128-658: The London Archives (previously known as the Greater London Record Office 1965–1997, and London Metropolitan Archives 1997–2024) is the principal local government archive repository for the Greater London area, including the City of London . It is administered and financed by the City of London Corporation , and is the largest county record office in the United Kingdom. The archive
256-461: A Board of Guardians. The records consist primarily of general minutes of the board, administrative records including details of staff, settlement examinations, orders of removal, workhouse and infirmary records and school records. The records are arranged by each individual board although the amount of surviving material varies from board to board. The majority of material is from the period 1850 to 1930. The other major collection in this series are
384-421: A child had been admitted they were baptised and given a new name and boarded out to a dry or wet nurse in the country. On reaching the age of three, they were returned to the hospital to receive basic schooling before eventually being apprenticed out to trades or service or enlisted in the armed forces. From 1760 the mother was required to submit a written petition detailing her circumstances: these documents provide
512-667: A hierarchy developed. By 1830 a few large companies dominated, supported by a base of smaller concerns. Several London brewers joined the ranks of England's greatest industrial enterprises and The London Archives holds archives of six of those major companies. These include Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co Ltd, Courage , Barclay & Simonds Ltd, Watney, Combe, Reid, Ltd , latterly Watney Mann Ltd, and Whitbread & Co Ltd . The surviving records include administrative and financial records, staff records, property records photographs and ephemera. The collections from Guildhall Library's Manuscripts Section have added major financial businesses to
640-486: A high court judge eventually deciding in favour of Middlesex. Around the same time, a Middlesex County Council act empowered the council to spend money preserving, arranging, indexing, classifying and publishing such records of the county that may be in the public interest. In 1913 the new Middlesex Guildhall at Westminster opened and was equipped with specially constructed muniment rooms, with an assistant to arrange and supervise their transfer from temporary storage. It
768-418: A much wider area known as Greater London . The formation of Greater London also meant that some areas that had been previously part of Kent , Surrey , Essex and Hertfordshire , were also now included. However, to minimise confusion, it was agreed that records from these areas should remain within their ancient county. The Greater London Council took over responsibility for the established record offices of
896-424: A number are detailed below. Not all items are available for consultation. Items from uncatalogued collections can be made available only by prior appointment made at least seven days in advance of the intended visit. Some material is restricted or closed under Data Protection legislation because it contains sensitive or personal information relating to living individuals; some records may require written permission from
1024-459: A number of records of the former Inner London police courts. While many of these courts date from the 18th and 19th centuries, the surviving records often only start in the early 20th century. Included in the same section are records of petty sessions , magistrates ' courts and county courts for London and Middlesex. Some magistrates' courts in the London area are not covered and hold no records of
1152-802: A number of trade unions including the National Union of Teachers London and Middlesex branches, the Transport Salaried Staff Association and the Union of Post office Workers. Within the field of education there are records of The National Education Association and the London Head Teachers Association. Records of pressure groups and campaigning organisations such as the National United Temperance Council and
1280-425: A range of local amenities including churches, libraries, schools, an institute of education and shops. Henrietta wanted to bring different classes together in one area. Unfortunately though the houses may have been more modest, they were still too expensive for many working-class people. Increased building costs and the shortage of local employment meant that the suburb would become largely middle-class. By 1936 building
1408-688: A separate room. The formation of the London County Council in 1889 had seen the County of Middlesex much reduced in size. In 1893 when the Middlesex sessions papers were to be moved from the sessions house in Clerkenwell (an area that was previously Middlesex but now London) an argument broke out between the two county councils as to who should have responsibility for the material. This protracted dispute lasted some five years, with
SECTION 10
#17327719839651536-572: A single, established county town . The City of London could be regarded as its county town for most purposes and provided different locations for the various, mostly judicial, county purposes. The county assizes for Middlesex were held at the Old Bailey in the City of London. Until 1889, the High Sheriff of Middlesex was chosen by the City of London Corporation . The sessions house for
1664-729: A valuable resource for social history. Other documents include records of the lives of the children, nursing methods, apothecaries' prescriptions, and inspectors' reports. Some parts of the collection have been returned to the Coram family, while more modern files concerned with the Berkhamsted site are at Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies . The records that were formerly held by the Corporation of London Record Office and now held at The London Archives have been re-catalogued and are now arranged in two distinct sections. Records with
1792-666: Is a historic county , a former post county , and a former administrative county in South East England ; it is now mainly within the ceremonial county of Greater London , with small sections in neighbouring ceremonial counties. The county's boundaries largely followed three rivers: the Thames in the south, the Lea to the east and the Colne to the west. A line of hills formed the northern boundary with Hertfordshire . The county
1920-541: Is a single card catalogue that combines all of the maps from the various collections and has listed them by the area they cover. Twenty of the most popular maps held by The London Archives are accessible in the map cabinet in the reference room. These include the first edition of the Ordnance Survey for London 1867–70 and the Second World War bomb damage maps. The collection was increased, especially for
2048-762: Is an amalgamation of several separate bodies. The first three were the London County Record Office, the London County Council Members Library and the Middlesex County Record Office, which merged in 1965 to form the Greater London Record Office and History Library (GLRO). The GLRO was rebranded as London Metropolitan Archives in 1997, and took over the former Corporation of London Record Office (CLRO) in 2005 and
2176-419: Is based at 40 Northampton Road, Clerkenwell , London. It attracts over 30,000 visitors a year and deals with a similar number of written enquiries. The London Archives' extensive holdings amount to over 72 miles of records of local, regional and national importance. With the earliest record dating from 1067, the archive charts the development of the capital into a modern-day major world city. The London Archives
