hidden behind a pillar.

===Royal Commission===
The Goddard-Robertson scandal was revealed by a series of articles in the ''[[Financial News (1884-1945)|Financial News]]'' beginning on 25 October 1886. The Board itself undertook an incompetent investigation under the Chairmanship of Magheramorne, which found Robertson was "injudicious in allowing relatives to become tenants of the Board without informing the Board" but could not find anything worthy "of more severe censure". Anti-Board campaigners were not pleased and kept up the pressure. On the motion of [[Lord Randolph Churchill]] (who represented [[Paddington South (UK Parliament constituency)|Paddington South]] where anti-Board feeling was at its highest), the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] voted on 16 February 1888 to establish a Royal Commission to inquire into the Board.

The commission was headed by [[Farrer Herschell, 1st Baron Herschell|Lord Herschell]] and found the main allegations of the ''Financial News'' to have been correct, and indeed understated. Some other scandals were also discovered including the corruption of architects who were members of the Board. However, the Commission repudiated the view of critics that corruption was endemic in the Board.

While the Royal Commission was still preparing its hearings, the [[President of the Local Government Board]] [[Charles Thomson Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie|Charles Ritchie]] announced that elected [[county council|County Councils]] were to be created throughout the United Kingdom. Without much opposition the Bill had clauses that, on passage into an Act, divorced MBW's ambit from the power-weak Quarter Sessions and other Courts of [[Surrey]], [[Middlesex]] and [[Kent]] to turn it into a county with an elected London County Council. This matched the aims of anti-Board campaigners, principally the [[London Municipal Reform League]].

==Abolition==
The Metropolitan Board of Works was abolished by the [[Local Government Act 1888]]; and the London County Council had been elected on 21 January 1889, to assume its new powers on 1 April. With the MBW a lame duck, its last weeks were its most inglorious period. The LCC were due to assume financial responsibility; and the MBW began to award large pensions to the retiring officers and large salaries to those who would transfer. The MBW then decided to allow the Samaritan Hospital in [[Marylebone]] to use an additional 12 feet of pavement, which the LCC opposed. The LCC wrote to the MBW asking it not to take the decision; the MBW did not reply and gave the permission.

Finally, the MBW received the tenders for the [[Blackwall Tunnel]] and decided to take a decision to award the contract at its final meeting. The LCC again wrote asking the MBW to leave the decision to them. The Chairman of the MBW replied (18 March 1889) that it intended to continue. At this the LCC decided to appeal to the government which exercised its power to abolish the MBW and bring the LCC into existence on 21 March 1889.

The magazine ''[[Punch magazine|Punch]]'' printed a cartoon to mark the abolition of the MBW entitled 'Peace to its Hashes', representing the MBW by a black suit of armour (i.e. [[blackmail]]). The citation lauded the MBW for showing 'how jobbery may be elevated to the level of the fine arts'.

The MBW's headquarters by [[Admiralty Arch]] off [[The Mall (London)|The Mall]] were taken over by LCC until [[County Hall, London|County Hall]] was complete in 1922. It was renamed 'Old County Hall' and was a satellite office until the hundred-year lease expired in 1958. It became used for central government and was demolished in 1971, for a new headquarters for the [[British Council]].

==Chairmen==
* [[John Thwaites (British politician)|Sir John Thwaites]] 1855–1870
* [[James Macnaghten McGarel-Hogg, 1st Baron Magheramorne|James Macnaghten Hogg]] 1870–1889

==See also==
*[[List of members of the Metropolitan Board of Works]]
*[[Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works]], a body inspired by the MBW

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*'Professionalism, Patronage and Public Service in Victorian London: The Staff of the Metropolitan Board of Works, 1856–1889' by Gloria Clifton (Athlone Press, London, 1992)
*'The Government of Victorian London, 1855–1889: The Metropolitan Board of Works, the Vestries, and the City Corporation' by David Owen (Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1982)

Architectural plans for the Spring Gardens building (CRES 35/2420 and CRES 35/2421) can be found at [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]].

{{Metropolitan Board of Works}}
{{History of local government in London}}
{{London history}}
{{Thames Water}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Metropolitan Board of Works| ]]
[[Category:History of local government in London (1855–1889)| ]]
[[Category:1855 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Thames Water]]
[[Category:Former local authorities in London]]