Records of Birmingham City Council and its committees, departments and affiliated...

BCC

Records of Birmingham City Council and its committees, departments and affiliated bodies (1838 - present)

17th cent. - 20th cent.

The collection includes records deposited by Birmingham City Council, its predecessor authorities, and associated authorities and organisations, and date from the Municipal Council's formation in 1838 until the present day. The records include the minutes of the Council itself, as well as its committees, sub-committees, the records of the Town Clerk, departmental records, building plans, photographs and other material.

Many of the early deposits of Council material were allocated MS numbers (normally denoting the donation from the archive of a business, estate, or private family or individual), particularly items donated by individuals who had previously worked for the Council. There are also minutes and other records of the Council in the IIR and ZZ sequence (see paper lists in the Archives and Heritage search room).

Although efforts will be made to eventually integrate the MS material with the main Birmingham City Council (BCC) sequence, researchers looking for the records of a specific committee or department are advised to search our electronic and paper catalogues and indexes as well as the main BCC catalogue. For example, records of the City Fire Brigade normally fell under the jurisdiction of the Birmingham City Council Watch Committee (see BCC/1/AC) then Fire Brigade Committee after 1940 (see BCC/1/CO), but the large deposit of surviving departmental records relating to the Fire Service were actually catalogued as MS 1303.

Bunce, J.T., Vince, C.A., Jones, F.T.I., and Black, H.J., 'History of the Corporation of Birmingham', 6 vols. (Birmingham: General Purposes Committee, 1851 - 1957).Hunt, Tristram, 'Building Jerusalem. The rise and fall of the Victorian city' (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2004).MacMorran, J.L., 'Municipal public works and planning in Birmingham. A record of the Public Works Committee and Department of the borough and city of Birmingham 1852 - 1972' (Birmingham: Public Works Committee, 1973).Stephens, W.B., ed., 'A history of the county of Warwick. Vol VII. The city of Birmingham' (London: Oxford University Press, 1964).Upton, C., 'A history of Birmingham' (Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd., 1993).

ARRANGEMENT FOR BCC COMMITTEES POST-1974

BCC 1/GA
Conservation Area Advisory Committee 1972 – 1987.
[subsequently Conservation Areas Committee 1987 onwards]

BCC 1/GB
West Midlands Regional Health Authority 1973 - 1990.

BCC 1/GC
Environmental Services Committee 1976 - 1977 and late 1990s.
[Afterwards: Environmental Health Committee 1978 – 1987, then Public Health and Environmental Protection Committee 1987 onwards]

BCC 1/GD
Finance & Priorities Committee 1976 - 1980.
[Afterwards: Finance & Management Committee 1980 - 1997, then Policy and Resources Committee 1997 onwards]

BCC 1/GE
Personnel Committee 1976 - 1984, then 1991 onwards.
[Personnel and Equal Opportunities Committee June 1987 – April 1991]

BCC 1/GF
Planning and Highways Committee 1976 - May 1984.
[subsequently Planning Committee May 1984 onwards]
[To include planning control / building plans as a departmental records BCC 1/GF/1 sub-field: previously Public Works?]

BCC 1/GG
National Exhibition Centre Committee 1976 - 1984.
[subsquently unknown from 1984 - 1990, then National Exhibition Centre Committee / International Convention Centre Committee 1990 onwards, then Policy and Resources (Finance and Central Services) Sub-Committee May 1999 – December 1999, then Executive Committee from January 2000 re general matters concerning NEC & ICC]

BCC 1/GH
West Midlands Community Health Council 1977 - 1984.

BCC 1/GJ
Economic Development Committee 1980 onwards.

BCC 1/GK
Urban Renewal Committee, January 1982 onwards

BCC 1/GL
Transportation Services, later Transportation and Technical ServicesCommittee May 1984 - onwards.

BCC 1/GM
Women’s Committee May 1984 - April 1987

BCC 1/GN
Performance Review Committee July 1985 – April 1987.