2304-508: Is not known exactly when Middlesex was established as a county, possibly the early tenth century, but it is clear that it did not cover the whole of the former Middle Saxon Province of Essex. It was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as being divided into the six hundreds of Edmonton , Elthorne , Gore , Hounslow ( Isleworth in all later records), Ossulstone and Spelthorne . The City of London has been self-governing since
2432-659: Is now also held at The London Archives. To the south of the River Thames , The London Archives holds records of the Diocese of Winchester including probate and marriage bonds and allegations from the Archdeaconry Court of Surrey as well as probate from the Commissary Court of Surrey. The London Archives also has records of the Diocese of Southwark along with the archive of Southwark Cathedral and
2560-431: Is particularly strong in what may be termed ephemera. There are hundreds of photographs starting from as early 1887, a few films and videos, a large collection of press cuttings, advertisements, menus, lithographs and a Nippy 's uniform. Brewers have supplied the metropolis with beer for at least five centuries and by 1700 around 200 common brewers existed. As the industry evolved through acquisitions and competitive means,
2688-572: Is said: Pimlico and Knightsbridge are almost joined to Chelsea and Kensington, and, if this infatuation continues for half a century, then, I suppose, the whole county of Middlesex will be covered in brick. Public transport in the county, including the extensive network of trams, buses and the London Underground came under control of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933 and a New Works Programme
SECTION 20
#17327719839652816-477: Is the High Road by Bushey Heath at 502 feet (153 m). Bentley Priory Nature Reserve houses Middlesex's oldest tree: The Master Oak. There were settlements in the area of Middlesex that can be traced back thousands of years before the creation of a county. The economy of the county was dependent on the City of London from early times and was primarily agricultural. A variety of goods were provided for
2944-515: The seax , a kind of knife for which they were known. The seax appears in the heraldry of the English counties of Essex and Middlesex, each of which bears three seaxes in their ceremonial emblem, or rather the Tudor heralds' idea of what a seax looked like, portrayed in each case like a falchion or scimitar . The names 'Middlesex', 'Essex', ' Sussex ' and ' Wessex ', contain the name 'Seaxe'. It
3072-932: The Board of Deputies of British Jews , the Office of the Chief Rabbi , the Beth Din , the Federation of Synagogues , the United Synagogue and the Spanish and Portuguese Jews Congregation. Other organisations represented include the Jews' Temporary Shelter and the Jewish Free School . The majority of these records are concerned with management and policy decisions, and many require written permission from
3200-458: The City of London boundaries into the county, posing problems for the administration of local government, public infrastructure, and justice. In the eighteenth and ninteenth centuries the population density was especially high in the southeast of the county, including the East and West Ends of London. In 1855 the densely populated southeast, together with sections of Kent and Surrey , came under
3328-634: The Congregationalist , Baptist , United Reformed and Methodist churches, circuits and missions dating predominantly from the 19th and 20th centuries. Some records of a few German churches are held, and some recent marriage registers from a Salvation Army citadel, a Seventh-Day Adventist church, the Kingdom Hall , Wandsworth and a Sikh Gurdwara . As well as baptism , marriage and burial records from individual nonconformist churches, records of several nonconformist organisations such as
3456-617: The Flag Institute 's registry of county and regional flags. The flag is a banner of the arms of the former Middlesex County Council, abolished in 1965. A similar design had been used traditionally as a local badge in Middlesex and neighbouring Essex for centuries. Coats of arms were attributed by the mediaeval heralds to the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy . That assigned to the Kingdom of Essex , of which
3584-551: The Foundling Hospital , established by royal charter in 1739 by Thomas Coram as a refuge for abandoned children. It was the sole institution responsible for taking in illegitimate children in the London area for a period of well over 120 years. Coram had been appalled by the number of dead and dying babies on the streets of London. Admission to the new hospital was at first limited because of lack of funds. Infants were to be less than two months old and in good health. Once
3712-534: The Kingdom of the East Saxons , charter evidence shows that it was not part of their core territory. However, it is probable the county was independent at some point. At times, Essex was ruled jointly by co-Kings, and it is thought that the Middle Saxon province is likely to have been the domain of one of these co-kings. This link to Essex endured through the Diocese of London , re-established in 604 as
3840-759: The London Aquarium is now situated). The two archives finally came together in 1979, when the Dartmouth Street site was sold by the GLC, and both archives were housed at County Hall. In 1982 the GLRO moved to adapted premises at 40 Northampton Road, Clerkenwell. This site was a former print works, home to the Temple Press. The Press had moved from nearby Rosebery Avenue in August 1939, and continued to use
3968-696: The London Residuary Body , The London Archives also hold records of their 19th- and 20th-century predecessors such as the Metropolitan Board of Works , Metropolitan Commission of Sewers , London School Board and the Metropolitan Asylums Board . The records of these bodies are as broad as the functions of modern local government, with documentation on education, housing, health services, welfare, transport, building regulations, drainage, culture and leisure. Many of
The London Archives - Misplaced Pages Continue
4096-990: The Marquess of Anglesey , the Clitherow family of Brentford and the Earl of Jersey , whose papers include correspondence with prominent politicians and literary figures; however the Jersey collection can only be viewed after obtaining written permission. The families and Estates series also includes records of over 80 manors, including those owned by Charterhouse School and St Thomas' Hospital , which cover land extending from Essex to Wiltshire and Yorkshire . Archives of individuals include Mollie Hunte, an influential educational psychologist; Cy Grant , actor, singer, broadcaster, community organiser and activist, who among many other roles voiced Lieutenant Green in Captain Scarlet and
4224-484: The Metropolitan Board of Works for certain infrastructure purposes, while remaining a part of Middlesex. and the Metropolitan Police also developed in the nineteenth century. When county councils were introduced in 1889, about twenty per cent of the area of the historic county, along with a third of its population, was incorporated into the new administrative County of London . The remainder formed
4352-484: The Middle Saxon Province was part, depicted three " seaxes " or short notched swords on a red background. The seaxe was a weapon carried by Anglo-Saxon warriors, and the term "Saxon" may be derived from the word. These arms became associated with the two counties that approximated to the kingdom: Middlesex and Essex . County authorities, militia and volunteer regiments associated with both counties used
4480-559: The New River Company . In 1902 all the smaller private institutions were taken over by the Metropolitan Water Board , which assumed supply responsibilities for an area covering 576 square miles (1,490 km). The surviving records include corporate material such as board minutes and legal papers, accounts, staff records, engineering and technical files, plans, photos and property records. J. Lyons and Co.
