CLERK'S (LEGAL) DEPARTMENT: ADMINISTRATION

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: MCC/CL/L/CC
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: CLERK'S (LEGAL) DEPARTMENT: ADMINISTRATION
Date(s)	: 1889-1965
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 44.73 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: MCC | Middlesex County Council x Middlesex County Council

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

In 1889 County Council policy was directed by 72 members and administered under the leadership of Sir Richard Nicolson, Clerk of the County Council, and a handful of staff. The number of members had risen to 116 by 1952 and by 1965 the County staff numbered some 32,000, of whom 2,000 head office staff occupied the Guildhall and five other offices in Westminster. This indicates the tremendous increase in administrative work under successive Clerks of the County Council.

In the years between the two wars a semi-rural county became an almost completely urbanised area. The introduction of new legislation made ever increased demands upon members of the administrative staff, involving in later years monthly meetings of some 50 committees and sub-committees.

The County Solicitor offered legal advice to the Councillors and was responsible for certain transactions. Sir Richard Nicholson, Sir Clifford Radcliffe and Kenneth Goodacre all doubled as the County Clerk and Solicitor.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Middlesex County Council Clerk's Legal Department relating to general administration, including files on a variety of subjects including personnel matters, superannuation, adoption, education services, the mentally disabled, local government reforms, construction and maintenance of schools, charities and funds, rating and valuation, public health, health services, health professionals, war service, resuming services after the Second World War, and Council offices.

Papers regarding property acquisitions and transactions, including schools, housing estates, roads, swimming pools, the Duke of Northumberland's River, hospitals, bridges and clinics. Papers relating to minor legal cases and litigation, including claims for war damage, prosecutions for dereliction of duties during Second World War and Public Control Department prosecutions for food hygiene cases.

Copies of legislation relevant to the working of the Council. Papers of the Standing Joint Committee, including court houses, superannuation and staff insurance schemes, the Provincial Joint Industrial Council and Middlesex Guildhall. Papers relating to Common Law, including accident reports, staff appeals and legal cases and claims against the Council.

Registers of open spaces in Middlesex; papers relating to the evacuation of hospitals and institutions during the Second World War; papers relating to the Tithe Act, 1936; correspondence of the County Solicitor; returns of boys and girls at industrial and reformatory schools; newspaper cuttings.

Deeds of educational premises, hospitals and Boards of Guardians institutions and general properties. Plans of institutions, hospitals, offices, schools and colleges, court houses, highways, bridges, rivers, watercourses, tramways and planning schemes.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

MCC/CL/L/CC/01: General; MCC/CL/L/CC/02: Property; MCC/CL/L/CC/03: Litigation; MCC/CL/L/CC/04: Minor legal cases; MCC/CL/L/CC/05: Legislation; MCC/CL/L/CC/06: Common law; MCC/CL/L/CC/07: Standing Joint Committee; MCC/CL/L/CC/08: Deeds; MCC/CL/L/CC/09: Miscellaneous; MCC/CL/L/CC/10: Plans.

Conditions governing access:

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to these records rests with the Corporation of London.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Acquired with the records of its parent authority, the Middlesex County Council, and with successor authorities.

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

For further information on the history of the Middlesex County Council please see Middlesex by Sir Clifford Radcliffe (2 editions, 1939 and 1953), LMA Library reference 97.09 MID; and The County Council of the Administrative County of Middlesex: 76 years of local government, 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1965, by Middlesex County Council (1965), LMA library reference S97.09 MID.

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
April to June 2009