RECORDS OF THE FULHAM DISTRICT BOARD OF WORKS (1855 - 1886)

Contents

Introduction

Minutes and annual reports, 1855 - 1887

Letter books, 1856 - 1887

Financial records including new streets, 1856 - 1887

Surveyor's Department case files, 1859 - [1922]

Deposited plans, 1861 - 1885

Schedules of documents transferred to vestries, 1887 - 1892

Surveyor's Department records, 1860 - 1886

Clerk's Department records, 1864 - [1900s]

Appendices

I List of committee minutes contained in FBW/14

II List of committee minutes contained in FBW/15

III List of committee minutes contained in FBW/16

IV Miscellaneous files and papers of Clerk's Department (FBW/108/1-13)

V List of books of reference contained in FBW/112-114

VI List of drainage applications in FBW/127

VII List of specifications for works in FBW/128

VIII List of Surveyor's Department case files in FBW/111

IX List of Fulham apportionments in FBW/133 - 134

X List of Clerk's department files in FBW/131

XI List of notices to owners in FBW/129

XII List of Surveyor's Department estimates for road making and paving in FBW/130

XIII Street numbering orders in FBW/132

There are several gaps in the classes of records which have survived, and it is clear from lists made when the records were dispersed in 1886-7 that other classes are now missing. There is some evidence that a number of records - especially particular-instance papers - were incorporated by the vestries in their own records.

The records which have survived contain much detailed information and are a valuable source for students of local and metropolitan history. They reveal local attitudes to social legislation of the mid-19th century, the administrative difficulties faced by underpaid and overworked officials, and the social and economic problems which arose when two placid, rural parishes were turned in the space of a few decades into densely-populated London suburbs.

The Fulham District Board of Works was established under the Metropolitan Local Management Act of 1855. The Act was designed to improve local government in the Metropolis which, by the middle of the 19th century, had become a maze of overlapping traditional, statutory and ad hoc jurisdictions. The Act altered the composition of parish vestries, amalgamated parishes of low populations into districts administered by boards of works, and created above them a body of wider powers, the Metropolitan Board of Works.

The Fulham District comprised the parishes of Fulham and Hammersmith. Under the terms of the Act the two parish vestries were composed respectively of 18 and 24 householders, rated at £25 p.a. or over and elected by the ratepayers. The district board contained 24 representatives from Hammersmith and 15 from Fulham, although it was later enlarged as the populations of the parishes grew. Representatives were elected by each vestry from its members (although, in the first election only, non-vestry men of suitable qualifications were eligible as candidates) and retired by rotation after three years. One member was elected by the board to the MBW.

The board paved, lit and cleaned streets; it built and maintained local sewers; it supervised the building of private drains; and it took action against offensive trades, overcrowding and the sale of unfit food. In short, it became responsible for the execution of much of the legislation passed in the period to improve urban conditions. Its most dramatic actions were taken in the cause of public health. The medical officer of the board complained in 1857 of "offensive privies and cesspools, defective drainage, offensive and injurious trades, foul, open ditches, untrapped gullies, and unwholesome dwellings." After 20 years of unremitting toil he was able to announce that "for salubrity of air, perfection of sewerage and advantage of position, this district stands unrivalled within the metropolitan area."

The board was dissolved in 1886 under a provision in the Metropolitan Local Management Amendment Act of the previous year. Its functions were assumed by the vestries of Fulham and Hammersmith and its records were shared between them. Minutes and financial records were transferred to Hammersmith; other records, such as deeds and particular-instance papers were deposited with the appropriate parish.