4608-582: The River Thames . As well as the official records that the council generated, they also began to accept deposits of records fundamental to London's history, such as copies of memorials from the Middlesex Deeds Register , diocesan and parish records and records of charities such as the Foundling Hospital . Under the Public Records Act 1958 , the record office became recognised as a place of deposit for public records relating to
4736-621: The Second World War , from 1951 to 1961, the populations of the administrative county of London and of inner Middlesex were in steady decline, with population growth continuing in the outer parts of Middlesex. According to the 1961 census, Ealing, Enfield, Harrow, Hendon, Heston & Isleworth, Tottenham, Wembley, Willesden and Twickenham had each reached a population greater than 100,000, which would normally have entitled each of them to seek county borough status. If this status were to be granted to all those boroughs, it would mean that
4864-565: The justices of the peace meeting in quarter sessions , and the local matters dealt with by parish vestries. As the suburbs of London spread into the area, unplanned development and outbreaks of cholera forced the creation of local boards and poor law unions to help govern most areas; in a few cases parishes appointed improvement commissioners . In rural areas, parishes began to be grouped for different administrative purposes. From 1875 these local bodies were designated as urban or rural sanitary districts. The Tower division, better known as
4992-479: The sheriffs of London were given jurisdiction there, though the county otherwise remained separate. To the east of the City, the Tower Division (or Tower Hamlets) had considerable autonomy under its own Lord Lieutenant . To the west, precincts around Westminster and Charing Cross became built up. Despite London's expansion into rural Middlesex, the Corporation of London resisted attempts to expand
5120-425: The 17th and 18th centuries for attracting day-trippers from London. Hampton Court Palace was among the historic buildings opened to the public in the 19th century and 350,000 people visited in 1851. During the 18th century, the inner parishes of Middlesex became suburbs of the City and were increasingly urbanised. In 1794, Thomas Cox wrote of Middlesex: We may call it almost all London, being chiefly inhabited by
5248-698: The 30 years on other court records. The records of the Diocese of London were previously split between London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section, but have now been reunited. The records include those of the Consistory Court of London and the Archdeaconry Courts of London and Middlesex as well as administrative and estate records for the diocese as a whole. These records include probate material up to 1858, Tithe maps, Bishops Transcripts and Matrimonial and Testamentary Cause Papers. The archive of St Paul's Cathedral
The London Archives - Misplaced Pages Continue
5376-567: The City itself. By 2009 the three record offices run by the City of London – London Metropolitan Archives, the Corporation of London Records Office and the Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section – had become one. In July 2024, it was announced that the archives would be renamed as "The London Archives" from 5 August. The records held at The London Archives have been arranged in 28 major classes, of which
5504-697: The City of London, by the addition of the holdings of the Guildhall Library Prints and Maps Section. Included in this series are records of the British Waterways Board particularly concerning the River Lea , plans of National Schools in Middlesex and the London Region of English Heritage that took over many of the files and plans of the former Greater London Council Historic Buildings Division. Also featuring in
5632-599: The City of London, including 75 London Livery Companies, schools, parishes, wards (local government units within the City) and of course many large and small businesses which had their home within the Square Mile, from tiny family businesses to major multi-national banking and insurance firms. The Prints and Maps Section of Guildhall Library held collections which complemented the collections already held by London Metropolitan Archives and added much valuable content relating to
5760-487: The City, including crops such as grain and hay, livestock and building materials. Tourism began to develop in the late 16th century and, in 1593, John Norden noted that the county was attracting visitors to its "divers devices, neatly decked with rare inventions, environed with orchards of sundry delicate fruits, gardens with delectable walks, arbours, alleys, and great variety of pleasing dainties." Inns and tea gardens at Isleworth, Tottenham, Edmonton and Hornsey are noted in
5888-526: The Crown Courts. Perhaps the most popular series of records in this section are the records of coroner 's courts. These include the Middlesex area prior to 1889, the London and Middlesex areas from 1889 onwards and the Greater London area after 1965. Unfortunately, the survival rate of coroner's records is only about 10 per cent. They are also subject to a closure period of 75 years as opposed to
6016-716: The East Saxon see, and its boundaries continued to be based on the Kingdom of Essex until the nineteenth century. The name means territory of the middle Saxons . The word is formed from the Old English , 'middel' and ' Seaxe ' ('Saxons') ( cf. Essex , Sussex and Wessex ). In 704, it is recorded as Middleseaxon in an Anglo-Saxon chronicle, written in Latin, about land at Twickenham. The Latin text reads: " in prouincia quæ nuncupatur Middelseaxan Haec ". The Saxons derived their name, Seaxe in their own tongue, from
6144-848: The London Congregational Union and the New Bunhill Fields Burial Ground are held. The London Archives holds no Roman Catholic records, which are usually retained by the individual church. Archive Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 546587440 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:33:04 GMT Middlesex Middlesex ( / ˈ m ɪ d əl s ɛ k s / ; abbreviation: Middx )
6272-554: The London and Middlesex areas. These are arranged alphabetically by the name of the company. One of the major collections in the series is that of the predecessors of London Transport . These include a number of railway companies, particularly the Metropolitan Railway and many of the London Omnibus Companies, as well as the records of the London Passenger Transport Board , which unified services in
6400-541: The London area for the first time and ran from 1933 to 1948. Another important collection is the archives of Thames Water predecessors. The archive comprises the records of major institutions that supplied water to the metropolis between 1582 and 1974. Up to 1902 the work was largely carried out by private companies operating under increasing public control as time went on. The records of each company have been catalogued separately except in cases where takeover occurred. The companies include London Bridge Waterworks Company and