BCC 1/GO
Trading Services Committee June 1986 - June 1990
[Afterwards: Commercial Services Committee from June 1990 onwards]

BCC 1/GP
Contract Monitoring Committee June 1988 - June 1989
[subsequently Contract Services Committee A from June 1989 – June 1990, then Direct Services Organisation / Direct Labour Organisation 1990 - 1994]

BCC 1/GQ
Community Affairs Committee July 1991 onwards.

BCC 1/GR
Birmingham Joint Consultative Health Committee 1992 onwards.

BCC 1/GS
Contract Services Committee B June 1994 onwards

BCC 1/GT
Equalities Committee June 1996 onwards
[Previously: Personnel and Equal Opportunities Committee June 1987 – April 1991 - functions split]

BCC 1/GU
Ad Hoc Appointments Committee July 1996 (last minutes).

BCC 1/GV
Social Services Inspection Advisory Committee August 1997.
[previously filed with Social Services Committee]

BCC 1/GW
Policy and Resources Special Review Committee February 1998 onwards.

The history of local government and administration in Birmingham can be traced back to the Domesday Survey of 1086. At this time the main unit of local government, the manor, comprised only nine households, with landholdings of 4 hides (480 acres) worth 20s per year. The land was used primarily for arable farming, with common land for both crops and grazing. In 1166 Peter de Bermingham, then lord of the manor, was granted a Royal Charter to hold a weekly market every Thursday. In 1251 the township was allowed to hold a fair lasting four days beginning every Holy (Maundy) Thursday. The market quickly flourished, and artisans and tradesmen began to gradually settle in the area. Economic activity was probably stimulated by the fact the settlement still bore the status of a manor, as opposed to that of a medieval borough, which allowed trades to be practiced free from the restrictions of the medieval craft guild system that existed in most boroughs.

Throughout the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries, local government remained in the hands of the lord of the manor, his authority legally enshrined by the proceedings of the court baron and court leet. The court baron dealt chiefly with manorial rights, and it was here that byelaws were passed and other local business was transacted. The court leet exercised a wider jurisdiction and certain judicial powers, appointing stewards to look after the lord's interests and collect his dues, bailiffs to oversee the fairs and markets and constables to maintain order and apprehend criminals. The records of the courts themselves do not survive prior to 1779, by which time there was a twice-yearly court leet for the whole of the manor (including Deritend) until 1854.

The Guild of the Holy Cross founded in 1392 provided a form of local administration for all classes, and was peculiar to the township of Birmingham. The members of guilds of a religious or social character such as this one were bound to certain religious exercises such as the maintenance of chaplains to say mass for the souls of the dead, and were also obliged to render assistance or services to the brotherhood. It provided an unofficial forum for local people to provide mutual aid and organise themselves to effect reforms for common benefit. It also used its lands and income to help Birmingham's poor, and members also took an interest in the repair of roads and bridges in its area. To help finance these reforms a charitable fund was set up in 1525 known as Lench's Trust.

The parish acted as a separate unit local government authority in spiritual matters, although from the late sixteenth century its duties began to overlap with those of the manor. The parish was vested with the responsibility of providing poor relief under the provisions of the Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601. Poor relief was financed from income derived from the rates, which were levied in accordance with the ratepayer's income. By the eighteenth century expenditure on the needy accounted for two-thirds of the rates in Birmingham. The parish, namely the vestry and the churchwardens, also began to take responsibility for road repairs and the payment of expenses to the constables. Although there remained an overlap between the duties of manor and parish, the vestry was taking a more active role in bearing the brunt of costs by the costs of local government.

By the second half of the eighteenth century the town was outgrowing both the ability of the manor and the parish to provide adequate governmental and administrative jurisdiction. The town now faced the challenges of overcrowded and poor quality housing (particularly in the inner urban area), poor drainage and insanitary and narrow streets, the result of rapid population expansion and unregulated economic growth. The eighteenth century witnessed the continuing decline of the traditional functions and activities of the manor in Birmingham as elsewhere. By the 1760s many began to feel that more formal administrative arrangements should be proposed, and in 1765 an application was made to obtain an Act of Parliament, finally passed in 1769, appointing commissioners to carry out specific improvements in the town.