6528-411: The London area, including hospitals and courts. Since the creation of the London County Council there had been a record keeper in the Clerks Department who held custody of the documents. By the 1930s they had established individual departmental record rooms staffed by record assistants working under the general supervision of the Record Keeper. Finally, in 1953 the position of Head Archivist and Librarian
SECTION 50
#17327719839656656-401: The Middlesex County Record Office. Like most other county record offices it developed naturally from the duty of the Clerk of the Peace to preserve certain records from the Quarter Sessions , together with other records such as enclosure awards and plans of public utilities. The first significant period in the formation of the county record office was in the early 1880s when a special committee
6784-405: The Middlesex Quarter Sessions was Hicks Hall in Clerkenwell (just outside the City boundary) from 1612 to 1782, and Middlesex Sessions House on Clerkenwell Green from 1782 to 1921. The quarter sessions performed most of the limited administration on a county level prior to the creation of the Middlesex County Council in 1889. New Brentford was first promulgated as the county town in 1789, on
6912-761: The Mysterons; the record office also holds the diary of Robert Hooke , surveyor of the City of London at the time of the Great Fire of 1666 and one of the men appointed to oversee the rebuilding of the City. The London Archives holds records for over 100 hospitals and local regional health authorities within the south-east area. The hospital records range from county asylums such as Hanwell Asylum and Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum to major teaching hospitals like Guy's Hospital and St Thomas' Hospital and specialist hospitals like Moorfields Eye Hospital and Queen Charlotte's Hospital, right down to much smaller local hospitals. Anybody wishing to find out what hospital records are held at The London Archives would do well to first consult
7040-418: The National Amateur Rowing Association and the Ramblers Association . The Associations series includes the archives of the Peabody Trust . The trust has its origins in a donation of £500,000 made by the American philanthropist, George Peabody , for the benefit of the people of London, the city where he had spent most of his adult life. The donation was put into the hands of trustees who were to ensure that it
7168-525: The Royal Society for Checking the Abuses of Public Advertising are also held. One of the larger series of records held are those belonging to the Public Morality Council. Formed in 1899 to combat vice and indecency in London, its members included representatives of all the major religions as well as leaders in education and medicine. The council continued until 1969 concentrating latterly on opposition to sexual immorality and pornography particularly with regards to theatre, cinema, radio and television. A number of
7296-433: The Tower Hamlets , was an area in the Southeast of the county covering what is now the London Borough of Tower Hamlets as well as most of what is now the London Borough of Hackney . The territory had its origin in the medieval Manor of Stepney . The area was unusual in combining Hundred and many County responsibilities, to form a "county within a county" comparable to one of the Ridings of Yorkshire . Of particular note
7424-400: The administrative County of London . The Act also provided that the part of Middlesex in the administrative county of London should be "severed from Middlesex, and form a separate county for all non-administrative purposes". The part of the County of London that had been transferred from Middlesex was divided in 1900 into 18 metropolitan boroughs : Following the Local Government Act 1888,
7552-446: The administrative county of Hertfordshire , and Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District and Staines Urban District , which became part of the administrative county of Surrey . Following the changes, local acts of Parliament relating to Middlesex were henceforth to apply to the entirety of the nine "North West London Boroughs". In 1974, the three urban districts that had been transferred to Hertfordshire and Surrey were abolished and became
7680-412: The administrative county of Middlesex, governed by the Middlesex County Council , which met regularly at the Middlesex Guildhall in Westminster. Further suburban growth, stimulated by the improvement and expansion of public transport, as well as the setting up of new industries , led to the creation of Greater London in 1965, an area which included almost all of the historic county of Middlesex, with
7808-541: The ancient county of Middlesex. In 1965 these merged to form seven of the twelve current boroughs of Inner London : In April 1965, nearly all of the area of the historic county of Middlesex became part of Greater London , under the control of the Greater London Council , and formed the new outer London boroughs of Barnet (part only), Brent , Ealing , Enfield , Haringey , Harrow , Hillingdon , Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames (part only). The remaining areas were Potters Bar Urban District , which became part of
SECTION 60
#17327719839657936-429: The archive had also moved to new premises at 1 Queen Anne's Gate Buildings, Dartmouth Street. In 1960 the record office was appointed an official place of deposit for public records by the Lord Chancellor under section 4 (1) of the Public Records Act 1958 . After this, the archive increased its holdings, with significant deposits of petty sessions , coroners, Boards of Guardians and other official material. By this time,
8064-427: The archive's holdings, including those of the Baltic Exchange , Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance , RSA Insurance Group , Standard Chartered and Morgan, Grenfell & Co. . All the collections previously held at Guildhall Library are now consulted at The London Archives with two exceptions: the archives of Lloyd's of London and of the London Stock Exchange continue to be consulted at Guildhall Library , as do
8192-415: The archives of London's Livery Companies. Other business records added to the collection in recent years include Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications , a radical Black publishing house founded by Eric and Jessica Huntley in West London in the 1950s; the Huntleys’ personal archive has also been deposited at The London Archives. The archive of The Africa Centre , an organisation promoting African culture and life
8320-399: The archives of the Corporation of London Records Office were moved to the London Metropolitan Archives to allow for a vast refurbishment programme at Guildhall. The City of London Corporation is the local government authority for the City of London, the area often referred to as the Square Mile and its records office held archives created by the Corporation and the organisations with which it
8448-413: The basis that it was where elections of knights of the shire (or Members of Parliament ) were held from 1701. Thus a traveller's and historian's London regional summary of 1795 states that (New) Brentford was "considered as the county-town; but there is no town-hall or other public building". Middlesex County Council took over at the Guildhall in Westminster , which became the Middlesex Guildhall . In
8576-427: The boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow. It was abolished on 1 July 2003. The title Earl of Middlesex was created twice, in 1622 and 1677, but became extinct in 1843. The county lay within the London Basin and the most significant feature was the River Thames , which formed the southern boundary. The River Lea and the River Colne formed natural boundaries to
8704-426: The boundary, these feed into the Welsh Harp Lake or Brent Reservoir which becomes the River Brent ). This formed a long protrusion of Hertfordshire into the county. The county was once well wooded, with much of it covered by the ancient Forest of Middlesex ; Domesday returns for Middlesex indicate that it was around 30% wooded (much of it wood-pasture ) in 1086, about double the English average. The highest point
8832-502: The bulk of Outer London. Exceptionally, the Potters Bar post town was transferred to Hertfordshire. Geographically the postal county consisted of two unconnected areas, 6 miles (10 km) apart. The first was in and around Enfield and the second, larger area was to the west. This led the retention of 25 Post Towns to this day: † = postal county was not required The postal county had many border inconsistencies where its constituent post towns encroached on neighbouring counties, such as
8960-467: The citizens, who fill the towns in it with their country houses, to which they often resort that they may breathe a little sweet air, free from the fogs and smoke of the City. In 1803, Sir John Sinclair, president of the Board of Agriculture , spoke of the need to cultivate the substantial Finchley Common and Hounslow Heath (perhaps prophetic of the Dig for Victory campaign of World War II ) and fellow Board member Middleton estimated that one tenth of
9088-411: The counties of London and Middlesex , as well as the former member's library of the London County Council. Together, these became the Greater London Record Office (GLRO) and Library. Although administratively united, the new archive continued to exist at two separate sites, with Middlesex material still held at Dartmouth Street and London material at County Hall (the record office being approximately where
9216-582: The county, 17,000 acres (6,900 ha), was uncultivated common, capable of improvement. However, William Cobbett , in his Rural Rides first serialised in 1822, said that Thomas Babington wrote in 1843, "An acre in Middlesex is worth a principality in Utopia " which contrasts neatly with its agricultural description. The building of radial railway lines from 1839 caused a fundamental shift away from agricultural supply for London towards large scale house building. Tottenham , Edmonton and Enfield in
9344-565: The county. The areas closest to London were served by the Metropolitan Police from 1829, and from 1840 the entire county was included in the Metropolitan Police District . Local government in the county was unaffected by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 , and civic works continued to be the responsibility of the individual parish vestries or ad hoc improvement commissioners . From 1855,
9472-580: The depositor before access can be granted. Two very important series of records have been classified under the heading London Local Authorities. The first of these, are the records of the Boards of Guardians of the Poor Law Unions for London and Middlesex . Poor Law Unions were formed as a result of the new Poor Law amendment act of 1834, when neighbouring parishes joined together to pool their resources, each of these unions would be administered by
9600-540: The depositor before they can be viewed; some may be too fragile to be handled. The London Archives holds records of many associations all with very different purposes. A large number of records are associations with political purposes such as the London Labour Party, London Liberal Party as well as regional branches of the Labour Party and Conservative Party . The records of associations also include
9728-434: The different bodies include a series of indexed committee minutes, which often prove to be a valuable starting point when attempting to access the records. The London Archives has an extensive collection of maps numbering over 15,000. Many of the maps are split up amongst the various different collections for example tithes maps found amongst the diocesan records and enclosure maps found amongst court records. Fortunately there
9856-487: The districts of Hertsmere (part only) and Spelthorne respectively. In 1995 the village of Poyle was transferred from Spelthorne to the Berkshire borough of Slough . Additionally, the Greater London boundary to the west and north has been subject to several small changes since 1965. On its creation in 1965, Greater London was divided into five Commission Areas for justice. The one named "Middlesex" consisted of
9984-475: The east and west. The entire south west boundary of Middlesex followed a gently descending meander of the Thames without hills. In many places "Middlesex bank" is more accurate than "north bank" — for instance at Teddington the river flows north-westward, so the left (Middlesex) bank is the south-west bank. The largely low-lying county was dominated by clay in its north and alluvium on gravel in its south. In
10112-422: The film industry. Twickenham Studios were established in 1913. There were also studios at Cricklewood Studios , Gainsborough Pictures , Isleworth Studios , Kew Bridge Studios and Southall Studios . Middlesex (abbreviated Middx) is a former postal county . Counties were an element of postal addressing in routine use until 1996, intended to avoid confusion between post towns , and are no longer required for
10240-560: The finest collection of quarter session records known to exist in the country. The records of the Middlesex and Westminster sessions cover both the judicial and administrative functions of the justices of the peace covering the period 1549–1971. These include sessions of gaol delivery for the Middlesex area, held at the Old Bailey until 1834. Until the 1870s and 1880s, the Middlesex justices were not only responsible for judicial matters in their area, they were also responsible for many of
10368-470: The former Guildhall Library Manuscripts and Prints and Maps sections in 2009. It rebranded as The London Archives in August 2024. Until 1889, London was still the area within the walled city; to the south of the river was Surrey and Kent and to the north of the city's limits was Middlesex . These areas, however, had become densely populated and, given the sphere of influence of the city, traditional boundaries were no longer practical. The County of London
10496-485: The freedom of the city). It also contains a large number of records of organisations which the City of London Corporation are responsible for such as the City of London Police , a number of courts, open spaces and many of the major London markets. In 2008 work began on a merger between London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library ’s Manuscripts Section and Prints and Maps Section. The Manuscripts Section held deposited records from organisations and institutions within
10624-462: The functions now under the control of local governments. Such roles and responsibilities included county bridges, prisons, lunatic asylums and Feltham Industrial School. The deposited records also include Land and Hearth tax assessments, electoral registers, licensed victuallers, recognizance's, building surveyors returns, enclosure awards and maps and plans of numerous public undertakings such as canals, docks and railways. The London Archives also holds
10752-615: The history of nursing, which details the Florence Nightingale collection among the records of St Thomas' Hospital – No. 13, a general guide to hospital records, and No. 15, which is concerned with patients' records. All patients' records among the hospitals collections are subject to data protection laws and may be closed access depending on their date. A large number of the Anglo-Jewish community's archives have been deposited at The London Archives, including records of
10880-514: The hospital records database on the National Archives' website. The collection of records is not arranged alphabetically as many different hospitals may be covered by one particular management trust, therefore it is worth asking at the reference room desk and they will direct you to the particular binder that you need. It is also worth consulting the three leaflets on hospital records that the archive had produced, namely No. 9 – Sources for
11008-775: The major collections is that of the Charity Organisation Society , now known as the Family Welfare Association which was formed to make sure that charitable organisations did not overlap with each other in terms of what they were trying to achieve. Amongst the many archives of housing associations held, are records of the Hampstead Garden Suburb . The Hampstead Garden Suburb was the vision and accomplishment of Henrietta Barnett who together with her husband Canon Samuel Augustus Barnett set about creating an estate where
11136-457: The metropolitan area remained largely rural until the middle of the 19th century and so the special boards of local government for various metropolitan areas were late in developing. Other than the Cities of London and Westminster, there were no ancient boroughs . The importance of the hundred courts declined, and such local administration as there was divided between "county business" conducted by
11264-586: The new area of North London that was formally Middlesex to be registered nationally. This dramatically reduced the amount of entries to the Middlesex Deeds Register, though it continued to serve the outer part of Middlesex until 1938 when all land within Middlesex had to be registered through the national land register. Deeds and documents brought to the registry were copied onto pieces of parchment called memorials and then bound into large volumes or registers. The documents are not complete copies of
11392-467: The north developed first as working-class residential suburbs with easy access to central London. The line to Windsor through Middlesex was completed in 1848, and the railway to Potters Bar in 1850; and the Metropolitan and District Railways started a series of extensions into the county in 1878. Closer to London, the districts of Acton , Willesden , Ealing and Hornsey came within reach of
11520-560: The north, the boundary ran along a WSW/ENE aligned ridge of hills. From the Colne to Barnet Gate Wood , this boundary is marked by a 20 kilometre hedge of great antiquity. East of the wood the hedge continues but did not forms the county boundary, suggesting that the eastern part of the boundary is younger. After Barnett Gate Wood the hedge continues east to Arkley where it divides into two branches, one continuing east to Chipping Barnet and Cockfosters , with another heading north to form
11648-502: The originals and certain information such as covenants and other restrictions may be missing. Information entered includes date of the transaction, names of the parties and a description of the property. From the mid-19th century this also often included a plan of the property. As well as the archives of the London County Council , Middlesex County Council , Greater London Council , Inner London Education Authority and
11776-580: The parish boundary between Shenley and Ridge , both in Hertforshire. Neither branch formed part of the county boundary. The change to the county boundary was probably caused in the late 8th century, before Middlesex took the form of a county, when the Liberty of St Albans was created from parts of the Dioceses of London and Lincoln . The hills are broken by Barnet or 'Dollis' valleys. (South of
11904-548: The parishes of the densely populated area in the south east, but excluding the City of London, came within the responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works for certain infrastructure purposes, though the area remained a part of Middlesex. Despite this innovation, the system was described by commentators at the time as one "in chaos". In 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888 , the metropolitan area of approximately 30,000 acres (120 km ) became part of
12032-497: The population of the administrative county of Middlesex would be reduced by over half, to just under one million. Evidence submitted to the Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London included a recommendation to divide Middlesex into two administrative counties of North Middlesex and West Middlesex. However, the commission instead proposed abolition of the county and merging of the boroughs and districts. This
12160-488: The prefix CLA are deposited collections from organisations and bodies that operate in close association with the City of London Corporation. This series includes records of many of the bridges across the Thames and particularly Tower Bridge , many markets including Smithfield , Billingsgate , Spitalfields and Leadenhall , and a number of courts such as Mansion House and Guildhall Justice Rooms and Southwark coroner's court. Records of particular interest in this series are
12288-463: The prefix COL are the administrative and corporate records of the City of London Corporation . Included in this section are the repertories, journals and letter books from the courts of Aldermen and Common Council , records of those receiving the freedom of the City of London from the Chamberlains department as well as numerous plans from the planning and surveyors departments. Records with
12416-586: The record office had acquired an extensive reference library on the topography of Middlesex, as well as a great number of maps, prints and photographs. Under the Local London Government Act 1963 , which came into effect on 1 April 1965, the administrative counties of London and Middlesex together with their respective county councils were abolished. They were replaced by the Greater London Council (GLC) which administered
12544-663: The records of the City of London Sessions, these include criminal trials held before the London jury at the Old Bailey . Another series of particular interest are the records of the City of London Police . Archives include warrant books, over 95% of all personnel files as well as material relating to the Houndsditch murders and letters sent to the force concerning Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel murders . The court records held at The London Archives are dominated by one of
12672-567: The records of the Middlesex Deeds Registry. By the Middlesex Registry Act 1708 a registry was established for the registration of all deeds , conveyances , wills , encumbrances etc., affecting freehold land and leased land for periods of 21 years or more, within the ancient county of Middlesex. In 1862 the national land register was introduced on a voluntary basis. In 1899 it became compulsory for land in
12800-629: The records relate to groups promoting the arts, sport and recreation. Of particular note are the records of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters , though consultation of these archives, are subject to obtaining written permission. Other records include the Artists League of Great Britain, and The Royal Choral Society. On a more sporting theme, there are records of the London Schools Football Association,
12928-485: The remaining county came under the control of Middlesex County Council except for the parish of Monken Hadley , which became part of Hertfordshire . The area of responsibility of the Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex was reduced accordingly. Middlesex did not contain any county boroughs , so the county and administrative county (the area of county council control) were identical. At this time, Middlesex regained
13056-467: The rest included in neighbouring ceremonial counties. The county has its roots in the settlement of the Middle Saxons . The extent of the province is not clear, and probably varied over time, but it is clear that it occupied at least the area of the current county and much of Hertfordshire . Although the province appeared to have come under the dominion of, and is only ever recorded as a part of
13184-655: The right to appoint its own sheriff, lost in the 12th century. The Local Government Act 1894 divided the administrative county into four rural districts and thirty-one urban districts , based on existing sanitary districts . One urban district, South Hornsey , was an exclave of Middlesex within the County of London until 1900, when it was transferred to the latter county. The rural districts were Hendon , South Mimms , Staines and Uxbridge . Because of increasing urbanisation these had all been abolished by 1934. Urban districts had been created, merged, and many had gained
13312-544: The river. Nearby Hampton Court Palace has a postal address of East Molesey , therefore associating it with Surrey. The Enfield post town in the EN postcode area was in the former postal county. All post towns in the HA postcode area and UB postcode area were in the former postal county. Most of the TW postcode area was in the former postal county. The Middlesex Flag is included in
13440-526: The routing of the mail. The postal county did not match the boundaries of Middlesex because of the presence of the London postal district , which stretched into the county to include Tottenham, Willesden, Hornsey and Chiswick. Addresses in this area included "LONDON" which is the post town but any overlap with the then County of London was coincidental. In 1965, Royal Mail retained the postal county because it would have been too costly to amend addresses covering
13568-436: The same year, this location was placed into the new County of London , and was thus outside the council's area of jurisdiction. The population of inner London (then the County of London ) declined after its creation in 1889 as more residents moved into the outer suburbs. In the interwar years , suburban London expanded further, with improvement and expansion of public transport, and the setting up of new industries . After
13696-481: The series of National Records are the archives of Wandsworth (HM Prison) and Wormwood Scrubs (HM Prison) . Of the two prisons the Wandsworth records are much more extensive, including administrative and staff records, photographs and prisoners records from 1879. For Wormwood Scrubs the majority of records concern prisoners and begin in 1917. The majority of nonconformist records at The London Archives relate to
13824-523: The site until the end of the 1960s. The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986, and since that date the archives have been administered by the City of London Corporation . In 1992 work was completed on a new repository block adjacent to the site in Northampton Road. This extension conformed to archival storage standards , with mobile shelving and environmental controls. The GLRO was renamed London Metropolitan Archives in 1997. In 2005
13952-418: The six hundreds, Ossulstone contained the districts closest to the City of London. During the 17th century it was divided into four divisions, which, along with the Liberty of Westminster , largely took over the administrative functions of the hundred. The divisions were named Finsbury , Holborn , Kensington and Tower . The county had parliamentary representation from the 13th century. Middlesex outside
14080-614: The south-east London part of the Diocese of Rochester . Estate records held at The London Archivesinclude the Duke of Bedford 's Covent Garden Estate with many of the records relating to the development of the market. Other major estate records in this series are those of the Marquess of Northampton at Clerkenwell and Canonbury and the Maryon-Wilson estates in Hampstead and Charlton . Notable family collections include those of
14208-599: The status of municipal borough by 1965. The districts as at the 1961 census were: After 1889, the growth of London continued, and the county became almost entirely filled by suburbs of London, with a big rise in population density. This process was accelerated by the Metro-land developments, which covered a large part of the county. The expanding urbanisation had, however, been foretold in 1771 by Tobias Smollett in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker , in which it
14336-573: The thirteenth century and became a county in its own right, a county corporate . Middlesex also included Westminster , which was separate from the City of London. Westminster Abbey dominated the area of Westminster, until the Dissolution of the Monasteries greatly reduced its influence. A Court of Burgesses was established, in 1585, to fill the power vacuum left behind by the Abbey. Of
14464-400: The tram and bus networks, providing cheap transport to central London. After World War I , the availability of labour and proximity to London made areas such as Hayes and Park Royal ideal locations for the developing new industries . New jobs attracted more people to the county and the population continued to rise, reaching a peak in 1951. Middlesex became the location of facilities for
14592-654: The villages of Denham in Buckinghamshire, Wraysbury in Berkshire and Eastbury in Hertfordshire which were respectively in the post towns of Uxbridge , Staines and Northwood and therefore in the postal county of Middlesex. Egham Hythe , Surrey also had postal addresses of Staines, Middlesex. Conversely, Hampton Wick was conveniently placed in Kingston , Surrey with its sorting offices just across
14720-503: The working classes could live within pleasant surroundings. The land near Hampstead was purchased via the Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust that she had formed. A total of 323 acres (1.31 km) were purchased for £140,000 by 1907. The idea was that the estate would be aesthetically pleasing consisting of low-density housing and thoroughly planned with a mix of buildings and nature. The community would be served by
14848-511: Was appointed by the justices of the peace to consider and report on the accommodation provided for the storage of the "old records" of the county. On behalf of the committee, John Cordy Jeaffreson , an inspector of the Historical Manuscripts Commission , sorted the records covering 1549–1820 into 87 classes comprising more than 10,000 volumes and nearly 5,000 rolls. The more modern records from post-1820 were given
14976-550: Was created and controlled by the newly formed London County Council , which took over many of the duties of its predecessor the Metropolitan Board of Works . It was the records of these bodies and similar groups such as the London School Board and Metropolitan Asylums Board that would form the nucleus of the London County Record offices holdings, which were based at County Hall on the south bank of
15104-405: Was created. The library was originally that of the members of the London County Council and reflected their interests. Situated in the same building as the London County Record Office, the library was added to with books on the history and topography of London. The library also included a rich collection of maps, prints, drawings and photographs. No single act or resolution marked the beginning of
15232-573: Was deposited in 2018. The London Archives' holdings of charities records date from the early 17th century and include notable foundations such as Archbishop Tenison's Grammar School, the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy and Sutton's Hospital (Charterhouse) which was founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 for the benefit of distressed gentlemen and the education of poor boys. Many of the charities are concerned with housing, education and medicine. One of
15360-455: Was developed to further enhance services during the 1930s. Partly because of its proximity to the capital, the county had a major role during the Second World War. The county was subject to aerial bombardment and contained military establishments, such as RAF Uxbridge and RAF Heston , which were involved in the Battle of Britain . Middlesex arguably never, and certainly not since 1789, had
15488-548: Was enacted by Parliament as the London Government Act 1963 , which came into force on 1 April 1965. The Act abolished the administrative counties of Middlesex and London. The Administration of Justice Act 1964 abolished the Middlesex magistracy and lieutenancy , and altered the jurisdiction of the Central Criminal Court. Eighteen of London County Council Metropolitan Boroughs were part of
15616-464: Was founded in 1886 as a catering business for exhibitions in Newcastle upon Tyne , Glasgow , Paris and London. By 1894 it had become a public company and it rapidly established a chain of teashops, corner houses and restaurants. This is one of the most intriguing business collections deposited, for as well as all the usual corporate records such as management, finance and administration, the collection
15744-572: Was involved or helped to run. These archives include the earliest material currently held at The London Archives, dating from 1067. The archive contains the official records of how the City was governed and developed, through bodies such as the Court of Aldermen and Court of Common Council and many other official departments like the Chamberlains (which is the main financial department of the City Corporation and also deals with people being given
15872-683: Was its military autonomy: it had its own Lord-Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets and was thus independent of the Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex . By the 19th century, the East End of London had expanded to the eastern boundary with Essex, and the Tower division , an area which approximated to the East End, had reached a population of over a million. When the railways were built, the north western suburbs of London steadily spread over large parts of
16000-470: Was not until 1923 that a full-time graduate assistant was placed in charge of dealing with things such as document repair, storage issues, written enquiries, production of documents for public researchers and receipt of any gifts or deposits. After the Second World War, the work of the county record office expanded steadily, with the appointment of a County Archivist , first in a part-time capacity (Colonel William Le Hardy ), then full-time from 1957. By then,
16128-508: Was the second smallest of the historic counties of England, after Rutland . The name of the county derives from its origin as a homeland for the Middle Saxon people in the early Middle Ages , with the county subsequently formed from part of that territory in either the ninth or tenth century. The City of London became a self governing county corporate in the twelfth century; it was able to exert political influence in Middlesex as
16256-938: Was used to "ameliorate the condition of the poor" of London. It was agreed that cheap, clean housing would best fulfil the intention of the gift, and that the Trust would provide an alternative to the Model Dwellings Companies who operated on a private, less philanthropic basis. The first housing block was opened in Spitalfields in 1864 and consisted of 57 dwellings and nine shops. Further block estates were built in Southwark , Lambeth , Westminster , Chelsea , Islington and Tower Hamlets . The collection includes registers of tenants, photographs, plans and administrative and financial records. The London Archives holds many archives from businesses that operated in
16384-435: Was virtually complete and the suburb was home to some 16,000 people. The collection is particularly valuable to those interested in the history of planned settlements, architecture and the life and work of Henrietta Barnett . The archive consists of records of suburb organisations and recreational societies, education institutions and approximately 10,000 plans and 10,000 photographs. Among the records of charities are those of
#964035